Monday, January 25, 2010

The rain stops! Kids come to school! The family comes!

My apologies for the delay in getting this post out! I am getting accustomed to sometimes having internet, and sometimes not (as in the last 4 days or so), sometimes having electricity, and sometimes not, sometimes having a luke warm shower, and sometimes a cold one, etc....so I will definitely be blaming my inconsistent internet connection for sometimes not keeping up my blog, whether it's true or I'm just being lazy. You'll never know!

In any case, the last two weeks have been super busy, work- and fun- filled. I guess I'll start with a bit about our fundraiser's for Haiti because I think I left you all on the edges of your seat (it's ok to admit) as I described our plans in my last post...

So last Thursday at the DREAM center where I teach we held a pulga (flea market) where we sold donated clothes (both new and used...we got a ton of brand new stuff donated from a local surf shop so sooommmeeeone did a bit of discount shopping and didn't feel the least bit bad about it - all for Haiti!!) as well as some household items, etc...lots of people from the neighborhood came, and it was great...we made between $400-$500 to send directly to the Red Cross, which was pretty amazing seeing as we were selling all items for the equivalent of a few dollars.

So then that night was the big art show. Everything seemed to come together at the last minute, which was amazing - Cabarete is such a small community - it's amazing what you can pull together in a matter of days with the right connections - meaning DREAM's in general, not mine. We received food donations from some of the best local restaurants (including the best carrot cake that's ever touched my tongue), live music, jewelry from local shops, well renowned local painters with their work...it was so great! Local businesses also helped us to promote, which was helpful as well; the crowd was a great mix of tourists and local people too, and we made close to $1,000 which was really unbelievable. We had student drawings for sale, student-painted vases, our signature 'Hispanola Unida' handmade/student decorated shoulder bags, amazing handmade postcards that another volunteer made, some seriously great necklaces made by other teachers and friends, some coconut shell candle lamps, handmade candles...the list goes on.

It was pretty touching and emotional to see the whole thing unfold, having had less than a week to plan it, create the student-made pieces, get other artists on board, etc...Everyone who came was so generous and willing to donate, was enthusiastic about the work, wanted to learn more about DREAM, and wanted to do anything they could to support Haiti.

While the entire earthquake aftermath situation is completely devastating for our neighbors in Haiti, as with many similar situations, it also brings the best out of many people, and unity tends to surface in a big way. It's moving to observe this in a way that I think is probably extroardinarily powerful due to our proximity to the disaster here in the D.R.

Now for some not so good news... I was in the midst of taking some adorable photos of my students making pieces of art for the art show, so that I could share them with you all, when I turned my back for a second in the midst of helping an adorable child add his hand print to one of our 'Hispaniola Unida' shoulder bags (the hand prints were added in the center of a circular stencil we created with the words 'Hispaniola Unida')....when I turned around I watched in slow motion as another student knocked my brand new digital camera off the table and onto the concrete floor. Needless to say.....the photos seem to be inaccessible and I am now camera-less. Nontheless, I'm also keeping it in perspective and reminding myself that I am still alive and that my entire house hasn't collapsed...though I am also hoping that Canon will pull through with a great warranty policy that includes protection against enthusiastic and well-meaning but rambunctious 8-year old artists. Will report back...

In other news, it finally stopped raining! This was great because 1) the schools opened again, and kids started going to both their public school session and DREAM's - why they don't tend to go when it rains/looks like it will rain is beyond me, and 2) now I'm not so pale and I don't have mud from my street splattered on everything I own. Yay! Rainy season appears to be a thing of the past.

Post-art show, I also had a wild weekend with the Siegle family siblings (meaning my father and his sisters...) I think that requires a separate post, so I'll get going on that...

until soon, un beso!

Laura

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