Mosquitoes

I am being eaten alive by mosquitos. The house I live in has water leaks all around it. It's hard to even say where the leaks are. There are at least three different connections to the city water supply!

Here we all have big black water tanks on top of our houses. My place started out as a house, and then the owners built two more floors on top with additional apartments to rent out--a common scenario here. There are at least three, maybe four water tanks on top of the house. When the water comes in from the street, they fill up, then overflow, and they just keep on overflowing until the city turns the water back off. As a result, my house is perpetually full of mosquitoes that we raise right here in our yard.

In the DR, mosquitoes carry the dreaded dengue. You can die from that. It seems like you don't get it so bad the first time, but the second time it can be fatal. (Malaria is a problem too, but that is more close to the Haitian border.) Anyway, mosquitoes are not just annoying, they are dangerous.

Scratch, scratch. I put on repellent daily, and am always spraying raid around. Seems like it affects me more than the mosquitoes. There are no screens on the windows of course, nor would it be easy to put them on, with this kind of window.

Mosquitoes are just a fact of this Dominican Life.

Insanity

Today on my way home, in a taxi, since I had a heavy box to take, we passed the Malecon. That's the ocean front street. It's beautiful. Many of the nicest hotels in the country are located on that street. But what was everyone looking at? There was a woman walking up and down in the middle of the road, totally naked. That isn't the first time I've run into that situation. Once I was in the shopping district and the same happened. Then there was another time a naked man was walking down the street in Los Tres Brazos.

It is one of the sad facts that if you lose your mind here, you'd better have family who will take care of you, or else you may end up doing something really crazy in public, with no one to stop you.

Just one of the facts of this Dominican Life.

How to give

One thing I've learned as a missionary is that I must be careful in giving. I don't want to create dependency. It's the old "teach the person to fish" idea. Living in a developing country, means being constantly surrounded by need. It screams out at me from every side. I cannot fix everything, and I cannot alleviate every need. Nor can I just ignore them. I have to be sensitive to God's voice, so I know when and how to give. I don't want to harm people with my giving, but I do want to be generous and give appropriately. I am always seeking the right balance.

The mission I'm on is one primarily of training. That is one of my favorite ways of giving. It's pretty low cost, because I'm mostly giving what's inside my brain. Dominican teachers glean through the training I give, and choose what works for their classroom. I show them how they can make teaching materials out of everyday items, like the caps off soda bottles. I show them how to speak with their hands in the Sign Language of the deaf community, so they can participate in their education. I explain to them how to reach children who are locked inside themselves with no communication skills.

This is the kind of giving that I hope contributes to a brighter tomorrow for this Dominican Life.

Little cultural annoyances

There is one thing I often do wrong, culturally. I skip the intro and get right to my business. But that is wrong. Here, you don't just call someone up and say, "Hey, what time is the meeting tomorrow?" You call them and ask how they are first. After a few minutes you can ask about the meeting.

Now for me, this is just annoying. It wastes my time. It's even worse when you are calling on a cell and paying close to a quarter a minute. (On cells they do allow you to be more brief, with just a how-are-you, perhaps.) But looking at it from their point of view, I'm the annoying one. When is that gringa going to stop being so rude!?

I can't tell you how many times I've walked up to someone on the street, perhaps a street vendor, and asked for directions, with no intro. Often I've gotten back a cold stare, with the deliberate words "Good afternoon." That's a reminder that I've just been rude, and am being corrected. So I must say good afternoon, penitently, and then I can ask my question.

These are just simple cultural differences, and it illustrates vividly the difference between a time oriented and a relationship oriented culture. Neither is wrong or right. But the correct way, of course, is "When in Rome, do as the Romans do."

Helping your friends and family aka corruption

Here's a delicate topic. It is very hard to explain corruption in likeable terms. In fact, if it were not for corruption in the system here, we would probably have reliable electricity 24/7. In fact, we wouldn't have so many potholes in the street, or so many problems in society at every level. The poverty would not be gone, but would be greatly reduced.

Anything I say will be inadequate, because I haven't peeked into the higher echelons. But I have seen how it functions on a lower level. I suspect the higher levels have a similar basis. Try to imagine yourself in this society where you have obligations culturally. You've been taught this your whole life. How would you handle it?

