Daring to Dream...

Just a girl who is willing to question the norm

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Day 3, 4, 5, and 6: La Comunidad de Franco Bido

DAY 3: After one night at the retreat center, we packed up our bags again and headed into the mountainous region of the DR to the coffee farming community of Franco Bido. The four hour drive was the bumpiest ride of my life, and yet one of the most beautiful!

Here we are boarding the bus to drive to Franco Bido

Crammed in the back of the bus with our luggage

The view as we drove

Isn't it just breathtaking?

After we got close to the community, the bus dropped us off because it could no longer handle the roads. We walked about a mile and a half up and down large hills to get to the home were we would be eating lunch.


Walking to lunch at Fea's house (I'd actually prefer to call it hiking!)

When we decided to make our way from Fea's house to the center of the community, it began to rain. For those of you who have ever been to a tropical location, you know that the rain comes fast and hard. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. Unfortunately, we had to hike a little over three miles in the rain, and to this day my shoes and pants are still covered with red mud! Did I mention that we walked A LOT on this trip? When we finally arrived in the center of "town," we were greeted by all of the women and children who were singing songs for us. We were wet and dirty, and yet they still embraced us! After our "Welcome to the Community" party with lots of fun games, we met our host families who we would be staying with for the next three days. Kalen and I were paired up with Lela and Antonio, one of the most loving couples I have ever met. The rest of the day was spent getting settled into our homes and interacting with our host families. The first night was a little bit of a shocker for a couple of reasons. First, the conditions were so rustic! I really wasn't prepared for using a really nasty outhouse, having chickens walk under the kitchen table as I was eating chicken, sleeping in a home where none of the walls reached the roof, or sitting in the dark when the electricity randomly would turn off. Secondly, although I know how to speak Spanish, it was still extremely difficult to communicate due to their accent and how quickly they spoke.

My host family

My bedroom

The view from my bedroom door




The bathroom




The sink and shower


Playing with the kids on the first night

I gave the children stickers and they decided to decorate themselves!

DAY 4: After waking up bright and early (did you know that roosters start their wake up call at around 3 AM?), we began our intensive training on the art of coffee farming! Every single family that lives in Franco Bido harvests coffee and relies on it to provide for their families. We had the opportunity to follow Mario throughout the day to see the labor involved in producing our morning cup of hot coffee.

The view of the village as we headed up to the coffee fields

Coffee fruit

In the field picking coffee fruit. This was an extremely difficult task because the fields are dense with coffee trees and you are working on a steep incline.

One of these boxes filled all the way to the top will get a coffee farmer about $2. On average, a coffee farmer can fill 4 to 5 boxes per day. Our team helped pick coffee for about an hour, and even with 12 extra workers we were not able to fill an entire box.

After a sufficient amount of fruit has been picked, it is transported by mule in bags back to the farmer's home. At that point, it is placed in this structure where it is poured down a shoot to have the skin peeled off.

As it is poured down the shoot, the bean and the skin are separated by this contraption that is either operated by hand or by a small motor. All of the beans go into the cement trough where they will be washed, and the skins go on the other side where they will eventually rot and be used for compost. When the process of separation is complete, the cement trough is filled with water. The low quality coffee beans eventually rise to the top, while the high quality beans remain on the bottom of the trough. The farmer then scoops the low quality beans out and keeps them for personal use.


The high quality beans are then spread out on a cement patio to dry for approximately 5 to 7 days. Over that period of time, the farmer is consistently raking the beans to make sure that they all dry evenly.

After seeing the coffee process first hand and helping out a bit, our whole group sat down to discuss the importance of Fair Trade for these small coffee farms. Farmers who are involved in the Fair Trade process get about $0.40 more per pound, which when added up over time, is a significant increase. I would hope that when all of you go out and buy your coffee, you would look for the Free Trade label because it really does impact lives around the globe.


During our Fair Trade discussion, Mario's wife made us fresh squeezed orange juice...simply delicious!

After our coffee lesson, we sat down with Tomas and Papito to discuss the racism between Dominicans and Haitians that is so prevalent in the Dominican Republic. Because of Haiti's extreme level of poverty, over the years many Haitians have moved to the DR to make a better life for themselves. Yet the Dominicans are very resentful and don't like the idea of foreigners coming in and taking their jobs. Even in the loving community of Franco Bido, it was clear that there were certain lines that Haitians and Dominicans wouldn't cross. For example, the Haitians had the worst houses in the community, they had the lowest paying jobs (usually working in the coffee fields for a Dominican farmer), and there was this silent feeling of jealousy when a member of our team would talk with a Haitian instead of a Dominican. Tomas and Papito are VERY aware of this daily struggle and both hope that it may someday come to an end.

Tomas (Dominican) and Papito (Haitian)

DAY 5: On our last full day in Franco Bido, we headed back up to Fea's house to visit the medical clinic and visit a bee farm. The medical clinic serves approximately five different communities in the surrounding area and is the only medical service available other than the hospital in Santiago (which is three hours away). We talked with Fea about the common diseases that she encounters in the clinic, the importance of the medicine that groups such as ours deliver to her, and how many people use her services on a monthly basis (right around 100). Fea isn't even a registered nurse, but she spent many years working in hospital and is very well trained.

If we weren't walking, we were usually all jammed into the back of a pickup truck.

