Posts Tagged volunteer
The twins, the cow and the Banana tree
Posted by Molano in Volunteering on August 21st, 2009
Ryan Alexander, Volunteer in Pedernales/Anse a Pitres.
Ryan Alexander
Now that my 3 month summer internship has come to an end, I look back at my experiences on the border in amazement, and cherish all that I have accomplished and experienced. The cross-border lifestyle and the southern coastal hospitality are a perfect blend of characteristics that are sure to generate experiences never to be forgotten.
An event that makes me smile to this very day is an incident that occurred late one night. The culprit was a cow: Cows roam the streets of Pedernales every night (to avoid people and the hot sun) in search of food. On one particular night I had left the fence door open; a huge mistake. A cow had entered the premises of my home that evening and took huge chomps out of my 2 foot high, newly planted banana trees, trees that I had been caring for since the very beginning of my internship. Surely enough, due to constant watering, good soil, and the resilient nature of banana trees, the trees grew back their leaves and will live to bear bananas (if the fence door remains shut).Since the banana plants were too small to bear fruit, I would do my shopping for bananas and other fruits and vegetables at the ‘bi-national’ market.
The Amazing Hispaniola
Posted by Molano in History of the Borderlands on August 7th, 2009
Spring watering in Haiti
Ryan Alexander – Volunteer, Pedernales.
As a volunteer with PADF on the border I have had the good fortune of being able to travel within the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The following story recaps a trip that I took into Port au Prince that most certainty impacted my life positively.
On Sunday July 5th, I spent the afternoon at a natural spring/watering hole 20 minutes outside of Port au Prince, Haiti. As we entered the premises, everyone looked at us mostly because this was a Haitian hangout spot, and we weren’t Haitian. We were approached by many but understood no one, nor could they understand us. All of the Haitians soaking up the sun and swimming in the natural spring spoke Creole and not French. This created a language barrier between us and them, and at the same time may have triggered some feelings of discomfort due to their uncertainty for the reason of our presence. Read the rest of this entry »
