Degaje

Degaje- v. to make do. to get by.
innovate.

Degaje is one of my favorite Creole words. To me, it's like the one word that describes how almost every Haitian lives. From day to day, they have to degaje. They have to be creative and figure out how to survive. For myself, its almost as if it's a foreign concept because I rarely have to 'degaje'. I can't think of the last time that I had to do something in survival mode. A bathroom, food, water, a non-leaky roof, it's all right here at my finger tips. But for Haitians, nothing comes easy. Everyday they face challenges that we would never think of. A lot of parents struggle just to feed their kids one time a day. And some children have to walk miles to get clean water from a well for the family. It's not uncommon to see 4 people riding on one bike. I know a few children who walk almost 2 hours ONE way to go to school. Anyways, the picture of a boys sewen up sandal is just a simple example of degaje. I'll continue to post other examples of degaje when I see them.