On Monday our group visited a nationally famous and controversial non-governmental organization working to improve social conditions in the Dominican Republic, MUDHA, Movement of Haitian and Dominican-Haitian Women . MUDHA works to secure citizenship, better health care and educational opportunities for Dominican-Haitians, particularly in the bateys , sugar plantations.

Our visit to MUDHA and our readings in Why the Cocks Fight helped prepare us for a visit to two bateys on Tuesday. To learn more about the impressive work of MUDHA, and their embattled director, Sonia Pierre, see this article from the Boston Globe.

Our visit to the batey communities of Palmarejo and No. 43 was both eye-opening and heart-wrenching. MUDHA Project Coordinator, Serana, guided us through the two communities. We learned that the members of the communities lack basic necessities such as running water, latrines, access to health care and education.

Bateys began as migrant worker camps for sugar cane cutters, who are almost exclusively Haitian immigrants. We learned cane cutters earn 93 Pesos (less than $3) for each ton of sugar cane cut; it takes two days to cut a ton of cane. Residents of bateys often live in ‘company housing’, lack access to educational opportunities, lack adequate health care, and often lack birth certificates or legal residency in either Haiti or the Dominican Republic. If you’d like to learn more about bateys, you may find this summary and links provided by Makarios International helpful.

MUDHA sponsors a school in Palamarejo where SSTers played with students. (See some of the fun photos.) The sugar cutting work at Palmarejo has ended, as part of the shift in the Dominican economy away from sugar production. Thus, the adults in the community travel to the capital to find odd jobs. In community No. 43 the residents pick oranges for two months out of the year. They earn 1 peso (3 cents) for every 100 lbs of oranges they pick. During the remaining ten months of the year the residents make baskets, see photos. The artisans can earn up to 5 pesos (15 cents) per basket.

This stark look at the realities of many Dominican residents helps prepare SSTers for our weekend trip to the Haitian border. On Thursday we will journey to El Cercado, a community about the size of Goshen on the western edge of the country. We’ll visit a border market on Friday and participate in some work projects on Saturday. While in El Cercado we’ll hear from pastors and organizers of both the Mennonite and Catholic churches who are engaged in some ecumenical community development efforts. Our next blog posting will be after we return early next week.

Thank you for continuing to keep us in your thoughts and prayers.