C'mon Patty BLOG! Gah! Yes, So, I know I was supposed to blog about November. So much to blog about- Cholera- Hurricane Thomas. Actually reverse that order. It should be Hurricane Thomas- THEN cholera. But now I have something else. Elections.
Let's start with that shall we?
Oh, chaos. I think we all knew that something would happen. I mean, have you ever been to a third world country where there isn't some protesting of some kind after elections? Yeah, I don't think so. Well, elections were held on the 28th of November. We had a no-fly time- as I had r&r schedule on until the 30th- but got an extra day. Things seemed surprisingly calm....until they revealed the results.
There is one candidate- Jude Celestin- that is backed by the current president- Preval. And he has a LOT of cash. Supposedly, he stuffed the ballot boxes thus putting him in 2nd place-for the run-off due to happen January 16th (I think). So, those who support Sweet Mickey- who came in 3rd- but again supposedly and kind of likely- really came in 2nd are angry because he isn't in the runoff. when things like this happen, people aren't happy. When people aren't happy- this isn't good.
So, we were thus on lockdown for 4 days as tires burned, people shot off guns, the airport was shut down and people showed their unhappiness.
The 4 days on lockdown proved to be quite boring. And i was also somewhat disappointed in lack of knowledge of what was happening. I do understand that the news probably doesn't show much- because no one cares about Haiti anymore- let's be honest- it's quite true. And I guess- that's why I figured out why I should blog more often- to be a source of information. But during this time, it was quite as I responded to e-mails acting as if nothing was really happening, because I was really thinking, "if you really knew what was happening or what life here consists of -considering i just celebrated my 10th month here 4 days ago) it would probably cause your Western mind to completely explode because you will never understand"- yet, I didn't say that- I refrain :).
On day 4 (or was it day 3) of lockdown- I got to go with some people down the street to get more chicken. It was eerily quiet. Not one Pap-a-dap (a huge bus) or tap-taps (trucks that take people places-similar to a kombi or a taxi- it's just a truck that has wooden boards on the back so many people can sit) in sight. we go down the road and you can see the remnants of burnt tires in the middle of the road. We come across a roadblock and we had to stop. At first they said they wouldn't let us pass- but they knew our people and as they moved the blocks- we said, "we'll be right back!". We go to get the chicken- and there's only a handful of people out and about. It was probably the oddest feeling that I had felt from being in Haiti. It was like everyone deserted the entire country.
I come back and call my staff to tell them no work and they tell me that shots were fired in Leogane (where we work) and where they live.
Certain airlines are finally starting to fly. Although we aren't sure if the demonstrations are going to start again tomorrow- because they don't want recounts- as that won't help if the ballots are stuffed.
I leave for vacation on Saturday to NYC! whoo hoo! I've never been- so state number 37 ( I think) is off the list and I get to visit one of my friends-personal tour of NYC- in the winter. Let's hope I don't freeze to death. Hopefully I'll make it through this week- cause mentally- I am definitely ready for vacation!
Peace in the middle east,
Pat-c (my ex-pat Haitian name)
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
i guess i should go back to october....
I must admit. i feel quite guilty. i haven't posted in months. each time something happens, i think about how i should post- and then just put it off- when i find myself in need of 4 or 5 blog posts. so, here we go, one major event at a time shall we? I guess one major thing that happened work wise is that we finished our 10,000th temporary shelter!
yeah! 10,000 families out of the rain. not too bad. we've been blessed with materials. so it's nice that other organizations are vamping up as we are slowing down.
so, in October- we had a couple of 3 day weekends. So, on Canadian Thanksgiving, a couple of friends and I decided to go to Dominican Republic and spend some time in Santo Domingo. We managed to get on the last UN plane (if UN employees don't fill the plane, they leave extra seats open for relief workers). and all 4 of us got on! It was my first UN plane ride, but it was so much nicer than riding a typical airplane. First, you just show up and get to avoid all the other stuff that seems to take up so much time. so, we get there and in line start talking to a guy that works for the UN. He's American and interested in our shelter program. So, I talk to him a bit about it and his family is coming to pick him up because he travels back and forth from the DR to Haiti. And he so kindly offers us a ride to where finding a cab will be much cheaper than from the airport. God Wink!
