Description
We are a small non-governmental and non-profit organization based in Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican Republic, with over 16 years of experience laboring in benefit of what are known as the bateys of this country. "Batey" is the name given to the communities formed around Dominican sugar plantations, composed of those who work/worked or whose family members work/worked in the planting, harvesting, transportation, and refinery of sugarcane. Batey populations are comprised of Haitian immigrants, Dominican-Haitians, and Dominicans, all of whom live in the precarious conditions characteristic of extreme poverty. There are more than 350 bateys throughout the country. Many of the employees of MOSCTHA are from these communities, and understand personally the extreme difficulty that must be endured simply to survive in a batey. There are over 30 bateys affiliated with MOSCTHA, each of which has two promoters to help maintain contact with the organization and foment involvement in their community. MOSCTHA works in benefit of the whole of the batey communities, through programs and projects that work directly with the people to give them the tools to make changes in their difficult lives. The organization is divided into small, integrated departments, each undertaking activities in a different area: legal issues, principally fighting to obtain documentation for batey individuals; healthcare and nutrition, including a mobile clinic, an ongoing AIDS awareness campaign, and regular workshops on proper nourishment, hygiene, and other vital issues; funeral services, providing transportation, burial, and casket (constructed in batey woodworking shops run by MOSCTHA) for the deceased; social department, overseeing various projects in other areas, and focusing on construction and agricultural projects and programs; education, endeavouring to give all batey children the opportunity to go to school, and fighting illiteracy among adults and children equally; and the women's department, providing skills-training workshops and solidarity and empowerment activities expressly for women. MOSCTHA also oversees a Food-for-Work project, in collaboration with the UN World Food Program. The members of MOSCTHA always have foremost in mind the need to stay in close contact with the beneficiary community, and manage programs in true collaboration with the people living in the bateys.
