Pictures around Azua

[AnnaC]

Originally Posted by chuckuindy

What I am talking about is the 1000’s of open area dumping sites where you find poor people searching for anything of value. Beggars in every metropolitan city, the guy who cuts cane everyday for less than we spend on a movie ticket. Someone needs to show photos of the thousands of kitchens with only a 2 burner stove and no refrigeration, houses without lights and running water. Mothers without the ability to buy milk or pampers for their babies, the real Dominican Republic.

Chuckuindy

Pehaps you could make that your mission next time you go to the DR

[gv0928]

Am I the only one slightly offended by these pictures being taken as representation of Dominicans?

Excuse me, but my family is from Azua, and I can tell you that the pictures here were very carefully selected for a particular image. I do not for one minute deny that this is present - but this is not all that is there. To give off that impression is ridiculous.

And before I get criticized with "no, but you're in America, so you choose what to see" - no. I spend my time in the Dominican Republic in the small town of Estebania, outside of Azua, where I see poverty and wealth alike. And you know what, this is the extreme poverty that is being showcased.

And sorry to potentially upset anyone, but isn't it mildly curious that the people in these pictures are all dark? Way to project an accurate image of what things are really like. I'm not saying that we don't have mulattoes and those who are of Haitian descent and the like, but we have more than enough Dominicans who are light-skinned.

The pictures look good - but they don't represent what things are really like.

[gv0928]

Originally Posted by Mirador

Steve, the photos were for your own personal attention, not for posting in DR1. The photos were taken for a specific purpose, and are part of a set taken at the request of our cousin Angélica, for use by her NGO, the Fundación Dominicana de Infectología. Also, the photos do not show the ‘average’ Dominican setting, they were taken in a backwoods (no electricity, no running water...) community of San Juan de la Maguana. Steve, you also know that most of the people photographed are your own relatives (albeit remote) and share your own surname…

Excuse my previous post. I did not see this.

I apologize.

[Don Juan]

....And one that's not too hard to imagine in today's DR. ...Still, it seemed these people weren't starving. You noticed? They, as a matter of fact, seem robust-- in spite of the obviously poor surroundings!-- How's that possible?
I'm not saying being fat in a poor country is a measure of true health, but do they look hungry? No!
If this is as poor as people get in DR, Then, My conscience won't bother me as much tonight, knowing the poorest children can still be provided with food. Que bueno!

[Mirador]

Originally Posted by Don Juan

....And one that's not too hard to imagine in today's DR. ...Still, it seemed these people weren't starving. You noticed? They, as a matter of fact, seem robust-- in spite of the obviously poor surroundings!-- How's that possible?
I'm not saying being fat in a poor country is a measure of true health, but do they look hungry? No!
If this is as poor as people get in DR, Then, My conscience won't bother me as much tonight, knowing the poorest children can still be provided with food. Que bueno!

I'm happy for your conscience, mine does not seem to keep still... ;-). In the DR Southwest, children will rarely go hungry, since it is customary to provide food for your own as well as any other visiting child. When it comes to food, in most communities in the DR Southwest, there seems to be no discrimination between yoiur own children and those of others when it comes to dinner. I've seen grown children and young men taking advantage of this custom, which I surmise is a tradition that goes back to the Taino.