30228: Roebling: (comments) The Haitian Dominican Border (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Elizabeth Roebling <lizieames@yahoo.com>

The European Union is poised to build another market in Dajabon, on the border 
of Ouanaminthe, but inside the DR. Reports are that a high portion of the 
merchants in Anse a Pitre in the south are now refusing to cross over into the 
DR avoiding therefore the shakedown by the customs guards.

  Here is a vision that I was given of a possible new market in Dajabon:
  I see the border between these two nations as a wound in need of stitching. I 
have been daily visualizing a great ribbon of love going back and forth between 
the nations as through the holes in a shoe, like a bootlace of love, bringing 
together the divide, healing the wounds, making the island whole, united in 
harmony. Here is how it appeared.
  I would focus in on the Massacre river, on the Haitian side at Ounaminthe, 
the big field there on the other side of the bridge, covered as it is now with 
plastic trash, bordering on the river where the women and children went to wash 
their clothes. I would bring a chair, and an umbrella, two big cartons of 
avocados and a box of large black plastic trash bags.
  The children would approach, curious, as children are. I would show them the 
avocados and the bags and then we would walk together picking up all the trash. 
When a bag was full, I would trade them an avocado for the trash. Somehow, 
despite my lack of Kreyole, I would explain that they were to bring me back the 
pits - in a few days or a week - and a jar. We would start an avocado farm. 
Soon we would also grow bamboo, for food and furniture and weaving. Soon we 
would have a commercial chicken farm with fresh eggs.
  The vision continued as on the other side of the road, men were building an 
incinerator for burning the trash.
  When the field was cleared, we would begin moving rocks into a great circle, 
creating a sacred space where we could sit together in equality and silence.
  First we would sing. We would chant. The drummers would arrive. We would 
raise a cone of power for the healing of the earth. Magic began to permeate the 
air as the hope was raised. Haiti=Eden. Hispaniola=Heaven. The Angels gathered 
round.
  Near the edge of the field, the men were building a latrine, covered space so 
that the women would have privacy. Soon there would be well, with running 
water, lines for hanging the wash, tables for sharing food.
  The market itself, a gift from the people of the world, was built with strong 
wire walls for protection while it was in its growth as an area of free 
commerce, between the two free people, both citizens of democracies. The land 
of the market belonged to both nations, and to neither. It was encircled with 
two storied buildings of concrete, strong walls, solid roofs to keep out the 
rain, electricity and running water from solar panels. It was completely self 
contained and self sustaining. While it was primarily a place of commerce, it 
was evident that this market represented a concern for something far greater 
even than money. This was a manifestation of a new sort of world.
  Each morning upon the opening of the market, and each evening at the close, a 
loud bell chimed. Everyone present assembled in a circle. Then sang, first the 
anthem of one nation, then the anthem of another. And in reverse at the close 
of day.
  The upstairs of the market was a living school, a constant educational 
experience. Here there were free internet connections for those who were 
enrolled in ongoing university training. In order to pay for their education, 
the older students were obliged to give equal time to teaching the younger 
ones. Everyone was learning everything in four languages, as it is easy for 
children to learn that. Signs were printed in Kreyole, Spanish, French and 
English. The market itself had a multilingual web page where orders for hand 
made goods, juices, preserves, could be placed.
  There was a radio station next to a music room full of instruments so that 
musicians from both sides of the border could come together in harmony in the 
loving language of music. Linked with Radio for Peace International at the UN 
University for Peace in Costa Rica and broadcasting in French, Spanish, and 
English, it provided language lessons and hopeful news from around the world on 
global progress toward the Millennium Goals.
  Next door, were the craft studios, with tools and teachers for embroidery, 
leather working, painting, the heartfelt language of illiterates.
  Every inch of the market was a classroom. There was ongoing instruction in 
how to produce enough for a family to eat on a small piece of ground. There was 
ongoing instruction from the micro-enterprise institutions on finance, 
book-keeping, and loans group loans available. Teams were busy building solar 
ovens and sand water purifiers. Alternate energy was being produced by 
bicycles. Instruction was being given on how to safely use grey water for 
irrigation, on how to construct self-composting toilets.
  There was a dorm room where visiting presenters, experts in alternative 
energy, alternative construction, such as straw bale and rammed earth 
construction, could stay during their two week tours.
  The health clinic, staffed with volunteers from around the world, and 
operating under a grant from the Gates Foundation, had an ongoing Aids testing 
and educational programs and provided access to inexpensive retroviral drugs. 
It also provided classes on balanced nutrition, basic first aid courses 
construction of sanitary facilities, prevention of water borne diseases, and 
distributed mosquito nets for the protection from malaria and dengue. Equipment 
for the establishment of small medical outposts was available to those who had 
completed the required training.
  The former free trade zone, which had failed due to lack of a co-operation 
