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)
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