We left Terre Froide in the morning to go to the conference location: Forêt des Pins. When we were told that we had arrived, we looked up to see a big one story cabin, surrounded by, well, a forest of pine trees. As we walked inside the building, we all started cheering. There were tiled floors and concreted walls. There was a western toilet. And a shower. With running water. Even though it is rather dirty and the water is colder than in Terre Froide (i.e. freezing), as well as the fact that we have to share all of this with the other participants, we were too happy to care. As you're reading this now in your large, comfortable house, none of this might seem like that big of a deal. But it is. For us, it was like a miracle.
      This conference, which will run for the next three days, is about discussing local and global issues and coming up with projects to solve these problems. All discussion topics will be generated by us: at the start of each day we will all write down the subjects we want to talk about. Each set of sessions will consist of six different topics, chosen based off of the majority. The first day will focus on debating and examining the issues and the second day will be oriented towards finding solutions.  
      There are 159 participants from 27 different communities in the area, aged 15 to 22, and, as few staff as possible. The reason for this being that every aspect of this conference is meant to be student run. Throughout the conference, all Global Potential participants, including myself, have specific roles that we need to carry out. 
      The conference takes place outdoors, in front of the cabin I just described, which also happens to be the girls' sleeping quarters. Inside, there is an open space/ common area and 5 rooms (with 2 single beds each)... but, there are 67 girls. No, there is not space for 13 girls in each room... It took us about an hour or so to sort everything out, but we finally did. In short, in that hour, I went from being in a room with 3 other Global Potential participants, to being in a room with 1 other Global Potential participant and 2 girls from Terre Froide, to sleeping on a couch outside in the common area, to being in an even smaller room than the first one, sharing 2 single beds with 2 other Global Potential participants and 3 of the Terre Froide cooks (total 6 people). Oh, and did I also mention that this "room" was in the kitchen? ...
      I don't mind sleeping in the kitchen actually, we have our own bathroom that we share with 12 people and we're separated from everyone else. (Well, we were sharing the bathroom with only 12 people at first. As the conference went on, the 64 other girls as well as all the guys realised that our bathroom was cleaner than theirs: we ended up sharing it with practically all 159 participants). Another plus side to sleeping in the kitchen: we also get a bit of a midnight snack, and I'm not complaining about that. 
      When the conference is over, the majority of the participants will be coming back to Terre Froide with us for a day, because the next day (along with Tas and I leaving Haiti) they will be heading to another conference in Cité Soley.  
      As cold as it is here, and even though the sleep isn't the best, I really don't mind. So far, though it hasn't even been a day yet, I have learned a lot and I am enjoying the conference. 

LM

      I've had a problem with this for a while now and the workshop yesterday on regional and national history got me thinking about it again. It bothers me that when people say, "I'm going to America" or, "I am American" they are expecting people to assume that by 'America', they mean the United States. The Americas are from Canada all the way down to the southern tip of Chile. That's 35 countries (plus 11 territories). Why should one country deserve the title of all the other ones combined? If you are from the United States, when someone asks you where you're from, you shouldn't say "I'm American", because that could mean you're Haitian, Canadian, Brazilian, Cuban, Peruvian or from any other country in the Americas. You should say, "I am from the United States of America" or "I am from the US in the Americas." And no, I'm not blaming individuals who refer to the country as the two continents, I have done it myself, it's just the concept that disturbs me. It makes the country seem like it's superior to all the other ones in the two continents, as if they did something to deserve it. Is that something wiping out the populations of practically every country south of it up until Chile, way back when?
      It's the same as referring to China as Asia and ignoring all the other 43 countries in the continent. That's calling a country with a population of 1,359,450,000 as a continent with a total population of 4,298,723,000 (meaning China's population is 32% of Asia's). Calling the United States the Americas is referring to a country with a population of 316,491,000 as two continents with a population of 972,005,000 (meaning the US' population is 32.5% of the Americas'). And yet, we wouldn't have anyone calling China, Asia, now would we?
      It's not right. 

LM

Is history really an accurate explanation of the past? Or is it just chosen information about certain countries and lives of certain men? Yes, men. 

