A Binational Border Market
Every Monday and Friday the border that separates the twin towns of Ouanaminthe in Haiti and Dajabón in the Dominican Republic opens to allow Haitian traders to sell their goods at the binational market situated on the Dajabón side. The border opens at 8am but the traffic through Ouanaminthe begins much earlier, with some travelling from as far as Cap-Haïtien in order to buy and sell on lot bo a (the other side). On the 5am tap tap minibus ride from Cap to Ouanaminthe, women pay extra to load bales of secondhand clothing from Miami or Atlanta on the roof. In Ouanaminthe they stock up on spaghetti, vermicelli and other food items, which they take back and can easily sell on the streets of Cap-Haïtien.
During August I spend market days with three sisters from the border town of Ouanaminthe who work as secondhand clothing komesan with their mother, who has passed down this trade to them, and their auntie who sells in the space next to theirs. The family sell used baby clothes – babygrows, bibs, t-shirts, leggings and dresses – in the indoor market. As I help fold the clothing into piles I read the labels of each piece trying to calculate its point of departure and imagine its previous owners. The clothes are laid on flattened rice sacks and customers bend over to sift through the different piles. Regular Dominican clients are offered a small wooden stool to sit and inspect the wares. Additionally, those who have developed a long-term business relationship (referred to as pratik) are able to buy on credit. There is a steady stream of mobile sellers of water sachets, cola, chanm chanm (a snack of ground corn and peanut dust sold in squares of plastic), socks and sanitary towels as we shift between sitting, squatting, kneeling and lying behind, on and within the colourful piles of pèpè that are destroyed with each new customer.
Avanse avanse! The market is noisy and knotted with hurried and industrious traders, wheelbarrows piled high achieving the impossible against the tide, bundles balanced on shoulders or heads, motos (who weave through both outside and inside (!!) spaces). As I walk through the mêlée, clashing and complementary sounds of Dominican merengue and Haitian konpa are overlaid with the Kreyòl-tinged Spanish and Spanish-tinged Kreyòl of the market buyers and sellers.
On my first visit, I am surprised at the number of women traders selling garlic in the market. The garlic is from Haiti and a quick look through the El Nacional and Listin Diario newspaper archives reveals numerous reports from the last 10 years of Dominican authorities seizing large shipments of contraband garlic (not cocaine!) at the border and Haitian traders photoed in front of garlic-crammed minibuses.
The solar eclipse on Monday 21st August means a slow trading day. People are not buying and the market is relatively quiet. Between 1-2pm in the afternoon, many traders, perhaps scared of the unknown, are heading back over the border bridge back into Haiti. A huge bottleneck of trucks, SUVs, motorbikes and people pressed into the gaps between these vehicles occurs. As men jump over the side of the bridge to avoid the crush, opting to take an alternative path across the border, one Haitian woman turns to me and declares nou pa ka mouri (we’re not going to die), confidently steering me into a side depot before we reach the bridge. The caring woman instructs me to wait until she deems it safe to cross the bridge. Before leaving our safe spot we help another trader load the food goods she is selling on her head before filing across the bridge. As we cross, the women occasionally shout back in my direction to check I am still with them and safely returning to lot bo a.
Edge of the Binational Market in Dajabon
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