#FreeHaiti: NGO Dependency

Adventures of SonSon - Part 2

This is the second post about the #FreeHaiti movement that will be looking at how NGO dependency and the mentality of Haitians is a barrier to their freedom from chains that bind the country. To learn more about the #FreeHaiti movement, check out the first post. I am doing a series of posts to discuss the different problems the Free Haiti Movement has defined as holding Haiti down. 

The other day, I noticed a Facebook post by a former Virginia Tech football player, who I know from tutoring and mentoring athletes throughout my time at VT, a job which I thoroughly enjoyed. Sergio often uses Facebook to speak out about issues. I asked him if I could share his thoughts from the other day in this post to make a comparison to the mentality of Haitians, although the situations are quite different. He agreed. 

His friend Joshua commented below and said: 

"I am glad you're sick of it bro. We need to keep having these conversations so all people can understand. Yes other privileges are prevalent, but none in comparison to white privilege. The big thing is making people aware that it is not an attack on them, they can't help the privilege and no one is negating hard work. 

Yes, let's continue to work hard when doors are closed but let's also continue to have this conversation no matter how sick we are of it. Good post, though. Happy Friday bro." 

Now, I'm not trying to claim that the advancement of African Americans to the country of Haiti are the same, as the situations are very different, but I do want to look at the mentalities that these comments represent. Sergio's words show a victor or fighter mentality. They show independence. He says that challenges only make him stronger and encourages others to have the same mentality. 

His friend Joshua applauds his mentality, but reminds him that even if you are sick of talking about injustice, you should talk about it until it's unnecessary to talk about. Sergio says that "those things will never change, sadly", but Joshua believes that they will if we keep talking about them. Misunderstandings will fade away and better solutions will be implemented.  

I highly appreciate the mindset of both of these men. I believe that Sergio wants to forget that injustice exists or take away its power as a way to plow over it and get beyond it. Joshua wants to point out injustice so that it can't hide or be accepted and thus continue. I talked about this very topic in this post as well. 

So how does this apply to the Haitian mindset and NGO dependency? Ezili Danzo, the founder of the Free Haiti Movement, says "We are enough". This is the strong and independent mindset. This is the victor mindset. It means that they don't need to wait for a foreign country to provide aid and they don't need to automatically make plans to move to a foreign country as soon as the opportunity arises. I have noticed over and over again that our teachers who graduated from high school in Haiti have a strong pride over speaking foreign languages, but generally a lack of understanding in the natural sciences. It seems as though the very school system favors the idea of making foreign connections over problem solving and communicating amongst each other internally.  

This leads me to the meaning behind our English camp called Change My Stars. The message we tell kids is that we are not teaching them English so that they try to go to the United States, Canada, or any other foreign country. We believe that English can give them job opportunity right here at home and that additionally, English can allow them to learn from visitors from English speaking countries who do not speak Spanish or Creole. It can also allow them to learn from resources in English. But we encourage them to use their education to create change at home. We oppose the brain drain where the majority of educated people leave their home country. Who, then, will develop the home country? Sure, they can send money back, but does money alone create development? 

Change My Stars - Camp Prayer

We NGOs can strongly influence this mindset by the way we interact with Haitians or members of any developing country. It's a dance between sharing and caring while also empowering beneficiaries to be independent. It takes an intentional team effort. There are entire books on this topic, but I'll share a few things we do. We ask that short term volunteers plan with us before giving out any gifts to students or community members. We try to plan it in a way that rewards school attendance, participation in a workshop, or something that promotes growth. We do it in a fair and non-political way, directly correlated to participation or performance. Sometimes aid is given to a family facing particular struggles, but this isn't usually something short term volunteers are engaged in, and they don't typically have that discresion. 

When I talk to volunteers about what to do if they are requested 10 pesos or something, I tell them just to say, "No puedo", which means "I can't" in Spanish or "M pa kapab" in Creole. When you say "I can't" you are also sending the message "You can". It doesn't mean that you don't want to help, but you are helping in a systemic way, teaching men to fish, rather than a momentary way of giving a man a fish, which might distract them from learning to fish.

I have started following the #FreeHaiti Facebook group more than Twitter, now, and see mention of dekolonizasyon mantal, which means mental decolonization. Even if Haiti became independent in 1804, they argue that mentally, it's still a colony, and that needs to be broken. While I don't agree with many sentiments that are common in this group, I definitely love their focus on creating a healthy mental state among Haitians, and in seeing that as a needed element that will lead to their flourishing. 

