Posts Tagged ‘Haiti’

I will soon be adding journal entries and letters from my service in Peace Corps Haiti from 1999-2001. Some journal entries may be graphic so I advise caution in choosing to read them.

I recommend starting at the beginning and reading in chronological order. Click here to start at the beginning of my service. Read from the bottom of the page up.

Well, only have 5 days until I go to P-au-P for the last as a PCV. I think it has passed the time when I needed to return to the States. I am thoroughly sick of this place. Although, I think it is good that I am leaving while I’m sick of it. That way I won’t feel like returning any time soon.

Anyway, on the 6th we will travel to P-au-P. On the 8th Ernante has her interview at the American consulate. Then we will just stay in P-au-P until the 16th, when we fly back to the States. We would come back if it wasn’t for me having to be in P-au-P on the 13th for three days of medical observations before I can COS. The long stay in P-au-P won’t be bad though. I think Kris will be coming in to visit with us and Mike and Wisline will be there too, since they are going back on the 16th too.

I just heard something that really ticked me off and provides evidence for a theory I hold about Haitian culture. Michelin was talking about Josh Bean’s (PCV) fiancé. She was saying how she and already passed the exam (the baccalaureate) at age 21. Well, supposedly, she (Fedya) composed with one of her cousins who told Michelin that Fedya wouldn’t let her copy off of her exam. So, Michelyne said Fedya was a selfish individual because she passed and didn’t let her cousin cheat of her so that she could pass too. The is a recurring idea throughout Haitian culture: “If you have something I don’t, then you should give me some so we can both have.” It’s like a system of unorganized communism. And it works only slightly worse than organized communism. I have never been more pro-capitalism than I am now.

I was discussing the malady that has afflicted Likensia, Ernante’s young cousin, when we got in an argument over how I put down Haitians and the country of Haiti in general. We had sent Likensia to see the doctor about the terrible rash on her hands several times with no results. So Ernante said that she heard her father say that he would take her to the local dispensary ran by a local nurse, and thus making her feel better about likensia’s condition. I, however, retorted saying what good will that do being that she had seen a Cuban doctor twice and he/she was unable to do anything for her. What she said before was that they would probably give her antibiotics at the dispensary. This statement is what ticked me off the most because I realized this is what these “village health workers” do for almost any problem they can’t understand or cure immediately. They have no lab to analyze anything so this is what they resort to. So I started explaining how these “VHWs” shouldn’t be treating people in this way and that they had very little education in diagnosing, treating and prescribing treatment for patients. This made her become defensive as her father used to work as a “VHW” and probably had even less education in medicine than the public health nurses working at the dispensaries now. A little later she said she thought that maybe the doctors at Haitian Health Foundation were better to which I responded, “Well they’re (the doctors) are Haitian but I don’t know where they were educated.” This meaning that if the doctors were educated in Haiti they are probably not as skilled as doctors that are educated in say, Cuba, the U.S., or Canada. Ernante, of course, took this as an insult on Haitians and their intelligence. So, I spent the 5-10 minutes trying to explain how porr the educational system is here. Ultimately, all I could say is that you’ll have to wait and see the difference because to the normal Haitian it is impossible to explain my point.

This brings me to another point. Haitians, I guess like most people, unwilling to relinquish their established beliefs. This particularly irks me because often individuals (Haitians) and Ernante’s family refute things I tell them, generally things relating to the U.S. For example, I told Ernante’s family how I believed that a great deal of Haitians upon their return to Haiti after many years in the States use credit or a great deal of their savings to spend lavishly and bring many gifts. But, of course, most Haitians believe that as soon as you arrive in the States somebody hands you a wad of money and gives you a job. I tried to explain that people have to work long hard hours often just to make ends meet. Ernante said how people that have jobs here complain about from 8 to 12 o’clock, this being too long to be at work. I said this is only a half day’s work in the States and often much less. It is impossible to explain to most Haitians though. They think, in general, that they know a lot more about things than they really do. This is one reason I have found it difficult to educate them on some subjects. Only on subjects that they have virtually no knowledge are they willing to accept what I say. Anyway, going back to what I was saying about the doctors and levels of education, I wanted to make a comparison of where Haitian education is now to where developed countries’ education is. I chose to estimate the standards of the schools in the States in the past with the standards of schools here in Haiti now. So I estimated that schools in present day Haiti have lower standards than schools in the States did 75 years ago. I would say you would have to go further back in U.S. history to find schools as poor as the ones here. I couldn’t tell Ernante this though because it would offend her and it’s really just not nice. She’ll get to see the difference when she arrives in the States.