The DR is very much a relationship based society. You take care of your friends, and you take care of your family. You are loyal to them. No matter what. (Possible exception: men who seem to be in a contest for how many women they can get pregnant don't always take care of their offspring.) You may prefer honesty, but if loyalty demands it of you, you will be dishonest. You won't see yourself as dishonest, however, you will just see yourself as loyal. You have taken great risks to provide for your family, friends, and political party.

When you get into a position with any power, you are expected to use that power to the advantage of not only yourself, but your friends and family. Lets make up an example. The position of power may just be that you are in charge of books that the government distributes to the poorer schools for the poorer school children. Even though you are not poor at this point, you are going to make sure your children get some of those books, so that you don't have to spend the money. Next, your sister, who knows you have your new position as bookmaster, is going to ask you for some for her children, who likewise are not in need. Well how can you turn down your own sister? All of the relatives will follow. Friends and neighbors who don't qualify for asistance will also want some. You cannot say no, because you would be breaking the rule of loyalty; you have an obligation to help. And you enjoy helping them. It makes you more popular. You enjoy a God-like ability to bestow things on those individuals who humble themselves to ask you.

Some of the books will get to poor people right away. Your sister will tell her maid that she can give her the books she needs. The maid doesn't make much, but she receives thousands of pesos in school books as a benefit of her employment.

By the way, later you will justify yourself in actually selling some of those books, for the same reason: to take care of you and yours. It is a short hop from giving away the actual books to selling them and using or giving away the money, and it isn't hard for you to bridge that gap logically.

The chances are, if you have attained any position of importance, however slight, that you aren't poor, and neither are your friends and relatives. You may be middle class or above. Why is that? Well, first of all, you have to have an education, and lower classes don't generally achieve even a HS diploma, much less college. Then there is the fact that people who have these positions have that obligation to family and friends to help them get similar positions, if it is in their power. Birds of a feather flock together. Who are your friends? People of a similar income and education. So when they need an assistant bookmaster, it will probably go to your nephew. You probably got your own bookmaster position from a relative or friend as well. And if you are allowed to hire people, you may put a few relatives on the payroll. They don't necessarily have to do anything, even to show up. Here these are called "botellas"--bottles. They collect a regular salary for doing nothing.

Here's an example from yesterday's news. I'm cutting out the name of the person, because it isn't germane to this discussion. [The official being investigated]"had even included more than 40 members of his own family circle on the payroll, which is said to be 10 times larger than what would be needed to run the... department efficiently." I assure you that no one was really surprised.

When aid comes to the country, usually it is directed to some government agency. All the people in that agency take what they want/need, and then they pass it on to the next lower level. Each level does this, till it finally arrives at the last rung of the ladder, those who are actually responsible to go out to the public and distribute the aid. But by that time the amount that is left is greatly reduced.

On a lower level. Someone sends pencils to a school. The director (principal) of the school is going to distribute the pencils to the teachers, after taking some for herself, and her friends & relatives. The teacher is going to distribute them to the students, after she gets her cut. What is left for the students? It may be a lot or a litte. The teacher may say that she doesn't have enough left for all the students to have a pencil, and give the pencils to either her own favorite students, or the students who are most in need.

I should add that your circle of obligation to family & friends also extends to political buddies. Anyone in your party who has done you a good turn has your loyalty. You are expected to support and vote for that person. If you have helped someone in a significant way to get elected, he owes you. And he will be loyal to you and pay you, perhaps by making you a botella.

This kind of thing happens at every level of society, down to the poorest. So it always amazes me when the finger is pointed for corruption. The difference in the poor and the wealthy is that the wealthy have more opportunity than the poor. If a poor person was in the position, he would do the same thing: he would be loyal to his friends, family, and political party, and he would take care of his own needs.

Loyalty is a wonderful trait in any society. How could things have gone so wrong from something so wonderful? How can this be fixed? As usual, the only solution is in the Lord Jesus. What needs to happen isn't that loyalty be abolished, but that honesty be elevated so that it isn't subservient to loyalty. This is a Biblical teaching. Be loyal AND be honest.

Recycle and reuse

Dominicans are experts at recycling and reusing. Nothing of value gets left in the trash, and seldom does it arrive at the trash. Wealthy people in every country throw away their excess, and there are always poorer people looking to recycle what is still good.

