Beginning of Week 3 and I am so bored. Today I woke up after forcing myself to keep my eyes closed until what I thought was 7am. It was 5:20. Since I took a throughly great cold shower last night, I couldn't even get up to take a shower. I did have work to do before my supervisor got back, and a Kreyol lesson at 9AM, but that still left 4 hours of morning to fill.
***This next part is me complaining, you may want to skip a few paragraphs***
I have been bored lately because the job I came down here to do isn't really needed right now. After the earthquake yes, and probably once they get more masons yes, but until then I am stuck surfing the internet all day trying to look like I am doing something important. The other people down here are basically doing the same thing, except they have meetings to go to so it takes up their time. Nothing is accomplished in those meetings so I could care less about attending. On Thursday they asked if I wanted to go out and listen to some live music. I was tired and didn't see the point so I declined. I am a stay at home type of person anyway, but the thought of partying in a country like this after doing nothing to earn it is disgusting to me.
My supervisor has work to do because she is the 'country director', so she basically spends her time in meetings that take too long to say the point and hosts partner organizations when they come to do business aka go to meetings. This whole system (of NGOs in Haiti) is, in a word, stupid. My supervisor went to Cap over the weekend to check on the business AIDG is incubating, and she said they are doing horribly. They should have incubated better then, because if they fail, we fail. She is bringing back another puppy to the house. The one we have now is a demon so hopefully this one won't be like that.
What work have I done?
1. Sent a couple emails to people wanting to know about the masonry program
2. Filled out some info to send to organizations about AIDG
3. Translated and summarized a document in french from architects without borders
4. Wrote up a job description for Jess (my supervisor who is leaving in the fall)
5. Blew up 126 soccer balls for kids in Cite Soleil (didnt get to deliver them myself because there was no room left in the car)
That's about it. I'm supposed to be doing the finances every week but we havent had time to sit down and discuss it, so.......... ? Anyway that's not a full-time job in itself. I don't like sitting around the house for four days then all of a sudden given a pile of work to do. Jess said things will get more organized this week. I'm considering going home or looking for another organization in Haiti if things don't change. I could be "helping Haiti" more from DC than just having the chance to brag about living in a third world country for some time.
I could use my summer to save up money to go to grad school and eventually become ambassador to Haiti instead of this. I could just chill this summer and think about philosophy rather than this! I could do that from here too, which is what I need to consider. I can work on my han dan website more and continue to study kreyol and Japanese in my spare time and stick out the three months if i really want to. I could even continue to build websites for profit. I know eventually I will have a lot of work to do, but its not guaranteed as to when and I am a restless person.
On the flip side I am beginning to understand what life would be like if I had to live here. Granted I'd have a different view because I would be used to it, but life pretty much sucks, and the mosquitoes make it worse - I have doubled the amount of mosquito bite scars now. I had to take 5 tap-taps for an hour and 45 minutes to get back to my house yesterday, and it was smelly, crowded, and tiresome. But, it only cost 25 gourds (about 60 cents). I had to walk through the streets more since I was with Davidson and his friends without a car. Just walking past the tent cities you want to vomit. There is so much trash on the ground the smell just sits in the air, and there is little clean water so dirt just stays on you. People start fires just to get rid of the smell and keep the bugs away. Women and children are routinely raped by a few bandit groups because the police and UN etc refuse to patrol those dirty areas.
All in all, living in the tents is like living in Hell. That's why the people who have homes, even with no electricity, water, and food, feel grateful. I cannot be another American living comfortably in this country while the UN and other organizations pretend they are doing something. Everyone has their own plan, but I need to be working for a group planning something BIG, something REVOLUTIONARY. I also am making a few more Haitian friends who make life a little less boring.
I'm taking a nap now. I'm hungry for some American food. Beans and rice beans and rice every day! You cant loose weight like that! When I get up I'm going to finish translating this document then study kreyol a lot.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
Week 1 is Over, Now what???
This post is broken into two sections for those of you not interested in my ideas of Haitian Development - My Thoughts (Philosophy) & My Actions (What I did).
Part 1: My thoughts
The start of week 2 and I am seriously wondering why I am here. We'll, not only me, but why any of these groups are here in Haiti. If you didn't already know, there were over 3,000 NGOs (non-governmental organization's) in Haiti before the earthquake, and 6 months later there are probably hundreds more. Everybody has their own idea of what will help Haiti.
