Across much of the world, there has been modest to significant success in reducing high birth rates and high poverty levels. In Haiti, not so. High birth rates (five children per family) and extreme poverty remain stubbornly high. Why?
Two anthropologists try to answer this difficult question. Timothy T. Schwartz makes a micro-analysis in his book, Fewer Men, More Babies, 2009. Michel-Folph Trouillot makes a macro-analysis in his book, Haiti, State Against Nation, 1990. It takes both books to provide a complete answer.
While most people and even many scholars blame Haitian flaws in values, culture and illiteracy, etc., Schwartz concludes the cause for high birth rates is primarily economic in the sense that many children are needed to provide the labor to survive. One Haitian mother put it very simply: "Six can help you more. Some will work in the garden. Some to fetch water. Some will do laundry."
In Haiti, State Against the Nation, Trouillot argues that an overly militarized political state oppresses/exploits/dominates the rural peasant farmers and keeps them in grinding poverty. Ideally, the state should serve the people building roads, schools, etc. But much more often in Haiti, it is the state against the people. And much too often the urban elite are in cahoots with a foreign U.S. elite to exploit the rural masses. The French elite slavemasters were kicked out during the Revolution (1791-1804). Unfortunately this French elite was quickly replaced by a small Haitian elite.
Now back to Timothy Schwartz and his analysis.
"For more than a half a century, the county Jean Rabel has been the target of intense foreign intervention, most of which has met with indifference. But entrenched poverty and high fertility are not consequences of a nostalgic clinging to a rustic way of life, nor some shortcoming in the collective Haitian psyche or culture, as suggested by former USAID director Harris. Jean Rabel farmers conceptualize farming as the lowliest of occupations; virtually all rural Rabelians would prefer to migrate out of Jean Label and preferably out of Haiti; and many women interviewed in the surveys conducted for this book stated quite frankly that they would prefer not to have many children but, as will be seen, they must have children because they believe that children [and their labor] are necessary to survive."
"Thus, in the struggle to maintain their living standards, those Haitians who cannot escape by emigrating are trapped in a system of spiraling population growth, declining soil conditions, and stagnant technology. It is a system beyond their control. There is no active [positive] State presence in rural Haiti; and local community organizational structures are often functionally nonexistent beyond the level of the household."
Schwartz is incensed that many of his fellow anthropologists have started to favor "explanations that blame impoverishment and high birth rates on the impoverished peoples themselves, on their values, cultures and traditions," not on 500 years of oppression. L.E. Harrison, a former branch director of USAID in Haiti, typified this attitude when he wrote, "To repeat, the principal obstacles to progress in Haiti are cultural: a set of traditional attitudes and values. . . . The solutions must focus on obstacles in the Haitian mind." Again, not cultural, but oppression that has damaged culture.
"Jean Rabel women achieve what are among the highest birthrates in the world and they do so despite high incidence of disease, low-fat diets, intense work regimes, scarce resources, low male-to-female sex ratios, and high geographic mobility of both men and women, all factors that militate against pregnancy and childbirth."
On migration:
"Many Jean Rabeliens desperately tried---and many succeeded---to escape to the city and to neighboring countries, to the United States, and to Europe. For example, the migration of the village elite. . . is alarming [brain drain]."
On the value of children:
"The bottom line is that despite a few concerns about school costs, farmers in Jean Label want children. They see children as valuable economic assets and more children are better than fewer children." "Children are the wealth of the poor" a Haitian proverb.
On status of women:
"Haitian women enjoy a level of economic autonomy that often rivals or exceeds that of their spouses."
In my next blog, I will review Haiti, State Against Nation.
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Monday, November 28, 2016
Paraphrase and Application of James Two
Paraphrase of James, chapter two.
"In your churches, you are honoring the rich and discriminating against the poor. How stupid, how evil, can you be! It is the rich who oppress you, exploit you, humiliate and batter you. Are you a bunch of spiritual idiots? This is NOT God's way!
Here is God's way. God has a special concern for the oppressed poor. God choses and honors the poor as the first citizens of his kingdom, with full rights and privileges. But you are abusing these special citizens of God's kingdom.