But here, in the DR, there is not nearly as much good stuff thrown away. If my blow dryer breaks, I don't throw it away. I get it repaired. Or if I decide to buy a new one, I give it away to a friend. The friend will repair it for her use.

In fact, it is easy to get rid of anything I no longer use, by just setting it outside my gate. It will disappear in a matter of minutes, and be taken home by someone who will either use it or sell it, or give it to someone who needs it.

I don't throw bottles in the trash. I just set them outside. Sooner or later, a man who collects bottles will pick them up.

Some examples of reusing: Plastic soda bottles--the top is cut off, and the bottom is filled with water and stuck in the freezer. This provides a nice big block of ice, which is helpful for keeping your freezer cold during blackouts, and of course for its normal use in your drinks. The tops to the bottles? They make great checkers. You just use different colors for the different players. Tops to 5 gallon jugs (water cooler type) are used for baseballs when kids get together and play stickball in the street. I've also seen a cereal box used as a mitt! No wonder the Dominicans grow such excellent ball players.

This tendency to not throw anything away has occasionally been a problem for me at the school. I would find a plastic toy, pretty torn up. Perhaps a toy car with three wheels missing and sharp edges of the plastic sticking out. I would throw this out. The next day, I would come in and find it put back with the other toys. In fact, no matter how many times I threw it out, people always assumed it was in the trash by mistake and returned it. I found that the best way to get rid of something was to give it away. As the saying goes, "One man's trash is another man's treasure." And it was one less piece of plastic in the landfill.

All this reusing and recycling is good for the planet, and it's a normal part of this Dominican Life.

Pretty Feet

Dominican women have pretty feet. In fact, feet are an important focus for grooming, from the poorest to the richest. I suspect the reason for this is because your feet just get so dirty here. There are still lots of dirt roads, and there are poorly maintained sidewalks and junk all over. So when you go out, your feet get dirty. I imagine it to be somewhat like it was in Jesus' day. He mentioned to his host once that he hadn't given him any water so he could wash his feet.

On one of my first stays in the DR, when I was here for just a three month mission, a Dominican woman I lived with ask me out of curiosity if American women take care of their feet. I found it an odd question. To me, it was like asking if we took baths! I replied that we did indeed.

But now, I understand what she meant. Just washing your feet is not enough.
A Dominican woman puts foot care as an important part of her grooming routine. She will usually have another person "fix" her feet, often at a hair salon. There are lots of women who offer in-home service as well. For about $4.50US you can get complete foot care, which includes a pedicure.

This means from a half hour to an hour of individual attention.First you soak your feet. Then you are given a vigorous exfoliation, where any calouses are filed down. A cream is applied. Your nails are cut, if needed, and cleaned and painted, with a design drawn on, if you like.

When all this is done, your feet are soft and pretty.

Now I am originally a shy person, although I've come out of my shell a lot since I grew up. But I still have attacks of shyness. For me to have someone else working on my feet was embarrassing. It was as if I had a slave! Like Peter, when he saw Jesus washing the other disciple's feet, he felt it put Jesus below him, in the place of a servant. After years of living here in the DR, I still had never "had my feet done." I was just too embarrassed! But recently I resolved that I must, because my ugly American feet just don't fit in here! (Not ugly in the US, but ugly by comparison with the pretty Dominican feet that surround me.) So I told the lady at the salon nearby, that when she was bored with nothing to do, to call me over, and she could do my feet.

She called me over in the afternoon. Now here I am, not exactly knowing how this works, and what do I find? A group of five men were in the salon, just hanging out and talking, while I was to have my first foot session ever. I was horrified. Nevertheless, I knew that to them, this was nothing; just something in their normal routine; even men have their feet cared for, although they paint the nails with clear polish if at all.

About a half hour later, I walked out with soft, pretty feet. This is a new part of this Dominican Life for me!

Friends & neighbors

This is an area where the Dominican Republic excels. In the US, you can live next door to someone for 20 years, and not know them. Here, well at least in the lower middle class neighborhood, and the poor areas, we all need each other, and we all depend on each other. You will get to know almost everyone in a short time. This makes for some great friendships.

