Ayiti

Haiti.

Ayiti.

A brief history.

(courtesy of Wiki and Paul Farmer's book, After the Earthquake)

The Republic of Haiti occupies the western half of the Island of Hispanola in the Carribean. It's native people were first conquerred by Columbus (Spain) in 1492. European disease and cruelty caused the death of many native Taino people, so slaves from Africa were imported in the 1500s for land labor. In the 1600s France and Spain split the island into the Dominican Republic (Spain) and Haiti (France). The Haiti of today was founded in 1804 after a 13 year slave revolt against the occupying French. The United States refused to recognize Haiti as a nation until 1867, out of fear of inspiring a similar slave revolution in the US. France attempted to reclaim Haiti years later. In order to finally free themselves from the French, the Haitian government agreed to pay 150 million francs- an unfathomable debt that would effect Haiti's economic survival for years. Over the ensuing years, numerous political and military coups kept Haiti in constant turmoil. The US occupied Haiti from 1915-1934. In 1934, a Dominican dictator ordered a genocide of all Haitians living on the DR side of Hispanola, resulting in tens of thousands dead.
From 1957-1987, Haiti was ruled by the infamous Duvalier family- first, Papa Doc Duvalier, then his son, Baby Doc. The Duvalier's ruled the country with tactics of corruption and terror, and instituted a group of Tonton Macoutes, or Bogeymen, tasked with massacre of citizens in opposition to the Duvalier's at the will of the government. Following the Duvaliers', the next Haitian president was a former slum priest, Jean Bertrand Aristide. Aristide, viewed as an extreme leftist, and a "communist" by the Reagan administration, was overthrown by multiple coups, and Aristide supporters were killed by the new military government. In the early 90's, the Clinton administration assisted in returning Aristide to power.  Over the next decade, conservative American government officials blocked funding for infrastructure, healthcare and education to Haiti, and funneled money instead to conservative Aristide opponents. Eventually, all financial loans to Haiti from the US were frozen. Aristide was thrown out by yet another coup in 2004. That coup, and Aristide's subsequent exile to Africa, was thought to be organized and led by the United States and France in reaction to Aristide's call to end crippling "debt repayment" demands by both countries, and for France to repay nearly 21 billion in restitution to Haiti.

In 1980, Reggie moved from Miami to Haiti, where he lived with his grandparents until moving to the United States 5 years later. Each summer for the next 5 years, he spent with family in Port-Au-Prince. 22 years later, we finally returned along with Reggie's sister.

We were supposed to have visited Haiti before becoming pregnant with Mathilda, but the 7.0 magnitude earthquake (tremblement de terre) destroyed most of the city of Port-Au-Prince, kiling between 50-300,000 (the wide estimate just another indicator of how poor the infrastructure and government in Haiti is), injuring more, and leaving millions homeless, living in tents.
Last week, we finally made the trip.

The next series of blog posts will be devoted to our brief time in Haiti. Some funny, some striking, sad, beautiful, terrifying, and all experiences that have for sure changed us.

Waiting in Pittsburgh, 6am

Finally in Haiti, sweaty in the car on the way to Manmie TeTe's house

photo by Stepha

Reg's grandmother, or Manmie TeTe (Mummy TE TE). A few important words. The woman is a force. A gangsta in the best sense of the word. She's a home and business owner, an entrepeneur, a neighborhood figure. She's a survivor. After divorcing her military husband, she was left with nothing but her home, which she has turned into a source of income for years. She is loved and admired by all those around her. Including me. She raised Reggie as a toddler, and opened her fantastic home to us. She was homeless for 9 days after the earthquake, and lived in a tent for months.  She has a full house of family and staff (who are family). They take care of eachother, protect eachother, and entertain. She - they all- treated us, unnecessarily, like royalty. The house runs on 2 generators, but they often fail causing frequent blackouts. Because of this, there is no real refridgeration of food, so everything is bought and cooked fresh daily. We feasted on conch, lobster, chicken, goat, and fresh fruits and vegetables daily. It was amazing, to say the least. The house has running water that is supplied to an underground well. Water is purchased from a private company. Rain barrels on top of the house also provide water for the bathroom. 

