Context: who, what...

I realize that, like my knowledge of IDIAF before arriving here in the D.R., and like my interactions with many people in Los Marranitos, Notes From Alta Gracia is lacking in context and important dtails. Therefore, in the following entries I hope to enlighten the reader as to more exactly who I am, what is going on here, when things take place, where we are, why we're here -- any why you should be interested.

I graduated from Middlebury College in February of 2004 with a degree in International Studies and a desire to learn first hand how that which is imprecisely labled "international development" really works. Bill Eichner and Julia Alvarez decided that spring that there could make an opportunity availble for me to work on the coffee farm they ran, and I took off for the Dominican Republic in October. Bill and Julia's farm, La Finca Alta Gracia,was founded on the principles of shade growth, organics, and air trade. The coffee is grown that way today, and sold exclusively in the United States by the Vermont Coffee Company, under the name Cafe Alta Gracia. Julia is the author of a parable of the couple's coffee farming experience, titled A Cafecito Story. It is apended by an informative Epilogue by Bill.

In 2001, Laura Marlow, a Middlebury graduate herself, spent a year at the farm. She initiated and built support for (Spanish) literacy classes for local residents. Less than half of the adults in Los Marranitos, the community in which the farm is located, are functionlly literate. The library and the presence of enthusiastic teachers on the farm offer many advantages to the youth of Los Marranitos. Since Laura's departure, there have been four relatively short term teachers in residence at the Biblioteca Alta Gracia. The most recent was Jason Simmons (another Middlebury graduate!), who developed a website about his experience.

The library itself is a small building situated on Los Marranitos' only road, between the farm's office and the entrance to the farm proper. It is painted pink and green outside, blue inside. There are approximately 500 volumes in the library, organized by categories of health, religion, training, reference, animals, nature, ABCs and 123s, and fiction. There are books of interest to adults and children of all reading levels. I am working on completing a more precise inventory. Raegan Joern and Jacob Shultz, two volunteers currently at the farm, identified three different reading levels and marked the books with three differenet colors of stickers. The kids are now challenged to read some of each level. They record the titles they've read in personal folders that Raegan and Jacob assembled. These volunteers have been busy during the time they've been at the farm, laboring to help create terraces for growing vegtables, digging a new garbage pit and reinvigorating the compost system. They've spent a month here as part of their year-long exploration of Latin America, and I appreciate their help and company very much!

Back to the subject, let me reveal that the library holds more than books. There is also a large chalkboard and supplies for drawing and painting. Despite my attempts at restraint, we go through paper quickly. These kids don't sit down to draw, or play frisbee, or jump rope, anywhere else. It's taken me a while, and the counsel of friends, to realize that the library, beyond being a place of learning, is more importantly a respite for everyone who uses it. It is a space outside of their normal frame of reference. In that alone, it is special.