I'm Going to Miss It!

Help a Family Get a Water Filter

If you would like to donate to the project described below, please follow these steps:

1) Send a check of any amount (every $20 helps one family obtain a filter) to:

Propagation of the Faith
905 Park Avenue
Falls Church, VA 22046

2) Include a note saying, "This donation is for the Water Filtration Project in Pedro Santana, Dominican Republic."

3) Email me at jasminewcarver@gmail.com letting me know how much you donated and if you feel comfortable, a mailing address where we can send a thank you card. Knowing the dollar amount will help us order the filters sooner.

Because I am not able to receive money directly as a Peace Corps volunteer, the donations will be handled by the Catholic Church in Virginia connected to my community. All contributions be used exclusively for this project. The community will provide transportation, labor, and any other costs to allow us to buy more filters. Thank you so much and please let me know if you have any questions!

Clean Water for Peace: A Busted Idea

Maybe the little white girl (my dignified town name) has the hook up! She clearly has connections with water filters and probably has a palace filled with water treatment equipment and jewels. Someone could be holding out on us!

I have done a very small water filter project which has both heightened town interest in treating water and made me the target for the question ‘When can you get me one?’. While pretty paper crowns are likely the closest I will ever come to royalty, they are kind of right. I do have the hook up! I am from America the great where $20 funds two trips to our favorite cafe. I have my valuable Peace Corps pile of contacts and information. I can afford to travel to the closest city to check out carbon household filters. I can probably sweet talk or rather, beg the church, for free transportation of filters.

The Diocese of San Juan is selling filters for $1,000 pesos ($28 US).
This was my plan:

1) Ask you all for money and even try to sell you art for donation.

2) Work with the Catholic church to buy as many filters as we can to lower the price to $300 pesos (a value that we have deemed reasonable but not cheap). The calculation would be $X US/ $20 US = Number of filters. I was hoping for $1,000 US providing for 50 filters.

3) Invite the families who we see as appropriate beneficiaries to a class on basic health and the method and care of carbon filters. They would be able to purchase their filters upon completion of this class.

Busted! The only way I can ask for contributions is through a slow and unpredictable grant process for which I no longer qualify. I am too late in service to write a proposal and there is no other Peace Corps approved way for asking for donations. However, I do not want to leave without finding funds to lower the price of these filters.

There are many families that do not have enough money to buy purified water. They receive the river water, contaminated with cholera among many other parasites, and use this to cook with and boil it for drinking water. Diarrhea is an accepted public conversation topic for a reason. I feel confident to say that household water filters improve the quality of life and health of families more than anything else for the small cost. There are many people who would rather have a filter than a cement floor. There may still be sources that I have not explored. I am going to see if there is a way to ask you for donations through the church which is adopted by one in Virginia. I think the only stipulation would be that I could not receive or touch the money. Asking for funds from friends and family is not my favorite but it is a small price to pay. Everyone hates to ask for money but everyone loves clean water!

A picture note: I drew this picture looking at a photo taken by a returned Peace Corps volunteer, Amy Martin.

A Morning to Remember

Almost two years ago, I was exploring my town on a morning run. As I rounded a corner, I saw two guard dogs looking scary. I froze, averted my eyes and started slowly backing up (because showing fear and moving just felt so right). Out of the corner of my, I could see the black mass running toward me. I had enough time to yelp and escalating "No No No!" and then a loud and memorable "Somebody help me!". I covered my face as the dog jumped up and bit me under the armpit. Rabies shots, holes in my tank top and sports bra and two measly little scars should be I have to remember the incident.

