I’ve been remiss in not reporting anything about Haiti. My boss reminded me acutely the other day.
“A bunch of structural engineers might head down there to assess if buildings are safe for occupancy.”
“Oh, are you going?”
“I would.. but.. I’m not worried about crumbling buildings falling on me, I’m more worried about the violence.. you know, if they think I’m rich they might get aggressive.. it just doesn’t seem safe. So no, I’m not going.”
I typically enjoy my boss. My entire department is generally good humored and less conservative than one might assume. Instead of ignoring his comment, it nagged me, sat very wrong in my belly.
That’s when Malcolm X sprang to mind:
“We declare our right on this earth…to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary.”
My boss’s stance differs from what I’ve witnessed in the travel blogging community.
Julie Schwietert, managing editor of Matador, has worked tirelessly to piece together updates on how people can contribute. Key posts are Haiti Volunteer Trip and What You Can Do to Help.
Shawn of rerunaround, purposefully derailed a pleasure trip to Japan to devise a relief project.
The most inspiring has to be GotPassport’s article Clarity. Aye is forceful with her position, “Are we losing followers because we are tweeting nothing BUT Haiti Issues? Then so be it! Go walk out the door, you’re not welcome here anymore.” Finally, a woman willing to stand strong because the value of helping others outweighs racking up followers on a social networking site.
My boss, who is a qualified professional, clings to alarmist fears instead of seeing past them to realize a bigger picture.
Last week, I was engrossed in How to Burst the Tourist Bubble at the behest of SoloFriendly’s recommendation. Travelers are always on the hunt for an authentic interaction with locals, to break from that tourist loop of socializing with other backpackers.
It seems we could apply that analogy to my boss. What about breaking that first world bubble?
I have a degree of empathy for him. He’s got a family to support, yet so does Aye. He stated that most natural disasters don’t have impending violence hanging in the air. Perhaps not. My opinion on that, I’ve traveled solo to 
some crazy destinations, and nothing happened to me, yet my apartment was robbed, my car was broken into 3 times, and my wallet was stolen in a busy restaurant – all in my hometown. What my boss also forgets, Vancouver is right in an earthquake zone. What if the situation was reversed? How would he feel if a foreign structural engineer decided his country wasn’t worth helping?
I would contend the first world bubble is a belief that whatever happened in Haiti is far removed from our smoothly paved roads, big box stores, and tree lined streets. An alien, hostile land rife with low GDP, wealth gaps, and staggering poverty that leaves most uttering, “Forget it, they’re too far gone.”
In researching this article I hit upon the concept of commonality in balancing diversity. Cultural norms are instilled in us since birth, but what connects the dots from African to German to American to Canadian are fundamental needs. Haitians cherish human life, treasure family relationships, and desire a sense of security, like all of us do. Whether significant to solving conflicts, cultural understanding or disaster relief, peeling away differences reveal truths – we are more interconnected than not. Any traveler will second that notion.
My anthropology professor once said, “Underneath our symbols of status, we are all the same - flesh and bone.”
Instead of leaving me depressed, I felt buoyed, thankful to be part of such a wonderful group of travel bloggers, secretly plotting some kind of travel blogger serum, if injected into the general population would make the world that much better, don’t you think?
For a comprehensive list of organizations taking donations, visit: http://www.cbc.ca/haitirelief/
Photo: IFRC under Creative Commons
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
@Doug – Thanks for your comment. Indeed, if only we could clone my professor!
@GotPassport – Thank you so much for passing on those e-articles. I was engrossed, especially in Dr. Gupta’s account of the first 2 weeks. Grief and mere survival – which makes sense. If anyone thought otherwise, shame on them. I hope you get called out soon. You humble us all with your dedication.
Agree! This was a great read. Your professor couldnt have said it better either. Wish everyone had that mindset.
here is another post I meant to share
http://www.calgarysun.com/comment/columnists/ian_robinson/2010/01/23/12590061.html
I’m sorry it’s taken me awhile to comment here. Thanks Jeannie for taking the time to write this giving the people of Haiti a voice. I truly believe that every time we blog, tweet about Haiti in a positive light like you have, we are giving Haiti a voice.
I was sick to my stomach, more like disgusted, for every comment I hear from people who make judgment based on the media.
I am more confident in my decision to go to Haiti the first chance and articles like this is one he (the boss) needs to be reading to remind him and all of us what is really happening in Haiti.
http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2010/01/26/its-just-survival/
It is great to be in the company of so many like minded individuals like you and so many others in the travel community.
@Spunky Girl – I’m with you on home turf vs foreign turf, it shouldn’t make a difference. Isn’t the point to build community and foster goodwill? Oh right, war destroyed that long ago. Ooh, don’t get me going.
@Shawn – I have no doubts you’re apprehensive. Here’s the thing, my boss would have been part of an established organization, with likely access to some security as they completed their work. You –on the other hand– are an independent. Still, you’re willing to volunteer. It could go 2 ways, be worse than you thought or not as bad as anticipated. I suspect in a month, some order will be in place.
@Gray – You’re right, on-site volunteering is not for everyone, guess what bothered me was his reason. It felt like a sweeping, dismissive judgment without having more info, nor having gone to Haiti. He relies on media, but mass media churns out sensationalism these days.
Great article, Jeannie. Not everyone is cut out for volunteering in a disaster zone, that’s a fact of life. But there are very few people outside of Haiti who cannot afford to at least send some money for food, water, and medical supplies, materials to rebuild, etc. We can at least be doing that much.
I can see where your boss is coming from, and perhaps as someone with a family to consider he may have better ways to help. If going to Haiti is unsafe he could certainly help collect supplies, raise money or help with the refugees who arrive in Canada. If he doesn’t do those things either, then safety isn’t really why he isn’t going.
Thanks for the kind mention by the way. I’m honestly nervous about going. It’ll be at least a month before I’m able to go, and I don’t know what things will look like there. I’m quite comfortable in Canada where we have clearly enforced laws and structure. In a post-disaster city you have no idea how desperate people will be or what chaos you might encounter. Ah well, such is life.
Good for you! You’re absolutely right. If we have the capability to help, then we should. I would not want to be in their shoes and I can’t imagine what their reality really is.
When things like this happen and a social structure collapses there’s chaos. If somebody doesn’t step in to help, say it’s ok we can make it through this, then things get even worse.
If the chaos was happening on home turf, it would be very different, and that’s not how things should be. It shouldn’t matter whether it’s home turf, or foreign turf, if they need help and we have the ability to give, then that’s what we should be doing.