We had the
privilege of attending a celebration for Haiti’s Flag Day at the local Haitian
church recently. It was festive with people dressed in the colors of the flag and flags hung in different areas around the church. The morning started with the
standard service and then a dance, poetry reading, and another dance.
There was a panel discussion about missions in Haiti and afterwards we broke
out into separate classrooms which covered history, language, and cooking. The
celebration ended by enjoying a Haitian meal. My heart
left so full being able to celebrate the beauty of Haiti and to enjoy the
culture.
My heart was
also wrenched after listening to a discussion panel as they spoke about what has been resonating in my
heart. The panel consisted of a professor in social work from a local
university, a pastor from Haiti, and a member of an organization in Haiti. The
heads nodding with agreement among the congregation on certain topics made
it clear that others' hearts were in the same place as well.
Some of the
key points were:
1. “Often times nonprofits do not listen
to Haitians…” was the lead in to one of the topics. “How do we get nonprofits to listen
to us?” Frankly, from my point of view, Haitians should not need to be asking this question. Foreigners are
visitors in their country and need to
show the nationals they are there for them and not there to run their own agendas. Nonprofits should be asking what
the nationals want and learning from them. In my own observations, some sample questions would be: “What would be helpful to you and/or your
village?” “What is the best way to accomplish this?” “How can I come along side of you to obtain these goals?” Ask what their thoughts are and how
they think things would work best. Don't just listen but truly listen and observe and then let it soak in and think it through before speaking and doing. Don't just ask questions that further your goals and to use these questions to make you feel like you have "done your duty". Truly ask questions that will end up benefiting the locals. Ask detailed questions, not generic ones. Along the same lines, just because something
works in the U.S. doesn’t mean it is meant to be done (or work) in Haiti. From
my own experience, if you are not asking the locals and learning from them,
then you are missing it all. Foreigners need to be coming in as friends and
partners. ASK, ASK, ASK! The locals know their country and community way better
than an outsider ever will.
2. STOP bringing items in, especially
used clothing. This act over the years has created an unhealthy dependency that
needs to be changed. Buy what you can in country and reconsider your handouts (ask yourself what the consequences of your handout will be once you leave). To
give an example, Pierre is running his clothing business and he has regular
customers in the neighborhood. Team A comes into his neighborhood for a week
and hands out many clothes for free that they have brought from their country. Now
the customers no longer need to buy from Pierre so he can no longer support his
family and the customers will wait for the next handout from the next team.
They no longer see a need to start working as items will just come to them for
free.
3. Haiti needs job opportunities. If you
are going on a mission trip, see what skills the nationals in your area want to
learn. This way they could potentially start their own business from the new
skill after you leave.
The professor mentioned above leads a team every year to Haiti. Bruce had the
opportunity to speak with the students from her class and learn about the trip.
I love how she leads the trips. She incorporates learning by observation and participating in the culture. The students will see the south and north of
Haiti along with the capital, Port-au-Prince, and part of the Dominican
Republic. They also do a little bit of hands on work based on what the local
village asks of them.
It is time to learn from past mistakes, stop repeating them and make changes for the good of Haiti. Haiti is a beautiful country with strong, able bodied, motivated and resilient people. I tip my hat to them.
For additional information, I would highly
recommend the following books: "Toxic Charity" by Robert D. Lupton, "When Helping Hurts" by Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett, and "From Aid
to Trade" by Daniel Jean-Louis and Jacqueline Klamer along with the movie: "Poverty Inc." Also, a documentary, "Trade, Not Aid" by LYNK Communications is scheduled to be released this fall.
