Student Projects: John Mazzeo Returns
Comments (0) John Mazzeo
During the month of June I traveled to Borgne for the fourth time as an anthropology student and a volunteer of H.O.P.E. Over the past four years I have worked to establish a personal relationship with Borgne in order to learn about how different kinds of people approach the day-to-day conditions of life and situate their actions within the broader social context of the community. As a volunteer of H.O.P.E., I have been active in the economic development and social justice initiatives designed to bring about positive changes at the grassroots level. I feel that my work as a student-researcher has helped to contribute a sense of direction to my goals as an advocate for change in Borgne. The bulk of my research consists of talking with different kinds of people and participating in a broad range of activities that they feel are important to their lives.
I arrived in Borgne interested in working with H.O.P.E.’s most recent development initiatives with local peasant organizations. I was curious about how these organizations were structured and the kinds of roles they played in the lives of their members. I felt that this kind of information could be useful to H.O.P.E. in understanding how to best work with these organizations towards mutual interests in development. The most exciting aspect of this research was the process of understanding the cultural, social and political histories of these groups and how each group had uniquely contributed to constructing a vision of development and democracy.
Some of the most enjoyable moments of my trip to Borgne involved being a part of a group of H.O.P.E. volunteers, each one contributing their own questions and personal backgrounds. We spent many late nights joking over a game of cards or talking about our experiences of the day. On all of my trips, I formed personal bonds of friendship that lasted well beyond the borders of Haiti. I met new members of H.O.P.E. and was able to spend time working side-by-side with Rose-Marie Chierici. On this trip I was fortunate to have met Leonard, a medical student at the University of Rochester. We quickly established a comradeship and mutually comic sense of humor.
As my research progressed I learned about the different kinds of peasant organizations and the various reasons for collective organization. Many groups offered their members rotating access to land, labor, and capital. These groups often work with an ethic of mutual assistance and cooperation for the purposes of individual gain. These same groups also unite members to provide each other with material and personal security in an environment that is often unpredictable and, at times, violent. The structure and social networks that organize and unite these groups are based on a local history that involves issues of class, politics, gender and status. I found that many of these groups see H.O.P.E. and other non-governmental development organizations as potential partners in helping them to realize their material and social goals. I feel that our efforts to learn more about the culture and society of Borgne will help in the formation of meaningful partnerships by contributing to a more complete understanding of the many kinds of people who live in the town of Borgne as well as in the surrounding countryside.
