Dominican Helpfulness

I have been amazed, so far, with how helpful Dominicans are, and how far they will go out of their way to assist someone else.

Once, our minivan broke down when coming back from team dinner in Barahona (the nearby city).  It was dark, perhaps 9pm.  Several people stopped to help us, with others offering even when they saw people gathered around.  One man went so far as to help us get the car to the street in front of the mechanic’s shop, five blocks away.

The broken part, after the mechanic finished fixing the car.

Another day, while driving through La Hoya we stopped to say hello to a friend, and our truck wouldn’t start.  A random man who was sitting on the side of the road came over and helped us change the connection on the battery (which is connected with a washer to complete the circuit) so that it would start again.

Stopping in the center of La Hoya while training the four new volunteers from the UK, there were not enough chairs in the shade in the central park.  So two men who were sitting on plastic chairs gave us theirs, then went to the nearby store to grab enough for the rest of us too.

Fishing boats at Quemaito

This large group of people, mostly people enjoying an afternoon at the beach, all gathered around to help drag this fishing boat up on the beach.

All hands on board to cook and clean up dinner.

When a group of people comes over to cook dinner at my house, I know I’ll never have to do the dishes afterward.  It’s expected that people who didn’t cook help to clean up.

"Helping" with laundry

Sometimes, people try to help but don’t actually help, like the time I was doing laundry one night when some friends came over.  A bunch of them crowded around the washing machine, trying to help, but there was not enough room.

Even in the capital city, where I would have expected people to be jaded by tourists, there was a time when our Uber couldn’t find our hostel, so first one lady walked us down the block to where we needed to turn, and then another took over and walked us the next stretch to drop us off at the door.  

Sugar cane is really hard to eat.  My jaws aren't strong enough!

People are even more helpful when they know you, such as our friend Picher bringing Aluet and I this sugar cane because we mentioned that we wanted to try it, or another friend Diego riding all the way to Barahona and back just to help load bags into the truck.

Dominican culture is definitely more communal than American, and there’s no expectation that you will figure something out all on your own, which I am hugely grateful for as I get my feet under myself here.