Neighbor women will send over a serving of the special meal they made, and of course, the favor is returned from time to time.

Neighbor men are happy to help you move that heavy box from one room to the other. (Being a single woman, I try to make intentions very clear, and ask this favor while their wife is over for a visit.)

This week I had some interior house-painting to do. I was able to borrow the paint scraper from one neighbor, and the roller from another. And they know that I have tools likewise at their service. Of course there is a caveat; you get to know who can be trusted to return things in good condition, and who never gets around to it, or returns it in bad shape, just as in any part of the world.

When you need to get some place on time, be sure to allow a little extra, for if you run into an old acquaintance, or a recent one, you will want to stop and talk for a few minutes.

If you have an issue with the phone company, you can see which of your neighbors has a relative working there. And you will share your "wealth" of connections as well, with those you trust.

Neighbors here just naturally watch out for each other. At the apt. I used to live in, I heard about 8 shots one night, about 3AM. I got up and told my visitor to stay away from the windows. She went back to bed and so did I. The next day, I asked my landlady what the shooting was about. "Oh," she said, "The guy across the street saw a burglar coming up your stairs. He asked him if he knew you, and the guy took off running." Here's a neighbor that will even shoot at your burglars!

People still talk to each other here. You can get on a bus or in a public car, and strike up a conversation with your fellow passengers, or the driver of the car. They will be happy to share their views on religion and politics; two topics almost forbidden in the US.

There is a wonderful freedom of speech here, and you are not required to be PC. Just be friendly. That's an important part of this Dominican Life.

It's raining in my bathroom

Yes, once again, water is dripping from my ceiling. Now if I were not on the first floor with two floors above me, I might think of this as just the heavy rains filtering through the cement ceiling. That's very common here.

I was going to start painting some of my inside walls tomorrow, but now I'm thinking maybe I should wait. You have to let them dry out for a month or longer, once they've have water filtration problems. I had waited and waited, and now, just when it was time--gotta reset the clock for the bathroom and the bedroom next to it. And I'm not sure that filtration is not going to hit the other rooms as it did last time. At least this time the leak is much slower.

Other things that have happened in this apt.: The light fixture no longer works in one bedroom. I use that room as a storage room, so mostly I visit it during the day. Since I moved here, I have only turned on that light a few times, probably. Still, occasionally I need to look for something there after dark, and it is rather inconvenient to have to use a flashlight.

In the kitchen, behind the stove, the water pipes that were installed were used pvc in not so good shape. Friday, I noticed that the little rug I stand on to wash the dishes was soaked. Water is dripping from the pipes, running down the crack between the tiles, and passing under the stove.

I've decided not to repaint the whole apt., even though the recent paint job has been ruined in every single room. The reason for this is that I'm not confident it will last. Instead, I'm painting the parts that are the worst looking. Like the wall in my living room that has blue paint showing up in large blobs, up to two feet long, on a cream colored wall. This is where the paint peeled off due to um....hard to say. No preparation of the wall before painting. Using the cheapest paint possible. Watering down the paint to the point is is practically whitewash. Very high indoor humidity due to the previous plumbing problems. Pick one or more or add another. All I know is that it looks kind of bad.

Here, you cannot just call up your landlord to fix things. Once you are in the place you are pretty much on your own, except for external issues. (That does mean that they should fix the rain in the bathroom, though, since its source is external.) When you rent an apt., you usually sign a lease that says you have received it in good condition. Of course, you cannot get the apt. at all, if you refuse to sign it. There are verbal agreements made at the time. "We will fix this or that." Some landlords are honest, and will keep their word, although perhaps not as quickly as one would like.

Others will simply refuse to do anything. Dominican law, however, does support tenant's rights pretty well in some ways. And if the owner won't take care of something that is clearly their obligation to repair, such as a leaky roof, for instance, you can deposit the rent in a special bank account in a certain bank, and withhold it until the repairs are done.

There are also rent controls, that prevent the owners from raising the rent exorbitantly from year to year. Once your lease is up they can "ask for the house," giving you an excuse that Uncle Joe is coming back to the country and needs it to live in, and then once you are gone, re-rent it at a much higher price. But they cannot get that price from you, even though your contract expired after a year. If they want to keep you as a tenant (and they always want to keep me, because I pay the rent on time and even improve the place) then they keep the rent within the legal limits and Uncle Joe stays in NY.

