Chapter 18: Reimagining Soufrans Ayisyen (Haitian Suffering): Cultural and Clinical Narratives During the COVID-19 Pandemic

As Haitians, we narrate life through extraordinary songs, dances, and wisdom-filled proverbs so colorful that they also sing. Songs and proverbs about suffering abound including the traditional song above. These expressions of struggles are intertwined and point to ways of living and not just surviving. There is in Haiti an orally transmitted knowledge of plants, leaves, and their healing power and uses. Traditional medicine is used for everything, from headaches and lack of sleep to fertility issues, and now to address the ravages of COVID-19. Whether in Haiti or in the diasporic communities around the world, Haitian people share with each other their knowledge of this or that plant, and the many ways they can be used to cure their ailments. Psychologically, in a world filled with fear and uncertainties, Haitians and Haitian Americans, can turn to the familiar, to soothe themselves and regain some sense of agency. We connect with each other, remind ourselves of past recipes and in so doing recreate an internal landscape made up of memories, smells, sounds, and transmitted wisdom that can help us weather this frightening time. Akhtar (2011) speaks of the destabilizing effect for human beings when they experience what he calls the trauma of geographical dislocation. For Haitians and Haitian Americans in the United States, there is creative energy and repair in mobilizing ideas from the motherland, which then have a stabilizing effect. These can then help us regain a sense of competence, a gathering of our personal and communal strengths needed to face this new threat.