Learning about Challenge, Progress, and Hope in Haiti

UUSC partnered with the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) on a joint volunteer trip to Haiti, January 21-28. Trip participant Casey Aspin writes about day four of her experience in the post below. The UUA-UUSC Haiti Volunteer Program is made possible through the contributions of UUA and UUSC donors and a generous grant from the Veatch Program of the UU Congregation at Shelter Rock, in Manhasset, N.Y.

Day Four

This week is going by way too fast. We got an earlier start today. Job one was hauling rocks from a pile to a square trench, where eco-villagers dropped the stone into the neatly dug trench, splattered it with slush cement, repeat. I live in a stone house and admired the skill of the Haitian masons recreating what Irish peasants made in Pennsylvania 240 years ago. The foundations were sturdy and attractive. Next was hauling cinder block to lay on top of the foundations. Between us we worked on three community kitchens (possibly more yesterday). I did little mango sawing. Joel is eager for my e-mail and for money. I don't blame him — I'd do the same in his shoes. (Did I say shoes? Sorry, flip flops). But it isn't my place; I told him we give only to MPP, which is his employer this week. This pilot village has been such a success that a Presbyterian group wants to finance four more. I told Joel there should be plenty more work.

After lunch we went to the market in Hinche. Very tough bargainers. We bought some supplies for the kitchens, but the general feeling was the fix was in. We managed to buy bowls, knives, and pots.

The upside of bouncing around in the SUVs is learning about my companions du route. Today I learned how Wendy Flick went from being a leader in a hospice program in Sante Fe to an organizer of international programs for a private foundation (whose donor supported the hospice). Her focus became Haiti and, when the foundation wound down, UUSC grabbed  her — a very smart move. She is fluent in Creole, she beams joy, the Haitians love her, and she's a good organizer who has been in sync with UUSC's modus operandi for a decade — we couldn't have found a more committed, effective leader.

And then there's Evens Mary, one of our translators. He moved from Haiti to New Jersey at age eight, later became a paralegal at a law firm in Newark, and returned to Haiti after the earthquake, working with U.S. lawyers who came down to help Haitians deal with immigration issues. They quickly learned about the prevalence of rape, so they shifted focus and are now working, with Evens's help, to enforce Haiti's law criminalizing rape (a law which is only six years old). Evens said the police don't enforce the law against rape, and no lawyers have stepped up to demand justice for victims. So the U.S. team (including lawyers from Reed Smith in Philly) is pressing the Haitian courts to enforce the law. If they don't succeed, they will take the issue (and mountains of documentation) to the International Court. Evens is so committed to this work. I suggested that it is difficult for women to obtain justice if they don't have power in the government. He agreed that is a problem in Haiti, but he said it is changing — slowly. Thanks to people like him!

Our afternoon was spent in the company of about 50 MPP students from two classes. One is working on erosion control, a major problem in Haiti, and the other is learning farming techniques to take back to their families. During our Q&A session, it became clear how much Haitians love their country and how much wounds them that it is portrayed negatively to the outside world. They clapped and cheered when we said we would go back to the United States and tell of the beautiful gardens they are creating and of the hope they provide for all Haitians. They just about went wild when we sang to them one of their most popular songs in Creole.

These are proud people who are doing everything they can to better themselves - saving and enriching soil, pumping water by hand or solar power, conserving seeds, diversifying food sources. They clearly resent being portrayed as the basket case of the Western Hemisphere, and we can understand why. Imagine having every American, successful or not, equated to the sideshow that passes for government in Washington, D.C. Right? No one wants to be judged by the failings of their so-called leaders.

I was curious about the natural pesticide and asked the farmers what is in it. (Answer: boil tobacco leaves in water, add soap and oil, and spray on plants). I was taken by how offended farmers were by the notion of using anything other than natural pesticides. They love their soil the way a mother might love a child who has nearly died and whom she now cares for with great tenderness. Haitians don't take soil for granted because they have lost so much of it and they need it so badly. (Haiti is 98 percent denuded of forest. UUSC is working with MIT to develop alternative sources of charcoal needed for cooking.)

A word about the MPP song we sang: Makanon fasnu kontinuye lite ou Ayiti. Or something like that. It translates to the following: "Entwine your strength to continue to fight for Haiti." This country has been stepped on by the world's great powers for centuries, and the people are genetically predisposed­ — as part of the only enslaved country to successfully revolt against their masters — to fight for themselves, regardless of the cost.