http://viewchange.org Videos from ViewChange.org (Filtered by topics: Dominican Republic) en-us Fri, 17 Jun 2011 08:42:00 +0000 Copyright 2011 Link Media, Inc. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/sex-workers-confront-hiv Confronted with the horrific realities of HIV/AIDS, sex workers in the Dominican Republic have banded together to create a united women's movement. They help increase awareness of prevention techniques, resources and safety, as well as serving as volunteers in a revolutionary HIV vaccine trial. Fri, 17 Jun 2011 08:42:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/sex-workers-confront-hiv Dominican Republic, HIV, Health, AIDS pandemic, Sex worker, Prostitution, Education, Gender, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, LinkTV Picks >> TITLE: At least 70,000 of the Dominican Republic?s 9 million people are HIV positive. Female sex workers here are reported to number as many as 130,000. The HIV rates among sex workers here runs three to 10 times higher than in the general population. Some 80 percent of sex workers work in bars, discos, and brothels, and 20 percent work the streets, tourist beaches, and ports. >> JULIANA [Founder, MODEMU]: Of all the towns, it has the fourth most sex workers. I don?t have a real estimate of the number of sex workers in Haina. There must be at least a thousand sex workers here, because La Haina is a town with income. We have a port, where tourist ships dock. There?s a manufacturing area -- a lot of industry. So, there?s money, and where there?s money, there?s sex work. Well, in this country it is very difficult for a woman to get a job. The only options available are being a housekeeper, working in a factory, or live with a man (cook and clean for him in exchange for food and housing), or sex work. >> JOCELYN [Sex Worker]: I?ve been doing this for 10 years. I gave birth to my child, Rosy, the one who?s 11. When I saw I had nothing -- she had no milk, her dad left and abandoned me -- a friend of mine said, ?Come with me to the port.? When I went, a Honduran sailor fell for me and gave me $100. Here we have a port, where ships and sailors come through. That?s who we work with. Sometimes it goes well, sometimes it doesn?t. I?m tired of doing this work; I want to leave this life, because I don?t want to keep doing this anymore. It?s not something you choose to do, but out of necessity. Seven people live in my two-bedroom house: my three kids, my sister and her child, and my niece. Around here, there is a lot of crime, a lot of drugs. My kids are here, but I want to move. My children can?t grow up in this environment. >> JULIANA: I?m not doing sex work now. I work on behalf of sex work. I started MODEMU [Movimiento De Mujueres Unidas] 14 years ago. People were saying all sex workers infected people with HIV. So we got together, and seeing the problems that the women had, we came up with the idea to form a united women?s movement. And we went to the streets to work with our fellow sex workers. Sex workers working with sex workers. It was the same language. >> DR. ELLEN KOENIG [Instituto Dominicano de Estudios Virologicos]: MODEMU does get money on certain programs. They apply for grants and USAID has not helped very much because the American government doesn?t want to work with sex workers. But the European community, the Canadian equivalent of AID, other groups will fund studies or work for them. So in that way they have gotten money to finance some of their programs that they have under way. >> JOCELYN: Can I get a ride? I?m a member of MODEMU, so I go give speeches to girls in the business. I go out three days a week to talk to girls about HIV/AIDS prevention. When we went to Semana Santa, I went to the El Sifon Bar to teach the girls the correct use of the condoms. There are many men who don?t like to use a condom. Many will offer you $100 to have sex without a condom. We say no. No condom, no sex. >> DR. ELLEN KOENIG: A female sex worker cannot protect herself unless the man wants to protect himself. There is a female condom, but it is very uncomfortable and it?s about five to ten times more expensive than the male condom. So the woman is really at a disadvantage in this game. They realize that with this disease, they have to work to help solve. >> SIGN: Laboratorio>> JULIANA: There was a test of a (HIV) vaccine for sex workers. Because it targeted high-risk people, they called MODEMU to provide sex workers. So Ellen called MODEMU, MODEMU sent six representatives. I was one of them. I was also part of the study. >> DR. ELLEN KOENIG: