“So you are going to save the world.” How many times I have heard this uttered in an almost desultory tone - more of a statement than a question. Doubling up, pink and flustered, embarrassed at the mere thought that this is the reality of what I am about to begin. In ten days time, I will be leaving for Haiti to work in a community for what could be as long as two years and the notion that I could save anyone (let alone myself) could not be further from my mind.
Whether more by luck than good judgement, I have been invited to try my hand at development work. There are two things that come to mind when I think about my path from this point to a career: first, can I succeed in making a positive impact where many have failed; second, what on earth am I doing?
The first question is one I can not answer as yet – The most significant advice I have received is with two ears but one mouth, why not listen twice as much as you speak. Accept that you will face many setbacks but so long as you can focus on why you are doing what you are doing then most problems can be overcome. The rest will be up to my colleagues and the community in Leogane to decide.
This brings me on to the second part – focus. Why would I forego the career that most would crave, working in London, for an uncomfortable existence in one of the world’s toughest places? This is the simple part for me. It begins with my own upbringing which I will not bore you with. It ends, however, with a much more selfish aim – self-worth. If I am to be judged a success
This is a journey to a country that has been more unfortunate than most. As the world’s most affluent colony under the French, Saint-Dominigue, in the Western half of the island of Hispaniola, seemed destined for a bright future. However, following the first successful slave-led independence in 1803 from its former French colonial masters, Haiti was crippled by reparations that it would never be able to pay off. The residual of this unjust debt was still being paid until September 2009 when it was finally cancelled. Intermittently occupied by the US, with endemic corruption and negligent government under the dynastic reign of first ‘Papa Doc’ and then ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier, the country suffered greatly. Latterly, led by Jean-Bertrande Aristide until a US backed coup in 2004, Haiti seemed in a terminal state of crisis. There was great hope for the democratically elected Rene Preval. Might I add, Haiti also suffers from a severe hurricane season. And of course, the town in which I will be working, Leogane, was the epicentre of a truly earth shuddering quake.
As I set off, Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere with a GDP per capita equivalent to the absolute poverty line ($2 a day). Where over 200,000 children work as ‘restavecs’ (house servants), where 98% of forests have been destroyed, where more are illiterate then not, where a third of the national budget is aid, and where, since the earthquake made most homes uninhabitable, the majority of the population live in tented camps.
Until I arrive, I won’t be able to explain fully what I am doing and I hope to give you more detail soon. Needless to say, I have to prepare for a quite challenging work environment. I have brought everything I think will be necessary but have no idea how to prepare fully. If the malaria doesn’t get me, the heat may. If the dengue fever doesn’t fell me, rabies may. We are having, whilst working, to put in electricity, water and the internet. Let’s hope all goes to plan and I live in relative comfort.
The final problem I have had to navigate is judging exactly what I should bring to prepare for work. Feeling more like ‘Dora the Explorer’ than Ray Mears, I have looked at every gadget and gizmo under the sun. My cause is not helped by knowing that most of what I need I have to bring with me as it will not be easy to get hold of every day essentials such as shampoo. This would strike is an opportune moment to shed my shaggy locks and beard.
Speaking of vanity, I have been known to indulge in self-promoting bursts of writing. More I think, with distinct irony, to keep me grounded than as a true exercise in communication. What seems to end up happening is that I become particularly verbose and end up with few responses. This time, I hope to be a little different such that my new medium, the blog, will help to grease the wheels of your input. Again, as always, I look forward to hearing from any and all of you. I do treasure your responses, however brief they may be. I do not know how often I will be able to write but I will be able to see your comments. I may even take to the odd vlog.
So will I save the world? I hope not – it doesn’t need saving. Besides, brilliant minds have spent decades dreaming up miraculous panaceas for the billion malnourished, the two billion or more who lack basic services. I think it’s best if I do not add my perspective to some of the world’s most intractable issues.
Having written for a while about my previous adventures, this is the first time that I will truly have to prove myself as a mature adult. There is no safety net, I am too old to be mollycoddled, and this is the future I want to plan for myself. I hope that as I look back in four months, then four years, and four decades, I will see this first entry to ‘The Wide Eyed Pragmatist’ as the base camp before I begin the arduous climb. I look forward to the challenge.
