We regularly listen to Speaking of Faith on NPR. I went to the website trying to find more information about a recent guest on their show and found this story on Haitian Vodou and a link to a photographer who has visited ceremonies in New York. I'm not sure if we posted these links before but they're worth a look.
The other thing I've been thinking about this week is an interview with an author who asked: wherever you are in your faith, and whichever faith you choose to practice, how do you treat your wife? your friends? strangers? Are you a pleasant person to be around? Or in other words, do unto others as you want them to do unto you. So, treat people kindly, with respect, patience, and genuine interest.
Sometimes here in Haiti I feel like I am an unpleasant person to be around. I complain about not having a toilet and electricity, I bicker with the neighbors/landlord, I walk past countless strangers everyday who are asking for help from me directly. So where do I go from here? I've thought about meditation as a way to relax, focus on God, and possibly improve my outward disposition towards others. Maybe that will help, who knows, but whether or not I agree with author Frank Schaeffer I think he poses a valid question that deserves further reflection if I want to consider myself a Christian.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
That's the...nicest? thing anyone's ever said to me.
Twice a month, the environmental education team visits two schools in Savanawòch (literally, a "savanna of rocks"). To get there, we have to drive, hike, take a canoe ferry, hike, take another canoe ferry, and then hike some more. I consider it to be a "moderately difficult" commute.
The wooden canoes are often leaky, overloaded, and poled by young men who may or may not know what they're doing. Since many Haitians can't swim, embarking in such a vessel is cause for no small anxiety. This anxiety is often remedied with singing or praying. Yesterday's tune was, rather mysteriously, "When the Roll is Called Up Yonder I'll Be There." They sang,
Le Jezi nan bàk mwen, m pa pe tonpet la
M pa pe tonpet la, m pa pe tonpet la (repet)
Le m vwayaje lòt bò
("When Jesus is in my boat, I'm not afraid of the wind
Not afraid of the wind, not afraid of the wind (repeat)
When I travel to the other side.")
After that verse came one about not fearing the gòl, or the long pole used to move the boat. And after that, the boat-man looked at me and sang,
Le Jezi nan bàk mwen, m pa pe blan...
Wow! So I as a white person was put in the same category as a force of nature and a piece of wood.
I of course immediately reassured him: "You don't need to be afraid of me. I already ate today, so I'm not hungry."
The wooden canoes are often leaky, overloaded, and poled by young men who may or may not know what they're doing. Since many Haitians can't swim, embarking in such a vessel is cause for no small anxiety. This anxiety is often remedied with singing or praying. Yesterday's tune was, rather mysteriously, "When the Roll is Called Up Yonder I'll Be There." They sang,
Le Jezi nan bàk mwen, m pa pe tonpet la
M pa pe tonpet la, m pa pe tonpet la (repet)
Le m vwayaje lòt bò
("When Jesus is in my boat, I'm not afraid of the wind
Not afraid of the wind, not afraid of the wind (repeat)
When I travel to the other side.")
After that verse came one about not fearing the gòl, or the long pole used to move the boat. And after that, the boat-man looked at me and sang,
Le Jezi nan bàk mwen, m pa pe blan...
Wow! So I as a white person was put in the same category as a force of nature and a piece of wood.
I of course immediately reassured him: "You don't need to be afraid of me. I already ate today, so I'm not hungry."
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Too many motorcycles? Or, in search of a silver bullet.
Each week during our team meeting, we each have the chance to share news: local, national, and international. As TV is almost nonexistent and the internet is available only to some, the local radio is Haiti's #1 news source. Yesterday we talked about the new prime minister, the local soccer team, and then one story topped them all. Frantzo told us about a recent study that has at last figured out what Haiti's development problems are: motorcycles.
According to this study, there are 4 million made-in-China motorcycles in Haiti, and the purchase of one of these apparently causes the new owner to drop out of school and stop doing anything that contributes to sustainable development. So if all we have to do to "save Haiti" is get rid of all these motorcycles, what are we waiting for?
"Really, Frantzo? You have a motorcycle and you do development work."
"Well, it's not people that work for an organization, but private people."
Our team finally concluded:
- 4 million motorcycles would mean every other Haitian owns one. In Michelet's hometown of Valere, to take one example, he estimates there are 5 motorcycles and approximately 30,000 people. Looks like Valere is short by 14,955 motorcycles.
