Another Perspective: Poverty in the Dominican Republic
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Another Perspective: Poverty in the Dominican Republic
by Micaela Cook
All rights reserved
spiralupnow@yahoo.com
Reproduced with Permission; Copyright June, 2001
All rights reserved
spiralupnow@yahoo.com
Reproduced with Permission; Copyright June, 2001
Amid much historical and natural beauty, poverty is a major presence in the Dominican Republic today. As a developing nation in the Western Hemisphere, it is economically reliant on the United States. The United States is the chief supplier of imported goods such as electronic equipment, plastics, food staples, clothing, and so on. The US is also the primary customer of Dominican exports, enforcing dependence on America for foreign markets. Investment in the Dominican Republic springs from several sources, including the Caribbean Basin Initiative, OPEC, and NAFTA. These programs increase the number of jobs and the country's GDP, although they usually leave a stream of environmental and human rights violations in their wake.
The Dominican Republic wants an expanded foreign market (this is true of Caribbean countries generally) and also wants increased involvement with NAFTA and the FTAA(Free Trade Agreement of the Americas) because of the potential economic benefits. Unemployment presently hovers around 30%, and any source of job opportunity aids the economy. In the long run this practice of foreign investment, whether it be manufacturing or tourism, causes dependency on foreign capital and exploitation of labour domestically. Unfortunately, even with these dangers known, there is desperation to create solutions so foreign investment continues. The Dominican Republic is so poor that its annual operating budget actually depends on money sent back from the United States by immigrants to their families at home. This causes a willingness and a need to cater to foreign interests. Says Willis Aramiris Diaz, currently a student of diplomacy at the sole graduate school of diplomacy in Santo Domingo, "you have to have flexibility in legislation of country" in order to attract foreign investors. What this euphemism translates to is a relaxation of environmental protection laws and human rights laws, and pressure to have an ostensibly democratic governmental structure. Supposedly the US would promote democracy. However, if American dollars are a principal source of investment, threat of withdrawal of that money would clearly influence Dominican policymakers to treat American desires preferentially. The word for that is oligarchy.
The Dominican business elite and legislators are pushing for more free trade zones and foreign investment in tourism. One reason for this is that the country needs immediate economic improvement, and hotels and factories bring jobs. Although this is true, as previously mentioned it also encourages exploitation of labour and dependency on foreign interests. Virtually none of the profits from these industries are channelled back in the country. Another reason for this strategy is the idea that the more Dominicans there are who have money, the more Dominicans there are who would be approved for visas. Therefore, there would be more Dominicans who could move to the United States and then send money back. While this may seem a roundabout method of boosting an economy, it has a substantial effect. The most recent American recession caused layoffs for 5,000 Dominicans. Travel to the US is nearly impossible without a visa. Anything (i.e. more $) to increase the chances of obtaining a visa is attractive.
Illegal Immigration: According to the Cultural Affairs Officer at the US Embassy in Santo Domingo each visa application is regarded as a possible no-return. This means that every person who applies to travel in the United States, even if he or she buys a return ticket, is assumed to be plotting illegal immigration. This should come as no surprise, since the DR is incredibly poor, the United States advertises itself as the Land of Opportunity, and there is a very high illegal immigration rate. Therefore, hopeful travelers have to prove to the visa board that they have sufficient reason to come back. This could take the form of strong ties to an Indigenous culture, children or other family dependents, a steady job and company loyalty, or a comfortable financial situation. Poor, single, young people are almost never granted travel visas. The requirements are even more difficult for an immigration visa. Because of all these barriers, increased cash flow would result in increased numbers of people being granted visas, which would result in greater numbers living in the US (legally and otherwise) and sending money home. This "trickle-down" ideology of the business elite leaves much to be desired as far as self-sufficiency and long term economic gain go, but it is true that it would offer a modicum of immediate relief.
