Shaun Groves
Imagine there’s a man named Miguel. Miguel was born in Haiti but works today on a sugar plantation in the Dominican Republic. The plantation is owned by a U.S. corporation. The corporation pays Miguel $2 a day to harvest sugar during the harvesting season – if he meets his quota. They don’t allow him to grow his own food, but allow him to buy his food from the plantation store. He is allow to stay in a 10×8’ “house” owned by the corporation or the government. He sleeps outside so his wife and children can sleep inside.
Miguel has been working on the plantation long enough to have witnessed the milling component of the sugar-making process get moved from the Dominican Republic to China. He fears that he is as expendable as the mill workers were. His family is uneducated, lacking the funds to pay for school uniforms and fees. His youngest child is sick – eats and eats but can’t keep weight on. Some days Miguel picks through trash at the dump to find food and clothes for his family. He needs better pay but lacks the skills to get a better job. And besides, leaving the plantation means leaving his home and some say risking death at the hands of his employer, so fear keeps his hands on the machete and his feet in the fields.
Some would call this unjust. Because the U.S. corporation serving as Miguel’s boss makes enough money from their product to pay him a better wage, provide him with health care, and educate his children – they can afford to treat him better and as a human being he deserves as much.
Some would call this benevolent. Because without the U.S. corporation Miguel would be starving in Haiti, homeless and wageless, or dead.
My inbox has been hit harder by my recent posts about the sugar business and the dump in the Dominican Republic than anything I’ve written before. You are compassionate people. You’re ready to leap into action, to do something, anything, to help people like the fictitious Miguel. And you’ve been writing to ask me what it is I think we should do.
We could buy stock in the sugar company, show up at the next shareholder’s meeting and demand better treatment of Miguel and his family.
We could write and call our Congressmen, demanding they hold U.S. corporations to the same ethical standards when operating abroad that they’re held to at home.
We could start a fund to offer small business loans to people like Miguel or to literally purchase the workers from the corporations.
There’s a lot we could do. I don’t know enough yet to know what’s best. I have reservations about each of these proposed solutions right now though. For now I won’t be asking my government to do anything for Miguel. From what I know so far, our government subsidizes Miguel’s employer, listens to lobbyists from the sugar industry as well, and does not hold it accountable for it’s treatment of workers. And unless I have more money than Miguel’s boss’s lobbyists, that route, I’m guessing, will likely be fruitless.
For now I will not be asking the sugar company to change its ways either. For similar reasons. What they’re doing, while unethical, is not illegal and it’s very profitable, so why would they listen to me, or a million people like me when there are millions more continuing to buy sugar and two governments supporting their business practices? For now I won’t be giving Miguel money, because Miguel isn’t free to leave the plantation or use his money to start a business on the plantation. For now I won’t be purchasing Miguel from the corporation (as if that’s possible) because another Haitian will be brought in to take his place, and another after that.
For now, all I’m doing is learning about the complex situation and continuing to support Compassion’s work inside the plantation I visited. I truly believe that educating, healing, feeding, training, mentoring, and loving Miguel’s kids both lightens Miguel’s load and ensures that the next generation will have more job opportunities than Miguel has – they will be free. Compassion’s work in Haiti will hopefully, slowly, over many generations perhaps, lift a sizable number of Haitians out of the desperate circumstances that put Miguel to work on the plantation in the first place. Supporting Compassion is surely not the only thing we can do, and it’s certainly not the quick direct solution I want, but it’s something. And I need to do something.
Learn with me about the sugar business. Teach me what you learn. And do something for Miguel now.
April says:
Shawn,
God is using you to change me! I will always read your blog because you cause me to look outside “my” world and to see God’s World. I thank you for that!!
Recently I have been struggling with “what can I do?”, we are not in a financial position to help (although we have set a goal of being able to sponsor a child in the next 2 years!). God revealed to me that prayer is enough right now for me. Satan tells me that prayer is not enough. I no longer to chose to believe him. I can affect change through prayer. I have started praying for the two little girls we plan to sponsor, I don’t know who they are but God does. I am going to start praying about the sugar business. I pray the Holy Spirit convicts the U.S. company and they change their policies.I would ask those that feel led to “do something” get on their knees with us!!