- Most motorcycles are not private vehicles but are small businesses - the owners "make traffic" (it's so great that that's the verb) by operating their bikes as moto-taxis. So if there are no moto-taxis that would mean even fewer jobs, right? They are indeed dangerous, but there are already a lot of young men hanging out with nothing to do, and taking away all the motos in Dezam would create another sort of crisis. I'm all for advocating bicycles over motos but putting blame on motos as a stumbling block to development seems like a unliklely culprit.
- Moto-taxis make it much easier to take goods to market. With a motorcycle you can carry drums of oil, sacks of produce, 4 or 5 people, and we once saw someone carrying another motorcycle.
- Yes, it is bad that so much Haitian money ends up in the hands of Chinese manufacturers, but that's a problem faced by more countries than this one. Hey, maybe the solution is to start a business manufacturing Haitian motorcycles! Anybody up for a new development project?
As a final note, as I was searching for verification of this story I came across a new website: www.wehaitians.com, which seems to be a news source for Haitian diaspora. Here I learned President Preval is again a married man. Congrats.
According to this study, there are 4 million made-in-China motorcycles in Haiti, and the purchase of one of these apparently causes the new owner to drop out of school and stop doing anything that contributes to sustainable development. So if all we have to do to "save Haiti" is get rid of all these motorcycles, what are we waiting for?
"Really, Frantzo? You have a motorcycle and you do development work."
"Well, it's not people that work for an organization, but private people."
Our team finally concluded:
- 4 million motorcycles would mean every other Haitian owns one. In Michelet's hometown of Valere, to take one example, he estimates there are 5 motorcycles and approximately 30,000 people. Looks like Valere is short by 14,955 motorcycles.
- Most motorcycles are not private vehicles but are small businesses - the owners "make traffic" (it's so great that that's the verb) by operating their bikes as moto-taxis. So if there are no moto-taxis that would mean even fewer jobs, right? They are indeed dangerous, but there are already a lot of young men hanging out with nothing to do, and taking away all the motos in Dezam would create another sort of crisis. I'm all for advocating bicycles over motos but putting blame on motos as a stumbling block to development seems like a unliklely culprit.
- Moto-taxis make it much easier to take goods to market. With a motorcycle you can carry drums of oil, sacks of produce, 4 or 5 people, and we once saw someone carrying another motorcycle.
- Yes, it is bad that so much Haitian money ends up in the hands of Chinese manufacturers, but that's a problem faced by more countries than this one. Hey, maybe the solution is to start a business manufacturing Haitian motorcycles! Anybody up for a new development project?
As a final note, as I was searching for verification of this story I came across a new website: www.wehaitians.com, which seems to be a news source for Haitian diaspora. Here I learned President Preval is again a married man. Congrats.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
It's that season again...
...for Vodou, that is. In the Artibonite Valley we hear the night-drums and see the assorted odd bits of Vodouiana from about Halloween to Easter. Last year we nearly stumbled into a torchlit cow-sacrifice processional as we locked up the office gate one night, and I'm hoping to avoid that experience this year.
Not only has the subject of Vodou recently appeared here and here, it came up in conversation yesterday with our teammates Frantzo and Fritzner. As we returned from a meeting with a group in the next town over, Bryan accidentally ran over something we've come to recognize as clearly Vodou: a calabash bowl with a candle in it sitting in an intersection. Everyone hastily reassured Bryan that because it was the truck that broke the bowl, and the truck is not alive, it would be fine because magic can't affect machines.
Well!
me: So if trucks represent technology, can we say that technology is more powerful than Vodou magic?
Frantzo: Yes! If everyone had technology, Vodou would be finished. The more technologically-advanced people become, the less they rely on Vodou.
Fritzner: Yes, Vodou definitely gets in the way of development. If it helped, then Haiti and Africa would be the most developed nations on earth.
(So - can we think of technological development as a form of evangelism?)
It's really interesting to me to think of the role that people expect religion to play in their lives - F & F seem to think that Vodou fulfills some need that is more apparent when physical needs are not being met, but once a person is able to meet basic needs the role of Vodou in the life of that person drastically shrinks.
The Artibonite Valley is known as the Scary Center of Vodou by people in other parts of Haiti, but it seems to me that what F & F point out is true. People turn to Vodou when there's an illness the local hospital can't address. They turn to Vodou when they feel like someone is taking unfair advantage of a situation. They use Vodou to access power that feels otherwise remote.
Is this an indictment of the Christian church? Of the Haitian government?
