If you want to get a message across and really change a society, do you need violence? If your views are so radical, people won't want to listen to you. Or is that just what sets the great revolutionists from the rest? The ability to get their ideas across without violence. Even Ghandi used violence- in self defence. But, isn't a just revolution self defence?
      It seems to me like a million of innocent lives are being lost every day with the disregard and ignorance of too many. Does a few more make a difference? People are afraid of change, they will only listen to what they want to hear, so, how do you get them to listen? Get them scared? 
      How many successful peaceful revolutions have there been? (Which brings up a whole different problem of how to measure success). But really, how many have there been? I can't answer the question myself but, I know that it's not too many. Compared to the abundance of violent ones, the peaceful ones seem like the great minority. So is violence the key to success?
     Yes, nonviolent revolutions are becoming more and more common as of the beginning of the 20th century, but is the change they brought comparable?

So, I ask, violence or pacifism? 


I'm not trying to saying anything through this. I haven't even made up my own mind on the matter, it really is just a thought. 

LM

In every way except, possibly, one. 

        I've been thinking about this a great deal over the summer. Not only does the media have complete control... well, essentially, on our opinions, but I'm starting to see that there's a lot more to it. It's more complex than I ever could have imagined. 
        The media, which is what we rely on to find out what's happening in the rest of the world, has the ability to select which facts they present, and how they present it to warp the story. They have the ability to (as I said before) play a game of association with you: the only things you know about a certain group of people are the negative aspects you hear in the media, which subconsciously or not, causes your mind to group the two together. On top of that, everything is biased. The news you think isn't biased, is. Of course if you put anything next to Fox News it won't seem so, but it is. They are all opinionated and they are carving this view on our society into our brains whether we notice it or not. From their word choice, to the footage they show while they're talking, to the facts they decide to present. Everything. 
       Even if you think you know more or less what's happening in the world right now, you probably don't. They don't show you everything. If something happens in another country, the media has the power to not mention it, so you can never know about it... almost as if it never happened... doesn't that scare you? They have power over our knowledge. 
       On top of that, every story that includes two opposing groups of people will always have one presented as the victim, even thought that isn't always the case. It just causes you to think negatively on the other group.
      Leaving Cambodia, I thought that was all there was to it, just don't trust everything you hear on the news, because as much as you want to believe that it is, it's not pure fact. 
      I realised in Haiti that there's much more to it.  
      On the trip, I was talking to somebody who, I would like to think has a correct view on our society. His regard towards all of it was unique and not a mix of all the other garbage out there, but rather based off a true understanding of all the secrets and lies. So I said, "Have you ever considered being a teacher? People should be able to develop their own opinion on issues the way you do." He said, which alone made me realise so much more, "Who would hire me? Since my views don't conform with normality, no one wants to bring that kid of controversy to their educational system." 
      Which leads me to my next point about how limited our knowledge really is. Heres how I figure it: where do you, primarily, learn? At school, university or whatever other educational system. Who teaches you? Obviously, your teachers. Can anyone be a teacher? No, you have to be hired (which generally also requires you to have some kind of a degree, which you get at a university, where other teachers taught you, which shows that, once I prove my point, it's all part of a vicious cycle) So, who gets hired? The people with revolutionary unique, eye-opening ideas? No, generally not. Unfortunately, those who are hired are those who are ready to pass on the ideas that the school, government and society as a whole accept. The ones who will feed you what society wants you to know. Nothing else.  
       If a person has the ability to express new ideas and views that are frowned upon (or just not common) in our society or if they can teach you the truth and not just what you want to hear, well, the said truth is, nine times out of ten, they won't be hired. 
       If you live your life accepting only the information you receive on a day to day basis, without going out of your way to find out more, your knowledge will stay limited to only what they want you know. Practically nothing. 
       Okay so, same thing applies to everything else. Aside from school, where else do you learn? From your church/mosque/synagogue? Same thing there, if somebody wants to say something that is against what others want to believe then they won't be given the right to talk. And if they somehow do, no matter what they say, then the person is attacked beyond belief. There are too many examples of this exact scenario. Okay, next, we have news, school, place of worship… then you have friends and family. Well think about it, anything you learn from them, they learned from the same places mentioned above. As I said, the cycle is vicious and oh so complex. What source are you left with? Where can you publish your views without societal consent? 
The information we receive is limited in every way. In every way except, possibly, one. The internet. 

