hispaniola1306

June 30, 2013

Serving the Campus with

Thank you so much for your encouragement, prayers, and financial support of this trip! There was so much that happened. For the sake of clarity, I will break down my summary into various themes.

Theme #1: Appreciating the Dominican Christian Students

One of the original goals of the trip was to partner with InterVarsity’s sister organization ADEE (Asociacion Dominicana Estudiantes Evangelicos) in their outreach to other students, especially Haitians, at the largest university in the country, La UASD (Universidad Autonomica Santo Domingo). There are tensions between Dominicans and Haitians in the Dominican Republic, which makes a Our trip came to a climax at a dinner party near the campus on Friday, June 21^st. It was attended by about 75 people: our team of 25 Dominicans and Americans, plus 50 students, who were mostly Haitians. Pictured: (left) students listening to testimonies being shared; (right) Daisy Shih (Harvard) and Julissa Pozo Arias (La UASD) along with new Haitian friends.

We served Haitian chicken (which is deliciously spicy, though Dominicans tend to have a low spiciness threshold); Japanese teriyaki chicken (easy for me to make); fried plantains (popular on both sides of the island); mango and pineapple; chips and drinks.

Why was this party so significant? Because relations between Dominicans and Haitians are strained in the DR. Some educated Haitians at La UASD, who have been in the country for three to nine months, said that this was the first time they encountered Dominicans who wanted to be friends. For all the impressive, constructive things that these two countries do together and have in common, nevertheless there are sometimes interpersonal difficulties.

One of the ADEE Dominican students who participated in the project said, “Dominican parents often tell their children that if the children misbehave, they will give them to the Haitians.” Another ADEE student said that he was raised to fear Haitians; he would cross the street when a group of Haitian men were coming his way. These fears may come from the way Haitians and Dominicans tell their national histories. Haiti achieved its independence from France in 1804. For a short time, Haiti extended its rule over the whole island in 1821. Thus, the Dominican Republic traces its 1844 independence, not from the Spanish who ruled it since Columbus as a colony, but from Haiti.

A bunch of other cultural and economic factors contribute to the tension: differences in hygiene and appearance can contribute to mistrust; former Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo blamed the Haitians for many things; Dominican Catholics are wary of Haitian vodou and are sometimes hesitant to give their full names for fear of spiritual curses; the DR generally worries about the “Haitianization” of the country because so many Haitian migrant workers cross over the border illegally to work in agriculture and construction; apparently corrupt government officials and businessmen on both sides bring Haitians across the border in search of work but leave them powerless. Dominican policy is to grant citizenship to a baby born to Dominican parents (unlike the U.S., which grants citizenship to babies born in on U.S. soil). In addition, Haitians must learn Spanish but Dominicans rarely learn Creole or French, even though there is an ironic awareness that “the Haitians could be plotting a revolution right under our noses and we wouldn’t know it.”

And while we were there, the Haitian government stopped importing Dominican chicken and eggs; they said bird flu was present in the Dominican Republic. The DR vigorously denied that. There was a sharp war of words between the two governments in June. The claim was later shown to be untrue. Haiti’s officials did this to protect their own local industry.

You might ask, “How can American Christians play a role in Christian reconciliation between Dominicans and Haitians? Where do we get any knowledge or credibility for it?” Excellent question, and one I continue to mull over and consider. While in the U.S., the American students read a book called Why the Cocks Fight, about the tension between the two countries. We watched and discussed a video documentary called The Price of Sugar, about a Catholic priest serving Haitians working in slavery conditions on the sugar cane plantation of the wealthy Italian-Dominican Vicini family.

Also, for the first half of our trip, the American and Dominican students served together at a border community called Cristo Redentor in the province of Elias Pina. During this time, we got to know each other as we served this rural poor community made up of 70% Dominicans and 30% Haitians. With a community development organization called Food for the Hungry (FH), we did home visits, helped build five pit latrines in the local community, held a bible club for 70 – 80 kids, and gathered 30 – 40 youth in the town. (More on that experience below.) We learned that most Haitians in this town work in construction because of the threat of deportation; by contrast, Dominicans would set up small businesses or own land because their lives would be more stable. We met other Haitians at a local market who told us that they would cross the border to sell goods, who face high prices for rent and storage.

So to reach out to educated Haitians at the university (via English classes and a proxe station), it helped to have seen Haitian-Dominican relations in the rural areas. But really, the important factor was knowing Dominican Christians, especially the students who came on the project.

I was encouraged by MD*, for example, a Dominican student studying journalism at La UASD. Despite the tremendous obstacles in his own life (dad left the family very early on; mom and grandma worked really hard to make ends meet; he developed anxiety, insomnia, and digestive problems from a young age), he responded to the love of Jesus as a teenager, experienced supernatural and emotional healing from Jesus, and now wants to share that love with others. During a high school volleyball trip to Haiti, he learned that Haitians are not the villains he thought there were. Learning more about God’s heart for reconciliation in Christ through ADEE as a college student, MD recognizes that the call of Jesus means that he would have to risk being seen as “unpatriotic.” He took time off from work (he’s supporting himself) in order to be on this project with us.