But, there is only one thing I know that is going to 'build' a strong Haiti, and that are Haitians, empowered by other Haitians. An NGO, like Save The Children, no matter how big or how much money, cannot develop a county. An outside governmental force, like the United Nations, cannot develop a county. As I have stated before, I know of no country today that has been build upon the foundation of an NGO or another country's government. It simply doesn't make sense. Governments never do things out of the goodness of their hearts. They invest in a country only if they have something to gain. Some people look at Haiti and say, what do they have to give? Why should we help them when we have our 'own' people to think about? Exactly, why would our stingy government pour money into a place when they refuse to improve the position of America's poor? The obvious thing is population, which means labor resources. Whichever country has control over Haiti has control over Haiti's business. So, American companies can continue to come and set up their huge sweat shops like they've done elsewhere in the world, and continue to stuff the pockets of America's finest. America and the other powerful nations would like people to believe they are on humanitarian missions, but why else would they be fighting over which country gets power over the 'rebuilding'?
The point is, all this NGO business is bullcrap and not helping anything. NGO's aid individuals temporarily, but do nothing for the strengthening of the country. Let's say, for example the NGO I am working for, AIDG does train 10,000 masons in Haiti to know how to build earthquake resistant structures. Can those 10,000 masons then go out and get good paying jobs building purposeful structures? I guess they can continue to build nice homes for the white and mulattoes around the country, but what effect is that going to have on the majority of the population? I'm not saying that their program isn't helping, but none of this makes sense when thinking about the functionality of a society, even if your goal is self-sustainability.
So I think I'm through with the NGO side of development, including the United Nations. The most power to change a situation comes from infiltrating our own government, or becoming a powerful businessperson, a force stronger than the US government itself.
Keeping that in mind I am going to consider myself being here a vacation, where I get to hang out with friends and think about some business ideas, while I do the job I need to do to stay hosted in this country.
Part 2: My Actions
I have over 31 mosquito bites now. I stopped counting. About 12 are on my left leg, 10 are on the right, and the others are spread across my chest, back, arms, stomach and butt (ouch!). On Saturday I went with Sam, who just started working for AIDG and is going to be one of my tutors, to the GLOBAL VOLUNTEER NETWORK (GVN) house. I met a bunch of people from various walks of life that had come to Haiti to volunteer for 2 or 4 weeks. I slept there overnight Friday and took a tour of Port-au-Prince with them Saturday morning, which included going to the Palace, the Ministry, and tourist shopping.
They are sleeping in tents over at GVN...I don't know why.
The grounds of the Ministry building that had collapsed there were a few tents set up by Unicef that the citizens told me was a school. A woman holding a baby came up to ask me for some money, and I told her in Kreyol I didn't have any (a lie of course). She asked if I was Haitian and I told her no, I am American and I only spoke a little Kreyol. She asked if my parents were haitian and I said no. Afterwards some other kids came up, and I asked if they were all hers, only the baby (3 months) and another one that looked about 3 or 4. She was probably younger than me. Her friend came up and asked me for money too - she had a 1 month old. I asked them if they worked, and they said no. I said its hard to work with babies anyway, and they agreed. They said they didn't have a tent to sleep or live in, so they lived on the street. I asked them why didn't they have a tent, and they said no one gave them one. Then I realized the people who had tents were better off than those who didn't. They asked why I was with a bunch of white people (the GVN volunteers), and i said I don't know, because I really didn't know. Sam said we were leaving, so I told them goodbye - m'ale (I'm leaving). What else could I do or say?
It ended with us going to a hotel "Visa Lounge" and them paying $18.50 to eat and swim. I wouldn't even pay that much at home to swim and eat. I called Davidson and they (him & his sisters boyfriend Christopher) came and picked me up.
YAAAAAAAAAY I was getting a break from nothingness.
