no fireworks, no fanfare

My arrival to Haiti was not greeted with fanfare. There were no riots in the streets. There was no mini-Tehran happening here despite today being Election day. After the dire warnings, I expected at least a little fanfare for my arrival. Turns out, because of the corruption, lack of representation, and general feelings of disenfranchisement, many Haitians chose not to bother with voting today. Heck, it’s hurricane season, and there was barely a real thunderstorm this afternoon! Hopefully, Oliver’s application will bring some fanfare to this joint tomorrow when presented.

Once again, I have the pleasure of staying at Chez Leah in Port-au-Prince. By day, Leah is the Social Performance Manager at Fonkoze. By night, she is the gracious hostess extraordinaire, known to leap small tables at the sight of a flying bug. ;-) More seriously, Leah lives in a complex that was formerly home to US embassy staff, so the accommodations are nice. Moreover, she is a very nice hostess one whom, I could certainly learn a thing or two from!

This Sunday evening, she invited a few fellow ex-pats to her home for dinner. Saburah, her long-term houseguest who also works for Fonkoze, was willing to make dinner. (Home cooked meal, yes I am there!) Joining us at the soiree was:

• Cavé, after graduating from UC Davis, he was a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic and now is an employee of Fonkoze who works with their Poorest of the Poor program
• Natalie, a woman of Haitian and Canadian descent, who is an employee of a consulting firm that works with development programs with USAID. Fluent in a couple of dialects of French, though like many children of immigrant parents, initially resisted learning the family language. Oh, and she was also a rotary club scholar in Senegal.
• Rebecca, a Cornell PhD student in Nutrition, who has been working at an HIV clinic in Haiti for the past 2 years
• Saburah besides being able to make dinner out of “nothing in the house,” has lived in Ghana, previously worked with Citigroup in their muni department, is a graduate of Georgetown University, and is a native from Cleveland, Ohio.

To say the least, listening to the incredible stories of each of these individuals, their breadth of international experiences, and willingness to give of themselves to help others humbled me. When asked what I do, I just put myself under the term “volunteer” for the Grameen Foundation. Later they teased me about this, stating I should be more forthcoming about my length and projects related to the volunteer work that I am doing.

All in all, it was a great introduction back into Port-au-Prince. The weather was slightly on the warm side, but nothing akin to a Louisiana summer yet. But everyone has told me, “You just wait.” And that I shall do.