16263: Dorce:Re:16250: Kathleen: Fw: 16232: We can't look away from the suffer... (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: LAKAT47@aol.com

In a message dated 8/2/03 9:38:12 AM Pacific Daylight Time, Kathleen
<kathleenmb@adelphia.net>writes:

<< I have trouble with people like this one who go to Cite Soleil and then
 say/write - "This is all of Haiti."  Seemingly without even considering
 looking north, south, etc.  Do we equate the worst section of the capital
 city with all of any other country or State?  I don't  think so, and have
 trouble understanding the phenomenon.  kb >>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Let me try to explain it to you.  In most countries (ok not third world
countries) the slum is a small part of the picture in a big city.  The poor are in
the minority.  In fact, I think most Haitians coming to the US would wonder
why anyone would be poor here, as oppotunity is abounding, compared to home.  In
Haiti, much to the shame of the privileged, the vast majority is poor and a
"poor" that is inconceivable to the poor in the US.  Those privileged, even if
not rich by Haitian standards, tend to disregard the poor majority (they don't
even see them) and are embarrassed when foreigners see this poverty as
"Haiti."  Even I tend to disregard an entire group of Haitians and see Haiti as "pep
la."  It is just the opposite of what most privileged Haitians (and those who
want to be affiliated with the privileged) do.  I suppose I am just as
wrong-headed as they are.  What I see when I look at Haiti is beyond the poverty.
If you see only the suffering, you can't bear it and must look away.  And you
also must see those suffering as beneath you.  I don't see it that way.  I see
people somehow holding onto hope and life, believeing that someday the right
thing will happen and they will be able to live in dignity for once.  I see
people with a sense of humor, love of music and art, friendly, generous,
kind.....how do they manage to be this way in their dire situation?  I do not know but
I think it's heroic.

If you want people to see Haiti as it appears in Petionville parlors, perhaps
attention should be paid to educating the masses and bringing their
lifestyles up to minimum decency levels.....and paying taxes so that garbage can be
properly disposed of and streets kept clean and in repair would be a great start.

Kathy Dorce~