Proposed Video Game

Driving along Haitian highways reminds me of a video game. Imagine driving a motorbike:

Obstacles to miss—cows, goats, pigs, chickens, pedestrians, unannounced speed bumps, potholes of all sizes, other vehicles that drive directly at you

Bonus points—passing other vehicles, finding cold drinks along the road

Challenges to visibility: dust, smog

Different levels: (1) smooth straight paved road (2) straight paved but potholed road (3) paved but curvy and potholed mountain road (4) non-paved dusty, rocky, road (5) non-paved, dusty, rocky, very hilly, rivers and anything else you can imagine.

Ode to Gonaives

I smell you before I even see you.

Veiled in dust heaps, the garbage still reeks.

A beach town with no beach

You have consumed any beauty the sea might offer.

Battered by a hurricane a few years before

The Noah-type flooding showed it was unfit for life—

A Sodom and Gomorrah punishment by water—

Yet people came back.

Home to the riot that led to the coup

Now a home to the UN to temper a brew.

Nature doth thrive in forms most unwanted—

Cockroaches, mangy dogs, skeeters and mices.

Scorching heat leads to much suffering and sweating.

All of this leads us to bestow a grand title

Most wretched city in the New World.

Power Out

At first we just thought the solar panels were out. A week later when we hooked up a generator we realized the satellite Internet was out too. Despite the communication difficulties I've been able to make important progress with my project. We're almost finished forming a cooperative and writing their internal regulations. Next will be to OK everything with the local government; with any luck we could be breaking ground in a week!

Border Crossing

I crossed into Haiti from the Northern Dominican city of Dajabon. We were told that the border opened at 8 and so we arrived close to that time. I did not even recognize the border crossing as an immigration check point when I first saw it.

By 8:45 people were beginning to gather at the locked gate that leads to Haiti. Mostly people on foot and others with barrels filled with blocks of ice that are covered with grain to keep it from melting. These blocks of ice equal Haitian refrigeration.

Jack and I parked ourselves in front of a closed window which we guessed is where we needed to be. An immigration official passed by and informed us that things opened at 9.

By 9:30 more people had congregated, including immigration officials. The immigration people would ask us what we needed but when we would tell them (we need to talk to someone in transportation re the motorbike, we need exit stamps, etc.) they just nodded and continued to eat their breakfast outside the locked office.

By 10:00 the entrance to Haiti looked like this. As more ice wheelbarrows congregated, I wondered if any of the ice would make it into Haiti since it was melting so rapidly.

By 10:30 immigration officials began to take their places behind windows.

Around 11, two hours after they were supposed to open, the windows opened the process began. People did recognize that we had been their first and allowed us to go first. But after being directed to the transportation office, back to the main window, over to another window, then back to the original window, then back to the other window…….it just became a shoving game. After being given some papers to fill out with no pen or pencil, I forced my way into the office and made the officials give me a pen. How else was I expected to fill them out!

But after lots of stressful Spanish, shoving, yelling, and swatting bugs, we got our exit stamps and crossed over into Haiti.

On that end, it was easy to bypass immigration. Jack and I had to seek it out. We were the only people there and easily received our entry into the country. And it only cost $1 US dollar.

Quickie update

So I arrived in Santiago, Dominican Republic and did not need a backup plan for Jack was there the minute I stepped out. And not only was he there, he had documents that got me out of paying for a tourist card!

My first night in the DR, and Jack´s 30th night (total guess on my part) was spent with a Haitian friend who will be working with the same organization this summer. It was the real deal-a Latin barrio.

Our next stop was Jarabacoa, up in the inland mountains. Jack has connections with a YWAM base there. The trip offered great views especially on the motorbike! Jack has been fairly generous and accomodating when it comes to all my "stuff" (which is NOT much for 4 months!) and only complains every so often. I do admit, the "stuff" overtakes the motorbike just a little bit, but it just gives us that much more character for not only are we both wearing helmets (which no one does here) but we have a pile of stuff behind us.