       Now, don't get me wrong, there are a 1,001 things that are wrong with the internet and more than enough sites out there that are utter stupidity, but, it's changing the way we can access information. It's not just a matter of, watch the news, read the paper, that's all you can know. No, it's not like that anymore. Turn off the TV, close the paper. Turn on your wifi. Start to read. Yes, you will find the same things you watched on the news on the internet. But don't limit yourself to that one source. When was the last time you searched something and under that Google sign it said 'Showing results 1 of 1'. Exactly. Yes, there are sources there that are biased as well, but having the 6,000,732 search results to look at will help you understand that. The two news channels that your OSN box offers won't. Yes, you won't agree with everything you read but that's good, it means you're capable of accepting only part of what is being presented. You can find some reliable sources for facts and some other sources, (blogs and so on) to start forming your opinion on the topic. Your opinion comes from a combination of other people's views. It's based off of all the things you read: the good and the bad. But it's yours. The internet is home to the thousands of documentaries that can be found on YouTube that unfold the lies of our society. The internet can't be restrained, it's constantly being added to and is full of trillions of different views on practically everything. If it's used right (which is a whole other problem to get into) it's an amazing source. Use it. 
      
      As much as you want to believe that you watched the news, but developed your own opinion on the story, generally, you didn't. They're spoon-feeding you what they want you to know. Don't limit yourself to an already limited source when there are more than enough better ones out there. Be smart, use them. 

Thank you internet, this is one of the few things that you're actually doing right. 

[Read more about this topic in my racism post, history post, Haiti post, or, from the Cambodia blog, my Khmer Rouge post or media post] 

LM

      To be honest, stepping back into "civilisation" now, I feel more like I'm temporarily visiting, and in no time, I'll be back home: Haiti. 
      Haiti, as a country, is beautiful. No wonder it used to have so many tourists. The mountains in Fond Verrettes were remarkable. Haitians, as a population, are honestly just a pleasure. They are festive and happy, always singing and dancing. They treat you like family. During my visit, my Haitian mum offered to wash my bag, my shoes and more. She said she wanted everything that I have to be clean. On top of that, she also boiled my shower water when I had a cold because she said she didn't want me to get more sick. Another example is the community youth who came and stayed outside my door the morning I was sick in case I needed anything, or at the conference, when one of the cooks made me my own juice when all they were serving was chocolate milk and she found out I was lactose intolerant. From the youth to the parents, everyone was welcoming and took me in like I was family. 
      Their community, I think, represents the true definition of the word. They all know each other, help one another and work together. It's just a bonus that they included me in that. 
      Yes, it's true, food was tough for me. But everything else was fine; I was well accommodated. I think that the one-on-one home stay (where each Global Potential participant stays with a different host family) is extremely effective. We all faced our own family challenges and learned to overcome them. It gave us a chance to experience true Haitian life: we weren't just a group of visitors who went and did things our own way, the way we were used to.
      On top of just the local community, everyone from Global Potential was nice and welcoming, and that was great. We had some amazing staff who were always making us think about things in a different, interesting way. I can't even tell you how much I learned from that. 
      I think the set up of our program was also very solid. We got to experience Haiti in three different ways: Port-au-Prince (the city), Terre Froide (the village) and Forêt des Pins (the conference). It's great that we got to live through all three ways of Haitian life even though we were only in the country for such a short time. The actual Global Potential system was additionally well set up. We had a good balance of physical work in the morning, to interesting internships as well as some very though-provoking workshops in the afternoon. I enjoyed internships because it gave us the opportunity to come up with and work on our own projects, along with the ones we were obligated to do. For the workshops, I liked the fact that we were the ones leading them, and the same goes for the English classes. I also appreciate the weekend structure of our schedule. Having Saturday as an activity day gave us a chance to bond with each other and with the Terre Froide youth, while doing something fun. Sunday as a church/chores day was great for bonding with our Haitian families and for further understanding local life. During the weekdays, I found all our breaks to be the right length; we had a chance to eat, talk with our families, visit other houses, finish any work we still had, get started on our third phase projects and more. 
      As for the mandatory projects that we did (/the morning work), I really did think they would be harder. We could've worked more, but I think that the reason we didn't was because there were so many of us; each person had to do less. Obviously, if it was just the Global Potential participants who did the work, it would've been much harder. Regardless, it's not like we didn't accomplish anything, so it's fine. 
      As for the conference, I think that was also a very good experience, because it gave me the chance to meet more Haitian youth, to learn about the culture, to understand more about the problems they face as a country as well as discover how hopeful and enthused to better their country the youth are. The fact that we chose the topics we talked about was additionally very important. The idea of having the Forêt des Pins conference participants come back and stay in Terre Froide with us, was a very enjoyable experience; it gave us a chance to bond further in different environments. I would have liked to stay longer, so that I could have gone to the second conference down in Cité Soley. 
      All in all, even though there were moments when group moral was way down, and regardless of the fact that I was sick for most of it, I really did have a great time. I learned a lot and I am already starting to see how much it led me to grow as a person. I hope I will come back to Haiti soon, but more importantly back to my extended family in Terre Froide. I know for sure that I'm not done with them. Not yet. 