In the Dominican Republic, our first study showed the highest levels in men who have sex with men and the Haitians, and this probably continues on today. So when we were picking people, the idea that the Haitians might be good, but they were doing vaccine trials in Haiti. The men who have sex with men, I believe they can find easily in places like the United States and these men in the United States are very dedicated to helping this. They felt that the female prostitute here would probably be a good candidate, and when they saw the number who had other sexually transmitted diseases they figured that this was a very susceptible population and one that would be adequate and might give us some good results as far as the HIV vaccine goes. >> JULIANA: The vaccine -- it?s a trial for the vaccine, but it?s the most promising so far. But if the vaccine turns out to work, it won?t be for our benefit. We are taking a chance for the sake of science, for our grandchildren, for future generations. >> DR. ELLEN KOENIG: These women are the real heroines of the AIDS epidemic because they are giving their bodies and their time to help us try to solve this problem. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/12-cameras-haitian-women-share-their-lives <p>Life isn't easy for Haitian migrants living in the Dominican Republic. Mostly women and mostly undocumented, they are easy targets for trafficking and exploitation, and face the constant fear of deportation. But, given a digital camera to record their stories of hope and struggle, some of the woman have begun to find a stronger voice for themselves.</p> Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:36:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/12-cameras-haitian-women-share-their-lives Dominican Republic, Haiti, Migrant worker, Photograph, Technology, ViewChange Online Film Contest, International Women's Day, LinkTV Picks, Empowerment, Self-esteem >> TITLE: 12 cameras. >> TITLE: 12 Haitian migrant women in the Dominican Republic participated in a four-week intensive storytelling workshop. 12 cameras. >> TITLE: Using cameras and audio recorders, these women documented their lives. >> TITLE: The Dominican Republic. >> ROSE LAURE [Haitian Migrant]: It's not easy. Once you've been away from your country for 13 years, you can't easily return and find a way to live. It's all about finding a way to make a living. >> YVALINE [Haitian Migrant]: I traveled far to live life and find a better life for my children, and I feel better here because I have many more things here than over there. >> ALPHONSINE [Dominican-born of Haitian descent]: I feel good that I belong to both sides, because I'm from both sides, the Haitian side and the Dominican side. I'm happy with both countries. >> YVALINE: I love nature so much, especially when I'm taking photographs. I like how when you view your surroundings, it breathes life into you and gives you warmth. It also gives you encouragement to go on. >> ALPHONSINE: Taking a photo and then narrating what you see in the photo is beautiful to me. >> ROSE LAURE: I feel very happy taking pictures, very, very happy, because I didn't know how to use a photo camera. >> CLAUDETTE [Haitian Migrant]: For me, this project has surpassed my expectations. If I take a picture of my child, I look for a good position and an idea, and it's the idea that makes me want to take the picture. >> YVALINE: I got rid of some of the stress from home. Talking, working, cleaning -- you always do those things. But when you go outside and learn something, you feel good. >> IMMACULEE [Haitian Migrant]: Everything that you take time to learn, even if you don't profit from it today or tomorrow or even the day after, you hope that you'll benefit from it some day. >> CLAUDETTE: I feel like a lot has changed in myself, because I didn't know the value of a picture until I took one. I thought that taking pictures was all about looking pretty and making your children look good, dressing them up for the photo to later look at it from time to time, but I didn't realize the story that lies behind a photograph. >> ALPHONSINE: Every photograph has a description, a meaning. At times, we see a plant, and we don't think it is important, but it is important. I learned that all stories matter. >> JHONISSE MAURICE [Haitian Student Workshop Mentor]: For me, it's a pleasure to be able to help in some way, especially since they are my fellow countrywomen. I don't know, but I had a desire to be here and to be with these women. >> IMMACULEE: It's never too late to learn, because tomorrow you