What Do You Do?

Very rarely do I hear that question here. Normally, the question is, “How many brothers and sisters do you have?” or “What’s your family like?” I must say it’s a little refreshing and takes the pressure off.

Yet the question remains, “What will I be doing here in the DR as a Peace Corps Volunteer?” I think I finally have some direction and some answers for those inquisitive minds out there… I recently completed my annual work plan, which details all the projects I would like to undertake during this next year. A fair warning, I may be soliciting help from you kind people abroad at some point, but fear not, for now, I’m just planning and developing.

To summarize my annual work plan, I will be…

- Training computer teachers in Microsoft Office 2007, Photoshop, web design, computer repair and maintenance, and teaching methodologies and classroom management. Just all that is going to take me a whole year! I need to train myself in some of these things!
- Forming a youth IT group in which we will do slideshows, movies, blogs, animating (maybeee), and other techie fun things. I’m officially a nerd.

- Starting a community newspaper, run by the youth in my community. We’ll create the newspaper using Photoshop and InDesign, and we’ll distribute it to local colmados. We’ll be doing something creative and giving people in the community something to read (yay, literacy!).

- Creating a local cinema at my telecentro. Yes, I will put my many years of movie theatre experience to practice. We’ll screen quality Spanish-language cinema and sell refrescos and popcorn! And we’re going to be the only cinema in town!

- Chess competitions… I don’t know how to play, but I hear that people enjoying playing it. Certainly, Dominicans like thinking, strategy-oriented games (I mean it’s incredible how the play Dominoes. The pros can determine which dominoes each player has in their hand and predict the next moves. It’s really stunning.).

- Introducing “Cultural Days” at the center. Poetry readings, music, art, oh, how I love thee!

- Teaching English classes that are fun and exciting! Yeah. Already, I’ve been co-teaching some, trying to use my goofy giggly nature to motivate students to learn English. I will have my very own classes in the fall, and we’re going to incorporate computer time into the class. Hmmm… and maybe an English video chat exchange?? That’s really high tech but I think the students would really enjoy that.

- Starting basic computer workshops for local teachers. (Can you believe that many teachers, including school principals, have never used a computer before? Well, maybe we can change that, at least a little bit…)

- Forming book clubs for the niños and the jóvenes. Think story time with beautiful picture books with the kids, and then afterwards playing games and doing activities that involve the socially important themes discussed in the book. Or a youth book club in which we read a themed-novel about racial relations (a very important topic here in the DR), for instance, and then we discuss the themes and create journals. I really want to work on the literacy in this community. The educational system underestimates the potential of these kids and it’s reflected in how they think and communicate.

- Creating a youth club about healthy choices called Escojo mi Vida (literally, “I choose my life” – a Peace Corps DR-countrywide initiative). I will be teaching adolescents about self-esteem, peer pressure, drugs, violence, race relations, and sex (all of which, especially the sex ed, are not actively included in school or home discussions. In regards to drugs, sex, and violence, it’s “just don’t do it. It’s bad.” But do the kids know why? I’m not sure that they do…). So empowerment, the power of choice, that’s what we’re going to focus on, and then hopefully when the kids graduate from the program, they can go out there and share their knowledge with all their friends.

I’ve got a lot on my plate. All of this seems rather ambitious. And where do I start? Baby steps, I gotta keep telling myself, because the big picture scares me. Of course, if any of you have any suggestions on how to approach these projects, please share them. The “community” itself makes projects like these a success, not the “individual.” Therefore, the support, whether in the form of reading this blog or offering words of kindness to suggestions or physical donations, is greatly appreciated!