networking

Since getting back from the states, I've had some cool opportunities to network with other missionaries and organizations.

A few weeks ago I spent a day with the head of the agriculture office here in Jarabacoa. I was frustrated by the day, because I got the impression that he wanted to show me around not so much for professional purposes, but because he wanted to spend the day with a single, american girl. Although that was frustrating, I did get a call from him today letting me know that they got a bunch of seeds in that are available to farmers in Los Higos for free, so hopefully some doors have been opened.

Last weekend, I went with another missionary (who is also working in agriculture in a different part of the country) to Los Dejaos so I could see a fuel efficient stove. While there we met several other people who had gone to visit this same family-- they included a man who worked for USAID, the owner of Jarabacoa River Club, and the woman in charge of the Falcon Bridge Foundation in the country. The Falcon Bridge lady told me that the next day they were bringing several eye surgeons to Jarabacoa to do free operations. I asked her if there were still appointments available, because a boy in Los Higos needs catarac surgury. She told me to bring him in. When I did, the doctors decided they couldn't do the operation there, because they needed an anestesiologist, but the foundation agreed to pay for the young man to have surgury next month in the capital!

Finally, I've been trying to find some folks who know something about rabbits. In the process of following different leads, I've gotten to meet people who work for Plan Codillera (a catholic group), who are so helpful, and eventually that led me to the neighbors with the Lorena stove (and they have a peacock and rabbits).

So, all this networking has been fun and I pray that it will help advance the kingdom as new doors open through these relationships.

lorena stove

So, now that I'm all excited about fuel-efficient stoves, I'm noticing them where I'd never seen them before. This isn't the best picture, but it's a very old 'Lorena' stove that we saw while visiting someone in Hatillo. The firewood enters in one end, and there is a chimney in the opposite, although it's not visible in this photo. So, the stove uses less firewood, because there's just one fire for three pots, and there's no smoke, because of the chimney.

This stove is really old. The guy who showed it to us was probably in his mid-twenties and said he doesn't remember a time when they didn't have it. So, I find myself wondering how it is that this type of stove hasn't caught on if they've been around for so long... I need to investigate this.

A fresh start

When I got back from the states, I was expecting to find a big, weedy mess in the garden. Thankfully, that wasn't the case. However, most of our raised beds were destroyed by rain and an ambitious man weeding with a hoe.

What was nice, though, was the idea of a new start-- most of our old work was gone, we can start anew.

And I've felt since I've come back that I am starting fresh for the most part. I've decided to make some changes in my work at the ag site, so that I can be more focused. I've decided to not continue gardening with children in the mornings, and only garden with Andre's afternoon club. The truth is that I dreaded working with them in the morning and I know I was doing them a disservice by continuing to do so.

I've decided to try to implement an experimental garden on the land surrounding where the afternoon club has their beds. An experimental garden probably looks a lot like a demonstration garden, but the concept is quite different. A demonstration garden comes from the perspective that I know what I'm doing and what I'm doing works. However, if something fails, I lose people's trust-- they assume that you do not know what I'm doing. Instead, I'm planning an experimental area, where I can try out new ideas that may have worked elsewhere to see if they were here, in this climate and culture. If it works, I can suggest it to farmers. If it doesn't work, no one has really lost anything. (The picture doesn't have that much to do with all this, but it's a pic of Yulisa drawing out a map of the garden, which we are using in planning).

I'm also hoping to work more with women in the afternoons. I already have a bible study with some teenage girls and a knitting class. I've talked with some women about forming a committee that could help me plan classes, workshops, and other events that would benefit women of the community. The women I've talked to are already talking a lot about sewing classes and have come up with some cool ideas- like parenting or marriage workshops.

Carmen's house

About a year ago I asked Carmen if we could have supper at her home with some professors that were visiting the mission. She said, 'sorry, but no', because she was too embarassed to have visitors over. If it were to begin to rain, she's be embarassed by all the rain that would come dripping through the roof. Her family was in the process of building a new house- laying block walls around the old ones, and were planning to push the old house in once the new one was constructed over the top. In this way, they could utilize the old floor and interior walls.

