DR Clean Water and Sanitation Project - Day 6- 2/6/15

Each year of the clean water and Sanitation Work trips have been very different and one of the reasons is the make up of the volunteers and the need in the community.  This year's trip was very different than last year because of the size of our group.  Last year we had 8 team members/ volunteers and this year we have 25 team members and volunteers.  As a group we were able to cover much more ground this year and assist more people in need. Each member of the group comes with a different passion and a different dedication for the people of the Dominican Republic.  

Our passion, from Providence was to continue with the Construction of Latrines and assistance in the schools, which I have spoken about in other posts.  The other areas of focus on this trip were the Escuela de Patio (outside schools), where older adults want to learn to read and write. Many of the older Batey members do not even know the very basics. This program gives them the opportunity to learn how to write their name, count, etc.  When we met with these folks the pride they had in showing us what they were learning was outstanding! Most of the men on the bateys are sugar cane cutters.  Each of the cutters make between $5-$12/ day, based on their work.  They need to keep track of how much they cut and let the supervisors know.  The problem comes when delivering the sugar cane to the supervisor, the cutter tells them they have collected a certain amount of cane and the supervisor writes the number on the slip, the cutter often does not know what is being written because they can read, and at times can be short changed their pay because of their inability to read and understand what is occurring.  This is one of the many reasons for this new program and the program is held only twice a year with 300 students per program.

Women's health education was the another focus of this week's trip.  We have teamed up with Mina Halperin (in coming President of the Central Romana Rotary) and Family Clinic Director.  Our group had tours of the clinic and were able to participate in education and training to young girls and women on the bateys about safe sex and health education, which until the clinic began, these women were never taught even the very basics about their health and well being.

The Dominican Republic has the 2nd highest level of teen pregnancy in the Carribean, and the only way to stop or at least slow the process is education and awareness.  The Clinic is now in the process of creating a program geared towards 11-15 year old girls, because teen pregnancy, HIV and HIV pregnancy is so common here.

There are programs to test as many women as possible, for HIV and AIDS, who are pregnant and if positive to determine if they should do a C-section or not.  This is called vertical transmission (mother to baby).  But for the past two years, they have had not had any babies born with HIV because they determined the HIV status in advance and thus the appropriate delivery method.  We also learned that the equipment to conduct this second test on HIV positive pregnant women is extremely expensive. 

In previous blogs I wrote about the schools and the bateys, another great part of the week, but the final part of the trip was installing water filters.  In the past we have installed many water filters, and this week we only installed a few because most of the the bateys now have BioSand Water Filters installed.  The filters tie in perfectly with all of the education we have been doing through out the week with the members of the bateys!  Cooking and drinking with clean water, bathing separately from where you use the toilet and washing your hands after people use the toilet all tie into the mission of why we are here doing the work that we do throughout the week!