I know its been a long while, I hope no one is worrying. Today I luckily caught a ride down our mountain so that I could get to a computer to let you know I’m OK and BUSIER than ever. This past September I completed one year in country! I never think of it as “One year to go”!! Its not like that. The truth is, my time here feels like one month. As I said before, my service is happening all TOO quickly. I try to take pleasure in it and thank God for everyday with my Dominican family, friends and the work. I don’t like to think that this ride is coming to an end. Last week I was on a bus from Nagua coming into the capitol and having a conversation about life with a Peace Corps friend of mine Daniela and we both agreed, unquestionably it will be tough going back to the United States with any other job because this job has set the bar too high. I cant imagine loving another job more than what I’m doing right now. Its so true what they say “its the toughest job you’ll ever love.”

I spent a few days in Nagua presenting reproductive health practices of Dominican women in rural areas to the new group of health trainees. It was a nice change to get out of my site, see the beach, and to visit again the family that had hosted me during my training. The new group of health trainees are a diverse group, all of them extremely qualified with amazing experiences in development and health. It makes me proud to know that I’m serving among such a qualified group of Americans. Nagua is beautiful, the sun, the ocean etc… .The second morning I had some time to kill so I went to visit a place called “blue water”, a swimming pool that formed naturally from rock with spring water that is clear as glass, I have never seen water that clear. A hidden treasure! 

So what’s news? They told me I was on the TV news here in the Dominican Republic, even though I didn’t see it.  The birth certificate project came to a close last Friday. My friend Jessica and I passed out 85 birth certificates to little kids. ( Jessica is a business volunteer that I’m so glad to be living and sharing a lot of experiences with her). The press was there because the problem of declaration is a hot topic in the country also the DGDC, the government organization that helped us pay for the project and the PC were looking for a little promotion. I was disappointment there wasn’t enough press given to the community health promoters of FUSABI the group of women who in my opinion did everything. I tried to call attention to them during the activity but despite my efforts, the headline was Peace Corps and DGDC (no mention of the health promoters). That’s alright… they know, I know, and the families know who really deserves credit! The families also received, free gifts i.e., rations of food, mosquito nets, (dengue epidemic in this country) lots of condoms and of course some toys for the kids. But even with all of the things I had no control of and would do differently next time, 85 little kids are now declared “Dominicans” and all is well.

The stove project is wrapping up. We built stoves for 53 young families who were in need. I think it went well considering it was the first time I have ever organized a project or was responsible for a budget that big. I learned a lot, I would change a lot of things and do things very differently if I had to do it again. And that’s why I will be very busy in the next week documenting how went the 2 projects and documenting the things I would change for the next volunteer that comes along. I have some great photos of Dominican women building stoves for families, I have decided to bring a few sacs of the clay home with me to build myself a Lorena (fogon) stove when I return.

I started doing weekly health classes in the high school, I’m working mostly with the freshman and sophomore (I was so terrified at first to work with such a big group of kids) but its really going well, the youth are awesome, its interesting… I try never to preach too long, I try more instead to do fun (dinamicas) or activities with the kids to reinforce the theme of the week. I cant imagine boring the youth for the 30 minute class. However the teacher in the class seems to think they listen and pay more attention to me. The kids are dynamic and have great personalities, and I think a lot of them are getting some information they might have never gotten. At first the school was opposed to me speaking about topics like birth control methods for example…however the secretary of education and now the director of the school agree it is their right to know and not only encourage me but have offered full support. The secretary of education is really pushing the teachers in this country to include in the curriculum more of the themes that I touch on because of the high rates of teenage pregnancy and the growing HIV rates. I’m not preaching HAVE SEX, actually its quite the opposite I spend most of my time talking about abstinence. These kids have a right to know how to prevent pregnancy or avoid an illness. Its isn’t fair just last week a 13 year old gave birth in my community and if you think that it is shocking or uncommon your wrong. Everyday  in these campos 13 to 15 year olds are “marrying” I pan on dedicating a lot of time next year to these initiatives.

On Monday, a little friend of my host sister Kati, Eunice is her name, 13 years old decided to get married (interpretation: have sex and live with her boyfriend)last week with a man who is 30. My frustration is I can do nothing! This culture doest allow it. Anyway, I don’t think I need to say anything, everyone knows its wrong, however nothing will be done. I pray God someone told her to use a method of birth control, maybe her 30 year old husband. Through Eunice, I see the power the socioeconomic situation or the social injustice has on the spread of AIDS and teenage pregnancy in the world.  Look at Eunice… here is a little girl who lives with an alcoholic father (who cant find a job because there are none), her mother was forced to leave her and her 2 little sisters 2 years ago to clean a house in Jarabacoa so that the family has some sort of income. Miserable and desperate Eunice decided to escape her life, escape from her authoritarian father to go and live with a man (who doesn’t have a job either) that took a great interest in her about a year ago when she was 12. She thinks her life will be better…If Eunice contracts a sexually transmitted infection or becomes pregnant, the reason isn’t because she was this promiscuous 13 year old, that was careless. Her situation is more complex than that. I will be keeping my eye on her from a far. She wasn’t in school this week, they tell me because she still embarrassed, but she will be back next week once the smoke clears.

Other than that, everyone is doing well here in Angostura, (Gracias a Dios). Christina had a thyroidectomy in August and she’s been recovering from that. She decided to spend money she doesn’t have on the surgery in a private clinic to avoid being butchered in the public hospital and she was still butchered, in my opinion. I went with her to the private clinic however the surgeon wouldn’t let me accompany her into the operating room, so  I waited outside with Sensa. To make a long story short, there were a lot of complications I felt the doctor was incompetent, he had to operate twice for lots of bleeding… After the surgery they put her in a recovery room and not even so much as measured a blood pressure. I had to go out and ask the nurse if she was planning to measure a blood pressure at any point in the day? I find that so many people here have been approaching me lately and asking me to be with them when they go to have their babies or have a surgery. Even though they know I’m not a doctor they know I’m educated and I know what quality care is. Although the standards of quality exist in this country, they are written, they are not followed.

My goddaughter Anali is getting so big, she crawls now and I love that she knows me. Every time she sees me I say HELLO! I only speak English with Anali. She smiles, drools and laughs, she’s teething and I plan to be the first to find her first tooth. I explained to my family here, in my tradition back home, the first person to find the first tooth of a baby has to buy the first pair of shoes. Marina (Analis mom ) explained Dominicans have the same tradition but only here you have to buy a chicken. If I find Analis ´first tooth she’s getting a chicken and a new pair of shoes.

Looks like Ill be coming home this month. My mom bought me a ticket. Ill be in the states from the 23^rd  until the 30^th. I hope to see everyone!