"Becoose I iz Amaaricun!" he said in a half joking manner.
Robert loves to talk about the US and how he wants to visit his family there and how he is truly American in blood, not Dominican. And I know he loves the DR, but what he said in his best American accent he could conjure up spoke volumes to the problem the DR and many other countries around the world are facing today. The lust for the western world has overtaken many of these poor people. It has twisted their perceptions of work, success and money. One of the other interns told us about a Dominican that came up asking about the States and said that he was sure one day he would travel to American and make millions in a few years time. Any job was available for him and he would soon shoot up to the ranks of the elite. He also thought you could buy a house in Manhattan and it would cost around the same as a flat here in the DR. Thankfully, the intern, Laura, told him otherwise.
I understand these people's desires for a better life. Anyone that lives in a shack with nothing but a tin roof and four wooden walls riddled with holes and weathered down to its last fibers would want a new home, running water, consistent electricity, and a substantial meal each day. But what has happened is that the prevalence of Western culture (in this blog post, American culture) has perverted that notion of change. What used to be a realization that change came about from hard work and struggle has fallen into the pits of conceitedness and self-loathing. Now, the only way to make it big is to leave your family behind, your culture, your language, and your ideology and squeeze into the ever expanding and overcrowded bubble we call the culture of the US.
Don't get me wrong, Dominicans love their culture. They just love the idea of making it big and bringing change to their lives even more. Imagine, tomorrow, you were offered a million dollars so long as you moved to China and lived there for the next 50 years. But perhaps that is not a good comparison. Because the reality is that, we do not necessarily need another dollar in our lives. The majority of the money Americans make is used out of pure enjoyment and entertainment, not endurance. "But my insurance is more than 250 a month and my cell phone bill is climbing up near 100 bucks a month!" If you needed 315 horsepower in your new 2011 Mustang to survive each day, and if you didn't use that iPhone primarily for the new apps you download each day, yes you could use that argument. But for Dominicans, that extra dollar (or 36 pesos) means potentially a larger meal for the three children each night. Or perhaps shoes that actually fit so the walk to work isn't as painful.
Instead of more enjoyment, to a Dominican, more money means a better chance of survival. Now, most Dominicans are not starving to death nor scrounging around in dumps for a new roof or bathroom. But most Dominicans struggle daily and live in the bottom ranks of wealth. And so to them, the perception of money takes on a whole new meaning, so much so that they would be willing to give up their homes and all that is familiar to them to earn just five dollars more a day. This is why micro finance works. Because to them, this capital isn't for new enjoyment, like a $350,000 mortgage on a house is for an American (but that sun room was just the needed touch for us!) No, to them, this small amount of capital is their ticket to a life with less struggles. To them it is certainty that they will feed their children tomorrow. To them, it is a gift from God, not a gift from creditors. To them, it is mana.
I hope and pray that in their quest to alleviate their pain and struggles, they do not lose focus. As they look and dream towards America, may they not lose their view of money as endurance, not enjoyment.
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