Backlog: Haiti, the land of the leaning house

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen as much unsightly grime and trash as I witnessed in Haiti. And for the sheer overwhelmingness of it, the friendliness and socialability of the people there was just as surprising. Most people know that Haiti is the least developed country in the Americas, the most impoverished, neediest, and disheveled with the worst social and economic indicators in the hemisphere. What most people don’t think about, however, is how close Haiti is to our own national borders, the role that the US has had in economically orienting Haiti to its current position, and the fact that so many of Haiti’s cultural misgivings are a direct result of Western influence.

That being said, I too thought nothing of these aspects while hopping the border between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, on the shared (and relatively small) island of Hispaniola. Market day in the respective border towns of Dajabón and Ouanaminthe, viewed from the elevated safety of a Caribe Tours bus seat, painted the most fascinating juxtaposition of two economic polities. My heart skipped a beat when crossing the infamous bridge …upon seeing the striking differences just over a border demarcation, where blue-helmeted UN peace-keeping troops sat in front of Barbancourt-selling stalls as wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow carted off bags of charcoal from a nation suffering from the highest rates of deforestation in the world…

Market madness on the DR side of the Masacre river vs. the Haitian side:


Attractive transport options abound in Haiti!

I went to Haiti to visit my friend Edna, another student from the School of Public Health. A fellow Floridian by birth, Edna is passing an interesting and challenging summer in the country her parents escaped from some 25 years ago, learning the ins and outs of color lines and ecologically oriented human-rights, as an intern with SOIL. Edna and one of the co-founders of this incredible organization, Sasha, graciously hosted me and Kate, offering opportunities to see a part of the world very few have the opportunity, or interest, in understanding.

We visited Shada, a shanty-town slum on the outskirts of Cap. It’s difficult to express the depth of poverty and disenfranchisement witnessed within; for all the third world travel I’ve done, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like Shada. Some 15,000+ people live in a maze of streets with homes made of block and tin, separated by narrowly curved alley-ways strewn with trash and feces, stagnant sludge and decay, with an ever present and ever disturbing stench that wafts through the air. Sitting on the banks of the river running through Cap, Shada’s shoreline serves as a dumping area in the broadest sense – trash and human waste, and something of a pig-pen, separate homes from the water, at least during the non-storm season. During hurricanes past, rampant floods raise these waters and mud high into the lives and homes of individuals living in Shada.

At the same time, it shouldn’t be hard to imagine that, despite, or in spite of, the every day challenges to survive, the people of Shada were warm and inviting; during our walk we amalgamated a pack of children eager to follow us through the sewage lined streets, holding our hands, requesting pictures, and so on. We had the good fortune to witness a dance and rap performance by an awesome group of girls singing about female empowerment. We were welcomed to people’s homes in a way reminiscent of being a part of something. Visiting was, in no small part, made accessible to us by the incredibly gracious (both with guests in her home and with members of her new community) Sasha Kramer, the co-founder of SOIL who has become a hugely positive force for social change inside Shada.

The principle of “living with dignity” underscores the agenda of most, if not all, humanitarian organizations, and the general human rights ethos, and accordingly, I am hesitant to say that that the people of Shada – people strong, generous, and decidedly resilient – are living a life without dignity. But the reality of the scenario, the reality of the lives and the many atrocious conditions within this community, was beyond me.

It was confusing to be there, within Shada. My emotions vacillated in an irksome manner: I felt angered and on-edge, and then quickly I felt just fine. My friend Jean said something rather compelling about work here in the DR that really struck a chord with me:

“And what about all the shit that grates, boils blood, doesn’t compute? It hasn’t been long enough for me to see or process the half of it, yet I’m already feeling my rigid sense of moral uprightness and strict adherence to legality relax in delightful and horrifying ways.“

Reflecting on this, which has taken me days upon days to write, has been likewise confusing. It’s hard to visit a place like Shada and leave feeling complacent. But at the same time, it’s hard to leave feeling empowered to create change in the face of so many calamities. I do not want to come across as the hopeless development/humanitarian aid worker, as the people of Shada are not hopeless themselves. Having had my eyes widened to the complexities of Caribbean inequalities during this visit – highlighted not just by the differences across the border, but by the other things I had the fortune to do while in Haiti (coming in a subsequent entry) - I feel forever more grateful for the luxury of controlling my own life in a way that people living in Shada are still waiting for.

backlog: Batey hopping.

