We had just arrived to the park where we were supposed to wait for my friends to come and pick us up so that we could head over to the river in Bonao, when I heard someone shouting out to us. There was a man and what I assumed was his wife sitting outside their house inviting us to come over and sit with them. We were all a little bit hesitant, however, I thought to myself, “aww this sweet ol’ man!” But what I was really thinking to myself was if he tried anything, I could definitely take him! As we walked over the man’s face lit up with a gigantic smile as he began to unstack lawn chairs to make space for the three of us. It was only moments after he explained that 1) he just wanted to talk with us foreigners and that 2) it was about to rain, that it began to pour. So I was actually more grateful for his invitation than I thought I’d be, because we would have been soaked. His name was Roberto and he was extremely excited about just conversing with us. We loved it! He is a history teacher, and he shared with us the history of Villa Altagracia and what a normal day at work is like for him.
The two things I found the most interesting…
- His favorite historical figure is Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortés, responsible for the fall of the Aztec empire and Spanish control of Mexico. Roberto shared with us that he was grateful for Cortés because he liberated his people.
- He taught history to children younger than first grade students.
What’s the purpose or the significance of teaching a five or six year old history? Do they find that they retain this information and have it readily accessible to apply it in their lives as children? I’m not judging, I am just curious that with the short attention span of a child that age why would you use the limited time to teach them history? This conversation sparked my interest in the Dominican education system. Again, I’m not saying this is not a brilliant idea, I am in search for the reasoning behind it. I don’t remember having an actual class called history at this age, I do remember hearing jacked up and falsified stories about the ‘Indians and the white people’ sharing food at a big happy Thanksgiving dinner though… There is a lot of history out there, so I guess it makes sense to start as early as possible. Actually last weekend when I was coming home from the discoteca con mis amigos, I asked my friend what part of Santo Domingo was his favorite. His response was Zona Colonial. When I asked why, he said because he loves history. 🙂 He then continued to share with me that his country is in need of new textbooks because a lot of the history textbooks still used were written long ago when they had dictatorship and defend the good nature of the conquistadores and withhold a lot of factual information.
As for Hernan Cortés ‘liberating’ his people, I can’t really explain how that makes me feel right now. Granted the Aztecs were known for their human sacrifices and possible cannibalism but I’m not one-hundred percent sure that Spaniard Hernan Cortés did anything less horrible. To think that he conquered an entire empire at such a young age is kind of cool in an I’m a pre-teenaged boy and I like action figures and comic books type-of-way. However, to my understanding he conquered Mexico out of greed, desire for wealth, and his strange addiction to war. And to associate Cortés, a conquistador, with the word Liberation… -_- He enslaved people, lots of people and stole the country’s wealth for his own, and while governor of the “New Spain” in Mexico city he inflicted cruel treatment on the indigenous. But HEY! Just my opinion on the matter… and I’m sure some people will disagree with me on whether or not he is worth being put in a position of adoration.
I did learn from Roberto that I should stop being so shy about speaking Spanish, he let me know the only way to get better is to just open your mouth and go for it! After my friends still hadn’t arrived, they turned up some music and Roberto asked me if I knew how to dance to the song that was playing. I said yes, and in seconds I was up salsa dancing with my new friend. His wife and daughter cheered and kept saying how I danced like a Dominican. What a HUGE compliment! Soon enough everybody was up dancing and Roberto and his wife became our dance instructors. Bailamos salsa y merengue. It wasn’t too long until an upbeat dembow song came on, and Roberto asked if we knew Amara. -Amara? -siii, amara la negra! -… And before we could decipher what he was talking about he got up to show us… two seconds later he was popping his butt! Hahaha 😀 So we got up to learn that too!
More on the Dominican Education Movement.
Dominican Today – Education protests besiege the Dominican Government
Music Video Amara La Negra Youtube- Amara La Negra featuring Jowell y Randy Warning: This video is a little risque. It is a very popular song here, and as a black woman, I can definitely appreciate the fact that the lead woman in this video is dark skinned and has an afro. I’ve noticed some slight preference for women who look like the complete opposite (straight hair and light skin) in this country. So for this song to be so popular, it makes my heart smile. What I said above is just a very early observation and my opinion and take away on the matter will develop with time and I’ll be sure to share that with you when the time comes. We are all college students here, (some of you- may be on just on your way), but my hope is you see and understand my love for the song and for the fun it brings to the people who are dancing to it.