Guaranteed human rights: According to current legislation, certain basic human rights are guaranteed for all workers. These include the physical and moral integrity of the worker, a salary of at least the minimum wage ($200US/month says Willis Diaz. This is equivalent to 3200p. Note that this number is substantially less than estimated living wage for one person, which is 7500p/month), and respect for the seniority of the workers. There are few laws to enforce these policies. In practice, the lack of enforcement makes a difference. There are many examples of various corporations (American, European, and Dominican) taking advantage of the poor's inability to speak up and defend their rights. This paper will examine the lives of four different communities touched by the poverty caused by the imperialism of the United States and Europe and the present-day compulsion to compete in an international and capitalistic market. I visited all four of these places in June of 2001. All information contained herein was gathered from interviews with various Dominican citizens (businesspeople, community members, students, and teachers) and first hand examination/visits of the areas.
Health Risks: The inside of the factory smelled strongly of tobacco. There were a few rooms that were too strong for us to breathe without coughing, and we had to hold our breath and run quickly to the next area on the tour. Except for a few men spraying freshly harvested leaves with chemicals, the majority of the workers did not wear masks. The stink was also one of the chief complaints, according to one woman. We asked both the workers and the CEO, by the name of Seijas, if there were higher rates of cancer or any other diseases among people who worked in the factory and neither one was able to give a satisfactory answer. The CEO insisted there were no health risks. There is no way of knowing what the specific health risks are, but it seems likely there are some, since we as visitors unused to the air quality were coughing for our entire one hour walk-through.
The salaries of all the workers were atrociously low. The lowest paid received 500p/week. or 2000p/month is only 125$/month, which is the minimum wage. However, basic necessities alone cost 3,000p/month. In any case, the highest paid gets 1000p/week. Most of the people working in this factory support several children. Many of them are single mothers.
Profit Margins: In contrast, the profit margin of the factory is doing very well. That is good for the CEO, since he wants the profit margin to be "Obviously the maximum we can..." It is 30%. A 30% profit margin is extremely large. Nike, the well known and sweatshop using shoe company, has a profit margin of 40-45%. See www.saigon.com/~nike/fact-sheet.htm and Global exchange — Protests Wegmans, a supermarket chain rated by Fortune 500 among the top 100 companies to work for by their employees http://www.wegmans.com/about/awards/awards.asp has a profit margin of less than 10%. The fact that this cigar factory's profits are so enormous is cause for suspicion.
Labour Abuses: Aside from a few unsurprising problems, like most of the workers being extremely dark-skinned while all the managers and executives being white, the lunches sold on the premises being small portions and expensive, and the bathrooms being dirty, disgusting, and without toilet paper, there were many questionable practices in the factory. For instance, depending on whom we asked, we were given 3 different minimum ages. The CEO says 18, or sometimes 17 with a letter from the parents. The women on the floor say 16. According to the CEO, "We have to comply with American standards. We are an American company." That must be why the machine workers have to come from 6am to 3pm Monday through Friday, since, "You can't stop the machines." Pregnant women are supposed to get 3 months of paid leave, with the factory paying half their salary, and the government paying the other half. What actually happens is that the women are sometimes paid half their salary (at that point below min. wage), lose the other half from the government because they often don't know they are entitled to it, and sometimes simply leave and lose their benefits.
Some other underhanded procedures include AIDS screening and the yearly "liquidation". Many applicants are given an AIDS test, and if they test positive are turned away without being told why they were rejected. The factories also take advantage of the Latin culture's tendency to have a big Christmas and New Year's holiday. Often the workers are fired in the beginning of December. At this point there is no more time to make goods to sell for the holiday season- they're already sitting on the shelves waiting to be bought. The (former) workers are given a placatory bonus and then do not work until mid-January when they are "rehired". This practices effectively prevents any possibility of their building a pension, since it only begins to collect one year after the time of hire. There are many cases of people working in the free-trade zones for twenty years with no stored pension at all.
