From Sosua abajo (Lower Sosua)

Monday Jan.14, 2008

Morning, 4:33 am
This is our third day living in Sosua abajo (lower Sosua)
Dominican Republic.
I can hear the roosters crowing but the neighbors are finally quiet, except, of course, for the dogs.
We have equipped our apartment with all the basic necessities.
Let me bore you with a list; 4 plates, 4 glasses, 4 cups, a full set of cutlery, a set of knives, 2 pots and teflon frypan, 2 large jugs of water, 2 gas cylinders, cleaning supplies, some large bowls, etc. ....

Yesterday we went with Elio Madonia to church in Ascension Village. On the way we stopped at Pancho Mateo (a Haitian cane cutters village) we walked the narrow alleyways and streets through the mud, by a small church where people were worshipping and singing. Past small shops, one looked as though the whole of the contents consisted of a few bottles and a package of hotdog buns hanging in the window. We ducked under laundry and as we walked I thought something was missing. There were no chickens, only one dog and very few children. Elio asked a man working on a roof where all the people were? We are all sick he said, and pointed to several doors on down the alley "them and them and them, there is no work, he shrugged" .
Elio noticed one of the men visiting with us was making a list and asked what he was doing he said he was writing what was in the houses; one chair, one pot, small shack, mud floor 5 x 8 ft., four people...

Saturday we went with John Huizinga and the other John (oh this is going to be confusing) and visited Los Algodonas, the village where we will live. We saw the work being done, the new water, the foundation being started on the medical clinic and the almost completed school building. Some children took possession of Sandy and I and led us around, one kept trying to braid my hair as we walked.

John H. met with a man who has been teaching an informal school in the little church building but is growing frustrated as he was promised a regular salary and has not been paid for at least six months. The person who originally agreed to pay him could no longer do so and another person had agreed to take over, but could not or would not follow through with the obligation. The man lives with his family of six right in the village. The amount of money that had been agreed on for teaching was $300. US a month. John said this is an example of what often happens with projects here, people have good intentions and everything works great for a while, but then the enthusiasm dies down and the projects peter out. All the man was asking from John H. was a piece of foam for his son to sleep on.