Images of Hope and Resettlement from Rio Ozama in Santo Domingo

This story appears in the April issue of VICE magazine. Click HERE to subscribe.

Nearly 300,000 people live in the slums alongside the polluted Rio Ozama in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic’s capital. The river has seen catastrophic flooding in recent years, which experts attribute to extreme weather caused by global warming. As a result, President Danilo Medina began a resettlement program to move more than 5,500 residents from La Barquita, one of the city’s most precarious neighborhoods. Those chosen will be placed in social housing across the bank, in New Barquita. The process is a collective effort, as the federal government has trained prospective families about the rules and particularities of relocating. (One stipulation is teaching mothers how to read and write.) After ten years, the tenants will become official owners of their new homes. The above photo, taken aboard a boat, depicts the run-down houses many are leaving behind for a new life.