On May 5th Denise Chavez and Sabina Tigges, two teachers from Huntingdon’s Adult Education and Community Centre (HAECC), set out for the Dominican Republic’s San Jose de Ocoa.
While the duo volunteered their time and knowledge to the local clinic during the duration of their stay, they were also outlining a trip for next year’s students. Returning May 14th, Chavez (HAECC’s Horticulture coordinator) and Tigges weren’t the first locals to head South—the teaching nurses of Ormstown’s CVECC visit the area annually to provide medical care to remote villages.
While the main purpose of the trip was to make contacts, the heavy rainfall had washed away many of the roads, making it difficult to travel. The duo made themselves useful by translating and helping out locals during their visit. They also visited a community in Los Martinez that not only produces permaculture crops, but also bee hives for honey and a small fish production. “They also produce compost from earthworms and sell it,” added Chavez. “This community of 50 families is completely self-sufficient and any extra produce or goods is sold for profit. The extra money is injected back into community projects after consultation with community members.”
Chavez was moved by the visit—especially by the sense of community she noticed in the villages. “I discovered how little it really takes to be happy. How tough circumstances bring out innovation and resilience and how communities thrive when everyone in that community is considered—not just a few.” She provided an example: “In order to bring irrigation to the fields, land owners had to share 40% of their land with neighbours who did not have their own. The understanding is that the poorer neighbour will cultivate and harvest this land. Those who did not want to share their land…had no water. These ideas, which one might categorize as socialist, were implemented by Ruiz. The beauty is that these initiatives really work and communities work together and are accountable. San Jose de Ocoa has become a model to be followed in the rest of the Dominican Republic,” she finished.
So why this particular part of the Dominican Republic? NGO Asociacíon para el Desarrollo de San José de Ocoa (ADESCO) is located in the village, and has been since 1962. Founded more than 50 years ago, the non-profit was founded by Canadian pastor Father Louis Joseph Quinn, and is dedicated to the province’s development organization—helping with not only greenhouse efforts, but things like education, housing, roads, clinics and community centres.