My work in the DR is structured in a rather circuitous way – as both a program evaluation and a needs analysis concerning access and utilization of health services – making things kind of hectic, much like many endeavors in my life. It’s been a long running start, building up to a rapid finish.

Following weeks of reviewing literature, struggling through meetings (en español, por su puesto) with stakeholders, and participating observantly, the madness of surveys began. I developed a rather extensive, 100-question, quantitative-data collection instrument and trained two Haitian medical students (able to translate Spanish into Creole when needed) in collection methods. After testing and revising the survey, we collected information from multiple field sites in individual Batey communities.

As a background I ought to explain that the organizations with which I’m working provide healthcare through mobile ambulances to communities without access to any other types of health services. This includes preventative medicine, treatment, prenatal care, health-education, and so on. Accordingly, there are huge varieties of unmet needs. At the same time, these Batey communities live on the fringe of society and suffer in need of many other types of services, like education and sanitation infrastructure.

In the name of ethics I won’t reveal too much about the project here or now, but I will say that it has been challenging to segue between the areas of inquiry and practice – between the acts of research versus organizational assessment. The dependency of patients upon these health services limits the accuracy of the reach of a general evaluation survey – these patients lack the typical “rights” of choice, access, and time that other users are afforded in routinized healthcare services. At the same time, as a development and public health practitioner, it’s hard for me to adapt my motivations to fit solely within the “curiosity” realm of the researcher who seeks definitive “conclusions.” Neither my professors nor supervisors were able to guide my thinking in order to pigeon hole the work in one way or the other and I suppose it isn’t necessary.

For the mean time, I’m considering the most appropriate categorization of this project (which will likely inform the thesis I will begin preparing next month) as a practice of applied research to make things work better and more efficiently while meeting the basic needs of individuals who deserve and need critical health services.

backlog, July 2: arts and exploration

Mama Rocio, the local director of my exchange between Columbia University and the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, invited the four of us fellows on a day trip to the second largest Dominican city of Santiago. After leaving the capital at the crack of dawn, we arrived in Salcedo, for a tour of el Museo Hermanas Maribel. This museum, which is actually an estate, is something of a national landmark and stands in tribute to three women, regarded as national heroines, for their resistance to and opposition of, and ultimately their assassination by the dictator, Rafael Trujillo.

Daughters of an upper-class family, who felt the sting of Trujillo’s reign, the Mirabel sisters formed a group of opponents to the regime. Aside from being empowered and fierce women, an interesting and home-hitting aspect, for me, about these ladies was that they were known as Las Mariposas (or the butterflies) within their underground movement and were referred to as such within their political dealings…During the visit we had the good fortune to meet and speak with Dedé Mirabal, the one sister of four who was not assassinated in 1960. Her life’s work has been dedicated to preserving the memory and legacy of her sisters Minerva, Patria, and Teresa (for the record, I’m assuming that she was a major contributor to Julia Álvarez’s In the Time of the Butterflies). For a woman of more than 80 years, her spirit was so uplifting and her attitude positively pervasive. I only hope to be able to live as strongly as she has… this said - visiting the estate, which is covered with both ornamental and living butterfly tributes - a month after the three-year anniversary of losing Katelyn, was particularly powerful for me. It was gorgeous.

Our day continued with a visit to the art and cultural center in the city of Santiago. I wont lie and tell you that I found the arts more exiting than the action – witnessing the rolling and preparation of fine Dominican cigars was the best.

The day of exploring Dominican arts and culture and history continued with a visit to the Candido Bido Museum in the town of Bonao. Bido is evidently a master artist in the DR and has started a great organization teaching creative arts to youth from all economic walks of life. The collection within the museum was surprisingly impressive and I found myself taken aback by the quality and sophistication of some pieces. In particular, check out the crazy furniture design, Los Angeles, by Julio Valentín.

balancing act

Subsequent visits to the Bateyes have been less shocking and more as per my expectations. The Mobile Health Clinics enter the community bright and early, encounter a long line of patients waiting to see the doctor, there’s an intake/documentation system, the patient is seen, referrals written, repeat.

It’s not exactly fun to see the pregnant teens who’ve not had any pre-natal care and are in their 6th month. It’s painful to see people’s faces when they realize that the prescription they’ve just been given is in fact not available from the mobile clinic and that procuring such drugs will mean a long, long walk into the capital to spend money on drugs that are unaffordable. It’s terrible when at 3:00, after 8 hours and 40 patients have been served and the one doctor is ready to leave, a family of four show up wanting to been seen, yet are told they’re too late and need to wait until the next visit, two months later.

