Entrenamiento

• Jbires's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Matanzas

Trip Start Sep 06, 2005 Previous
Entry Trip End Nov 23, 2007 Next
Entry

  Matanzas, Dominican Republic
Thursday, November 3, 2005

I am wrapping up my 5 weeks of training in Matancitas and will be heading back to the capital to tie up any loose ends before finally being inducted in as a volunteer and moving to my new home for the next two years.
My time here has flown by. I have been busy with activities form sun up to sun down nearly every day. While here, I had an internship with a small NGO called la Fundacion Para el Desarrollo de San Jose de Matanzas. In working with this organization I administered surveys in different communities about HIV/AIDS, Community Safety, Community Organizations, and availability of AIDS care at local clinics. After a few weeks of administering these surveys we began giving "Charlas" (mini-workshops) about HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). It has been a great an interesting experience. We generally have anywhere from 10-40 people show up. Through the charlas, we are able to give them really valuable information that they either do not have or are misinformed about. The information we give them seems really simple. How can you get and give AIDS? How to put on a condom? What are curable and incurable STI's? It has been an encouraging experience to see people so open and eager to learn new material. I think the most interesting part of our charla is the age range. We generally have people as young as 5 and as old as 70. I still don't quite feel comfortable showing a 5 year old how to put a condom on a platano, but since the average age to begin sexual intercourse here is 11, I suppose now is as good of time to start as any.
Also, while living in Matancitas I have been working with a youth group. This has been one of the most fun things I have done here. The youth are so excited and filled with energy. We have spent a lot of time with them teaching life skills such as drug use prevention, leadership skills, and of course HIV/AIDS - STI information. We also organized a community service project "Clean the Beach." It was quite the experience. There is a community that lives on the beach, and they have no access to latrines (bathrooms) or trash service. Our beach clean up consisted of picking up bags of human fesses. (yes we were wearing gloves) It was really sad to see how these people had to live as well as the consequences it was having on the environment. Among all the bags of fesses, we found used needles, broken class, and an assortment of other stuff. This is where people live and kids play. It was a mind opening experience to see the conditions in which these people were living in. It was also great to see the youth in the community come together for a good cause.
Other than work, I have been enjoying my dysfunctional family. Don't worry your family is not the only dysfunctional family in the world! They exist everywhere. If you remember, I am living in my sister's house with her parents. Well half way through my stay the parents moved out of the 2-story mansion and into their wood hut across the street. It turns out my sister is an awful selfish person and no one feels comfortable within a 50 foot radius of her. It has been fun watching other people dysfunctionality though. On another note, the DR has already began celebrating Christmas. To do this, kids set off fire works in the streets at all hours. There are also lights and trees everywhere! It{s going to be a long holiday season!
It has been nice to live by the beach, and I will definitely miss it when I go. Everyone has been calling and complaining about the cold. I can assure you that I definitely miss the cold. The temperature in my room rarely drops below 85. I am moving back to the capital on Saturday and will be going to visit my new home on Tuesday. For those of you interested in looking up where I will be living, the region is called Azua, and I will be near a town called Amiama Gomez. I will have more information after my site visit.
As always thank you for the continued letters, packages and emails! It is always great to hear from everyone at home and be able to keep up with your lives a little!

Happy Birthday to Kelly, Aunt Sue, Brad, Reaghan, Sara, Chris, and Ryan.

Print this entry Share Matanzas hotels

Previous Entry Next Entry