Let's talk about bateyes. A batey is a "town" where sugar mill or ingenio workers live. They are typically found in Cuba and the Dominican Republic. I call them "towns" because they aren't what you would typically think of when you think of a town. For example:
Towns aren't comprised of rows of rooms that are, on average, about 10 x 12 feet big.
A Little Bit of History:
Bateyes in the DR came about in the 1930s when sugar production was big in the country. Because the sugar harvest (zafra) lasts about 6 months, seasonal workers were needed to do the arduous task of cutting sugar cane (cause God forbid Dominicans would do that type of work!) The expectation was that they would leave at the end of the season (tiempo muerto). Ingenio owners would hire headhunters (buscones) to round up large number of Haitians and bring them to the DR to work. (Is this story starting to sound familiar to you? - i.e. those that leave in yolas to Puerto Rico from DR or coyotes who help Central Americans cross the border into the US, etc.) Haitians were promised the moon and the stars but arrived to deplorable conditions. They had to work long hours cutting sugar cane, which is probably one of the hardest physical jobs out there, and couldn't leave until what was assigned to them was completed. What ended up happening was that many of these Haitians, who in many cases did not have any formal documentation proving their Haitain citizenship, ended up staying past the harvest and starting families and communities. These folks are labeled "in transit" and thus do not qualify for Dominican public services like education and health services (not to mention that their physical locations make services difficult to reach them!) Because the sugar industry in the country is no longer profitable, ingenios have shut down, leaving these communities so incredibly vulnerable with no means of income or livelihood. A lot of NGOs have set up shop in or near bateyes to provide services to these communities.
In Comes Poverty Tourism
The organization I work for, The DREAM Project (dominicandream.org), is one of these NGOs. We operate a Montessori program in a batey called Caraballo, which is near Cabarete. I remember when I first went to Caraballo. It was during orientation. I remember sitting in our hot van in disbelief, even before I even got to the actual batey. We entered through a (real) town called Montellano. We crossed a one-vehicle-at-a-time, corroding bridge and then proceeded to drive through what felt like a maze in a sugar cane field. The driver couldn't have been driving at more than 15 MPH on a rocky, unpaved road. The heat was also unreal. The sky was as beautiful and blue as can be but there was not one ounce of shade anywhere in sight. I just imagined working unhuman hours in that type of heat and instantly felt a thousand times hotter. When we arrived in Caraballo 40 minutes later, we visited our Montessori school. We then went on a "tour" of the town and were instantly bombarded by locals selling us handmade crafts made out of recyclable materials like can tops. Our guide said something like, "we should buy something because this is the only way that they really make money." At the time, this didn't sit well with me. In fact, the entire "tour" didn't feel right. But there was a side of me that was curious to see what it was like in a batey.
In fact, every time I travel to a new place, I stay away from the resorts and often go out to explore what real life is like in these places. I should have been a cultural anthropology major because there is something about exploring different cultures that makes me tick like a crackhead on good crack. When I talk about exploring, I'm talking about befriending locals and asking questions about their every day lives. Or contributing to the local economy by consuming meals at a local spot or partying at a local nightclub. But it's a two way street: I love to teach others about my own culture - Dominican, American, and the mix that the two make - and to make parallels between our cultures, customs and traditions. I didn't do any of this in Caraballo.
According to Wikipedia, poverty/slum tourism "is a type of tourism involving visiting impoverished areas," and it's been happening since the late 1880s. What Wikipedia doesn't talk about is how this type of tourism plays out nowadays. Imagine big tour groups, of mostly white folks, walking through really poor communities, taking pictures of homes or with members of these communities. I wonder if that act validates these people as good people? (I also wonder if I can roll up in Riverdale, Greenwich Village, or Orange County and ask for a tour of their community? But I digress...) I heard the term soon after this trip and I felt like such a chump! I was a consumer of poverty tourism...after all, I did walk around the batey snapping pictures of their realities and in doing so, taking a little bit of their dignity. The term is a topic of much controversy, and rightfully so. Those that defend the practice cite that it provides jobs and income, helps create interest and, presumably, investment in the area. Critics of the practice cite that it provides entertainment and a temporary "feel-good" moment at the expense of those living in these areas and their conditions. I'm a critic of the practice. It's dead wrong.
My Thoughts
I have been fortunate enough to work in Caraballo. I work with a current Peace Corps volunteer who is assigned to that area and together, we work with teachers in the only public school in Caraballo. We provide workshops around literacy, math, and classroom management in hopes of making them stronger teachers and consequently, providing a quality education to the students they serve. The first time I visited the school, I little girl came up to me and asked for 5 pesos. I was shocked, not because she asked me for money, but at the facility and normalcy with which she asked me for money. I inferred that this was something she was accustomed to doing. I didn't entertain her question, but rather asked her what grade she was in. She then looked at me as if I was an alien and asked if I was Dominican. I told her I was and she said that I didn't look like I was Dominican. She then went about her business as usual. Granted, I get that all the time. What really bugs me is the perpetual effect of poverty tourism on this community. It sets them up for failure. Aside from poverty tourism being super messed up and creating this sort of sensationalism around poverty, it creates a dependent relationship with any foreigner that visits the town. It's like they are always given fish instead of being taken to the river and shown how to fish for themselves. If that's the case, what motivation do they have for improving their current conditions?
I said I was fortunate to work in Caraballo because I feel like I am genuinely empowering a community through education. What I do has a longer-lasting impact than buying all the can top bracelets available in all of Caraballo. This experience has also allowed me to witness a type of simultaneous vulnerability and resiliency that I have never experienced before. Needless to say, it's humbled me beyond words. I remember arriving from Caraballo one day and calling my mom in tears. I couldn't even speak from the emotion. I saw an elderly lady, she must have been in her 80s, who reminded me of my grandma. She clearly needed a walker or some other type of walking aid and had on shoes that were at least twice her size. They had a little heel which made it extra difficult for her to walk. I looked at her face and all I could think of was the word "struggle." Yet she was plowing through with a smile, walking slowly with amazing confidence. The tears came from a mixture of powerful and contradictory emotions: sadness, gratitude, humility, helplessness, and hope among others. My mom said, "witnessing, experiencing and dealing with the realities of impoverished communities is not for the faint of heart, especially in a country like ours. Take it in. Cry. Let it do what it has to do for you." I didn't understand what she meant then, but with time, I have some to understand her message clearly.
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