A few days ago I stopped in to see Carmen and her family. I didn't notice at first, because we were sitting out in the yard, but Carmen pointed out that her house has been finished! The walls still need empañete (when they smooth cement over it) and paint, but they're so happy to have a roof that doesn't leak.

Carmen said that she gives thanks to God for giving her such a good husband, who sacrificed to finish the house. She said that he does have his faults (he is an alcoholic), but she's thankful that at least he was able to do this for their family.

I've often wonderred about Carmen's marriage. She and her husband have been together for many years. She believes that he will always be an alcoholic. She says that he really is a good man, and when he's drinking he's not himself. Sometimes I wonder if this is a good or bad thing. It's amazing that she has learned to love a person, accepting all his faults. Yet, it's sad that she has had to accept something that has been damaging to her and her family and in some ways it seems that in accepting it, she has lost hope that the situation will ever changing.

The picture above shows Titi, Carmen's granddaughter, in front of the house.

cooking fires

While I was ECHO I learned about the need for fuel-efficient stoves. When people cook over a fire it's bad for their health (breathing all the smoke) and bad for the environment (cutting down lots of trees). If a person uses a better designed stove, however, they can use less wood and produce less smoke.

I've noticed that this is a problem in Los Higos. Most people in LH do own gas stoves, but don't use them, because gas is expensive. Also, fires work better when cooking large amounts of food. Lots of women, especially those who make casabe, complain that their eyesight has been destroyed by years of getting smoke in them. A lot of women also complain of lung problems, although I don't know if that is at a higher level than among people who don't cook over fires.

So, I've been thinking about how we might be able to help women redesign their fire pits, so that their fire might burn cleaner, producing less smoke, or with a chimney, to divert the smoke. I'm still thinking about what the best way might be to go about this. I want this to be something that is owned by the women, not something I push onto them.

Any ideas?

(The photo above is of Mina and Iris in their kitchen. Mina invented this little buren, for cooking casabe, when her old one broke. This buren is made from the bottom of an old 55-gallon drum.)

Cecilia's baby

Here is a more recent picture of Cecilias baby, named Natanael. He is about 5 months old now and is quite the chunk! In this picture, Iris, is holding him. There is a picture of Natanael when he was first born back in the month of April's posts.

Back in Los Higos

I'm back in the DR and visited Los Higos for the first time today. A lot happened while I was gone and I think it will take a while for me to get really caught up.
One exciting thing- while I was gone they has a large evangelistic campaign in Los Higos and several people accepted Christ (about 50!). I know that Jose Quezada was included in those fifty, which is so exciting. He has a lot of influence in the community, so let's be praying that God would use him in positive ways. Another man, Augustin, was touched. He used to belong to a different church and actually tended to speak badly about us when we weren't around. Now, however, he is attending our church! I'm not excited that he switched churches necessarily, but rather that he had a change of heart. I'll post some pictures from the campaign if I can get some from Andre.
Because there are so many people becoming involved in the church, Andre decided to stop holding the Monday night Bible teaching (which I led) and replace it with five smaller cell groups. I'm really thankful for that. I've never felt that comfortable teaching the Monday night studies, so now we'll just meet with the cell-group leaders to prepare them for their cell group, which I think will be more comfortable for me.
On a sad note- a young man from Los Higos was murdered last week by a total stranger. He drives a motorcycle taxi and gave a girl home. It was a trap and he got beat up, stabbed, robbed, and thrown in a field. The community is really shook up about it. The funeral is tomorrow.
On Thursday the police were going to move the murder suspect to a different jail, so a mob from Los Higos and La Joya (the town the murderer is from) waited outside the police station with guns and baseball bats, waiting for the suspect to come out so they could kill him. The police protected him when they led him to the vehicle and the suspect was not harmed. The mob was saying that they don't trust that the justice system will actually punish the man, so they were going to do justice themselves. Meri was on TV, from what I hear, representing the Los Higos junta de vecinos at the mob.