might get to use that knowledge, and then you can teach someone else, and that person can teach another. In this way, our organization functions, and it lasts. That way, people teach each other, and everyone benefits. >> JOHN FRITZ [Haitian Student Workshop Mentor]: This project gives a voice to these women, because they tell the stories of their lives. They take pictures of their children, so, yes, they have a voice now. >> PHONISE LACOTTE [Women's Community Liaison, JRMS]: This project increases their self-esteem. It makes them value themselves. It helps them realize that they can organize themselves, that they have capabilities, and that they can do more than they thought. This is one amongst various initiatives they've got going on that, little by little, open up new paths for them. >> JOHN FRITZ: Now they know they can do something. Before, they didn't believe they could do anything. One of the women even said that now she is more highly regarded in her neighborhood because they see that she is doing something. So it has truly helped them, but it's not enough. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/chocolate-country <p>In the backcountry of the Dominican Republic, poor cacao farmers have been fighting a losing battle with the global economy for as long as anyone can remember. But the thriving Loma Guaconejo cooperative has found a way to turn the system on its head.</p> Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:48:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/chocolate-country Fair trade, Latin America, Cooperative Farming, Organic farming, Dominican Republic, Agriculture, Chocolate, Caribbean, Agriculture & Food, Cacao >> TITLE: Namshub Films presents Chocolate Country >> LUDOVINA SILVERIO SANTOS [Farmer]: Chocolate. Here in the Dominican Republic, there are few who eat chocolate. We drink chocolate. Not the store-bought kind. And at least we're drinking chocolate from quality cacao. Vitamins to drink! >> VICTORIANA PAULINO MERCEDES [Farmer]: We felt like the last of the communities, alone and backwards. For us, the marketing cooperative was like electricity entering the community. Like sparks, like striking sparks that motivate a person. >> HILARIO ROSARIO QUEZODA [Farmer]: The cooperative was born out of the nature reserve. If we destroy the reserve, it'll become a desert without water, and water is life. We make more profit from organic cacao because it's worth more than the "conventional," as they call it. >> LUDOVINA SILVERIO SANTOS: We are separating the black pods, the ones marred by disease, like this here. Who's going to eat this cacao? But a good cacao, it's delicious. The family shares the profits it brings. It's not just for the husband to pocket. No, for everyone: for children, for illnesses, for everything. Now we put it in clean plastic sacks to take it to the fermentation center. If we don't have better quality, we have nothing. >> RAMON REYNOSO [Farmer]: The businessman, the middleman pockets all the profits, and each year, his wealth and capital increases, while the farmers get poorer and poorer. We know institutions in the United States. They can buy cacao directly from the farmlands. >> EMELERIO JIMENEZ [Farmer]: The middlemen, they'll destroy you. >> LUDOVINA SILVERIO SANTOS: But not us, not the cooperative. In the cooperative, we are one united body. >> MEN AND WOMEN: A man is only one and life is hard. Walking together, we'll go further. >> VICTORIANA PAULINO MERCEDES: We made this project happen. Man, woman, and child. You couldn't say that anyone sat around at home. >> CARLITO ALEJO DE CONCEPCION [Farmer]: The man of the farmlands is my brother. The blood of the campo runs in my veins. Without the farmlands, I cannot live. >> RAMON REYNOSO: If we have quality, if we have more effort from the men and women in the countryside, it's to improve the lives of every one of them, so they can have more resources for nutrition, health, education. >> LUDOVINA SILVERIO SANTOS: I am a buyer of cacao for the cooperative, and I'm in charge of the gender training program. >> LOUISA SANTOS SUAREZ [Homemaker]: It's true that I have to work hard, taking care of the kids and the house, but for me to see her running here and there -- never, never in my life, did I think she could have a role like this. >> LUDOVINA SILVERIO SANTOS: And I'm not going to let this opportunity pass, because we're moving forward. I'll continue as long as God grants me life and health. >> TITLE: The Loma Guaconejo Cooperative has united over 200 cacao farmers. >> TITLE: www.chocolatecountryfilm.com