Library, Carpentry, Literacy

Hola. Can’t believe we’re almost in the middle of April. I’ve been in-country over a year, a volunteer for nearly a full year, and am feeling good about all things at this point. 

Project-wise, there’s a little more going on here since I last updated. All the things from before, plus a couple new projects, and mini-success stories re. other projects. First of all, the school was able to get lots of books, and shelves donated from the DR’s Ministry of Education. We added these to our existing collection, and now we are starting a school-wide mini-library. I say mini because currently this library is in my office which is not that roomy. So, starting small, but that’s okay - its a library for goodness’ sake! Libraries, and books in general are hard to come by here. Some perspective: My town has 50,000 people, I’ve lived here about a year, and still haven’t found the library (although I’ve heard it does exist somewhere!) This library-in-my-office location indirectly put me in charge of organizing and categorizing all the books. As a kid who spent money on desk organizers and more time than necessary browsing the aisles of Staples, you can imagine how much I am enjoying getting this growing library all neat and orderly.

Also...I got funding for the school! I wrote proposals for two grants for this - the first is the one all of you have been helping me with (only 3 weeks, and we are halfway to the goal thanks to you all!), and the second was a SPA (Small Project Assistance) grant through USAID funds. With this USAID money from the second grant, we’ll be able to do all the preliminary classroom prep work (building shelves, bookcases, storage cabinets) to make way for the Montessori materials and new Special Edu. resources funded with your help. In short, VERY excited about all this, and so is my project partner. We’re on our way! 

And then in new project news, I’m going to start helping Gina with her literacy classes. She’s teaching people in the neighborhood how to read and write twice a week. It’s great because she started the classes for the neighbors on her own - saw a need with a few people and just went for it. Which means, for these students at least, the class is already sustainable, with a Dominican teacher (Gina) who has been trained in how to teach literacy. Um, Emma seems like you really don’t need to be helping with this. I know. I just want to be supportive, especially since a couple of my neighbors and barrio friends are in these classes including the doorman who works at our school. Living without knowing how to read or write must be so draining, and disheartening having to rely on others around you all the time. Maybe people get used to it, and they don’t feel the way I’m imagining they do. Still I’ve found that many people who rely on others to read and write for them are often the same people who go out of their way to help without ever being asked. For example, whenever I bring my dog to school, I tie her to a banana tree and leave her outside in the shade while I’m working inside. One day after school got out, I went outside and saw that the school’s doorman, Alejandro had built a little cardboard house for the puppy to sleep in. Just really kind. And there’s been a lot of times like that - someone from the literacy class making my day a little easier or more pleasant for no other reason than to be nice. So in short, I just want to bring whatever resources I can to Gina and the literacy group to help her get the students reading, writing, and living better.

lots of love!

XO

PS - One of my project partners found someone in town to fix my camera. (For free!) Pictures are back in this blog’s future. Love this day so much.