From there we went to Davidson's house, said hi to his mom and his brother's wife, who was in PAP for some reason - I think to sell some stuff and make money. Besides the girl they had working there before, there was a younger boy working in the house. We ate some spaghetti (too much that I couldn't finish but I HAD to) and then we were going to head to Petionville to go to the 'disco'. It starting pouring down rain, so I didn't think that was a good idea, but Christopher said he could drive in it so whatever. By the time we left it wasn't actually raining, but it was getting dark, and they realized the headlights weren't going to work. We went to MacEpi (a place that serves burgers, fries, crepes, and icecream) instead. I again wasn't even hungry but they were acting like they were going there just for me, so I had some fries while we listened to music. They had beer and icecream. We got back kinda early (8pm) so we just hung out and I practiced my broken Kreyol and Christopher his broken English. Christopher and I stayed over, he got Davidson's brother's room, I got Davidson's room, and I don't know where Davidson had to sleep, I think in the family room.
The next morning I wasn't sure if I had to go back for work - it turned out I didn't. So, we ate breakfast (plantains and onions - which I had to force myself to finish lest I offend anyone) and went to the beach. Well first we spent about an hour trying to find a gas station that would exchange my money fairly, then we went to the beach.
The road to the beach....
This isn't the type of beach I went to with the AIDG crew - it was all black Haitians at the little hidden warf thing frying fish and drinking on the shore. There was not much sand - the rocks just ran into water at some point.
Anyway it looked pretty rugged so I didn't really want to get in, and I was the only one with an actual bathing suit on so I felt stupid - everyone else had on shorts and a tshirt (women) or boxers (men). Plus I didn't want to get my hair wet. But, Christopher wanted to take the little boat over to a small island, so we paid like 50 gourdes ($1.20) and went. The ride was nice, but the little island was littered with glass and debris.
Tropical fish and some other animal whose name is "efgsekfh" or something in Kreyol
I didn't think it was an animal until Christopher put it on land and it started moving back towards the water
Marsh type area
View from our little boat
Skipping Rocks like little boys
By the time we headed back to the main beach, it started THUNDERING AND LIGHTENING. We were still on the boat, so we went inside were the captains slept. IT WAS SWEATY AND HOT!! Our little boat was having issues and I did not want to be stuck in middle of the sea inside a hot sweaty boat so I got back out on deck and jumped onto the beach when we got close enough. By this time it was more than pouring. I told them I don't know what you do here but in the states when lightening is striking we GET OUT OF THE WATER!! OH NOOOOOOOO. When it started to rain harder everyone jumped into the water! I was already soaked and my hair ruined anyway so why would I stand out on the cold beach? Davidson and Christopher threw me the car keys so I put my glasses and camera in the car and ran into the warmth of the water. The water was salty and it felt like I was stepping in slim at the bottom. I didn't even want to know what was down there. I taught them how to play SPLASH ATTACK but they really didn't get the point. You need more people for it to be fun anyway. I huge bolt of lightening hit and I screamed - all the Haitians laughed and kept playing in the water. O_O
The Brazil game was starting at 1:30, so we left and dried off in the car. I felt dirty until I got back here to shower and wash my hair around 7pm. We watched half the game at Davidson's house, and then went to take Christopher home. We picked up another friend, Donald I think, and looked for a place in Petionville to chill until I had to go home (before it got dark because of the headlights). We saw one place that looked really cool - but the people looked weird to me. They all looked like gay hispanics (dont ask what gay hispanics look like), so I thought it was a gay club, but there were some girls so I said whatever. As soon as we stepped inside, I saw it was like a real American club. One half second after stepping in, a guy said they were closed - but they were clearly open so I was completely confused. I asked Davidson to ask if I could just use their bathroom but he said let's just go so I did. I'm a black american so of course I know racism when I see it -- I didn't need any further explanation. The people in the club were all 'white' (mixed)Haitians, and blacks weren't allowed. I wish I could speak Kreyol, because I would tell them I wish that they could come to America and get the same dose of racism they are giving out, because there they'd be just another nigger (or just another dirty immigrant). I thought back to a few weeks ago when Alena, Araba, and the kids were told the public park they had stopped to picnic at in rural Pennsylvania was reserved and they'd have to go elsewhere. But, we found another place with a pool table and food, where we all shared a naked pizza and they played a game of pool with a cocky, cussing, white Haitian little boy. He was a good but obnoxious player, and I just wanted to slap some respect into him. His whole white Haitian family was jeering him on. Dave lost by 1 shot, which was debatable, because they were playing using some different rule or something. The only thing that consoled me was that they were trying to get my attention because I was American, and I completely blew them off.
After that I was dropped back off at home, got in bed, and restlessly tried to sleep as thoughts of ongoing racism and colonialism ran through my head.