      First off, some of the things we learn in school include that Columbus was a hero. Like I said in my last blog, why? For triggering the extinction of entire populations of people? Or for causing such damaging after effects that countries are still suffering today: 521 years later. Which one of these make him deserve a national holiday in his honour? Exactly. That's the first thing I'm starting to realise: history is written by the winner. So much information is kept back, withheld or just marked not important enough to teach. History is biased beyond belief and yet we're led to the assumption that it's just straight facts. We learn what Columbus accomplished. And that the United States being what it is today is all thanks to him. Not how the Haitians, Native Americans and more suffered. Why not? Rarely did they have the chance to write and publish their side. And even if they did, we don't learn about it in history class. Which leads to less number two: history class is nothing. Yes it's a start, but knowing only what you learn in class is nowhere near what you should know. 
      For example, were you aware that, in the 11th century, between the time of the Scandinavian Vikings in what is today North America and the time of the Native Americans, the Chinese claim to have visited the continent? 
      All this North America talk, it's all just examples. But, why don't we learn about the things I mentioned in the last blog? Why don't we learn that every day the same number of people die in the Democratic Republic of Congo extracting resources that did in 9/11? That's 2,753 people. Everyday. All for the ore Coltan that we "need". Why don't we learn that? Because we know it's our fault? That it's for our mobile phones that they die? Because the truth makes us feel too guilty? Hiding the truth is just as bad as lying. The same thing applies to the Paraguayan Soya crisis (where the mass production of soya for cattle in the US and Europe creates havoc on the population and the environment) and many other issues we now face. 
      To me, it feels like history always focuses on the same countries. That is what we learn in class. We learn about the United States and Europe, with some points on Africa, China and India. What about Latin America? When was the last time you talked about that corner of the world in history class? What about Australia? The only time we talked about Haiti in class was for one minute, saying it was one of the poorest countries in the world, and that subject only came up when my teacher found out I was coming. Why? Why do some countries deserve more awareness than others? 
      Next, is it just me or do we usually, 90% of the time, only learn about the white man in history? It is his story. We never learn about what it was like for the slave, for his wife and kid. We don't learn about woman who had an impact on history. ACS 10th graders, name me one woman we talked about in Globals 9. The only woman I can think of that we talked about, ever (in any grade) is Rosa Parks. That's it. Why? 
      So, not only is our history missing a lot of information and points of view, it's biased. And as if that's not enough, it's sexist too now?
      I know we're an American school, so we have to talk about North America, but I'm not just talking about our school. And I'm not only talking about history in class either. Just in general. Overall. (Yes, I know that I'm only 15 and still have many years of learning ahead, but still, the way history is presented is still skewed).
      This is just another example of how much information is withheld from us and how much we just don't know about. Our knowledge is, in almost every way, limited. 

