Tuesday, July 18, 2017

The economic history of my town told in 7 houses

Before the Massacre

My mountain valley pueblo didn't used to be a Dominican town along the Haitian border. It used to be a sparsely populated part of Haiti along the border of the Dominican Republic. It's original name is Gabinzal, which I have been told translates to "dirty cane" in Haitian Creole.

When two very poor nations share a common rural border it is not uncommon for the line to be fuzzier in real life than it appears on the map. For much of it's history Haitian-Dominican border was  often in dispute, sometimes violently so. My town it didn't become a clear part of Dominican possession until after the Parsley Massacre of 1937 in which thousands of Haitians in the disputed territories were killed at the order of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo.

Trujillo's continued to "secure" the border by building la careterra internacional (international highway) along the line on the map and building colonias ("colonies") of recently released prisoners and their families on the Dominican side. (I don't know how these men landed in prison but given Trujillo's penchant for locking up and/or murdering opponents I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt). 

This was the beginning of the story of my town. The rest of it is told in the different types of houses you can see walking around town.


1. Trujillo House 


Old timers tell me that in those days there was a wall around the settlement. Inside the wall were 28 homes built by the government, with wooden floors and walls and zinc roofs.



This modest home may not be one of the originals but it has the same form. This is a classic "campo house" design that is seen all over the country in rural areas.

2. Choza
The original settlers were satisfied enough with where they landed: clean water, lots of unoccupied land, good timber. and others began to follow. The colony began to grow as word spread to family, friends and others. These newcomers did not receive government constructed houses and had to do with local materials.




With time the original government houses were outnumbered by small chozas ("huts") with walls of woven branches and roofs thatched with yagua - the part of a palm leaf that connects to the trunk of the tree. In those days, no one was rich but the families in the chozas were even poorer than those in the wooden houses.

These days, a few chozas exist on the outskirts of own and they are still inhabited by the poorest of the poor: Haitian immigrants.

3. Ladrillo House
For fascinating reasons far too complicated to go into here, my town came to the attention of a a group of volunteers from Northern Europe in the early and mid-1980s. Much of the infrastructure in town, from buildings to institutions, can trace its roots to this admirable group. But instead of mere charity the volunteers worked alongside Dominicans, teaching them construction techniques using natural materials. The ladrillo (bricks) are made of the native clay of the soil.



These houses are handsome and durable but few. The program was successful but short-lived. The new "president" of the DR has other plans.

4. Balaguer House, unmodified
Joaquin Balaguer was Rafael Trujillo's right-hand man. While his legacy is less universally evil than his bosses  - Balaguer's environmental policies were particularly admirable - he shared his master's obsession with fortifying the border. In the late 80s he began the construction of 150 concrete block houses with reinforced cement roofs. Whereas Trujillo built homes to establish Dominicans on the border, Balaguer built houses to incentivize Dominicans to stay.








Cat and I live in one of these houses. They are built of cinder block and have the indestructible feeling of bomb shelters. But durability does not guarantee wealth. Here the poverty of the occupants is obvious: subsistence farming has left them with little money to modify or even maintain it over the course of the last 30 years.

5. Wooden house with block base and zinc roof 
While this house is nearly identical in layout to the Trujillo house it is more valuable because of the durable concrete block foundation. 


While smaller than either the brick house or block house and more modest in appearance it is a more reliable indicator of wealth because the owners of the house built it themselves without help from neither government or foreign volunteers.

6. Non-balaguer block house: In the rural economy cinder blocks are practically a currency. As with the last house, the owners of this home had enough to build themselves a handsome, sturdy home.



The parabola (satellite dish) is also a clue to the owners wealth.

7. Modified Balaguer block house:

With his public housing program, Joaquin Balaguer didn't just build homes. He created a source of wealth in the community. These houses are prized for their solid construction and modern design (they come with indoor plumbing and electric outlets). The recipients received a title to the home and land, which means they were legally able to sell them.



When a house is sold it is usually to a person rich enough to maintain and sometimes expand upon it. This house is owned by the one of the wealthiest couples in town and has been so thoroughly modified you can scarcely recognize the original design.





Tuesday, July 4, 2017

July 4th Reflections

All my recent entries (including this one) have carried the "Blogging Abroad Challenge" badge. I have signed up for this challenge in attempt to write more regularly and write from different angles. The second I saw this week's theme ("Quotes & Proverbs") one phrase immediately leapt to mind:Si no tienes padrino se muere sin bautizar.

"If you don't have a godfather, you die without being baptized." To get ahead in the world you have to know someone.

Dominicans use it with the resigned air that you use when acknowledging an unpleasant but long learned truth. This is especially true in a country that struggles with corruption as much as the Dominican Republic. Political favors, employment, even healthcare can depend on who you know or how much you pay.

I don't drop the C-word lightly. I have a disclaimer on the side bar of this blog stating that the opinions on this blog doesn't reflect the opinions of the Peace Corps but this is still very much a PC project. This means that I take responsible representation of my host country very seriously.

Peace Corps service is incredibly rewarding but it can also be baffling, frustrating, and disappointing. Sometimes you just need to vent but that isn't what this is about. Because corruption in the Dominican Republic isn't a matter of my opinion or my frustration but fact: it ranked 120 of 176 countries on Transparency International's "Corruption Perception Index." This means that there are 119 countries less corrupt than the DR and only 56 more corrupt.

The classic example of corruption is la botella ("bottle"): a job for which you are given a title and a paycheck but don't have to do anything. I once met a store owner who was also a prominent campaign organizer for the political party in power. As a token of appreciation for his efforts he was appointed "Assistant Ambassador to Canada" despite not speaking English or French or even having traveled to the country.

This example might be a little comical but corruption is a much bigger that that. The DR was one of 11 countries involved in the 9 billion Odebrecht bribery scandal - the largest such scandal in recorded history. . Seven people went to jail.

I feel OK talking about corruption because Dominicans talk about it. A lot. Corruption is a widely acknowledged problem that enters virtually every political conversation that doesn't involve a politician. And, rather awesomely, Dominicans not only talk but take action. The Odebrecht case appears to be the last straw for many. There is currently a nationwide protest movement (La Marcha Verde - "Green March") demanding el fin de la impunidad: "the end of impunity."

I have written admiringly about Dominican politics before and that hasn't changed. It is, in fact, quite heartening to know that they haven't given up on their young democracy despite everything. The people take to the streets to make their voices heard and voter participation is higher than in the United States.

Still, the folks in the green t-shirts and ballcaps have a long march ahead of them.

Today, here in the mountain village, far from any other Americans except Cat and any fireworks, I am grateful to have grown up in a country where where my education, employment and health didn't depend on my having a "godfather."

By CPI standards the USA is not the least corrupt country in the world but certainly far less corrupt than the DR.

We're number 18!

Happy Independence Day.

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