Let's Read Caribbean Authors/Haiti/ Restavec & No Crying in the OR
We will explore Haiti through two books that tell of some of the turmoil the country has experienced.
Date and time
Location
Online
About this event
- 1 hour 30 minutes
Please join us as we try to understand the chaos in Haiti.
We will read two books. Your choices are:
- to read both books
- to read one or the other book
- to read a portion of both books
- come with what you have finished
The host will give a presentation about the issues raised and background on the authors.
No Crying in the Operating Room: My Life as an International Relief Doctor, from Haiti, to South Sudan, to the Syrian Civil War A Memoir
Cecily Wang
Cecily Wang wanted to become a doctor to help people in the most fundamental ways possible, only to become disillusioned with the profession during medical school and residency. It wasn't until she went on an international relief mission to Haiti in 2006 that she found herself practicing medicine as she had originally envisioned. She was able to help a sick person in great need, unencumbered by red tape and regulations. The patient's health was all that mattered.
Cecily has continued to do international work for the last decade with Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) and other aid groups. She has served populations affected by earthquakes and cholera, famine and civil war, in Haiti and Myanmar, Samoa and Nigeria, South Sudan and Syria. In the process, Cecily has been stretched to her emotional limits.
Restavec: From Haitian Slave Child to Middle-Class American
African slaves in Haiti emancipated themselves from French rule in 1804 and created the first independent black republic in the Western Hemisphere. But they reinstituted slavery for the most vulnerable members of Haitian society—the children of the poor—by using them as unpaid servants to the wealthy. These children were—and still are— restavecs , a French term whose literal meaning of "staying with" disguises the unremitting labor, abuse, and denial of education that characterizes the children's lives. In this memoir, Jean-Robert Cadet recounts the harrowing story of his youth as a restavec, as well as his inspiring climb to middle-class American life. He vividly describes what it was like to be an unwanted illegitimate child "staying with" a well-to-do family whose physical and emotional abuse was sanctioned by Haitian society. He also details his subsequent life in the United States, where, despite American racism, he put himself through college and found success in the Army, in business, and finally in teaching.