God wants you to go down-and-in, to live among the down-and-outers; think: "a generation, in one location." Under local leadership, minister to the poor, release the oppressed. Do works of Jubilee justice to release the oppressed. Combine faith and works; incarnate the kingdom of God."
Application of James two to Haiti.
Jean Thomas, in the fall of 2012, began to train six Haitian young men how to do Christian Community Development in poverty-stricken rural Haiti. They would be trained, challenged and inspired to go down-and-in to minister to the oppressed poor.
This is a very tough and demanding assignment; Jean Thomas expected two or three to drop out; but all six graduated and are doing CCD in their chosen communities. Quickly the Riceville Haiti Mission, the Covenant church and the Cumberland Presbyterian church became their partners in ministry.
Enter the Riceville Haiti Mission, January 2013. The Riceville Haiti Mission team had the good fortune to live with, work with, and hang out with, the six Caleb interns as they were called. In a short period of time, a week, a remarkably deep bonding occurred. The Caleb CCD'ers/pastors are now settled in their communities, starting the long and difficult task of rebuilding their communities.
Two Riceville couples, Paul and Janet and Darwin and Leola, have expanded their bonding to partnership; I think this partnership will be lifelong. When doing CCD in rural Haiti, we must think long term; short term projects won't do the job. The damage done by 500 years of oppression is deep and pervasive. Think of staying in one location for a generation, a lifetime.
One way to put it to think of the three "C's": call, comfort, and commitment. Paula and Janet, Darwin and Leola have responded to God's call, to the enormous need of the Haitian poor. And they feel comfortable, at home with the oppressed poor of Haiti. And they have made a long term commitment; one couple even revised their will taking the needs of the Haitian poor into consideration.
Pau Thomas, Jean's Haitian brother, started many projects in Haiti but not under the umbrella of CCD; these projects failed. Only wise, carefully designed CCD ministries, will get the job done.
"In your churches, you are honoring the rich and discriminating against the poor. How stupid, how evil, can you be! It is the rich who oppress you, exploit you, humiliate and batter you. Are you a bunch of spiritual idiots? This is NOT God's way!
Here is God's way. God has a special concern for the oppressed poor. God choses and honors the poor as the first citizens of his kingdom, with full rights and privileges. But you are abusing these special citizens of God's kingdom.
God wants you to go down-and-in, to live among the down-and-outers; think: "a generation, in one location." Under local leadership, minister to the poor, release the oppressed. Do works of Jubilee justice to release the oppressed. Combine faith and works; incarnate the kingdom of God."
Application of James two to Haiti.
Jean Thomas, in the fall of 2012, began to train six Haitian young men how to do Christian Community Development in poverty-stricken rural Haiti. They would be trained, challenged and inspired to go down-and-in to minister to the oppressed poor.
This is a very tough and demanding assignment; Jean Thomas expected two or three to drop out; but all six graduated and are doing CCD in their chosen communities. Quickly the Riceville Haiti Mission, the Covenant church and the Cumberland Presbyterian church became their partners in ministry.
Enter the Riceville Haiti Mission, January 2013. The Riceville Haiti Mission team had the good fortune to live with, work with, and hang out with, the six Caleb interns as they were called. In a short period of time, a week, a remarkably deep bonding occurred. The Caleb CCD'ers/pastors are now settled in their communities, starting the long and difficult task of rebuilding their communities.
Two Riceville couples, Paul and Janet and Darwin and Leola, have expanded their bonding to partnership; I think this partnership will be lifelong. When doing CCD in rural Haiti, we must think long term; short term projects won't do the job. The damage done by 500 years of oppression is deep and pervasive. Think of staying in one location for a generation, a lifetime.
One way to put it to think of the three "C's": call, comfort, and commitment. Paula and Janet, Darwin and Leola have responded to God's call, to the enormous need of the Haitian poor. And they feel comfortable, at home with the oppressed poor of Haiti. And they have made a long term commitment; one couple even revised their will taking the needs of the Haitian poor into consideration.
Pau Thomas, Jean's Haitian brother, started many projects in Haiti but not under the umbrella of CCD; these projects failed. Only wise, carefully designed CCD ministries, will get the job done.
Monday, November 21, 2016
American and Haitian History
American and Haitian history, though different in many ways, are frighteningly similar in other ways.
