8/28/2018:
Today was my first class for Social Determinants of Health in Low Resource Countries. Unsure of what to expect, I was pleased to learn beyond the typical ‘first day of class syllabus overview’. The lecture struck something in me; it reminded me of my broader passions and motivations, and for that reason I am beyond excited to garner as much information throughout this course as I possibly can.
A specific point I recalled was regarding the tendency of organizations to travel to communities in low-resource countries and simply provide people with donated material items. These types of organizations are ultimately hurting the community because they’re developing dependency instead of sustainability. For that reason, it is crucial for organizations to evaluate how their actions are impacting the communities down the line. Promoting sustainability can include efforts like sanitation education or instructive building with accessible local materials.
This concept caused me to reflect upon my own experience with a global outreach program. Arm2Arm is a small-scale organization founded by Maryse Adonis.(see link for Arm 2 Arm) In recent years, Maryse has partnered with my church at home to go on annual trips to Batey Botecito, a village in the rural sugarcane fields of the Dominican Republic.
Some background on the Dominican bateyes:
- Many of the villagers are of Haitian descent, forcibly working on sugarcane plantations
- The men and boys spend their days dangerously hacking sugarcane stalks with machetes for an extremely low or no wage
- Many Haitians are targeted because of the lengthy, tense, conflict-filled history between the Dominican and Haiti
- Most of those in the bateyes live there for their entire lives, never leaving or witnessing life beyond the community grounds
- This is partially due to fear of legalities as they are not legal workers, as well as their crippling impoverishment
(Bernier, 2003)
Throughout the different trips, our partnership has constructed a school building, a water well, new roofing and housing, and more. Along with the construction, we set up medical clinics in Botecito and other villages in the region with the help of nurse practitioners from Boston and two doctors from the neighboring country, Haiti. At the clinics, locals received physical examinations, some basic prescriptions, eyeglasses, contraceptives, and hygiene products. However, it is clinics like these that serve as temporary fixes. As mentioned in class, it is far more impactful to spend time educating the locals on medical care, hygienic practices, and safe sex.
This exemplifies the difference between a dependent and sustainable partnership among the Dominicans and Arm 2 Arm. While some projects promoted sustainability, like the school building, other projects failed to do so. A family friend of ours who chaperoned the trip for this past summer explained- prior to leaving for the DR- how the primary plan was to build a playscape at the village. I recall immediately feeling disappointed. It’s not that I didn’t believe Cristian, Dominico, Ismail, or any of the other children I came to know on my trip would fully appreciate and enjoy a new playground. Rather, it was knowing the level of severe impoverishment in which these people lived and the skills and resources we could provide with Arm 2 Arm, yet the big plan they decided to work on was a playground. A more viable alternative could have been working with the locals to level the roads, easing transportation, especially during the wet season, thus facilitating access to employment or medical services in the urban areas.
I deeply value my experience with Arm 2 Arm and the people with whom I shared it. Maryse has the biggest heart and because of her efforts I was privileged enough to have an opportunity that changed my life. In the future, I would love to collaborate with Maryse and my church community to propose project plans for upcoming trips that would better foster sustainability within Batey Botecito.
To read more about organizations promoting sustainability, click on the attached links:
https://www-sciencedirect-com.libproxy.clemson.edu/science/article/pii/S1462901117308237
https://www.cnn.com/2017/05/04/health/cnn-hero-samir-lakhani-eco-soap-bank/index.html
Sources:
Bernier, Barbara L. “Sugar Cane Slavery: Bateyes in the Dominican Republic.” New England Journal of International and Comparative Law, vol. 9, no. 1, 2003, pp. 17- 46, http://heinonline.org.libproxy.clemson.edu/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/newenjic9&id=21&collection=journals&index= . Accessed 3 Oct. 2018
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