LM

      For today's workshop we had a discussion about regional and national history. Well... I don't really know where to start, there is too much happening in my head right now. The session left me with too much to say. I guess I'll start with more general things and then move into Haiti specifically. 
      To start, this has been in my mind for a while now, but why is Columbus considered a hero? For wiping out entire populations? For causing genocide in Haiti and other countries (30 years after Columbus came to Haiti, 80% of its original population was wiped out- from his men killing them and also from diseases he brought with the rats from his ship. After 100 years, 100% were dead). Or is he considered a hero for causing such damaging after effects in some countries that today, 521 years later, the countries are still suffering? What did he do to deserve the title and national holiday that he carries today? It's worth mentioning when talking about Haiti's history, because as far as I understand, that's when things really started going wrong for this country: when Columbus and his men started land-grabbing. 
      Haiti. Well, first off, what did Haitian people- the ones who repopulated the land after all the initial people were killed- do to deserve any of this? In the 70's and 80's it was actually a huge touristic country, it's the country that brought tourism to the rest of the Caribbean, which now gets about 25 million tourists annually. For crying out loud it was where Bill and Hillary Clinton spent their honeymoon. Now look at it. How can a country like that, end up being one of the poorest in the world? They, literally, got stripped of everything they had: their current, existing resources, are practically none, they have faced a number of horrible natural disasters and have been exploited by so many other countries. 
     I didn't know about Haiti's (and other countries) debt relief in 2000. You would expect Haiti to not be the way it is today after an opportunity like that and yet, 13 years later, it is. Already. Why? Sure, there was the 2010 earthquake and that had many negative impacts, but that's not all. Even the aid they got is questionable to have even helped... Food aid lowered local food prices and as a result farmers went out of business for having too low of an income. So when food aid ran out, famine started becoming widespread for lack of food suppliers. 
      Monetary aid was in one of two forms: a gift with conditions or a loan. The former would be, as an example, you can have this money, but you have to buy all your cars from our country. This hurt local businesses and the Haitian economy as well as greatly increased money spent on imports. So, it might have helped for a short while, but after that, in the long run, the negative effects outweigh the positive ones. The latter, similarly, helps at first, but then since the local economy is failing due to a number of factors (including "gift aid"), they don't have the means to pay back the loans thus increasing the countries debt and adding to its numerous, numerous problems. So tell me did this "aid" help more than it hurt? Didn't think so. 
      Not to mention the IMF, the World Bank, France and so many other people screwing Haiti over. (After Haiti became the first black republic, France decided to make it be the last. To do this, in 1825, they forced Haiti to pay $21 billion over a period of 30 years for its own loss of men and slave colony as well as for France's recognition of Haiti as an independent republic. This was the beginning of the country's current debt of $900 million). 
      These are all the aftereffects of one Italian man, going to the Spanish queen and asking her to fund his trip to the Indies. Every event afterward is related and goes back to that. If one small action in the past could have put this country in the state it is today, it makes me wonder which events that are happening today will destroy a country for a long time to come. Will the current Egyptian Revolutions leave the country in a low position for the next 400 years? How can we know? Did you think Columbus and his men could've known about all this? 
      One last point, quickly, did you know Hurricane Sandy hit Haiti? Pretty hard actually. In fact, Haiti is one of the first places the hurricane hit. Why didn't I know? Media focused, yet again on the USA and left out so many other countries. If you ask someone where did Hurricane Sandy hit? I promise at least 80% of the people will say the US. Only. If you look up 'Hurricane Sandy Haiti' there are only three major news sources (The New York Times, BBC and The Guardian) who have anything mentioned about it. Three. In some senses, it impacted worse here than in, for example, Florida because there, the houses are hurricane ready and people are more prepared.  And even if they weren't they have the means to recuperate afterwards. Haiti didn't. It makes me wonder what else the media is leaving out. And what else the news leads you to the wrong assumption about. 

(Yes, I understand that, despite everything I've said about Columbus, if it hadn't been him then it would have been somebody else. European nations were part of an ongoing race to discover new territories, and it just so happened that Columbus was the one who "found" the countries that he did). 

LM

      Today is Saturday, which means it's project day. For this week's activity, we went hiking. We walked for 10 hours with a couple of stops along the way, all under 10 minutes except for our lunch break which was about 30 minutes or more. We hiked, for the most part uphill and there were also a couple optional mountains we could climb as well. I did both of them, running on the way up as well as the way down, and the view was amazing. Now that I think about it I did a lot of unnecessary running. I had made a promise with one of the local boys, that every time he started running, I would have to run as well and we would race. No exceptions. Not even steep, rocky mountains. I am actually very pleasantly surprised that I was able to do it all. I don't know where I was getting it from, but I had this sort of unlimited energy that stopped me from being sore or tired or anything else. This entire hiking experience made me realise a couple of things: a) Haiti and the Dominican Republic are a lot more mountainous than I thought b) wow, it's really cold c) it really is beautiful d) you can do a lot more than you think you can e) I have a lot of respect for the people who were walking even a small portion of what we walked with at least a few kilos on their heads. 
      On our way back, we walked to a market and from there we took a tap tap for the remaining part of the trip, just for the experience. I'm not going to lie, it's extremely uncomfortable, but, it's very typical Haitian and the experience is definitely worth it. All in all, it was a good day and the view from the top of the optional mountains was truly breathtaking. My lack of fatigue makes me feel like I never did any of it, but regardless, it will still be one of the things I remember most from this trip. 

