THE STORY :I left Winnipeg to experiment with something new, also on a quest for simplicity. I landed in a little place I visited years ago in the Dominican Republic. The people here remembered me from having volunteered there long ago, and welcomed me with open arms. It's a land of coffee farmers, no electricity, beater cars (my fellow car club members), little supplies, no local super value. I have chickens running through my room, bachata playing loud at the neighbors, much smaller and less various diet but good. (continued after photo)
(Entrance to LaBocaina, it doesn't go much farther)After making repeated excursions from my safe hotel base in San Jose de Ocoa, to this town of LaBocaina one hour north, I was integrated in the Community as a live in guest with a family who ran the local store, which happened to be located in their house. They basically adopted me. I spent time getting to know the local people, the culture and the area as well as learning Spanish.
As a way to get more involved, as well as a way to try to help out, I engaged in growing crops with Julito, the papa, and a coffee farmer. I offered to assist other families put in crops too. (continued after photo)
(friends from up the mountain coming in for supplies at the store)They were curious as to why I would leave the land of milk and honey in order to come to the land of rice and beans - everytime I answered the same thing; something different, more quiet pace, nature, an opportunity to try small scale agriculture, the adventure. The dream of so many Dominicans is to make it to New York, and I am dreaming the opposite way, so they have accepted me as insane.
I never set out to look for differences but I noticed that one does enter into a world of 'con Dios', ' gracias a Dios' or 'si Dios quiere' - a sincere expression of their richness of faith.
Moré picking oranges - we planted 40 papaya trees in his yard up the slope. We had enough money to floor one room in his house. Just like when I was in China, society here seems more close-knit and interdependent. I don't know if that is a survival trait of all poorer countries, or just a consequence of having avoided the information and technological booms of North America, but they seem to spend much more time visiting and talking. I think we may have been like this decades ago in North America and lost a lot of that to the information age, but enough of my sociological rant.
Cooking supper in the back yard. It's illegal to use power tools to get wood, all is with machetee - this was a law put in to prevent excessive deforesteation.Apart from enjoying life here, I am trying to see what I can do. I got friends in Winnipeg to help raise some concert money which went to put in cement floors for some houses that had dirt ones. Upon the request of the local people, we also used funds to damm an area of the stream for kids to swim and for a possible future eco-tour? and I am investing in crops with some families. I do a bit with my own funds, like helping a bit with those who can't afford meds, some food, lending my motorbike etc... something always comes up (continued after photo)
(Marisol, Julito's wife, & my girlfriend's mom, (basically my mom too) in her 20 item store, it's an important social center of the village - she's an amazing and tireless worker, cooking, cleaning and selling all day, sometimes all at the same time - whoever is hungry will always get a bite to eat here, (which happens everyday... ) How does she wake up? usually a customer yelling out her name, wanting eggs, buns or cigarettes etc..... I am trying to put more effort in helping them help themselves. I don't have the money to help too many families in the area with crops. The website is not only to share this experience with my friends back home but I am also inviting anyone who would like to help families put in crops or help them in other ways. The crops are not charity, an investor can make a profit off helping out, the risk is that it is agriculture, which by nature is not always successful. However it is a means of helping them work at what they know. Whatever amounts invested will help in putting in an ensemble of crops, and the return to an investor is %50 of averaged profits of all crops after costs, the families there do the work once they are enabled with the funds, and receive the other %50 of profits. The videos are about my pilot projects with that. There is an address at the end of this entry with suggestions for donations or ideas for investment if you are interested (where the writing is orange color). I am not an organization so I am not able to give tax receipts. Our crop figures for 2006 are posted at the bottom of this website.
Milsiarde dropping off banana bunches, sold to passing car or trucks. A banana bunch sells for an average 30 to 45 pesos, about $1.25 CAD - a fryer chicken costs about 140 pesos - $4.60 CAD.I am not an expert in their financial means or budgets, neither do I like to inquire too much about private details. What I do know is that they do struggle, many often have to take out loans to eat and to make ends meet, and hope the next coffee season will pay it off. They often have to sell land to pay for such things as medical expenses, which deteriorates their income capability - most don't have any savings and can use improvements in their living conditions. They often can't afford to take the extra financial risk of paying to put in a crop, but if they have the time and someone else provides the financial means, they will work and share 50% of the profit with the financer, after costs are paid off to the financer.
Typical home with outdoor cooking, this is one eye'd Pedro's home, happy chap.Our pilot project did fair, we had two straight weeks rain and 2 of the 5 crops failed to make a profit. @ had success, one broke even. 3 families lost some labor time in the field - they didn't loose money because I was the investor. One family made $1702.94 Canadian, one made $100, - which means I made the same amount as I get 50% being the investor. The total profits made up for the crops that failed. In the end, over all, I made a profit of $980.93 Canadian after averaging all losses and gains together. This profit went into a new green (and yellow?) pepper crop with one family. So far we have had tomatoes, peppers, beans, onions, cucumbers. (continued after photo)
(wow, I have a cow)They are already experienced farmers but we still we look for all the advise we can get, we talk to as many farmers and agriculture specialists as we can as we go. My hopes are that I will eventually be able to use profits to buy land so they can run this independantly.
so apart from seeing what I'm up to from this site, if you are interested in helping out too, there's 2 ways
*** INVESTMENT IDEAS ***- Co-investor in part of a crop (anywhere between $20 and $200 canadian).
- Investor for an entire crop ($400 to $500 canadian can put in a crop for a whole family)
- Next crops would be put in somewhere from January to March 2007.
*** SOME DONATION IDEAS ***- $40 CAD puts in a cement floor for a house.
- Donate for part of a crop instead of invest - same $dollar choices as investments, but families there receive all profits instead of 50% of profits.
- Donation to leave it up to me for whatever I feel is needed (odd meds or hospital costs, shoes, ambulance rides (not my bike, real ambulance) etc as things come up.
- Also I would love to take some people to the beach, especially some kids, it's the Dominican Republic and many have never seen the ocean as they can't afford the bus ride, so I may look for help to try to rent a van and do this once or twice, I went twice on my motorbike.
- Small electronics, walkmen, radios, watches cellphones are popular, used or not, most can't afford these things, they are also assets for them if things get tight.
- You can also give me any of your ideas/thoughts/questions...I may try other things to help out, like raise rabbits or a make fish pond.I am doing my best to give where it seems most appropriate, I do this in consultation with the village council and other people in the area or in San Jose de Ocoa.
The above is a paypal button, but if that doesn't work for some reason, anyone interested in helping with an investment or donation can send a cheque at the address below. You can email me at ed_dufort@hotmail.com and specify how you may want to help according to the above choices in orange, or send a small (or large) note with a cheque.
If not specified I let people know how their funds are used.
the following is the address to send a cheque :
Edmond Dufort
997 Chancellor dr
Winnipeg Manitoba
R3T 4S2
or to contact me, email
ed_dufort@hotmail.com
thanks
This is the land we rented across the river from the village, where we put in tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and onions. My horse is actually under the tree, (you can see it if you click to enlarge), we use it for plowing - it lets them ride it but not me - (so far).
I can actually zoom in on "Google earth" to see this plot of land and the shape and shadow of each individual tree bordering the plot- blurry mind you...as well as each roof in the village...then zoom out a bit and follow a path to Winnipeg - blows me away!