LM

       As I left Haiti this morning, I made a list of things that I noticed to be the same or similar between both communities I worked in this summer: the village in Kampong Cham, Cambodia and Terre Froide, Haiti. Overlaps in food, religion, daily life, the people and just the general culture. Here is what I came up with: 
      -Since they don't have all the nutrients they need in their meals, they fill up on what they do have: rice. Both countries had diets that were largely dependent on rice, it's cheap, available and won't leave them hungry.   
      -The shower process is essentially the same. The only real difference was that in Cambodia the water was already in the bathroom area whereas in Haiti we had to fill a bucket with water each time, but, after that, it's still a bucket shower. 
      -As soon as the sun sets, it's done. That's it. Not much else is going to get done because the main source of light just disappeared. After that, every one more or less just starts drifting home to go to bed. 
      -Early mornings… as I said, the sun is your main source of light, they go to bed early so they might as well be getting up early as well in order to utilise the hours of sunlight that they do have.
      -Family and community. They have very few material possessions, so, they understand what they have around them that matters. The sense of family and community is a lot stronger in both those countries than I think, unfortunately, they'll ever be in most of our own societies.
      -Running water and electricity don't necessarily come hand in hand. For us, they seem like givens, but in both communities there was only one place that had a bit of electricity from time to time, but neither had any running water whatsoever. 
      -Boredom: never an issue. I'm not sure they even know what the word means. They have each other and that can keep them entertained for hours on end. I've never seen any one of them with nothing to do and that shocks me a little bit. Here we are with a lot more stuff, yet always complaining of boredom. I won't get too much into this topic for the sake of this list, but it's something to think about. 
      -I came to understand that in both communities, the people know that they are classified under the term "poverty". I hate to say that they're poor because to me it seems like whatever they are lacking in possessions (if anything) they've made up for in life skills and values. But still, yes, they know that a lot of the rest of the world view them as poor. 
      -Understanding the outside. In addition to the last point, they also do have a general understanding that other countries aren't like theirs and again, basically, what others have that they don't.
      -Values. They know what they value and they act on it. That's all I'm going to say to explain this point, but I think that says enough, because it's already more than I can say for many of the people I know. 
      -Gratitude. For everything they receive, they give back gratitude. There are no exceptions to the word 'everything', and that's the way it should be. 
      -Religion. The religions in Cambodia (Buddhism) and Haiti (Catholic) are rather different, but in both countries I saw that they viewed it as a big aspect of their lives. They use it to guide themselves through their lives.  
      -Hope, if not more (I will be blogging about this in more detail soon). Basically, either they're hopeful for positive change in their country or they've taken the next step and they're motivated to bring it. I witnessed both cases and it truly is great. 
      -History. Both countries have lived through a generally horrible past. Is it fair to say that that has impacted the number of impoverished people in the countries today? 
      -Culture. I find the culture in both countries is so much richer that what I generally encounter. It made me realise how much culture is dying in most developed countries. We're so concerned with advancing, that we're forgetting our roots and developing at the expense of our culture. I find that that's really horrible... more and more countries have little to no culture and that shocks me. Not so much in the UAE, but as a whole it's still a fairly young country that had a rich culture to begin with, we'll see where it stands in 20-50 years. 
      -Happiness. I've said it before, but I'll say it again, it's impossible not to notice how much happier they are than us. Why? We could learn a thing or two from them. (Read more about this topic here or in one of the upcoming Haiti blog posts). 

