1. 1. Though it feels like years since I lived in Papua New Guinea, I only had two weeks between leaving PNG and arriving in Haiti. I sort of feel like Haiti and Haitians can’t possibly be as crazy as Papua New Guineans (i.e. who routinely charge the government money for the privilege of fixing the road by their homes after it is destroyed in a landslide). Then I was told that Haitians short on cash (uhm…) who have relatives in the US will sometimes kidnap a relative in Haiti to get some money from the rich ones in the US. This kind of logic makes me fear that I haven’t quite left the crazy behind in PNG.
2. 2. Haitians are Latin! They listen to music loudly, they dance, they laugh! Haitian women aren’t afraid of showing some skin. When I went out over the weekend to observe a rural cinemobile* event, I was handed a teeny tank top (size medium, mind you) with the program logo on it to wear. I asked three different people if it would be appropriate to wear and they all looked at me like I had gotten a little too much sun. I’m sorry! In PNG, we cover up in the provinces.
3. 3. I find it hard to describe small rural communities in Haiti as “villages”. I think of a village as a cluster of houses made of natural materials with gardens and footpaths. In Haiti, most of the houses are made of unfinished and unpainted cinderblock along unsurfaced, but grid-based roads. Small town, maybe? I found out yesterday that the reason why so many houses are gray is because Haitian law does not consider a house finished (and therefore taxable) until it’s painted. Ha.
*A cinemobile is an outreach event in which we entertain a crowd with a DJ, the screen short films on several health topics to stimulate discussion.
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