Judgment in Eden

Eden Ranch is beautiful piece of land overlooking the north coast and Puerto Plata, nestled next to several thousand acres belonging to the famous Rum-producing barons of the Dominican Republic, the Brugal family. It is home to 21 very happy horses, and 2 very unhappy people.

I have started writing this blog post many times since leaving Eden Ranch almost 2 weeks ago. It has always continued with a description of the people we met there, but frankly, I’m choosing not to write directly about them because I cannot do it in a positive way. My reason for creating this blog is not to criticize specific people, but to take away the Big Ideas from the places I go and the things I see.

The Biggest Idea I have taken from our week at Eden Ranch is the harm caused by prejudice, and the necessity of respect. If there is to be respect between Dominicans (and/or Haitians) and foreigners, I think the negative expectations that each has for the others need to be let go of.

As I’ve learned from two of my WWOOFing experiences now, it is all too easy for someone, especially someone with money, to come to this country and isolate themselves from the local people and grow to fear or hate them. It is easy to call them all thieves and place yourself behind barbed wire and concrete.  It is easy to blame their poverty on ignorance or laziness or cowardice or any other character fault you wish to see. It is easy not to learn their language, not to listen.

What is not easy, what takes a level of introspection and humility to discover, is that your expectations and prejudices play a role in how you perceive the people around you. If you treat people as slave labor, they will appear cowardly to you. If you pay your employees $7 a day and treat them as thieves from the get-go, they might fulfill your expectations. If you come to their country, buy their land, don’t learn their language, and they do not understand what you say to them, you might see the problem as their ignorance. In reality, the Dominican people are no better or worse, as a whole, than any other group of people. What I believe is necessary to break the habit of discrimination, disdain, and outright hatred that I have sadly seen too much of here, is respect.