The Other Side of the Island

As I was coming up on three months in Haiti, I needed to get my passport stamped since a Haitian visa is only good for three months.  This meant a trip to the Dominican Republic.  The journey to the Dominican started off with a moto (like a small American motorcycle) ride to the big river, followed by a moto ride to Borgne, which took about 2 hours.  My moto was packed with the driver, Northwest’s travel coordinator, Caitlin, and a Haitian male nurse.  And don’t forget our bags! Once we got to Borgne, we got into a packed van to get to Cap-Haitien.  This took about another three hours.  

Once in Cap-Haitien, we met our friends Heather and Papito.  Heather and Papito used to work in the Miriam center, but now they have started a ministry/school for special needs children in Terrier Rouge, a town close to Cap-Haitien.  We all went to a restaurant in Cap-Haitien.  The restaurant was a reminder of how different parts of the same country can be.  The menu had things such as hamburgers and pizza, which are much different than our typical rice and beans, chicken, or spaghetti.  There were about the same number of Americans in the restaurant as Haitians.  This was also odd considering the closest Americans to our Saint Louis compound are about an hour away.  After lunch, we made a quick stop at Heather and Papito’s house, and then we drove for another hour to the border.  

Even when you first cross the border, the difference between Haiti and the Dominican are obvious.  Where there are rocky dirt roads in Haiti, there are paved roads in the Dominican.  Where there are crumbling makeshift buildings in Haiti, there are nice little shops along the streets in the Dominican.  

There seems to have always been a conflict between the Dominican and Haiti.  However, this summer that conflict got particularly violent.  The Dominican started mass deportations and increased the violence against not only Haitian people, but people of Haitian descent.  This means if you look Haitian or even if you speak Spanish (the official language of the Dominican) with a little Haitian accent, you are at risk for deportation.  This summer deported man ended up at the Mayor’s office in Saint Louis.  His mother had moved to the Dominican when she was pregnant with him.  He was born in the Dominican, always lived in the Dominican, and only spoke Spanish.  However, he was deported merely because of his heritage.

We saw a piece of this conflict first hand when we took a three-hour bus ride from the border to Santiago.  Upon entering every town along the way, we were stopped and an officer got on the bus.  The way these officers treated the Haitians on our bus was atrocious.  Every Haitian was required to show all of their paperwork, and they were often questioned beyond their paperwork.  We saw paperwork be ripped and thrown away, and we saw our Haitian brothers and sisters be completely degraded.  During the whole ride, as an obviously white, non-Haitian, I was only asked once to show my passport, and even then just waving it in the air was enough for the officer. 

Though the trip there was long and hard to see how the Haitians were treated, our trip to the Dominican was very nice.  Santiago was just like an American city.  There were roads, traffic lights, grocery stores, American restaurants, and all kinds of things that are not in Haiti.  We were able to get some much needed rest and relaxation.  We were able to do some shopping and get supplies that are hard to find or expensive in Haiti.  We were able to eat good food such as TGIF, Wendys, Sweet Frog, and a couple others.  

While I truly enjoyed my time in the Dominican, it both broke my heart and reassured me.  It broke my heart to see how the Haitians were treated there.  It broke my heart to know that I was on the same island, but things were so different.  How can life be like that in the Dominican, but how it is Haiti on the same island?  Don’t get me wrong, there are poor places in the Dominican.  However, in Haiti, there are not poor places.  Everywhere is poor, and occasionally there is a place that is wealthy.  This trip was reassuring because it reassured me that I am in the place that God wants me to be; a place that needs so much help; a place that needs God.  It also reassured me that I am going to be okay in Haiti.  I enjoyed having conveniences such as air conditioning, good food, hot showers, etc. while I was in the Dominican, but God does not call us to a life of comfort.  I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss air conditioning when I wake up drenched with sweat at 2 a.m., but this trip made me realize that I’m fine without those comforts.  God gives us what we need to do what He calls us to do.  God doesn’t ask us to do the easy things.  Think about what He did for us.  That was definitely not an easy thing.  God promises that, “my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  God may not always remove our difficulties, but He does always give us the appropriate amount of grace sufficient for each circumstance.  He gives us what we need when we need it.  Through this, not only are we strengthened, but more importantly He is glorified.