Some Ideas From My Perspective As A Missionary In Haiti
In Haiti, certain phrases come along that are suddenly popular and invade everyone’s speech. They often don’t last long, but for a while you hear the phrase everywhere. One recent example was the phrase san plan. It literally means “without any plan”. While that phrase was hip, anyone who failed to accomplish a given task was labeled san plan. If anyone struggled with a situation, it was because he was san plan.
Life in Haiti is more difficult than you imagine. There can be no blame placed on any person who seeks to escape it. The plan of many Haitians is simply to "get out". For too many, the plan stops there. The rest is just details. So, when a person in that condition sees a door that is flung wide open along with a smiling invitation to enter, no one can condemn the decision to enter. Isn't the real condemnation for the government policies and practices that have been enacted san plan? Where is the plan for these huge populations of recent immigrants? Where is the national plan for their housing, their food supply, and their assimilation into a new culture? What work was done to prepare the nation for this?
Is this not another sad case of toxic charity? In the name of “helping” people, policies were enacted that created a situation that is worse for almost everyone involved. Charity without insight is always toxic. It dehumanizes, and it ends up pitting humans against each other.
GOOD PLAN, EVIL PLAN, OR NO PLAN
Our government opened the border to anyone willing to walk across it whether they came in with a plan for good, a plan for evil, or no plan at all. Calling it Temporary Protected Status, our government instituted a policy of stamping VISA applications for approval with no real conditions (and we now know that the minimal forms the government did request for TPS were never even consulted).
So, here we are. Immigration policies and practices that were enacted san plan are responsible for an environment where populations are present within our borders, but they have no real plan for how to move ahead. We have created an environment that is cued up for misunderstandings, for accusations, for crime, and also for over-reactions.
CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
Haitian culture is not like American culture. In Haitian Creole there is no real word for “pet”. People have animals. They don’t have pets. Their animals make their lives better, but the animals remain animals. That is completely different from American culture where a dog’s owners may refer to themselves as mom and dad. I have a photo from Haiti of a cat being skinned. It happens. People in Haiti also grow up watching animals being slaughtered. Kids learn to do it. If you walk around in a market you’ll see pig heads, goat heads, and other sights that would be like a horror movie to your eyes. For Haitian culture, and for most of the world, that’s just food. Americans never see that part of life, and so we are quick to condemn a culture that does things like that in public as ‘barbaric’. It's not barbaric. It's just foreign to us.
Because of a myriad of little cultural differences like these, many immigrants from Haiti will need serious help integrating into our society, and the current policies and practices prevent that kind of healthy integration. On the other hand, many Haitians are well-prepared for integration and integrate successfully. The fact that some Haitians are not integrating well must not be viewed as a condemnation of the immigrants or the culture from which they come, but rather a condemnation of our policies. We invited them san plan. We approved them san plan. We are living a situation that is totally san plan.
HEALTY INTEGRATION
Healthy integration is a beautiful thing, but it is not easy. I integrated into Haitian culture over the past 32 years, but it required time to listen and learn. America’s current immigration policy is trying to fill a tiny glass test tube with a high pressure fire hose. It guarantees that healthy integration is never achieved. On paper, each immigrant has a ‘sponsor’ who is charged with integrating the new arrival. In actual practice, that is a joke. It is a façade. The numbers alone make it impossible. I would guess that for every 100 new arrivals, maybe 10 actually have a person who takes responsibility to integrate that new arrival. The other 90 will fall into traps of all kinds.
Looking forward, healthy integration for the huge numbers of immigrants newly arriving in this country will be difficult. Mass deportations will be difficult as well. We are in a conundrum. When you consider the scale of the problem, when you calculate the number of people who have just recently arrived in our country, a smooth transition will require nearly every American to sacrifice some amount of time, energy, space and/or money. I know the good heart that Americans have. I know their willingness to bend a little in order to put someone else further ahead, but the problem is this : Americans were ever asked if we were willing to make any of these sacrifices, and because of that many Americans will understandably rebel. The government and the press who serves to defend the government will quickly call those people racists and point the finger of blame right there. So, while the bureaucrats who initiated these policies enjoy their isolation, real people on the ground and will be forced to either adjust their lives or be classified as racist.
TAP-TAP ANALOGY
I have ridden on many "taptaps" in Haiti. A "taptap" is a pickup truck that hauls people around...part bus and part cattle car. The driver doesn't own the truck, so he will take as many people as possible into the back of the truck because each passenger pays him a fee. More passengers means more money. You, the passenger, are crowded onto skinny wooden benches with steel bars stabbing you in the back, with sweaty bodies up against you on either side, with stale hot air to breathe, and every twist and turn in the road tosses you around...not to mention the pot-holes that slam your head up into the ceiling. While the passengers all suffer like sardines in the back, the driver enjoys his own cushioned seat, his own window, and full control of the vehicle. That driver will always stop for more passengers. He shows no sympathy for the sardines, even when arms and legs start to hang out of the back of the vehicle. He'll always stop for the two large ladies with huge, heavy sacks of fruit. When passengers complain about a lack of space, he tells them to squeeze a little more. He is above all the suffering in the back of the truck because he's sitting up front making a profit.
That is a picture of the USA today. Our drivers in Washington sit up front on their own cushioned seats with the windows rolled down making a profit while the petty passengers are all forced to adapt to whatever number of people are physically able to squeeze into the back of the truck. Predictably, when you overload a vehicle like that all day, the springs will break at some point. The inconvenienced riders (and the owner of the truck as well) will accuse the driver of overloading, but he'll pay no attention while he counts his money.
So, is our country at this point today because our leaders really had no plan? Did they make these dramatic decisions san plan? Or, did our leaders have a sinister plan in their heads, knowing it would lead us to where we are today?
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Well, it seems hopeless. If only you knew someone who is on the ground in Haiti addressing root causes of mass immigration! You do know someone! ASAPH Teaching Ministry is just one of many Christian projects that prepares people in Haiti to live a better life…no matter where they end up. ASAPH Teaching Ministry is equipping people to be a blessing wherever they are.
In my 32 years in Haiti, I have frankly not seen one US government agent on the ground addressing root causes of emigration to the US (unless you count the US army soldiers who were there in 2004). I have yet to meet a Hindu, a Buddhist, or a Muslim serving people in Haiti. I hear they exist. On the other hand, I have visited many Christian schools where kids are being taught both academics and morality. I have visited many Christian hospitals where sick people receive good care and attention. Those institutions are addressing root causes of mass emigration from Haiti.
The recent news will surely upset people from every political persuasion. No matter where you stand on the politics of immigration, take advantage of an opportunity to address the root of the problem on the ground in Haiti. Support a ministry that is presenting Jesus Christ in a rural Haitian community…one lesson at a time. Support ASAPH today.
