Aruba — One Happy Island
Or so we see…
If you’re wondering what gave me the idea for this project, let me tell you a story:
In December 2018, I spent a whole month in Aruba. I stayed with my grandparents who live there practically year-round, and so they know the area inside and out and they’ve seen both — tourist and local — sides of the island. Through the years they’ve lived in Aruba, they became good friends with both tourists and locals, and that month they introduced me to Aruba’s local side that I had never seen in the two other times I’d visited.
What an eye-opener.
Children skinnier than a telephone pole. Locals in shabby clothing. Hand-me-downs and stains galore. A family of 4. Living in 2 concrete blocks that can’t provide larger than 400sqft of living space. One bedroom for 4 people. People living in container homes. Not the nice ones either. Literal container homes, empty of any design. Wild dogs surrounding their homes, a girl running home quickly and locking the shabby wire gate behind her as the dogs close in. (Don’t worry she’s safe and used to it — but I was terrified). Too many single mothers. A 5-year old boy named JP. He eats Nutella for breakfast, lunch and dinner. He loves art and drawing, but his mother cannot afford to buy him a $5 box of crayons. One day I gifted him a box of 64-pack Crayola Crayons, and his mother broke down in tears in front of us, ever so thankful. These people work hard. Day into night, 3 jobs, 7 days a week.
They deserve more. All of them. These are smart people — having to know at least 5 languages. They don’t slack off. They are respectful even though tourists sometimes treat them like garbage when they’re on the clock. They’re tired, so tired of working so hard and not receiving enough in return. But they can’t show their tiredness in front of tourists or god forbid, their children. They have to be strong, and so they are strong.
And I thought — I want to help these people, to lessen their burden. Something besides just buying them meals (which is what my grandparents have resorted to doing… that and boiling some of the workers at the resorts chicken eggs for breakfast…yeah don’t ask, all that matters is that they are thankful and enjoy the delicious eggs :) ). And then I had the bright idea: what if I could provide these people with better living conditions? And so it was my idea for a long time to buy a plot of land in Aruba and fill it with multiple tiny homes, creating my very own tiny housing community. Then about four month ago I saw how unrealistic this would be, and have changed my thesis to: introducing the idea of how design can help make people’s living conditions more desirable.
It’s not surprising to me that when we go on vacation we only see what businesspeople want us tourists to see. It’s no surprise that most people wouldn’t think of Aruba as a poor country. On that note, Aruba is not actually considered a ‘poor’ country. According to Google, Aruba is actually one of the ‘wealthiest’ countries in the Caribbean according to GDP. According to Quora, “It’s not a third world country by any definition…The economy is centered around tourism and appears to be doing well”. And from looks, the tourist side of Aruba seems to be doing well — I agree. But I suppose that what’s most surprising to me is the fact that I see locals living in horrible living conditions despite being worked to the bone, and so I must question: Where is this money going? Of course, I know that there are many factors and reasons why these people may not be getting paid what they deserve, but this discussion would involve diving into more government and business centered policies than I’d care to look into in this analysis.
As I stated in my last post: the purpose of my thesis project is to raise awareness of the many different social problems within our world. To me, it is a social problem that people who work so hard receive so little in return and additionally have to live in horrible living conditions. I realize I am not providing a solution to this problem, but that is not the point of my thesis project. The point of my project is to raise awareness of this problem to others, which I have taken the first step in accomplishing by writing this post. Taking it a small step further, I would like to present the concept of “design for social impact”. So I suppose what I’m saying is that, I believe to help bolster Aruba’s government and thus the island as a whole, we must first start with the communities, more specifically, with the people within these communities. And while most people will say “looks are not everything”, I vote to contrarily believe that looks and designs of the homes in Aruba can change communities and the people living in them for the better. Living in a cleaner, more structured and safe-feeling environment can have a huge beneficial mental effect on its dwellers, and this will not only improve their performances, but everyone else’s around them as well. I’m saying: If I can turn a 400sqft of concrete blocks into a multiple room, luxurious looking, tiny home, for which all costs of living would be the same (or perhaps even cheaper if we want to look into sustainable homes and wind power — which — surprise! — is something else I am researching for this thesis), I would like to do so. That’s what I’m talkin’ about!
I hope you enjoyed this post, and perhaps will think twice about how you interact with the workers at your hotel or timeshare next time you visit a Caribbean Resort (or really any vacation spot for that matter, you should always be respectful, courteous, and thankful!). I want to specifically NOTE: Aruba, in my eyes, is home to some of the most beautiful places and islands in the world. I do feel very safe day or night when I am there, and highly recommend going there for vacation. I realize that what I talked about might not seem very appealing, but the reality of it is that Aruba is not the only island like this — other Caribbean Islands are as well, such as Barbados, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, etc. But what I do know is that people living in Aruba, even though they’re living in harsher living conditions, always find a way to smile and make the best out of their lives. Aruba is indeed One Happy Island.
********
As always, please feel free to follow my posts and provide feedback and other resources that could help me out! My rule of thumb is to always keep an open mind. I am always looking to learn from experts in the industry as well as gain insights from those who are also very passionate about these topics! Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day! :)
