Project News

Peace Corps Volunteers in the Dominican Republic work on a variety of initiatives. Read here about some of the projects and initiatives volunteers have helped organize and execute.

Camp Glow 2008 in the DR by Rachel Gottesman and Marin Kirby

Are girls leading our world? Absolutely. Ireland, New Zealand, Finland, the Philippines, Chile, Mozambique, Switzerland, Liberia, and India all currently boast female leaders. However, based on the success of Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) 2008, the Dominican Republic is sure to be next on the list. From July 14th to July 18th, 24 Peace Corps Volunteers and 53 Dominican young women from rural towns, larger towns, and big cities across the Dominican Republic joined forces in San Cristobal to learn about sex, gender, and what it means to grow up as a woman in the Dominican Republic. The goal of the program is to provide female Dominican youth with the information, affirmation and encouragement they need to make healthy life decisions, believe in themselves and dream big. A normal day for these young women includes cleaning, cooking, mopping, washing clothes, looking for water, and taking care of younger siblings. During Camp GLOW this was replaced by self-esteem, sexual education and other gender-related workshops, craft-making, sports, group building exercises, a talent show and a professional panel. Camp GLOW in the Dominican Republic is a balanced mix of educational workshops and fun, creative activities.

Specific workshop topics included “Self-Esteem”, “Team Building”, “Body Image”, “Women around the World”, “Creative Expression”, “Nutrition and Exercise”, “Healthy Friendships”, “Reproductive Health”, “Sex and Gender”, “Income Generation” and “Life Planning”. Additionally, “Condoms and Teenage Pregnancy”, and “Relations between the Dominican Republic and Haiti” were workshops given by 2nd year campers. Artistic activities, such as crafts, drawing, dance and theatre were used in one-third of all workshops. For example, during the “Body Image” workshop, after learning about body image and how it is formed, campers were asked to create life-size self-portraits. They traced one another’s bodies on huge poster board, drawing a line down the middle to divide the body in half. After drawing their self-portrait, they were asked to write society’s perceptions of their body on one side and their own reflections and feelings about their body on the other side. Additionally, all campers learned how to correctly use a condom in the “Condom and Teen Pregnancy” workshop, which was led by two Dominican youth leaders from last year’s Camp GLOW. During “Reproductive Health” these young women learned how to do a breast exam with the help of flour-filled balloons. Two Peace Corps Volunteers from the Community Economic Development sector led a workshop called “Income Generation,” where campers learned how to make mistolin and menthol, two popular products in the Dominican Republic. The “Life Planning” workshop led the girls through an exercise of goal setting and reflection on their future dreams and was accompanied by a dream catchers craft, which every girl was able to bring home to their community. In addition to workshops, each afternoon participants chose from a variety of “free time” activities, including swimming in the pool, yoga, volleyball, designing a diary, cooking banana bread, among others.

One of the most successful events of the week was a Professional Panel, which included Sindy Laureano (Lawyer), Carmen Estela Mercedes Calderon (Social Worker), Honey Mejias (Youth Coordinator for Escojo Mi Vida, as well as Pre-school Teacher), Daysi Nival (Psychologist working with abused women), Rosa Abreu (Psychologist working with children living with HIV), Edith Febles (Journalist), Ana Maria Henriquez (Engineer), Ramon Mateo (Regional Director for PLAN International Pedernales), and Yaneris Gonzalez (Planned Parenthood NYC, Margaret Sanger Center International). Campers had the chance to ask panel participants questions regarding their success and challenges in their careers. Following the panel, Camp GLOW organized an informal coffee break where Camp GLOW participants chatted with panel participants in order to ask more specific questions about each field or career.

Not only were the girls exposed to new information and had the opportunity to ask questions in a safe, all-girls environment, they also made new friends from across their country. The teenagers who participated in Camp GLOW 2008 left San Cristobal with much more than a dream catcher and a new journal. Campers returned to their communities with a new sense of self, confidence, and the energy to teach other young women in their communities what they had learned at Camp GLOW.

Innovations in Basic and Special Education: Work with the Hearing Impaired

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic - In a small town centered in the rich rice fields and cacao plantations of the northeastern Cibao valley, 21 children, adolescents and adults have been fitted with powerful hearing aids thanks to Athens, Georgia, USA,-based audiologist Lawrence Crockett. Mr. Crockett donated dozens of aids from his audiology practice (Georgia Hearing Center) and secured further donations for the project from several other companies (Sonus, Unitron, and Oticon).

Mr. Crockett worked with Dominican Republic Peace Corps volunteer Neal Riemer, of Oakland, Calif., to identify recipients and program the hearing aids. When Mr. Riemer, 31, arrived in his community in May of last year, he began collaborating with a group of parents, teachers and principals to organize classes for children whose special needs keep them out of school. After visiting families with school counselor Fiordaliza Garcia and psychologist Máxima Fernández, the three found that nearly half of the unserved youth with special needs in their town and nearby communities were deaf.

Building upon contacts in the Dominican State Secretary of Education's office and the National School for the Deaf in Santo Domingo, the group trained local volunteers in deaf pedagogy and sign language. The town's first classes for the deaf opened this February.

Mr. Crockett's daughter, Lauren Crockett, a fellow Peace Corps volunteer in the D.R., learned of the community's project and, knowing her father's desire to help, introduced Mr. Riemer to him.

During years of practice, Mr. Crockett's clinic in Athens accumulated many working aids whose owners no longer needed them, but because the group of Dominican recipients in Mr. Riemer's community was so large and nearly all experience profound hearing loss, Mr. Crockett sought the assistance of Companies A and B to meet the need for powerful aids that could enable the deaf to begin to hear. By July, when Mr. Crockett visited the country, he had 80 hearing aids ready along with dehumidifying kits to protect the aids against the humid Dominican climate, and several months' supply of batteries.