Dismissing Vodou as a religion of the peasants is sort of akin to throwing out the cultural baby with the ceremonial bathwater, since Vodou has long been the primary way that Haitians have addressed questions of spirituality. I think it's important to take that means of expression seriously and pay attention to what it can tell us about a perception of God that is unique to this culture.
I know a lot of evangelical Americans in particular think that Haiti is the way it is because of the practice of Vodou, but it might turn out to be just the opposite.
(By the way, be sure to check out the American Museum of Natural History's archived exhibition, The Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou. It provides a nice overview that covers many aspects of the religion.)
Not only has the subject of Vodou recently appeared here and here, it came up in conversation yesterday with our teammates Frantzo and Fritzner. As we returned from a meeting with a group in the next town over, Bryan accidentally ran over something we've come to recognize as clearly Vodou: a calabash bowl with a candle in it sitting in an intersection. Everyone hastily reassured Bryan that because it was the truck that broke the bowl, and the truck is not alive, it would be fine because magic can't affect machines.
Well!
me: So if trucks represent technology, can we say that technology is more powerful than Vodou magic?
Frantzo: Yes! If everyone had technology, Vodou would be finished. The more technologically-advanced people become, the less they rely on Vodou.
Fritzner: Yes, Vodou definitely gets in the way of development. If it helped, then Haiti and Africa would be the most developed nations on earth.
(So - can we think of technological development as a form of evangelism?)
It's really interesting to me to think of the role that people expect religion to play in their lives - F & F seem to think that Vodou fulfills some need that is more apparent when physical needs are not being met, but once a person is able to meet basic needs the role of Vodou in the life of that person drastically shrinks.
The Artibonite Valley is known as the Scary Center of Vodou by people in other parts of Haiti, but it seems to me that what F & F point out is true. People turn to Vodou when there's an illness the local hospital can't address. They turn to Vodou when they feel like someone is taking unfair advantage of a situation. They use Vodou to access power that feels otherwise remote.
Is this an indictment of the Christian church? Of the Haitian government?
Dismissing Vodou as a religion of the peasants is sort of akin to throwing out the cultural baby with the ceremonial bathwater, since Vodou has long been the primary way that Haitians have addressed questions of spirituality. I think it's important to take that means of expression seriously and pay attention to what it can tell us about a perception of God that is unique to this culture.
I know a lot of evangelical Americans in particular think that Haiti is the way it is because of the practice of Vodou, but it might turn out to be just the opposite.
(By the way, be sure to check out the American Museum of Natural History's archived exhibition, The Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou. It provides a nice overview that covers many aspects of the religion.)
Monday, November 9, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Quotidian observations.
After being in Haiti over a year now, I'm sure everyone has noticed the decreasing frequency of blog posts as tree frogs in the kitchen, revival services at 3am, and poverty have (for better or worse) become normal. So here are a few things that have caught my attention - in no particular order - over the last few weeks since we've been back.
1. We use a lot of bleach. Every time we wash dishes we use a bleachy rinsewater which has led to some sad clothing mishaps - white splotches if you're lucky and holes if you aren't.
2. We use a lot of matches. We light a new match every time we use the stove, candles, oil lamps, incense, and mosquito coils. I even have a preferred brand of matches which happen to be made in Gonaives, Haiti. These little suckers are nice.
3. Coming to the office one day we saw 4 or 5 young guys sitting around a laptop right outside of our driveway, pretty obviously filching our wireless signal. When I came into the office and mentioned this, everyone else thought they were just enjoying the nice shady patch in the road. Needless to say, I put a password on the wireless signal as we do pay for a meager 400 MB per day and a couple of young men on the internet can eat that up pretty fast.
4. Trying to get through a blocked intersection in Port-au-Prince, I stopped to let an old lady with a wheelbarrow pass through the mess of cars. The guy next to me decided to hit her wheelbarrow instead. She simply straightened it up and rushed away from the driver without saying a word.
5. I got a new pair of shoe/slipper things when we were back in the U.S. and they are the most amazing thing in the world, especially for Haiti living. Sanuk.
6. A pretty tough virus is going around Haiti. Half of the Port-au-Prince staff was hit by it and one of our team members in Desarmes was out for a week with it. Despite the fact that he is a very devout 7th Day Adventist, he believes it was an evil spirit that overtook him in the night.
7. Last week Sharon and I hiked about 2 hours into the countryside to visit a school. The trail had us following a river for awhile, then hiking up a mountain to go around a narrow, cavernous section of the river, and then back down to the river until we arrived at the school. On our way back we decided to walk back along the river the whole way and discovered a new waterfall and pool, and another new waterfall that we had to bushwhack to get around as we didn't want to jump into an unknown pool of water. The big question was answered though: "Is it faster to take the mountain path or the river?" Answer: The mountain. But the river is prettier.
