Boiling up...

I am frustrated at the people who are frustrated at the people who are frustrated…huh? I have a point, I promise!


I’ve never gone hungry; I grew up in a house that had an actual room as a pantry. Where, rice, beans, pasta, flour, sugar, canned milk and more, were stocked as if we had our own private grocery store, where the freezers were always filled with meat. I grew up around the time where refrigerators could still be on, all day long, because electricity wasn’t an issue. I grew up, expecting and always getting breakfast, lunch, snacks, dinner and super. I have never gone hungry. I don’t know what it feels like to be hungry. Even the days that I would complain of being “grangou”, my parents would remind me of what the actual words meant…”avoir grand gout”, far from being hungry; I will not attempt to describe what I think it feels like to be hungry, the kind where someone goes a couple of days without eating. That would be somewhat insulting to try, in my opinion. I will stick to the fact that again; I have never been nor gone hungry.

I have never gone without shelter, as early as I could remember, we always had a house. A nice house, at one point when we lived in Carrefour we had the nicest house in the neighborhood. Then Carrefour wasn’t enough so we moved to Village Theodat in La Plaine, where again we had a gorgeous house. I started counting the bedrooms and stopped at eight….so shelter has never been a problem for me. With the house came the transportation, never an issue there. Each parent had a car, and then there were the chauffeurs, so the only time I took a camionette (public transportation) in my life was because I wanted to, or I had to sneak and do something that my parents did not approve of. When electricity became scarce, I had the Delco, then the Inverter, so again, when most were in the dark I managed to still study, do my homework without any real issues. In addition to regular Haitian games kids played, I grew up with the Nitendo, Satellite TV, being able to travel to the States. I took violin lessons (even though I couldn’t play to save my life), tennis lesson…etc.…so again, I never needed for anything.

Most of the people around me grew up the same way. We all went about our business; most of the time really thinking that life was just that way. I am sure we saw the differences and the inequalities, yet what could we do? As for me, I was just a kid, whose parents were able to provide. I will forever be grateful to GOD for that.

I have said all this to make what point? No, I did not just want to brag about how well I had it growing up. I am frustrated. I am frustrated at the people who are frustrated at the people who take to the streets and cause havoc!

People, Haitians at that, who say that that’s all we are good at, that we have perfected the art of burning tires, breaking businesses and killing each other. I am frustrated at these people. Who sit behind their computers, and tweet or chat all day long about how barbaric Haitians are, without taking a minute to think of WHY they do the things they do.

How would you feel if you couldn’t eat?

How would you feel if your kids could not eat?

How about if you’ve been living under a tent for now eleven months with no apparent hope of leaving there?

How would you feel if you kids have not been able to go to school at all this year, and the year is a month shy of being over…a few weeks actually!

How about if you had no access to clean water and people around you were dying of Cholera, at a rate of thirty people a day! HOW WOULD YOU FEEL?? Yes I am screaming!

I do not condone violence. I don’t pardon the fact that someone goes out and destroy what others have worked hard to create. But “tout chien jennen mode”, desperation must make people do crazy things.

I would be frustrated if I couldn’t feed Alexa and Dimitri…I would want answers and even be tempted to break things. I am human, but as long as they keep treating me like an animal, my behavior will reflect that.

I can’t judge these people, for wanting to fight and break for a change. For once I should and will attempt to understand their frustration and commit to doing something about it. I can’t expect them to act like civilized and rational people when I have treated them with so little regard for so long.

Yes, we must find other ways of expressing our anger and frustrations.

Yes, we must engage in dialogue and find common grounds to resolve our so many issues.

But, No, the Haitian people aren’t barbaric.

The Haitian people are tired of being mistreated.

They are reacting to actions committed against them…I need to understand them!