MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! FELIZ NAVIDAD!

When I came home in September, I got one question a lot: What exactly do you do? My answer was always the same: That’s a good question!
That is because it depends on what I have going on at the time. However, I have some specific projects that I am almost always working on. So, I decided to update y’all on my projects so that y’all can understand a little better what it is that I do do…
1. Brigada Azul – I started the environmental youth group, Brigada Azul, in October. The original Peace Corps club is Brigada Verde, but because most everything we are going to be working on involves the ocean, I decided to call it Brigada Azul. So far we have done a few things. We painted a world map in the school and fixed-up some other murals and I took some youth to two different conferences. A health volunteer brought her youth to Isla Saona to have an “intercambio”. We gave them a speech on trash, they gave us a speech on sex ed, and we had the local doctor talk about Cholera. By the end of the year, we will do a beach clean up, some recycling activities, and take a trip to Bayahibe to see the other side of the park, the caves with Taino drawings.
2. Vendor classes – There are two jobs in Mano Juan, fishing and vending. The vendors are the people that sell small crafts and jewelry to the tourists on the beach. I am the coordinator for the vendors to get classes from an organization called Infotep. It sounds pretty easy, but what makes it difficult is where we live and having no public transportation. We always went through a specific tourist group that has about 10 workers living in Mano Juan. In July when we started, it was very difficult to get the transportation situated, but it’s gotten easier because the tourist company decided that they want to join the class. So, they provide the transportation regularly now. So far we have done classes like: basic accounting, marketing, job security, sanitation in cooking, etc. In December we’ll have a big graduation, and make a list of the classes they want to do the next year.
3. Lionfish – The lionfish is an invasive species of fish that migrated to the DR (and the Caribbean in general) from Florida. They escaped from an aquarium in Florida during a hurricane in the early 1990s, and have been migrating south ever since. They are striped, usually white with black, red, or maroon, and usually can grow to about a foot long. The problem with the lionfish is that it is one of the most venomous fish on the ocean floor and very aggressive. They have 18 venomous spines and use them against predators. For hunting, they work in groups cornering their prey, and then shallow them whole. In the Caribbean, because they’re not native here, they have no natural predators. And, because they reproduce very quickly, lionfish are becoming a plague and are rapidly killing the native fish that the fishermen live on fishing. Though they can’t kill a human, if one of their spines sticks you you’d feel it for a while.
Mid-August, I gave the fishermen a speech all about the lion fish, and was surprised how receptive they were. In October, I tried the fish (it is edible after you cut off the spines and head) with a fisherman and his family, and we all liked it.
Now one of the tourist company that eats lunch in Mano Juan has decided the fishermen $70 pesos for each pound of lionfish to feed their clients. So hopefully this will create a small market and then the fishermen will have more motivation (making money) to hunt the lionfish. Also, in January, we are going to have a huge fishing (for lionfish) competition in Bayahibe with the organization, Reef Check, and then afterwards prepare the fish for the restaurant owners. The hope is that they like it and put it on the menu. If this happens it will create a bigger market and a huge motivation for the fishermen to kill the lionfish.
4. English classes – I’ve been doing English classes ever since I got here and they are still going strong. I still teach two classes Monday through Friday in the school, and one adult class in the evening Monday through Thursday.
5. Marine Interest Group – I am the president of a Peace Corps club called the Marine Interest Group. Right now we are working on various projects. One is creating an educational manual for kids (through Brigada Verde) about issues that effect the coastal parts of the DR. Another is working with Reef Check to check and manage some coral reefs in the DR. Also, we just made a new contact that I’m very excited to work with. It’s called Living Museums in the Sea and is a project by Indiana University and USAID. Basically they set up paths of artifacts (some found and some placed) in the sea about a specific event or area. For example, in Isla Catalina they have one on the William Kidd wreak with canons, ship parts, etc. Then, tourists can scuba dive down and follow the path of artifacts learning more about the event. Indiana University would like to check on the reefs AKA museums every two or three months to make sure that the items are fitting in well with their environment and also make sure that they are not affecting the surrounding corals. However, IU can only come about twice a year. So they need man power to do the dives. IT and USAID will provide training to do the job, and then after that we will dive every two to three months to manage the sites.
I hope that this explains a little better about what I’m working on. If you have any questions, comments, or would like more information, please email me.