Using the results of audiology exams conducted in clinics in Santo Domingo, he programmed each aid to its wearer's specifications. Individual donations to the newly formed Association of Parents with Deaf Children from Mr. Riemer's friends and family paid for transportation to the capital and the exams. Each deaf person's family contributed funds to the effort as well. The donation of aids was large enough that Peace Corps volunteer Megan Cecil, working in another deaf education program in a nearby town, mobilized the families of 6 deaf students from her community's project to receive aids as part of the project.

Among those who now have their first hearing aids is Domingo Candelario, 5. Thanks to his new aids and the classes Mr. Riemer conducts with local volunteers, Domingo can now say his name, has learned to say much of the alphabet, numbers up to 10 and some other sounds.

Yudi Pereyra, 30, and her two daughters Soila, 9, and Valentina, 7, have all received hearing aids through the project. The day they first put in their aids at the audiology clinic in Santo Domingo's Elias Santana Hospital, they joyfully practiced talking to each other, repeating "Mama!" and "Papa!" and clapping behind the other's ears to see if they had heard.

"Getting a hearing aid is just one step in a years'-long effort to learn to hear and talk," said Mr. Riemer. "But I wish I could express to Mr. Crockett and all the donors the thanks and amazing gratitude that the people here have shown to me. Without Mr. Crockett's help, none of this could have happened."

On Friday, October 5th, the group will return to the capital for their first checkup since they received their aids. The audiologists will examine their settings, talk to the users about their experiences and give further recommendations for speech therapy.

Meanwhile, the Association of Parents with Deaf Children is collaborating with Peace Corps volunteers to find more deaf Dominican youth who need a hearing aid. Due to the donations from Company A and B, there are currently still enough aids for about 20 more people to use. "There are always people approaching me in the streets now and asking me about getting an aid," says Mr. Riemer. "We're trying to fit kids first, and it won't be any problem finding enough deaf and hard of hearing kids. They might be a hidden population here, but there is an unbelievably high number of deaf people in this country."

As a one and a half year-old deaf child, Mr. Riemer, who wears a hearing aid in his left ear and is profoundly deaf in his right ear, was the first person for whom the Oakland, Calif., public school district assumed the responsibility of educating at such a young age. His parents fought the city and state school systems to demand compliance with the Free and Appropriate Education bill (FAPE), passed by the U.S. Congress in 1978 to ensure education for all children regardless of their disabilities. The Oakland school district paid for him to attend a deaf school in another town where he learned basic signs until his hearing and speech improved enough for him to attend a hearing pre-school.

If you're interested in helping, you can contact the Association of Parents with Deaf Children through Mr. Riemer at his email address: nealriemer@gmail.com.

Information and Communication Technology Education: Computer Lab Launches

Luperón, Puerto Plata - After months of planning and organization, the Centro Tecnológico Comunitario of Luperón in the Puerto Plata district celebrated their grand opening on Friday, February 8, 2008. The master of ceremonies held a simple yet elegant affair for all in attendance. There was great music and a powerful display of enthusiasm for what this new community technology center could bring to the town of Luperón.

The idea of the project came about when the local high school, Liceo Gregorio Luperon, was in dire need of new computers for their deteriorating lab. The community formed a committee to help raise funds and awareness for the cause. After communicating with the Secretary of Education, they learned of a proposal offered by the SEE which would help to create a sustainable functioning computer lab for both the students in the High School and the entire community as well.

With help from various members of the Secretary of Education, the newly formed committee was able to solicit a Peace Corps volunteer, Lori Holmes, who was able to help them re-establish their High School lab as a community computer center, gain new equipment through the Secretary of Education, re-establish an internet connection, install fans, set up the lab with up-to-date software programs, and begin offering classes and other technology services to the entire Luperón community.

The Centro Tecnológico Comunitario in Luperón now serves three different groups. During weekdays from 8AM-12:30PM, the computer lab is used as a classroom for students at the Gregorio Luperón High School. In the afternoons, during the Telecentro hours, the computer lab is used as a technology classroom for the students enrolled in that program. In the evenings and during the entire weekend, classes and computer services are offered to the entire Luperón community. Some of the computer services now offered are: internet, chatting, games, skype, copying, and general computer use with most readily available software programs. The committee is looking to expand the services to accommodate more of Luperón’s community in the future by offering printing and scanning services among others. Since the opening, the Centro Tecnológico Comunitario of Luperón has offered open computer lab hours during the week in the evening and Basic Computer classes on Saturdays and Sundays.

Those who offered speeches at the grand opening of the Centro Tecnológico Comunitario in Luperón were representatives from the Secretary of Education and Peace Corps Mr. Etanislau de la Cruz and Mr. Domingo Valerio; the president of the Comité Tecnológico Comunitario, Mr. Alexis Castillo Padilla; the director of the Gregorio Luperón High School, Mrs. Martha Minaya Aybar; and a representative from the Luperón Municipal School District, Mr. Rafael Suero Santos. Some other important invitees in attendance were representatives of the High School in Imbert, Mrs. Gabina Ortiz and Reynaldo de los Santos; a representative from the Policia Nacional; several Peace Corps volunteers; and an amazingly large group of students from the Gregorio Luperón High School.

Perspective. If you know where someone is coming from you’ll be better able to understand where they are trying to go and how you can help them in the 'camino'.Jenn BiresFormer volunteer in the Dominican Republic 2005-2007.