On a Weekend at the Beach

This weekend, I went away to the beach with my friends, Maite and Marcie.  It takes some time to get out of the dusty, gray, city through twisting back roads to avoid traffic.  It's a good way to get a look at the city.

Once at the beach, we didn't talk about work and exerted ourselves only to take our beers from the shore into the water.

This is a camp outside the city with transitional shelters made of plastic sheeting and wooden beams.  Every time I've passed it, it's gotten bigger.  It is now home to 40,000 - 60,000 people.

On the Return of Baby Doc

In a bizarre new chapter to Haiti's political drama, a former president (tyrannical dictator "Baby Doc") returned to Haiti in a surprise visit after 25 years in exile.  Baby Doc inherited the title of Tyrant in Charge from his dad and under their rule, thousands of Haitians were intimidated, tortured, and killed by their armed gangs.

A Washington Post article interviews several people who seem unphased by the return of the dictator.  They are either too young to remember the dark days or are so desperate for someone to come in and fix everything, that they are willing to overlook the transgressions of the past.  Why someone with only "dictator/tyrant/embezzler" on his CV would be the solution to Haiti's problems is a mystery to me.

What is Baby Doc's reason for his return?  No idea.  Apparently, he's here to come to the aid of the Haitian people.  More on that at a press conference he has scheduled for today.  The timing - bang in the middle of a disputed presidential election - is flabbergasting.

I'm at home right now, waiting to find out whether we will close the office today or not.  All looks calm outside my house, though last night I was awakened several times by loud bangs.

On One Year On

It's a sunny, clear, breezy, cool day in Port-au-Prince on this anniversary of the 2010 earthquake.  Memorial services started days ago and are scheduled into the end of the month.  So many people died.

I've been listening to and reading the international media's reflections on the past year since the earthquake.  Is there a code of politeness, even among journalists that prevents them from saying, as I would, "little progress has been made in the past year and the are no signs that any improvement in Haitians' quality of life is likely in the next year"?  Why sugar coat things, as an NPR reporter did, saying Haitians have hope that things will change for the better, but want to know when.

Is it cognitive dissonance for me to both believe that the lot of Haitians is unlikely to improve in the next 5 - 10 years and believe in my work?

Pictures from just after the 2010 earthquake and a year later
 (www.news.nationalgeographic.com)

On Being Home

I'm back in Haiti!  I made it through the figurative birth canal of the immigration/baggage claim hangar and was happy to pop out into the warm sunshine into a (gasp!) waiting vehicle.

Some of my camp neighbors have moved!  There are open spaces on the square they used to inhabit where I saw boys kicking a football.  I have never seen any open space in Port-au-Prince before .  I wonder where they were relocated to.  Living on the square between the police station and the electoral commission office must not have been fun during the elections.

Speaking of which, the official results of the first round of elections might be announced today!  Or on Tuesday.  Or by the end of the month.  February, tops.  In commemoration, I heard several loud bangs at 4:50 this morning.  When I ventured a peek through the window, I saw a flaming barricade blocking the main road behind my house.  It was pretty impressive.  Eventually, the police arrived and wandered around.  While they figured out what to do, I closed all my windows to keep out the billowing black smoke.  I was curious about what they were going to do about the barricade, but they took too long figuring it out so I went back to bed and eventually heard the sounds of morning traffic making its way down the road.

Happy Friday!!

On Starting the Year Off with a Little Reflection

It's January 1.  It's been almost seven months since I first arrived in Haiti and almost 12 months since the January 12th earthquake.  After seven months, I still don't know how I feel about my life in Haiti, which is unsettling.  Every time I try to think about it, my mind shies away before I can reach a conclusion.

I did a little compare and contrast table (Papua New Guinea vs. Haiti) this afternoon. The categories were culture, job satisfaction, social life, security, and food.  I made it to "security" and then I lost interest.  So here's the short version:

• Culture: Haiti is not as in-your-face as Papua New Guinea, but like PNG, a mix of supernatural and religious beliefs influence Haitians' world view, including how they think about disease transmission.  It makes my job more interesting to try to understand these ideas.
• Job Satisfaction: On paper, this is a dream job for me.  In reality, my colleagues' prickliness, unresponsiveness, and.... over-workedness make for maddeningly slow progress, catty e-mails, and lots of miscommunication.  We're always in a state of crisis, which is exhausting.
• Social Life: Just like PNG, there's no walking around outside for security reasons.  Every expat I know has a curfew, lives in group housing, and must use a vehicle pool.  Dinner and drinks are the most common form of socialization.  I have a handful of expat friends, but only a couple who I spend one-on-one time with.  Having internet at home is absolutely wonderful.  I can even stream NPR on the weekend while I make French toast.  My apartment is very comfortable with a huge terrace.  I work on my jigsaw puzzle, read, run up and down the stairs for exercise, and watch TV in French.  I'm hoping to start having more people over this year.  It will be easier once my shipping container with all my stuff is in my possession.  Last seen:  May 23.
• Security:  Sketchy, but I'm surprised it's not sketchier, given that over a million people have been living under tarps for a year with little evidence that their situation will soon change.  Those who can afford a gun, seem to have one, and kidnapping of rich Haitians is a problem.  The presidential elections have made the situation volatile.
• Food: It's expensive in the supermarket and even more so in the several high end restaurants in my part of town.  But eating is a quality of life issue, so I've stopped looking at prices.  The restaurants and the new supermarket near my house cater mostly to expats and well-off Haitians. 

When I got stuck in Miami earlier this month when Haiti was experiencing post-election violence, I was itching to get back as soon as possible.  After several days of cancelled flights, and escalating violence in Haiti, I realized that my primary reason for wanting to get back was so that I wouldn't miss the pre-Christmas dinner party I was supposed to host on the 9th.  My friends and I have been looking forward to it for weeks.  It made me realize how important something like a dinner party can be when there are so few opportunities to have fun.

Here's to hoping that 2011 is a better year for Haiti.  Better year for us all, really.