Excursion to Haiti

In early May, I embarked on a short but intense trip to Haiti to film the efforts of St. Croix-based Haiti Community Support (HCS) in the remote southwestern village of Au Centre. My first impressions of Haiti happened before getting on the flight from Miami to Port Au Prince. Large groups of well-fed people wearing identical T-shirts were discussing how they ‘were going to do the work of the Lord’, and how they were bringing hope to the people of Haiti. It made me wonder why I was going on this trip- was I going to do the work of my own lord?

For many years, I had admired and contributed to the auction events for HCS at Mount Victory Camp in St. Croix, and I was eager and curious to see how their operation worked in the actual place for which all of their efforts were made.

My travel partners were Mandy Thody, illustrious sailor, ceramic artist & stove-builder and Tim Fields, investigative journalist extraordinaire of the Virgin Islands Daily News.

Mathilde Aurelien Wilson

We were picked up at the airport by Mathilde Aurelien-Wilson, co-founder and director of HCS, a woman of untiring energy and compassion, who grew up in Au Centre and obtained her university education in Cuba. The trip from the airport into Port Au Prince, where we were to stay our first night, was harrowing, confusing and fascinating- a part of me was falling in love with this city already. We three newcomers were impressed by Mathilde’s aggressive driving (and everyone else’s, for that matter) and there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to Port Au Prince’s traffic system. Whoever has the courage to go fastest has the right of way, and people crowding the sidewalks were given no mercy, as our sideview mirrors were sometimes less than an inch shy of someone’s head or elbow. On their heads, people had baskets and buckets and bundles of every kind: charcoal, lumber, fruit, car parts, fabric & chicken coops, all carried with pride and big-city detachment.

Rudimentary sketch of things on people’s heads

The Kinan Hotel’s impeccably rustic gingerbread decor provided a stark contrast to the pistol-grip shotguns of the hotel’s watchful security guards, and we were told not to venture outside the hotel unless escorted. There was a group of French women with their newly adopted Haitian toddlers, also staying at the Kinan, and there was contained excitement in their faces, as if some time had lapsed since their journey had started, and they weren’t quite ready to breathe a sigh of relief.

Port Au Prince hillside

The next day was dedicated to driving from Port Au Prince to the village of Au Centre, alternating between fast-moving two-lane ‘highways’, long stretches of spleen-massaging boulder-roads, and treacherous mountain tracks straight out of Mordor. All this coupled with the obstacles placed in our way: slow-moving tap-taps (pick-ups with camper-shells transporting people from town to town) potholes and large piles of dirt that either a vehicle or nature had left behind, and of course: people. People walking, standing, riding bikes, riding mopeds & motorcycles, sometimes as many as five to a bike. There were also the long half-lane-wide rows of drying rice, almost invisible to someone driving 60 mph in the bright sun. What we learned was that, due to the lack of appropriate drying surfaces, when a farmer has harvested his rice, he spreads it on the sun-baked roadways. To dry it in the dirt would decrease the chances of sale at the market. Drivers in Haiti appeared to have developed a sixth sense to always expect and stear clear of unusual obstacles.

Tap Tap

We continued in our Japan-made Mitsubishi Montero up into the mountains. This car had super-shocks, judging by our host’s fearless driving- apparently a Japanese 4WD made for American roads is useless here- the only cars available are made for Third World driving. After our last four hours on a mountain track, sometimes wading our vehicle across rivers, sometimes meeting wide colorful buses packed with travellers and gear, we finally reached the village of Au Centre at nightfall. The dwellings we had been seeing for the last part of our trek, were ‘maisonettes’, small huts with dirt floors, palm-frond walls and grass roofs. These were predominant in Au Centre as well, although many are made using clay, rock, homemade blocks and galvanized roofing.

River-crossing close to Dechity

Maisonette in the mountains close to Au Centre

Typical Haitian highway bus

We were all provided with our sleeping accomodations and a hot meal. A bottle of Haiti’s own Rhum Barbancourt came out after dinner, as did a large group of villagers, a DJ and a generator. Before we knew it, Tim Fields and I were swinging two of Mathilde’s nieces around on the porch dance floor and receiving hoots and cheers for our western dance-step-destruction of the local ‘compas’ music.

Hills above Au Centre

The following two weeks, after our 48-hour initiation, were spent filming all aspects of HCS’s progress in AU Centre over the past four years, as well as actively participating in a few of the village projects. Mandy helped the Au Centre Renaissance School to take the school kids’ photos and pair them up with their correct names, we worked with the school cooks to build a stove for the kitchen, we assisted in the road building project between Au Centre and the town of Beaumont (about five miles away) and Mandy also worked with the adult education classes on ways in which Au Centre could utilize the village’s natural resources for crafts.

Our French improved, although some villagers spoke only Creole. As we were strangers in the village, whenever we were engaged in any sort of activity (including, for that matter, sitting down or lying in a hammock), there were always curious eyes watching us, and a group of village boys following close in our tracks asking for things like bicycles or soccer balls in broken French. My trip back started with a 12 hour delay at the Port Au Prince airport without air conditioning, and several restaurants running out of food. At one time I found myself spending more time in the men’s bathroom than customary and felt a little like a perverted US Senator. As this was the only place where the air conditioning was working, I was OK with such senatorial guilt.

The footage from our trip is currently being compiled into a short documentary film which will have an official screening event on November 27, 2009 in St. Croix (specific location TBA), but we anticipate that it will be completed before then- we’ll keep you informed. Also keep an eye on The Virgin Islands Daily News for a whole series of articles on Haiti by Tim Fields.

We were all moved by the beauty of Haiti’s nature and people. The myths about this place are sometimes exaggerated, and we saw no de-forestation in the areas we visited. We also saw an amazing agricultural and logistical resourcefulness in the everyday citizen, and it was not uncommon to find yam and banana plantations on the most remote and inaccessible hillsides.

We look forward to the continued success of the HCS operations in the village of Au Centre and will keep you informed of significant developments. Please go to www.haitisupport.org for more information on how to donate and get involved.