Adapting

If this doesn´t make you laugh, you might have issues. I wish you guys were here to see this cause I keep laughing to myself, thinking "If you could see me now!" I must seem crazy to them cause they have no idea what my life was like in the US. In some ways I want them to know cause then they would understand me better, but then again I´m grateful that they can´t know how odd it is for me here.

Let me just walk you through my two days here. Get ready, lol.

I arrived yesterday in the morning at the office. After meeting everyone, praying together and then crying while they all took my picture, I went to my new home to meet my family. Everyone is so nice here and I just felt so overwhelmed by emotion (excitement, gratitude, expectation, etc) that I couldn´t help but tear up - if you know me well this makes perfect sense. However to those who don´t know me, like everyone here, I must have seemed like a gringa loca. Thankfully Tricia was there to tell them all that I was happy, not sad.

Daniel (manager), Me, Yohanna & Yunior (2 of the 5 loan officers)

My mom here has decided to make it her personal mission in life to make me fat- or so she says, which is exactly the opposite of my plans. Life here is very much real and humble. They eat the entire chicken, feet and all. (I´m terrified that they will give me the foot one day to eat cause I have an irrational fear of birds and feathers and bird feet as it is without having to eat them). They are so sweet to me and always check to see if I eat certain foods (most of which I don´t know the names for in spanish so its constant show-and-tell) and if I like it after I eat it. My mami is a very good cook, but it seems people here have a higher tolerance for sweetness. Coffee tastes like liquid sugar and juices are mixed with carnation instant milk. I had both this morning and am now wide awake.

I get a wide variety of looks here: firm stares, kissey faces, big smiles, quisitive looks, etc. People aren´t accustomed to seeing white people. Thank God I don´t have blonde hair too.

To give you an example of what my life is like right now, I´m going to outline my morning. Enjoy. =)

I woke this morning at 7am and undid the mosquito net that boxes in my bed to get out. My bed consists of three mattresses stacked on top of each other and you can feel the springs through the mattress. I don´t notice cause I´m so tired. There is no running water right now (it goes out sometimes for a few days) so to shower I stood in the bathroom and dumped cold buckets of cold water on myself. When I go to the bathroom, to flush the toilet I have to pour buckets of water quickly so that the water gets pushed through. (it´s really an art form that takes perfecting). Instead of lotion, I put on sunscreen and instead of perfume, I have bug spray. To get to work, I ride on the back of a motorcycle, lol. People here can´t believe that I´ve never ridden on a motorcycle before. It´s a way of life here, cause the roads are too rocky and uneven for cars, plus cars are too expensive.

I got to work and immediately left for the campo (country) on the back of a moto. It took about 20 minutes to get there. My knees wouldn´t stop shaking after I got off. I observed a ´bank of hope´in which about 5 groups of 5 people each meet to pay the interest on their loans biweekly. Since mothers day was this past week, they gave each of the women presents. Then they said a prayer and we headed back to town.

The countryside here is so beautiful. There are cattle and horses and pigs everywhere, with little houses and huts scattered around. For fences, they use branches which then begin to grow on their own so the streets that are lined with fences are actually lined with trees. There are large rolling hills, covered in tropical plants, palm trees, flowers and mainly long, thick grass.

I can´t wait to show you more pictures, but until then you should watch the Motorcycle Diaries. Not only is it a great movie, but it´s also now my life. How cool is that!?!?!

Whirlwind

To catch you all up on life up to this point, I left for Philadelphia, PA on May 21st for training with Hope International. After experiencing the traditional philly cheesesteak (complete with cheese whiz, lol), staying in a house that can only be considered a mansion, meeting all the interns and employees at Hope, I left early morning at 4am on Sunday to fly to the DR. I can now say I´ve been to the Puerto Rico, if only the airport. I can´t begin to explain how eye-opening the training was for me and how amazing it was to be part of an entirely christian organization. Let´s just say God gave me everything I´d been searching for and researching all year on my own in one weekend. wow. Talk about extreme blessing and mental overload =).

