Earthquakes and aftershakes

I am still alive and kickin´ as most of you already know! We felt about 20 seconds of the earthquake here in Dajabon and some of the aftershocks, but fortunately there was no damage here. The earthquake and damage in Haiti was the talk of my community for a solid week, as you can imagine. Red cross has set up tables here in the Dajabon marketplace with microphones yelling at people in the market on Mondays and Fridays to donate money and supplies for our Haitian brothers and sisters. Boxes are being packed with food, medicine and other supplies. A few volunteers and I tried to help out this past Friday but were running around with our heads cut off for awhile and then finally got sent to work taking inventory of medicine but it was almost time for me to head back to my site by then. I wish that there was a way to help more. A crew from Peace Corps headquarters in the DR and a few volunteers have headed west to evaluate the situation and how they can provide asistance. I hope that all of you back in the states that are in a position to help out have taken the time to do so. I find it disturbing that a number of Haitians were already eating cakes made of mud and water to take away hunger pains, and now a 7.3 earthquake decides to pass through.

I will be spending the next week wrapping up my community diagnostic. It has been coming along slowly but surely. Given the fact that my mango producers have not had a meeting since my first month here, most of my diagnostic is focused on the needs of the community and the interviews that I have done. I am 99% sure that a latrine project will be top on the list. I have found that nearly 40% of my community does not have a latrine (one of those outdoor bathrooms for those that don´t know there is a picture in my facebook album of one). It is going to be a huge task but the first thing I will have to do is to begin looking for funds and creating a budget of how much making a latrine will cost. Right now, many people in the community that have latrines are having problems with them filling up with water because of the way that they were constructed during a past project. This means that I will have to find the cheapest way to build a latrine that will not fill with water.

Another project that was mentioned more than others is for a basketball court and-or park for the community. Currently, there is no real place for kids in the community to be active. My community is heavily populated with youth, and not having much for them to do has created a huge delinquency problem within the community. I also plan to start the business plan curriculum with the students in the spring. This will provide an inspiration among the youth because if they enter the competition they have a chance to win full funding for their business idea.

Besides the diagnostic, my house is coming around. They poured cement floors yesterday and also have put a cement type bar for my stovetop and kitchen area. I can´t wait to finally start cooking for myself and have privacy. I feel like if I have too many more days of all 3 meals being fried in oil I will die of a heart attack before I make it out of this country in 2 years. I can´t wait to feel healthy again and maybe even fit into my jeans again, haha! I have had an all around great experience with my host family for the last 3 months, but I am ready to be a big girl now.

I am finally allowed to get visitors starting next week! Some of my family is coming down at the beginning of March and I can hardly wait. This is the longest I have gone without seeing my family and friends. I know some others are already starting to plan their visits and are saving. It means so much to me, you have no idea! Life is not easy here at times and sometimes just knowing I am going to have visitors keeps me going. If you have anything you would like to have brought down to me contact my sister or my mom as they will be here in March. (If anyone wants to get me a computer...mine is broken so I can no longer skype)..