LM

I don't want to leave. Ever. 

      I really don't want to go back anymore. I've been asking for it for a while, but now I don't want to. I've developed relationships with all (or most) of the Terre Froide people and they are great. I've become friends with the people I met at the conference and on top of that there are all the Global Potential people that I love. .. I don't want to leave because of the people here. Everyone, they are family now. 
      Staying was a struggle for me at first, because I was sick; I spent a total of twelve full days in Haiti: I had a cold for seven, stomach problems for eight and I wasn't able to eat for five... but for the last day or two I was fine. Healthy. Enjoying myself. Being sick wasn't so great, but it was bearable. Yes, my Haitian mum's cooking wasn't so great either, but I could eat elsewhere. Everything else, the food, the shower, the bed, everything, it was tolerable. It was all a new experience and that was refreshing.
      To be honest, when we arrived at the airport and I saw a TV playing, a lady wearing makeup, a man on Facebook on his iPhone, and all these big designer labels: Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton, everything... it just made me feel sick. All these things that we value as a society. It threw me off. Why do we lead our lives this way? I personally despise hypocrisy, but I know that I will slowly go back into being like the people I'm currently looking at with disgust. I know that I will start to refill my life with useless distractions. Because that's just the way it is. But, it makes me want to stay here. Where I'm not tempted by those things. Staying in Haiti, and in Terre Froide specifically, would mean staying in a life where it's just you, the environment and the people around. Not where you are more concerned with whichever screen it is you're staring at. I want to stay here, where people have their priorities and values straight. 

I know I have to leave. 
I know I will slowly go back into my regular life.
I know that, I, too, will have moments when I forget what's actually important. 
But, I know that I will never be able to view our screwed global society the same way again. 
Either way, I don't want to. My views have been flipped upside down, and it's going to stay that way. 

LM

Please support Yasmin, a Global Potential participant living in France who made this video as her third phase project. 

As I mentioned in the day summaries (days 4 and 5), my internship at the beginning of the trip included conducting interviews for her video. All footage is from Terre Froide, Haiti (the community where we were staying) and also shows clips of the soccer tournament that we organised. 

Enjoy.  

LM

Click here for my full conference reflection on the JUMP! Foundation blog.  

LM 

      Yesterday's sessions focused on debating and discussing the topics that were chosen. So, even though I said it was a problem in my last reflection, it didn't really matter that the sessions were too short. Today, though, was about coming up with solutions/projects on the issues. The first and most important thing to say is that if they expect us to really have a thorough project, we are going to need a lot more time. If they are fine with knowing everything we talk about won't actually happen, then okay, the sessions were the right length. But, if they want implementing the project after the conference to be realistic, we need more time in order to assign roles, figure out details etc. In some sessions, we didn't even get to start talking about a project, because by the time we had discussed which part of the problem to focus on, our time was already up. 
      But, I mean, it also depends on the participants. Maybe it's better for the Haitian youth to be introduced to several different projects that they could do, instead of having only a few solid, well thought out solutions that they will do. What we did today was more of an introduction than actually getting things done, but that's fine. 
      All of this is especially interesting for me, being one of the 5/150 nonHaitians here because I'm also learning a lot about Haiti and its culture, aside from their problems and coming up with solutions. For that reason, everything that we are doing here is very worth my while. 

