¡Bienvenidos!

Hello everyone and thanks for visiting my blog!  Due to the lack of technology on my trip everything in this blog is a bit after-the-fact, but I thought it would be a great way to share my experience in the Dominican Republic with my family and friends.  Below you will find pictures and captions detailing my adventures in the DR.  If you would like any background information about me, ILAC, or the Summer Program, please see the links to the side.  Enjoy!

PS- I apologize for all the dates being incorrect.  I wanted you to be able to read about my experience in order instead of starting from the end.
PPS- Thanks to my assistant coordinator Bri for providing most of the photos for this blog!

Arrival: The First Week in Santiago

(June 19-June 23, 2012)
After a long day of traveling beginning at 6 am, we arrived in Santiago around 8:30 pm and took a shuttle to the ILAC Center.  Total, there were 40-50 participants and 12 coordinators/assistant coordinators.  The ILAC Center is beautiful and peaceful.  There are many larger rooms with bunk beds and smaller houses called casitas for other guests.  Here are some pictures of the center (you can click on them to make them bigger):

Before leaving for the campos, we spent 4 jam-packed days in Santiago.  Each morning we had 2 hours of Spanish class and a meeting with our professional group (so, nurses for me) before lunch.  After lunch we did various tours around the city. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to take pictures on all of my tours.

The first day I went to Cabral y Baez, the national public hospital.  Much of it was under construction so it was hard to get a clear idea of the nature of the hospital, but it is definitely very different from the hospitals we are used to in the US.  Most of the hospital is not air-conditioned and several parts are open to the outside.  I saw many patients sitting in waiting rooms or in hallways with IV bags.  In addition, the hospital is primarily run by residents and medical students.  During the weekdays in the mornings, physicians will come to the hospital to do their public service before returning to their own private practices.  The hospital is packed during this time; most physicians see 50-60 patients in the short amount of time that they are there.  During the afternoons and evenings, residents and medical students are responsible for patients.  Most patient rooms are 4-bed rooms, and several family members are usually in there at a time.  Needless to say, they get rather crowded.  I asked about nurse-patient ratio, and most nurses have 2 of these rooms they are responsible, as many as 8 patients!  I also learned the DR does not have a pharmacy degree, so the pharmacists there do not have much knowledge of drugs and mostly just fill orders.  Outside of the hospital, you do not need a prescription for medication, so anyone can go to a pharmacy at any time and get whatever drugs they want. (No pictures were allowed here, sorry!)

On day 2 I traveled to a museum in Santiago where we learned a little about the history of the country and a lot about the use of brooms in the DR (there was a special exhibit, it was a bit too extensive).  After that we were sent on a scavenger hunt around the city.  A primary form of public transportation in the DR is guagua (pronounced gwah-gwah), which is usually a 15 passenger van that never actually seats 15 people.  The saying is: How many people can you fit in a guagua?  1 more!  The most I counted in one of my guaguas was 25 people--it was cramped!  We took a guagua down into the city and walked around, visiting a park, a market, El Monumento (a large monument in the center of the city).  The Monument's official name is Monumento a los Héroes de la Restauración.  It was built in 1944 during the reign of the dictator Trujillo.  Here are some pictures of downtown Santiago and the Monument:

The last tour I had in Santiago was of an area called Cien Fuegos, which means 100 Fires.  Essentially, it is the slum of Santiago.  It covers a vast area of land which includes the area at the base of the city dump. Trash is abundant here, as is poverty.  Most people live in small shanty homes of wood and tin roofs.  People who come to Santiago hoping to find work often end up here.  Unemployment is a huge issue in this part of the city; many people search through the dump to find something to sell as a source of income.  Forgive me for the poor photography, I had to take all of my pictures here through a bus window.  I did steal a real photograph of someone in the dump so you can have a better idea of how the people in Cien Fuegos live life.

That wraps up my first few days in Santiago!

