Opportunity exists for Haitians in the Dominican Republic

[Yourmaninvegas]

Illegal Haitian Workers in Demand

cronkite.asu.edu

I became interested in this subject after I was challenged in another thread.
I was asked a serious of questions that were intended to imply that people leave for the developed nations because they are inherently better. I disagree with that thought process. It is the brainwashed thinking of those who drink the kool aid and believe the hype. True opportunity exists in the frontier countries. When I asked about people who were part of the economic successes in the Dominican Republic, they choose not to answer.
So I started this thread to explore and explain about the opportunities the Dominican Republic offers and why Haitians will always be attracted to it. The article contains some very interesting information. But the part that jumped out to me most is:

"Wooding said that amid tough rhetoric, there is “an open secret” that exists within the Dominican government and among the Dominican people regarding migrant labor. They understand that key industries – construction, agriculture and tourism, for example – rely heavily on cheap Haitian labor. As a result, government officials straddle the fence between appeasing ultranationalists who call for a stricter border policy and satisfying business and economic interests deeply invested in maintaining the status quo."

There are those who simply maintain that Haitian workers are not needed in the Dominican Republic. I call bull on those posted. I have never seen such a blatant expression of the realities that I have seen that exists on the ground.

 

[cavok]

Opportunities exist everywhere where people are willing to work for slave wages.

 

[Yourmaninvegas]

A slave is a: person who is the legal property of another and is forced to obey them.
You don't have to pay a slave.
Therefore they cannot work for "slave wages".
There is no such thing.
A wage slave on the other hand is: a person wholly dependent on income from employment, typically employment of an arduous or menial nature.
Now that basic education and definition of terminology is out of the way, maybe we can actually get on with the topic at hand.

The idea actually is if you are going to operate as an employee or as entrepreneurs.
They are two different types of people.
When I speak of opportunity I am thinking of entrepreneurs not employees.
And I see Haitians running businesses all over the place where I live in the Dominican Republic.
And I have seen them in other parts of the country also.

EASTSIDE

 

[chico bill]

I am opposed to open borders, but imagine you grew up, not in Canada, the US or Europe and instead in a lawless country with almost no chance of every having a safe place to sleep and struggling for mere scraps of food.

I think we all would crawl through brush and rocks looking for some hope.
I employ a cleaning girl once per week, who has become my friend, that came with literally nothing from Haiti. Your whole world in a gym size duffle bag.

I helped her get her first cell phone (I actually just bought it), she took sewing classes, and a friend of ours gave her a small sewing machine. She is learning Spanish and has got her passport and applied for her visa.

She lives on about 10,000 per month.
Honestly I could not live on that for a week - even if I had no rent nor utilities. Also I help her with food. You can tell when I fix a meal for her how important that is in a Haitian's life.
She is an honest person and a sweet soul and really loves my dogs and they love her. When I leave for the US she stays and takes care of them as well as I would.

I can't help everyone, and many I would not want to help.
But when you approach the end of your own time on earth and you are North of 70, you realize that just maybe you are banking a smidgeon of goodwill when you can help others. If you can find a good person to help you should try. I know many on this forum do that, despite some gruff exteriors.

And it does enrich your own life.

 

[drstock]

Opportunities exist everywhere where people are willing to work for slave wages.

I know several Haitians who work in construction here. They are very happy to have the work and earn the money - even if it is not very much. For them, they certainly live better here than they would in Haiti, and most Dominicans I know are happy to have them doing this manual work.

 

[JD Jones]

It's not just Haitians.
Haitians come to the DR looking for a better future.
Dominicans take yolas to PR for the same reason.
Many folks from PR move to the states for the same reason.

 

[Joseph NY2STI]

I think we all would crawl through brush and rocks looking for some hope.

Indeed we would!

 

[cavok]

I know several Haitians who work in construction here. They are very happy to have the work and earn the money - even if it is not very much. For them, they certainly live better here than they would in Haiti, and most Dominicans I know are happy to have them doing this manual work.

Yes, compared to half-starving most of the time like before in Haiti, I'm sure they're "happy". Dominicans also used to be very "happy" doing this kind of work until Haitians were willing to work for even less.

 

[Yourmaninvegas]

I do not set the minimum wage of the Dominican Republic.
I am only required to pay it in order to comply with the law.
And yet, when I hire for day work, I have no problem attracting workers looking for opportunities.
Dominicans
So, maybe it is dependent on the opportunities available to individuals in different job markets.

There is a saying:
"Don't hate the player. Hate the game."

Straight out the campo!!

 

[chico bill]

Yes, compared to half-starving most of the time like before in Haiti, I'm sure they're "happy". Dominicans also used to be very "happy" doing this kind of work until Haitians were willing to work for even less.

From what I observe most young Dominicans don't like working in the hot sun, and getting darker. They prefer selling cologne, working in an office, cutting hair or waiting tables, somewhere out of the hot summer heat and where they can lean back frequently.
Now if racing loud Chinese crappy motorcycles paid them by the hour then 95% of them would be doing that

 

[chico bill]

It's not just Haitians.
Haitians come to the DR looking for a better future.
Dominicans take yolas to PR for the same reason.
Many folks from PR move to the states for the same reason.

What is funny is Dominican look down on Haitians, Puerto Ricans loathe Dominicans and Americans make fun of Puerto Ricans.
I guess there always has to be a world pecking order.

I saw it in Saudi Arabia, and the bottom of the totem there, so to speak, was the Pakistanis.
They are treated as the lowest nationality there, just below the Somalis.

