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.