My Santo Domingo Host Family

Before I describe my host family, it's important to know that I live in a grouping of three dwellings which together contain no fewer than four generations. My host mother, a grandmother, is second-oldest. Her name is Doña Ramona and she is a grand woman, quietly astute and refreshingly casual. Her mother, Doña Ana, is a lady of profound faith who, at 108 years of age, displays remarkable presence of mind when scolding her great-grandchildren or explaining to me the divine love of the Espiritu Santo.

These two never slow down (Isis & Yoelito)

A few steps from my room is the bedroom where four of the little ones watch Cartoon Network and sleep; Isis and Yoelito and their cousins Margarita, and Luisito. Wendy, the mother of the former two, lives upstairs from us with her other son and daughter. Her sister, Mari lives upstairs in the building behind us where she makes cakes and juices to sell in front of the nearby Sirena supermarket. Downstairs can be found the teenage girls, Daly and Michelle in one room and my host mother and father in another.

My barrio friends hang with some of my host family. From left to right: Doña Ana, Doña Ramona, Dory, Margarita, Amanda, Dora.