I'm in Loma Linda, CA today. My brother has a residency interview at LLU, and I got to come along for a little roadtrip.
I've learned that it's possible for a human to survive with the heart of animal. In 1980 something, some doctors at Loma Linda University put the heart of a baboon into a newborn ("Baby Fae") with a heart defect. The child lived for a month with the heart of a baboon keeping it alive.
Oh, and Loma Linda means "beautiful hill"... we haven't seen them yet though because we arrived when it was dark already.
A year ago, I took a world geography course... and remember seeing this photograph of the Haitian/Dominican Republic border in class. Whenever I think of Haiti, I think of this:
I've learned that the U.N. has a list of fourth world countries (LDC's), and Haiti is the only one from the Western Hemisphere.
I was curious about their history and current situation, so I've done a little research and here's what I've found:
Quick History
In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue! And the island of Hispaniola (includes present-day Haiti and Dominican Republic) was discovered by Spanish settlers. Within 25 years, the native Arawak Amerindians were annihilated by these settlers.
In 1697, the French took over the western third of the island and called it Haiti, which means "land of mountains." The colony became wealthy through forestry and sugar industries, relying on African slave labor for their success.
In 1801, Toussaint Louverture, a former black slave, lead a successful rebellion that abolished slavery and put himself in leadership. A few years later, Haiti gained its independence, and in 1806 was divided into the black-controlled north and biracial-controlled south.
In 1915, the U.S. invaded Haiti because of the friction between the north and south regions. They implemented some positive improvements, but lack of overall progress forced President Hoover to appoint the Forbes commission in 1930 to investigate the situation. By 1934, the U.S. withdrew troops, but maintained fiscal control until 1947.
In 1956, under a military coup, a voodoo physician named Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier gained power and was elected president the following year. Eventually, he established a dictatorship which was taken over by his son "Baby Doc" upon his death in 1971. The son eventually fled Haiti in 1986.
In 1990, Jean-Bertrand Aristide was elected president. Since then, he and Rene Preval have taken non-consecutive terms. Currently, Aristide is in exile and Preval is president.
Current Situation
Because of Haiti's deforestation, it has been left vulnerable to devastating floods and hurricanes, especially hurricanes Dennis and Jeanne in the past few years. They face other issues, like an inadequate sewage system and water supply, inflation, and a severe trade-deficit. One thing that caught my interest though was the system of forced child-labor that's currently in place...
Child Slavery in a Modern World? You'd think we'd be past this, but we're not. In Haiti, rural families are poor enough that they're often not able to feed their own children. The solution is to send their children to the city to live with other families. They cook, clean, run errands, all in exchange for a bed, food, and the "promise" of an education. It sounds like a decent system, and many Haitians consider it to be their form of a foster care system.
In reality, these children are often abused, denied an education, and most of them have no future. Around 14 or 15 years of age, the city families leave these kids on the streets for younger, more submissive children. The boy teenagers either become street children or join gangs, and most of the girls become prostitutes. There are around 300,000 of these children living in Haiti, called "restavecs" (a Creole term, meaning "stays with"). Check out some of the links for some compelling stories and organizations.
Articles:
BBC: "Haitian Child Slavery Under Spotlight"
BBC: "The Life and Lessons of a Former Child Slave"
BBC: "Country Profile: Haiti" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/country_profiles/1202772.stm)
FOXNews: "Trafficking Case Exposes Child Servitude"
MSNBC: "Kids Forced Into Domestic Servitude in Haiti"
MSNBC: "Lost Children of Haiti" Special
NPR: "Haiti's Dark Secret: The Restavecs"
Books:
Restavec: From Haitian Slave Child to Middle-Class American
Disposable People: New Slavery in a Global Economy
Organizations:
I've never understood why people love pictures and photo albums so much, why photos are the first thing people would save from a fire. To me, I just think, we're all gonna be gone someday, and generations to come will also be gone someday, and all that work of storing pictures in boxes and albums will be meaningless. But I've learned that it's fun to look back and remind yourself it's okay to be a goof-ball sometimes. And it's a good way to remind yourself to be grateful for people, good times, and lessons learned.
I've learned that being alone too much is not healthy. When I was in high school, I spent a lot of time in my room just thinking. I even had this chair that I called my "reflecting chair". When you're left to your own thoughts, when you don't have other people to bounce ideas off of, things get out of proportion. You don't laugh as easily. You get so used to over-analyzing everything, that you can't survive conversations with people; you always feel the need to step away and think.
I've learned that being around people is good medicine. And asking questions is more fun than having all the answers.
I've learned that it's better to focus on making other people feel valued than spend any time wondering if anyone values me. I've learned it takes a lot of initiative to not care what people think of me.
I've learned that when I say I'm going to do something everyday, it doesn't always happen.
I've learned that change doesn't magically happen when you understand yourself, feel good about yourself, change your environment, give yourself rules to follow, when you try really hard, or even when you know what you have to do. There's another way called surrender. It doesn't mean giving up, it means giving over. You give it over to God, ask him to do what you've tried and failed to do.
Welcome to my new blog...
Today I learned that Guitar Hero III does, in fact, blend in a Blendtec blender.
