When I decided to come to the Dominican Republic and Haiti
it was just an idea. I had a friend in the Peace Corps who I have worked with before
he left for service. Personally, I knew he worked hard and I also knew that he
took service seriously. So why not? He posted numerous pictures and summaries
about his work and I was inspired. As I begin to reach out to him he became
excited about having a team of volunteers come out to support as he was located
on the south board of Haiti and Dominican Republic in a town called Elias Pina.
So I thought,” Damn it now I really have to go”. Again at that time I still had
no vision for the trip just a calling to go. One thing that I do to stay in
integrity is to tell my plan or goal to someone else, this way I cant put it
ff. It no longer is a nice idea but something I am meant to do. I began to do
my research on the country as I do research before I enter any new space. Of
course I agree no amount of research can prepare you for what is to come.
However, as I begin to do my research I soon realized why God had called me to
do the work in Dominican Republic. There was a current law being passed that
would extradite any Haitians who illegally lived in Dominican Republic. More
importantly, there was a group of about 100,000 STATELESS people in the
Dominican Republic. Stateless means that there is a group of people who were
born in the DR however, the government has labeled them Haitian based on skin
color and denied them documentation. These individuals have no place to call home,
obviously we can see the problem.
As I continued to do research on the history of Haiti and DR
I realized that their issue of skin color is not only subjective to them.
However, in America we face the same issues, especially currently with the killings
of black and brown bodies. Because of my skin color, which is dark, I realized
that just like in South Africa I needed to prepare myself for what was to come.
I began to look myself in the mirror and tell myself all of the things I
thought I would hear while in Haiti as a way to prepare myself. After a while,
I realized that no matter how much I prepared no one can ever be prepared for
something so tragic. So I resulted in just having my trip be what it was meant
to be. God was going to have me have the experience I was mean to have
regardless.
When I landed in the Dominican Republic I immediately got
emotional. Again I felt unprepared and a group of people was looking to me to
be their leader. I also had been reading Kirsten Gillibrand’s book called “Off
the Sidelines” and was inspired by her words to call women forth to lead. When
I exited the plane I vowed I would do my best and also God would not call me to
do this work if he did not think I was the right person. Sometimes you just
gotta leap and pray that someone catches you.
This trip was me leap. And I am glad I was the pathway for
many of the United States Social Change Agents to experience the work I love.
We hit the ground running and even though we didn’t speak Spanish or creole, we
all showed up and tried our best. On the days to come each Social Change Agent
will give their review. I hope you are inspired. Matter fact I hope you book
your ticket to another country to engage in service.
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