Community Power

Over the past two weeks, we’ve seem some incredible things in Rio Limpio. Our reason for coming was to work with CREAR, a school for organic agronomy inspired over 25 years ago by a peace-corps member, which now teaches a class of around 35 stundents at no charge to them, and is completely Dominican run. CREAR teaches sustainable farming meathods, as well as the equivalent of the last year of high school and first year of college. Many of the students want to go on to university and/or start a farm. We spent our time there helping the students in the green house. Jake actually provided the most REAL help by teaching the principal how to use Excel, en Espanol. The computer literacy here, as one would imagine, is limited.  

There is a lot going on here beside CREAR though, fueled by the community groups and organizations. There is an “Invernaderos” project that is building GIANT greenhouses for farmers who were displaced from the nearby national park. These farmers had been growing on the hill sides for years, but when the government decided to start enforcing the park’s boundaries, these people lost there means of living. With the help of a German fund, they now have a chance to learn how to manage a greenhouse and grow cash crops like tomatoes and peppers. One farmer we talked to said he was alright with the situation, planting beans on the steep hillsides or rice in the terraced fields below is hard work. 

Another project that became dear to my heart(stomach) was the development of a bakery by the Mothers Group. The bread that made it all the way from bigger cities to Rio Limpio was very poor quality - think hotdog bun- so the mother’s started baking ‘Pan Integral” (whole wheat bread), “Pan de Maiz” (corn bread/cake), doughnuts, and cinnamon rolls. In a place where stores sell only one kind of bread and snacks are unheard of, the Mothers’ bakery was a godsend. We ate about 4 dozen of each, easy. 

Besides the community projects, Rio Limpio is just a fun place. It’s home to the world’s worst hotdog (ketchup, mayo, sourcraut, and corn), as well as a beautifulwaterfall an hour’s hike away (watch out for bulls on the path!). Jake and our Dominican friend Yillo hunted for crabs in the river, and Gillo’s mother made tham into soup for us. We Watched a family roast a batch of coffee from their yard, and make fresh tea from lemongrass (I will be doing this in Madison - it tastes EXACTLY like fruitloops!) We visited the nearby city of Dajabon and nearly crossed the Haitian border. We also met many incredibly friendly Dominicans, a byodynamic farmer, an entreprenureal spoon carver, a Swedish teacher/volunteer, and a hilarious Canadian vagabond. It’s a community full of very active, fun people. I’ve enjoyed the time here, and will definitey remember the people we met.