International Study Program
Haiti
For the majority of Americans, the closest they get to experience a third world country is when they catch an infomercial while flipping through the channels on their television. The living conditions depicted often seem far-fetched or pretentious in their quest for our money, but unfortunately many of these devastating stories exist on an even larger scale.
Over Christmas break, six Q.U. students ventured into the impoverished country of Haiti in hopes of helping the people, as well as gaining an understanding of why this may be happening to such a beautiful country.
Prior to our arrival in Haiti, there was much anticipation and speculation as to what we would be experiencing on our adventure. It was a general consensus that we would be subject to levels of poverty the likes that which we had never seen. This prediction proved true before we even set foot off the plane.
The awe and excitement of flying over the Caribbean was quickly diminished by the downward approach towards the Port-au-Prince airport. Mass herds of people bathing in the rivers and streams, run down homes resembling the ruins of a war zone, and a thick, smog-like cloud hovering over the island were the first impressions I gained through the airplane window.
Stepping out of the plane, we were smacked with the heat and smell of Port-au-Prince. A foul gas/exhaust/waste aroma remained constant throughout the city. As we walked out of the airport, people begging, offering help, and selling things instantly overcame us. Hundreds of eyes clung to us as 10 college kids piled into a rental truck, which was already jam-packed full with luggage, supplies, and sleeping bags.
We held on to what we could as we flew through the streets of Port-au-Prince and received our first dose of culture shock. The streets overflowed with people moving everywhere. The city of Port-au-Prince is facing a huge overpopulation problem since the outlying areas of the island were demolished by flooding more than four years ago. This resulted in thousands of Haitians flocking to the island’s capital of Port-au-Prince, which now holds a population over the 2 million mark.
Women, men, and children worked intensely, while a larger number of people meandered through the streets selling bags of water, waving down tap-taps (Haitian taxis), and begging. Several women were preparing meals on the side of the street, while others carried goods by balancing the containers on their heads from place to place. The workingmen were building cement homes, pushing wheel barrels, and driving the tap-taps.
The animals roamed the streets aimlessly, searching for food. Hogs, dogs, chickens, and flies sifted through huge piles of waste. The animals drank the water that ran through the rotting garbage, which piled up in all parts of the city.
After our first night stay in Port-au-Prince we ventured into the village of Barasa, a small village up in the mountains of Eastern Haiti. The trip was anything but comfortable with 12 people, 20+ bags, and the unpaved mountain roads. As we passed through the outskirts of the city we were greeted by most of the citizens with waves and smiles. The words Blanc!…Blanc!…Blanc! echoed behind our moving truck wherever we went as the children chased the truck with their hands outreached.
After the bumpy three-hour drive, we finally arrived in the village of Barasa. We quickly became acquainted with our simple lodging, which consisted of an old school house. For five nights we were able to live like the Haitian people, with no modern conveniences we take for granted in America. Each day we had lunch and diner prepared for us by some of the village women, which always consisted of beans, rice, and fried plantains. The women prepare all the food themselves, which includes the slaughtering of the food source. A couple of us were able to witness the preparation of a turkey, which was gruesome to say the least.
On New Year’s Eve day several of us jumped in our truck and traveled to Port-au-Prince to pick up 268 bags of cement for the village of Barasa. The bags were for the project we have been working on, which is the completion of 10 cisterns for the village. We were able to get 200 bags on our bus, which then dropped them off at the locations they were needed.
On our way back to the village we were covered in cement and sweat so we decided to bathe in a community stream in the mountains. We stopped at the stream and got the chance to bathe with the locals, which was interesting in the sense that it was a good way to experience the Haitian lifestyle on a more personal level.
That same afternoon we hiked to the “source”, which is the main source of water in the Barasa other than the cisterns. We heard loud noises and yelling in the distance, which turned out to be a cockfight in progress. A couple of us stopped to observe for several minutes and found it to be a very interesting cultural ceremony. It could be compared to our super bowl, march-madness, and World Series combined. While the chickens plucked each other, men chanted, jumped, screamed, exchanged money, and mimicked the moves of the fighting chickens.
We continued towards the source on an old rocky trail, which overlooked the mountains of the Dominican Republic. The trail we walked on had been there for centuries, which may have paved the journey for each inhabitant the island has hosted over the years. It was interesting to think of all the people who had walked on that very trail on their journey for water. The Arowak Indians, the French colonists, and the revolting slaves may have all used this same trail as a means to gain water.
For the remainder of our trip, we met with several organizations that are trying to solve the problems that the island is facing. The organizations seem hopeful that the people of Haiti will recognize the potential of their country and help themselves in the process of restoring it. Although most of the change that must be made rests in the hands of the Haitian people, they still need help from other, more fortunate countries like the United States.
-Jake Egelhoff, Class of 2010
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