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29810: Loccm (reply) Re: 29776: Durban (comment): (Way) Beyond Bourgeosie Bashing... (fwd)
From: LOCCM@aol.com
Re: Haitian intelligence My Mother was born in a coal mining village in a
"backward " community. Some families were very backward and didn't assimilate
into even this culture. Sometimes in the summer the children didn't even
wear clothes but ran and hid in the trees when anyone happened by. They
survived by growing their own food as much as they could and with a little
help
from the local church and community. The children did not attend school and
the
family inter married to some extent which naturally compounded the problem.
This happened about 1920 in rural southern Ohio not very far from Athens.
About that time a team from Ohio State University Agricultural Extension
Service studied the situation and discovered that the soil was deficient in
some
nutrients. They added fertilizer and found that children born later
functioned substantially better. Even those already born and the adults
showed
remarkable improvement.
Studies have shown that if a woman does not have proper nutrition while she
is pregnant, the baby suffers drastically. There is no cure for babies born
in this situation when it concerns the brain according to these studies.
When a culture is deprived of proper nutrition generation after generation,
the
result is predictable. Who is to blame? Surely not the victims. Could it be
us who have an abundance of everything? Could it be the government that has
succeeded in blocking my efforts in Haiti since 1971 by corruption and
demanding bribes? Add to this a situation that I have had no success in
changing; my employees and the children that I care for, choose to eat only
certain
things and will not eat foods that are strange or new to them. They prefer
rice and beans, spaghetti with dried fish and that's it period. Most of them
come from Mt. Cabrit and they don't even have water there much less a
balanced diet. Many of them ate only once every two or three days and some
families
still cling to life that way. My wife is a nurse and to the degree that she
has been able to improve the diet, we see drastic improvement in the general
health of our children and staff. I have no training in nutrition except
for the few books that I have read but am concerned about some very basic
problems. For instance they use rock salt and I worry that they need iodine
to
avoid goiters and other related problems.
There are exceptions to every situation but one thing that I have observed
in the group that I work with. About once a month, my fourteen pastors come
to our compound for a convention and to turn in reports. Sometimes when I
take them home on the back of my truck, I give them a 110 pound sack of rice.
When I drop them off one-by-one, they struggle to unload the rice and the
other pastors who are all friends NEVER offer any assistance. Helping is not
a
part of their custom. They do not even think about it.
I am not as brave as you Lance, but I do feel that I should mention one
other very common practice. At least in the groups that I have observed,
everyone wants to be the first in line and get whatever is being given away
with no
thought or consideration to the smaller, weaker or anyone else. Haitians of
every situation in life think nothing of crowding in front of me at the
airport. Paying a few dollars to anyone wearing a badge to escort you to the
front seems to be perfectly acceptable and is condoned by the powers that be,
who set the standards there.
If you have ever driven in Haiti you will experience this constantly; when
you try to leave a safe margin between you and the car in front of you, at
least two cars will crowd into the space. Cars will pass you on the left and
right at the same time and I have often see four lanes all trying to go the
same way blocking the four lanes trying to go the opposite way. The result is
gridlock which lasts sometimes for over an hour. I have sat repeatedly on the
narrow road to Mt Cabrit while two trucks face each other blocking the road
and both refusing to back up. One time three men from a vehicle who got
tired sitting, finally jumped out with guns and made the driver of one truck
back
up the "road". I know that I would be as rude as these that I have
mentioned except that my mother was kind enough to teach me better. Don't
blame
the government for everything.
While I am feeling brave, I would like to mention one other problem, trash
everywhere. I tell jokingly tell my friend in the U S that Haitians worship a
special god named "trash"and they build alters to him everywhere. While
sitting in the airport, I mentioned this to a friend and the well dressed lady
sitting next to me chided me saying that all this trash was there because the
government didn't pick it up. I wasn't brave enough to tell her to look
under her seat and all around the room. There were trash receptacles almost
within arms reach everywhere and yet the entire room was littered. I have made
well over 500 flights and notice that every time I am on a flight from Haiti,
the plane is littered embarrassingly. I have been in 24 countries and do not
see this anywhere else. The village where I work is ugly with trash while
the grown men sit for hours and slap down dominoes with shouts of bravado
while they play a children's game and yet complain that tourists do not visit
us
anymore to provide us work and income. I feel that a little pride and effort
could make this village as attractive as the village of Grand Guave which
always looks cleaner and more attractive.
Well I've gotten this off of my chest and am prepared to suffer the
consequences. I have tried to call you Lance at all three of your phone
numbers with
no success but I don't want to get started on that subject. I hope to
contact you soon in Haiti
John Ba Mwen
This post does not attempt to provide any answers