Both the U.S. and Haitian nations were created by violent revolutions and both nations have been plagued by excessive violence ever since. Unfortunately, neither country was led into freedom non-violently by a Gandhi or a Mandela.
The Haitian Revolution---1804---eliminated French physical slavery.
The American Revolution---1776---did not eliminate American physical slavery; only 84 years later was slavery eliminated by an exceedingly violent Civil War.
Though both Haitian and U.S. citizens loudly celebrate freedom, the freedom gained was shallow because it was not accompanied by justice.
In the U.S., the rich British elite was replaced by a rich American elite. In Haiti, the French elite was replaced by a rich Haitian elite.
In the U.S., slavery was replaced by segregation, sharecropping, prison gangs, and lynching. In Haiti, slavery was replaced by debt slavery to the French for over 100 years.
Today, the U.S. is dominated by a Wall Street elite that oppresses poor blacks and whites. Today, Haiti is dominated by a Haitian political/economic elite that oppress the poor; often the U.S. and Haitian elites cooperate in their oppression.
In neither country does the church preach and practice the kingdom of God as Jubilee justice for the oppressed poor. In both countries, the church neglects justice and the love of God.
Both the U.S. and Haitian nations were created by violent revolutions and both nations have been plagued by excessive violence ever since. Unfortunately, neither country was led into freedom non-violently by a Gandhi or a Mandela.
The Haitian Revolution---1804---eliminated French physical slavery.
The American Revolution---1776---did not eliminate American physical slavery; only 84 years later was slavery eliminated by an exceedingly violent Civil War.
Though both Haitian and U.S. citizens loudly celebrate freedom, the freedom gained was shallow because it was not accompanied by justice.
In the U.S., the rich British elite was replaced by a rich American elite. In Haiti, the French elite was replaced by a rich Haitian elite.
In the U.S., slavery was replaced by segregation, sharecropping, prison gangs, and lynching. In Haiti, slavery was replaced by debt slavery to the French for over 100 years.
Today, the U.S. is dominated by a Wall Street elite that oppresses poor blacks and whites. Today, Haiti is dominated by a Haitian political/economic elite that oppress the poor; often the U.S. and Haitian elites cooperate in their oppression.
In neither country does the church preach and practice the kingdom of God as Jubilee justice for the oppressed poor. In both countries, the church neglects justice and the love of God.
Religious Corpses
How many religious corpses do you have on your church roles?
Is your church full of stained glass Christians or street suffering Christians? Is your church full of dirt poor Christians or filthy rich Christians? James asserts that dirt poor Christians are first citizens of his kingdom, his favorites.
James writes with the bluntness of an OT prophet. Listen to some selected verses from chapter two (The Message):
"Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?"
"Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove."
"You believe in one God. Demons do that."
"Faith fruitful in works [Jubilee justice works]."
"The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works [of justice] and you get the same thing, a [religious] corpse."
When there are no works of Jubilee justice, the defective church allows oppression to run wild, creating and traumatizing the poor, creating the arrogant rich.
Is your church full of stained glass Christians or street suffering Christians? Is your church full of dirt poor Christians or filthy rich Christians? James asserts that dirt poor Christians are first citizens of his kingdom, his favorites.
James writes with the bluntness of an OT prophet. Listen to some selected verses from chapter two (The Message):
"Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?"
"Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove."
"You believe in one God. Demons do that."
"Faith fruitful in works [Jubilee justice works]."
"The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works [of justice] and you get the same thing, a [religious] corpse."
When there are no works of Jubilee justice, the defective church allows oppression to run wild, creating and traumatizing the poor, creating the arrogant rich.
Thursday, November 17, 2016
Which Donald Trump will Govern?
Repeal and Replace.
Which Trump will govern? Will it be this Donald Trump? According to an editorial in the November 17,Des Moines Register, in 2015, Trump said that socialized medicine in Scotland 'works incredibly well'".
Trump continued:
"Everybody's got to be covered. This is an un-Republican thing for me to say. . . . I am going to take care of everybody. I don't care if it costs me votes. . . . the government's gonna pay."
I agree. Repeal and Replace with care---with Medicare for all. Will Ryan go along?
