When I received my site assignment packet, I had no idea where Pedro Santana, Elias Pina was. I frantically flipped through to the map which barely helped to orient me as it was a detailed image of the region. I looked at it for a few seconds before I blurted out, “Is that gray side Haiti”. Pedro Santana is a border town and by first glance, looks to be in Haiti rather than the Dominican Republic. I read on to find that I will be living in a campo of 19 houses outside of Pedro Santana and working with a large development NGO on a binational reforestation project. I took a couple deep breaths and shined a smile to my program director. This should be an interesting two years.
The next day, we met our project partners and set out to visit our sites. After a six hour ride on progressively under maintained roads, we reached Pedro Santana, the poorest pueblo in the Dominican Republic. I was surprised by the quiet streets and clean sidewalks, this is where I will be working and eventually living. Our truck continued up a rough dirt road for fifteen minutes that seemed to last forever when my project partner dropped me off in a campo of nineteen houses, no cell phone service, and no public transportation. I was greeted by an elderly couple who told me they were very poor and kindly asked if I would like chocolate water. I smiled and told them in my still imperfect Spanish that I was happy to be there and thanked them for their hospitality. The Peace Corps recommends that we live with a family for the first three months of our service before moving onto our own but because of safety and logistics, I may move closer to Pedro Santana sooner than three months.
The five day visit was filled with views of the Haitian hills, questions about how to bathe, where I will fit in the NGO, Intstituto Dominicano de Desarrollo Inc., and sitting silently with interested neighbors. I admit that I cried on the phone to my mom, read half a book curled up in my tiny dark room, and questioned my judgment in joining the Peace Corps and my program director’s judgment in placing me here. The visit finished with a fiesta in the capital of our province and a short night in a vacated building before catching a 3:00AM bus to Santo Domingo. We swear in today and move to our site this Friday. I am excited to become accustomed to the very new life I been given. Frontera here I come!
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
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