1. Kreyol is an ingenious language.
Think phonetic french with only a few tenses. It's wonderful. Everything is said how it's spelled. All of the difficult French sounds are simply left off. (For those of you who took French, think back to first year when you could not yet hear all of the syllables in a word, and so you only pronounced the basic portions that were easily mimicked.) Not to say that I've mastered any part of the language, but...
2. Generosity can destroy.
Americans donate tons of food, clothing, etc. When given to the poorest of the poor, this is good. However, due to the vast amount of free products that come in to Haiti, there is no space for industry. (Think of the damage American industry has suffered due to cheap imports.) At one time, Haiti fed itself and clothed itself. Now it is dependent on others.
3. Haitians are a proud people.
They love their country. They love their culture. There is much more to be said on this, but I think it is a topic I will explore my entire time here and never fully comprehend.
4. Though much of Haiti is horribly polluted, the sea surrounding it is not.
That is, even with multiple applications of sunblock, and even if one spends all of his/her time in the water rather than on the beach, the sea does nothing to prevent sunburns.
5. In Haiti, the impossible is possible, and the possible is impossible.
I'll let you mull that one over.
-L
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Monday, August 27, 2007
Basics
I know that at least a couple of you are curious about where I live, where I work, how I get from where I live to where I work, etc. So, here's a quick run-down.
MCC PaP (Port au Prince)
MCC's main office in Haiti is in PaP. There are a few North Americans in the office, and then several Haitians. The office is just off "Delmas," one of the main roads in PaP. The office doubles as the MCC PaP Guesthouse. That is, there are rooms & bathrooms where people can stay.
My House
I live with a woman named Bernadette. She is the mother of Guylene, one of the women who works in the MCC office. Bernadette has 6 children, all of whom are grown, married, and living in PaP. Guylene's son also lives with us. I'm guessing he's around 14. We share the upper floor of a 2-floor apartment. There are 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, a kitchen, dining room, and balcony.
Transportation
MCC has a motorcycle, a truck, and an SUV. We share the vehicles amongst everyone. Unfortunately for me, I do not yet know how to drive manual vehicles or motorcycles. So, I take "public" transportation. Tap-taps are pick-up trucks with benches in the back and a cover. They have set routes along the main roads. People cram inside & then tap on the back glass of the cabin to let the driver know when they need to get off. Tap-taps are privately owned, but they function as a form of "public transportation." To get from my house to the MCC office, I walk to the end of the road, take a tap-tap to "karefou aeropo," take another tap-tap up Delmas, then walk a block or two to the office.
Electricity
Comes and goes. It seems like we generally have electricity a couple hours every day, but the times during which we have it vary. Sometimes it comes on in the middle of the day. Sometimes it comes on at 3am. You never really know. Most people have inverters. When the electricity comes on, it recharges the inverter, and so people have power as long as the inverter has juice. Otherwise, there are generators. Unfortunately those are expensive and so few people have them. (fyi - right now I'm at the MCC office running off the inverter)
Water
Running water is readily available as long as there is power. That being the case, I take bucket showers and pour water from a bucket into the back of the toilet to flush. Drinking water is bought. It generally comes in large containers, but smaller containers can be purchased if you want it cold.
Those are some of the basics. I feel like that was probably the most boring thing I possibly could have written, but I hope it answered a few questions.
-L
MCC PaP (Port au Prince)
MCC's main office in Haiti is in PaP. There are a few North Americans in the office, and then several Haitians. The office is just off "Delmas," one of the main roads in PaP. The office doubles as the MCC PaP Guesthouse. That is, there are rooms & bathrooms where people can stay.
My House
I live with a woman named Bernadette. She is the mother of Guylene, one of the women who works in the MCC office. Bernadette has 6 children, all of whom are grown, married, and living in PaP. Guylene's son also lives with us. I'm guessing he's around 14. We share the upper floor of a 2-floor apartment. There are 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, a kitchen, dining room, and balcony.
Transportation
MCC has a motorcycle, a truck, and an SUV. We share the vehicles amongst everyone. Unfortunately for me, I do not yet know how to drive manual vehicles or motorcycles. So, I take "public" transportation. Tap-taps are pick-up trucks with benches in the back and a cover. They have set routes along the main roads. People cram inside & then tap on the back glass of the cabin to let the driver know when they need to get off. Tap-taps are privately owned, but they function as a form of "public transportation." To get from my house to the MCC office, I walk to the end of the road, take a tap-tap to "karefou aeropo," take another tap-tap up Delmas, then walk a block or two to the office.
Electricity
Comes and goes. It seems like we generally have electricity a couple hours every day, but the times during which we have it vary. Sometimes it comes on in the middle of the day. Sometimes it comes on at 3am. You never really know. Most people have inverters. When the electricity comes on, it recharges the inverter, and so people have power as long as the inverter has juice. Otherwise, there are generators. Unfortunately those are expensive and so few people have them. (fyi - right now I'm at the MCC office running off the inverter)
Water
Running water is readily available as long as there is power. That being the case, I take bucket showers and pour water from a bucket into the back of the toilet to flush. Drinking water is bought. It generally comes in large containers, but smaller containers can be purchased if you want it cold.
Those are some of the basics. I feel like that was probably the most boring thing I possibly could have written, but I hope it answered a few questions.
-L
Giving In
I don't want to blog. Really, I don't. But, as I sat down to start my first "Haiti update" email, I realized that this will actually be a much simpler platform for communicating about my year here in Port au Prince.
Please don't take this as a lack of desire to communicate with any of you. I very much want to email you all regularly throughout the year. But rather than spending my precious (and limited) internet time with sending email updates (half of which many of you won't even read), perhaps I can use this blog as the platform for general Haiti stories and email for more personal communications.
So, here we go.
-L
Please don't take this as a lack of desire to communicate with any of you. I very much want to email you all regularly throughout the year. But rather than spending my precious (and limited) internet time with sending email updates (half of which many of you won't even read), perhaps I can use this blog as the platform for general Haiti stories and email for more personal communications.
So, here we go.
-L
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