Last month I visited a part of the country that I have wanted to visit for over two years. What secluded, picturesque beach or far-away travel destination could this be you are wondering? Well, neither really. This place is not isolated nor does it take much longer than 15 minutes to get to from my house. Ironically, it still somehow took me two years though.
I had the chance to visit some of Banelino’s banana plantations where I saw the whole production process, from banana trees growing in the fields, to the conveyor/pulley systems that take the bananas in to be cut, washed, sorted, and packed into boxes to be shipped to buyers in Europe.
It was so awesome! Perhaps to understand why this was such a big deal for me, you’d have to know more about what the Dominican banana industry has meant to my Peace Corps service here in the northwestern part of the country.
To start, most families in my community, are affected in some way by bananas. Many friends work directly in the industry either in the plantations cutting and sorting the bananas or at desk jobs in the offices of the companies that process and ship the bananas overseas. Many more people, myself included, are indirectly affected by bananas. At my school, the students, teachers, and their families are impacted by the banana industry in that Banelino built and sponsors IDENE as well as the school's new workshop building. And then of course, with so many plantations in the area, bananas themselves are inexpensive to buy locally (two for 5 pesos or about 12 cents), therefore, there’s really no telling just how many are consumed here on a daily basis.
So though it may seem a bit over the top that as a school, we have literally prayed for a good banana crop season, be assured, this has actually happened, on more than one occasion, because bananas are really that important here.
It is an importance I’ve appreciated aesthetically everyday at the school since arriving here in 2010 (as you’ve seen from pictures - IDENE is a beautiful place!), and understand the depth of as I reflect on the number of people I know affected by the banana industry, to the point that it’s weird to think of my service separate from bananas. The school has grown so much as a result of Banelino and the bananas they export, and without that connection, I’m sure that my projects would have been different. Of course bananas are food (and Dominicans have so many different recipes), but bananas are also a job security and livelihood for so many people in my community that it is hard to imagine a fruit capable of accomplishing more.
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| in the field, after machete-ing the bananas from the tree |
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| conveyor/pulley system bringing the bananas in from the field |
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| washing after cutting the bananas |
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| stickers! |
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| they were so fast at labeling each one |
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| sunset as seen from my neighborhood |
XO
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