They arranged the housing camps by nationality for the most part, so that closest to beach-front were the highest paid and highest "socially-regarded". All had cars and well prepared meals, with diet choices.

Each 1/2 mile away was the next lower camp, and if you were several miles out into the desert you would be in a hot plywood lean-to with tin-roofs with no AC, a common latrine and little electricity. There was where the Pakistanis stayed.
Bussed to and from projects, not allowed to go certain places and the food they were given was not up to even the lowest standard.
And yet everyone was earning way more than back home and saving - so they tolerated it.

Racism will always exist and it is challenging to get around it. Culture & religion play a huge part.
And not all people integrate well into new cultures. Some Haitians do and many do not. And it can take decades

 

[malko]

From what I observe most young Dominicans don't like working in the hot sun, and getting darker. They prefer selling cologne, working in an office, cutting hair or waiting tables, somewhere out of the hot summer heat and where they can lean back frequently.
Now if racing loud Chinese crappy motorcycles paid them by the hour then 95% of them would be doing that

It depends what you call young, i think.

It seems to me that the cut-off age is around 40. They seem to be the last generation that grew up in extreme poverty ( from a westerner' s point of view ), ie no electricity, no running water, outside toilets, a diet w/o much meat, etc.......
Everybody under that age has grown up with all those commodities, + TV, cars, motobikes, internet, etc ........ so naturally they aspire to more than just settling for a hard low paying job in order to get by in life.

Obviously there are exceptions, and it is just a generalisation.

On the other hand, haitians are still being born into extreme poverty, today, so any job that puts food on the table and clothes on their kids back is a blessing.

 

[bob saunders]

It depends what you call young, i think.

It seems to me that the cut-off age is around 40. They seem to be the last generation that grew up in extreme poverty ( from a westerner' s point of view ), ie no electricity, no running water, outside toilets, a diet w/o much meat, etc.......
Everybody under that age has grown up with all those commodities, + TV, cars, motobikes, internet, etc ........ so naturally they aspire to more than just settling for a hard low paying job in order to get by in life.

Obviously there are exceptions, and it is just a generalisation.

On the other hand, Haitians are still being born into extreme poverty, today, so any job that puts food on the table and clothes on their kids back is a blessing.

I think that is pretty accurate. Dominicans know they can make more money cutting hair, selling vape oils....etc than working in Agriculture or construction. Having said that lots of Dominican men work as bank tellers, mechanics, painters, plumbers, carpenters, electricians, welders......etc.

 

[D'Arcy (Apostropheman)]

I think that is pretty accurate. Dominicans know they can make more money cutting hair, selling vape oils....etc than working in Agriculture or construction. Having said that lots of Dominican men work as bank tellers, mechanics, painters, plumbers, carpenters, electricians, welders......etc.

 

[NanSanPedro]

I think that is pretty accurate. Dominicans know they can make more money cutting hair, selling vape oils....etc than working in Agriculture or construction. Having said that lots of Dominican men work as bank tellers, mechanics, painters, plumbers, carpenters, electricians, welders......etc.

Haitians are equally as capable as Dominicans to do this. However, without a work permit it's extremely difficult for them to train and find jobs doing this here.

 

[chico bill]

It depends what you call young, i think.

It seems to me that the cut-off age is around 40. They seem to be the last generation that grew up in extreme poverty ( from a westerner' s point of view ), ie no electricity, no running water, outside toilets, a diet w/o much meat, etc.......
Everybody under that age has grown up with all those commodities, + TV, cars, motobikes, internet, etc ........ so naturally they aspire to more than just settling for a hard low paying job in order to get by in life.

Obviously there are exceptions, and it is just a generalisation.

On the other hand, haitians are still being born into extreme poverty, today, so any job that puts food on the table and clothes on their kids back is a blessing.

I remember when I came to DR for the first time in 2001 there were few TVs here, and they were expensive.
As smart TVs appeared they were 3 times the price of TVs stateside and very few even knew what a smart TV was.
Now smart TVs are everywhere and not as cheap as up North but affordable and Android boxes and Firesticks are in many Dominican homes and every Dominican under 15 now will grow up with smart TVs with Wifi connection and watching every twerk video on YouTube and Colombian novella produced

 

[bob saunders]

Haitians are equally as capable as Dominicans to do this. However, without a work permit it's extremely difficult for them to train and find jobs doing this here.

Well, they honesty should be doing it in their own country. How is that such hard working and industrious people cant manage to get their act together enough to have some semblance of normal working government?

 

[drstock]

Well, they honesty should be doing it in their own country. How is that such hard working and industrious people cant manage to get their act together enough to have some semblance of normal working government?

Individuals can't solve the problems of Haiti. When they do have a President he gets assassinated. The whole country is broken, seemingly beyond repair. Perhaps the only solution is help from outside, but how to do this is a problem greater than my powers of reasoning.

 

[zoomzx11]

Individuals can't solve the problems of Haiti. When they do have a President he gets assassinated. The whole country is broken, seemingly beyond repair. Perhaps the only solution is help from outside, but how to do this is a problem greater than my powers of reasoning.

Anyone doubt that if Haiti was predominately white the western countries would be falling over each other to invest.

 

[playacaribe2]

Anyone doubt that if Haiti was predominately white the western countries would be falling over each other to invest.

Matters involving race are not allowed to be discussed.

But the answer to your question..............lots of poor white countries with a GNI close to Haiti.............Moldova and Ukraine come to mind.


Respectfully,
Playacaribe2