But then, what do you want for $210USD for a large 3BR 2 bath apt? You get low rent in lower middle class areas. The annoying leaks and electrical problems come with that. It's all a part of this Dominican Life.

The reality of poverty

Yesterday I was shown a small building that had been abandoned. Any time you abandon a building, be it a house, or any other, the process of destruction begins. First sinks, toilets, and windows are removed, along with anything else of value that could be used in someone else's house. Then it becomes one giant bathroom, for every male that passes by. Drug addicts begin to use it as a place to stay. The spray paint comes out and vulgarities appear on the outside. Curiously, inside this one were painted pictures, also vulgarities,but painted with obvious artistic talent.

As we drove up, a woman came up to meet us. She is a squatter who lives in a tiny room in the abandoned property. She is a drug addict. Her six year old deaf son was tagging along with her. I "talked" to him a bit with sort of a home sign. He was responsive and bright. He doesn't go to school, and chances are he never will, so eventually that intelligence will be dimmed, as he suffers from extreme language deprivation

The mom said that she didn't have the money to send him to school. I'm sure that is true, since any money she gets she needs to feed her habit, and probably her income is tiny. I told her about the school, that she should bring her son over, knowing at the same time that it's unlikely she'll ever come.

Here, it isn't just a matter of reporting the situation to social services.

It's just a part of this Dominican Life.

Working in the Dominican Republic

Some of the things provided by the labor laws here that are different:

• An extra month's salary at Christmas--that is, workers get double pay that month.
• Six weeks before a baby's birth and six weeks after the baby's birth a woman gets paid leave.
• A worker gets three days paid leave upon the death of a parent, sibling, offspring, spouse, or grandparent.
• You get five days paid leave when you get married.
• A man gets two days paid leave when his wife or companion gives birth.
• Severence pay is huge. It accumulates from year to year, but is always based on the salary paid in the last year of work.
  
• A person gets 14 vacation days a year for the first five years, then four more after that.
• There are about a dozen paid holidays during the year.

There are a wide variety of minimum wages, depending on who the employer is and the type of work it is, rather than just one minimum for everyone.

The employees of a profit-making company share something like 10% of the profits. I'm not sure of the exact amount.

Despite these additions to the regular salaries, wages remain very low for the majority.

Blackouts & phones

We have daily blackouts here. It's helpful when you can track them, and more or less predict them. Sometimes they get into a rhythm. But now and then, they become unpredictable, and that makes for more difficulty. One thing I'm thankful for is that this area usually has electricity from 11:00 or 12:00 at night to about 7:00 in the morning. That allows for fans, which not only help keep you cool, but to keep the mosquitoes off too. The rest of the day has been rather unpredictable.

Right now the blackouts in this area are usually coming twice a day, and total about 12 hours out of each 24 hour period. That is more than usual. I think the norm is more like 8 hours a day. There is probably some major problem like several plants are shut down. That happens from time to time.

A note on phone service. It's bad. Customer service in both of the phone companies I've used has been dismal. Apart from that, there are other problems. When my phone was installed, a couple of weeks ago, it rang almost right away. It was a bill collector. It seems the person who previously had my number owes money to a number of banks, mainly with visa cards. Daily I receive recorded reminders from the banks that Sandra X's account is overdue and would she please pay it. I asked the phone company if there is any delay time between reassigning a number. Their response was that it could be a day, a month, or a year, before the number is reassigned. There isn't any requirement. I have two choices: get a new number, for which they will charge me about $15--and it will have no guarantee not to have the same problem--or call the banks and ask them to stop calling. They have no way to block the numbers, according to their rep.

I had already called the banks. They both assured me they would take care of it, but I could tell that they were suspicious that maybe I really was Sandra, and was lying to them. I received a call from a person asking for the Sandra soon after reporting to the bank. I suspect the bank was trying to catch her (or me) in a lie! At any rate, I just began speaking English with them to convince them that I really am not Sandra, but an American.

It's all just part of this Dominican life.

Pizza, other foods, and water

Dominican pizza...notice anything different from its US counterpart? It is sprinkled with corn. And it's quite good that way. Try it sometime!