Texas in Africa says:
Shaun, you should get in touch with Sharla Megilligan at Makarios International. She has a great reading list about the situation of Haitians and others in the DR on the Makarios website: http://www.makariosinternational.org/reading.asp
Nancy Tyler says:
Politicians and corporations don’t respond to individuals; they respond to negative press coverage.
Make your case to producers, assignment editors and reporters at:
• The big three networks’ nightly newscasts
• NBC’s Dateline
• ABC’s 20/20 and Nightline
• CBS’ 60 Minutes
• CNN (including Anderson Cooper 360)
• MSNBC
• Fox News
• National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” , “Morning Edition” and “This American Life”
• Newspapers like the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and New York Times that are national in scope and are read by members of Congress
• The local television, radio and print outlets in the American cities with the highest Dominican and Haitian immigrant populations (NYC/Northern NJ and Miami)
• Powerful news-oriented blogs and bloggers
Cinde says:
Hey Shaun – I’ve been following your blog since your Compassion trip to Uganda with Boo and Rocks. These recent posts are hitting close to home because 1. I used to work in a sugar factory. 2. My Compassion child is from Haiti – very near where you are.
I’m not sure what should be done about the situation either. However, there is an option to purchasing cane sugar that would be to purchase sugar made from beets grown in the United States. The sugarbeet industry, which was once thriving here, has declined over recent years. This is partly due to the cheap labor in cane production (which you are seeing first hand) and droughts in various beet growing areas.
Some companies that produce beet sugar are:
Western Sugar
Crystal
Spreckels
More information and names of other producers can be found at http://www.beetsugar.org/
This might provide an option at the grocery store for people who don’t wish to support the big cane sugar conglomerates.
Hopefully, if we all put our heads together, we can come up with something that will create a positive change.
Shaun Groves says:
You’re the expert, Nancy. I believe you. But I’m wondering why these members of media haven’t covered the two films (Big Sugar, The Price of Sugar) that have been released about this situation so far. Why? Did those films just not have good publicists?
The sugar industry, some sources say, were the first slave owners in America and England. This isn’t a new situation. Could the solution be as simple as media coverage?
Would you need a film, a protest, some kind of big event or product to get media coverage, Nancy?
jason says:
powerful post Shaun….I think we have our most powerful weapon right here, the blogosphere…I made a post talking about this one and linked back…we should begin a blogging campaign to raise awareness..maybe asking each reader to write their congressman about this..
It may not seem like much now…but it helped spread the cause about tibet and burma….why not this?
Thomas says:
I am probably too cynical, but if we go to the press and get everyone worked up about the horrible conditions the workers and their families are facing, whats to stop the companies from closing up the plantations and move rest of the operations to China.
There has to be a way to get the board member of these companies to see the harm they are causing with out publicly embarrassing the companies they are running.
Negative press can cause at least four different responses.
1)They dig in their heals and do nothing.
2)They kick out Compassion and other ministries that are helping these people while digging in their heal and refusing to change.
3)They pick up and move rest of the operations to China.
4)They change their attitude and being to treat the workers and their families with the respect they deserve.
It seems that the first three options would probably happen before the fourth option. I wish that I had the answer that would cause the changes that we all want. The most effective thing I can think of right now is to get on my knees and ask God for wisdom and justice for the people living in these horrible conditions.
Thomas
Nancy Tyler says:
Media coverage can help shape opinions and shame people, but it’s no simple or guaranteed solution for the Dominican sugar workers’ situation or for anything else.
I don’t know about the quality or quantity of the publicity for the two films, but The Price of Sugar did get a little bit of coverage:
http://www.thepriceofsugar.com/press.shtml
There’s no sure science involved in getting press pickup. A lot of it has to do with timing, who’s pitching it to the press and how, if there are similar subjects that are currently being covered widely, ownership of the media organizations being pitched, on and on. The ideal is to be able to find an important member of the media who takes an issue to heart, champions it, and produces broad, compelling press coverage of it that will embarrass “the bad guys” and embolden “the good guys” to establish or support policies or programs or ministries to bring about change.