Then, we get to our hotel- in the middle of the Colonial Center in Santo Domingo, and it's beautiful! and they have the best coffee ever. Plus, they have a pool....on the roof! So, the first day was amazing. we went and saw probably every single thing that can be considered worth site seeing and even things that weren't. so, at one of our last stops, the ruins of San Francisco, we thought it was time to get creative....
and became probably my favourite picture ever. we hung out at night at the square, ate good food, and just had a BLAST. i have to say it was my favourite vacation ever too. our 2nd and last night, (we were all complaining about how much we DIDN"T want to go back) we ate at this cave.
okay- let me back up. Julie decided to come with this lonely planet for Haiti and the DR. the rest of us hated that stupid book- but i must say because of it, we ended up doing quite a lot in the book. so, "the book" as we came to call it recommended dinner in a cave and it was so cool as seen above. definitely worth it. but i guess something funny that happened was that on our way back, there was only one taxi. and he wanted to charge us something ridiculous. so we said no and kept on walking. the guy was trying to convince us that it was "dangerous". Dangerous? we said....please, we live in haiti. so we keep walking and Andrew is trying to flag down a taxi, while Julie is asking whether or not we should go back while I'm adamant about how we WILL NOT go back if we have to walk all the way back to our hotel. yet, the further we keep walking, we're thinking....hmmmm....we may never find a taxi- yet we can't go back. Literally....it was like something out of a movie.yet it was funny as about 4 minutes later we find another taxi for a reasonable price. so. yes. best. vacation. ever. with awesome people.
k. that is the update for most of october. hopefully november will come tomorrow
yeah! 10,000 families out of the rain. not too bad. we've been blessed with materials. so it's nice that other organizations are vamping up as we are slowing down.
so, in October- we had a couple of 3 day weekends. So, on Canadian Thanksgiving, a couple of friends and I decided to go to Dominican Republic and spend some time in Santo Domingo. We managed to get on the last UN plane (if UN employees don't fill the plane, they leave extra seats open for relief workers). and all 4 of us got on! It was my first UN plane ride, but it was so much nicer than riding a typical airplane. First, you just show up and get to avoid all the other stuff that seems to take up so much time. so, we get there and in line start talking to a guy that works for the UN. He's American and interested in our shelter program. So, I talk to him a bit about it and his family is coming to pick him up because he travels back and forth from the DR to Haiti. And he so kindly offers us a ride to where finding a cab will be much cheaper than from the airport. God Wink!
Then, we get to our hotel- in the middle of the Colonial Center in Santo Domingo, and it's beautiful! and they have the best coffee ever. Plus, they have a pool....on the roof! So, the first day was amazing. we went and saw probably every single thing that can be considered worth site seeing and even things that weren't. so, at one of our last stops, the ruins of San Francisco, we thought it was time to get creative....
and became probably my favourite picture ever. we hung out at night at the square, ate good food, and just had a BLAST. i have to say it was my favourite vacation ever too. our 2nd and last night, (we were all complaining about how much we DIDN"T want to go back) we ate at this cave.
okay- let me back up. Julie decided to come with this lonely planet for Haiti and the DR. the rest of us hated that stupid book- but i must say because of it, we ended up doing quite a lot in the book. so, "the book" as we came to call it recommended dinner in a cave and it was so cool as seen above. definitely worth it. but i guess something funny that happened was that on our way back, there was only one taxi. and he wanted to charge us something ridiculous. so we said no and kept on walking. the guy was trying to convince us that it was "dangerous". Dangerous? we said....please, we live in haiti. so we keep walking and Andrew is trying to flag down a taxi, while Julie is asking whether or not we should go back while I'm adamant about how we WILL NOT go back if we have to walk all the way back to our hotel. yet, the further we keep walking, we're thinking....hmmmm....we may never find a taxi- yet we can't go back. Literally....it was like something out of a movie.yet it was funny as about 4 minutes later we find another taxi for a reasonable price. so. yes. best. vacation. ever. with awesome people.
k. that is the update for most of october. hopefully november will come tomorrow
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