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MAKING NEW FRIENDS
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There are many Dominicans living abroad who have married Germans, Dutch, Italians and Canadians. It happens like this: a tourist visits the Dominican Republic and the tourist meets a very pretty, charming girl or a handsome boy at the disco, on the street or in a restaurant. Most Dominicans love fun, music and have not all the hang-ups and trappings of the First World, so many tourists readily fall in love. Beautiful brown smooth skin, flashing deep brown eyes, and a willingness to please make it easy to fall in love. Drinking, late night dancing and other things thrown into the mix make it even easier. A tourist may even decide to stay longer or want to live in the DR for some time. The tourist is then invited to meet the love's family in the Dominican's home. Poverty comes to mind as many Dominicans whom the tourists meet are from the poorer classes. Before long the tourist wants to send money to assist the family, so a method of sending money is set up through FED EX, or Western Union or post-dated American checks. These payments are known as remittances or remesas in Spanish. These remittances account for a huge percentage of the GNP of the Dominican Republic through money coming in from Dominicans living abroad in Spain and New York. Girls often meet many men who will send regular remittances. A problem arises if 2 men want to be in Sosua during the same week. I know one girl who had a fight with an American man after living with him for 2 weeks , told him to leave and go home and the next week she agreed to marry a man from Holland. The same thing happens with Dominican men. Girls from abroad fall in love too, and plan on getting married later, in the Dominican Republic. Then when the girl arrives unannounced, she finds the Dominican is married with 5 children. It is a blessing for a Dominican man or woman to receive multiple remittances.
American checks clear through the Dominican banking system slowly. American dollar checks take about 45 days now. Western Union, the remitter of choice from around the world, can deliver money to a friend in the DR in about 10 minutes or less. However , the cost can be 10 to 15 percent of the money being sent if sent by credit card. Money can also be sent directly from a bank in Germany ,Spain,New York, anywhere in the USA or Canada to a bank account in the Dominican Republic, providing the sender tells the sending bank the SWIFT CODE of the bank in the DR.
Gifts can be sent to a family in the DR as well, and usually this is done by UPS or FED EX. Most FED EX shipments go through Customs in the DR without a problem, however of late the DR customs people have been clamping down on shipments by FED EX , etc. so Customs can collect taxes.
So the advice is to think carefully before becoming involved with a family in the DR since once remittances by whatever means are started, it is mean and cruel to stop the payments. It is difficult for a Dominican family to get off what is really a welfare payment and go to work for what may be very low wages by our standards. That having been said, any small payment will make a HUGE difference in the lives of not just the receiver, but other brothers and sisters, mother, father and grandparents.
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