Reaching Beyond Borders

Reaching beyond different borders is, well, the main part of my daily life as someone, born and raised in the US, now living in the Dominican Republic but traveling regularly to Haiti where I’ve also lived. It can stem from simply being understood linguistically to recreating who you are – emitting enough love and openness that you’re accepted in places you once thought you had no business being. It may be life to me, but I’m still oftentimes amazed by both how challenging and how magnificent this act of exchange can be.

This past weekend, I had the privilege of being part of a group of Haitians who are working with young people in Site Soley, a Port au Prince slum known for unrelenting poverty as well as gang violence. They are partners with a US-based organization called Harvest Time (www.harvesttime.cc). We gathered as a group to receive training from a co-worker of mine, Fremy, in the facilitation of Open Space – an alternative method for meeting and community organizing promoted by Beyond Borders in Haiti. Removed from our everyday settings and dropped in a retreat center, it was nice to feel a part of one common group. There were still obvious differences between us, but we were united around a common agenda, open space itself, a common tool for breaking down the various borders that divide us.

I gathered great inspiration from this group of people who grew up, live and work in one of the most feared and talked about places in Haiti. As I continue to gain perspective of the deep historical and political divide between the DR and Haiti, I wonder at times how we can get so far removed from our common humanity. I look to people like the ones I was with this weekend for the hope that I need to keep on promoting justice and positive, peaceful exchange in the context of a world that at times can seem so broken and divided. Through Open Space and their other work with children, these groups are presenting an alternative future where communities are not divided up into warring gangs, and identity is based on who you are as a person, not where you were born. It’s their hope in a different path for the young people of Site Soley that gives me the hope that there’s a future out there that involves more positive exchange between all people, including Haitians and Dominicans.
As we shared throughout the weekend about our common willingness to facilitate Open Space meetings, whether in Site Soley or Santo Domingo, it became clear that our objectives were simple, yet at times challenging. Bringing people “to the table” is no small task, but in creating more spaces within which communication can happen freely and equally, amazing things occur. I have great energy and encouragement to now share my positive “border crossing” experiences, facilitating exchange, through Open Space, between people who are normally not even invited to sit at the same “table”. It’s a start, at least, and to me, every new relationship, including the ones formed this weekend, a true accomplishment.
For more information about Open Space as a Beyond Borders program in Haiti, please visit www.circlesofchange.com.