Hi guys! It's well after midnight on Friday/Saturday as I sit here and type. We have had a busy Friday. It started off per usual with a pre-breakfast meeting to go over unfinished business and then it was on the road. We had to change money at a Western Union and buy our bus tickets to Haiti. Our original plans to drive the southwestern route to the frontier did not materialize because our Santo Domingo host Harold Mateo just started a new job less than 2 weeks ago so he cannot take time off to drive us as he wished. To hire a private driver and pay the equivalent of $6 per gallon for gas was not practical (over $800!) so we opted for the Caribe Tour Bus at $40 per ticket and an additional $26 for customs/taxes. That we could afford.
For those of us who are not geography majors, the Dominican Republic shares the island of Hispañiola with Haiti. The Dominican Republic is twice the size of its neighbor with some of the loveliest beaches in the world. Tomorrow we are heading to Boca Chica's beaches so Maryna and Samantha can have some R&R in the sun and surf and I can work the strand talking to youth. I actually prefer working to relaxing unless I am at the movies or at the beach in Norfolk watching my dog Jazz play in the ocean. The last time I was in Boca Chica years ago, I ran into groups of teen hustlers, both girls and boys, trying to make a living selling their bodies. For a momentary gain; ironically, many would pay the ultimate sacrifice. It might sound crazy to my American readers but street prostitution is considered a viable occupation by many impoverished young people with no chance at any other paying job.
You can read the history of the D.R. on wikipedia but it was long a colony of Spain and once was invaded by 23,000 U.S. troops under President Lyndon Johnson in a questionable use of American power to prevent an unfriendly government from taking control. Before that event, we actually supported the longstanding dictator Rafael Trujillo until CIA trained agents assassinated him when his brutality and corruption made him an embarrassment to Washington. Ever wonder why Hollywood action spy thrillers take their story ideas from the news headlines? Reality is usually stranger than fiction.
The D.R. is relatively peaceful now -- most of its income is derived from tourists. Every citizen is cognizant of that dynamic. So now, when the cholera epidemic is spreading throughout Hispañiola, it is not surprising that the government is downplaying the epidemic. The medical community is complaining but el Presidente and cabinet are preventing the truth from being told to avoid a tourism collapse. So we avoid tap water, use hand sanitizers and wash our fruit. In Haiti, I hear the cholera is worse.
As I sit here alone (Maryna, Samantha, Georgina and Harold are out nightclubbing), I can hear partying outside. Heck, it's Friday night after all. Why Latin love songs have such a strong emotional tug on me is not clear but no matter how schmaltzy and pedestrian, it brings sadness and happy feelings at the same time... does that happen to you when you hear a particular genre?
Our mission marches on. We visited two schools today. A UASD student Cristina whom we had invited to join us a few days ago while on her campus, volunteered her time before her evening job. She translated and helped immensely at a Catholic school that allowed us entry before classes started. We reached about 200 kids outside and inside -- until La Directores showed up late from lunch (also a happy hour evidently). When she heard we wanted to talk to her students about "SIDA," it was a no go. But before her nyet, we were able to get the word out… (to be continued)
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