Fun at the Batey in the Dominican Republic.
After doing mission work in Haiti, our mission team traveled to do work in the Dominican Republic (DR). We left on a Thursday morning — an early Thursday morning — to get to the border. We wanted to get there early because it was market day. On this day, several Haitians travel to the border to get supplies.
I think travelling from Haiti to the DR was the worst travelling experience of my life thus far. Here’s a glimpse of what happened:
- Despite getting to the border early, we still waited hours to cross. There were so many people there, and it was extremely busy.
- It cost $15 each to leave Haiti. We did pay a little extra for easy, express service though. We sent our passports with some team members and a Haitian native through customs to get our stamp for leaving Haiti.
- It then cost $10 to enter the DR. We ended having to get off the bus and wait in line to get our passports stamped by customs to enter the DR. There were still crowds of people. Also, I’d like to give a side-eyeing shout-out to the men who cat called, “Senora, Senora.” (Oh, you men-folk!)
- We get back on the bus after getting our passports stamped and start driving. We had to switch buses from a Haitian bus to a DR bus. We, originally, didn’t think that they would allow our Haitian bus to cross the border, and we thought we would have to walk; I am thankful that we didn’t (This was the best thing about crossing the border). After driving for exactly one minute, we were stopped by the police. The officer asks to show our passports to make sure we aren’t Haitians trying to cross (because, you know, we’re black) or smuggling Haitians over (I guess). Two more men came onto the bus to do the same. One guy came by and looked at each passport. Another came on the bus through the back door and tried to take our passports. Apparently, they claimed we missed getting an additional stamp at customs. Two team members took our passports and went with them. We waited for a long time, again, as officers stood around our bus with their big guns. When the guys returned with our passports, we noticed there was no extra stamp, so thank you for nothing! However, they did try to charge us more money. We were then allowed to travel a few feet down the road to switch buses.
- As we drove through the DR, we were stopped by officers each time we reached a new town. The officers would even get on the bus, look around and ask about our business and for passports (because, you know, we’re black, so we could be Haitians). This happened both days that we were there.
A view of the sugar cane plants and mountains.
Despite the horrid traveling experienced through the country, the best part was visiting children at a Batey. A Batey is a plantation that is worked by domestic servants. The workers are of Haitian descent; however, most of the families have been there for decades, which means that new generations have been born here on the Batey in the DR. They have their own culture here now. Instead of speaking Creole or French, they speak Spanish. You would think this means that the babies born in the DR are considered natives of the DR, but they are not. They are viewed as Haitians and are treated horribly. It’s pretty much an out of control light skin/dark skin argument that has gotten way out of hand. After all, people in the DR, historically, mixed from Haitians and Spaniards. Therefore; they are the same people! So honey, in case you missed it, all black is beautiful. The worst thing, I think, is that the government does not even acknowledge the racism.
Things are so bad that, while we were there, the DR government was preparing to “socially cleanse” (deport) their Haitian natives back to Haiti. This is despite the fact the majority of the people have never even been to Haiti. For more information, check out this article from The New York Times.
The Batey we visited was formerly a cotton plantation, but it now harvests sugar cane. Here’s the catch: the sugar cane fields are worked by workers who are brought in from Guatemala. They don’t even allow the “Haitians” to work the land. At this Batey, the living conditions are very poor. Only a few people have electricity, most of the homes do not have a nice roof that can keep the rain out and only five percent of the people who live there have constant work. I could also tell that, as a result of all of this, the people’s mindsets were, well, rough. Due to their heritage, they are not even given the opportunity to become better.
It really breaks my heart that people feel that they have it bad in Haiti, so they struggle to go to the DR, and, when they get there, the conditions are the same if not way worse. The areas in the DR where “true” natives live are so much better than Bateys. At least they were treated like good people in Haiti.
The church we visited at the Batey.
But the Batey children were very happy to see us. We hung out at their church and enjoyed making puppets, jumping rope, singing and praising God. I pray that each of those kids and their families were able to stay in the DR and were not harmed. I also hope that the racial tensions will lighten up and get better. Finally, I hope that the living conditions, for those of Haitian descendants, will be immensely better in the future.
Here’s some updated information on the social cleanse situation.
18.735693
-70.162651
While doing mission work in Hispaniola, our mission team spent a lot of time working, but we also had some time to have fun. I am all for adding some play to my work.
When we arrived at the orphanage, it felt like it was about 150 degrees outside. This was the hottest day yet! The kids greeted us as they assembled into the chapel. We enjoyed doing different crafts with them, jumping rope and singing songs. We also went on a tour of the orphanage. The conditions were not good; in fact, I think they were the worst out of all the orphanages that we visited. This made me really sad. However, I’m glad we were able to spend some time with the kids and brighten their day.
Miss Gabrielle Bellamy 