I've returned from my week of thanksgiving over the Thanksgiving holiday week with my family. They are a great and supportive family and I am very thankful that they are patient and willing to allow me to be here in Haiti to do this work. The week was very cold! It is hard to layer enough clothes to stay warm and not look ridiculous! The good thing is that I get to come home for Christmas and experience it again. It is nice to return to sunshine and warm days I admit it. Yahoo weather says it is in low 90's for a high~ it is very comfortable and enjoyable. Cool nights- mid 70's- I've put on long pants and long sleeve shirt in Haiti.
I wasn't sure what to expect returning to Port au Prince following the sunday election for president. My flight arrived at 9:30 and I was met by some of my airport friends and "whisked" through the line, received my bags- worse for wear- and out to the waiting Noel and van in less than 30 minutes from landing! There was minimal traffic in the streets and despite rumors of manifestations, people were setting up their market stalls streetside. Everyone was very happy to see me at the guest house including Gracie who leapt into my arms! I felt very special for sure.
The election was held with 19 candidates- news reports of 'corruption', ballot box stuffing even before the polls opened, threats of violence, reports of violence - despite several polling places (there were over 11,000) burned down, people not able to vote due to not having their registration cards, or having them were not on the list at the polling place they were to go to, or not knowing where they were to go to vote, the government still issued a statement that the election process was a success. An announcement of the top vote getters is expected early next week. A special run off is scheduled for Jan 16th. Most of the candidates stated in joint press conference that their was blatant irregularities and wanted the election invalidated. They have since changed stances and said they would wait for the results. The 3 or 4 top vote getters most likely will be in the run off. Everyone has said they would bide by the results. I get a sense that they think the Presidents’ favorite, Celestin, will not be in the run off- more likely to be run out of town. Its been calm to this point - yesterday there were a few non-violent manifestations reported, traffic was detoured and it took me an hour to get to the airport to pick up Eric and an hour to get home again. Still we are thankful to not see a full scale revolution!
Having read about the Duvaliers - presidents for life from the late 50's to early 80's and immediate following and what I've learned about Aristide, Preval and their governments, and then experiencing the past 10 months of minimal recovery despite the masses of international aide, its difficult to see that this country will see and experience change that is needed to gain a foot hold to move forward. Its mired in quicksand that is slowly eating away those at the bottom of the pile. I continue to ask myself why is it so hard all of the time. Those that have jobs are industrious, work hard for little pay but are the happy to be able to take care of their family. Those that don't sit hopelessly and listlessly outside of tents or along a cement wall waiting.
The young boys rush with filthy rags to wipe down our car windows, usually smearing them more than cleaning. Occasional one will have a squirt bottle of fluid and actually make the windshield cleaner- they are trying hard to earn a few gourdes to have something to eat at the end of the day. Its hard not to reward them for their attempts to earn something rather than begging. Its just as hard to ignore the little old lady on John Brown or the little old lady on Dalencourt- both look about 90 years old at least. One begs all day, the other sits at the side of the road waiting for the day to pass I guess. I've given them both money - last year and this year if they are alone. I'm afraid to give it with people around for fear it will be taken from them.
People continue to clear rubble, carrying buckets and wheelbarrows full to dump them along the street. The garbage collectors are collecting the garbage, the markets are busy, the busses and tap taps are full of people going somewhere. Business are running yet something is not working. I still have not been able to get the 21 specialized wheelchairs and other equipment out of customs, we have new computers and printers sitting in DHL waiting for the minister of finance to sign a paper releasing them to us. Our story is no different then many many organizations that have shipped donations by ship- piles of stuff sit in warehouses or on the dock waiting for government sign off. It shouldn't be this hard. I promise to be appropriately thankful when they are released. Minimal amounts of the aid money has yet to come. So what isn't working- all points to the government.
Cholera is still in the news as it should be. Over 1800 deaths reported and thousands ill- we continue to be vigilent of our staff and patients, providing everyone with as much information and education as we can. We are being proactive.
We are planning our official opening of our clinic on friday- National Day of Disability and we have invited press, government officials (hopefully we've invited the right ones), our partner organizations and a number of friends. It will be interesting to see who shows up. I'll post pictures next weekend. I hope we have a good turn out... another thing to be thankful for.
The daughter of our cook is getting married on Saturday and the reception is to be held here at the guest house. A celebration of love!
When it rains, it pours. Our power has gone out each day between 4 and 5 pm- fortunately, I am good at turning on the generators. Unfortunately, we are having issues with them- one is not working. Then the crew working on our driveway, broke the water pipe in 2 places - the pipe that feeds water to our cistern from city and the pipe that feeds our guest house. The pool pump crashed yesterday and still is being fixed. So that is 3 things- once fixed we should be in cracker jacks for awhile!
All of this long winded blog is a way of saying in Haiti we take the good with the bad, happy with the sad, encouraging the discouraged and deal with it the best we can. Sometimes with a bloody mary cocktail. cheers.
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