A week ago I returned from the Dominican Republic and I feel like I just now have had time to take the whole experience all in. While it was my fourth visit to the island nation, every time it touches me in a new way and captures my heart. From the time I step off the plane, it is obvious that things are different. Things that we take for granted, such as clean drinking water and reliable electricity are scarce there. This is mostly due to the corruption within the government that prevents progress on public works.
Spending this week in their culture really allows me to become a participant observer because I experience life on a daily basis in the same way they do. Many people visit the Dominican Republic as a tourist and never leave the gates of the all inclusive resorts, but drive only a few minutes away from the beaches and crystal clear waters and you will find the poverty that the majority of people live in.
The amazing thing is to see how happy the people are despite their dire situation. The entire way of life is different. There is no concept of doing things on a schedule or being on time. Many times, Americans can get frustrated with this idea, but you must use cultural relativism to understand the things that are most important to those people in that culture. This trip has so many aspects that we discuss in my Anthropology 101 class that I could go on for pages, but I will discuss a few.
The purpose of the trip is a medical mission trip, and for this trip I traveled with a group of three doctors and a dentist into the campo (countryside) each day to set up temporary medical clinics. We had a group of translators that would go with us to assist, and this allowed me to see firsthand the differences in language. Even though the translators had studied and practiced English thoroughly, their native tongue was still overbearing. When speaking about his family he would say “mudder” and “fadder” because in he was raised without the phones of the sound –th. This is just one of numerous examples.
Their food getting methods also differ very much from ours. While some fast food chains do exist, most of the poor citizens cannot afford to eat there. All over the countryside are fields filled with plantains, rice, wheat, pineapples, and other crops. Not only does this allow for healthier food, but is the way that many Dominicans make their living. Women have many children, and it is not viewed as socially unacceptable or unusual for a girl to begin her family at 15 or 16. While men are out working in the field, women stay closer to home taking care of children, cooking, and tending to the home. Gender roles tend to follow the expected norm in this country, although there is a new revolution of young girls becoming educated and receiving employment instead of staying home. With every trip it seems that the Dominican tends to exhibit influences from America and other more developed countries.
I have attached the video that I made which contains all my pictures from the trip. This country and the people have captivated me. I look forward to going back and this experience has made me even more interested in a career in Public Health. While there are so many things that I can do to help them, I feel that I also learn so many things from them.
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