Finally I understand the word
“community.” My epiphany came
during the big bonfire and live music celebration that our neighboring
community, called Mocan Campana, held as the close to their week-long
children’s camp. Community is not
a thing, or a location or a closed group of people. It’s a verb. It’s alive.
It’s talking (maybe a little too much…) and it’s together whether they like it
or not. I feel as though the word
community in the US is a totally different animal. We are able to choose our
“communities.” You might have your
church community, your school community, your tennis community, your karate
community, a community of people of your nationality, your kid’s community, the
community you were born in and the community you are now, but none of those
compare to these communities. They didn’t choose to be a community they LIVE
their community. Yes, they live it.
It’s a verb for them and it resonates like their music every night being
played from one hilltop or another. They are all family in many senses of the
word and they are stuck with each other whether they like it or not!
If
only we could learn from them, and them from us. We (generalizing about Americans) like efficiency and
tangible deliverables, which is good in moderation. On the other hand the tempo here is so laid back that not
much gets accomplished on a daily basis besides a lot of visiting with the
neighbors. However, Mocan, the community next to my community (which is called
San Jose Adentro) has got it going on! Interestingly San Jose Adentro and Mocan
have a rivalry because I think both are jealous of the other. San Jose Adentro
has Ruben/Project Hearts as well as an American dentist and the Christian
Medical Missions (CMM) school so we have lots of opportunities and important
people (as they see it). On the otherhand Mocan is poorer and smaller than San
Jose Adentro but what they lack in resources they make up for in community
organization. They are the only community I have seen here in Baitoa that has
organized themselves without any outside influence. They have a “junta de
vecinos” which is like a community committee, and a sign announcing their
community. Not only that but they have many leaders, young and old, in their
community that are moving and working together! It’s amazing really. If I were in their situation I don’t
know that I could be so motivated. But they are and it is amazing.
They
organized a group of local missionaries to come for the week to give a
children’s camp. They organized a
collection to help fund this camp and planned activities from morning until
late at night, including the parents and other members of the community at
night to rally them to support and nurture their children. Franni, Project Hearts new media
relations assistant, is only 16 yet such a leader in his community already! He
walks all the way from Mocan most days to the CMM school where my neighbor
Ellen teaches English and Computer classes and where I have begun to teach my
teen health group classes. Because
of his dedication to his studies and his incredible responsibility we’ve been
able to offer him a small position to work with us on media relations because
we are desperate to get the word out about Project Hearts. He is receiving a
small stipend for a few hours of work a week but I know he is going to go way
beyond his hours and what is expected of him. He and his cousin Yordi (who against many odds will be
starting medical school in the fall at the public University) were the ones
that invited me to come to their camp and help/participate in the festivities
and since then I have fallen in love with their community and have so much
admiration for these guys and what they are doing.
San
Jose Adentro and the other communities of Baitoa have much to learn from Mocan,
and I hope that I can continue to cultivate my relationships that I’ve begun to
form in that community and that they may serve as an inspiration, not a source
of jealousy, to the rest of Baitoa.
Because
their communities are so closely knit here I finally feel like I’m slowly
chipping away at that protective exterior in San Jose Adentro and Baitoa in general.
To be honest it hasn’t been as easy as I thought it would be. All the other places I’ve lived I
didn’t feel like such an outsider. But here it is so tangible! I know I will never be IN the community,
but I’m slowly easing my way closer and gaining their trust. No one will ever
forget I have blonde hair and blue eyes and that my accent’s a little
funny. But sometimes they remember
that I’m a normal person like them trying to survive here. I give them a few
laughs when I make mistakes with my Spanish, attempt to dance merengue and
bachata, or when I crash on my motorcycle. But moments like tonight- when they
make sure that I feel comfortable, ask me to dance, and that our conversations
finally move beyond “Hola como estas” - help me to understand community.
I felt it as we clapped our hands, swayed our hips, and raised our
voices. There’s nothing like the
beat of the Dominican community in your veins!
Here is a video from the bonfire/fiesta tonight. You can't see most of the people there as it was too dark and most of them were sitting around me. It was so great to see the community to come together like this!
And here's another video!