We also tell volunteers that because they come from a country where they have access to much more, (not that I personally think that is always a good thing or a sign of superiority), something that seems very small to them could have a large effect on the community here. One might think it's a small act to give their watch to their favorite child before they leave, but do they realize that doing so might encourage a large group of kids to come and request watches from the next volunteer that comes? Planning and working as a team to use such acts of generosity in a strategic way that promotes growth and development is best. 

As some parts of the world enjoy more and more developed technology, comforts, and conveniences, the understanding of needs versus wants continues to alter. A friend once told me that the way my family and I live is basically what many Americans would consider camping. I remember another friend, when she saw we were moving into our small house on the mountain before it had electricity and running water said, "So you're really gonna Little House in the Prairie it here?" I personally couldn't feel more grateful. There are little things we would like to improve, but all in all, we lack nothing. We are blessed, while living below the poverty line by U.S. standards. 

I recently saw a video of Ron and Johanna Melchiore. Ron says he moved from the city to build his own off-the-grid homestead in the 1970s during the Back-to-the-Land movement in the 1970s, which I had never heard of. He's been living as such, sometimes in remote places where the nearest human is a plane ride away, for forty years. I was amazed and excited to see this video as it confirmed something I had been thinking about. 

As we become more dependent on technologies, comforts, and conveniences, are we getting stronger or weaker? Observing the psychology surrounding the coronavirus, I felt like I could see this conundrum first hand. I am in a country where minimum wage is the equivalent of $200 US per month for a 44 hour work week and people were saying things like, "We can make money later. What's important now is our health". On the other hand, social media posts I saw coming from the US regarding the economic challenges were much more dramatic. 

With this perspective, do us expats have something to give in this sense when we go to countries like Haiti, or something to learn? And when we learn lessons or gain experiences from interacting with the severely impoverished, observing their lives, what does it leave them with? This is the ethical question. I am primarily referring to short term volunteer or mission teams here, but I suppose it could also apply to long term folk as well. Does our very presence leave children with a sense that they are lacking, whereas they may have never thought as much prior? And if it does, is that a step in the right direction? 

Of course we have so much to give by means of education, organization, resources, and more. I in no means am trying to suggest that short term service teams are bad! I am only pointing out unwanted side effects if care is not taken, if sensitivity is not practiced, and if strategy and teamwork are not implemented. 

Adventures of SonSon - Part 2

During law school, I was surprised to learn that if you try to help someone experiencing a problem but end up putting them in a worse position than they already were in before you intervened, you are liable for the position they are in. For example, if you find someone stuck on a tree branch and in trying to help them, you push them further out on the branch, closer to their doom, you now have responsibility in their position and are liable. I was convicted by this. I first thought, well it's better to try to help than to not try at all. While that is true, it's important that when you try to help, you carefully consider the effects of what you do. So if the person you're trying to save gets pushed further out onto the branch, you cannot walk away at that point. You now have the responsibility to do whatever it takes to get him back to safety. 

How many Americans go through places like Haiti and the biggest effect they may have is being the living embodiment of a place that seems better and has more? And how many, after having pushed people further out on their branch in that way, so to speak, leave and never look back?

Dominicans sometimes told me early on, while helping teenage boys from the streets, that if you feed them, they won't want to work anymore. I didn't want to remove anyone's work ethics, or ignore their suffering, but there is truth in what they said. It doesn't mean that you should never provide meals, but any support should be in balance with the reality of their lives. It's a topic that should be highly considered, especially among short term groups. I'm not trying to deter people from going on short term trips, but I do think they should be viewed as a long term commitment to the people, even if you're only in the country for a short period. We do our best to build short term trips in such away that make them a contributing part of an ongoing effort that takes these issues seriously, but a lot still lies in the hands of the groups themselves. Some do an excellent job of taking all of this into account. 

Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below. I'm not claiming expertise by any means, but I've definitely not given up, and I don't plan to do so. Check out my commitment statement from 10 years ago in this post about a scene in the movie Finding Nemo: Swim Down Together. The net has not broken yet. We still have brothers and sisters caught up in it. So I'm still in the net swimming down. Let's swim down together! #FreeHaiti