It's a tricky thing.
You see countless foreigners in new SUVs sporting obligatory NGO logos prowling the streets of Port-au-Prince. College-aged folks with massive backpacks that look like they mistakenly de-planed on their way to Europe. Church groups on week-long service trips that come to "save" Haiti when the majority religions are already Christian. Others sporting NGO-chic, an often intentional cross between grungy, expensive, and highly practical clothes (Whoa! Your pants have how many pockets?!?). And of course, people who have come to tour the poverty -- to see it and feel it for themselves.
They too often meddle, offend, and patronize.
What's scary is that I see myself in every single one of those stereotypes.
And I hate it.
I'd like to wish that I'm somehow different. I want my motives to be nobler, my questions to be more informed, and my work to be more effective.
Instead, I'm proud when I should be humble and loud when I should be quiet.
So what's the remedy? I only know what I've seen work in my other travels. Learn the language, preferably not the tongue of the elite or formal colonizers. Get out of the office and spend time building relationships rather than updating my facebook status. Be self-aware – if I know what makes me cringe in others' behavior, I should try to avoid doing these things myself. Commit to a place for the long-haul rather than a week at a time and learn the place as best I can. Try to live simply in a principled way, consistently, so that the omnipresent barriers that class and privilege create are minimized or torn down.
I think most important is the constant hard work of choosing to humble oneself, remembering my place in the scheme things. I need to remain faithful to a place, a people and a cause, and hope others – both Haitian and non-Haitian – are doing the same. That way our cumulative efforts can add up to profound change.
And certainly, I must acknowledge a sad fact: no matter how many pockets my pants may boast, it won't improve Haiti.
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