Part 1: My thoughts
The start of week 2 and I am seriously wondering why I am here. We'll, not only me, but why any of these groups are here in Haiti. If you didn't already know, there were over 3,000 NGOs (non-governmental organization's) in Haiti before the earthquake, and 6 months later there are probably hundreds more. Everybody has their own idea of what will help Haiti.
But, there is only one thing I know that is going to 'build' a strong Haiti, and that are Haitians, empowered by other Haitians. An NGO, like Save The Children, no matter how big or how much money, cannot develop a county. An outside governmental force, like the United Nations, cannot develop a county. As I have stated before, I know of no country today that has been build upon the foundation of an NGO or another country's government. It simply doesn't make sense. Governments never do things out of the goodness of their hearts. They invest in a country only if they have something to gain. Some people look at Haiti and say, what do they have to give? Why should we help them when we have our 'own' people to think about? Exactly, why would our stingy government pour money into a place when they refuse to improve the position of America's poor? The obvious thing is population, which means labor resources. Whichever country has control over Haiti has control over Haiti's business. So, American companies can continue to come and set up their huge sweat shops like they've done elsewhere in the world, and continue to stuff the pockets of America's finest. America and the other powerful nations would like people to believe they are on humanitarian missions, but why else would they be fighting over which country gets power over the 'rebuilding'?
The point is, all this NGO business is bullcrap and not helping anything. NGO's aid individuals temporarily, but do nothing for the strengthening of the country. Let's say, for example the NGO I am working for, AIDG does train 10,000 masons in Haiti to know how to build earthquake resistant structures. Can those 10,000 masons then go out and get good paying jobs building purposeful structures? I guess they can continue to build nice homes for the white and mulattoes around the country, but what effect is that going to have on the majority of the population? I'm not saying that their program isn't helping, but none of this makes sense when thinking about the functionality of a society, even if your goal is self-sustainability.
So I think I'm through with the NGO side of development, including the United Nations. The most power to change a situation comes from infiltrating our own government, or becoming a powerful businessperson, a force stronger than the US government itself.
Keeping that in mind I am going to consider myself being here a vacation, where I get to hang out with friends and think about some business ideas, while I do the job I need to do to stay hosted in this country.
Part 2: My Actions
I have over 31 mosquito bites now. I stopped counting. About 12 are on my left leg, 10 are on the right, and the others are spread across my chest, back, arms, stomach and butt (ouch!). On Saturday I went with Sam, who just started working for AIDG and is going to be one of my tutors, to the GLOBAL VOLUNTEER NETWORK (GVN) house. I met a bunch of people from various walks of life that had come to Haiti to volunteer for 2 or 4 weeks. I slept there overnight Friday and took a tour of Port-au-Prince with them Saturday morning, which included going to the Palace, the Ministry, and tourist shopping.
They are sleeping in tents over at GVN...I don't know why.
The grounds of the Ministry building that had collapsed there were a few tents set up by Unicef that the citizens told me was a school. A woman holding a baby came up to ask me for some money, and I told her in Kreyol I didn't have any (a lie of course). She asked if I was Haitian and I told her no, I am American and I only spoke a little Kreyol. She asked if my parents were haitian and I said no. Afterwards some other kids came up, and I asked if they were all hers, only the baby (3 months) and another one that looked about 3 or 4. She was probably younger than me. Her friend came up and asked me for money too - she had a 1 month old. I asked them if they worked, and they said no. I said its hard to work with babies anyway, and they agreed. They said they didn't have a tent to sleep or live in, so they lived on the street. I asked them why didn't they have a tent, and they said no one gave them one. Then I realized the people who had tents were better off than those who didn't. They asked why I was with a bunch of white people (the GVN volunteers), and i said I don't know, because I really didn't know. Sam said we were leaving, so I told them goodbye - m'ale (I'm leaving). What else could I do or say?
It ended with us going to a hotel "Visa Lounge" and them paying $18.50 to eat and swim. I wouldn't even pay that much at home to swim and eat. I called Davidson and they (him & his sisters boyfriend Christopher) came and picked me up.
YAAAAAAAAAY I was getting a break from nothingness.