from the people, on the edge of the market, was now firmly enclosed within the 
bounds of the market, It had been transformed into a refugee center and 
recycling station. Daily more Haitians returned from their hard exile in the 
sugar cane fields and brothels and construction work in the Dominican Republic.
  Haitian and Dominican citizens in the Diaspora as well as people of good will 
from all over the world had all contributed enough for the upkeep of the 
center‘s. returning exiles who were first healed and cared for as they learned 
new skills. No one could live there for more than 6 months, in order to make 
room for the new returning exiles.
  All the used goods that came into Haiti from the United States were brought 
here. The goods were laid out on great tables and sorted through. The valuable 
shoes with famous logos, such as Nike, which could be purchased for under $5, 
would be repackaged to export back to the streets of American cities, where 
they would be sold for $50, under half the retail price. The clothing that was 
made of natural fibers, cotton, wool, silk, rayon, would be cut into pieces to 
be reworked into quilted bags and clothing. The pretty evening dresses and blue 
jeans (except those that were going to be hand embroidered or turned into 
skirts) would be sold onto the Dominican side of the island along with the 
finished crafts that came out of the studios. These crafts would also be 
exported to fair trade outlets in the United States and Europe.
  There was one big office where all the non-governmental organizations that 
were operating in Haiti or for the development of the Dominican Republic to 
reach the Millennium Development Goals had their programs described and 
represented.
  The center of the market held stalls for the merchants, shielded from the 
sun. Here were the best of all the Haitian handcrafts, the finest selections of 
Dominican cigars, the freshest organic produce, cakes, jams, hand made brooms 
and clothing.
  Near the outer edges were the animal stalls where the Heifer Project and 
various agencies were conducting classes on how to care for the chickens, goats 
and small pigs. Once the classes were completed, groups of women would be given 
the animals for their own care with the stipulation that the first born of any 
animal would be given away to someone who had none. Next door were the 
community orchards.
  In the river, running through the center of the market, fresh water fish were 
being raised for market.
  Outside the market, the fields on both the Haitian and Dominican sides were 
being daily put into profitable production. With the assistance of Stoneyfield 
Farms, the largest organic yogurt maker in the United States, and Dannon, its 
new parent company in France, the small local Haitian yogurt co-operative, Lait 
Agro Pro, had expanded its operation deep into all the regions in Haiti and had 
a new bottling plant near the market. In its cooperative effort with the Bee 
Keeper’s alliance on the Dominican side of the river, all the farmers were now 
producing both yogurt and honey. With the assistance of Burt’s Bees, a 
progressive company in the United States, they were now producing lines of 
soap, facial creams, and flower essence oils.
  The chocolate producers in the Dominican Republic, fearful of the fungus that 
was threatening their concentrated production, had moved many of their plants 
to the fertile area around the market. They were in discussion with various 
organic chocolate makers about opening up chocolate production.
  The companies from the United States, Motts, Ocean Spray and Snapple who 
exported apple, cranberry and fruit drinks to the Dominican Republic ,agreed 
that it would be more lucrative to collect their used bottles through 
re-cycling and fill them with local juices produced on Hispaniola. Their plant 
was just completed and already the mango and pineapple and lime sellers had 
begun to bring their products to be sold there.
  The Coca Cola company in both Santo Domingo and Haiti agreed to start a 
recycling project for its plastic bottles and began to offer a deposit on the 
bottles. There was a noticeable improvement seen on the streets and beaches of 
both countries. In the industrial zone by the capital, they began to produce 
plastic blocks and paving material out of the materials. These were among the 
most popular items sold at the market.
  The German solar panel manufacturer who had agreed to lend its technical 
assistance for the construction of the market, saw that there were enough 
skilled workers present and decided to open up a manufacturing base to take 
advantage of the profitable trade agreements with and proximity to the United 
States. Also, the Swedish manufacturer of energy efficient refrigerators, 
washers, dryers and other small appliances had started discussions on building 
a plant next to it.
  The governments of the two island nations had agreed to issue special low 
priced tourist cards to those who were crossing the border through the market. 
On both sides of the border, thriving tourist businesses grew, taking visitors 
on trips to visit Cap Haitian and Fort Liberty and Monte Christi. There were 
bird watching tours, snorkeling trips, cultural exchanges and camping tours. On 
both sides of the border, there were a growing number of small bed and 
breakfasts. The former trade of sex tourism had declined due to the increased 
number of family travelers and their sensibilities.
  And so it was that by the year 2015, Haiti, the poorest of all the nations in 
the Hemisphere, reached the goal of reducing extreme poverty in half, 
drastically cut down on infant mortality, fostered the education and equality 
of women. Forgiving the world for all the pain it had suffered, it became the 
beacon to the world as was always its destiny.


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