Grocery stores
If you are in the capital, or another large city, you will find grocery stores pretty similar to the ones in the US.

There is less convenience food, which is probably not a bad thing. There is one thing you have to do when shopping that you cannot do in the US. You must open some of the containers. For example, if you don't open the mayo jar to be sure it still has its contents well sealed within, you may find out at home, that you have just bought a jar of mayo that is spoiled. This has happened to me more than once, but still, it's easy for me to forget. I did it again just last week. And I also bought some of the potato chips which come in the long tube-can, and found they had been opened and sampled. Sometimes you can get your money back, but sometimes they won't give it to you, because maybe you spoiled it yourself through lack of refrigeration--how can they know for sure? You will not be reprimanded for this checking under the lid, even if you do it in front of store personnel, because they know it is necessary.

Eating healthy is the best buy, as it is all over the world. There are lots of fresh fruits and veggies. Supermarkets have them, but if you go to a local outside stand, you will probably get them fresher and for less money. I can go to the guy on the corner and ask for 30¢(usd) of cabbage. He'll even slice it thin enough for cole slaw in the bargain. Or I can ask for 60¢ of "salad." He'll point to different things, tomatoes, lettuce, etc., asking what should be included in the salad, and he'll make it up right there.

When I get home, I will soak any lettuce or cabbage in a mild solution of bleach and water, to avoid any problems with parasites. I generally don't eat salads out, because I have no way of knowing if they've been adequately cleaned. Some people are less fussy than I am, and just rinse them with clean water.

By the way, being served impure water is no longer an issue, as far as I can see. Twenty years ago a lot of people drank tap water, which is not suitable for drinking here. But these days, virtually everyone buys their water, and use that water for ice as well.

There are two main ways to get your drinking water. You can buy it at a corner store, usually within a block or two of your house. If you call the store, they will send out a motorcycle with your purchase of water, and/or anything else. You swap them your empty container for a full one. Since these are water cooler size--5 gallons, it's better to have them bring it over. They will put it right in your kitchen.

The second way is to buy it from little tanker trucks that go around the neighborhood honking their horns. You take your container out, and they fill it for you. That's the method I use. Everyone has an opinion on water, which brand is clean, which isn't, but I've never had a problem. Oh, and on the street, at traffic lights, you can buy a 30¢ bottle of water, or a 6-8¢ plastic envelope of water. Just tear off the corner and suck out all the water.

I do prefer to buy my meat at the grocery, since at the outdoor butcher shops, the meats are often subject to swarms of flies. Mind you, I don't see what happens indoors at the supermarket, so I take it on faith they have less of that! I've noticed one brand of chicken that consistently gives you less than you pay for. The company puts a sponge like paper under the chicken and makes sure it is full of water. Then they package it, and weigh it in the package. So you are paying for the packaging, the extra water weight, and less chicken than you had hoped. A Dominican friend of mine who moved to the states complained about our chicken. She said the pieces were too big and the flavor different. Dominican chickens are usually a lot bonier than ours, that's for sure. Seems it is a matter of what you are used to as to which you prefer.

Some stores, including my favorite grocery store, have "scribblers." That is what I call the guy that scribbles on your receipt as you go out the door. Another thing you won't find in the US, is that you may hear worship music being played over the store's sound system as you shop. That's a nice touch.

Cold water

This Dominican life includes cold water. Deliciously cold showers after a hot day, or in the event there is not water left in the rooftop tank, deliciously cold bucket baths.

The tank on the roof is black, so you would think it would warm up the water. It probably does take a bit of the edge off, but only the very hottest days, and when the tank is nearly empty, do you get warm water. And if it's that hot, you actually look forward to the cold water.

I have my own solar water heater for when I want warm-hot water, usually in the morning. It consists of a small black tub. I fill it about half full, cover it with clear plastic, and set in the sun for a few hours. The water will get so hot that I must dilute it with cold water so as not to burn myself!

At other times, I have been known to heat a small pot of water on the gas stove, just to take the edge off for morning bath.

Here it is common to take many showers a day. You of course take one before you sleep and when you wake up. You also take one before you go anywhere and when you get home from anywhere. And it is a good idea to take a shower just after the sun goes down, so that the whole evening you feel cooler.