29810: Loccm (reply) Re: 29776: Durban (comment): (Way) Beyond Bourgeosie Bashing... (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

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