1. What problems did you encounter? How would you correct them?
When I got to Haiti I found that my Haitian colleagues didn’t know how to use computers very well. They were distributing translated brochures that they themselves were not able to replicate or make which is a sustainability issue for this project. While I hoped that much of my time would be devoted to teaching out in communities, I actually ended up teaching computer skills and helping gather resources for these men to know better how to make this program sustainable. It was amazing how simple I had to start with these men, the fine-skills that computers require was not natural for them so even finding the correct option under the file menu in Microsoft Word could take them five minutes, but I tried my hardest to have a lot of patience because I know that the only way to allow people to learn is to try it for themselves. While they are by no means professionals on the computer now, when I left they knew how to make brochures and they were even pursuing further education through online courses with USAID that I was able to get them set up with. While much of the work that I did this summer was medically less exciting, in the long run I think this work is perhaps much more important than the short teaching sessions that I had been hoping would fill up my summer.
2. What needs/issues could be addressed?
I think some of the issues in Haiti have to do with all the aid that is constantly pouring into this country. Just looking at food aid, for one poignant example of the issues with so much aid. I saw so many USAID food bags full of rice, maize and other starches but I failed to see any with something other than starch. In those communities that were distribution centers I saw more malnourished children than those that were further. In some ways I wonder if with full bellies no one is interested in continuing the tradition of fishing in these costal towns. Medika Mamba is a peanut butter supplement used to treat malnutrition in Haiti, but many of the peanuts have to come from the United States because farming techniques are not up to the standard needed for the Medika Mamba. Teaching people farming techniques ought to be a priority in these campaigns so more money can stay within the Haitian economy instead of being exported.
Beyond the particulars of how food aid is delivered or food grown, all of this aid can lead to an attitude of entitlement instead of empowerment. Programs that empower rather than entitle people are really the best in this context. USAID is not the best model for food distribution as they give out food for free, people have less of a responsibility to be good stewards and less motivation to continue to work their own farmland and produce food in the available places. The program I was working with gave people seeds and helped them with farming techniques and allowed them to grow a wide variety of foods instead of handing them rice. This is ultimately more sustainable as next year the farmers will use the seeds from the crops this year to plant more produce. This also gives people a sense of control rather than tying their hands with more aid when they have the resources right in front of them to take care of themselves. Aid can be so alarmist and focused on the short term, a more long-term vision is vital for a quality program. The tyranny of the present must not prevail when thinking about development contexts like Haiti.
3. What did you learn?
Wow, this is quite a question. I suppose I will just share some of what I learned because I could probably write a book. I learned that I would rather not live on a compound if I were doing missions work in the future. I learned that I have a passion for teaching, for working cross-culturally and working to simplify complex medical concepts for the everyday person to understand. I learned about how difficult it actually is to put together a health brochure and pare down all the information pertinent to women’s health to 6 small panels and a 13x9 inch piece of paper. I learned that church politics are complex and frustrating if you stay in a place (especially in the developing world) long enough to get involved. I learned the importance of discipleship in a place inundated with evangelism messages, which more time needs to be devoted to growth beyond an initial decision to follow Jesus. I reflected on the interconnectedness of water, town politics and the health of a place as I saw these complexities. I learned about the difficulties of long-term food aid and dependency. So many of these thoughts are beginning to form, they are more questions rather than answers at this point and they are questions I will probably hold in tension for the rest of my life. Questions I will ask in any situation I am in, questions that affect my faith (in good ways, challenging ways I think) and how I live. I learned the importance of remaining in these questions rather than searching out easy answers.
4. How do you see this experience affecting/changing your personal and professional life?
This experience further affirmed my desire to live in the majority world long-term and work in the health field. If I get to do this I want to learn the language, I would prefer not to live on a compound and I want to be sure to listen a lot, especially when I’m starting out. Some of these things were learned in contrast to what I saw, but many of them are affirmations of opinions I had developed intellectually, but not seen lived out on-the-ground before. This experience helps me to see the importance of not just health issues, but the surrounding issues as well, it gave me a greater concept of the importance of holistic development. I want to think a lot about dependence issues when I step into a new community and work as hard as I can to empower rather than bind in my actions. I want to come to people on their own terms and in a way that culturally makes sense.