MP* blessed my heart because of her outgoing and considerate love for others. She accompanied me almost every time I went to the supermarket, to help me carry back food. Majoring in French and English, MP is one of the few Dominicans I met who can speak to Haitians in French. She has become good friends with AP*, one of the two Haitian students in the Christian fellowship at La UASD. She told me that all of AP’s Haitian friends were surprised when she made the effort to get to know them, too. We ran into one of those friends at the supermarket, and it was obvious to me that MP is an amazing friend and a someone who helps build the Christian fellowship on campus.

SRB* is studying Industrial Engineering (my old major!) at La UASD. She was the youngest member of our student team this summer. At first, she didn’t like the proxe station we designed to use at La UASD. But on the second and third days, she saw that it was an effective way of having conversations with non-Christians because it respects their intelligence. I was especially glad that she understood my “new humanity” paradigm as God’s way of dealing with human evil while valuing every human being. We talked more deeply about other biblical questions. I told her that I think she will bless the ministry at her campus, and I hope to keep in touch with her.

I’m so grateful for the partnership between IVCF-USA and ADEE because it means we Americans were not there to do a bunch of random Christian activities for a month, with no meaningful way to followup. Instead, ADEE is now better poised and equipped to continue building on the work we did together. While most students in the ADEE fellowship at La UASD are Dominican, two students in the ADEE fellowship are Haitian, because this initiative really started a little over a year ago. Their commitment to reaching out to the rest of La UASD, a campus in Santo Domingo of about 130,000 commuter students, and especially Haitian students, was really impressive. That is why this party was significant in the life of the ADEE fellowship. Please pray that their ongoing discipleship and outreach would reflect the fullness of Jesus’ heart. Please pray especially for the Lord to give strength, wisdom, and love to ADEE staff Rosa and Laura.

Theme #2: Learning More About Justice and Reconciliation

We also learned that the U.S. is not an innocent bystander in the relations between the DR and Haiti. The U.S. during World War I developed the Dominican sugar industry as a cash crop for the American palette. One source says that, in 1916, the U.S. Marines and plantation owners (not just Dominican businessmen) brought tens of thousands of Haitians to provide cheap labor for sugar cane plantations in the DR (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/black-in-latin-america/featured/timeline-haiti-the-dominican-republic/187/; http://sites.duke.edu/sugardocumentaries/history/). Consumption of sugar has been such a major problem in my own health and in the American diet in general that I can’t help but be interested in the historical and current problems with having an economy dependent on sugar production. And Dr. Paul Farmer, founder of Partners in Health, wrote in his book The Uses of Haiti that the U.S. has played a major role in supporting the dictatorship of “Papa Doc” Duvalier and overthrowing reformer Jean Bertrand Aristide. Thus, I think we need to reframe the issues going forward not as Dominican-Haitian issues, but as American-Dominican-Haitian issues.

In that light, I was struck by what I didn’t know regarding what the people and government of the DR have tried in relation to Haitians and Haiti. For instance, I didn’t know that the DR helicoptered pregnant Haitian women into Dominican hospitals after the earthquake so they could give birth safely. I didn’t know about the $30 million, 10,000 student, state-of-the-art university the DR built in Haiti (named Le Roi Henri Christophe University), inaugurated January 12, 2012. I want to learn more about those positive steps, for there is a lot to be learned there. Once again, meeting certain Dominican Christians was helpful to me.

I was touched to meet MA* in Elias Pina, a Dominican man who is an excellent landscaping contractor-type. He works with Food for the Hungry leading construction projects and teaching other men how to build. He apprenticed a Haitian man in construction and now has a reliable, trustworthy, hardworking partner.

I was also grateful to meet HL*, a Dominican woman who has worked with Food for the Hungry in Cristo Redentor for over 20 years. She knew every family in that town, and their unique challenges. After meeting her, I felt challenged to come back to Boston know my own neighbors more deeply!

I was encouraged by AN*, an American Dominican who left her high paying job at a U.S. defense contracting company to work in the DR for Esperanza, a non-profit Christian microfinance bank dedicated to working with the poor in the DR and northern Haiti (they were working in Port-au-Prince but the relief money made “regular” finance unattractive). She sees Esperanza’s clients repay small business loans 98% of the time, which means that 98% of the ventures undertaken by the poor are successful. AN is glad Esperanza serves the lowest income bracket of any agency in the DR, and that 70% of Esperanza’s budget is sustained by standard loan repayments, which means that lending to the poor is not entirely a for-profit business (not quite the “Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid” that that book title suggests), and that Christians must give, invest, and step in.

I was encouraged to meet JR*, a Dominican evangelical pastor who ministers in the Zona Colonial, the downtown touristy area of Santo Domingo. His church serves homeless people with beds and meals. JR is also part of a Christian group trying to develop effective policy solutions to develop the Haitian economy. I later learned that a group of evangelical church leaders called Consejo Dominicano de Unidad Evangélica, or CODUE, along with WorldVision published a massive study of immigrants in the DR so that the government can better design social policies to help them. (The study found that 5.4% of the total population of the country is made up of immigrants, with 87.3% of those immigrants being from Haiti.)