8. Progress on the cargo-bike welding project is happening. Almost everything is welded; we just need to get a longer chain, brake, and derailleur cables. Photos forthcoming.
9. I sat down on a hammock and instead of falling into its pocket I fell off and whacked my head.
10. Work is somewhat slow during this season so I’ve read a few books: The Power of One, and I've just finished The Brothers K (700+ pages).
11. Desarmes is still really hot.
12. Driving to the MCC office in PaP I accidentally snagged a drooping power line on the metal cage covering the bed of the pickup. Oops. A passerby kindly pulled it off for me.
13. Ben and Alexis got a new place with two bedrooms so now we can sleep indoors when we visit the city. Bonus.
14. I saw one of those 3-wheeled motorcycles with 2 wheels in the front and one in the back. Hmmm, these displays of wealth always seem odd - I know I'm a wealthy person here in comparison but then you see one of these and you know there's lots of money here, somewhere. Check out the MSRP.
15. Our rooftop garden is a thirsty, thirsty place, which is not much fun. See point 11.
16. I try to keep up with U.S. news, and as someone who couldn’t afford health insurance for a while despite having a full-time job, I’m all for government-sponsored healthcare.It just seems like everyone that is lucky enough to have insurance is against the rest of us getting it. Really, if I break my leg the day I return to the U.S. I will kill our savings and drown us in debt. Yay!
17. From the padlock that falls apart every time you open (on the gate to our yard) to the one that no longer will open (on one of our trucks), we see all kinds of padlocks here.
18. Utensils: Sharon and I have a favorite spoon and a favorite fork. You know you’re loved when your spouse gives you “the” spoon or “the” fork.
19. Despite having carrots and potatoes at the local market and a usual healthy cooked-from-scratch lifestyle, we keep a stash of Ramen noodles in the house for all of those “I don’t feel like cooking” moments. Well, Everybody Loves Ramen...
20. We miss Josh and Marylynn and their visits to Desarmes and all the good talks about God and development. Oh, and watching movies together.
21. We got scolded by our landlords/neighbors about locking the gate too tightly and not locking it often enough. Their request: lock it every time you go in or out no matter who is home - just don’t lock it too tight. (Update: now we're not supposed to lock it if they're home. I might need a wallet-sized cheat sheet on this.)
22. Fireflies are amazing. They're in the house at night and their cool green abdomens float above us as we lay in bed.Unlike ‘merican fireflies, they don’t flash; they just light up and fly around.
23. I am on an all-things-bicycle reading spree right now. It's kind of boring reading when I can’t actually get my hands on the stuff, but I’ve just finished The Art of Wheelbuilding by Gerd Shraner, and now am reading Tim Paterek’s bicycle building manual. Maybe Barnett’s Bicycle Repair manual will be next.
1. We use a lot of bleach. Every time we wash dishes we use a bleachy rinsewater which has led to some sad clothing mishaps - white splotches if you're lucky and holes if you aren't.
2. We use a lot of matches. We light a new match every time we use the stove, candles, oil lamps, incense, and mosquito coils. I even have a preferred brand of matches which happen to be made in Gonaives, Haiti. These little suckers are nice.
3. Coming to the office one day we saw 4 or 5 young guys sitting around a laptop right outside of our driveway, pretty obviously filching our wireless signal. When I came into the office and mentioned this, everyone else thought they were just enjoying the nice shady patch in the road. Needless to say, I put a password on the wireless signal as we do pay for a meager 400 MB per day and a couple of young men on the internet can eat that up pretty fast.
4. Trying to get through a blocked intersection in Port-au-Prince, I stopped to let an old lady with a wheelbarrow pass through the mess of cars. The guy next to me decided to hit her wheelbarrow instead. She simply straightened it up and rushed away from the driver without saying a word.
5. I got a new pair of shoe/slipper things when we were back in the U.S. and they are the most amazing thing in the world, especially for Haiti living. Sanuk.
6. A pretty tough virus is going around Haiti. Half of the Port-au-Prince staff was hit by it and one of our team members in Desarmes was out for a week with it. Despite the fact that he is a very devout 7th Day Adventist, he believes it was an evil spirit that overtook him in the night.
