2 years later and still nothing

2 years later and still nothing.

2 years later and still nothing

Today its been two years since the devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010. Its sad and unfortunately not surprising that things havent changed that much..

Yes they build a college, yes they have rebuilt some buildings, yes they rebuilt some schools, but  no, the international community hasn’t given all the funds promised to rebuilt this country, people are still living in refugee camps, children are still starving to death, still havent seen the purpose of the MINUSTAH or the good it´s done, women and children are still being sexually assaulted.

Today its been two years after the earthquake in Haiti, today many people cry because the world is so screwed up that two years later nothing big has change in Haiti and there really no hope of ever changing.

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A truly good investment

Today was my first day back to work as a school principal. Up until today I was filled of mixed emotions, most of them being drowned by anxiety and fear of not doing a good job. As I watch at 8 am as the kids raised the flag and sang the Dominican National Anthem, I noticed Patricia Nicole was one of the girls that was raising the flag. At that moment, I knew everything was going to be fine, because Patricia is the fundamental reason why I believe that a good education is the only and best way you can guarantee a country´s developement.

At that same time I remembered that Patricia ,when she was a third grader she wrote me a goodbye letter (that was the time I went to live in Spain for a year to do my master´s degree in International Cooperation for Development). As I read it I was blown away by her beautiful handwriting and her great writing skills. That was the reason I decided that no matter in what part of the world I lived, I was always going to make sure, she and her smaller sister Nikaury had her school and material bills always payed for. Maybe I should have explained first that they come from a very poor family who have a huge deal of financial problems.

The thing is that this is not supposed to be a sad pitty post, what I felt this morning and what I´m trying to explain is that when you find an amazing girl like Patricia, who´s been en the honor roll since the first grade (She´s now in 6th grade), who you now living in poverty in a country like the Dominican Republic, if she doesn’t get the chance to have a good education will probably end in drugs or prostitution, must be like an emergency sing in order for you to take action and say NO WAY is this girl not having the chance to a decent life. Instead of investing in crap, like fancy cars or political campaigns or luxury buildings, what people or better yet governments should invest is in girls like Patricia. I’m certain this girl is going to be big, she´s going to make a difference, and damn am i going to be proud of her.

What is a good investment? That´s an easy answer EDUCATION, it´s the only way people get inspired, people succeed, people change the world… Best investment I ever did and even if I move from DR ill keep doing: Patricia Nicole.

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P.S. These are some pic of Patricia and her smaller sister Nikaury. The last pictures if you notice she´s the only one who while the others are all smiling at the camera, she´s actually finishing the goodbye letter she gave the later that day. I never keep cards, but this letter i always keep it in my drawer….

Bubi

Since I decided to write my blog in english

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I have to deal with the fact that many people think about breasts when they read the word Bubi.

Bubi is actually the cutest old lady, who just turned 86 today! And it just so happens she is my grandmother, the best and coolest grandmother ever!!!

She drinks beer, wine, loves vodka, gives the middle finger, goes with me to the 4% march for Education and actually protests, but most of all she loves her family to death.

She´s halarius, my mom has her on a diet. Bubi insists she is not fat, we measured  a couple of days ago for her birthday party only two skirts, three pants and two blouses and they all are tight! She says: I’m not fatter, what happens is that the clothes are old and used to be skinnier!

I truly believe she´s the coolest 86-year-old woman in the whole planet!!

That´s why tonight we party!!!

Hello world! (Why delete it? Sounds good)

The instructions on WordPress said write a new tittle, but “Hello world!”  for my firt post ever seems pretty good.

I first got the idea to write a blog, so that I could force myself to always look for new and good things that are happening in the word. The reason why im so fascinated by the NGOs world, is because there are many small projects, managed and created by ordinary people, that are little by little changing the world (Yes it sounds cheesy but hey, look at Time Magazine person of the year: The Protester, that has to mean something!). So it´s only fair that I my first post is about one or a few cool ideas that are out there. Plus every time I read the newspaper while I have my breakfast, I think to my self, why is being informed so painful! I don´t know about press in other countries, but the dominican news are mostly about drugs, theft, political bullshit (I don´t´ think I should curse in my blog, but I really lost respect for politicians) and delinquency… jum… for my second blog i´ll should find dominican good news and/or good projects.

As I said in my profile, this blog is going to have a little bit of english and spanish. The videos I want to share are both in english:

1. The Girl Effect: simple, yet brilliant campaign.
2. Mama Hope: Their Stop the Pitty campaign is pretty cool.

So there my first post is just sharing two projects that I really like and would love to see first hand one day. Hope you like them.