Building on that theme, I feel more convicted to examine the moral issues in the U.S., and not just point fingers while in someone else’s country.

	What is the legacy of European-Native contact? The native Taino people in Hispaniola were decimated by disease and enslavement; the native Americans in the U.S. survived that treatment, only to be stripped of their way of life. How do I participate in reconciliation with First Nations peoples?
	What is the legacy of the trans-Atlantic slave trade? African slavery in Hispaniola led to a skin-color complex on the island still present. Meanwhile, I returned to the U.S. in time for the trial of George Zimmerman, and the Supreme Court decision Shelby County v. Holder, which overturned the Civil Rights Act of 1965 designed to protect voting rights especially for African-Americans. How do I participate in the legacy of trans-Atlantic slavery?
	What is our responsibility towards migrant people? How do I think about the tension between individual human rights/needs, political boundary-setting, and the role of language and culture in political community? As the DR has helped Haiti develop, how is the U.S. affecting the people of Latin America? Through drug policy, NAFTA, direct investment, etc?

This monument of Father Antonio Montesinos (d. 1545), the Spanish Dominican preacher who preached against the abuse of the Taino natives, the man who inspired Bartolome de las Casas to take a similar stand, built on the beaches of Santo Domingo is a towering testament to God’s Spirit stirring up love and justice in people.

I’m grateful that God, in His justice, works for the restoration of people and relationships as He always intended them to be. In the tradition of Father Antonio Montesinos, I hope to be a small voice for God’s justice, especially as the issues are more complex than direct enslavement. As a result, I am already starting to plan next year’s trip – this time, to Haiti and the DR. Please pray for the Lord to lead me and other staff in the planning process for next year’s trip!

Theme #3: Seeing the Image of God in People, not Just Their Poverty

Jesus continues to open my eyes from spiritual blindness. In Elias Pina, during the first half of our trip, we spent time in a rural village called Cristo Redentor (‘Christ the Redeemer’). This was the first time any non-Dominican group paid them a visit. The town has many dirt roads with deep grooves and potholes caused by the flooding rainwaters. One of our students misstepped into one and had a minor sprained ankle to show for it. We had to avoid stepping into poop from the livestock (goats, sheep, horses, cows, and pigs) that roam the area. People live in cinder block houses with tin roofs. Some of the little children walk around naked.

In the past, I would be overwhelmed. When I was 17 years old, I went to a spring break trip to Mexicali, Mexico. I was overwhelmed by the poverty there. I couldn’t see anything about the people themselves. When I went to Uganda last year (June 2012), I was definitely troubled by the poverty in Kampala’s slums, but I could see many beautiful things about the character of people, the residual image of the one good and loving God who created us. Amid the rural poverty of Elias Pina, I had a similar experience. I was struck by how many men of Cristo Redentor came out to help build these latrines. I was also impressed by how much respect they gave to MA* (described above), a master builder; they called him “maestro.” And so did we, as he worked patiently with our novice group; I sensed a bit of God’s humor and patience as He bore with our human partnership. I felt so grateful for the many men and especially women who sat with us during home visits, allowing us to ask them questions, or even just sit there thinking of what to say next. I’m grateful that, as my staff colleague Kaitlin Ho said, there is no word for “awkward” in Dominican Spanish.

It’s not that everything was rosy. Our team noticed that young women weren’t always treated respectfully by men. We met some broken families. We wondered how quickly children had to grow up. But for me, seeing how pastoral and evangelistic ministry might play out in a place like Cristo Redentor was another helpful step in my own spiritual journey. I thought I might even enjoy living and ministering in a place like this. I felt gratitude rise in me when I heard about people not consulting witch doctors anymore, and experiencing miraculous deliverance from strange powers. I praised God for the stories of sacrifice and generosity people told.

Theme #4: Watching My Son Grow

This was the first missions trip for my son John. Since he is 12 years old and also has been home schooled for 6^th grade, Ming and I thought that it could be a good experience. I’m very happy for how he engaged throughout. While in Santo Domingo for the first few days, he got bitten many times by mosquitos, but didn’t complain. He didn’t speak any Spanish but sat patiently and listened for what he could learn. When he found Dominicans who could speak English, he happily talked with them. And he brought a spirit of fun to our team of college students. We played a lot of hand slapping games because of John!

While in Elias Pina, our team hosted “Vacation Bible School” activities for the children of the village. About 70 – 80 children came each day. During one of those days, John shared a testimony. He spoke about a moment when he had lied and refused to apologize for it. Ming and I had sent him to his room. By himself, he prayed and remembered a story of transformation from the life of Jacob, and also felt God’s presence in his room. He sensed that God was asking him to let Him change him in that way. That was a moment of transformation for John, and his story fit right into our lesson. God pursues us no matter where we are. As we taught about the father in the parable of the prodigal son (Lk.15:11 – 32), we said that God runs out to us when we turn back to him, and John’s story fit perfectly. I was so grateful for the chance to minister together with John!