tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-435249848250418400.post7616353929014527237..comments2020-12-09T23:10:42.024-08:00Comments on These New Boots: Day 149: The Honeymoon Is OverAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17357494841889129917noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-435249848250418400.post-31122570782630557572011-11-08T13:04:01.301-08:002011-11-08T13:04:01.301-08:00excellent.excellent.Elizabeth C. NYCnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-435249848250418400.post-81400472057089632082011-10-30T15:35:07.477-07:002011-10-30T15:35:07.477-07:00Hey Quinn. Thanks! And you're right, we need t...Hey Quinn. Thanks! And you're right, we need to focus on the present and what can be done now. And it's impossible to include every factor in Haiti's lead up to the present in every blog post. I just read this one and "spoke" (with my fingers) off the cuff, because that's what it made me think of.:) <br /><br />One reason I think it's so important to understand history, is because I'm home now and my ability to do things in the present is geographically shifted. Like I can be an advocate for a different kind of foreign policy vis-a-vis Haiti, which is important because it's directly linked to Haiti's current state...and for me this kind of learning/action is a powerful way to stay connected to a place I would really like to physically BE more often.<br /><br />One reason I commented was less for you than for others who have less background to fit these stories into. When you've been to Haiti, met a lot of brilliant hard working generous people, and seen how amazingly difficult it is to make a life there, there's a context for the hardship that is harder to discern from afar. I remember reading an Op Ed by David Brooks of the NYTimes right after the earthquake happened. One main point was that the earthquake was more than a natural disaster, it was also a man-made disaster. This is true.But he was saying that it was man-made because of "Haitian's 'culture' of not striving, not succeeding, not working hard enough." That's where history is important in comprehending the present. For instance, if Haiti did not have a history of enormous and unjust debt, would it have such a broken infrastructure, which could've been paid for with those millions ofdollars? Clearly you and I and a lot of other people know that Haiti is not a country full of people with no will to succeed, and there are enormous obstacles to "succeeding" in Haiti. Like everywhere, there are good and bad and complicated people there. And it's true all over the world where there is poverty, including here. <br /><br />I also relate to your story about the little girl. When I worked at the cholera hospital last year, it had an enormous effect on me. I'm not even sure how to articulate this any further, so I'll stop there. <br /><br />As for books, one I am thinking of right now is Damming the Floods. me and Charlie both read that last year. I also read The Dewbreaker by Edwidge Danticat, and it's a piece of historical fiction that really makes the plight of Haitians under the Duvalier dictatorship palpable, and even makes it more easy to understand citizen participation in the violence. I'll think of more and send them to you. Oh, and "After the Earthquake" by Paul Farmer has some things I find problematic, but does a good job of analyzing some issues with aid there, and highlights something not many others do: that when the earthquake hit, Haiti was not just encapsulated in violence and mayhem by criminals, and that before any relief got there, Haitians were actually working together, helping one another, praying together, and conducting whatever "relief" they could on their own. This isn;t to say help from outside wasn't needed, it was. But Haitians were there helping each other, too.<br /><br />Oh! And I LOVE this blog from a journalist there: http://www.mediahacker.org/<br />He does an awesome job covering Haitian community groups and social movements and politics in a nuanced way. (He was also a journalist who moved down there in Dec 2009, survived the earthquake, and stayed for the last 2 years.)<br /><br />Also, I like keeping up on your blog. I picture Leogane everytime I read it, and love that. It's also nice to enter into these little conversations, though it would be better to have these conversations over a Prestige somewhere...<br /><br />I am glad you are still working on water issues there, particularly in a way that is accessible to so many people. It's good work.<br /><br />Please give anpil hugs to all my zanmi there, and take good care of yourself.<br /><br /><3<br /><br />tpageturnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18074259914202510198noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-435249848250418400.post-24230534633022808302011-10-30T09:54:49.356-07:002011-10-30T09:54:49.356-07:00Hey Cyn,
Thanks for the kind words. Definitely tr...Hey Cyn,<br /><br />Thanks for the kind words. Definitely truth to what you said about the glacial nature of significant change. That's how I keep myself going - focus on the small things that are being improved.<br /><br />As to burn-out, I wouldn't say I've hit that yet. I've seen burn-out here, real burn-out, and when it hits it pretty much shuts you down. I'm definitely not shutdown yet, just becoming ever more aware of the realities of this place, and that can be hard to stomach in moments. I do find myself tired a lot, but I'm blaming the asshole roosters in front of the base that start crowing at 4AM. One of these days those roosters are going to meet a sledgehammer. See what their crowing gets them then... <br /><br />Believe me, if I ever feel I've truly burned out, I'll leave, at least for a little bit. Once you've crossed that line, staying here does nothing to help anyone. But I can sometimes surprise myself when it comes to resilience, and Haiti has proven to be the biggest surprise for me when it comes to that. I'm still here. I'm not done yet.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17357494841889129917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-435249848250418400.post-55537347877139241302011-10-30T08:05:48.057-07:002011-10-30T08:05:48.057-07:00Quinn. As always, well-written and considered. The...Quinn. As always, well-written and considered. The slow progression of change, the one step, or one biosand filter at a time, is glacial. Real change often is. We pay attention, we see only the big moments of transformation, the obvious. But much went before that in order to create that change, in order to create the circumstances out of which change can happen.