Today's Creole lesson... Appearance management

Once a week (or thereabouts) I have a Creole lesson with Myrlande.  She is more a friend than teacher.  Myrlande has taught me a lot about Haitian culture and I love her warm heart.  Today in our lesson I counted to 100 in Creole.  We hadn't revisited numbers in a while.  After that we had a conversation in Creole (or attempted to).  I spoke about my day with the kids (ti moun) and about the food (manje) I ate.  Myrlande spoke about her family and how five of her children didn't go to school today.

Poukisa? (Why?)

Because there was no electricity at her house this morning.  This is not unusual for Haiti.  The average Haitian will only have power from some late hour in the evening til early morning, but not today.  (I'm not living so tough, my house has an inverter which gives me power after 9pm til 6:30am.  The rest of the day our house is powered by a diesel generator.  I always have power! Unless something tragic has happened to the inverter or the generator is out of diesel)

Anyway, back to Myrlande's children not going to school today.  What does electricity have to do with getting children to school?  No electricity = no ironing.  The children couldn't go to school today because their uniforms could not be ironed!!  (I almost laughed...)

In Haitian culture, it would be unheard of to go anywhere with unironed clothes.  I suppose that's true for some of us in Australia too... though most laid back Aussies wouldn't put ironed clothes on the top of their priority list.  Which leads me to my observations of Haitian pride.  It is evident that Haitians take pride in their appearance.  Though the streets of Port-au-prince can be dusty and often lined with trash, there are always shoeshiners that line the sidewalk (in fact, there are two shoeshiners who work just outside our  front gate).  To add to this, my Haitian friend informed me that manicures and pedicures are popular in Haiti (at a much reduced price than back home).  It is not uncommon for Haitian men to get a manicure once a week!  There are plenty of barbers around too.  Most men have short hair styles, closely shaved to the scalp. I haven't seen any afro styles!  School girls always have neatly braided hair with cute ties and ribbons.  

On Sunday you see everyone bring out their best dress or suit.  Going to church is an occasion to look your best.  Most Haitians dress smartly and on Sundays it's hard to tell the rich apart from the poor.  They don't often have the latest fashion, but their clothes are always clean and neatly ironed.

Furthermore, Haitians often bathe two or three times a day because: 1) the weather is always hot and tropical here, with an average of 35 degrees celsius everyday it doesn't take long for your body to sweat; 2) walking on the dusty unpaved streets of Haiti always demands a regular foot washing.

I've had conversations with my Haitian friends about the pride they take in their appearance.  It sounded something like this, ME:  "I don't understand why Haitians would care so much about cleanliness and their appearance when they're just going to get dirty as soon as they step out their front door?  Why bother?  Why bathe three times a day when you're just going to sweat immediately after?"

Their response: "Just because we live in a trash can, doesn't mean we have to accept it." I was taken aback by my ignorance. But it makes sense.  Most Haitians live below the poverty line; maintaining their outward appearance is the only thing they have left for gaining dignity and respect from others.

What is it that you do to feel worthy of respect?  

Must you have that newly furnished, double-storey house; the shiny car; a prestigous job; a great social life; adventurous travel plans; the latest fashion?

I learned something cross-cultural about the human race.  Everyone wants respect; to be held in high esteem of others.  Westerners often turn to material things; but Haitians maintain their outward appearance.