Spring watering in Haiti
Ryan Alexander – Volunteer, Pedernales.
As a volunteer with PADF on the border I have had the good fortune of being able to travel within the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The following story recaps a trip that I took into Port au Prince that most certainty impacted my life positively.
On Sunday July 5th, I spent the afternoon at a natural spring/watering hole 20 minutes outside of Port au Prince, Haiti. As we entered the premises, everyone looked at us mostly because this was a Haitian hangout spot, and we weren’t Haitian. We were approached by many but understood no one, nor could they understand us. All of the Haitians soaking up the sun and swimming in the natural spring spoke Creole and not French. This created a language barrier between us and them, and at the same time may have triggered some feelings of discomfort due to their uncertainty for the reason of our presence.
Their skepticism of our presence slowly turned into acceptance and tranquility as they observed that we were only there to enjoy ourselves. But the language barrier still stood tall and strong.
I noticed a group of young men standing in a circle juggling a soccer ball. Since I’m a lover of all sports, without hesitation I approached the young men with a smile and a mesmerizing gaze at the soccer ball…surely enough the circle opened up to me. Unable to engage the local crowd in any other way, I had done it through the international language of sport.
Now that I was part of ‘the circle’, they trusted me, the ball was passed to me, and channels of communication opened: One of the boys attempted to communicate with me in a mixture of Creole and English. He asked me if I knew Justin Timberlake or Eminem: My answer was “Oui, je les connais”, and as if the ‘tri-voweled French affirmation’ were a magical word, the language barrier came tumbling down. We were now communicating, laughing, and giving each other high-fives all while passing the soccer ball around. We soon figured out that my French could be understood by them, and if spoken slowly (with the help of some hand gestures) I could understand some Creole.
After 30 minutes of fantastic skill displayed by the young men and fascinating conversations with ‘the soccer guys’, ranging from talking about the Obama administration to girl friends, it was time for me to get back to the group I had arrived with and head back to Port au Prince. My parting from ‘the soccer guys’ was sad. I had created a bond, a friendship, and a team, and now I was leaving them.
But I left with great memories and thought provoking feelings…
Sports are, no doubt, a fundamental tool to team building. Through sports, any kind of barrier can be broken. I think that the young men went home that night and shared with their families how great it was to be able to kick a soccer ball around with “Messieur Blanch” (Mr. White – as they called me). I hope they shared with their families a similar story about how great the ‘cultural exchange’ was and how they were impacted by the experience – After all, It’s not often that ‘the soccer guys’ play with Messiuer Blanch. They can now say they that they played on a team, like none before.
This cultural exchange impacted me immensely: If I could break the language and culture barrier through immersing myself through sport, surely I could do so through other means. This gave me a positive outlook on development work and most specifically the cross border work .This is one of the many great experiences I have had on the Island of Hispaniola… experiences I will never forget.
#1 by Louis Alexander on August 11th, 2009
Pretty cool Ryan, you taught me that the language of commmunication has less to do with language than with a state of mind.