It was a day of solidarity- in everything from facing the deep wounds of Haitian history to uniting in song, crammed 13 in a car, to calm a crying baby.
"Anything you want to know about humanity, you can find it here," said Ron, an American man who's lived in Haiti for decades working for MCC and various development groups before eventually moving to the mountains with his wife, Carla. After a delicious pancake breakfast, we headed out for our first stop of the morning: Ron and Carla's house, a mountainous retreat of positive energy, peace and calm.
After finally making it up the steep and bumpy road from Port-au-Prince to Gwo Jean we had a chance to meet a group of young Haitian adults. The introduction between our two groups, though translated between two different languages, was almost ceremonial. We first started by holding hands (right hand on top to give, left hand under to receive) while taking three deep collective breaths to inhale the positive energy and expel the negative. Next, they provided us with the privilege of hearing the Haitian National Anthem in Kreyol. This is a rare occurrence because the schools only teach it in French. After this presentation, they shared a song with us that encourage us to "talk with us so we can talk with you." They were very interested to hear our intentions for visiting their country and had a lot of thought provoking responses to what we said. Most of us shared that we were very interested in learning about the culture here especially from a first hand perspective as opposed to the skewed views presented to us through our American media. To sum it up, Woodson, one of the men, observed that "Hearing is one thing, but seeing is another."
The Haitian youth performed a play for us, the first time it had ever been shown in public. The play told the story of three groups of people: the original indigenous Haitians, the Africans enslaved by the French and imported to Haiti, and the white oppressors- who took on different hats depending on the group, but who all wore the same silver mask to represent their common oppression of the Haitian people. The play had no words, but was performed solely with miming and music, and the reenactment of Haitian history in such a lens was a very powerful experience. At the end, the Haitians "unmasked" the white oppressor- but in reality, that unmasking maybe hasn't happened yet, they said. But they hoped for such an "unmasking" in the future, when we could come together in solidarity, accepting the troubled past but working together for a better future. But to do that, we need a "consciousness awareness" of Haitian history on a large scale. "We're not doing this for Haiti; we're doing it for the world," one actor told us.
Ron provided us with a different, more negative perspective on the role of foreigners in Haiti and the direction of the world. He talked about his own discouragement with his lack of ability to help create positive change in Haiti, even after so many years of working on development projects. That disillusionment eventually led him back to the states, though he returned to Haiti eventually, with a different mission: rather than go in with a purpose to help, he would move to the mountains with Carla, his wife, just to "live." He talked about Haiti as a microcosm of the world now and in the future, exploring the inequality between nations and peoples. We also touched on these themes in reflection later that night, questioning whether we, as "blan," have a place here in Haiti and if so, if we can truly come in to "help" or if our place should be solely to learn.
In the afternoon, we visited Kristina's family's house in Port-au-Prince. It was the first time she had visited her family in Haiti, and she met some members who she'd never met before. It was an amazing experience to visit a Haitian home and be received so graciously and openly. Her family cooked us rice, chicken, fried plantains and a spicy coleslaw that was delicious! They also gave us gifts of Haitian souvenirs and a bag of sugar cane. Kristina told us her family was happy to hear that we were interested in Haitian culture and would like to know more about our work here.
Over the past few days, our team has been growing closer. Today in particular, we seemed to really bond and connect. We have been building on each other as we grow both individually and as a group of diverse and like-minded global citizens. This was most evident during our car ride back to the MCC guest house, when our community partner's baby, Ella became very upset and began wailing we all sang her to sleep. Though our songs were uncreative (Silent Night, Jingle Bells, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and three verses of the ABC's), we managed to calm her into a deep sleep.
As the day ended, we sat on the porch outside the MCC house, enjoying the warm Haitian breeze and laughing together: a moment of true togetherness tying together the day into a cohesive whole, indicative of our time in Haiti.
"You are an individual, but part of a collective identity," Ron told us, "the development of world citizens."
-Annika & J.B.
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