Things to love about Haiti
The people: The best part of Haiti is the wonderful people. Always welcoming, warm smiling and ready to help. And of the people of Haiti the most charming and lovely of all are the children. They fall in love with everyone, are sweet to their younger siblings, are respectful and obedient, full of energy and enthusiasm but always ready to settle without complaint if asked. They sing, drum and dance with joy and skill from a young age. I can teach a song in Haiti in two minutes that would take Canadians two weeks to learn. They will sit patiently for a long time and put effort into mastering any skills because they are so ready and willing to learn. Nobody has better dance moves than Haitians! Everything moves and everything is synchronized.
The debrouillardise: People never complain here. They put up with all inconveniences and adjust to all difficulties without even a shadow of resentment. Sometimes you see the deep pain and long suffering in their faces, but they always make light of it and don’t go into details. Even when they tell you about something sad it is not done in a big way. Haitians are discrete. They speak about things and show you things indirectly. You have to pay attention to people’s body language and facial expression here if you want to understand the whole story. Haitians are a wonderful blend of “living out loud” and “tacful discretion”.
Group work: The desire to work in groups, play in groups, visit in groups and live generally in groups. Putting effort into group projects is everywhere here. Everyone is volunteering for a bunch of things ranging from cleaning the streets to teaching street children to do folk dances, to working on solar energy systems, to creating local problem solving associations that address local needs. Maybe that is why there are so many outside NGOs here too – the Haitians already have the attitude that they need to create groups to get things done, so it wouldn’t be too hard for an NGO to recruit people.
Willingness to wait through a process: People will visit for hours without saying much until conversations naturally occur. They don’t leave if nothing seems to be going on like people do in Canada. They come early, wait, stay later and leave when a good visit, event, meeting or amount of progress has occurred. People take the necessary time to complete processes.
The early start: Since it is so hot here, people are up at the rooster crow. And there are roosters everywhere even in cities. At first light things start stirring and by 5:00 a.m. they are in full swing. You have to take advantage of the cool hours of the morning because by 10:30 the heat is intolerable.
Mangos: The best mangos in the world live here. I don’t know how I will live without them.
Grandma Lili’s cooking: beans and rice tastes like the most expensive meal under Grandma Lili’s deft hand. Haitian cooked and raw salads are amazing. There are fabulous cornmeal dishes and things like fried breadfruit, freshly roasted peanuts sold in the street and corozone juice made from the fruit in trees that grow in the yards. And the very best thing of all is Grandma Lili’s coffee. If I already won’t survive without the mangos, I surely will faint without her coffee. Haitian coffee is really good but Grandma Lili’s coffee is like dying and going to coffee heaven.
Things to learn from Haiti:
You don’t need much to live. Be satisfied with what you have and grateful when something extra comes along. Don’t complain when things are difficult and never make people feel bad about poverty. Act as if every place you enter is the palace of a king or queen, because that is who lives there and the surroundings don’t matter at all.
Greet everyone and take the time to visit. Know your neighbors and make new friends all the time. Share your food, belongings and anything you have.
It is possible to get completely clean with about 4-5 liters of water, including washing your hair. Then you can wash out your underwear, clean the sink and use the waste water to flush the toilet. People in Canada use so much water for nothing. Haitians know how to conserve water and how to use less when it is scarce.
12 people can use the same bathroom if they take turns and only take a minimum of time doing what they need to do. In fact more than 12 can use the bathroom once everyone is up and washed.
