18 Nov 2010
Returning to the campo… through the fields of green and wide open spaces, sure feels relieving after spending 2 and a half weeks travelling to and from San Juan and the capital for a cholera training, lockdown during hurricane Thomas, and language training. While my accommodations were nice in Santo Domingo…24hr luz, water, and fellow Americans. Sometimes I struggle when faced with the reality that the campesinos I live with are significantly poorer than some of the capital or San Juan folk. Or when I start thinking about how other volunteers live in communities with more money, better education systems and more motivated, organized and involved community members which perhaps make projects and “doing things” easier. Then I remember the generosity of my host-mom, and how I was worried about not being able to buy fruit in San Juan only to come home to a delivery of sweet oranges, bananas and papaya. Some people don’t have very much, but I’ve learned they often can offer just what you need. Driving home past some of the shacks in the campo and re-visiting my neighbors’ homes without floors and bathrooms tugs at my moral consciousness and complicates my understanding of poverty and the way the world decides who gets what. But I suppose it is all relative, as there are poorer and richer people in all parts of the world. And while this sounds like a cheesy quote from a flip-page calendar, material wealth can’t make up for genuine generosity and love. Point being we all live in this funny little world, and sometimes the close proximities and obvious segregation between the have and the have-nots can be uncomfortably obvious and striking. Nonetheless, the illuminated polluted streets and smoggy air is no match for fresh air of the foothills. Plus, Christmas time is rolling around and the natural decorations of huge blooming poinsettia trees lining the gravel road, hands-down beat the kitchy, song-singing strings of lights adorning my host-families house in the capital.
