Spending three weeks over 1,000 miles away from home with electricity for only four hours a day isn’t the ideal summer for most college students. For seven students completing their cross cultural experience, this experience was a highlight of their summer.
Students who participated in the 2018 cross-cultural experience in Haiti led by Laura Williams. Photo courtesy Jena O’Brien
For senior public relations major Jena O’Brien, it was the learning experience that compelled her to choose to spend three weeks in Haiti.
“I chose this cross-cultural because I really was invested in the political climate that came behind Haiti,” said O’Brien. “Not a lot of people realize how big of an impact Americans have on Haitian culture and the country when it comes to policies with agriculture and farming and other issues we vote on, so just being able to explore that more and being able to bring the knowledge I gained from Haiti back into the United States and educate people was exciting to me.”
One example of the political climate is the tension between Americans and Haitians, which O’Brien said she feels is unjust.
“Not only do we need to work towards fighting for equality but also just fighting the hatred and the bad images that they have in the media,” said O’Brien. “I know that once we came home from my cross-cultural everyone was like, ‘Man, do you see all the riots happening? You came home at a great time,’ but at the same time, the riots are happening because Americans are hiking up the gas prices.
“Everything that happens in Haiti that makes them seem like negative people is nine times out of 10 not their fault, it’s just the media representation of them, and it’s what the Americans want people to see of Haiti and not actually showing what Haiti is.”
The group was led by Laura Williams, an adjunct education professor. It was her first time going on the trip, and she said she was astounded by the character of the Haitian people.
“What I found most memorable was how much integrity the Haitian people have, how wonderful they were,” she said. “It was a breath of fresh air. They were a people of minimalism, they had minimal opportunities, but their perspective was so refreshing and positive. They were all about making their life better for themselves and their families.”
The interactions O’Brien had with the Haitian people stood out to her as well.
“[The biggest difference from the United States] was just realizing how open and welcoming the people are,” O’Brien said. “There’s so much history that comes with the culture, and just realizing that these people have suffered so much, and they’re still being oppressed to this day by Americans, but they would still give us the clothes off their back and give us the food they have if they really knew we needed it.”
According to Williams, the main goal of the trip was to learn from the Haitian people. O’Brien said that she feels this goal was accomplished.
“We spent most of our days with the people in the community working with them, and just learning what their life was like,” said O’Brien. “We didn’t do a lot of missionary work, which a lot of people assumed we did. We would always start our mornings with a hike up the mountain, and work in the gardens, or we would just enjoy a meal with the community members.”
The group spent a majority of its time Pétion-Ville, a town north of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. However, they had the opportunity to travel to several different villages as well.
“[The most memorable experience I had was] probably hiking up a mountain in the village of Dessalines-Ville Chérie,” said O’Brien. “During the Haitian War against the French for freedom, they would carry these big cannons up the mountain. Our group had trouble just hiking with nothing, so to imagine carrying tons of cannons was really hard. Once you got up there, the view was great.”
O’Brien said she recognized that while the Haitian cross-cultural experience wasn’t the most glamourous of Bluffton’s options, she feels as though it was the most valuable to her.
“While we were in Haiti, I know there were a lot of times we would go through social media when we had electricity, looking at other peoples cross-culturals, like ‘Man, we wish we were in hot springs, or we wish we were at a baseball game,’ but at the end of the day, we realized we had the best experience because not only did I fully immerse myself in this new culture, but I also developed a passion for fighting the injustice that is going on there. I’m so glad I chose this as my cross-cultural,” said O’Brien.
