The Dominican Side--January 2016

 Dominican Girl (Photo by John Carroll–January 26, 2016)

I have recently spoken to many middle class Dominicans. They speak very clearly and are very sure of themselves on this topic.

They have universally told me that if a Haitian is not “documented” they should go. (They don’t speak of the difficulty Haitians have getting the proper papers required by the Dominican government.  Haitians working in the Dominican have little money and many can barely read or write.)

None of the Dominicans have told me that they feel bad for the thousands of Haitians living in the border camps after they have been threatened and forced out of the Dominican Republic. I tell them of the suffering in the camps but that seems to go nowhere.

Today I walked through a small Dominican public hospital on the border with a Dominican doctor. We looked at an obstetric ledger that was lying open and unattended on a shelf.  I counted the last eighty births that occurred in this hospital. Over half of the women were Haitian.

And none of them, Haitian or Dominican, had to pay a cent for their delivery.

The Dominican doctor looked at me and said, “The international community says we don’t help Haitians. They speak badly of us. You just saw the book.”

 

John A. Carroll, MD

www.haitianhearts.org

 

---

Anonymous

says:

January 26, 2016 at 8:52 pm

love your heart John

REPLY

Lori Paton

says:

January 27, 2016 at 9:07 am

These undocumented Haitians who live in the D.R. typically work in the sugar plantations (bateys). The sugar cane is harvested the same way it has been for centuries, by spending every hour there is daylight out in the field with machetes. The government owns most of the plantations, and the Cuban-American Fanjul family is the largest private owner. The Haitians are very much desired for harvesting the sugar cane. They are provided with a dirt-floor shack and one meal a day of beans and rice. At any other time, they are scapegoated for all political woes and chased across the border. Perhaps in this regard, when I am in the D. R. it feels just like home.