La Zurza: The community of La Zurza is an example of extreme urban poverty. It is exactly what one would picture a shantytown to be — flimsy houses with rusting, corrugated aluminum roofs built attached to and on top of each other, sharply inclined concrete poured between the doorways of houses to make sidewalks, garbage lying all over the ground and floating in the streams, the smell of trash everywhere. It smelled worse near the actual garbage heaps, of which there were several. There were also several children playing on each one we saw, some barefoot.
Although the people of La Zurza have had 399 promises from the government to improve conditions, not ever one has been realized. This is not so surprising as the area is completely stigmatized. Our cab driver wouldn't even go inside the community, the dropped us off on a nearby street.
"La Zurza" means "the source", and the name comes from a ground spring that comes from a cave, or indentation in a rock face. The pool there is much cleaner than the river or any of the streams, although people still swim in those. At La Zurza, however, there was a steady stream of kids and men jumping in the water off the ledge over and over again. The water did look fresh and clean and blue, but even so American immune systems could never handle it. There was a ring of trash floating in the water, fanning out from the spring, and of course all the toxins and waste in the city wash into that pool when it rains. The river on which La Zurza was situated was much worse. 54 companies, including Palmolive, Santo Domingo Coffee and Rum, and Quaker Oats, dumped toxic sludge into the river. There was also a ship, run aground, and sitting in the river right next to La Zurza. It had been there for decades and no amount of asking could get it moved, even though it was seeping rust and chemicals into the river. At present time the river is legally dead. There is probably not a single fish. There were a few boys still swimming in it, which made me want to cringe.
While walking through the streets, some people smiled when we smiled first, but many just looked at us, as if to ask why we would ever want to come here. The community leaders who met with us were very welcoming. Their dance troupes put a marvellous show. The kids performed the Rara, a particular dance of African origin, and they then did an original merenge. La Zurza is very well organized, in comparison to some similar communities, and there are several clubs for community improvement. They also try as hard as they can to have schools. Some of the teachers teach for free, but overall it is difficult with almost no supplies or books or electricity.
The people of La Zurza live courageously in the worst of urban poverty. They are not high on anyone's agenda but their own. They are just one example of the ways poverty affects those at the bottom.
Conclusion:
The problem of poverty demands immediate action. The same pattern of prejudice, exploitation, and stigmatization aimed at the Dominican Republic from developed countries around the world (e.g. the United States) is levelled at the poor internally, whatever nationality or culture they might be. I encourage anyone reading this to contact the people, including myself, named in this paper. They would be glad of any type of help, and networking is an important first step in effecting change.
This experience was made possible through the class Culture and Society: An International Field Experience, taught by Hector Velez, Professor of Sociology at Ithaca College and Cornell University.
The purpose of this paper is to educate the reader about the current condition of many lives in the Dominican Republic. Contact information is included for several people working for change. It is my hope that reading this may motivate or inspire you to take action. If so, please do not hesitate to contact any of these people. They always can use help with their projects, whether it be volunteer workers or financial support.
The Dominican Republic wants an expanded foreign market (this is true of Caribbean countries generally) and also wants increased involvement with NAFTA and the FTAA(Free Trade Agreement of the Americas) because of the potential economic benefits. Unemployment presently hovers around 30%, and any source of job opportunity aids the economy. In the long run this practice of foreign investment, whether it be manufacturing or tourism, causes dependency on foreign capital and exploitation of labour domestically. Unfortunately, even with these dangers known, there is desperation to create solutions so foreign investment continues. The Dominican Republic is so poor that its annual operating budget actually depends on money sent back from the United States by immigrants to their families at home. This causes a willingness and a need to cater to foreign interests. Says Willis Aramiris Diaz, currently a student of diplomacy at the sole graduate school of diplomacy in Santo Domingo, "you have to have flexibility in legislation of country" in order to attract foreign investors. What this euphemism translates to is a relaxation of environmental protection laws and human rights laws, and pressure to have an ostensibly democratic governmental structure. Supposedly the US would promote democracy. However, if American dollars are a principal source of investment, threat of withdrawal of that money would clearly influence Dominican policymakers to treat American desires preferentially. The word for that is oligarchy.