Which Trump will govern? Will it be this Donald Trump? According to an editorial in the November 17,Des Moines Register, in 2015, Trump said that socialized medicine in Scotland 'works incredibly well'".
Trump continued:
"Everybody's got to be covered. This is an un-Republican thing for me to say. . . . I am going to take care of everybody. I don't care if it costs me votes. . . . the government's gonna pay."
I agree. Repeal and Replace with care---with Medicare for all. Will Ryan go along?
Beware of the Experts
Beware of the Experts. They may be expertly, even catastrophically, wrong, as were the Pharisees who were 'experts' in the Law. Especially if their area of expertise is not biblically, historically, and socially informed.
Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow, is an expert in civil rights law; she is brilliant. But she confesses that for years she did not see that the mass incarceration of young black and Hispanic males was a new system oppression, a new racial caste system. All she saw was a racially tainted criminal justice system. Alexander writes:
"I understood the problems plaguing poor communities of color, including problems associated with crime and rising incarceration rates, to be a function of poverty and the lack access to quality education---the continuing legacy of slavery and Jim Crow. Never did I seriously consider the possibility that a new racial caste system was operating in this country. This new system had been developed and implemented swiftly, and it was largely invisible, even to people like me, who spent most of their waking hours fighting for justice."
Alexander was not the only one who missed it; 180 civil rights organizations missed it; the Congressional Black Caucus missed it; the NAACP missed it. None of these experts were biblically, historically nor sociologically informed.
Alexander wrote: "A human rights nightmare is occurring on our watch." Only a few sociologists and social workers saw it, sounded the alarm, but most of the other experts ignored the information. Only when Alexander began to listen to historians and sociologists did she understand what was really happening.
I used to teach sociology at Spring Arbor College. At that time, the Bible teachers taught that the justice emphasis of the OT disappeared in the NT. Justice was replaced by personal salvation. Wrong! But thousands of students were taught half the gospel, not knowing the other half--the kingdom of God as justice for the poor and oppressed---was also part of the NT gospel. So finally I had to take two weeks out of my Social Problems class to teach the present and social dimensions of the gospel from the gospel of Luke. The so-called Bible experts were only teaching fragments of justice.
This American failure is so widespread that each of us will have to develop our own NT theology of oppression. To put it simply, think oppression whenever you see the word rich in the NT. Think the word justice whenever you see the word righteousness in the NT.
American experts, even evangelical doctors, can blow it, especially when they ignore Haitian advice about how to fit in. Some American doctors visited Fond-des-Blancs to hold short term medical clinics. At the time, there was no hospital---only a small clinic operated by the Catholic Church staffed by a nurse's aide.
Jean Thomas carefully advised the American medical experts to be sensitive to the fact that they were on Catholic turf, and not to be overly evangelical, and fit in with the existing medical delivery system. The American experts knew better and ignored this wise Haitian advise; they undermined a budding good relationship with Catholics. Is it impossible for experts to be humble?
After living 90 years as a white American, I would estimate that nine out of ten white American experts are partially or totally wrong most of the time. Their ideas are not biblically accurate nor historically and socially informed. So some of us will need to do the hard work/study to provide the more accurate biblical base.
Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow, is an expert in civil rights law; she is brilliant. But she confesses that for years she did not see that the mass incarceration of young black and Hispanic males was a new system oppression, a new racial caste system. All she saw was a racially tainted criminal justice system. Alexander writes:
"I understood the problems plaguing poor communities of color, including problems associated with crime and rising incarceration rates, to be a function of poverty and the lack access to quality education---the continuing legacy of slavery and Jim Crow. Never did I seriously consider the possibility that a new racial caste system was operating in this country. This new system had been developed and implemented swiftly, and it was largely invisible, even to people like me, who spent most of their waking hours fighting for justice."
Alexander was not the only one who missed it; 180 civil rights organizations missed it; the Congressional Black Caucus missed it; the NAACP missed it. None of these experts were biblically, historically nor sociologically informed.
Alexander wrote: "A human rights nightmare is occurring on our watch." Only a few sociologists and social workers saw it, sounded the alarm, but most of the other experts ignored the information. Only when Alexander began to listen to historians and sociologists did she understand what was really happening.