LM

      After attending a session on education today, I decided to try to get to understand the Haitian educational system. I sat with one of the locals for a while and we discussed the topic. This is what he told me: 

General Information/Structure
      First of all, in Haiti, the school they attend depends on their social class: there are different schools for high, middle and lower classes. The lycée is the only school that is open to everyone (regardless of their social standing), but, the problems with them are that there aren't very many of them and that they are of a rather low quality. Lycées are the only schools in Haiti that are free. 
      The first level of education is called primary school. This is from levels one to six. Starting about two years ago, all primary schools are free (paid for by the government). Primary school is part of fundamental school, which consists of levels one to nine. For years seven, eight and nine, they can either pay (which most people do) or go to the lycées, that, again, are free. 
      After fundamental school is secondary school. Again, they have to pay for all of them except the lycées. Prices for secondary school could vary from $250 a month to $250 for the entire year. Like anywhere else in the world, it depends on the quality. Secondary school is made up of 4 levels: troisieme (third), seconde (second), terminale un (terminal one) and terminale deux (terminal two). Terminal one is called 'Rheto' and the latter is called 'Philo'.
      (Since only primary school is free-aside from the lycées-, some people stop their education after year six, since they can't afford the rest). 
      For universities, there is only one in the country that is free: the state university (L'université de l'état d'Haiti) or UEH. You can think of it as the scholarship school. They have to take a state exam and only people with scores above a certain numbers will be accepted. Those people are the tops of their class and generally only come from the schools for the higher classes. Similar to the lower schooling, the prices for university vary. Those who can't afford the other universities go to an 'école professionnelle' (professional school). They are cheaper, but not free. After university, jobs are extremely hard to find. So, even if they spent money on schools, they might not find work. 

Subjects
      In primary school (levels one through six), they learn five subjects: social science(/basic history), French, Creole, basic math and experimental science. After level six, they apply for a certificate. If they don't pass, they continue their fundamental school with the same five subjects they had in primary school. If they do pass, then for the rest of the fundamental school, on top of the five previously mentioned subjects, they also learn Spanish, English and biology.
      In secondary school, they learn chemistry, biology, French literature and Haitian literature. In the last two years of secondary school (terminal one and two) they learn two more subjects on top of the other four: geology and philosophy. 
      For university, like in any other country, they choose their subject. There are twelve subjects that are offered: medicine, agronomy, civil engineering, political science, psychology, sociology, science communication, anthropology, social economics, law, diplomacy and international relations. No schools in Haiti offer Doctorate or Masters programs, they have to go abroad to get them, which many of them cannot afford. 

Age
Unlike schooling systems elsewhere in the world, age does not determine what level they are in. I met...
      -a 12 year old in level 8 
      -a 15 year old in level 5 
      -a 17 year old in university 
      -a 22 year old in level 9
As you can see, all ages are mixed.  

Other Information
      The majority of Haitian communities have a primary school. Secondary schools, on the other hand, are generally only found in major cities. This means that even if somebody has the money to pay for secondary schools, they may not be able to afford transportation to the city. 
      If they stop their education after primary school, the jobs they could find include truck drivers, factory workers, anything working with machinery and other forms of, generally, manual labour. Getting a good job requires the continuation of their studies, but, unfortunately, people can't always afford it. And as I said, even if they do continue all the way through university, finding a job afterwards will still be difficult. 
      Since levels one through six are free, there are several issues with primary school. The main two being that they aren't always of great quality and also that the majority of teachers don't get paid. As a result, they quit, and Haiti is facing a problem with a lack of teachers. 
      All in all, since school isn't mandatory, the main challenge in getting kids to attend is that they have to have motivation to want to go. If they can't afford it, they stop after level 6 which leaves them with limited options for the future. On top of that, if their parents need them to stay home and work (to help make an income for the family), then that stops them from attending as well. This is just a general introduction to the educational problems Haiti faces. 

