Chocolate Country

My project is to work with a Cacao (Cocoa) Cooperative and help them to strengthen their business skills and develop relationships with international buyers in hopes to internationally export their crops. I am following previous Peace Corps volunteers who have been working for the past few years to help develop the office aspect of the cooperative and get the farmers organically certified. The couple who was placed with the Cooperative from 2003-2005 had a son who made a documentary of the Cacao farmers. He submitted the film to the 2007 Seattle International Film Festival and it won a grand jury prize. I have attached the link to the site where you can watch the documentary, my project partner is Maria Elena, the women with the rollers in her hair and a missing front tooth.

http://www.seattlefilm.org/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=24036&FID=32

It's exciting to have such a developed primary project with so much potential and support; not to mention the documentary gives everyone at home a little taste of my life here in the DR.
Enjoy!

Running with a stick

After much discussion and contemplation I have decided to take up running with a stick. This way when the crazy dogs of the campo (countryside/farmland) decide to bare their teeth at me like they’re planning to bite I can scare them away with the stick. I didn’t think I would have to resort to this but after today (I spent a minute hopping on one leg trying to shoo away 3 dogs who were barking and baring their teeth at me- I found that showing them the bottom of my shoe kept them away) and after talking with the Yesenia (the Coop secretary) who has been bitten twice by a dog; I have decided that it’s not worth the risk.

December 6, 2007

Trip to Santiago

Today I traveled to Santiago to pick up Cocoa powder that the Cooperative is going to sell at an Artisan Fair in Santo Domingo. I met a very entertaining man named Tony who worked in the office. He is a lover of all thing chocolate and that is how he has come to work in cacao processing. He travels to keep up with the latest news surrounding the industry and many trips have taken him to the US. He said his first trip must have been 40 years ago and that he traveled to New York City; he saw the lights, tall buildings and hoards of people and was very impressed by it all. The interesting thing is what he told me next- that most of all he was astounded to see a group of people line up to get on a bus. He said at that moment he said to himself that never in his life will he see that in his country. He believes that above all else the Dominican culture lacks “formación”, which translates as formation, education or training. I don’t think as Americans we realize how well trained we are. Almost everyone is taught some form of etiquette from a young age, although sometimes we choose not to follow our customs we are all somewhat aware of their existence. It’s as interesting to hear others impressions of Americans as it is to talk to other volunteers about our impressions of Dominicans.

December 4, 2007

First day on the Job

What an incredible first day on the job. I arrived at the Red Guaconejo office around 9am. After a mere 5 minutes of exchanging pleasantries with Yesenia and Maria Elena, the secretary and treasurer of the cooperative, Juan yelled for help. He had discovered a family of mice hiding in a tarp next to one of the warehouses… Yesenia and Maria Elena ran to grab brooms. Juan shook the tarp to force the mice out, the women ran around frantically beating the mice with their brooms. 10 minutes and 5 mice later we were back in the office.

Around 10:30 I walked outside to find them looking at a wilting pepper plant they had in front of the office. They were discussing that someone must have passed by the Cooperative and commented on how beautiful the plant was without recognizing that it was a blessing from god (therefore coveting the plant, the whole evil eye concept). As a result the plant had begun to die. Maria Elena said a prayer and did the sign of the cross in front of the plant 3 times… she said if that doesn’t heal the plant than it would soon die. After lunch (and a bit of rain) the plant was looking better, they discussed moving the pepper plant to another area of the cooperative that could not be seen by the road.

Later that afternoon a man came in with cacao for the cooperative, he brought the office a few oranges from his farm. We began eating oranges and talking, as I was eating he started talking about his 10 children, and one son who recently passed away. It will be one month tomorrow that he passed. He said he still cries often, and with those words he broke down again. There I was eating an orange, trying to figure out the right words in Spanish to express my sympathy. If my first day was any indication of how my next 2 years will be, it's definitely going to be an interesting 2 years!

November 27, 2007