My mennonite friends continue to be among CNN's primary sources here in Haiti - this story quotes the director of RNDDH - a Haitian human rights group that two of my American friends volunteer with. I just met him yesterday when I went over to their office to use the internet.
Today was really quiet around Port-au-Prince. The grocery stores reopened. Traffic ran as usual. The clinic was back up and running but the foreign staff was asked to stay home again today as a precaution. (Sometimes we are more trouble than we are worth). We still don't have internet at home (I'm writing from a friend's place Friday evening) but the generator was fixed so for the first time in 3 days we had electricity.
Things are still hanging in the balance politically in Haiti. There has been a call for the prime minister to resign but no response yet from his party. The prediction is that if he doesn't take action and resign this weekend, Monday could be bad again.
For now though we - Haitians and blan alike - seem to be taking a deep breath and recollecting a bit.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
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!
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!
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Living the breaking story...
Over the last week there has been a rising tide of protests against the high food prices. It started in a city in the south, Le Cayes. As of yesterday morning it reached Port-au-Prince.
We drove in a little later than usual this morning and had to back track a couple of times in the car to avoid burning tires and large crowds (not at all as exciting/dangerous as it sounds). While there were some patients around earlier, many of the staff did not make it in to work and so they have decided to keep minimal staffing for the next day or so until the government finally responds to the protesters' demands. We are caravaning home from the clinic today. (FYI - That means we will be stuck at the house- which is a very safe place- but where the internet hasn't been working so I won't be able to update this for a little while)
There is always a bigger story in these situations. From what I've heard the one behind the current situation is related to the fact that there are always people who profit from instability. Things have been improving security wise around Haiti - thanks in part to the UN's not always wonderful efforts. At the same time though food prices really have doubled or tripled (as I have written about before) due to forces beyond Haiti itself.
So the story I have heard is that powerful people in the south paid off a small number of people last week to start protests targeted at the UN but in the name of rising food prices. The UN base and warehouses in the South were the first places to be targeted. Other people, who are not being paid off, have joined in thinking that they are protesting food prices and so now the instability has spread - restaurants around town have been looted, we heard that the Canadian Embassy had windows broken - things are generally tense.
Once again - I'm safe and sound and surrounded by good people so don't worry about me. Do pray and stay informed about the situation here though because as always, it's those with the least who are suffering most.
We drove in a little later than usual this morning and had to back track a couple of times in the car to avoid burning tires and large crowds (not at all as exciting/dangerous as it sounds). While there were some patients around earlier, many of the staff did not make it in to work and so they have decided to keep minimal staffing for the next day or so until the government finally responds to the protesters' demands. We are caravaning home from the clinic today. (FYI - That means we will be stuck at the house- which is a very safe place- but where the internet hasn't been working so I won't be able to update this for a little while)
There is always a bigger story in these situations. From what I've heard the one behind the current situation is related to the fact that there are always people who profit from instability. Things have been improving security wise around Haiti - thanks in part to the UN's not always wonderful efforts. At the same time though food prices really have doubled or tripled (as I have written about before) due to forces beyond Haiti itself.
So the story I have heard is that powerful people in the south paid off a small number of people last week to start protests targeted at the UN but in the name of rising food prices. The UN base and warehouses in the South were the first places to be targeted. Other people, who are not being paid off, have joined in thinking that they are protesting food prices and so now the instability has spread - restaurants around town have been looted, we heard that the Canadian Embassy had windows broken - things are generally tense.
Once again - I'm safe and sound and surrounded by good people so don't worry about me. Do pray and stay informed about the situation here though because as always, it's those with the least who are suffering most.
In search of a few dull moments
Silence in my blogosphere can be interpreted in more then one way - it means life is so busy that there is no time to write or so boring that there is nothing to say....or as is often the case here in Haiti, so logistically complicated that there is just no way to say anything at all. My recent silence has been a product of the first and the last - too busy and no regular access to internet since I arrived back in Haiti
The A-exam: After 4 crazy weeks of reading, thinking and writing (as well as a little extra excitement in the week just before the exam when I lost 13 hours of work at 5:30 am on the day my proposal was due) my "A exam" was held on March 28th. It went really well – I passed without any provisions. I learned a lot in the exam itself - which is kind of inevitable when you have 4 well-established nutrition experts / academics focusing all their attention on you and your work for 2 hours straight. The success of my exam was definitely a team effort - including yet again my incredibly patient parents who listened to me cry more than one night about my lack of preparedness, my friend S’s company in the library, her culinary skills for many a free dinner and her willingness to take my bad moods like a sister, the Gabriels’ (including Baby G on the way) for opening their home to me for the month and not minding my anti-social ways, and the thoughts and prayers of many many others. Mesi anpil.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Post-exam resolutions
It's 4:30 am and I'm sitting in the same chair I've been in since 10pm - empty coffee cup and ice cream bowl to my left. Stack of books and papers on my right. Laptop somewhere in between. Ce la vie Phd?
While these days of frantic proposal writing and little sleep are not quite the norm - my recent years of strenuous intellectual exercise haven't done much for my overall physical physique. I keep on resolving to find a way to get some exercise in Port-au-Prince that I actually enjoy enough to do repeatedly ...but I have been short on inspiration....until now.
Imagine my surprise when my 4:39 am weary-eyed browsing brought up this article about exercise options in my Haitian hometown!
While these days of frantic proposal writing and little sleep are not quite the norm - my recent years of strenuous intellectual exercise haven't done much for my overall physical physique. I keep on resolving to find a way to get some exercise in Port-au-Prince that I actually enjoy enough to do repeatedly ...but I have been short on inspiration....until now.
Imagine my surprise when my 4:39 am weary-eyed browsing brought up this article about exercise options in my Haitian hometown!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)