Lavi che

You know you are in a small town when your friend, the "American mennonite volunteer Felix Kurt Hildebrand," is the one being interviewded and quoted by CNN on the political situation in Haiti.

K actually picked me up this afternoon and brought me to use the internet connection at the office where he and my friend L work The clinic where I work has been on minimum staffing since Wednesday because it is located downtown near many of the government offices and slum communities. I would say this is a "hot zone" but it seems like the entire city has been a "hot then cold then hot then cold" zone the last couple of days. It's a totally confusing situation where things are fine in one neighborhood while there are rocks from protesters and tear gas from the UN in another. One of my Canadian friends decided to leave Haiti all together today because on Tuesday she watched mobs of protesters march outside her window while the neighboring gas station was completely looted.

In contrast, the neighborhood where I live - a lovely town home community situated around a pool and tennis courts where many wealthier Haitians and international workers live - has been totally quiet through it all. The only inconvenience was a loss of power when the generator broke and the workman couldn't get through a road block farther down the road to find the part to fix it. It's amazing how unaffected by these situations one can be when you have no real connections to a place but are being taken care of by people with connections. I have no worries about personal property, about my children being involved in the rioting or even about the direction of the country as a whole. That's not true for most any Haitian I meet.

Today has been pretty quiet throughout Port-au-Prince. People continue watching and waiting for the government to respond. Yesterday, the president made a speech saying that the answer is to support local agricultural production in order to reverse dependence on imported food. While this is a very necessary, long overdue, mid-to long term response, people were very disappointed that he didn't offer any suggestions for how to deal with the present price problems such as lowering import taxes.

There is word of a big political meeting happening this afternoon and rumors of the prime minister being asked to resign. The public statement coming out of the meeting will be key is determining whether the days to come are quiet or not. In the midst of this all, the bigger question remains of whether this unrest was caused by "lavi che" (the expensive life) or by those wanting an unstable Haiti. Both are real problems.

PS: Mpral di sa anko (I'll say it again) - I am 100% fine and safe and being well cared for!