Ethical Travel
The thing about me and the Dominican Republic was that I was initially very leery. I had consciously avoided the island because the country has been charged with many human rights violations, not to mention forced slavery of Haitians working on plantations. That's not the kind of scenery that I want my kids exposed to. I feel very strongly about supporting abusive governments with travel dollars. So I never considered traveling there until I kept hearing about all the new construction. Besides scads of new hotels and resorts, the Dominican Republic is constructing a commuter train system. New developments typically mean a rise in the standard of living for many people living in the booming areas. But does that mean the abuses have lessened? I checked the latest Amnesty International reports and the findings for 2008 appeared to better than 2007. There was no mention of slavery and assaults and violence against women had decreased. But I was still skeptical. When we traveled to the ...