To begin, here is a quick outline of what I am doing for the next two and a half months. I will be writing up stories for the most part, a few for HOPE International, a few for Esperanza, and mostly for Kiva's website. Since Esperanza uses Kiva for donations, and Kiva asks that the status of each loan being paid off is told throughout the loan process, I will be interviewing clients and then posting their story and how their loan experience is going on Kiva's website. Actually, if you check out Esperanza's profile on Kiva.org, you can see my name along with the other interns under field agents. Kind of legit huh? So, gathering stories will be a part of my internship, and from what everyone says, and what I have experienced so far, while it may appear to be redundant, it is the most rewarding part.
The other part of my internship is my project. I am going to be observing just how things are run at the office in Santiago and comparing them to the manual that Esperanza provides. The sole reason is to see what is different, what is the same, what works, and what doesn't. Ben, one of the other interns is doing the same at another branch in the eastern part of the country (which is only about two and a half hours away. We are then to compare our own observations and results as well as present our own results to a few of the staff at the central office.
I am living in downtown Santiago. It is the second largest city in the DR, with about 2 million people living in it. It is, I think, a beautiful city, set right in a valley amongst the tallest mountains in the Caribbean. And it is only an hour from the beach, and some of the best beaches in the DR. I live right above a Christian School. I live with Daniel, one of the managers at the Santiago branch. He is 26, and lives with his family. He has a younger brother and sister, I believe 23 and 20 respectively. His father is a pastor at the church right next to the school and so the entire family is crazy involved. It is a very conservative church. For example, many of the women wear a covering over their hair. I already feel at home with his family, even if my Spanish is horrible. His brother and sister both speak English fairly well, but they can understand it perfectly.
Another good thing is if I ever miss home I can always go out to McDonalds, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC, you get the picture. This city is very Americanized. There is even a movie theatre I can go to should I ever miss Hollywood while over here. So I am very excited for this summer, I think it will be a great experience. The Spanish is frustrating at the time, because I can't understand it perfectly nor speak any better than a four year old. But time will change that.
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