The Dominican business elite and legislators are pushing for more free trade zones and foreign investment in tourism. One reason for this is that the country needs immediate economic improvement, and hotels and factories bring jobs. Although this is true, as previously mentioned it also encourages exploitation of labour and dependency on foreign interests. Virtually none of the profits from these industries are channelled back in the country. Another reason for this strategy is the idea that the more Dominicans there are who have money, the more Dominicans there are who would be approved for visas. Therefore, there would be more Dominicans who could move to the United States and then send money back. While this may seem a roundabout method of boosting an economy, it has a substantial effect. The most recent American recession caused layoffs for 5,000 Dominicans. Travel to the US is nearly impossible without a visa. Anything (i.e. more $) to increase the chances of obtaining a visa is attractive.
Illegal Immigration: According to the Cultural Affairs Officer at the US Embassy in Santo Domingo each visa application is regarded as a possible no-return. This means that every person who applies to travel in the United States, even if he or she buys a return ticket, is assumed to be plotting illegal immigration. This should come as no surprise, since the DR is incredibly poor, the United States advertises itself as the Land of Opportunity, and there is a very high illegal immigration rate. Therefore, hopeful travelers have to prove to the visa board that they have sufficient reason to come back. This could take the form of strong ties to an Indigenous culture, children or other family dependents, a steady job and company loyalty, or a comfortable financial situation. Poor, single, young people are almost never granted travel visas. The requirements are even more difficult for an immigration visa. Because of all these barriers, increased cash flow would result in increased numbers of people being granted visas, which would result in greater numbers living in the US (legally and otherwise) and sending money home. This "trickle-down" ideology of the business elite leaves much to be desired as far as self-sufficiency and long term economic gain go, but it is true that it would offer a modicum of immediate relief.
Guaranteed human rights: According to current legislation, certain basic human rights are guaranteed for all workers. These include the physical and moral integrity of the worker, a salary of at least the minimum wage ($200US/month says Willis Diaz. This is equivalent to 3200p. Note that this number is substantially less than estimated living wage for one person, which is 7500p/month), and respect for the seniority of the workers. There are few laws to enforce these policies. In practice, the lack of enforcement makes a difference. There are many examples of various corporations (American, European, and Dominican) taking advantage of the poor's inability to speak up and defend their rights. This paper will examine the lives of four different communities touched by the poverty caused by the imperialism of the United States and Europe and the present-day compulsion to compete in an international and capitalistic market. I visited all four of these places in June of 2001. All information contained herein was gathered from interviews with various Dominican citizens (businesspeople, community members, students, and teachers) and first hand examination/visits of the areas.
La Romana Free Trade Zone: The free trade zone I visited in the city of La Romana was like entering another country. The borders were fenced with barbed wire, and nobody was allowed inside without proper identification. Tabacalera Garcia, the factory itself, was bought from a US corporation by a merger of two European monopolies in 1998. They were: Seita, which was French, and Tabacalera Espanola, which was Spanish. The two combined and became the Altadis Corporation, the conglomeration that currently owns the factory, although the administration is American. This particular factory manufactured cigars. The following brands were produced there (often in the very same room): Dunhill, Montecristo, Don Diego, Romeo y Julieta, Vegafina, Santa Damiana, Larranaga, H. Upmann Souvenir, H. Upmann Coronas, Pleiades, Cabanas, Flamenco las Palmas, Tubos de Luxe, Royal Butera Vintage, Belicosos Largos.
Not a sweatshop? One thing that made the whole experience slightly more horrifying was that this was not a sweatshop. As bad as it was, American students would never have been allowed to get inside a sweatshop. This was a factory the owners felt comfortable showing visitors.
Not a sweatshop? One thing that made the whole experience slightly more horrifying was that this was not a sweatshop. As bad as it was, American students would never have been allowed to get inside a sweatshop. This was a factory the owners felt comfortable showing visitors.