In reality, the morning made a big impression on many people and has stayed with me like a freckle. The skeezy, rich owner frequently asks me if I want to be his girlfriend. Yonny, a politician with guard dogs, tile floors and a fancy gold watch, is the depiction of the wealth discrepancy of town. The second reminder of the fateful morning comes when I am referred to as "That little American who screamed in English when Yonny's dog bit her"! It was quite surprising to everyone that if I were to ask for help in a shriek, I wouldn't have used the right language. And finally, I moved into a house that shares a back corner with Yonny and his dogs. This would not matter too much if the dog didn't stand at the corner barking and pawing at the zinc fence. One day, she was so persistent, it actually seemed possible that she was going to eat me, despite the obvious barrier. When I leave town, I plan to have some sort of ceremony saying bye to the dog. I will no longer have to run with a stick, tell the story or answer questions about what "Somebody help me!" means and why I wouldn't have just said it in Spanish. Maybe I'll even buy her a present, like a hunk of meat, a bedazzled collar, or a chain!

Using Everything I Have

When I say that I want to use everything, I am not speaking metaphorically about contributing the remainder of my positive attributes or energy to my service. I am mostly talking about the crap that is sitting in my bedroom. I have a little over three months left here and I am not about to spend it mentally packing my bags or worse yet, thinking about eating my welcome home meal (lasagna and apple pie a la mode). A hundred days, a small portion of an over two year commitment, is still a good chunk of time. I received a package from my mom in September 2009, sixteen months ago, a baggy of twelve mechanical pencils, a little blank moleskin notebook, sassy hair ties and a floral printed nail file (among many other things and packages, thanks to the best mom in the world). The blank moleskin, eight remaining mechanical pencils and brand new hair ties sitting in the pristine Ziploc are evidence that I may be holding back a little too much. This marks the time to break out the mechanical pencils!

I also want to make sure to pour out all the glitter I have doing art with kids because I can. I have an American education that encouraged creativity. If there is one thing that I have learned here, it is that we are so lucky for whatever schooling we have gotten in the states. The time, quality, materials, and attention of our school system are astoundingly better than those of so many other countries. I will do my best to continue to share simple projects that teachers do not have the background or the initiative to employ. For my valentine making party, I cut 150 hearts from pink poster board, went through my craft box, where I keep the markers and glitter I am sent, the tempera paint I buy here, and anything shiny or reusable like snack packaging, wrapping paper and egg cartons. I gathered old magazines, broke out the brand new doilies and ribbon (also from my mom) that I have been saving, and spread the word. There was the inevitable paint eating, glue on the walls and confetti greed. Overall, however, there was a lot of pride and excitement. Really, what is more beautiful than a valentine? Nothing.

I will continue to throw art events. Masks, crowns, and Easter eggs are all on my list along with the constant push of the environmental coloring sheets I have been working on. I will also teach one more formal English class. Of all things, that is something that I have and they want. While I do like to hear “I lub you baby!” shouted at me in the street, I want to augment their repertoire with a few more vocab words.

Beyond education, I am aiming to make some final connections. With the Peace Corps program, I have a cache of resources and ideas. There are other types of water filter projects, recipes for making soap and menthol (a surprise favorite), and places that just give books away. I am under no illusion that I have the power or time to do everything that could be done but the least I can do is pass on some phone numbers. I am in conversations with a priest, a nun and a motivated twenty-two year old who has assisted my filter and latrine projects. The common phrase, Things will change if God wants, can be disempowering while instructions to make cleaning solvent might just counter that. It’s worth a try!

So this is it, one last semester to try! I will break out the sharp colored pencils, brush up on that good old community development manual and teach the verb “to be” for the eleventh time. That being said, I have three months left on a gorgeous Caribbean island and I have spent the better part of two years in the dirty desert border of Haiti where our only water source has Cholera! I think I can say I have done my time. Right now, I am headed to the lush cool north to translate for hernia surgeries while spending nights eating real food and taking hot showers. It is also whale season on the Samaná peninsula, the region often given the title of most beautiful beaches. In these last days, I hope to break out my swimsuit, jog without a dog defending stick, and visit friends who have been blessed with snazzy sites. While my life is sounding a little like an action movie or at least one that someone might watch, the truth is that my real most exciting moments last week were cracking open Entertainment Weekly that I had been saving (entertaining indeed!) and the night the power went off at the usual time and then came back on. The whole town cheered.

Bash for San Valentino

House Pictures; I'm about to stay in a fancy hotel!