[click pictures for more information]

LM

       I've been thinking about this and I have to wonder, is it possible that the people here are eating better than us? Regardless of the fact that they don't get all the nutrients they need and it doesn't taste great, everything they eat is natural. They buy their rice from down the mountain, they have their corn from nearby fields… no pesticides, no chemicals. But, on the other side of things, practically everything we eat (which we assume is better for us) either generally has at least one ingredient in it we can't pronounce (i.e. chemicals galore) or were grown with pesticides and other substances in genetically modified food, or are overdosed with high fructose corn syrup, trans fats, preservatives (do I need my burger to stay without rotting for 6 months?… no I don't think so) and more. There's no way any of that can be good for us. But, on the other hand, it is possible for people to survive on what they eat here… So, this makes me wonder, if we ate what they do and still lived in a society that has the means to cure cholera, HIV/AIDS and so on, whether or not our deaths would be a lot more natural and cause free... more the way it should be. We would be dying because it's just our time, not because of heart disease, strokes and diabetes. 
      So, unless you are careful and have the money to buy all the farm-raised, organic, antibiotic-free stuff, I think I have to admit that the food here would be better for us. Here, they don't eat chocolate, processed foods, anything with fructose corn syrup or anything else I just mentioned... they eat vegetables, rice, protein (beans, meat, fish)… it's not that bad. Although it contradicts many people's initial thoughts, I think I'm healthier with the food I eat here than what I usually eat. 

LM

      The Global Potential program consists of three phases: the first being weekly meetings to learn about global issues- problem and solution type sessions (similar to the global issues network conferences)-, the second is what we're doing now, the experience- traveling abroad to either Haiti, the Dominican Republic or Nicaragua or staying where you live and doing other programs (Global Potential works in Boston, New York and Paris, so that's where these programs are offered)-, and the third phase is to apply what you learned and follow up on the first two phases. 
      Regardless of the fact that I didn't do the first phase exactly like the other participants did and even though I am only staying in Haiti for 2 weeks, not 6.5 like everyone else, I have still established my project... or my projects I should say. 
      Part 1: Media For this part of the project I am putting up information on this website about Global Potential, I'm writing this blog and when I get back I will also put up pictures on the tumblr blog. My goal in doing this is to display what we did on the trip and to put forth my thoughts about the general experience to anyone who is interested. 
      Part 2: Presentation This would be talking, not only about the experience, but also about the lessons I learned in a presentation at my school. For this part, I will also go on to take anything I can share from this experience and also bring it to future conferences and so on. The purpose in doing this is similar to the one I had at the GINergy Conference we organised this year: to empower people my age to do what they want and to show them their projects are possible. Between parts 1 and 2, I will have presented everything in several different forms in order to reach out to as many people as possible.
      Part 3: Terre Froide Trash I've talked about this in several of my other blogs and it's something I still need to think through a little more. Basically, I want to look into getting a trash system started in this community. This project isn't exactly something I can do from abroad though (how can I ensure the trash cans are being used?- issues like that). So, I don't know if that means coming back sometime or whatever else, but I might continue Haiti: Hands On (the program I had initiated this year to get the funds to come to Haiti), and through that fundraise for this project throughout the year. I'll get back to this part, I still have some thinking to do. 
      Part 4: Application The main purpose of going on both these trips this summer was to take what I learned and to use it to continue my work in the UAE. Whether it be organising another conference or continuing to work with labour workers, the point is to make whatever I do better with the things I got out of the last few months. 
      Part 5: Extension I've been throwing this idea around for a while and I'm not exactly sure yet, but I would like to start my own organisation (eventually). So, this step is similar to part 4, but it's taking what I learned on both trips (about team work, NGO's, service projects etc.) and using it to strengthen my future organisation. But of course, this part of the project would also entail actually starting this NGO. I'm not exactly sure what the deadline for this part is, I haven't decided yet, but  I do know that it's further into the future than the other four parts to this project. 
      That's it, that's my five-part third phase project. The main purpose in posting my project is to give you an idea of what's next. 

