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Awakening to Haiti

Can I get this beautiful piece home?  Done it before.

May 27. I sleep in, no surprise there. Breakfast is over but one of the female Haitian staff brings me a tray of mango and watermelon slices, omelet and bread and local peanut butter. Coffee is sooo strong. Points for the guesthouse service.

I chat with David from PEI who has spent two weeks working on developing agri projects in mountain communities. I connect with my friend Antonio. He may drop over for a cold one later. Finish editing the new Welcome Home Children’s Centre web site and send it LIVE, while their team is here in Haiti.

There is a group of 40 young people with a Catholic NGO staying at this guest house. They actually partied quite well last night to overcome their trauma of being  pushed around by over enthusiastic Haitians while distributing school supplies in a tent city. No surprise there, when there is never enough to go around, you’re in trouble. A lot of noise and high testosterone fuelled tempers. Learning experience.

I’m stuck in the guesthouse compound for now, although quite comfortable, as there was an accident at the airport today and flights in and out were cancelled so my team is stuck somewhere. To keep busy I’ve offered to go to a nearby school to speak with the kids. How will I know what to say?

From outside the security gates, the sounds of barking dogs, motorcycles, truck horns, helicopters and blaring kompa music from  speakers mounted inside pick-ups. Peering over the wall, the street scene is dominated by giant dump trucks still hauling away loads of seemingly endless rubble from the neighbourhoods streets and back lanes. Looking a lot better. To close the day I get a surprise phone call from one of my former staff, Myrlene, a young guest house worker. Very sweet, she was excited to chat and catch up.

bougainvilleas in Haiti

Arriving in Haiti

Molly, our jet black Labradoodle, is up with us early at 3:30 a.m. and is really frisky knowing something is up. Beautiful sunrise at Toronto airport. Toronto looks so green from above.

Sat near a young black couple in the food court in Miami airport. They noticed my Haiti bracelet. We got to talking and they are originally from Port-au-Prince. After schooling in Haiti, they were fortunate enough to leave to attend universities in the States. They are living in New York, just got married last night and on their way to a honeymoon in Cancun. Very sweet and happy couple, very interested in work with persons with disabilities in Haiti and expressed how they want to return someday to help. They represent the very lucky few, young, educated, energetic Haitians who will either escape their homeland or reconnect and be part of the promise of Haiti’s future.

On the flight I chat it up with a Haitian couple about my age returning from holidays in Mexico. Again, part of a fortunate minority but very conscious of hard circumstances in their country. After listening to why I come to Haiti, Remy, the husband, thanks me for my sacrifice in helping the Haitian people. Aware of how little I can do, I can only tell him I am honoured to do something – because I am.

We land in 89 F overcast sky. If I have been cold since last summer through this chilly Canadian spring, I’m not anymore.

Wonderful to see the new American Airlines terminal in Port at Port-au-Prince airport. Sharp picture of Michel Martelly hanging on the freshly painted walls. And lots of  festive Haitian tourism posters and promotional murals. Nowhere near as chaotic as before. I’m singled out for a baggage check by a customs inspector. She rifles through the miscellaneous donated clothes, shoes, gifts and eyeglasses in my hockey bag without protesting. She ends our conversation by telling me in French, “you are handsome,” no kidding. Her assistant translates in case I didn’t guess it : “You’re fine, you look good.”The usual airport helpers are there pressing to make a few American dollars by escorting you out to the parking area. All goes well as we head out into the city to Wall’s International Guesthouse. The clouds are banked high like mountains on top of the mountains at the edge of the city. It’s going to rain, as it often does in the late afternoon and evening in May and June.

But Port-au-Prince looks a little greener, and the bougainvilleas are in full bloom.