From there we went to Davidson's house, said hi to his mom and his brother's wife, who was in PAP for some reason - I think to sell some stuff and make money. Besides the girl they had working there before, there was a younger boy working in the house. We ate some spaghetti (too much that I couldn't finish but I HAD to) and then we were going to head to Petionville to go to the 'disco'. It starting pouring down rain, so I didn't think that was a good idea, but Christopher said he could drive in it so whatever. By the time we left it wasn't actually raining, but it was getting dark, and they realized the headlights weren't going to work. We went to MacEpi (a place that serves burgers, fries, crepes, and icecream) instead. I again wasn't even hungry but they were acting like they were going there just for me, so I had some fries while we listened to music. They had beer and icecream. We got back kinda early (8pm) so we just hung out and I practiced my broken Kreyol and Christopher his broken English. Christopher and I stayed over, he got Davidson's brother's room, I got Davidson's room, and I don't know where Davidson had to sleep, I think in the family room.
The next morning I wasn't sure if I had to go back for work - it turned out I didn't. So, we ate breakfast (plantains and onions - which I had to force myself to finish lest I offend anyone) and went to the beach. Well first we spent about an hour trying to find a gas station that would exchange my money fairly, then we went to the beach.
The road to the beach....
This isn't the type of beach I went to with the AIDG crew - it was all black Haitians at the little hidden warf thing frying fish and drinking on the shore. There was not much sand - the rocks just ran into water at some point.
Anyway it looked pretty rugged so I didn't really want to get in, and I was the only one with an actual bathing suit on so I felt stupid - everyone else had on shorts and a tshirt (women) or boxers (men). Plus I didn't want to get my hair wet. But, Christopher wanted to take the little boat over to a small island, so we paid like 50 gourdes ($1.20) and went. The ride was nice, but the little island was littered with glass and debris.
Tropical fish and some other animal whose name is "efgsekfh" or something in Kreyol
I didn't think it was an animal until Christopher put it on land and it started moving back towards the water
Marsh type area
View from our little boat
Skipping Rocks like little boys
By the time we headed back to the main beach, it started THUNDERING AND LIGHTENING. We were still on the boat, so we went inside were the captains slept. IT WAS SWEATY AND HOT!! Our little boat was having issues and I did not want to be stuck in middle of the sea inside a hot sweaty boat so I got back out on deck and jumped onto the beach when we got close enough. By this time it was more than pouring. I told them I don't know what you do here but in the states when lightening is striking we GET OUT OF THE WATER!! OH NOOOOOOOO. When it started to rain harder everyone jumped into the water! I was already soaked and my hair ruined anyway so why would I stand out on the cold beach? Davidson and Christopher threw me the car keys so I put my glasses and camera in the car and ran into the warmth of the water. The water was salty and it felt like I was stepping in slim at the bottom. I didn't even want to know what was down there. I taught them how to play SPLASH ATTACK but they really didn't get the point. You need more people for it to be fun anyway. I huge bolt of lightening hit and I screamed - all the Haitians laughed and kept playing in the water. O_O
The Brazil game was starting at 1:30, so we left and dried off in the car. I felt dirty until I got back here to shower and wash my hair around 7pm. We watched half the game at Davidson's house, and then went to take Christopher home. We picked up another friend, Donald I think, and looked for a place in Petionville to chill until I had to go home (before it got dark because of the headlights). We saw one place that looked really cool - but the people looked weird to me. They all looked like gay hispanics (dont ask what gay hispanics look like), so I thought it was a gay club, but there were some girls so I said whatever. As soon as we stepped inside, I saw it was like a real American club. One half second after stepping in, a guy said they were closed - but they were clearly open so I was completely confused. I asked Davidson to ask if I could just use their bathroom but he said let's just go so I did. I'm a black american so of course I know racism when I see it -- I didn't need any further explanation. The people in the club were all 'white' (mixed)Haitians, and blacks weren't allowed. I wish I could speak Kreyol, because I would tell them I wish that they could come to America and get the same dose of racism they are giving out, because there they'd be just another nigger (or just another dirty immigrant). I thought back to a few weeks ago when Alena, Araba, and the kids were told the public park they had stopped to picnic at in rural Pennsylvania was reserved and they'd have to go elsewhere. But, we found another place with a pool table and food, where we all shared a naked pizza and they played a game of pool with a cocky, cussing, white Haitian little boy. He was a good but obnoxious player, and I just wanted to slap some respect into him. His whole white Haitian family was jeering him on. Dave lost by 1 shot, which was debatable, because they were playing using some different rule or something. The only thing that consoled me was that they were trying to get my attention because I was American, and I completely blew them off.
