Living The Better Life

The following came after a recent visit, one of many lately, to a Haitian batey just east of Santo Domingo. A "batey" refers to a community / the housing settled by workers in the sugar cane fields. Now, "batey" almost always implies a community of Haitians or Dominicans of Haitian decent..

As I entered the Haitian batey, I immediately noticed the signature long strips of barrack like housing – the original construction of the sugar companies to house migrant workers, mostly Haitian, who come to work in the cane fields. The barracks are divided into single rooms (at most about 15’ x 10’) which currently house a family in each, but originally would be packed with up to 20 workers at a time. Practically stacked on top of each other, workers would “live” in these rooms after laboring for long, tortuous hours in the cane fields for little to no pay, food or health care.
While the sugar industry has now left this particular area, I could tell that life was still a daily struggle for most of its residents. Liko, a Haitian immigrant and resident pastor who has lived in the DR doing agricultural work since the mid 1980’s led me around his community. I was surprised to hear from him that life was better since the departure of the cane industry from the area because of increased economic and social freedom. I superficially thought that the industry had been the backbone of the economy for these workers, but quickly learned that’s not all that matters. Under the oppression of the cane industry, workers were not free to build their own housing, forced to remain in sub-human living conditions, and paid a mere pittance, if anything at all, for their hours laboring in the fields. Despite the oppressively low wages, workers were also prohibited from seeking any work or income outside the company’s fields.
Now that the company has left, many in the community have been able to slowly build their own houses around the older buildings. Most now travel outside of the community looking for whatever work they can find - mainly in agriculture or construction. Walking the muddy roads of this simple community, I have to admit it was hard for me to wrap my head around what life used to be like if this was what Liko referred to as “better”.
That reality grew even heavier when I visited the foundations of 4 different houses that had been burned to the ground this past January. I stood and listened to the story of how the shooting death of a Dominican military man, reportedly by another Dominican soldier, had been falsely blamed on some of the residents of this immigrant community. The retaliation and discrimination against these Haitians / Domincan-Haitians included a night time raid and the burning of 4 houses. Several of the young men in the community were arrested, abused and spent several months in jail. After being released without any kind of trial, sentencing or judgment, I found them, back in their community, mixing cement as part of a construction team building four new concrete houses. They were back to join this “better” life.
Liko’s words and analysis of life in his community stick with me as I continue to travel in the DR visiting a wide variety of batey communities and attempt to understand the history and reality of Haitian immigration to the Dominican Republic. It’s become obvious to me that our understanding of what is good, bad and better are based in our individual life histories and realities. In a world still so full of oppression and injustice, we all have to put our hope and faith in something “better” whether it be big or small. I’m thankful for people like Liko and others who I am able to walk alongside and dialogue with about not only what is better, but what is just. It’s only together, as one community, bridging our divides, that we can further understand one another and continue to work to make things more than just “better” for all.