Don't You Hate It When

Don't you hate it when you get an email from a humanitarian who travels to a 3rd world country that tells you how "beautiful" the people and the country are? Don't you become slightly cynical and ask yourself, "if the place is so wonderful why is it not a 1st world country?"

So, let me be clear about some of the negatives.

1) Traveling to Haiti is a pain
Though this was news to me, it's apparently common knowledge to Haitan travelers -- flight attendants will outright refuse to fly to Haiti after 4:30pm because they do NOT want to stay the night there. American Airlines does not want to leave an airline there. This is because planes have to be monitored overnight by 5 people (costly), or must be flown to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic to be protected. In addition, the planes used for flying to Haiti seem to be of lower quality. In my case, we took off from Haiti 30 minutes late, as we rode to 30 thousand feet, & then the landing gear wouldn't go up. The result was that we had to fly around for 1.5 hours to burn off fuel and re-land at MIA.

2) Language
Most people speak KREYOL in Haiti and not necessarily French. These are distinctly different languages. A command of French may get you further in this country than solely English, but kreyol, even some basic phrases will get you further. Ladies, a bat of an eye will get you anything!

3) Missionaries
There are loads of missionaires that travel to Haiti to give food aid & speak on the word of God. Haitians are strong believers of voodoo / catholicism, so they are not really looking for a new religion. But, they are willing to hear what these missionaires have to say, in order to get some free goods and services.

4) Waste, waste and more waste
When you land in Haiti, the smoke smacks you in the face like a dry dirty diaper. Your eyes will burn, your nostrils will fill, and you will cough. If you're lucky, people will burn their trash. Most people just throw stuff on the ground, wherever they are. Children (boys & girls) piss on the streets indiscriminately. Food is placed in plastic cartons, in plastic bags, with plastic bags for drinks. Even water in small doses, is sold in plastic baggies. This is all in piles, everywhere.

The Positives

But like any true humanitarian, there are positives witnessed within my first 24 hours.

1) Beautiful oceans
The rich within the country live on the mountain-tops. The poor live near the sea. A BEAUTIFUL sea, lapping waves, and beautiful beaches (sans the trash nearby) are right at their doorsteps. I think the poor have the much better view, since they can see the ocean without worrying about the smoke layers.

2) Girls, you are always beautiful
Ladies, if you ever have felt unattractive, come to Haiti. The men here will make you believe that you are the most beautiful creature that has ever walked the planet, without some of the machismo that you experience elsewhere in Latin America. I certainly feel like I have brought sexy back! :)

3) Pride in Oneself
Haitians are proud people and rightly so. Besides their history of fighting for freedom before others in the Western Hemisphere did, they also continue to be hard workers despite the many challenges against them. You can see it even in the school children, who make sure to get their shoes shined (the same as business people in the US) on the morning on the way to school. Geez, I can't even wake up early enough to get a brush properly through my hair.

4) No speed limit (eveylne you should love this)
You can go whatever speed you want on the streets, highways, byways, dirt roads, etc. Pass people however you can. It doesn't matter whether there are school children, cows, goats, dogs, or a giant sinkhole in the street. You can go as fast as you like.

5) Digicel Cell Phones are hugely popular
During the food riots, the president of the country commented that the people must not be too hungry because the country has 2 million people with cell phones and most still had minutes. You can imagine this did not go over well in the country.

I haven't quite figured out what exactly the "reason" is that Haiti has suffered so much. Perhaps pointing to corruption, perhaps pointing to bad influences from other countries, good ideas badly implemented (many US policies fit this bill...), a desire to maintain power by existing leaders, a lack of general literacy, a sense of hopelessness.... I have no idea and I don't think I will get the answer in this short trip. But I am getting the sense of the beauty of this country and I understand why people come back, time and again.