In comparison, it’s so easy to forget all this misery as soon as one leaves the Bateyes and returns to the Capital. It feels light years away. I’m guilty of forgetting too, given how much more comfortable it is to work here in comparison to other field assignments I’ve had the privilege of working on. Given that I’m enjoying my time spent here in which I’m NOT Working, and how permitted and encouraged this enjoyment is, it’s difficult to stay focused on the numbing inequalities and social injustices, when I’m not standing in the middle of them. What I really mean is that the comforts of the ex-pat lifestyle here - with friends, modern public transportation, lux beaches, and wi-fi – are keeping me significantly distracted from the misery and circumstances then I’ve ever been within a developing country.

And this blog has suffered for it accordingly. Evidently, it’s only when I feel able to compare things here with things somewhere else that I feel able to write something interesting. As I head into the field with surveys to implement and photos to take, I’m promising myself to stay more connected to the realities on the ground. Vamos a ver.

p.s. Is anyone even reading this?

back from the beach

I ran away again this weekend, this time to the north coast. The waters were crystal clear and more placid than imaginable, the vistas refreshing and the company perfect. Motorcycle rides through national parks, fresh catches for dinner, and new friends are nothing but reinvigorating.

A Night on the Town in the Zona Colonial

Every Sunday night something rather magical occurs in the middle of Santo Domingo's Zona Colonial, the first settlement made by Columbus in the New World: a wild dance party of hundreds of well-heeled Quisqueyanos take over a plaza in front of ancient ruined Monasteries of former splendor, sipping Presidente Light and snacking on pastelitos. A live band plays Bachata and Salsa and Merengue for hours and hours and old friends reunite with new ones. Balmy summer night delight, indeed.

Me and Jean, a dear friend from ATL days, serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer here.

backlog - June 20 - Gaga in the Bateyes

It took me all of half a second to understand that “agárrate” meant “hold on” when the random man with a motorcycle took off, heading against traffic, on a 6 lane highway. I guess he decided to help me as I was wearing a black dress and running late to my first meeting with the executive director of MOSCTHA. The wind in my un-helmeted hair was a welcome rush after the cab, which a police officer put me in, dropped me off in the middle of no where, following a 15 minute walk in the wrong direction, after exiting the subway at the incorrect stop. A good start to this first meeting as the ED, el Doctor, kept me waiting for 45 minutes insisting that I, “la jovencita,” drink orange juice.

The work may not be as exhilarating as the moto-ride, but it’s becoming interesting and I’m finally getting my feet wet. Literally. Who knew that a trip to a batey meant traipsing through mud and cow paddies to get to the latrine?

Picture this disparity: a five minute drive off the perfectly paved road, lined with mini-malls and car dealerships, lie crop-fields after field only punctuated by trickling rivers and the shrillness of Dominican kids laughing. Houses with tin roofs, rotting wood walls, and a burnt out edifice or two are all that constitute the neighborhood. Perhaps a brightly painted “Palé” sign indicates that one can buy lottery tickets, and a small “colmado” – the ubiquitous Dominican general corner store-cum-bar - sells warm soda, sugar, eggs and toilet paper in the center of town. Kids run about with muddy toes and snotty faces, some lucky to have shoes, but most not. Old men sit and watch the road as if it were television, and mid-twenty year olds are unanimously missing from the scene. My first visit to Yaco, one of the Batey communities that MOSCTHA works with, felt so similar to an east African village, I almost felt the culture shock that I never seemed to experience there, because there, the reality was merely the manifestation of long-standing expectations of mine. That was Africa; this is 600 miles from home.

I stayed surprised when they kids were first shocked by my whiteness, but then adoringly curious – patting my skin and hair, fascinated by the camera and babies wide-eyed and frightened – and was completely caught off guard upon realizing that the Gaga performance that we went to visit could have been rolled out directly from TASO’s cultural performers.

Little did I know that the Gaga, originating from the Haitian ‘rara’ music and dance street festival stylings, is in fact derived from a celebration of African ancestry of the “Afro-Haïtian masses.” Wikipedia informed me that Vodou is often part of the processesion which serves to unite communities across cultural divides and bring people together (details which were unfortunately lost in translation from Kreyòl, to Spanish to English. Regardless, it was really a fun introduction to a Batey and hopefully you’ll find it interesting and curious as well. Check the video and photos below, more photos here.