Papayas!

Since moving in, the hogar has  already planted a few things, like this papaya tree, which is doing tremendously! Clearly the soil is quite fertile, and there is enough moisture. And, as you can see the ground around it is pretty bare and ready for planting! Hooray for things that grow!

Money Talk

Good new! Last week I went to the church I grew up attending, the First Congregational Church in Stockbridge, MA, to present my Dominican Republic project and ask for a donation of $1000. I just found out that the proposal was approved, and they are granting the full $1000 to this project! I created a separate bank account for donations that I will be able to access while I’m in the DR, so if anyone reading this feels compelled to make a contribution, email me: margwise@gmail.com for further instructions. Below I’ve posted the budget and timeline I presented to the church. As you can well imagine, there is need for more than just the $1000 I’ve outlined here. Typically the hogar (as I will call it for short) has around 20 girls at any given time. Now there are 16 because there is not enough money to pay for additional women (besides Marielena) to help. There are about 5 girls Marielena is wants to take in, and if she can find steady funding (monthly donations for each girl) however small, she will be able to give them a good home. The hogar has a chainlink fence surrounding it, so they feel relatively safe, but Marielena wants to have a concrete wall built around the property for increased security and privacy. She told me it’s very expensive to build the wall. I think they should build it earthship style out of old bottles and cans held together with cement (or some binder) because it would be significantly cheaper and there is a big trash problem there. In addition, I was informed by the mother of a girl who was doing peacecorp at the hogar that they are missing simple kitchen tools, like a can-opener, and they are using knives to open cans and breaking all their knives. (hopefully in the future they won’t have to eat food from cans because they will be able to pick fresh veggies from the garden!). And, of course, the garden project itself will be more prolific the more startup we have to work with. I do not mean to induce pity by all this. Marielena is very clear that she doesn’t want people to give money because they are taking pity on the girls. She has them bathe and dress nicely for every occasion. (The girls are all ages, ranging from 3-18). I have a deep respect for Marielena and the incredible vision she has dedicated her life to.  I want only to support her in her existing methodology for running the hogar. So, while I’m not trying to get readers to take pity on the girls, the reality is that they still have needs and they could use additional funding in a multitude of productive and heart-warming ways. The benefit to giving now, while I’m doing this garden project, is that you will be able to follow the blog and see exactly how your money is being put to good use. So, below is the budget I created for the church. Read it with the understanding that more money than the allotted amount would not only be welcomed by the hogar and this project but will also contribute to the vitality of  the inspiring and influential young women the girls have every potential to be.

Budget: USD$1000

• Compost Construction - $100 ($50 for materials, $50 for possibly renting drill and saw, but we will try to borrow first)
• Tool Shed Construction - $200 (We will look into “low impact” building options – cob, earthship style construction, bamboo, etc, and decide what’s best for the site. Materials should be cheap, so part of the money will go to paying a local professional for advice and/or building help).
• Garden Tools - $500 total, breakdown of estimated costs below (based on Home Depot prices)

Ø    Wheelbarrow - $100

Ø    Shovels (2) - $60

Ø    Rakes (2) - $20

Ø    Hoes (2) - $50

Ø    Pitch Fork - $25

Ø    Trowels (3) - $30

Ø    Hand Cultivator - $20

Ø    Loppers - $25

Ø    Clippers (2) - $50

Ø    Machete - $25

Ø    Pruning Saw - $30

Ø    Gloves (10 pairs) - $50

Ø    Tomato stakes, twine etc. - $15 

•   Seeds and Seedlings - $200 (~$150 for fruit trees and perennials, ~$50 for annual vegetable seeds)

Timeline:

Week 1 Sept 26	Get settled, discuss plans with community, choose site for compost	Week 7 Nov 7	Buy plants and seeds
Week 2 Oct 3	Build compost bin and start making compost!	Week 8 Nov 14	Prepare the earth, begin planting and sowing
Week 3 Oct 10	Make plans for building tool shed	Week 9 Nov 21	Keep things watered
Week 4 Oct 17	Build tool shed	Week 10 Nov 28	Watch things grow
Week 5 Oct 24	Finish tool shed and buy tools!	Week 11 Dec 5	Weed, turn compost
Week 6 Oct 31	Create a map of the site and start planning a garden design	Week 12 Dec 12	Harvest? Teach harvesting Celebrate!

Dominican Republic Girls' Garden Project

Dominican Republic Girls' Garden Project

Marielena Sentola Beltran started the Hogar de Niñas MADELAES (Mary of Hope Girl’s Home) in a small village outside of Santo Domingo 15 years ago. Having come from a family of 14 siblings, she was responding to the overwhelming pattern of poverty and child abandonment she observed in her community. In starting the Hogar, Marielena hoped to change that pattern for each of the girls raised in her home by giving them education, discipline, food, shelter, clothing and plenty of love. When I first visited the Hogar in 2006, it became immediately obvious that her work had paid off when all 20 girls came running up to hug me in celebration of my arrival.

Since my first and second visits, Marielena and the girls were gifted their own house (they had previously been renting) by Japanese philanthropists. The house has the capacity for up to 30 girls and has about an acre of arable land. Despite this incredible gift, the home currently houses only 16 girls because of funding deficit and remains dependent on donations (governmental and private) for food.

Every time I call, Marielena says, “When are you coming back?” and I was proud and excited this spring to finally tell her that I had found the time and money to make a longer, more meaningful visit. After studying sustainable agriculture at UMass and working on several organic vegetable farms, I feel confident in my ability to lead a garden project, but I envision the scope of the project going beyond food security. The disempowerment of women by the masculine-dominated latino culture is one of the root causes of the pattern of child abandonment. In order to fully support Marielena’s vision for the Hogar, I want to contribute to the empowerment of the girls by engaging them in the process of creating and maintaining the gardens. I will be there September 26 - December 15, 2011.

Methodology

    * Create garden infrastructure before planting – systems that are easy to maintain (compost pile, tool shed etc.).

    * Cultivate enthusiasm, effort and a sense of ownership from the community itself so that the garden will sustain itself without dependence on outside help.

    * Encourage the girls’ literal self-nurturing created by growing the food they eat to translate into inner feelings of self-nurturance and self-empowerment.

    * Encourage self-awareness that reaches beyond cultural ideas of a woman’s place in society.  Support the discovery of a more internal concept of one’s own femininity through work in the garden.