Río Limpio

Heyyy everyone!

I hope you are all doing well wherever in the world you are. It's been a crazy past couple of weeks here what with the shit going on in Libya and trying to keep up with news from my family there while being in the middle of nowhere with no internet and only one area that gets phone service. But last week was great overall and I must say that even though the crisis in Libya is scary, it's pretty damn awesome at the same time. Anyway, first let me tell you about my week!

We went to a campo called Río Limpio for the week, located on the Haitian-DR border near the city of Dajabon. Here we stayed in cabins instead of with host families and worked with a group called "CREAR" that works to promote organic agriculture not only in their community but also was the pioneer in organic agriculture for the country. They also have a high school there that is two years and students can choose to finish their high school there and learn and work in organic agriculture. Some of them continue with it and others go to the university to study other things afterwards. The campo itself is very poor and is full of Haitians who have fled from their country to a slightly less poor one in hopes of a better future. The kids would always wave and say hi, ask us for money ("dame diez pesos!), and always ask for pictures. We would talk to them, I let them play with my camera, and they are the happiest and most adorable little kids. But they are covered in dirt, smell, many children have pot-bellies from malnutrition, snot hanging from their noses, naked babies running around, very few children with shoes, and rags as clothes. They sit outside their makeshift houses and play in the clay and have a great time just chilling everyday. The amount of poverty in the campo was very shocking, but at the same time, I felt no pity or anything--I mean, it was sad, but they were perfectly content and I know I can't just go in there and change anything, so I decided to just say hi and hang out with them and treat them like anyone else. Everyone was so friendly and treated us like family. I'm not here to change their lives, just to get to know them and make friends. The people are definitely the part I love the most about the campo because there is such a sense of community. In the city people either ignore you or harass you and its just such a loud and noisy environment. In the campo all you hear are trees swaying, birds making exotic sounds, a horse neighing in the distance, people shuffling dominoes and laughing, and silence. It's so relaxing. I feel like just the environment difference brings me back to the present and helps me enjoy every moment, whereas in the city I'm always focused on the future. I'm trying to bring that campo mentality back here with me to Santiago.

Anyway, during the mornings we got to go out into the fields and this old man, Domingo, would teach us the ropes about organic farming. Domingo is like the coolest old man ever, he's like 78 years old and he's that wise, humble, sweet old man that everyone wants as their grandpa. When he talks about the earth and farming, he closes his eyes and furrows his eyebrows and talks with such a passion that you can't help but smile. And he's like in better shape than any of us. The first day we got a tour of all the farmland and learned how to make organic fertilizer using dirt, pig poop, guineo leaves and stems, and straw. We learned how to wield the machete and discovered it's not as easy as it looks. It was hardd workk. The next day we went out to learn how to make a double bed for planting vegetables, which was also veryyy labor intensive. Every afternoon after lunch we would then work on our on-going project of building this awesome stove called "LORENA" at the CREAR center. Our program has built a lot of them in many communities in the past and this time our group of students was learning how to make it alongside the CREAR students and we all had to work together and learn together. We had to go out and "find" clay and dirt and sand and make mud and do lots of digging and lots of building, it was pretty intense because we were on a time limit for getting it done. It was pretty awesome and everyone was proud of it when we finished. It's not like we did something that changes much in the community but it's a little thing that goes a long way. We made friends with some awesome high school students and two of them, Carlitos and Paula, were so cool that I thought to myself "I want to be like you guys when I grow up" haha. We had a bonfire with all of them and it was their first time making smores. And we shared stories, jokes, sang songs, and had a great time.

Thursday I got sick with some kind of virus, or maybe heat stroke, so I was bed-ridden all day, that was no fun. But I felt amazing when I woke up the next morning. It was like I got hit by a train, died and then came back to life. That day everyone else went to visit a biodynamic farm (not even quite sure what that means but it's like even cooler than organic) and had a water fight in the river. Friday we left and headed to Dajabon to go to this huge market that happens every Monday and Friday and they open the Haitian border and people flood in and sell everything you could possibly need or want in order to get money to live. Sadly when we got there the border had been closed because of a Cholera outbreak on the other side. But apparently it can be a very overwhelming experience. We are trying to organize another day trip over there to see it.

Overall it was a great experience, and we were all sad and kind of slapped in the face when we had to leave and get back to the reality of the city life and our crazy program schedule with all our homework. But Saturday we had a retreat for our two-month check-in and went to this awesome Indian-Dominican fusion restaurant called "Blue Moon" in the mountains. They gave us three free drinks of their amazing Blue Moon special and we ate on the floor using platano leaves as plates and our hands as utensils (but only the right hand bc the left hand is reserved for "other stuff"). It was really cool, there was a pool but it was kind of windy and cold so I didn't go in. But it was nice.

Sunday night I went out to Carnaval in Santiago just to check it out since it's right by my house and I hadn't seen it yet. It was pretty cool and a lot more organized than the one in La Vega, also not as hot and there was more space. I was next to this little girl who started talking to me and asked me to take pictures of her with the different people in costume. Then I let her take some pictures with my camera and she wanted me to print them for her, but I told her I couldn't. So she took me over to her dad and I ended up getting his email and sent them to him. Me and the nine year old girl and her little brother hung out all night haha, and went to the monument and checked out all the activities. It was so much fun and then I ended up getting a motorcycle ride home. Good night.

So that's what I've been up to. I'm going to the beach this weekend!!! So exciteddd! It's been way too long. Just gotta get through this week. I went over to my neighbors house on Sunday too to use their internet and he ended up giving me a bunch of TV shows and a movie that he downloaded, so I've been bad about trying to watch House while doing my homework--or rather, trying to do my homework while watching House. Miss you guys! Much love!

Paz y amor,
~Aysha~

p.s. I tried to add pictures, but it's not working right now. If you have fb though, all my pics are there!