The day before yesterday we had a load of two-celled block delivered to us. For a variety of reasons the workers at the clinic decided to not unload the blocks. This caused a rippling effect that went from Fondefred to Boston and finally back to me. I had every intention of going to the site yesterday and ripping. During the night as I was putting together my presentation to them, I remembered Fr. Mark telling the reason the Haitians react so violently to social injustices, is they have never had a voice. So I readjusted my approach. There is a group of college students from Ohio staying here, and one of the leaders asked to come along, so she was going to witness whatever was going to happen.
The first thing I did when I got there, because my trusty translator, Evens, wasn't there yet, was to build a prototype of the engineered re bar header. That gave me a few authenticity points. When Evens and Zico arrived we assembled the workers, 20 or so, and I asked them what were there thoughts on things. Boy was I in for a wait. To a man, they were articulate and very long-winded. Many of their complaints were ancient history, but need to be vented. Some points were valid, some not, so we kicked things back and forth, each giving and getting, had a few laughs, and came out with a clearer understanding of each others needs and expectations. I slipped in at the end that all of us, including myself will unload the blocks. We'll see.
The problems that arise here, which come up daily, really http://halinhaitiblogspot.com/have to be looked at with truth and compassion. Many of our customs and expectations are very different from Haitians. We as Americans working in Haiti, bring knowledge and skill here,
but completely dependent on the Haitians to execute them. Also, the goal is to help them develop sustainable skills, we aren't going to be here forever, they are.
No comments:
Post a Comment