7. Last week Sharon and I hiked about 2 hours into the countryside to visit a school. The trail had us following a river for awhile, then hiking up a mountain to go around a narrow, cavernous section of the river, and then back down to the river until we arrived at the school. On our way back we decided to walk back along the river the whole way and discovered a new waterfall and pool, and another new waterfall that we had to bushwhack to get around as we didn't want to jump into an unknown pool of water. The big question was answered though: "Is it faster to take the mountain path or the river?" Answer: The mountain. But the river is prettier.
8. Progress on the cargo-bike welding project is happening. Almost everything is welded; we just need to get a longer chain, brake, and derailleur cables. Photos forthcoming.
9. I sat down on a hammock and instead of falling into its pocket I fell off and whacked my head.
10. Work is somewhat slow during this season so I’ve read a few books: The Power of One, and I've just finished The Brothers K (700+ pages).
11. Desarmes is still really hot.
12. Driving to the MCC office in PaP I accidentally snagged a drooping power line on the metal cage covering the bed of the pickup. Oops. A passerby kindly pulled it off for me.
13. Ben and Alexis got a new place with two bedrooms so now we can sleep indoors when we visit the city. Bonus.
14. I saw one of those 3-wheeled motorcycles with 2 wheels in the front and one in the back. Hmmm, these displays of wealth always seem odd - I know I'm a wealthy person here in comparison but then you see one of these and you know there's lots of money here, somewhere. Check out the MSRP.
15. Our rooftop garden is a thirsty, thirsty place, which is not much fun. See point 11.
16. I try to keep up with U.S. news, and as someone who couldn’t afford health insurance for a while despite having a full-time job, I’m all for government-sponsored healthcare.It just seems like everyone that is lucky enough to have insurance is against the rest of us getting it. Really, if I break my leg the day I return to the U.S. I will kill our savings and drown us in debt. Yay!
17. From the padlock that falls apart every time you open (on the gate to our yard) to the one that no longer will open (on one of our trucks), we see all kinds of padlocks here.
18. Utensils: Sharon and I have a favorite spoon and a favorite fork. You know you’re loved when your spouse gives you “the” spoon or “the” fork.
19. Despite having carrots and potatoes at the local market and a usual healthy cooked-from-scratch lifestyle, we keep a stash of Ramen noodles in the house for all of those “I don’t feel like cooking” moments. Well, Everybody Loves Ramen...
20. We miss Josh and Marylynn and their visits to Desarmes and all the good talks about God and development. Oh, and watching movies together.
21. We got scolded by our landlords/neighbors about locking the gate too tightly and not locking it often enough. Their request: lock it every time you go in or out no matter who is home - just don’t lock it too tight. (Update: now we're not supposed to lock it if they're home. I might need a wallet-sized cheat sheet on this.)
22. Fireflies are amazing. They're in the house at night and their cool green abdomens float above us as we lay in bed.Unlike ‘merican fireflies, they don’t flash; they just light up and fly around.
23. I am on an all-things-bicycle reading spree right now. It's kind of boring reading when I can’t actually get my hands on the stuff, but I’ve just finished The Art of Wheelbuilding by Gerd Shraner, and now am reading Tim Paterek’s bicycle building manual. Maybe Barnett’s Bicycle Repair manual will be next.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Nothing to see here.
Last week was jam-crammed with introducing new MCCers to Dezam, our quarterly MCC Haiti meeting, and a trip to Port to help friends move and meet a brand-new baby. But despite my nicely filled-in calendar for this week, I've had one cancellation after another:
- The teacher whose class I went to visit Monday morning was sick and the substitute was covering two classrooms and couldn't teach the environmental lesson.
- Our regular education-team meeting was canceled yesterday because we needed to go to St. Mark to renew the insurance for MCC motorcycles.
- My English student didn't show up for his lesson.
- Our weekly team meeting was canceled because the reforestation team is distributing money to the nursery committees at the bank.
- Our second attempt at an education-team meeting today was canceled because...well, I'm not sure why.
So if anyone can pass along suggestions for a super time-consuming project, I'm all ears.
- The teacher whose class I went to visit Monday morning was sick and the substitute was covering two classrooms and couldn't teach the environmental lesson.
- Our regular education-team meeting was canceled yesterday because we needed to go to St. Mark to renew the insurance for MCC motorcycles.
- My English student didn't show up for his lesson.
- Our weekly team meeting was canceled because the reforestation team is distributing money to the nursery committees at the bank.
- Our second attempt at an education-team meeting today was canceled because...well, I'm not sure why.
So if anyone can pass along suggestions for a super time-consuming project, I'm all ears.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
