So ever since the big earthquake, I've had an increasing passion for Haiti. I guess it actually started when I took this class called "The Black Atlantic." It was all about the history of slavery and it's influence on culture from an anthropological perspective. Anyway, everybody in the class randomly chose a country or region of focus throughout the semester. You and your group would essentially become an expert on that region or country. I chose Haiti, mostly because I was impressed that it was the most lucrative French colony and produced the majority of the world's coffee and sugar and then hosted the 1st and only successful slave rebellion and then became one of the poorest countries in the world. I was intrigued by such a shocking disparity. Anyway, I learned a lot about not only Haiti's history, but some of the lasting effects of slave culture and transplantation of cultures. I ended up writing my term paper on Haitian creole, its origins, evolution, etc.
Then the earthquake happened. My heart broke for the fact that such an impoverished country would be subjected to even more violence and loss, but I also saw a little glimmer of hope in the whole situation. Finally, one of the poorest countries in the world would receive some much needed attention. Also, Haiti has some strange race/class separation. There are very few white people there, but the lighter skinned "mulattoes" became the upper class shortly after the revolution (over 200 yrs ago) and the rest of the society became like peasants. As time passed, the upper 5-10% of the population lived a priveliged life in air-conditioned mansions with swimming pools, sending their children to boarding school in other Francophone countries to learn "proper french," while the rest of the population tried to scrape by in complete poverty. They do not speak french, for the most part. But everybody speaks Haitian creole. With such a shattering natural disaster, I thought maybe the country would become more united and move past antiquated arbitrary class division. I don't know if that has been successful yet.
Haitian creole is an extremely interesting language to me. It is the most widely spoken creole in the world and has influence from over 11 languages, but mostly french. It also has some english influence since the US has tried to help Haiti various times throughout the past 200 years. It's also the 4th most commonly spoken non-english language in new york city.
Anyway, Haiti has just been on my mind and my heart lately, and for some reason, that passion was pretty intense to the point that I had trouble thinking about anything else today. I don't know why.
All I know is that my heart is breaking for this country. The problems there are so complex and I'm only one person. I wish I knew how I could help.
