A Brief History of the Island of Hispaniola:
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The following video was created by students to provide a brief introduction into the island of Hispaniola and how the countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic were formed.
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The Sugar Cane Industry
Currently the sugarcane company is one of the driving forces of the immigration of Haitians to the Dominican Republic. Sugar cane companies have representatives, known as buscones in Spanish, who are sent to Haiti to recruit the large labor force that is needed to fuel the sugar industry. Currently the quality of life is poor within Haiti with very few job opportunities. These representatives promise Haitians a good life, work, wages, and even a pension if they leave Haiti to go work in the bateyes in the Dominican Republic. Many recruit in Haiti because most Dominicans find the work of cutting sugar cane beneath them. In addition, Haitians are considered cheap labor because their own economy is in such a dire state they will take any work they can find.
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The following clip has been approved for our use from the film Batey Mosquito.
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Overall, the sugar industry plays a very large part in the Dominican Republic economy. Sugarcane production is the nation's largest and most important export, with agriculture making up 17% of the country’s economy. Workers in the sugar industry use machetes to cut the sugar, which is then loaded into large carts. Often times, workers have to pay to have their cane transported in the carts. With every minute the cane is left in the sun, the water within the plant evaporates, making it weigh less. There is often competition and bribery surrounding whose cane is loaded into the carts first, making the workers’ take home pay even smaller. Most of the calories workers eat throughout the day comes from chewing on sugarcane.
There are an estimated 500,000 to 1 million illegal Haitians working in the sugar industry. The healthiest and strongest workers can usually cut about 2,200 pounds, and the average person works 12 hour day in the fields with no breaks. Their shifts normally last from 4 am to 4 pm. They get paid around $1-3 a day. Often, they are paid in vouchers which they can use to purchase company goods, often with an interest rate as high as 25%. There aren’t any cohesive statistics describing the age at which people in the bateye begin work in the sugar fields because it varies across bateyes and isn’t well documented; however, the “working age” across all occupations is considered 15 nationally.
There are an estimated 500,000 to 1 million illegal Haitians working in the sugar industry. The healthiest and strongest workers can usually cut about 2,200 pounds, and the average person works 12 hour day in the fields with no breaks. Their shifts normally last from 4 am to 4 pm. They get paid around $1-3 a day. Often, they are paid in vouchers which they can use to purchase company goods, often with an interest rate as high as 25%. There aren’t any cohesive statistics describing the age at which people in the bateye begin work in the sugar fields because it varies across bateyes and isn’t well documented; however, the “working age” across all occupations is considered 15 nationally.
Immigration in the Dominican Republic
The following timeline was created by Saugatuck Interact members.
The following clip is from an interview students conducted with Shaw Drake, a lawyer from Georgetown advocating for international treaties to be upheld.
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The following clip is from an interview students conducted with Jonathan Santana, a member of the Marantha Mission in La Romana.
Jonathan on Immigration from Mike Shaw on Vimeo. |
Life in a BateyThe country of Dominican Republic includes many developed cities, such as La Romana and Santo Domingo, in which many people have similar lifestyles to Americans. The coast of the Dominican is lined with resorts and that in turn provide many jobs to Dominicans. Tourists come for the beautiful paradise the island is often portrayed as, but often are unaware of few miles away there are villages of impoverished Haitian immigrants. The life of someone with a Dominican passport, differs from someone who is undocumented.
A batey is a small village home to sugarcane workers and their families. The low wages earned from cutting sugar cane aren’t near what the cost of living is in the modernized Dominican Republic, so essentially the families in the batey will continue for generations and the cycle of poverty will continue because it is unlikely they will be able to leave. |
Woman Cooking ~ Shorter from Mike Shaw on Vimeo. The documentary Batey Mosquito captures how food is prepared in bateys Dominican Republic.
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In a batey trash is littered across the village, simply because they have no other place to put it. The average home consists of a 1 to 2 room shack made from rusty scrap metal, leaves from banana trees, and anything the people could find that we would consider trash that would keep the rain out of the inside The inside of the home usually has a dirt floor, and has no electricity. In most bateys their is a community water source, individual families have to walk to it and carry the water back to their home. Some families have water filters in their home, but most do not. Most bateys only have a community latrine and most people just go to the bathroom in the fields. Many people own very little clothing and go without shoes. In some bateys you may only get one meal a day, and is cooked over open fire.
Jonathan Clips from Mike Shaw on Vimeo. |
Out of the Batey from Mike Shaw on Vimeo. |
The following clips are from an interview students conducted with Jonathan Santana about his experience living in a batey.