February 16, 2010-My Take on the Haitian People

Many mornings around four a.m. this Vodun priest would be up and chanting over a tent city that contained the entire worldly existence of tens of thousands of human beings in an area the size of two city blocks. The chant was clearly one that was a prayer for healing. The sound was exotic and resonated with mourning and supplication.

Once I got accustomed to the sounds and smells around me, I realized I was waking into a clearly African culture. It was not an Americanized African culture in any way. Haiti is comprised of a people who have remained distinctly African but who have not been able to, or have chosen not to, disassociate themselves from the cultural scars that western slavery has imposed upon them. That is a core tenet of the Vodun religion. The parallels between Vodun and Catholicism are striking and numerous.

When I got home, the first 'news' piece I saw about Haiti was Fox News playing a short tape showing 'unrest' in Haiti. It was not good journalism. It was subtle racism. 'Look at the negroes behaving badly.' They could not have been more off-the-mark. It was not representative of what I saw day-in and day-out in Haiti. I saw thousands and thousands of people too busy everyday doing what it takes to survive. They were cleaning up and salvaging from the rubble. They were setting up meager kiosks on the side of the same street they were sleeping in the night before, trying to make an honest buck to try and buy something they needed desperately: a tarp or tent, food, shoes...The raggedy appearance of this man belies the fact that perhaps and probably his finer ceremonial garb was buried underneath a pile of rubble he simply could not move. But one thing is clear. He was practicing 'white' Vodun. He was trying to lift up his people. He was determined to maintain his faith and heritage in the face of an event that is incomprehensible to someone who has not been there. He was asking for healing upon a whole nation of people who have fought for and won their independence in exactly the same way that America had.

I have nothing but respect for these people.

February 13, 2010-Back from Haiti

I have just returned from spending a week in Haiti. I kept a detailed journal for the first two days. Then the pace got to be so busy that I could only jot down bullet points or triggers to remind me of events or people so I can write about them later. I will need time to process what I have experienced, but the gist of it is that I have not felt this exhilarated; this energized; this needed in a long time. I worked in 'General Clinic'. Traumas, amputations, stitches, infections, dehydration, malnutrition, irritations with eyes, stomachs, and lungs that come as part and parcel of an environment that is absolutely and totally polluted in every way. It was actually more of a MASH unit. I took over the responsibility of making sure the clinic was as clean as possible and as well-supplied as possible every morning. Once this was done I shifted back and forth, doing whatever task needed to be done:

• Running for medical supplies
• Translating what the Haitians were saying about their medical problems (I speak some French)
• Changing bandages
• Caring for children that were injured or sick
• Caring for children whose parents were too injured or sick to care for their own
• Trying to to keep bio-hazards in some kind of control

Sun up to sun down. The pace was a blur, and I thrived in it. I was in a complete 'No B.S. ' zone for a week. I can honestly say I think I have seen the very best and the very worst in human behavior.

I am glad to be home. I had hoped that this experience would change me. It has, but not in the ways I or anyone else may have expected. Mainly, I have made contact with a part of myself that I thought was long dead. I thank God for this.

The Haitian people are amazing. Most seemed to just get up and try to keep going. The ones that hurt me the most were the ones that seemed to be so beat down that they didn't want to go on.

February 2, 2010-One Day Closer to Haiti

I fully hope and intend to bring back from Haiti a different perspective on life, and especially American life. From Haitians, and from reief workers.

I do not expect, nor do I want, to be the same person I am now, when I return, if I return safely.

The thought that keeps occurring to me is that, once I became capable of providing for myself, I have made a mistake in life providing help for individuals who are capable of fending for themselves. I think I have committed a disservice to them, and to myself.

I am not sure if I am right, it is simply the thought that keeps occurring to me.

Monday-February 1, 2010 Trip To Haiti Delayed a Few Days

My trip to Haiti has been delayed a few days. When I got home from Calgary on Friday, I found out that the mission group I was going with were not leaving until Friday-February 5. There were problems getting ground transport from Santo Domingo to Port Au Prince. So I was going to go by myself. When I discussed this plan with people that cared if I made it back alive, they convinced me to be patient and go with the group.

The trip is now on for sure. I have booked my flight. I have all of my gear organized, except my MRE's and the Maximum Strength DEET. I have had a tetanus booster and I will start a series of doxycycline on Thursday for most bacterial infections like malaria and cholera.

So the delay allowed me to prepare better.

On another thread, there has been an interesting intrusion into my life lately. I will be looking into 'The Millenials', Generation 'Y'. Both of my children are Millenials, depending upon which sociologist you choose. My daughter posted a link to a Ted video on Facebook, a speech by Bennington College President Liz Coleman. I have listened to the speech. It provides an interesting insight into my daughter's opinions. I intend to listen carefully and repeatedly to Ms. Coleman's speech and share my own thoughts. I suspect that I will find a correlation between the values Ms. Coleman reveals and the values of 'The Millennials'.

I truly liked the speech, a call for radical reform. But I haven't heard or seen any meaningful criticism, and that is part and parcel of academics, right?

According to http://www.ted.com/...

"Bennington president Liz Coleman delivers a call-to-arms for radical reform in higher education. Bucking the trend to push students toward increasingly narrow areas of study, she proposes a truly cross-disciplinary education -- one that dynamically combines all areas of study to address the great problems of our day."

In today's day and age, it is a radical idea to call for an education, especially higher education, that generates well-rounded, open-minded graduates.

Stay tuned...