LM

      I'm beginning to see how rare it is to find a Haitian who speaks only one language. They all speak Creole, English, French, Spanish… I even found a guy who spoke a little Arabic. (He said he read about the Middle East in the Bible and was interested to learn the people's language. When he had access to a computer-which wasn't often- he went online and looked up and listened to words). 
      Here, switching in and out of languages is rather common. When I tell people in Abu Dhabi that I speak four languages, they are generally impressed. But here, that's completely normal. I met a local family that had one brother who spoke French and Creole and the other who spoke Spanish and Creole. So, who taught him French? Who taught the other Spanish? When I asked them, they said that since the languages are so similar to Creole, they teach themselves. 
       Everyone here is very studious, eager to learn and always looking for ways to better themselves, and that's great. Just in general, I find this language-switch-depending-on-who-you're-talking-to very interesting. And it's not uncommon where we live- I know a lot of people who speak a different language with their parents than they do with their siblings, even I do it- but this is different. This is an entire population who don't have nearly as many resources to learn new languages as we do and that's amazing. Multilingualism is a part of Haitian culture and I find that really cool. 

LM

      I've noticed something here I found odd... when you think of poverty (one global issue), you might think of places like here, Haiti. And that's right. But, when you think of things like global warming, animal abuse, littering and all that, personally, I think about modern societies. I'm starting to realise that that's not always the only case.  
      Just because the people here are living in poverty (relatively, because they are all still happy with their lives), doesn't mean they aren't contributing to the other problems I listed above or any of the other global issues for that matter. Maybe that seems obvious, but I'd never really thought about it. Over the last few days, I've witnessed a lot more than just poverty. There are a lot of issues with animal rights and trash disposal here and I wasn't exactly expecting that. 
      They don't have trucks that pass by each house and pick up trash. I mean, none of the houses here even have a trash can. On my first day here, I asked my Haitian mum where I could throw away my tissue. She looked at me in confusion, took it from my hand, and threw it in front of her: into the vast greenery of trees and grass. And this is what they do with absolutely everything. Whether it's biodegradable or not (usually the latter). They do it because they have no other system.
     I was talking to some of the local people and they said that they really didn't like that there was trash everywhere, it made their home look dirty and that's not what they wanted... but, they are the ones putting it there. Yet, what can they do?Even if they put it all in a bucket… then what? What happens when the bucket gets full? They still have nowhere to put it after that. 
      (Even afterwards, at the conference in Forêt des Pins, we had garbage bags everywhere and made sure that no trash went into the surrounding environment. Our goal was to keep it clean. But then what happened? On the last day they took the big mound of trash that had been piling up from the last three days and the contribution of 150 people, and to get rid of it... they burned it. Isn't that just worse? I never would have thought to expect these things when I was here). 
      I sort of understand, they have no other alternative- not yet at least- it's just so horrible to see. It makes me wonder whether that could be one of my projects, to get a trash system here. 
      Another major issue I've witnessed is animal abuse. Several of the families here have pets, but even if they don't, there are animals around. Even the birds, that's a big problem: they take them and play with them without knowing that they're actually breaking their wings. There are pigs, horses, donkeys, goats, dogs, cats, birds, and more, and none of them are being treated fairly. But again, it's just a matter of never having been educated on these topics. To them, and I do understand because that's what they know, the animals are just there and there's no specific way they should be treated. If the dog is bothering you while you eat, hit it, so what? If the donkey that's bringing you up the mountain is too slow, hit it, so what? They just don't understand that the animals shouldn't be treated with abuse. We tried to explain, but they would always just laugh. We told them, well, what if the animal hit you back, then what?
      So no, just because these people live in poverty, doesn't mean that's the only global issue they're associated with. I know that in Haiti, aside from poverty, trash issues and animal abuse, the country is also connected to labour workers, slavery (restavecs) and more. It might seem like common sense that the problems they face aren't limited to one, but I had never really thought about it this way. 

