Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo is the capital city in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican is a tropical nation in the Caribbean region, and shares an island with Haiti. However, the Dominican is a very different culture from Haiti. There is a level of respect that is given to religious organizations that can not be found in the nation of Haiti.

Recent History
The Dominicans consider themselves more Latin American than Caribbean. They also have close ties with the United States, which occupied the island in the early twentieth century. Columbus found the Dominican in 1492 and it was the first place he landed. Because of this there are numerous landmarks that the Dominicans know well and are very proud of. At present, the community of Santo Domingo is trying to build a democracy against the government. It is fairly stable, yet there is some corruption in the government. The population of the Dominican Republic is about 8.4 million. Spanish is the official language, but Dominican Spanish has a distinctive accent and has many African and Taino (native) expressions in it. Santo Domingo is a very laid back, often people don't get to work until 9 or 10.
Food and meals consist mainly of chicken, rice and beans. The city is currently undergoing a tourism boom, and many colonial era churches and buildings have recently been renovated.


Pressures on youth and families
While families uphold a healthy idea of what a family should be, most families in the Dominican do not actually match up to that. A family could have 5 kids, each from different fathers. Even though they believe in one husband and one wife, many people don’t get married. There are two ways to get married in the Dominican, legally and in a church. In general, the families are not very stable. The fathers are often very detached, leaving the youth with not much of a father figure. There is also a focus on image in the Dominican. For example a woman will go get her hair done from a nice salon, while her children walk shoeless on the streets. There are many children on the streets, and though prostitution is legal and the age of consent is 18, child prostitution is a growing phenomenon in impoverished areas. It is estimated that in 1994 that at least 25,000 children were involved in the Dominican sex trade.

The spiritual
The spiritual aspect of Santo Domingo is very Christian, however there are also many spin offs of Christianity. The Dominican is currently a 95.2% Christian nation. During the 1820s, Protestants migrated to the Dominican Republic from the United States and now the different protestant denominations include: Assembly of God, Church of God, Baptist, Pentecostal, and Seventh-day Adventist. Other religions include the Catholic Church and voodoism. A lot of Haitian immigrants and their descendants adhered to and practiced voodoo. There has always been religious freedom in the Dominican, and religion is very much a part of their culture. There are great pastors in the Dominican, and the church is continually growing.