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.