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In
an increasingly globalized economy, our lives grow more
and more connected with the lives of people in distant
parts of the world. Obeying the command to love our
neighbors as we love ourselves gets ever more complicated.
Even what you do with an old T-shirt can make a difference
in the life of someone in a distant land. |
Power
Over Pèpè
by
Todd Saddler
Most
of the day-to-day commerce in Haiti goes on in open-air
markets. At any one of these markets on any given day, you
are likely to come across piles of clothing and shoes from
the United States being sold on the cheap. Haitians call
it pèpè, a Creole word that has come to mean
just about anything foreign that ends up on the Haitian
market, especially used and donated items.
In
the same market you will find people selling cans of vegetable
oil and sacks of wheat and kidney beans all marked "Gift
of the United States Government - Not For Sale or Barter."
This food, known as sinistre, is a first cousin to the pèpè
clothing.
The
pèpè clothes come from our contributions to
the Goodwill bin, from excess special event T-shirts ("Baker
Family Reunion, 1998"), and from factory seconds and
production overruns. The food aid comes from programs whose
purpose is to subsidize the US agro-industry by purchasing
excess production. The products are donated primarily to
solve a problem that the affluent givers have-having too
much stuff. The aim of helping the poor is usually secondary,
a little bonus for the conscience of the givers. Maybe that
is okay. But if we really want to obey God's command to
love our neighbors as we love ourselves, we have to ask
what effect these castoffs have on the people on the receiving
end?
At
first glance, it looks beneficial. We are clothing the naked
and feeding the hungry. It is a rare Haitian who doesn't own
any pèpè clothing, and the poorer they are,
the more pèpè they tend to wear. The United
States Agency for International Development (USAID) will proudly
quote the growing percentage of Haitian national food consumption
we supply each year, in a country where two thirds of the
people do not receive an adequate diet.
But look a little deeper and complications appear. The donated
food was bought off the US market to protect the profits
of American farmers. Haitian farmers labor for months to
produce a crop of beans, which then gets sold in the market
place right next to donated beans that someone got for free.
The donated American food drives down the price that the
Haitian beans will fetch and makes it harder for Haitian
farmers to make a living. The result is that less and less
food is produced in Haiti, and the country becomes that
much more dependent on American food aid each year.
Donated clothing also undermines local production. Haitian
tailors using simple foot-pedaled sewing machines used to
be able to earn a living producing custom made clothing.
They can't compete these days with the river of pèpè
clothing sold wholesale for a few dollars per hundred pound
bale. Most Haitian tailors and dressmakers are now unemployed.
A "lucky" few have found work in US-funded assembly
plants in Port-au-Prince, where they often work for slave
wages to mass-produce clothes for US consumers. In a sad
irony, some of what they produce gets used and eventually
ends up in the Goodwill bins and ends up back in Haiti as
pèpè.
So, while we are clothing the naked and feeding the hungry
with our castoffs, we sometimes unwittingly reinforce the
causes of hunger and nakedness. Our giving can steal opportunities
from people to earn a living by producing food and clothing
for their neighbors. We can unintentionally subvert local
industry, creativity, and dignity, and turn people into
beggars waiting for the next handout.
Beyond
Borders works hard to make sure that our help is not a form
of charity that leaves people even more helpless. We strive
to offer the kind of help that enables people to help themselves.
Our support of literacy training, basic education, teacher
training, and leadership development all aim to give Haitian
communities the power to provide for themselves so they
no longer suffer the indignities of pèpè.
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feedback on this article in the Beyond
Borders Discussion Forum.
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