Image courtesy Micaela Cook,
All rights reserved
All rights reserved
Health Risks: The inside of the factory smelled strongly of tobacco. There were a few rooms that were too strong for us to breathe without coughing, and we had to hold our breath and run quickly to the next area on the tour. Except for a few men spraying freshly harvested leaves with chemicals, the majority of the workers did not wear masks. The stink was also one of the chief complaints, according to one woman. We asked both the workers and the CEO, by the name of Seijas, if there were higher rates of cancer or any other diseases among people who worked in the factory and neither one was able to give a satisfactory answer. The CEO insisted there were no health risks. There is no way of knowing what the specific health risks are, but it seems likely there are some, since we as visitors unused to the air quality were coughing for our entire one hour walk-through.
The salaries of all the workers were atrociously low. The lowest paid received 500p/week. or 2000p/month is only 125$/month, which is the minimum wage. However, basic necessities alone cost 3,000p/month. In any case, the highest paid gets 1000p/week. Most of the people working in this factory support several children. Many of them are single mothers.
Profit Margins: In contrast, the profit margin of the factory is doing very well. That is good for the CEO, since he wants the profit margin to be "Obviously the maximum we can..." It is 30%. A 30% profit margin is extremely large. Nike, the well known and sweatshop using shoe company, has a profit margin of 40-45%. See www.saigon.com/~nike/fact-sheet.htm and Global exchange — Protests Wegmans, a supermarket chain rated by Fortune 500 among the top 100 companies to work for by their employees http://www.wegmans.com/about/awards/awards.asp has a profit margin of less than 10%. The fact that this cigar factory's profits are so enormous is cause for suspicion.
Labour Abuses: Aside from a few unsurprising problems, like most of the workers being extremely dark-skinned while all the managers and executives being white, the lunches sold on the premises being small portions and expensive, and the bathrooms being dirty, disgusting, and without toilet paper, there were many questionable practices in the factory. For instance, depending on whom we asked, we were given 3 different minimum ages. The CEO says 18, or sometimes 17 with a letter from the parents. The women on the floor say 16. According to the CEO, "We have to comply with American standards. We are an American company." That must be why the machine workers have to come from 6am to 3pm Monday through Friday, since, "You can't stop the machines." Pregnant women are supposed to get 3 months of paid leave, with the factory paying half their salary, and the government paying the other half. What actually happens is that the women are sometimes paid half their salary (at that point below min. wage), lose the other half from the government because they often don't know they are entitled to it, and sometimes simply leave and lose their benefits.
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Former President Reagan, in conjunction with the World Bank, restructured the global economy to make it easier for companies to move around the world and find the cheapest labour possible. As one of the foremost shareholders in the World Bank and IMF, the United States hugely influences the economies of developing countries. Latin America receives loans from the World Bank and IMF, but they come with stipulations. These include the privatization of state-owned corporations, devaluing of currency, fixed prices, reduced size of the government bureaucracy and expenditures, and production of goods and foodstuffs for export (not domestic consumption).
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In addition, the governments had to create free-trade zone parks. These were large compounds, like the one we visited, fenced off from the rest of the country. Latin American governments funded everything in the beginning- free electricity, the construction of the buildings, tax exemption. For these reasons, it is extremely easy for manufacturing corporations to pick up and leave if they can get cheaper labour elsewhere. There have been cases of whole towns of factory workers going to their jobs Monday morning and finding the factory completely shut down with no advance warning. For this same reason, these multinationals find it very easy to make demands, and to have those demands met.
Some other underhanded procedures include AIDS screening and the yearly "liquidation". Many applicants are given an AIDS test, and if they test positive are turned away without being told why they were rejected. The factories also take advantage of the Latin culture's tendency to have a big Christmas and New Year's holiday. Often the workers are fired in the beginning of December. At this point there is no more time to make goods to sell for the holiday season- they're already sitting on the shelves waiting to be bought. The (former) workers are given a placatory bonus and then do not work until mid-January when they are "rehired". This practices effectively prevents any possibility of their building a pension, since it only begins to collect one year after the time of hire. There are many cases of people working in the free-trade zones for twenty years with no stored pension at all.
There are a few scant positive results of international politics catering to big business, such as the fact that people are provided with jobs they probably wouldn't have otherwise. Overwhelmingly however, these free trade zones reinforce the cycle of poverty. Factory workers are less poor than the unemployed, but they are still trapped, and their countries' economies have no long-term results to show for their labour They certainly appreciate their jobs, but they would prefer to perform their work with dignity, not scrambling each day to meet quotas so they don't get fired. The picture that greets visitors is bleak- room after room filled with row after row with people doing the same thing day after day after day. I wouldn't wish that on anyone, no matter how much money could be made from it.
Rural Poverty: Rural poverty is bleak, but not without rays of hope. We visited eleven communities southwest of Santo Domingo. Each of these villages had participated in a community development program conceived and executed through the Centro de Investigacion Alternativa Universal Inc.
The program aimed to strengthen community pride and make these villages interesting and attractive for visitors, so as to increase traffic to the communities. For one week, a visiting artist lived in the community and built a work of installation art together with the people. Each artist had previously submitted a proposal to the program, and was then selected by the community from among the many different artists' proposals. Most of the projects related to the community's identity. There was a village in miniature , with each house representing one family. There was a beautiful aerial piece of hanging ladders strung across a cliff near the road. Each person in the community was represented by their names painted on metal pipes hanging off the ropes. One community built a uniquely shaped house representing Noah's Ark. At the first hearing, this project seemed idealistic and wasteful. Why not help them build houses if they were so poor? After meeting the people in the communities, however, I realized how important it was. They took great pride in their art and their villages, and were endlessly pleased to have visitors. One man had even opened a store in front of the hanging ladders, and business was going well. The project accomplished what it was designed to do- stimulate self-sufficiency.
Rural Poverty: Rural poverty is bleak, but not without rays of hope. We visited eleven communities southwest of Santo Domingo. Each of these villages had participated in a community development program conceived and executed through the Centro de Investigacion Alternativa Universal Inc.
The program aimed to strengthen community pride and make these villages interesting and attractive for visitors, so as to increase traffic to the communities. For one week, a visiting artist lived in the community and built a work of installation art together with the people. Each artist had previously submitted a proposal to the program, and was then selected by the community from among the many different artists' proposals. Most of the projects related to the community's identity. There was a village in miniature , with each house representing one family. There was a beautiful aerial piece of hanging ladders strung across a cliff near the road. Each person in the community was represented by their names painted on metal pipes hanging off the ropes. One community built a uniquely shaped house representing Noah's Ark. At the first hearing, this project seemed idealistic and wasteful. Why not help them build houses if they were so poor? After meeting the people in the communities, however, I realized how important it was. They took great pride in their art and their villages, and were endlessly pleased to have visitors. One man had even opened a store in front of the hanging ladders, and business was going well. The project accomplished what it was designed to do- stimulate self-sufficiency.
Image courtesy Micaela Cook,
All rights reserved
All rights reserved
Image courtesy Micaela Cook,
All rights reserved
All rights reserved
"Poor but Happy? The ever-present and ever-dangerous phrase "poor but happy" was on the tip of many tongues in our group. Misleading as it is, it does contain some truth. They did have many blessings. They had their love and reverence for each other, family, open land on which to grow food, clean air, natural beauty, and space. However, they were not untouched by the poverty that permeates Latin America and they knew it. They very much wanted to improve their communities through contact with the outside world. They faced many challenges such as isolation because of narrow and unpaved mountain roads, lack of access to substantial commerce, occasional electricity, polluted water, and lack of medical expertise and supplies. Most of the children had large round scabs up and down their legs. At first it almost looked like a disease, but actually they were just mosquito bites, grown large and pussy from scratching and infection.
