Haitian Notes 2003

14 July 2003 in the air from Miami to Port-au-Prince

Haiti has been compared to Africa.  I will see what people mean by my own comparison in about three hours. But for now, we just left Miami the city where the Cuban refugees were accepted, but the fleeing Haitians were turned away or sent back to their island.  That’s wack.
The Haitian skin color is similar to mine.  It’s dark and smooth, some dusty, but the ones I’ve seen so far are either black or brown.  Their facial features are purely African.  Broad noses with full thick lips, and strong kinky hair.  Beautiful.

19 July 2003 Port-au-Prince

Driving through the mountains to Saut d’Eau, I find Haiti’s terrain is rough, hard and brutal.  The rented jeep rocks back and forth, front and sideways like an amusement park ride. The warmth and friendliness of the people overshadows the stomach upsetting rocky unpaved roads.

The maroon village of Gros Jean

It takes an entire village to raise a child(ren) . . . and even to exist as a future.  Every door seems to open quickly as neighbor’s come and go into each other’s homes.
Water is precious and it not always accessible either.  At Ari and Nicole’s house in the maroon village of Gros Jean, people come over and hand wash their clothes or fill their pails with water for their use . . .  without asking.  Ari has running water.  Don’t drink this water or eat anything washed with it.  If you do, your body will pay for it in about two hours later.  I’m speaking from experience. After drinking a glass of soda with ice, I chewed some ice and paid for it with stomach cramps, a fever, and diarrhea.  In a lot of places the water is not purified.

21 July the Orphanage

The orphanage was very sad of course.  Looking at it through the eyes of a parent sadden me even more so. I was told that their families visit some of the children every Thursday, while others (children) are not visited at all.  Some were dropped off at the door and left alone.  Some are starved and others are sick.  Some I’m told will not see their second birthday.  These children look at you with distant eyes of despair.  Their young eyes are aged with living a not so certain future.  I can’t help but to wonder what their little minds are going through.  When you hold a child, they automatically attach themselves to you like a sticky piece of paper.  All they want is to be loved.  If you put them down, they cry.  That crying touches your heart and you give in.  The longing in their eyes can easily find their way to your dreams. 

23 July Port-au Prince

Djaloki and I hung out today in Port-au Prince.  I had to get my Cuban VISA and plane tickets so he chauffeured me. Within our daily random discussions, he told me while he was living in Europe as a teenager he studied colonialism.  He explained there were three types of colonialism used to conquer the New World.  The Europeans used a mixture of religion and military strength to conquer and destroy along with commercial purposes.  The French who were known for the military prowess of Napoleon, would send in the armies and just destroy.    The Spanish and Portuguese would first send the priests to try and convert, but have the armies standing behind looking over their shoulders supposedly protecting the converters.  Not the priest, but the armies would rape and pillage the women.  That’s another reason to why there is such a mixture of races.  The Dutch and British would send merchants with their families.  They would set up trading posts to generate money.  That may be a reason why the US and England are running the commercial world.

Ari is always giving rides to people in the back of his truck.  People will stop him along his route, smile and jump in the back of the truck. Once they are close to their destination, they will bang on the truck, he pulls over and they jump out smile, and hollar something in Creole.  He replies to them practicing his English, “No problem. Have a good day.” He is a kind gentle person with good political sense.  If political office were his game, he would surely win a lot of votes.

25 July

Ari took us to the Haitian countryside to a beautiful lake near a ridge of mountains.  They call it Lake Etan Somate.  While there, we saw a squadron of pink flamingoes fly in unison over head.  It was amazing to see them fly almost in a straight line following the leader.  I stood there in awe with my camera at my side. It the blink of an eye they disappeared to nowhere.
 
We drove through many small villages.  People would stop what they were doing and stare at us, not because there were seven of us in a small truck, but at the two non-black faces with us. The couple was from Belgium working in H’aiti with an NGO (non-government organization). He was Anglo and she was Peruvian. They were very nice and eager.
  The ride was long, hot and dusty.  The unpaved road rocked us sleepy, but we could not get too relaxed for fear of becoming airborne and falling out of the truck. We held on to the sides without fear, but cautiously.

26 July

I spoke with the Scotsman last night.  We spoke about travel and life’s experiences.  His experience of teaching in Africa (Kenya) was very rewarding in the fact that his students desired to learn.  He said his class of 70 students would be completely silent when he spoke.  He said sometimes in the middle of the night, he would hear a knock on the door of his house.  It would be students asking for more homework.  They were eager to learn.  That was rewarding to him as a teacher. Having eager to learn students is pleasing and rewarding for any teacher wherever you are in the world.

27 July Gros Jean

Today will be the last day in Haiti, then on to Cuba.  We were to leave Thursday, but the flight was cancelled.  I was told there was not enough people signed up for the flight.  We will leave Sunday at 3:00 p.m. for Santiago.