I used to teach sociology at Spring Arbor College. At that time, the Bible teachers taught that the justice emphasis of the OT disappeared in the NT. Justice was replaced by personal salvation. Wrong! But thousands of students were taught half the gospel, not knowing the other half--the kingdom of God as justice for the poor and oppressed---was also part of the NT gospel. So finally I had to take two weeks out of my Social Problems class to teach the present and social dimensions of the gospel from the gospel of Luke. The so-called Bible experts were only teaching fragments of justice.
This American failure is so widespread that each of us will have to develop our own NT theology of oppression. To put it simply, think oppression whenever you see the word rich in the NT. Think the word justice whenever you see the word righteousness in the NT.
American experts, even evangelical doctors, can blow it, especially when they ignore Haitian advice about how to fit in. Some American doctors visited Fond-des-Blancs to hold short term medical clinics. At the time, there was no hospital---only a small clinic operated by the Catholic Church staffed by a nurse's aide.
Jean Thomas carefully advised the American medical experts to be sensitive to the fact that they were on Catholic turf, and not to be overly evangelical, and fit in with the existing medical delivery system. The American experts knew better and ignored this wise Haitian advise; they undermined a budding good relationship with Catholics. Is it impossible for experts to be humble?
After living 90 years as a white American, I would estimate that nine out of ten white American experts are partially or totally wrong most of the time. Their ideas are not biblically accurate nor historically and socially informed. So some of us will need to do the hard work/study to provide the more accurate biblical base.
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
The Book of James and Haiti
James was writing to churches warning them about the corrupting influences of the godless world. According to James, the godless world had entered the churches. Instead of the kingdom of God whose first citizens were the poor, the churches were honoring the rich and treating the poor like dirt---a fundamental violation of the Royal Law of the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself". Especially your poor neighbor.
In the godless world, the poor are despised. The typical citizen of the godless world flees the poor, moves up and out. The citizen of the kingdom moves down and in, to live among God's honored ones. True citizens of the kingdom fellowship with oppressed widows and orphans, not with the rich of the godless world.
The six Caleb CCD leaders are obeying Jesus; they are living among the poor, ministering to the oppressed, and combining faith and works of justice. Christian Community Development honors, prioritizes, the poor and exposes oppression by the rich.
In his excellent book, At Home With The Poor, Jean Thomas writes:
"The Old Testament solution to the problem of unequal distribution of resources was a partial redistribution in the sabbatical year and a complete redistribution during the Jubilee year. During the Jubilee year, everyone was given an opportunity to own the land and resources that over the half century had become concentrated among a few.
"We knew that giving the very poor in Fond-des-Blancs a chance to own pigs would not completely equalize the difference between them and the poor, but they would benefit from owning livestock."
From James, The Message:
"God chose the world's down-and-out as the kingdom's first citizens, with full rights and privileges. And here you [the rich] are abusing these same citizens. Isn't it the high and mighty [the rich] who exploit you? . . . . Separate faith and works and you get a [religious] corpse."
In the godless world, the poor are despised. The typical citizen of the godless world flees the poor, moves up and out. The citizen of the kingdom moves down and in, to live among God's honored ones. True citizens of the kingdom fellowship with oppressed widows and orphans, not with the rich of the godless world.
The six Caleb CCD leaders are obeying Jesus; they are living among the poor, ministering to the oppressed, and combining faith and works of justice. Christian Community Development honors, prioritizes, the poor and exposes oppression by the rich.
In his excellent book, At Home With The Poor, Jean Thomas writes:
"The Old Testament solution to the problem of unequal distribution of resources was a partial redistribution in the sabbatical year and a complete redistribution during the Jubilee year. During the Jubilee year, everyone was given an opportunity to own the land and resources that over the half century had become concentrated among a few.
"We knew that giving the very poor in Fond-des-Blancs a chance to own pigs would not completely equalize the difference between them and the poor, but they would benefit from owning livestock."
From James, The Message:
"God chose the world's down-and-out as the kingdom's first citizens, with full rights and privileges. And here you [the rich] are abusing these same citizens. Isn't it the high and mighty [the rich] who exploit you? . . . . Separate faith and works and you get a [religious] corpse."
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