So I arrived in Santo Domingo that afternoon where I was greeted by Lindsey and Travis (the two other DR interns with Hope), Tricia, our coordinator, her friend Martini, and Pablo and Kayla who work in the office. We went to eat at Adrian Tropical to try the traditional food. I have to say my favorite food here so far are the fruit juices. Being a smoothie fan, this is such a treat!

Travis, Lindsey and I stayed in an apartment owned by a sweet lady named Carmen. It had air conditioning and hot water and a kitchen for us to cook in. We were joined by Dios Davil, her son-in-law, which surprised us at first when we returned to the apartment and found him inside, lol. Tricia became our mom/big-sis for the few days we stayed there. She speaks fluent english, which was so helpful. She´s been to the US so she knows how to help us transition easily. We went to la zona colonial, a mini Spain, where Christopher Columbus orginially lived.

The traffic here is crazy, especially in the city. They have stoplights, signs and lanes, but nobody pays attention to them. Here, normal cars for us, like Ford and Toyota, are considered very luxurious. Like in the US, people take out loans to buy nice cars to appear rich.

Training was great, but much more relaxed. Everyone here runs on a slower time schedule and most people are late to things. The relaxed atmosphere was actually helpful to be able to adjust and have time to check our email and just chill with Tricia.

Being in Santo Domingo was the perfect transition to life here. I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I signed up for this and I´m so grateful Tricia and Chris eased us into it so smoothly.

After training on Monday and Tuesday, Lindsey and I were taken to our respective locations in the DR. Luckily we are only 30 minutes away from eachother so we´re planning to do some weekend trips together. She´s in Hato Mayor and I´m in El Seibo. Neither one is near the water, but Travis will be in Puerto Plata right near the ocean so we can visit him (although its several hours away).

I apologize for my writing. The keyboard here is different and I´ve been thinking so much in Spanish that I have difficulty seeming smart in English. I keep miss-spelling things and having to re-type them, lol.

Overview

Before we get into the actual adventures of the summer, let me first clarify how I got here and what I'm doing here exactly. I know this is a point of confusion for many of you and I must admit it's still confusing to me. My combined interests in Spanish, Jesus and international development (especially a growing curiosity with microfinance) led me to find Hope International through a basic Google search and apply for their intern program. But I know that the real reason I'm here because of God's flawless guidance. It's apparent in everything I'm learning and how perfect these organizations fit my dreams for life.

Since traveling abroad in Europe, the Balkans, Costa Rica and Mexico, I've come face to face with poverty. It's been an eye-opening experience in many ways. I learned the poor aren't necessarily less happy than any of us and that they love Americans (for the most part) despite our bad decisions and national selfishness. I've also learned that the thought isn't really what counts. You can do a lot more harm by trying to help then by letting people alone. However this is no excuse to remain absent. We just need to wise about how we help. I've seen the hand out fail people by creating dependence and read the numbers on financial aid that has poured into poor countries with little economic improvement. I've wondered if there was a better way, but couldn't find one.

But then I discovered microfinance and I've fallen in love. Microfinance organizations (MFIs) give small loans, like $100, to poor individuals or groups that commercial banks ignore because of the risk. Esperanza and Hope combine business training and educational programs with their loan process so that the loans with succeed in helping the poor out of poverty. The loans are not a hand-out but a hand-up. They're paid back with interest to the MFI and then the group/individual can apply for another loan, potentially until they are credible enough to receive commercial bank loans.

Hope and Esperanza are even better than most MFIs because they integrate faith into everything. The loan officers, that organize and help the groups, are encouraged to share their testimonies with their clients. Each Monday the Esperanza offices do a devotional/praise & worship time to focus their week. The organizations only hire Christian professionals. God is in the center of all they do, which is quite different for me after only secular work/school atmospheres.

If you get nothing else from this blog, I hope you understand the amazing impact of MFIs and how transformational they can be when combined with the message of Jesus Christ. I'll have more stories to share soon. My specific role for Esperanza will center around assisting the loan officers and translating the client stories to post on Kiva, a site where sponsors can view the profiles and donate (kinda like what Compassion/World Vision does with children). Best of all, after 6-12 months, you get the money back as the client pays off the loan, so it can be re-invested to other clients again if you wish (cool huh?!).

Questions? Let me know. =) TTFN.