I mentioned before that my colleagues here in Haiti are of the elite. So much so that the recommendation from the Trinidad country rep to dine at the fancy-pants restaurant was accepted by both my Haitian colleagues, Emmanuella and Sherley, without question. The prices on the menu made me gulp. They didn't even look. I've rarely been in a position to socialize freely with local colleagues because of the difference in our incomes (even in Botswana and most certainly in PNG).
But wealth in Haiti is sometimes qualified, I think. When we returned to Haiti from Trinidad, my driver and I gave Sherley a lift home. She lives in one of the neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince that was worst hit by the earthquake. She's a medical doctor and so is better off than most. Nevertheless, the roads to get to her house are narrow piles of rutted rubble. Most houses are flattened. After the quake, the government surveyed every building and categorized the buildings with stenciled markers in green ("fit for habitation"), yellow ("enter only to retrieve essential items"), and red ("do not enter"). Sherley's neighborhood had yellows and even reds that were clearly occupied. For example, the top floor was collapsed but the bottom floor had signs of habitation. I wonder what the neighborhood was like before and what it's like for Sherley to live there now. I don't ask because I'm afraid of how my question might be interpreted.
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