After that I was dropped back off at home, got in bed, and restlessly tried to sleep as thoughts of ongoing racism and colonialism ran through my head.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Day 1 - 4 in Haiti!!!!!!!!!!
Bonjou!
Li fe uit dimaten (It is 8 in the morning). I have been up since 6AM, and laid in the bed for about an hour and a half before that trying to keep myself asleep. Our bedroom has a big window that lets the light in as SOON as the sun starts rising. With (and before) the sun comes the sounds of roosters crowing, dogs barking, trucks going into the city, and people getting up.
Right now I am sitting at the dining room table typing to you (not eating the breakfast of omelets), which has room for 10 huge wooden chairs. The architecture for humanity guy just yelled at Terminator because he is chewing on wires and scratching up the wooden luxury bar.
Yep, Terminator is the house kitten. He is semi feral and cannot be picked up right now (you can touch him if you go slow). I am working with him so he will one day be able to be held atleast for 10 seconds. I think he is 9 - 12 weeks old. I am going to have to make a conscious effort to touch him several times a day because all the attention is on Chans (Chance), a St. Bernard looking 8 week old puppy. He was found on the side of the road...and brought back here a couple weeks ago. Here he comes bouncing his little booty in here now....But, let me back up. I am staying at the Architecture for Humanity (AFH) house. They are actually renting the house from someone, and we (AIDG - Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group) are renting a room from them. I share that room with my 'supervisor' Jess, a woman my age from Connecticut whose lived in Haiti for 3 years (she is fluent in Kreyol and French). Jess's sister flew in the same day I did to visit her for a few days. She is feeling kinda sick right now, so is resting in the room. She's only just about to graduate high school so I think all this is a bit much for her. Anyway, the house....it's 4 stories...actually its a mansion, like most of the homes up here in Pétionville.
My bathroom in the house
Pétionville is located on the top of the mountain , and it takes about an hour to get down to the main city of Port-au-Prince. Yep, it's exclusive. And about 10 degree cooler up here! Last night I was actually cold. Here you find 18 - 24 hour electricity most of the time (our house has 24 since we have a generator), no trash on the streets, and safety by means of an armed guard who sits inside our gate, with his rifle in hand 24/7.
Check out the view from the balcony off our room...
The AFH team consists of their leader, who has the full floor suite on the top of the house, 3 other workers (2 Haitian-Americans/Canadians & 1 white American), and maybe a couple others I haven't met. There is a support team of Haitians who cook, do the laundry, clean, and a Haitian guy who I think takes care of internet tech stuff. AFH uses this house to home the teams they bring in to build or give lessons to Haitian architects. AIDG does the same when we bring down masons and architects. The dog and cat have full run of the house inside and outside and come and go as they please. Oh, and the little black goat, who is nameless, can be seen running around in the yard.
So this is the place I will be staying while I am in Port-au-Prince (PAP). For the first three days though, we stayed in Cap-Haitien (Cap), a 45 minute plane ride from PAP. We took Salsa Air, but I am told sometimes we get to ride in the private Helicopter. The AIDG house in Cap is smaller and less glamorous than this, but it's still nice.
