Camaro in 2017
I am grateful for what turned out to be a successful 2016. I am beginning my third year living in the Dominican Republic and I have learned much during this time. Many of the things I read or heard others talking about have become "rhema" to me. It's one thing to hear or read something it's an entirely different thing to witness what you read or heard spoken right before your eyes.
It's like I have been in school the last 2 years, not only have I had to learn another language but another culture that is based on different societal norms. For me visiting the Dominican Republic for a week at a time a half dozen times a year and living here full time has given me a different perspective. I have learned much but there are 2 things that strike me most profoundly.
#1
It is painfully obvious to me that the Dominican education system is poor by United States standards. My Spanish is still terrible but I often write, read and speak Spanish (Castillian)better than some adult Dominicans that I have interaction with. I recently came across the below
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It is bad news when less than 20% of the people who have graduated from high school have sufficient skills to get a decent job or successfully complete a course of higher education because education is tied to their earning ability. There are numerous threads on the internet that speak to the situation of education in the Dominican Republic but apparently President Medina is attempting to turn things around.
http://www.dw.com/en/dominican-repub...tem/a-17625149
#2
Along with education is the employment situation. I have read unemployment statistics depending on the sources from 15 -30%. I am grateful for Facebook because it has given me a much broader spectrum of women to interact with other than what would commonly be found in Sosua. Based on speaking with many of them it appears as if unemployment is closer to 50% maybe more.
Not only do I have I seen a great deal of unemployment I have also seen a lack of ambition. I cannot count how many times I asked a woman what she wants to do with her life and she has been remiss to give me an answer. I have often received answers such as own a salon or clothing store. I have met a few women who were educated and gainfully employed but not many; it is not that they do not exist it is that I have yet to penetrate those social circles.
Below is an old article it is detailed but it basically talks about the minimum and living wage in the Dominican Republic
http://ciee.typepad.com/files/wrc-li...republic-2.pdf
Basically if the average Dominican is working they earn between 6000 - 20,000 pesos a month. Obviously there are some who earn more or less but the aforementioned is just an estimate. One of the primary motivations for work is the amount of money you earn if you take away that incentive some choose not to work and others choose to work outside the system. Working outside the system includes criminal activity for some of the men and prostitution for some of the women.
The point is...
I now see up close why so many women are available here in the Dominican Republic as opposed to the United States. The fact is I would not be able to do 10% of what I do for the cost of which I do it because of the education and employment situation. I have personally discovered that if you treat the majority of these women decently and you are in a position to help them financially there is no reason to be alone.
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