Do You Know? The Great Journey of Rural Community Leaders Vol. 3

Easter / Travel Fee Campaign special series

ARI is currently running a four-part series following the participants’ journey to ARI as part of a Campaign.

The third in this series is Pierre from Haiti, and Ms. Tomoko Oka, General Manager of Pierre’s sending body, Haiti no Kai (The Association of Haiti). Focusing on agriculture and education, Haiti no Kai’s philosophy is to “live together” with the Haitian people.
All ARI participants are required to apply through their organization and will continue to work for the same organization after graduation. Therefore, not only the participants who actually come to Japan, but also the sending organization also sends out its staff after much effort and support.
We hope that you will learn about the thoughts and feelings of the people from the sending bodies who work with ARI participants, which you would not normally have the opportunity to know about.

[Pierre, 2023 graduate from Republic of Haiti and Tomoko Oka (Haiti no Kai)]

How much do you know about Haiti?
Haiti is a republic in the Caribbean Sea, occupying the western part of the island of Hispaniola (the eastern side is the Dominican Republic). When Columbus landed there, he praised for its beauty. Today, the beaches are as stunning as they ever were, and it is a popular stopover for cruise ships. However, according to Ms. Tomoko Oka, General Manager of the NGO, Haiti no Kai, the country has two faces.

Haiti’s turbulent history
The name “Haiti” means “Land of Mountains” in the native language of the island, but the indigenous people, numbering 500,000, perished at the hands of Spanish invaders, who brought disease and forced them to labor in silver mines. Later, black slaves were brought from Africa, and after a long period of toil and hardship, they won independence from France, defeating Napoleon’s army in 1804. This was the birth of the first black republic in world history. However, in exchange for independence, France demanded 150 million francs in reparations from Haiti, and Haiti went into financial ruin after a long period of debt repayment, which was paid off in 1922. Furthermore, even after independence, interference from powerful nations continued, and the lives of the Haitian people have been dragged down by U.S. occupation, coup d’états, and an ongoing struggle for power.

The once beautiful mountains were heavily deforested under Spanish and French colonial rule, to make way for coffee and sugarcane plantations, and by the 18th century the forest was reduced to about 1.5% of its original size. This has devastated the land, and the topsoil in the fields is washed away every time it rains, making it impossible to grow crops. In addition, the area is geographically in the path of hurricanes.

These factors have had a significant impact on the lives of the citizens. I was struck by the following story on the Haiti no Kai website, “…For example, on Sundays, we look around the house thinking, ‘Ok, let’s get something to eat,’ and we drink a cup of coffee, and that’s all we take in a day. And then we all have a conversation. ‘Oh, by the way, when was the last time we ate meat?’”

Protecting Life today through agriculture; Nurturing the Haiti of tomorrow through Education
Haiti no Kai was founded by Ms. Eiko Nakano in 1986 to provide literacy education and lifestyle guidance to poor children in the Republic of Haiti, to improve the lives of the local people. Its original purpose was to support the activities of Ms. Nakano’s kindergarten teacher, Sister Hongo, who had been assigned to work there.

In 2001, they sent their first participant to ARI. This was after Sister Hongo asked Ms. Nakano to find a place in Japan where they could train leaders to teach fellow Haitians to become self-sufficient farmers, and she recommended a person in this regard. Ms. Nakano thought an organization with Christian values, such as ARI, would be more suitable for Haiti and decided to send this person.

The staff member, Exil Deslandes, was very talented. After completing ARI, he returned to his hometown and founded KFP (Kominote Familyal Peyizan / A Community of Resident Families), which serves about 100-200 families. The main activities of the KFP are eating (agriculture and school lunch) and learning (running an elementary school). Louise-Taire Pierre was sent to ARI as a successor of Exil in 2023. He is a diligent, hard-working man with a passion for learning, and was highly recommended by the local staff.

At the time he was preparing for his journey to ARI, the Japanese embassy in Haiti was closed due to the worsening security situation, so Pierre had to go to the neighboring Dominican Republic to apply for a visa. The only way to get across the border was to take a bus out of the capital, and transportation costs were high. It took a lot of courage to go to the capital, which was a lawless zone with rampant gang activity. The Japanese staff told Pierre to come to Japan with as small a bag as possible, as traveling with a large suitcase would make him look rich and put him in danger. In fact, when he left for Japan, he was carrying the largest amount of money he had ever held in his life.