Making this comparison reminded me of why the schools here are so incredibly poor. I believe it has to do with the on-going power struggle here. People that are in power want to remain in power. And these leaders know that you can stay in power more easily when the people you rule are uneducated.

I just re-realized something today and I wanted to write it down.

One thing I’ve noticed extensively during my time here especially those times sitting in meetings is the strong existence or recurring phrases or sayings.

Two examples commonly heard in meetings are, “Chita pa bay,” a proverb meaning ‘sitting doesn’t accomplish anything” and, “tet ansanm,” meaning ‘heads together.’ What I feel has happened with these sayings is that they’ve been said so much that they become words that are said but never heard. Now I know that all or most cultures, including mine, has these sorts of phrases. However, I feel that in my culture people tire of certain popular phrases and eventually they cease to be used. They are probably discontinued because people are afraid to be unstylish. I’m not sure if phrases change in this (Haitian) often because I am still hearing the same phrases and proverbs I was hearing two years ago. I cringe whenever I hear them now because I almost feel the people or groups physically retract their bodies and change their thoughts to something else.

Another thing that Ernante made me realize about Haitians is that they often lie to you about a certain unfortunate occurrence in order to make you feel worse about it. For example, a young girl was killed by a camion last week in Jeremie. Ernante was there and saw the girl lying a pool of blood, her head smashed and an eye ball hanging out. Now people are continuing to repeat the story that the girl was pregnant when there is actually very little proof of this. Another instance of this phenomenon is Haitians always telling how they finished school or how many languages a person can speak after that person goes insane. It never fails if you see a person wandering around on the street, people will tell you how that person knows how to speak 4 different languages.

I’M A LITTLE DISCOURAGE TODAY. I GOT IMPATIENT WAITING FRO Senator Lugar’s aide to try to change the date of Ernante’s interview (for her visa) so I called the consulate myself. They told me they did not change interview dates excepting for medical emergencies. So, I e-mailed my fater today and told him I wouldn’t call him again for reasons regarding the visa. I also said we would not be able to meet with everyone for vacation in Orlando on the 17th of November. Instead, we would try to get a plane ticket home as soon as it was possible (on the 28th) so long as they grant Ernante’s visa request. Thus, I have to stay in Haiti two weeks longer than what I really want to.
I have started working hard on m example garden again. We paid a group on Saturday to come and cut down all the weeds and small trees below what I had already done. Now, I’m laying out the contour lines with an A-frame level and planting vetiver grass along the lines. This I’m doing without making ramps. The going is tough though because much of the ground is stone or stones and its difficult to plant the vetiver. I am also plagued by a new set of itchy rashes or lumps every time after working in the garden. It seems that my body is allergic to most everything. I am just one huge itching mass right now. For the plantation (more of a plantation than a garden) I am carrying small trees from Nimewo De on my bike. Unfortunately, the sacks the trees are planted in are fairly large and I can only carry about 4 trees at a tiem in my backpack. So far I have bought 4 lime, 3 mandarin, 4 grafted lime and 5-7 grafted orange trees. I chose these qualities because they grow fairly quickly and they sell well in the markets.
Anyway, back to being discouraged. I’m just ready to go home. I’m sure I’ve said this before in previous entries but I’m tired of being itchy, hot, sweaty, uncomfortable and eating the same food all of the time. I need a change of pace and a break. I need to see some rainy and cold weather. I need to pass five minutes without itching or sweating. Voye m tounen lakay mwen Papa! (Send me back home!)