The international poor, the hungry, the enslaved, the war-ravaged, and victims of natural disasters are being highlighted in the media now more than they have ever been. That’s a plus, and a minus; it creates awareness, but it creates compassion fatigue in the public, too. When people read or hear about the same message a lot– “are we gonna talk about poor kids again?” –even if it’s a critical message, most people at some point get tired of it, accustomed to it or overwhelmed by its enormity.
faithful chick says:
Nancy makes a great point. All of the information gathered should be placed in the hands of a large news organization. Negative press does tend to motivate big business. It’s worth a try.
Thanks for opening our eyes. Now that I know, I want to do something. Even if the only something I can do is to continue my support of Compassion.
Holly Smith says:
Just forwarded this to a friend at Fox News. Perhaps, they can provide coverage and be an impetus to help.
Love your caring heart!
Blessings on you and your family,
holly
Kelly @ Love Well says:
I’m the least argumentative person on the planet. (Really. And no, I won’t fight you about it.)
But I think your initial response is the best one, Shaun. Having worked at NBC for years, I can say that most media outlets are FAR more concerned about drawing viewers at this point than “enlightening the public about injustice.”
Plus, the news cycle is so fast these days, I seriously doubt any lasting change would be produced. No one has the attention span anymore. And the big companies know it. They can ride out the firestorm of bad publicity, promise a few minor changes—and before they know it, Paris Hilton is the lead again and they can get back to business as usual.
Prayer and person-to-person education seems to be the best answer.
Sean says:
Shaun:
I understand the zeal of some to go after “corporate villains”, but I urge caution and a little more investigation of the whole truth before broad generalizations are made.
The Florida based company being blasted here actually has a very established charity in the DR where lives are changed on a daily basis. Orphans are fed, rescued and educated. Woman are treated for HIV. Health care is provided at little to no charge. I know. I took a personal tour of the facilities last Summer.
I urge folks making hasty condemnations to seek the facts – all the facts – and investigate a little more thoroughly before making these generalizations and accusataions of explotation.
There are lots of issues at play here related to immigration policy that have been the underlying root of many of these issues felt by Haitians.
The MIR was recently awarded at a UN conference for its charitable work. It bears mentioning in the context of the posts on this blog.
http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/poverty/2008/5/9/27929/Dominican-Republics-MIR-foundation-receives-international-award
Thank you for bringing these tyoe of conditions to our consiousness as believers. In Christ,
Sean
(full disclosire – this Florida corporation you mention is a client of mine. I want to lay that one out there on the table)
RBerman says:
Nancy, you mentioned the radio program This American Life. They actually did a similar story a couple of months ago in an episode entitled “David and Goliath” about the garment industry in Cambodia.
The US Government had a program for Third World countries in which they didn’t have to pay tariffs to import their goods to the USA, if they agreed to provide their workers with certain pay, hours, and working conditions. The program lapsed for some reason, and Cambodia was unable to compete with the lower labor costs of its neighbor countries, so the better pay and benefits started to evaporate, or the factories closed.
Before we go too berserk over the (very real) plight of workers in the D.R. losing their jobs, we should remember that every job that moves to China still feeds someone very real on that end too. Part of the problem is that our empathy for the needy person we’ve met will tend to exceed our empathy for the needy person who’s just a statistic on the other side of the world.
Nancy Tyler says:
That’s just the TAL episode I was thinking of! Here it is if anyone wants to listen:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=303
It’s so hard to get our heads around the complexity of these things. Good thing there are a lot of heads here to help us all think things through from different angles.
Thomas says:
Does supporting charitable organization dissovel a company of its responsibility to treat it employees with respect and dignity? Are the sugar cane employees able to access the servies provided by charitable organization that the company supports. If the employees are not able to access those services, is it wrong for the company to say do not look at how we are treat our employees, instead look at all the charitable work we are doing?
Thomas