LM

      For one of the sessions today, I attended something called 'The Goat Project'. There were some other interesting topics, like leadership and libraries, at the same time, and as much as I wanted to go to those, I could do that in a conference in any other country. This project, on the other hand, isn't something I will have many other chances to learn about. As a result, I decided to take the opportunity to discover something new. 
      The Goat Project is something that Terre Froide has already done in the past through their youth organisation, l'Association pour le Développement Culturel des Jeunes de Terre Froide or just ADCJTF (The Association for the Cultural Development of the Youth in Terre Froide).

What is the Goat Project-
      Basically, they get a female goat and a male goat to breed. The offspring are then distributed to different youth within the community. The person who receives a goat has to take care of it and can eventually kill or sell it, if necessary. 

Purpose-
      There are several different purposes to this project, all of which I find really interesting. 
      In some sorts, it's micro financing... Haitian style. It teaches them business, responsibility, the importance of taking care of animals and more. It can also help them if they are ever stuck financially. 
      In order to be able to sell the goat or its meat, it has to be well fed and healthy. Taking care of the animal teaches them to be responsible and also shows them how to support something other than themselves and their families. This project can additionally teach them- only to a limited extent since they might end up killing the goat- animal rights. I've noticed that animal abuse is a big problem here and the Goat Project shows them the importance of taking care of the animals, instead of hurting them. If they don't, then they won't be able to sell or trade it, thus destroying the micro financing aspect of the structure. 
      For micro financing, since they don't have any products to sell, they've adapted the system to something that they do have. Once they've learned responsibility, how to take care of animals and so on, they can then sell the goat. They could either kill the goat and sell the meat and/or hair coats, keep the goat alive and sell only the hair or, they could sell the live goat. If they do end up killing the goat, but decide they don't want to sell it, they could also use the animal's coat, and eat the meat; keep it for themselves.  
      This is important because, you never know, things could go wrong and they could end up with no money. But, if they need it, this allows them to have a back up. In some senses, it's a security blanket: the goat can either be food for them to eat or it could supply them with the money they need to buy food. 

Process- 
      All they really have to do, as a community, is fundraise to buy one or more pairs of goats. I checked with one of the families here who already have one and they said they weren't expensive to buy. This means that the first steps of the project are: fundraising, buying the goats, and getting them to mate. Volunteers or project leaders take care of the parent goats. While the offspring are getting to the right age at which they can leave their mother, evaluations are being run in the community. The leader(s) of this project go and find households that need the benefits of the program most and that are fit to take care of the goats (won't end up abusing them. Once the baby goats are ready, the chosen households will get the offspring. Meanwhile, the parents will continue to mate, which means the project continues for more "rounds". 
      Since the community didn't have to buy the offspring- only the two parents- the chosen families don't have to pay to receive their goat. As a result, the family won't be in any sort of debt or financial trouble due to their participation in the program. 
      They are included in the project without having to pay anything, which shows it is affordable and the system keeps going until the parents can't mate anymore, which shows it is sustainable. 

Thoughts-
      Personally, I find this concept really interesting. It's a good example of Haitians using the resources that they do have to help themselves. It additionally shows how Haitians, generally, never give up; they are all determined to do what is in their power to help their community to advance. Even though they don't have the means to start typical micro financing, they are still able to make their own system and that's really cool. They are being independent and self-sufficient through this project, and on top of that, the fact that it's sustainable and not too costly is also great. All in all, the project is really unique and I am glad I attended this session. 

LM