Racism is unfortunately alive and well in the world and here in the Dominican Republic it is not different.
For the last two weeks my 'mom' has been taking care of a baby that is not hers. Born to impoverished Haitian parents without papers in the Dominican Republic, he is a citizen of no country. The Catholic church here won't even baptise him because of his presumed nationality. His mother didn't understand the doctors when they told her that she would have to remove her own stitches after her c-section and so her stomach rotted them out weeks after. The "hospital" in the town closest to us refused her service because she is Haitian and without my 'dad' taking her for free to the city an hour away she would have had no way to get there. She stayed much longer in the hospital than she needed to, as her husband worked for the money to pay the doctors to operate and stitch her back up again. The baby went from two weeks to one month old without seeing his mother. And, as his mother said upon receiving him again, he went from poor to rich. When he arrived at our house they owned a couple t-shirts for him and a thin blanket, when we sent him back he went with four large garbage bags of things, given to him by a family of 7 that has a monthly income well below what I support myself on, the family that supports me here.
I am generalizing here, but in the United States this would be a regular story of kindness, something that almost anyone would do and not many of you would be surprised to hear. Or would you? Two weeks is a long time to take care of a newborn... Anyway, there are many people where we live here that can not relate to doing this. My two younger siblings here, ages 16 and 19, did not even hold the baby the two weeks he was with us, wanted nothing to with him. There aren't many people here who would have taken him, let alone buy formula and give the parents free transportation to and from the city during this time. They wouldn't because they are racist.
In a small country with a strong culture and national identity the youth are not often taught the value of diversity and the freedom that it offers those who are different from the mainstream. So many grow up racist, chauvanistic, homophobic, generally intolerant.
I work with youth A LOT and I am almost always initiating conversation about these issues. We volunteers are now taking it a step further by planning an entire diversity conference about these issues for youth in this region. We will bring together teenagers from all differernt classes and places for the weekend to interact with experts, Dominican, Americans, Haitians and each other in games, workshops and discussions. They will learn about and deal with diversity issues that they rarely, if ever in their lives, would otherwise have the opportunity to consider in a culture that too often values having everyone the same.
For the last two weeks my 'mom' has been taking care of a baby that is not hers. Born to impoverished Haitian parents without papers in the Dominican Republic, he is a citizen of no country. The Catholic church here won't even baptise him because of his presumed nationality. His mother didn't understand the doctors when they told her that she would have to remove her own stitches after her c-section and so her stomach rotted them out weeks after. The "hospital" in the town closest to us refused her service because she is Haitian and without my 'dad' taking her for free to the city an hour away she would have had no way to get there. She stayed much longer in the hospital than she needed to, as her husband worked for the money to pay the doctors to operate and stitch her back up again. The baby went from two weeks to one month old without seeing his mother. And, as his mother said upon receiving him again, he went from poor to rich. When he arrived at our house they owned a couple t-shirts for him and a thin blanket, when we sent him back he went with four large garbage bags of things, given to him by a family of 7 that has a monthly income well below what I support myself on, the family that supports me here.
I am generalizing here, but in the United States this would be a regular story of kindness, something that almost anyone would do and not many of you would be surprised to hear. Or would you? Two weeks is a long time to take care of a newborn... Anyway, there are many people where we live here that can not relate to doing this. My two younger siblings here, ages 16 and 19, did not even hold the baby the two weeks he was with us, wanted nothing to with him. There aren't many people here who would have taken him, let alone buy formula and give the parents free transportation to and from the city during this time. They wouldn't because they are racist.
In a small country with a strong culture and national identity the youth are not often taught the value of diversity and the freedom that it offers those who are different from the mainstream. So many grow up racist, chauvanistic, homophobic, generally intolerant.
I work with youth A LOT and I am almost always initiating conversation about these issues. We volunteers are now taking it a step further by planning an entire diversity conference about these issues for youth in this region. We will bring together teenagers from all differernt classes and places for the weekend to interact with experts, Dominican, Americans, Haitians and each other in games, workshops and discussions. They will learn about and deal with diversity issues that they rarely, if ever in their lives, would otherwise have the opportunity to consider in a culture that too often values having everyone the same.
In the fall I planned an environmental conference for youth in the central region of the DR and was lucky enough to have a local organization realize its importance and pay the bill, almost entirely. We plan to do the conference in August but we are counting this time on American dollars to make this magic happen. Please go to the following site asap to donate whatever you can! Please pass it on and let me know if you have difficulty. Thank you!
https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.
contribute.projDetail&projdesc=517-290
https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.
contribute.projDetail&projdesc=517-290
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