The importance of primary care and prevention was further impressed upon my heart and mind as I consider my future. Surgery can do a lot, but latrine programs also do an enormous amount of good in a community.
Personally, as much as possible, I would appreciate the opportunity to live in a way that looks like the people I’m serving. If most people don’t have flush toilets in a community, I want to use a compost toilet, especially if I’m promoting this as a good development strategy. If most people don’t have electricity, I’d rather use solar power or perhaps a generator sparingly rather than having a fully wired home with access to power full-time. These things seem foreign to many Americans, but as I live my life and go through my next years of medical school and residency, these are ideals that I want to work to live into (conservation) even now and set good patterns for myself even now that would make a very simple lifestyle imaginable.
5. What have you learned that can be transferred to the U. S.?
There is a surprising amount of similarities between development and my own personal faith. I find myself drawing connections between these all the time. This sounds paternalistic at first take, but living in a society that has its roots as a slave island and only recently came to independence (and a meager independence at that) gave me new insights as I think about the people of Israel wandering in the desert. The lack of initiative or the sense of entitlement I saw in so many situations in Haiti this summer remind me of the Israelites as they wandered the desert. Slavery is debilitating to the psyche and in some ways Haiti remains in slavery to the systems of this world. They remain at the mercy of food aid, they remain at the mercy of what I heard once was the greatest number of NGOs per capita in the world. These people are all well meaning, but it can be an enslaving system. Similarly, I think we as Christians can be enslaved to so many systems in the United States.
Systems of consumerism where you have to buy a car every 10 years to get by and the next big purchase is what many look forward to. Things are good, bodies are good and yet I think they can become idols to which we are enslaved. Some of this is edgy and challenging, and yet I think it’s true on some level. I wonder how we ourselves are debilitated because of many other systems to which I’m not yet aware of being enslaved.
I learned how to simplify complex concepts to simple illustrations and stories. This helped in general education and I think it will also help in patient education. One of my teaching aids was a coke bottle, which I held upside down and put two straws in holes at the top to be a uterus and fallopian tubes. To illustrate a placenta, I blew up a balloon inside of the coke bottle. This was an immensely helpful tool for teaching about inner anatomy and it was helpful to use simple familiar shapes in explaining these concepts to a cross-cultural group of students using a translator.
6. What is the significance and probable impact of the project?
I am very happy to have left my Haitian colleagues with computer skills to continue their work for years to come. Additionally I think I helped mobilize Internet resources for them, which will similarly serve them for a long time. I was happy also to get to develop a lot of good resources alongside them that will be useful in their work with many different communities and perhaps could be useful to other organizations as well. Beginning conversations about women’s health with these communities also seems a significant step towards better health for everyone. I think breaking some myths about health (or at least stepping towards that) is also good for many women, especially some who might be more outcasts because of some medical conditions.
7. How has this experience expanded your world awareness?
I have had experiences in both Haiti and Uganda. The developing world is not homogenous and I think one of the most significant experiences of this trip was realizing how very different Haiti is from Uganda. The history of colonialism and freedom is very different in both of these countries and it very much affects present-day life in these respective countries. I am so grateful for both places, but there are different things I appreciate in these different places just as I appreciate different things in the United States. It allowed me to distinguish each of these places instead of the typical developed/underdeveloped divide that many writers use and I myself was prone towards.
Thank you so much for supporting my experience in Haiti. It was a wonderful time full of much personal, intellectual and spiritual growth and I think I was hopefully able to be a useful resource while I was there. I hope this program can continue for students in the future!
Emily Mindrebo
Posted on
Wed, August 17, 2011
by mindrebo