It's so complicated.....

Before I got to Haiti, I loved looking at Appropriate Technology (AT) websites to get ideas about what I could do when I got here. There are usually a lot of bicycle-powered devices, so I am of course immediately drawn to them. If you need a brief refresher, Appropriate Technology is taking things that are cheaply and readily available in an area and finding some way to use them to relieve a problem.

Usually AT is really interesting and totally MacGyver-inspired. Some bailing wire, a box of matches, and some duct tape, and people don't go hungry. It's really amazing stuff that I totally fell in love with. There are bicycle-powered electricity generators, water pumps, corn grinders that could pretty much save the planet. But after my love affair with AT, I came across some other commentators that spoke to the challenges of AT.

I heard a story of a village in Africa where women spend hours and hours every day washing clothes by hand. Someone saw this and thought, what an amazing waste of time! So they gave them some time-saving bicycled-powered washing machines. However, the project was a total failure. The first challenge was the deeply-rooted thought that women should not ride bicycles. It also turned out the time the women had been spending on laundry was also an important time for them to hang out and talk, and once they could wash clothes in 3o minutes the community became more disconnected. Okay, that's just to point out that there are always multiple layers in considering whether a project will actually work.

I still thought AT was great as long as you work out a few kinks here and there, but still didn't quite get it. An example that hits close to home here in Haiti is cutting trees to make charcoal.
A lot of people in Haiti do this (When I say "a lot," I mean that it almost seems like everyone supplements their income at some point in the year with a little charcoal-making). Obviously, finding alternate cooking fuels would alleviate the pressure to cut down much-needed trees. I found a website that describes how to make briquettes with waste material from other crops, and there are people here that are trying to promote the use of propane gas stoves. But a lot of Haitians think food doesn't taste as good cooked over a gas burner, and they prefer charcoal fires. When you hear this it's almost mind-blowing that they prefer taste over environmental sustainability. But in reality so does every American...right? We prefer eating a perfect banana shipped from Costa Rica more than food grown in our area, and that's a taste preference, right? It's hard to argue when it comes to such a cornerstone of culture of food.

After having these ideas swirling around in my head for awhile, I now see AT from the other end of the spectrum, the receiving end. I see people come to Haiti with a million ideas, a few thousand dollars, and expect to change the whole country - but really don't sit for more than a few minutes to get to know a Haitian. It's usually "what can I buy? how can my money be most effective here?" Well, first save your money and sit with some people, share food with them, visit their homes, ask about their kids, look at family photos and see them as people and not as problems that need to be solved.

I just get hung up on the fact that people seem to think that it's so easy to solve "basic" problems like food, water, and fuel - that because Haitians are relatively poor, they will eat or use anything we suggest.

Several times here I have seen folks offer suggestions for "Haitians," and our teammates look at the ideas and say, "That may be good for the peasants up on the mountain or folks in Gonaives" - when the intended audience is in fact them. It's so easy to solve other people's problems, right?

Appropriate technology enthusiasts (like me) sometimes seem to get caught up in the simple brilliance of a new idea and lose track of the person/people it's for. I don't mean to discourage anyone from offering new ideas to help people, but after being here for 6 months I now see how complicated it can be. Someone recently asked why people don't cut open their tin cans and flatten them to make roof tiles. I said they don't because they buy sheets of tin roofing. The person pointed out that it would be cheaper if they used tin cans. True. But my new litmus test for suggestions is to imagine asking the same question to someone in North America:
"Save all of your cans for the year and flatten them out to re-roof your house."
"Well...It might save money, but it's easier to just buy shingles!"
People in Haiti think the same way - who wants to be the only one in town with "trash" for a roof? I guess what I'm trying to say is that just because people are poor doesn't mean they have no pride, that they don't have opinions and want to make choices.

I will also admit that we live in a relatively wealthy part of Haiti. We live in a town where people do not go hungry. They have gardens that are productive and extended family networks to support them. When a hurricane comes they lose some crops, but they don't lose everything. I still see people that wear old clothes and get up at 3:30 am to work in their gardens, but they have old clothes and they have a garden which is a lot more than some people have.

I guess I'll just say that I personally feel bad that I used to only see the "developing world" as the "developing world." They weren't people I knew or friends, they were "developing cultures"....right? Well, now they're not "Haitians" anymore; they're Jean, Meleck, Frantzo, Fritzner, Nahomie, Francklin, and Michelet. Now when people come with all their ideas the only thing I want them to do is see how great Jean is (they're all great, but he is really great) and we can save the grand idea for next week.

I guess this is me finally realizing the MCC point of view that relationships are the primary
reason for us to be here and the rest will, hopefully, fall into place.

Thanks for reading,

Bryan