Post
by Kip » Mon Nov 28, 2016 12:27 pm
Good or bad - usually bad - Americans are a fickle bunch. We tend to focus on something just as long as it's dominating the news or entertaining us for the moment. This goes even for the aforementioned generation of Americans flocking to the DR....although I'd take issue with use of the word "flocking." Less than 2% of the population here is American - and the overwhelming majority of those are not people interested in changing anything. They're retirees, living in and around the resort areas which are very much like the U.S. already. There are a lot fewer idealistic "changers" living here permanently than you'd think. Most of who you could say have "flocked" are short term visitors coming to help those here on permanent basis. The efficacy of that has caused a divide amongst many, and is an issue for another day.
I'll try and contain this, but it's a big pet peeve of mine.....
A glaring demonstration of this fickle phenomena are the legions of abandoned humanitarian aid buildings around the DR. Guess how they came to be empty? Americans. Americans who fled across the border to help out after the 2010 Haitian earthquake. They went and they stayed. [NOTE: helping Haiti is not the issue; abandoning your existing post without a Plan B is]. They came here and began something, only to abandon it entirely - leaving distressed, dependent, and embittered Dominicans in their wake. People who had not been taught how to maintain the things that were in place. I hate to hear someone say they don't contribute to a cause because "it's a handout and doesn't help...they'll just come back tomorrow for more." That's a cop-out almost every single time. The flip side of that is providing resources without any forethought or backbone to make it sustainable. Not helping out our neighbor is wrong. Helping without sustainability is aimless, and not really helping. Often, it really does boil down to giving a fish or teaching to fish.
We (my immediate cohorts and I) have tried to be extremely careful not to start programs that are directly dependent on us. Heck, I could keel over with another stroke any day. I don't want to implement something that relies on me coming up with all the contacts and resources to maintain it. That's why all of the projects with which we involve ourselves have an eye to the future when we can hand off responsibility to local folks.
With Cuba, I honestly hope the steep American impact is short-lived. A sudden influx can be beneficial as long as small enough not to generate a dependency....because once Americans realize "it's not what I expected," or "this is friggin' expensive for the same thing I can get on other islands for less," the numbers will trickle down to a "normal" level. In this case, short-term influx of resources is useful. If the influx is massive and long-lasting and then drops off precipitously, the people may have become dependent and crash hard. That may have changed things, but it hasn't improved anything. I'll hold out hope that it remains steady and consistent....but Americans rarely do anything moderate.
White shores, and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise....