Bridging the Culture Gap

When you move between cultures as different  as the USA and Haiti, it's not just language that creates a hurdle to overcome, but so many aspects of life--economic, religious, climate, habits of life of all kinds.
The Haitian people are surprisingly reserved--quite different from the Latin cultures with which I am more familiar.  Perhaps their long history of struggle, poverty, oppression and lack of recognition for who they are has contributed to that, I'm not sure.  But whatever the factors, it has produced a people who often posses a quiet dignity, with a sense of spontaneity and joy, laughter, and a sense of humor.
Our driver and translator, Moises, is an example of this.  A single man in his 40's, he owns some property which provides income, but like many Haitians does not have any kind of regular full time employment.  When groups like us come to visit, he has work.  But  behind his reserved exterior, he is a man with amazing life experience and an incredible sense of humor.

Victo and Jonathan

 Our two construction workers for the week, Alex and Victo, have been a surprise as well.  On the ride home  one day we learned that Vito has 8 children,  and  Alex, who barely  looks old enough to be married, has  two teenagers.  Tonight I wondered: we are providing their income this week with our building project.  What will they be doing next week?  Life goes on in Haiti whether you have work or not, and there's no unemployment....  Our other driver, Bennes, has 6 children,  and would like to take English classes to improve his rudimentary language skills and maybe get a job.  Again, we gave him a little income  for a week.
I have never experienced a culture where the gap felt so wide.
I hope by our  continued presence here  a sense  of trust may grow with some we see on each visit.  We can do small things here in a material way, but a sense of presence, and some  small steps of trust and understanding feel equally of value.