Haiti: Returning to Santiago

Buenas noches desde Santiago. Hoy ha sido un largo día de viaje!

We left Cap Haitian around 8am and arrived in Santiago around 6pm so after 8-9 hours of traveling, I am finally settling down to reflect on the day.  What keeps running over and over in my mind is Dr. Beyda’s motto “ABC – anticipate before complications.”  Today, unbeknownst to us, he lived and breathed his motto.  It was “market day” at the bridge crossing Río Masacre (Massacre River) at the Haitian-DR border.  Before I tell you our story, let’s learn a bit of history about this place.  The Massacre River is the site where blood flowed between French and Spaniard colonizers who fought for possession of Hispaniola, the land that is home to both the Dominican Republic and Haiti. It is where approximately 30,000 Haitians were slaughtered in 1937 by the Dominican army under orders by former dictator Rafaél Trujillo.  Even today, blood continues to flow in the river that both connects and divides these countries. At least 16 Haitians have died over the past eighteen months in incidents involving the Dominican military.  Twice weekly the Dominican government allows Haitians to enter freely into Dajabón on the DR side to sell and purchase wares. When the locked border doors finally swing open, there is an unending flow of people, wheelbarrows, and cargo making their way to market. Thousands upon thousands cross, moving swiftly as they maneuver around large potholes in the middle of the bridge. Below them equally large crowds continue to push their way across the Massacre, wading though waist deep water with their products balanced on their heads.

Back to our story… We received our exit visas from Haiti, dropped of our Haitian undercover police guards and began to move into the no-mans land between the two countries, slowly inching our way onto the bridge over the River.  Very quickly we found ourselves surrounded by masses and masses of humanity.  On foot, pulling wagons, on bicycles and pushing wheel barrels, the market-goers blocked our way.  Some of the wagons where pilled so high with wares that they were as large as small trucks.  We found ourselves unable to move.   But we were in their way, in their path.  These are people doing what they do every week, making their trades and our bus was in their way.  We were fish swimming upstream.  It was clearly a situation that could have escalated to a level out of control.  But with calm and poise, Dr. Beyda made a few phone calls and within minutes we had several DR secret service agents guiding us through.  Anticipate before complications… clearly Dr. Beyda had a plan to take care of us.   A difficult situation was made easier due to planning, preparation, and making the right connections. 

What did I see?  Open borders and masses of people trying to trade their goods… everything from rice, pasta, beans to toilet papers and plastic chairs (and maybe some contraband mixed in!).  What did I feel?  Frustration from the locals, tension from myself.  What did I learn?  That we should pay more attention to the local culture… that we should respect their customs… that we should always prepare for the worst and hope for the best… always remain calm and aware of what is going on around me... that the people guarding us may sometime soon have to fight a revolution of their own.  It was “living in the moment” at its best.   I know some of you might sometimes think that these trips place me and the others in the team at risk.  But it is always calculated (and minimized) risk. Today's experience shows that. And without some risk (by someone, right?) these amazing people would never have anything to gain.  If they know that we are willing to do what it takes to help them, maybe one day soon, they will be able to help themselves.

At the core, we were between two countries today… two countries that have a long history of tensions, two countries that open their borders to allow for trade, yet two countries that have not decided how to handle life together on this island.   Haiti is a poor country.  A country that revolted against French rule, a country that has been all but abandoned by its own leaders.  In the DR, on the surface one might think that things are better.  The roads are better, the buildings completed, a large hospital in the center of Santiago… but I have been told that we will see many, many forgotten children here as well.  I am looking forward to my day learning about the children of the DR.

Please read Dr. Beyda's blog (medicalmercy.blogspot.com).  He writes about striving to be who we are and not what we are.  Over the course of this week, I have found that I am not a humantarian, I am not a pharmacist, I am not an American.  I simply a human who has love and hope and joy to give to those who cannot help themselves.  I can only hope that I will continue to be reminded of who I am once I return home.  Don't forget to visit tenutophotoblog.com for photos of these amazing children (but no pictures today because we had to keep our cameras hidden!).

I came across this quote by Elie Wiesel that I really like and think that it is a propo to all that we have seen this week: 

I have learned two lessons in my life: first, there are no sufficient literary, psychological, or historical answers to human tragedy, only moral ones. Second, just as despair can come to one another only from other human beings, hope, too, can be given to one only by other human beings.

These children are our hope.  Peace and love to all!