Rocks Out of Water

If you’ve had the chance to read our last entry (April Update) you’re up to speed on the latest news. In a few days we will leave the Dominican Republic for Haiti to see if this is a better fit for us. Though it may seem like a contradiction, we’re leaving the DR for the stability (of Beyond Borders networks and programs) in Haiti.

To close out our time in the DR we decided to do a little traveling to see some of this beautiful country. We settled on the Samana Peninsula, located on the NE tip of the island. We spend our first three nights in the sleepy little town of Las Galeras, conveniently located close to the secluded Playa Rincon, rated one of the top 10 beaches in the world. We ventured to the beach on a dark cloudy morning, a little afraid of a torrential down pour, but it turned out to be a spectacular day. Due to the weather most of the tourists stayed away leaving us the whole beach for the first part of the morning. Once the sky cleared it was paradise….absolutely breathtaking.

The weather held out until the next morning, and after 7 hours of angry thunder and rain we headed for Las Terranes, a bustling tourist area mostly frequented by French Europeans. We had an eerie feeling upon arriving as the beachfront property is jammed with plush, expensive foreign run hotels and restaurants, with a lower-class Dominican barrio sitting right behind it. Not knowing how far away our hotel was we ended up walking about 4 miles–which felt much longer with our bags–past the upscale French boutiques and through the loud exhaust filled streets of the barrio. It was obvious that Europeans & Americans are not only tourists here, but, just as it has been for the last 500 years, continue to reap a great deal of the economic benefits. It’s no surprise that the area is known for mafioso, thieves, as the locals have grown increasingly frustrated with their lack of benefit from the tourism industry.

The next day, after a few obstacles – early showers and the hotel dogs that followed us down to the beach and claimed us as their owners after fighting with every dog in sight – we finally got to enjoy the 13 km long, serene Playa Bonita. It’s not quite as amazing as Playa Rincon, but could easily be the second most beautiful beach we’ve ever seen.

Spring, the time of year when flowers bud, the sun shines brighter, and life is renewed and refreshed. Although we haven’t endured a long cold winter–a Caribbean spring means a rise in temperature from pleasantly warm to unbearably hot–change is in the air; changes we are hopeful will bring positive growth and stability.

The last 2 months in the Dominican Republic have been more than challenging for us. At the beginning of March our first home stay, at the height of awkwardness, ended with little notice when the family asked us to leave immediately. Our Dominican support person, instrumental in placing us with this family, was nowhere to be seen or heard from. Homeless and bewildered a neighbor friend, with true Dominican hospitality, welcomed us into her home. Yet, as we made plans to rent a room from her we had a few experiences that made us feel unsafe. With great sadness, we packed up our belongings and moved out of the neighborhood and into transitional housing, where we have remained for over the last 6 weeks.

During this time we explored all possible options from living with another family, renting our own apartment, to moving to the countryside where the pace of life is slower and more conducive to language learning. Finding housing in a foreign country is never easy, especially when you don’t speak the language well. Needing to be more independent, we found ourselves in a complicated predicament, needing more Spanish to locate housing, but needing a safe, stable place to live to learn more Spanish.

Without established networks in the DR the road was bound to be bumpy. For Tim and I the roadblocks began back in September when it took over three months to set up our initial homestay. Seven months later we are back at square one, without a Dominican home, a bit worn and weary after weeks of transition and moving. After much thought and consideration Tim and I felt that we reached a dead end and have resigned from the DR expansion project. Though we continue to have energy to work with Beyond Borders we realize that the instability and inability to find a home stay in the DR has not been good for us. While is very hard to say goodbye to a project we have invested so much in, we are encouraged that the DR expansion will continue through Anna, who in almost every way has had a complete opposite experience of us–she has been in a stable home, her Spanish is progressing well, and she has tapped into a support network that will enable her to continue to grow Beyond Borders presence in the DR.

Together with Beyond Borders we have been exploring a return to Haiti to work with already established networks and programs. A new president has been elected and the country has calmed considerably to the point where Beyond Borders feels comfortable placing new staff in the country and bringing down Transformation Travel groups. We are not sure if the future will hold a permament move to Haiti, but we will travel there on April 27th and spend the next 4-8 weeks discerning if this is a good fit for us.

It is hard to make sense of why the last few months have presented so many challenges and difficulties. We have had to surrender to not fully understanding, but trusting that God is working in the mist of our confusion. Through this time we’ve been especially encouraged by the support of the Beyond Borders staff, our parents, and all of your prayers, emails, and phone calls. We thank you for this and ask for your continued support as we discern where God would like us to be. It is with faith that we continue on this journey, asking and seeking whole-heartedly for his will.

Last week Tim and I and our co-worker Anna spent four days visiting a Dominican family who live in Paraiso, a small town set between the bright blue sea and the mountains, located in the South West corner of the Dominican Republic. We first met this family three weeks ago while networking with an organization, Transformational Journeys, and returned to get to know the family and area better.

The first thing that struck me was the overwhelming beauty accompanied by the friendliness of the people. We have been living in the capital for the last 2 ½ months where you fight for a seat on public transportation and watch your money like a hawk so you don’t get ripped off. This tranquil town felt the opposite.

Like many small towns in the country, Paraiso suffers from a chronic shortage of unemployment. It was sad to hear our friends talk about trying to make ends meet for the last two years, but needing to move to the capital to find work. It was easy to feel their plight in leaving such a beautiful place. Local beach hangouts are plentiful. One, named Los Patos, is located where the ocean is joined by a fresh water swimming hole, created by a river flowing from the mountains. It is perfect for rising off the salty ocean water or daily bathing. Unlike the city, children grow up knowing nature. Some, like a young man we witnessed, bond with nature to the point of being able to climb a tall coconut tree, without a ladder, using only his hands and feet.

It is election season here and Paraiso was consumed with political rallies. Each evening we watched as motorcycles with huge flags attached to the back circled the town in a motor-parade. Two, three, and sometimes five people per motorcycle were flailing their hands, standing up, and shouting for their particular party. It was quite a sight to see – we were definitely entertained.

Naturally our friends wanted to introduce us to the other foreigners in town. We met Lindsey, a woman about our age who works for Proliteracy, and Kat, a peace corp. volunteer in the beginning months of her placement. Kat is helping a co-op of coffee farmers obtain both organic and fair trade certification. This is of particular interest to us after spending the last year working on a project to open the first Ten Thousand Villages (an exclusively fair trade retail store) in the Los Angeles area. Lindsey’s work was equally interesting and we were surprised to find that she is traveling to Haiti soon to work with an associate of Beyond Borders. (It’s a small world!) She has been in the DR for almost a year and was able to give us some more insight on the area, both the good and the bad. While she highly recommends Paraiso as a place to live and learn, she warned us of the crime, which exist everywhere in the country, and the drugs that pass through the area. It is believed that during the night ships from Columbia and Venezuela drop drugs close to the shore and trucks are waiting to pick them up and transport them to the capital.

We came away from Paraiso not quite able to understand the place. It’s absolutely gorgeous, but has its problems, like any other small struggling town. We hope to continue to learn more and for now are grateful for a deeper relationship with our Dominican hosts and our new found friends.