lounging inside. The window behind used to lead to the master bedroom before it was destroyed by the Earthquake.

photo courtesy of Stepha

photo courtesy of Stepha

Welcome home, Reg

petite poupee Ayisyene

pool and back patio

exploring the house with Daddy

main floor (indoor)

Walking downstairs. Love the art.

front entrance to the outdoor living area. There is little separation between indoor and outdoor.

middle level, or 80's dance club?

was the master bedroom, pre-earthquake

view from the front of the house

side yard

Yes, she is a great-grandmother and a club owner. Bring it.

pool!

making fresh cherry juice in the outdoor kitchen. Note Tilly in the background, playing with the dog :-)

that dog was not going to escape

outdoor living space

panorama from the roof, rain barrel in the center.

Outdoor living space

House across the street. The entire hillside was flattened in the earthquake and has since been rebuilt.

making herself right at home in our bedroom (photo by Stepha)

bedroom art. I obviously loved it :-)

Night swimming with Daddy, before the bats scared us away. She was so excited when the pool was cleaned and ready!

Tilly and her new friends. Such love between these ladies, language barrier not a barrier at all.

friend love

Tilly and her newest bff, Judy (Manmie's right hand woman)

school kids at a road side market. In Haiti, children must wear uniforms to attend school. We saw kids going to school on the back of motorcycles- sometimes 3 kids holding on to 1 adult. Despite the extreme poverty, the children always looked great- hair done, uniforms on. I wish my bratty school-hating teenage self could have been dropped into PAP. Maybe I wouldn't argue with my mom about wearing those ugly corduroy pants!

A note about traffic in Haiti. It's terrible. We saw 2 stop lights, and only 1 stop sign. Imagine a major metropolitan area with no traffic guidance or rule enforcements. The result is constant gridlock, driving any way you want on the road, passing at will, frequent horn honking. It was a bit scary at times. Traffic is so bad, business is conducted with street vendors from the car. One time, our driver recharged his cell phone and added minutes to it- all with a vendor while he sat in the car!

due to the ridiculous traffic, she did a lot of this

and this

concrete walls separating in-tact homes from the road

taking advantage of a need- dozens of building material stores

First tent city we saw. Took my breath away.

The grey tents are predominately USAID.

roadside market

typical street

On our second day, we traveled to La Pleine where Reggie's paternal uncle, cousin, and grandmother live. It's only a few miles away but took nearly an hour as a result of traffic.

walking with Daddy and Uncle Carlo

Tilly loved her Uncle Carlo

the road to Meme (Reggie's paternal grandmother)

eating chicken...

...right off the bone

(photo by Stepha)

(photo by Stepha)

family photo

cousins! (photo by Stepha)

His grandfather's ancient Land Rover. Badass. Reg remembers driving around in the back as a kid.

Haitian walmart. For sale: mattress, clothes, tupperware, fruit

chairs, fans, shoes

Obama!

Everybody's gonna get somewhere.

(photo courtesy of Stepha)

view of PAP through the windshield

Haitian Midas

neighborhood

On our last night in Haiti, Manmie threw a huge party. Dancing, DJ, live music, food (goat!), drink (Prestige!), and wonderful family and friends. Tilly talked about it all day (and the next!)

dancing with David

the outdoor patio/club area

our view from the head table overlooking the pool and guest tables and chairs

us with Manmie

next business venture- import!

Reg, Stepha, Angelo (one of Manmie's staff, our primary driver, and great guy), and me!

group (photo by Stepha)

live music

obvi we danced

I will close this post with 2 photos very indicative of Haiti. These were taken directly across the street from one another. Yes. A Porsche dealer looking into a collection of tent homes. In my next post, I'll write more about the richness and poverty of Haiti.