More adventures were yet to come. As a person from a developing country, it was difficult to obtain a transit visa through the United States, so he had to cross from the Dominican Republic to Japan via Mexico. Adding to his travel difficulties was the fact that he could barely speak English at that time (though at ARI he learned it very quickly and was nearly fluent by the end of the training). All the Haiti no Kai staff were on edge until the moment Peirre landed in Japan and met the ARI staff waiting for him at the airport. Unfortunately, his luggage was lost during the transfer in Mexico, but he was thankful that he himself made it safely. His suitcase had contained several bottles of castor oil, that had been prepared as a souvenir by Exil.

Haitians have a culture of wearing the finest clothes when going to church on Sundays, and on his way to Japan, Pierre also bought new clothes and a new bag with the money provided by his sending body. This episode shows how precious this opportunity to travel to Japan was for Pierre! In fact, he still remembers the exact date of his arrival in Japan as well as the date of the opening ceremony.

Self-transformation at ARI
Even though Pierre had been working with a graduate of ARI, he really didn’t know what to expect when he arrived on campus. His first challenges were the English language and living together with people from different cultural backgrounds. “I wondered how can I adapt with different people? The cultures, backgrounds, food…everything was different. That was so difficult.”

He was frustrated by people’s unexpected attitudes. But after a class given by Tomoko Arakawa, former director of ARI, he tried to reflect on himself and began to reach out to help his classmates, volunteers, and visitors. This experience has served him well in his work until today.

Sowing seeds for the future
A year and four months have passed since Pierre returned to Haiti. Now he has two activities in mind, one of which is to teach people income-generating skills, such as mayonnaise making and soap making. The other is training local farmers and junior high school students in organic farming and providing environmental education for forest conservation. Putting the skills learned at ARI into practice in the community and producing tangible results is not something that can be done overnight, and there is also the issue of funding.

The Japanese staff also face major challenges. Haiti has been without a president since the assassination of President Moïse in 2021. Public discontent with the prime minister, who has taken the helm of national politics, has exploded. Many areas have fallen under the control of gangs, and the security situation in the capital has deteriorated markedly. The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued an evacuation advisory for Japanese nationals, and since then, Japanese staff members of the organization have not been able to visit the areas where they work. Despite these restrictions, their activities have not ceased and continue based on the deep relationship of trust between the local and Japanese staff.

Ms. Tomoko Oka, General Manager of Haiti no Kai, whom I interviewed, has four children, works as a teacher during the day, and devotes the rest of her time to the activities of the association, often starting her work at 2:00 a.m. I asked her why she supports the Haitian people with such passion.
“I have been blessed with the opportunity to receive food and education, and my desire to help those who are not so fortunate is the foundation of my work. When I was in Haiti in the past, I saw Haitians sharing a plate of food among several people, and when the sun went down and it was dark, young people would gather around the UN troop compounds’ outdoor lamps to frantically read their schoolbooks. I met Haiti, a country I have a connection with, and I feel Haitians are friends who will live together.”

Additional Note: Community Update
On April 4, I received an email from Ms. Tomoko Oka.
Over the past week, a gang that has been running rampant in the capital city has expanded its influence to a neighboring town about 40 km from Pierre’s community. Many residents have abandoned their homes or have been evacuated. Pierre and Exil said, “KFP is an organization that helps the poor, so we can’t overlook the evacuees,” and requested support from the Japanese staff. They have been talking day after day and are now making preparations for relief.

“Both Pierre and KFP are trying to help people in more serious situations than themselves, even though their daily lives are in a state of hardship. They are trying to take important human actions.” These words of Ms. Oka left a deep impression on me.
Please keep them in mind and pray for them.

I hope the seeds they are sowing with sweat will bear fruit abundantly in Haiti, and more rural community leaders will be born.

Click here to learn more about Haiti no Kai and support their work: https://haitinokai.wixsite.com/-site