His bone structure could clearly be seen through his leathery skin as he slept next to the street. This photo was captured in Santo Domingo this past week. I shot this in an area that is well-traveled by locals and rarely seen by tourist. This man was asleep on a busy sidewalk using his hands to cradle his head and to protect it from the hot concrete. When I walked back by 30-minutes later, he was gone.
WAGES: In the overcrowded and dirty capital of the Dominican Republic, the average wage amounts to $86 U.S. dollars per month. Those who are paid a bit more earn a whopping $172 U.S. dollars monthly. In Pesos, that is between 3,000 to 6,000 each month.
TRASH: While sections of the Dominican are beautiful, most areas are littered with trash, discarded tires, water bottles and more. However, most Dominicans are more resourceful than those in America.
Here (America), we may gather with family for a cookout and utilize paper plates, plastic forks and styrofoam cups. After we use those products, we throw them away. In the Dominican, residents will re-use the same materials for a week and sometimes longer. While Americans throw their products into the garbage which will eventually head to a landfill, many residents there will throw the same items into the street and later burn them. In other words, our trash collects in larger quantities and it ends up in a nice neat pile. Their trash is less in quantity, but piles up in the streets to eventually be burned.
CRIME: Crime in the Dominican is something that you can’t ignore. In a national report filed by the United States Department of State, the crime rate for the Dominican is recorded as HIGH listing Santo Domingo as one of the top cities for Robbery, Assaults and rape. Alcohol abuse and drug trafficking is also listed in the report as being major problems in the third world country.
GOOD NEWS: Churches throughout the world are slowly taking notice of the growing problems in third world countries like the Dominican and Haiti. New Vision Baptist Church in Murfreesboro has literally changed the face of LaRepresa, Dominican Republic in more ways than one. The church is now aiming their sites on other nearby areas as well. New Vision has even opened a Christian School in one village that has a state of the art computer lab to help children learn more about technology. One missionary even stated that he feels more comfortable allowing his daughters to walk through the LaRepressa village than he does allowing them to walk around Murfreesboro. To me, that speaks volumes of the changes taking place in the hearts of those who call that area home.
Sitting in Santo Domingo
He was quietly sitting on a concrete bench in an area of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. This is an area where locals shop the market that is filled with chickens, fruit, shoes and even cellphones. It is an area that tourist rarely visit, but filled with thousands of daily shoppers buying food and merchandise for their families.
Santo Domingo is the capital of the Dominican Republic and one of the Caribbean's oldest cities. The city was founded in 1496 and some of the roads are still made of old cobblestone.
I was told that many of the clothes and shoes that are sold on the streets come from Haiti. Evidently, people donate clothing by the truckload in Haiti and some Dominicans will meet with Haitians at the border to gather the clothing and then sell it to support their families.
The population in Santo Domingo is around 3-million, according to some of the residents who live in the city. lthough, the last census in 2010 showed just under 1-million. However, the census is next to impossible to get accurate counts as many live on the streets, under bridges and share small apartments with multiple families. 3-Million is likely more accurate. When you are in Santo Domingo you literally brush shoulders with thousands of people as everything is so busy.
The city and the villages in the Dominican are filled with trash on every corner, some trash burning in the streets. The water is unsafe to drink for both locals and tourist. Therefore, water is sold in plastic bags, jugs and bottles.