I imagine one could assume a lot of things from not having heard from me in four months. I can assure you that my absence has only meant extreme business and trying to take advantage every last bit of time I have left here. I have had so many experiences since January that, naturally, I can only think of what has happened in the past couple of weeks.
Last week, some thieves slaughtered ten cows, raised near to the batey, took all of the “good parts,” and left the rest of the cows to rot. Lucky for our community, the cows were prime for scavenging. Women and children ran with buckets to collect any meat they could get their hands on. I saw cows' heads, hearts, eyes, intestines, everything. The worst part was watching them clean the meat. I saw one woman and her grandchildren cleaning out the intestines in a still water lake—the same lake people fish from and wash clothes in. It is so difficult to be hygienic with a lack of water (let alone clean water).
By last spring, I had witnessed some extreme happenings in the batey such as rape and child death by malnutrition. This year I have seen the less dramatic side of poverty. I have seen people forced into hard choices, precisely from a lack of choice. And yet it's not dramatic, sad, or unusual for them. It is simply expected. One of my students this year, Mariana, 12, has recently left the batey. She arrived last year from Haiti with no Spanish at all. She already knew how to read in creole, but I remember struggling with her to learn Spanish vocabulary. This year she has been in my art course and I have enjoyed seeing her explore her creativity and getting to know her quirks. Two weeks ago I thought it was strange when I hadn't seen her in a while—she never missed class! Her little sister came, on Mariana's orders, to tell me that she had left the batey. Her uncle called her mother and told her he needed someone to take care of his young children. So she left fourth grade and went to the other side of the country to live with her uncle (who I'm not sure she knows) and take care of his family.
Even after my time here, it's easy to blame the mother. Why did she let her go?? But she has five other young children in her house to take care of. Knowing that one of her daughters will be provided for somewhere else is probably a relief. It is hard for me to not assume the worst of this situation. One, she is no longer in school, which is certainly a bad thing, especially for such a smart girl excited about school. Second of all, I have only heard bad things of young girls going to work for (male) relatives, especially because it seems like she will be the only “woman” in the house. This is the sort of thing that happens all of the time. The poverty in the batey is not always so evident when you see that many have cell phones and televisions. When visitors come to see the batey, they say things like, “The kids are so happy!” and “Poverty is all they know, so they are happy with it!” It is obviously more complicated than that. The poverty of choice here—watching kids forced by their circumstances to settle for less than their potential—is crushing.
On non-batey news, we had the opportunity last weekend to visit an American religious missioner on the Haitian border (Hondo Valle). It was interesting to see rural border life. We escaped the concrete and blaring noise of our neighborhood to go to a friendly, sleepy town. I experienced being on the WORST road in my life—far worse than I even saw in Haiti. Even more amazing than the fact that a car (well, truck) could pass through that road is the fact that we saw people walking on that road, who we were told walked for hours and hours between Haiti and the Dominican Republic to buy and sell wares.
Even more interesting was the chance to learn from the religious sister, Jane, who had been living and ministering there for thirty years. She had a refreshing approach of seeing what the community wanted to achieve and working to help them facilitate their own empowerment and development. Our community often seems to depend so much on our services, and it was nice to know that there are projects that help a community stand on its own two feet, without the direct dependence or direction of foreigners. I would love to be involved in a project like this some day.
Speaking of some day, I only have two and a half months left here. More and more I have felt ready to end my time here and go back to school, but I am also realizing how big of a change this will be. I will be saying goodbye to a country, a job, a community, and friends who I have seen every day (almost every hour) for the past two years. It will be sad to say goodbye, and scary to move back to the states, because I know that I would love to continue international work. But in the meantime, I will be studying education to be better-equipped for international development work in the future. In the next week, I have to choose between two urban education programs, one in Boston and the other in Chicago. Both programs are wonderful opportunities and I am excited about them both. The only con about either program is missing out on the other. You will know as soon as I know. Please pray that I can come to a decision!!
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