The challenge for those advancing the "development" process, is to at the same time preserve the aspects of these communities so refreshing to people who come from the chaotic, stressful, "developed" world. It is very hard to strike a balance. They are poor, and they are happy, but connecting the two should be avoided as it serves as an excuse for inaction. They know they are poor, and they are not happy because they are poor. They are happy because they are free from the stress of the "developed" world. They could be comfortable (not poor) and remain happy. They are striving all the time to achieve just that. Their joy should serve to inspire us, not pacify us.
The challenge for those advancing the "development" process, is to at the same time preserve the aspects of these communities so refreshing to people who come from the chaotic, stressful, "developed" world. It is very hard to strike a balance. They are poor, and they are happy, but connecting the two should be avoided as it serves as an excuse for inaction. They know they are poor, and they are not happy because they are poor. They are happy because they are free from the stress of the "developed" world. They could be comfortable (not poor) and remain happy. They are striving all the time to achieve just that. Their joy should serve to inspire us, not pacify us.
La Zurza: The community of La Zurza is an example of extreme urban poverty. It is exactly what one would picture a shantytown to be — flimsy houses with rusting, corrugated aluminum roofs built attached to and on top of each other, sharply inclined concrete poured between the doorways of houses to make sidewalks, garbage lying all over the ground and floating in the streams, the smell of trash everywhere. It smelled worse near the actual garbage heaps, of which there were several. There were also several children playing on each one we saw, some barefoot.
Although the people of La Zurza have had 399 promises from the government to improve conditions, not ever one has been realized. This is not so surprising as the area is completely stigmatized. Our cab driver wouldn't even go inside the community, the dropped us off on a nearby street.
"La Zurza" means "the source", and the name comes from a ground spring that comes from a cave, or indentation in a rock face. The pool there is much cleaner than the river or any of the streams, although people still swim in those. At La Zurza, however, there was a steady stream of kids and men jumping in the water off the ledge over and over again. The water did look fresh and clean and blue, but even so American immune systems could never handle it. There was a ring of trash floating in the water, fanning out from the spring, and of course all the toxins and waste in the city wash into that pool when it rains. The river on which La Zurza was situated was much worse. 54 companies, including Palmolive, Santo Domingo Coffee and Rum, and Quaker Oats, dumped toxic sludge into the river. There was also a ship, run aground, and sitting in the river right next to La Zurza. It had been there for decades and no amount of asking could get it moved, even though it was seeping rust and chemicals into the river. At present time the river is legally dead. There is probably not a single fish. There were a few boys still swimming in it, which made me want to cringe.
While walking through the streets, some people smiled when we smiled first, but many just looked at us, as if to ask why we would ever want to come here. The community leaders who met with us were very welcoming. Their dance troupes put a marvellous show. The kids performed the Rara, a particular dance of African origin, and they then did an original merenge. La Zurza is very well organized, in comparison to some similar communities, and there are several clubs for community improvement. They also try as hard as they can to have schools. Some of the teachers teach for free, but overall it is difficult with almost no supplies or books or electricity.
The people of La Zurza live courageously in the worst of urban poverty. They are not high on anyone's agenda but their own. They are just one example of the ways poverty affects those at the bottom.
Conclusion:
The problem of poverty demands immediate action. The same pattern of prejudice, exploitation, and stigmatization aimed at the Dominican Republic from developed countries around the world (e.g. the United States) is levelled at the poor internally, whatever nationality or culture they might be. I encourage anyone reading this to contact the people, including myself, named in this paper. They would be glad of any type of help, and networking is an important first step in effecting change.
This experience was made possible through the class Culture and Society: An International Field Experience, taught by Hector Velez, Professor of Sociology at Ithaca College and Cornell University.
The purpose of this paper is to educate the reader about the current condition of many lives in the Dominican Republic. Contact information is included for several people working for change. It is my hope that reading this may motivate or inspire you to take action. If so, please do not hesitate to contact any of these people. They always can use help with their projects, whether it be volunteer workers or financial support.
Reproduced with Permission
Copyright June, 2001
Micaela Cook
All rights reserved
spiralupnow@yahoo.com
Copyright June, 2001
Micaela Cook
All rights reserved
spiralupnow@yahoo.com