Leaving for the Campo

(June 24, 2012)
After 4 busy days at the ILAC center, it was time to leave for the campo!  (In case you're wondering it's not pronounced camp-o, it sounds like kahmpoh).  I was fortunate to spend a short amount of time with Colin before we left...he arrived at ILAC the night before.  He spent almost two weeks in the DR working on psychology research (so you should ask him about his experience there).  Anyway, we said farewell to our friends and then packed up the bus and headed out.  My campo's name was El Rodeo, located close to Haiti.  Unlike most groups, our campo was not in the mountains.  It was affectionately referred to as "the hot campo."  In case you want a sense of location, here's a couple of maps:

This is where the DR is located...only short swim to Cuba!

(Excuse my paint skills) This is a map of the DR.  The green oval in the middle is Santiago, where the ILAC center is located.  My campo, El Rodeo (drawn in) is on the left.  As I'm sure you will notice, it is rather close to Haiti.  It is approximately a 45 minute drive to the border.  Just for reference, the capital of the DR is Santo Domingo, located on the southern border of the country.

My group had 12 students throughout the 4 weeks.  We also had 5 professionals who stayed with us from 1 week to 2 weeks: 3 physicians, 1 dentist, and 1 pharmacist.  Here's the group before departure!

Back Row: Bri, Assistant Coordinator
Chris, Dentist
Kevin, Pharmacist
John, Auydante
Patrick, Dental Student
Dr. Longo, Physician
Tim, Auydante
Front Row: Rachel, Coordinator
Ruth, Pharmacy Student
Lori, Nursing Student
Sam, Medical Student (4th year)
Alex, Medical Student (1st year)
Brittney, Dental Student
Not Pictured: Ashley, Pharmacy Student

Loading up the bus!

After a little less than 2 1/2 hours of bumpy driving, we finally made it to Rodeo.  At first glance, you can see there is poverty in the campo, but it is not as blatant as it was in Cien Fuegos.  The poorer families have houses made out of wood with concrete floors and tin roofs.  They have latrines and outdoor showers.  There are also nicer homes which are made of concrete, often have tiled floors, and have bathrooms inside.  Rodeo is one of the larger campos (160 families) and it is rather spread out.  There are essentially two halves to the campo separated by a main road.  We visited the other side of the campo a few times, but mostly stuck to the side where we lived and had clinic.

Upon arriving we went to our cooperadora's home.  Each campo affiliated with ILAC has a cooperador(a) assigned to the community.  The cooperador's job is to be a leader for the people in the campo and supply them with resources for healthy living.  They have some very basic health education (such as taking blood pressure, giving shots, etc.) and try to promote wellness in the community. They also do much, much more, but I never got the run-down of all of their responsibilities.  Our community actually had 2 cooperadoras because of its large size.  The cooperadora we worked most closely with was Nereida.  We ate all of our meals at her house and spent many of our afternoons hanging out and playing cards.

Nereida, in her kitchen

We then went to meet all of our families and get settled in.  Most of the girls and some of the boys were paired up with someone else in the group.  My room mate was Ruth, one of the pharmacy students.  Meeting the family was a bit overwhelming, as neither Ruth nor I spoke very much Spanish.  It was a small, simple home made of wood with 2 bedrooms, a small living room, a kitchen under a pavilion outside, and most exciting, a bathroom!  We were very fortunate to have a bathroom in our home because most people in Rodeo still use latrines.  Our bathroom had running water as well (a huge plus) so we were able to use a sink, flush the toilet and take a shower.  (Not quite like a shower in the US, there was no shower head so it was just like a faucet from the ceiling.  It was still great though, most of my group took bucket showers). Ruth and I each had our own bed too.

Living room

Kitchen (there is a stove on the other side of the blue door)

My bed

Parent's bedroom

Bathroom

The road leading to our house

Our family was small: we only had parents living with us.  Our padre's name is Epifano; he is 83 and a very sweet old man.  Our madre is Sylvia; she is somewhere in her 60s.  They have 5 children together, 3 of which live in Santo Domingo, 1 in Santiago, and 1 in Rodeo.  The daughter that lives in the campo is Lucia and she has several children of her own.  We met some of her younger children, but I had a hard time keeping all of their name's straight.

My madre, Sylvia

One of the several grandchildren

It's a little blurry, but here's a picture of my family.  On the right is Ruth and in the middle are our parents.  On the left is the random neighbor/possible grandchild that was always around but I could never remember his name.

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