My first impression of Haiti is that its not as horrendous as everyone makes it out to be. Of course this is a bit of time after the earthquake and post-cholera frenzy. Matt and I transport around Port-au-Prince via tap taps (covered pick-up trucks with bench seats enough to accommodate 12 people), motos (motorcycles), mini-buses, and regular buses. The currency is interesting. $1 USD = 8 Haitian dollars, but the currency is actually printed out in Gourdes. 1 Haitian dollar = 5 Gourdes so that means that within the country for conversion, $1 USD = 40 Gourdes. Haitians interchange the use of Gourdes and Haitian dollars when quoting prices and my simple math isn’t that great so I’m a little slow.
Port-au-Prince reminds me a lot of Guwahati, India and Nairobi, Kenya. They are all bustling urban areas in developing countries. The car exhaust pollution is unregulated. There is trash on the streets. Seat belts are nonexistent as are passenger limits in cars. The roads are shotty at best. All along the streets are mini businesses of women selling produce and snacks, cell phone kiosks, colorfully painted store front, and tons of pedestrians. The unique aspect of Haiti is the wide use of spray paint graffiti. The primary marketing of presidential election candidates is accomplished through spray painting. Jerry, a famous graffiti artists has abstract art depicting Haiti randomly throughout PaP. Matt is a huge fan of his work and photographs and prints out Jerry’s work.
We stay at GRU, Grass Roots United, a compound with a house, electricity, and space to pitch tents. The bathroom consists of an outdoor composting latrine (aka toilet into a bucket where you cover dirt over poop) and bucket showers that come from a faucet. It’s a pretty nice set- up and there is wireless internet too, although I’m barely there long enough to use it. The first day, Matt and I head out to meet the GAP kids at their apartment. We have a car only for today and ride up to Petionville, a nicer area of Port-au-Prince to see the 7 kids living in a 2 bedroom apartment that GAP funds to house these orphaned kids. I was immediately showered with hugs. The girls are more beautiful in person and all the kids are so sweet. I finally meet adorable Jean Widson, a 6 year old brother of the kids who lives with them. They immediately call me mom like the they called Dr. Nancy mom since we are GAP moms. The day is as incredible as I imagined it to be. I give them all small gifts and tokens of my travels.
I knew that today had the potential to be a volatile day as I warned by GRU via e-mail before departing. Haiti was going to announce its final president after their secondaries. There were some violent protests after the popular candidate amongst the people, Martelly, was removed from the ballet and instead replaced by a candidate endorsed by the wealthy and another endorsed by the corrupt government. Some riots and tire burning ensured in mid-December. All the protesting went to good use as the world was watching and the government was pressured to recast votes and must have done so fairly the second time around since Martelly was on the ballot and the government endorsed guy was ousted. As Matt and I are sitting with the kids, we hear a burst of joy coming from everywhere. We all run outside and there is marvelous cheering and dancing on the street outside the apartment. Men are jumping up and down running crazily and women are dancing and bouncing. Everyone shouts with glee “Martelly” and “Tet Kale!” It was a rare moment in Haitian history where a democratic election took place and the candidate supported by the majority had won. The other one that I know of is Aristide, he was a loved slum priest turned president before being kicked out of his second term by the U.S. army (for no particular good reason). Our driver picks us up as the celebrations start. On the drive home, there is cheering everywhere and everyone has flyers with Martelly and are shouting “Tet Kale!”. The celebrating goes into the night as we hear cheers and dancing from GRU. I have to say that I had the most amazing first day in Haiti, meeting the kids I knew and already loved, as well as witnessing this amazing and once in a lifetime political celebration.
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