<br /><br />I understand the burn-out and frustration. And I do think some of it is burn-out. But, I go back to that little girl, and think, with your biosand filters perhaps you are saving the life of another little girl or boy, a man or woman, who will be an instrument of change. You will most likely never know. Life is a meditation, a practice. It is one breath and step at a time, aiming for the good, fighting the fight, wrestling the Angel as best we can. Sometimes, we need to crawl away from the fight in order to restore ourselves. But, people like you, me, your mom (who went down fighting), many of the people in your life, will come back to fight another day. We don't give up. And I know you won't, or not for long if you do.<br /><br />On a personal note: As you share the lines of that poem, I recall walking through SF reciting it to you with your mother walking behind us (she too whom I had recited many a poem and to whom I had early in our relationship given the book out of which that poem came). I could feel her enjoying our connection, our sharing of poetry. <br /><br />You are doing great work. Find peace when you get burned out. Know that the Angels consider you a worthy opponent.<br />CynAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-435249848250418400.post-1978330724627693192011-10-30T05:32:20.822-07:002011-10-30T05:32:20.822-07:00Excellent comment Terri and I agree completely. I ...Excellent comment Terri and I agree completely. I have read some of Haiti's history, and I suppose in not mentioning her history in this entry I do her a disservice, because yes, her history is so much of why Haiti is where she is today.<br /><br />Still, as much as I love history (no, seriously, I download history podcasts and listen to them for fun), I also know history has very little ability to affect change in the now. It cannot be undone. It cannot be rewritten. The value that is has in the presence is the chance to study it and learn, but the actions taken are taken in the present. Which I guess is simply to say, yes, Haiti's history is perhaps one of the more difficult and beautiful national histories out there, but we cannot linger on it. Haiti today needs people focused on today, not the past. History offers explanations, but solutions cannot manifest in the past.<br /><br />That said, I would like to read more, get a better understanding. Any book(s) in particular that you recommend?<br /><br />Mesi!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17357494841889129917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-435249848250418400.post-86168296929125557592011-10-29T22:23:02.559-07:002011-10-29T22:23:02.559-07:00Quinn, Thanks for keepin on keepin on, in your wor...Quinn, Thanks for keepin on keepin on, in your work, in your writing. It's awesome to see someone dedicate themselves to something so wholeheartedly, especially when it's so easy not to. I think you'd enjoy reading some of Haiti's history and maybe answer some of these questions. Reading about that has definitely helped me understand Haiti better. Questions like the ones you asked are really connected to other questions. Questions like: What happens when the a country is founded on the revolt of an enslaved people,then not recognized by foreign world powers, whom it depends on for trade of essential goods, for decades? What happens when that country includes a clause in its constitution that says any enslaved people, including indigenous people, can find a home there and be free citizens? (It gets shunned by colinizers, and all world powers were colonizers then). What toll did it take when world powers placed sanctions on haiti, limiting its ability to trade the goods that made it the most profitable colony in the world? What happens 50years later when the US invades, occupying haiti for almost 20 years? Or when its once-colonizer exacts a "tax" on Haiti, as a reparation for lost property in human chattel, which was not paid off til 1953 because of the reasons listed above? And what about when that country is taken over by a dynastic dictatorship that is supported (clandestinely and at times openly) by world super powers? What happens when in Haiti's first democratic elections (won by a popular vote of 90%) is up-ended by foreigners bc of foreign interests (metaphorically and sometimes literally, Wall St.)? Would your view of the country change if you were surrounded by Haitian civil society groups, of which their are many, instead of those hardest hit by the earthquake (of which there are many more?) Since I've come back to NYC, home of one of the largest segments of the Haitian diaspora, I've come to realize there are amny more very deeply involved people than I saw when I was there, I even marched with some of them to OWS recently. It gave me an intersting viewpoint...What happens when the first democraticallly elected president of Haiti is whisked away in the middle of the night, leaving a country with no leadership and grieving for not just a leader but a symbol of its sovereignty, and the UN substitutes a foreign army for the democratically elected leader, to "stabilize" what is then undoubtedly going to be an unstable place? (This is how Haiti came to have MINUSTAH btw.)<br /><br />Even if the actual services aid workers provide are provided without politics, the existence of the need was never apolitical, nor is our presence in Haiti apolitical, bc our privilege to be there is political. half of all households in the US gave some sort of donation to Haiti when the earthquake hit, some of us even gave days, weeks months, Years(!) of our lives to help! And our very ability to do those things is political too! And that is an awesome testament to the resilient human-ness left in us despite the attempts to beat it out of us in the name of...(well, that's another conversation but you hit on it in your post, but Paris Hilton willl go unnamed.:)). <br /><br />I say all of these things for two reasons. 1.because I know you are interested in stuff 2. Learning about this stuff was HUGE to me when I came back from Haiti. I don't know how to explain it. 3. I think those of us with a special place in our hearts for Haiti have a responsibility to understand Haiti on a deeper level.(speaking mainly for myself) Yes. There is need, and there is a need to provide whatever it takes to make that need less acute. (Like clean water!) But that need does not exist in a vaccuum. <br /><br />So a small group of Haitian Americans marched over the Brooklyn Bridge to Occupy wall St symbolize the ways that Wall St has occupied Haiti for decades. I think it's our job as "helpers" of Haiti to find out why, see if we agree, and then maybe work on that, too. Or at least be cognizant of it.pageturnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18074259914202510198noreply@blogger.com