LM

      At today's nightly meeting we had a bit of a reflection activity. Our staff told us that we have 86,400 each day, if we don't spend it one day, we don't get it the next. They went on to ask how we would spend it? To break it down and explain how much of it goes for each thing we do. 
      So I said, okay, I have 86,400 dollars, what do I buy? What do I invest in? What do I do? It took me a while to finalise everything because I kept changing my mind (and because I had to keep calculating the dirham to dollar exchange rate) but in the end this is what I said: $30 a day for food should be more than enough. Then, for now, I have $70 or less to invest in my brother and to support him in what he does. I will also have $1,000 a day to fund my own organisation, $112 a day to go to school, $1,000 to keep up my work in Abu Dhabi with safe houses, labour workers and conferences, $1,000 to support my family: my grandpa, uncle, aunt, great aunt and my direct family as well if they need it. Not want. Need. That leaves me with $83,188 that, for now, I will spend on projects here in Haiti. 
      First would be getting a trash system installed: a trash can in each house and a garbage truck that can come by each house in the area at least once weekly. This truck would also have to bring all that it collects to already existing landfill sites. If not that, then a better system or better place that is less negatively impactful to our earth. The rest of the money would also go to, not only a trash system, but a recycling program and all the other costs that come along with initiating such a project. Any remaining money would go to street clean ups and information sessions, to clean the community of the waste that has already been discarded and to educate them on the importance of not throwing their trash wherever they want. When the major costs of these projects are covered, I will use this same sum for a school in Terre Froide: get it built, get supplies/furniture, pay teachers and create a sustainable system. With any left over money, or, if there is none, when this project is over, I will take the same daily $83,188 and put it towards fixing the road that runs down the mountain here and to ensure that it won't collapse with the rain and erosion (which is why we've been building seis).
      After I am finished with these projects here, I will use this same amount for other service projects around the world: a water pump for the school in Kampongcham, the village where we were in Cambodia, bettering the orphanage our school works with in Nepal, ending food waste in Europe, fighting for the human rights of the impoverished Paraguayans who have lost everything due to our meat consumption and any other project I can help with.   
      Any left over money I have I will use for my future organisation, for my Abu Dhabi projects, for University (when I go), to make sure I have a place to live and for service in general. 
      That's it, that was the breakdown of my 86,400 dollars and of course there would always be other things that could come up like medical bills, electricity, water and so on, but, idealistically, this is how I would spend it. (I had 5 minutes to come up with this plan so yes, I know, there are a lot of holes in it). 

      After everybody shared how they would spend their money, our staff took over again. They went on to explain that, obviously, we don't get 86,400 dollars every day, but we do get 86,400. 86,400 seconds. "How is what you all just said different? Do you spend your money differently than you spend your time? Which one do you value more? Are your priorities different?"
      I said something that mostly everyone else in the group disagreed with, but I do think it is a valid point. I said that you don't have complete control over your time; you have more control over money. Everyone in the group said that that wasn't true, that you can decide what you want to do with your time. But no, the way I see it, we are obliged to go to school, (even if we don't want to), we have mandatory meetings you have to go to,  we can't  determine whether or not we'll get hurt and have to spend time in a hospital, we can't stop the fact that we have to sleep at least once in a while: all these things we don't have control over, yet they still take our time. They said that if you want to blow those things off then it's your own decision, and I do understand that. If your teacher said you have to come see her after school, that may seem mandatory, but no one's stopping you from ditching. If you prioritise soccer over your education and go to your soccer practice instead, then that's your own decision. And that's true. But, I'm sorry, you can't help that you have to sleep, that you get sick, that you have to shower, eat, go to the bathroom and whatever else: all those things affect your time; you don't have control over them. We don't have the power to decide whether we'll spend time stuck in traffic tomorrow or whether we're out of food and have to go to the supermarket and so on. I do understand how everybody disagrees with me, but only to a limited extent: yes, it's true, you do have the power to blow off responsibilities based on what you prioritise but there are also some things that are inevitable that take up your time.  
      Personally, I think I value time more than money. You can do a lot with time but no money, but you can't do anything with no time (or little time) but a lot of money. And yes, I do spend my money a little differently than I spend my time. For example, I do spend more time than money in school ($112 a day vs. at least 25,200 seconds a day), I spend a lot of time playing sports but not nearly as much money on athletic equipment, I spend time but not money (or very little of it) showering, sleeping, and so on, I spend a lot of time on homework and studying, but I don't pay to do that. So no, regardless of the fact that everyone else in my group seems to insist that time and money are spent the same, I don't think they are. Both reflect my priorities, but my money does more so than my time. The only thing that is the same between the ways I spend the two is that I dedicate (in my hypothetical situation for money and in real life for time) as much as I can of both on service, and that also reflects my priorities. 
      All in all, I just thought it was a really interesting exercise and it's something I will be thinking about for quite a while. 

LM