18067: White Re: 17969: Laleau: Re: 17950: Burnham: RE: 17943 (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Krista White <librisia@optonline.net>

This is a valuable discussion to which I would like to add.

I went on a trip last year with a Haitian woman who is my kids'
godmother.  While there, we stayed with relatives of hers, and they
pampered me and did everything they could to anticipate and accommodate
any and every desire I might have had while I was there.

As an Anglo-American, this treatment, while appreciated, also left me
feeling frustrated and trapped.  It took me quite a while to figure out
what bothered me so much about my most recent (but not first) trip to Haiti.

The "Protestant work ethic" is deeply ingrained in my family.  When I
see the misery and suffering in Haiti, I want to DO something.  This is
true of any desperate human situation.  During the September 11 tragedy,
I wanted nothing more than to go into New York (not 25 minutes by car
from my house in NJ) and start moving rubble.

Many Americans feel the need to work, even when on vacation.  We work at
relaxing by filling our time with activities.  Many of us just can't sit
around.  On vacation in Arizona, I don't feel the need to be so busy.

In Haiti, where so much obviously needs to be done, just sitting around
is an itch that I feel the need to scratch from a cultural standpoint.
 I would have been happy to scrub toilettes, tote garbage, ANYTHING to
feel like I was being useful.  It's not that I think I can or should
solve Haiti's problems.  That's not my job.  That's for Haitians to
solve.  I also got the impression that, had I asked to do these things
at the homes where I was staying, it would have been insulting to the
hosts (they were upper class relatives of my friend).

I understand that my Haitian hosts wanted to show and give me the best
of their country.  What I ran into was merely a culture shock situation
(in many more ways than one).  What those work trips do is give the
American visitors cultural experience in a language THEY can understand.

Let me pose a question to all on the list.  When one is in Haiti, how
might one best *be of service* to Haitians without taking away
opportunities (as some on the list suggested these working trips do),
especially if the trip is short-lived?  Or better yet, in a more
generalized way, how might a blan itching with the PWE resolve the inner
conflict of wanting to do something without being insulting?

Krista