Our room in Cap
There are a few Haitians working there, a Haitian-Canadian/American, and a couple Americans working for AIDG there. It's hard to describe where people, especially African-diaspora people are from, so from now on out unless I go into detail about someone, we'll just all be black. We basically just toured Cap-Haitien with Jess, her sister, Donald (founder of Shelter2Home), and a few of her friends. We went walking through marche la (the market) and I discovered I can find anything I want here, from hair products for the dreads to new underwear. I didn't see any Soy Milk though. While in Cap we stopped by a hotel owned by one of Jess's friends (Steph) mother by LABADEE. Labadee is the #1 cruise ship stop in the whole Caribbean - with zip-lines, a ferris wheel, jet skiing, para-sailing and more. You would think that with all the people pouring money into those cruises, the areas surrounding it would be prosperous as well. Nope, as soon as you step outside of that areas its back to being dirt poor. The money that should help the economy is of course filtered through the local government, and goes into building bigger and better houses for them and their families. So, now we know that going to vacation in Haiti in these beautiful spots does not actually help the economy. Anyway, we went swimming in the ocean (no I did not get my hair wet and yes I did go in there with my khaki shorts on over my bathing suit) and then had a drink at the bar. It was something with rum in it, and since I rarely drink I was getting dizzy after 1/2 of the little glass. Since then I have had a headache, but I think its more from not drinking enough water. Right now I am sipping on the Gatorade I brought, so hopefully it will go away by tomorrow. We ordered food at the bar, but it was taking a while and the game (Lakers vs. Celtics) was on, so Steph (short for Stephan - a guy) told them to take the food to his house when it was ready, and we all proceeded to watch the Lakers kill the Celtics on their big screen TV. I ordered the Spaghetti with vegetables and it was delicious. Someone who shall not be named got drunk and someone else didn't want to cart a drunk guy back down the hill to Cap, so that drunk person fell asleep on Steph's mothers couch and, since there were no vacancies, we three (me, Jess, Chrissy (the sister)) slept in Steph's room. HE HAD A HOT SHOWER!!!! (which i did not get to enjoy, and even in this AFH house we have cold showers) We also met his brother and cousin-type person who was nice. This is that top 2%, who are the mixed Haitians. I'll leave it at that. A 30 second walk from our NBA finals revealed the real poverty-ridden Haiti again.
I forgot to mention, on our way back from picking up our baggage from the airport in Cap (the plane is small so all the luggage couldn't go at once), we were moto'd (transportation = motorbikes) into a sea of burning tires and people throwing beer bottles over a wall. I didn't notice until I saw everyone else's motos huddling franticly as far away from the wall as possible. The people in that area were upset because they didn't have electricity. Why was that such a big deal in an area that rarely has it anyway....the BRAZIL v. NORTH KOREA world cup game was on!! Since the government controls when the electricity goes on and off, people were pissed because they wouldn't turn it on for 2 hours so the people could watch the game. I would riot too. We went to a little bar and watched the game. Afterwards, some UN soldiers came in. They couldn't come in before because they were told it was a security issue to be inside with Haitians while a Brazil or Argentina game was on....how stupid. Most Haitians are for Brazil, since I guess that is the closet to a black country that has a chance of winning. I was rooting for South Africa, or any african country.
I am leaving some stuff out, but it's cold up here and I have a headache. I'm glad I know someone down here (Davidson) for when I want to get away from all these people. We were going to hang out yesterday, but since I live in the super rich part of town an hour and a half from his place, we are going to wait until Sunday probably. That is when I will go and by some drinks to store in the fridge. And some non-meat foods to add to my beans and rice. I am happy on the beans and rice and have not been hungry at all. I hope I am loosing some weight. I have been doing yoga for the past 2 days and stretching, because I feel stiff. Okay...since Chrissy is sick but I want to lay down too (we have bunk beds) I'm going to find another spot to rest. Then I will practice some more Kreyol.
OH! That reminds me....on the way back to the airport my moto driver was so fast we were going to arrive like 3 miunutes before Jess, who speaks Kreyol and has the money. I already told the guy I couldn't speak Kreyol (he couldn't speak French, only Spanish&Kreyol), but I needed to tell him Jess had the money. I went over the sentence like 10 times in my head before I got the courage to say it. He pointed to the airport and I took my chance -- I said "Ou bezwen tale paske mwen zanmi gen lajan la" (You need to wait because my friend has the money). It's actually supposed to be "friend my" instead of "my friend", but he understood and laughed. THANK YOU DAVIDSON for always telling me to TALE (Wait). When we got there the guys at the airport made fun of Americans for only being able to speak English. I could understand them but they thought I couldnt. They were saying you cant speal kreyol, french, spanish, nothing. In my mind I just thought - that's what you have to live in Haiti, jerk. HORRIBLE THOUGHT I KNOW, but it's real.
Things I should have brought:
A portable dresser (I have no place for my clothes since she has all the space...)
A scale
My yoga mat
My Pilates DVD
We use solar power at the house too - My cell phone is even solar powered! It takes a while to charge though.
Dining Room Table, people work & eat in the mornings
View from my room...where I do Yoga in the morning
Extra rooms for Teams to come in .... perfect for a bunch of my friends to come down!!
The main room when you come in..you can't see our big screen TV from here..but it's there, as well as another one in the level below.
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