While we were working at the clinic, coffee was being roasted. This is the final step of the coffee producing process and it smelled amazing. However, it is an extremely dangerous job as it is very hot and not healthy to breathe in the coffee for more than a few minutes. As you can see, a Haitian was employed to take on this not so desirable job.

Sorting supplies at the medical clinic that we brought with us from the U.S.

A wheelchair that only cost $40 instead of $400 (freewheelchairmission.com)

After stocking the shelves at the clinic, we headed over to a family's home where they raise bees for honey when the coffee industry doesn't bring in enough money. It was very fascinating, but I was really scared of being stung! We also got to eat some fresh honey right off of the comb and it was amazing!

Up close and personal with the bees

Fresh honey!

Later that afternoon we returned to the community center for lunch and some leisure time. That evening, the community had a big party for us as a going away gift. We played games and then danced the night away! I actually had to leave the room for a few minutes because my hips hurt so bad from dancing so much!

Doing dishes with VERY dirty water.

Worshipping in our free time.

Dancing at our goodbye party

Bob and Tim with some of the kids

When I returned to my host family's house later that evening, I persuaded Lela and Antonio to dance for me. Kalen and I also played outside on the patio with the kids doing cartwheels and such. It was the perfect way to end an unforgettable experience in Franco Bido.

Lela and Antonio dancing for us...they have been married for 30 years and are SO cute together!

Playing with the kids (wheelbarrow races) on our last night in Franco Bido

In front of my host family's house with the neighborhood kids.

DAY 6: We got up very early and said our goodbyes to our host families...it was SO sad! We drove four hours back to the retreat center and spent the rest of the afternoon processing our experience and sharing our stories with eachother.

One thing that really hit me during my time in Franco Bido was the hope that these people have. Compared to us, they are poor beyond words and yet they have a happiness, a light, and a hope for better things to come that thousands of rich Americans will never have in their lifetime! They have nothing, and yet they gave me everything they could. What an amazing example of Christ's love!

I apologize for how long this was, but I didn't want to leave anything of importance out. I will post again about the rest of my experiences in a few days.

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Home From La Republica Dominicana

I'm back! After an amazing 12 day journey (it was extended accidentally) to the Dominican Republic with 11 other remarkable individuals, I am now back home in the U.S. trying to process my experience. To be honest, I have been procrastinating with writing this post because I just cannot find the words to describe my trip and the many wonderful experiences I had. I have talked with many of my friends and family members on the phone, and I have yet to give an accurate portrayal of my time spent in the DR. The only word that comes close is AWESOME...as in overwhelming, inspiring, powerful.

I am not even sure where to begin, so I guess I will just start with Day 1 and go from there. I know that there will be many moments where words will not suffice, so I'm relying on my pictures to tell a story that I simply cannot.

DAY 1 & 2

We started out with a busy day of traveling, beginning with a 5 hour drive from Pullman to Seattle, followed by a 2 hour flight from Seattle to Salt Lake City, then a 4-hour red-eye flight from Salt Lake City to New York, and finally ending with a 4 hour flight from New York to Santiago, Dominican Republic! Whew!
Upon our arrival in Santiago I was hit hard by the humidity! Throughout my time in the DR I noticed that almost everyone wears pants, and I cannot for the life of me figure out why! Those first few hours in Santiago I was wearing jeans and a long sleeve shirt and it was just awful!
Next our team boarded an air-conditioned tour bus (thank the Lord!) and we took a tour of the city of Santiago, visiting monumental places that are very significant to the people of this country. One such place that was particularly fascinating to me was La Catedral de Santiago, located in the heart of the city next to el Parque Duarte and la Plaza. If I recall correctly, it is one of the oldest churches in the New World and it is absolutely beautiful! What struck me while I was in the cathedral sitting on one of the hard wooden pews was how unified the Dominican Republic is by faith. This country doesn't battle with denominations, but rather focuses on the things of prime importance: love, service, and submission to Christ. I felt so welcomed, so at home in that cathedral and it filled me with such joy!
After our brief history lesson and tour of the city, we drove about an hour out of Santiago into the lush, green mountains to the retreat center where we would be staying. As soon as we got out of the bus we were greeted by peacocks! Can I just say that looks are SO deceiving! As beautiful as those peacocks were, by the end of the trip I was so tired of their wailing and loud noises at all hours of the day! My first impression of the retreat center was that it was surrounded by amazing beauty, but the living conditions were certainly not what I was used to! The very first night at the retreat center I used a mosquito net and you have no idea how grateful I was for that apparatus...the combination of a lack of screens on the windows and just poor building construction made for an abundance of mosquitos and other icky insects!
Ready with our tickets at the Seattle airport

Goldfish anyone?

Ben playing guitar in Salt Lake City

On the tour bus

Eating lunch (our first taste of Dominican food)

El Monumento de los Heroes de la Restauracion


View of Santiago from the monument



My team



The front door of the cathedral


Inside the cathedral...aren't the windows gorgeous?

The Plaza right next to the cathedral...lots of birds





Palm Tree


The Plaza


The retreat center (do you see the peacock in the background?)

The courtyard outside of my bedroom

Our room

Fun with the mosquito net!


There you have it, a look at my first two days in Santiago. Over the next week or so I will continue posting pictures and stories from my trip to the DR. Keep checking in to read the latest news!