I realized I should probably give an update on the situation: All's calm.
The Prime Minister stepped down (one of the crowd's requests). The President promised to subsidize national agricultural production. Prices are still high. MINUSTAH is still here. I walk to and from work every day, just like I've always done.
It's almost as though the protests never happened, tires were never burned, peaceful demonstrators were never beaten or shot, etc.
-L
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Feels Like Hail
I grew up in a mid-sized Midwestern town where weather is a main event. As soon as the loud, monotone beep and furrowed-brow of our friendly weatherman cut into Heathcliff Huxtable's latest dispensing of fatherly wisdom, my family would toss down our corn-on-the-cob and run out to the back porch (as opposed to the basement where we had been instructed to hunker down). It was exciting, let me tell you.
Hail, though, is a different story. While it's exhilarating to watch a black wall of clouds form and begin to rotate, it is not so fun to be hit on the head by golf-ball sized chunks of ice (or at least that's what mom told me when I tried to run outside). So, when hail came along, we stayed inside and continued to watch TV, though the volume had to be turned up to hear Theo's high-pitched protestations over the hail crashing down on the roof. When it was all over, we went out to survey the damage: detached roof shingles, broken windshields, dented cars. It all seemed a bit surreal.
That's a bit how I felt during last week's protests. I stayed inside all day Wednesday, but heard gun shots & helicopters, smelled burning tires, and kept at least 1 ear glued to the news to try to understand what was happening. I read a book and a half. I napped, even though I had woken up just 2 hours prior. And then, when I went out the next day, I surveyed the damage.
Glass windows and plastic signs on nearly every business and organization had been destroyed by rocks. Black circles polka-dotted the main roads where tires had been burnt. Trash was everywhere, as were kids who were home all week due to the schools closing.
Despite my neighborhood's bad reputation, it seems that I was in a better place than my fellow MCCers in Port. Some saw lootings, beatings, and who knows what else. Another was gassed (with tear-gas) in his home.
But for me, the only time I really felt stressed or in danger was the day I spent listening to a colleague at RNDDH give minute-by-minute updates of the progress of events (some of which were false, I found out). It wasn't so much that we were in danger at that point, but her exaggerated, the-sky-is-falling manner of speaking put me on edge.
Things seem back to normal for now, but no one really knows if/how long the calm will last. The Prime Minister was stripped of his position, but it's not as though world food prices have gone down or international trade (or aid!) policies have changed in the past few days. So, we'll see.
Thanks all of you who called and emailed to check in. It's nice to know I'm not forgotten. If you want more details, check out my friends' blogs (see links on right).
-L
Hail, though, is a different story. While it's exhilarating to watch a black wall of clouds form and begin to rotate, it is not so fun to be hit on the head by golf-ball sized chunks of ice (or at least that's what mom told me when I tried to run outside). So, when hail came along, we stayed inside and continued to watch TV, though the volume had to be turned up to hear Theo's high-pitched protestations over the hail crashing down on the roof. When it was all over, we went out to survey the damage: detached roof shingles, broken windshields, dented cars. It all seemed a bit surreal.
That's a bit how I felt during last week's protests. I stayed inside all day Wednesday, but heard gun shots & helicopters, smelled burning tires, and kept at least 1 ear glued to the news to try to understand what was happening. I read a book and a half. I napped, even though I had woken up just 2 hours prior. And then, when I went out the next day, I surveyed the damage.
Glass windows and plastic signs on nearly every business and organization had been destroyed by rocks. Black circles polka-dotted the main roads where tires had been burnt. Trash was everywhere, as were kids who were home all week due to the schools closing.
Despite my neighborhood's bad reputation, it seems that I was in a better place than my fellow MCCers in Port. Some saw lootings, beatings, and who knows what else. Another was gassed (with tear-gas) in his home.
But for me, the only time I really felt stressed or in danger was the day I spent listening to a colleague at RNDDH give minute-by-minute updates of the progress of events (some of which were false, I found out). It wasn't so much that we were in danger at that point, but her exaggerated, the-sky-is-falling manner of speaking put me on edge.
Things seem back to normal for now, but no one really knows if/how long the calm will last. The Prime Minister was stripped of his position, but it's not as though world food prices have gone down or international trade (or aid!) policies have changed in the past few days. So, we'll see.
Thanks all of you who called and emailed to check in. It's nice to know I'm not forgotten. If you want more details, check out my friends' blogs (see links on right).
-L
Friday, April 4, 2008
Lavichè
Things are pretty good right now in Haiti. The elected president has remained in power. Kidnappings are down from a couple of years ago. (Some) people are actually being brought to trial for their crimes. However, Haiti is facing a problem that could very well change all of that: lavichè (la vie chère in French, or high cost of living in English).
Globally speaking, prices are up: oil (isn't oil always up?), rice, corn, wheat. I'm sure most of you have noticed and are rather annoyed. But again, consequences seem to have greater meaning here. People are modifying their diets (though Haiti is not in the crisis forcing people to eat dirt that was reported by the world press). Protests against lavichè are becoming increasingly violent. The post-holiday drop in crime that typically occurs has not.
MCC is in a process of dialogging about, among other things, the pay its workers receive, and asked a few of us "out in the field" for our opinions. Given the general high cost of living in Haiti (it's not that different from the COL in the US), compounded by the current increase, I was tempted to write and say, "please! give your workers more money!" But then I remembered that most of the people I spend my time with live on a fraction of what I receive every month. If I were to have more money, how would that affect those relationships? How would my understanding of what it means to live in Haiti be different if I received a bigger "paycheck?"
When I get annoyed at the 5-gourde (0.13 USD) increase in a can of milk, I try to remember how fortunate I am that I can choose to buy entirely unnecessary items simply because I enjoy their taste.
-L
(note: For those of you interested in international trade policies, look up the Economic Partnership Agreement [EPA].)
Globally speaking, prices are up: oil (isn't oil always up?), rice, corn, wheat. I'm sure most of you have noticed and are rather annoyed. But again, consequences seem to have greater meaning here. People are modifying their diets (though Haiti is not in the crisis forcing people to eat dirt that was reported by the world press). Protests against lavichè are becoming increasingly violent. The post-holiday drop in crime that typically occurs has not.
MCC is in a process of dialogging about, among other things, the pay its workers receive, and asked a few of us "out in the field" for our opinions. Given the general high cost of living in Haiti (it's not that different from the COL in the US), compounded by the current increase, I was tempted to write and say, "please! give your workers more money!" But then I remembered that most of the people I spend my time with live on a fraction of what I receive every month. If I were to have more money, how would that affect those relationships? How would my understanding of what it means to live in Haiti be different if I received a bigger "paycheck?"
When I get annoyed at the 5-gourde (0.13 USD) increase in a can of milk, I try to remember how fortunate I am that I can choose to buy entirely unnecessary items simply because I enjoy their taste.
-L
(note: For those of you interested in international trade policies, look up the Economic Partnership Agreement [EPA].)
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