The View From Here: Dominican Republic Field Notes - “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – As Seen Through the Eyes of a Young American”

- By Nick Popow

Map - courtesy of Lonely Planet

(HN, April 23, 2010) -- Arriving from the new world to the old - in my case from New York to Santo Domingo - is always a jarring experience.  It was March, and I stepped out of the plane, and into the sweltering Dominican heat I was surprised to see a lavishly decorated, modern airport, with every wall covered with beautiful photographs and artwork, almost like a museum. This was not what I expected after reading about the country’s rampant poverty. It’s as if the excess luxury of the airport was a facade, an attempt to compensate for the poverty of the rest of the country.

Las Américas International Airport, Punta Caucedo, Dominican Republic (courtesy, FLICKR)

Santo Domingo is a historic city steeped in 500 years of rich Caribbean culture, originally founded by Christopher Columbus’ brother Bartholomew in 1496.  Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic’s capital city was even named the 2010 Cultural Capital by the American Capital of Culture.

But you don’t have to travel far from the gleaming airport to witness the widespread poverty. According to recent official data, more than a third of the country’s population lives in poverty and almost 20% live in extreme poverty.  In rural areas, poor people constitute over half of the population.

Near Caso de Campo, Dominican Republic, Nick Popow

My trip to this Caribbean nation with other students was to help the less fortunate and upon arrival we crowded into a few buses and set out for our hotel.  As we traveled through the barren countryside, the heart of the country unraveled before my eyes. We passed through a fishing village, consisting of scanty huts and dirty shamefaced children, who wandered slowly, aimlessly. On the way to renowned luxury resort area of Case de Campo, we traveled through the dirty, crowded streets of a city littered with trash and filth.  

Not all that has gone wrong in this country is visible to the naked eye. The U.S. government has consistently documented reports of discrimination and abuse of Haitians living here.  With no effective government protection against such treatment, Dominican’s of Haitian origin have become the poorest of the poor.  My class and I had the opportunity to meet with some of these fragmented families while visiting schools and hospitals along the Dominican coast and one mother I met in a children’s hospital explained how her twelve-year-old son had been beaten to a pulp in his school playground - simply for being darker than his peers.  Another Haitian girl I met while visiting a private Dominican high school lamented about discrimination, and the fact that she was the only girl in her grade that hadn’t been asked to a school dance.

But amidst the poverty I was astonished to find hope and joy, especially among the children.  In one small fishing village we visited I met an orphan, Manuel who I won’t soon forget. 

Author Nick Popow, with Manuel in the Dominican Republic

About 8 or 9 years of age (he couldn’t be certain), Manuel had a perpetual gleaming grin, which never left his face, as he foraged through the scraps and junk behind his house, searching for a new toy to play with.  Finally he found it – a half-chewed and rotting corn-on-the-cob, and a couple pieces of wire.  Manuel stuck the pieces of wire into the corn to form arms and legs and wrapped a dirty cloth around the top to make a bandana.  When he completed the doll he shouted with excitement and proceeded to run around in circles while holding it aloft.  Although this boy and many of his peers had barely any material possessions or opportunities they appeared to me to be much happier than my American peers who have virtually everything they could want.

In the midst of the apparent misery of their surroundings, these children possessed a kind of happiness and humility that is rarely found in America.  As I stared into Manuel beaming brown eyes, I began to reflect on what true happiness really meant.

--Nick Popow is an 18 year old student at Timothy Christian School in Piscataway, NJ, who will be attending Rutgers University in the Fall.  He has hopes to study journalism in college and wants to keep travelling the world!