One Haitian Family in Miami, Florida

I have the pleasure of knowing so many people from different walks of life. They range from upper class societies to lower class. I love everyone and I never shun from anyone no matter where they came from or what they have.

I love meeting people from different countries. Four years ago I met one distinct family from Haiti that now resides in Miami, Florida. It has been amazing to me how different our lifestyles are.

 On the outside, this family seems to be very loving etc...However, once I got to know them, I found out that they see things a little differently than most of the people that I know. The mother of this family, who is in her early 60's feels as though she had seven children in order for them to take care of her. She said that she feels as though when they turned 13 years old that they should find a job and begin contributing to the house bills. She said that she does not put any thought into the kids obtaining a higher education. She feels that education comes from what she teaches them. She expects her kids, who now range from 28-42, to responsible for her bills, travel, clothing, pocket money, lottery money and food. I am wondering if this is a cultural way of thinking? It just does not seem like logical thinking to me. To top things off, she makes it a point  to turn her kids against their father in order to get them to "not to" give him money just so that she can get it ALL! I really want to know if this is the way that most families from Haiti think and live or is it just an individual way of doing things?

Another thing that this mother does is that she expects her children to make her bills etc...a priority. She said her mortagage needs to be paid first and theirs need to be paid secondary. She said that way, if they lose their home, they will still have a place to reside at her place. If at any time, any of her children does not comply to her demands, she literally disowns them until they finally feel like there is no choice but to give her the money. Is this ethical? Is this the correct way to treat anyone especially those you love?

I would like to get to know more and more about Haitians. There is so much that I can tell about this family but time will not allow in this one blog. However, I will continue to learn more and more about this family as well as other Haitian families, so that I can learn and compare different cultural lifestyles.