Its Not All Bad In My Neighborhood
Tim Pickel
As I prepare for a month-long visit to Haiti, I would like to give you some sense of what Haiti is about. My purpose of doing this is to give you an idea of what people have there, in the hope of giving you an appreciation of what we have here. I tend to look at the negatives in my neighborhood, when I really should be focusing on the positives. To be grateful for what I have and to appreciate where I live.
Just a bit of background on why I am going to Haiti and what I will be doing there. I work with a mission team that purifies water in third-world countries. I have worked in Uganda, Belize, Nicaragua and Haiti on water projects. Some projects gave water to whole villages while others provided clean water to a single school or orphanage. In Haiti I will be working in an orphanage in Port au Prince.
Haiti occupies the western third of the island of Hispaniola which it shares with the Dominican Republic. It is the least developed country in the Americas making it one of the world’s poorest nations. Half of its inhabitants are illiterate with schools enrolling only 20% of eligible-age children. Haitian Voodoo is widely practiced and considered one of the main religions of the island. Rodney, a Haitian friend of mine once told me the leading cause of death for Haitian males is by machete.
As I walk through my neighborhood I can’t seem to get past the litter and poor conditions of some properties. I have always believed that code violations are one of the biggest problems facing the West Ward. On my last trip to Haiti I walked and drove through neighborhoods where streets were lined with trash. Huge piles of garbage literally line streets, with animals and sometimes people sorting through them during the day. At night the piles of garbage are set on fire as a way to get rid of them for lack of a sanitation collection system. It seems unreal when you ride through the streets of Port au Prince and witness such things.
Other than code violations, police and crime prevention top my concerns. I have a well documented love/hate relationship with the Easton Police. In recent years I have seen an improvement in police activity in my neighborhood. It certainly could be better, but slowly I see positives. In Port au Prince the United Nations patrols the streets. It is a common sight to see convoys of armored vehicles driving through the streets with machine guns at the ready.
Being a witness to such horrible conditions has made me look at the wrongs of my neighborhood with a softer eye. We should never stop trying to improve our neighborhoods, but we should be thankful for what we have. Change comes with persistence, diplomacy and a keen sense of awareness of what we already have.
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5 comments:
Contrasting other nations with our own is generally a real ey opener. Some years ago I was able to visit Kiev, Ukraine. In 1993, they were only just getting a taste of life without the Soviet Union. Yet, the streets were clean, the people were friendly and there was a general sense of pleasantness.
We also spent some time in Warswa, Poland on the same trip and it also was a wonderful city, although showing more Western influence.
The contrast came when we landed back in Newark. There should be a law that International travelers should not be allowed to land in Newark. The filth and degradation was a shocking shameful converse to what we just left.
You can't make people be clean. They have to WANT it. All the new sidewalks and lighting on Northampton will not make the residents of Dutchtown any cleaner. Folks on N10th don't need any help keeping their homes clean and tidy; they do it because they WANT to. You can keep up with code enforcement, but it is a huge wall to climb chasing down all these out of town landlords.
Cleanliness starts at home. If we each take responsibility for our own property, hopefully/usually it rubs off on those around us.
When I lived in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil for a while, I was struck by the poverty in the refavelas (ghettos) there. But even they felt sorry for the people in Haiti and Jamaica, and would shake their heads in sympathy whenever they were in the news.
It's great work you're doing, Tim. Have a safe trip and we look forward to your updates!
Everyone should spend at leat a little time in the so-called Third World, if for nothing else a reality smack upside the head. I've been to Panama, Cartegena Columbia and Granada.
Granada was very interesting because it was about five years after Reagan invaded it. The streets were still full of potholes from the artillery shells.
The people didn't hate us but they were puzzled and frustrated at our actions. After we trashed the place, a little assistacne would have been nice...a mini Marshall Plan if you will.
Their big complaint was why we weren't trading with them. Their tropical produce (fruit and spices mostly) went all the way Europe but not to the U.S. even though cruise ships stopped there.
Go figure,
DRL
Tim, You Know I think what you do is mindboggling, but then again I could see you with a machete between your teeth. LOL Such selfless giving is what this world should truly be about # 1 ON THE HIT PARADE
Stay Safe
It's so wonderful what you're doing there to help! Clean water would alleviate huge suffering.
Leaving America is a great way to get a perspective of how amazing our country is, sometimes because of what we think of as 'problems.'
I volunteered as a VISTA Architect for two years in VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America), the domestic Peace Corps. Was sent to the poorest inner-city of Pittsburgh. I did what I could, then left a richer person, as hopefully they became also.
Then I lived overseas for some years in Wales, London, and Australia, hardly "Third World" but very illuminating differences, which highlighted for me what makes America so unique and especially fabulous, in spite of our atrocities!
Would have swum, swam, swimmed my one-way trip back to our shores for our Bicentennial in 1976!
Seeing how other places do, and don't do, things is a gift that keeps on giving throughout our lifetime.
Australia actually pays their citizens to be world-traveled, and healthy (free health care), and educated (free university costs). They know it would only enhance their country to have a healthy, educated, and globe-traveled citizenry. Imagine that, speaking of contrasts!
They, oddly for Americans to understand, say no thanks to the huge money to be made in poverty, drug addiction, prostitution, disease, oppression, warmongering, etc.
Regardless, how boring (though better?) the world would be if every country was the same as Australia and countries like it.
One gripe about it (we Americans can still gripe!) ...Ageism there prevents people over 45 from becoming permanent residents! Oh, and non-Caucasians might still have extreme difficulty becoming permanent residents.
Other than that, and oh, yes, the sharks and sea snakes, and most everything else being "awash in venom" (Bette Midler's quote from her Tour from A Broad) it's a wonderful place! :-)
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