Life as a Dominican Woman
“Why don’t people talk about women enough? Yes, they talk about life in New York, but why hasn’t anyone talked about life outside of New York as a woman?”
I would wake up at 8 and pick out my school uniform since I did go to a private school. I would go shower but sometimes the water would be gone, and so I would get a big bucket of water, bring it to the tub and shower with that water. I would get ready to go to school and end at 12pm. By the time I got home, it would be lunch time, so my older sister would make us lunch and we would eat together everyday after school. We would go do homework and then go play. Since there was no technology, we would actually go play. When I came to New York, all that ended.
These are not my words. They are my aunt’s. And they tell a story about what it is like to be a Dominican woman.
Why don’t people talk about women enough? Yes, they talk about life in New York, but why hasn’t anyone talked about life outside of New York as a woman? Are they scared ? Yes, I am that person. I’ve always been scared to talk about the unknown, about things that are important to me that may not be so important to others. Well, that changes today. I am here to talk about life as a Dominican woman.
Of course living in the Dominican Republic has its perks. The good food, the loud lit music, the cheap nails for less than 20 USD, the tuff fits, the funny people, the local stores, and more. Not everything is perfect because of the impact that it has on people — mainly women, which nobody talks about. Women on the island go through so much that they don't talk about. Well, my aunt's voices in this article will be the voices for all the women that are scared to speak up.
Almost every other summer, my family and I would go to the D.R. for a month to spend time with family and to just get away. We would go out to Nagua, which is a beautiful beach. It has sugar cane, savory sweet limoncillo, which is basically a Spanish lime but more sweet than sour, palitos de coco, which are basically cake pops but made out of coconut flakes and covered in a sweet glaze. After the beach, we would go out to eat at Braza BBQ — a literal 10 out of 10 that I would definitely recommend going if you go to the D.R. Amazing fries, lobster, rice, shrimp, potatoes and more.
I spoke with my aunt Ana. She grew up in a small part of the D.R. called San Francisco de Macoris where she lived with her mom, dad, and her sister Catherine. At the age of 14 she got pregnant. Her mother wasn’t really on her side at first because of course she was way too young, and the economy wasn't getting any better over there.
After she gave birth she was forced to leave her and move to New Jersey with her mom and sister when she was 20 and her sister was 9 , although it was hard for her because she was leaving her son in a different country not knowing when or if she would ever see her son again. This was hard. While living in Jersey, she had to adjust to many different things like the new area, the school being longer than she's used to, and the different types of food that she had never had. But the biggest problem she had to face was not speaking or understanding English. It was a difficult situation for both her family and her because nobody spoke or understood English, so trying to go shopping, going to school, and buying food was always a struggle. It got so bad to the point where her sister Ana wouldn’t go to school and was forced to get homeschooled.
I asked Ana and her sister Catherine a few questions to center her experience.
How was it growing up in the D.R.?
“It was great, I would wake up and get ready for school, since I went to a private school I had to wear a uniform. School would be from 8-12 pm, unlike here where you end around 3-4pm. I would come home for lunch with my sister, then do our homework and go out to play. Since we didn’t have technology, we would actually go play outside.”
“Why did you move to New York?”
Catherine: “Well actually, I went to Jersey first, but I was forced to because my mom wanted to move here. After a while, rent started becoming a problem so we ended up moving to New York. It was hard because I didn't want to go school at all because I didn’t want to be here. I ended up having to get home schooled.”
Ana: “I was forced to come as well, but my experience was more difficult since I had to leave my two boys in a country I was no longer going to be in. But I had to move with my mom and sister due to the change of economy.”
“Would you ever want to move back? If so, why or why not?”
Catherine: “No. The government now has gotten worse. I would definitely go visit but not move back. It’s not as safe as before but you can still have a good time and have fun. There's a lot more good things in the D.R. than bad.”
Ana: “No, It's not as safe as it was before. It was never really safe but it’s gotten worse throughout the past few years. So no, but I would definitely love to visit.”
Yes, life is hard. Yes, we are women, so we are looked at differently in many different ways and places by the world. But that doesn’t mean we can’t share our stories. We also have a voice and it needs to be heard. You might not be the only one that has experienced something.