two adorable girls in a batey, dominican republic, whith whom i shared sugar cane.

bateys are very much unknown to the world. they consist of little towns created by the dominican republic authorities to generate the picking of sugar cane. poor haitians move to bateys in hope to get enough money for their family to survive, but they get their papers confiscated as soon as they pass the borders between the two countries. unable to ever return to their country, they send money to their relatives from times to times, with little hope that it will ver reach them. most people say this is not slavery (the salary doesn't permit a familly to live correctly as promised. that day we payed a visit to the hospital to a couple children, who's familly couldn't afford the 1 dollar fee the tiny unorganized hospital charges them) because there is consant at first, but haitians have no idea how they will be treated on the other side of the lines.

batey people speak a mix of spanish and haitian creole, especially the children who were born there.