Haiti – The Characters

Posted by theglevin on November 14, 2011 · 4 Comments 

As I start this I’m sitting in an office in Port Salut, with a ferocious headache thanks to the smoke pouring in through open doors and windows. Closing them, in the stifling heat, is not an option. The inhalation of this poison is thanks to the guy in the house next door who is keeping himself busy, hacking down trees in his yard to produce charcoal. This is, of course, illegal in Haiti, and is, of course, happening feet away from the UN’s office here. It is what it is, it sounds like it sounds.

The Characters

The people make the story, and the screenplay to this one is already filled with figures cutting memorable swathes across the screen. Supporting roles, as so often seems to be the case, have taken the most impressive comedic turns. The first of this lot was Joel, the renewable energy venture capitalist and late addition to our traveling party, from West Texas by way of Boulder Colorado. Joel is a well-spoken, bright, connected professional held in the highest regard in his field, and his very being made me snicker time and again. When asked how he was, his baseline answer was ‘fantastic’. He was given the Creole nickname of ‘I’m crazy’ which he proudly repeated ad nauseam to all he met the rest of the week. He dreams big, enjoys the moment and is quick to suggest a cocktail. As solid a short term acquisition as one could ask for. He was picked up on the waiver wire, after the trade deadline, by Earthspark’s President, and our fearless guide through the southern coast of Ayiti; Allison. High energy, high achieving, vegetarian, runner, rum afficianado and five toe wearer; Allison fits snuggly into the Ex-Pat Aid Worker stereotype, and it fits her well. She is the driving force behind what I see and do here. Her attitude is contagious; I only wish that her tirelessness was as well.

That mighty daughter (or at least granddaughter) of Hellas that clued me into the prior site is Alki, a further proof that the world is tiny, and great. Earthspark is a very small organization, operating in relative obscurity, unless you’re tapped into Haitian energy NGOs or a friend introduces you to it. Through those global working laws of coincidence, two people living on different continents were introduced by two different friends to two different members, in two different states, of a small organization. These two corresponded with each other and decided that the two volunteers should come down as one party, and put them in touch. One volunteer scoped out the other on that terrifying network of social connectivity and saw that the two had a friend in common. Of course they did. How could they not. A friend of mine from high school is a friend of hers from college. This in and of itself could have made me like Alki. Any friend of Jordan’s, etc.etc. But it turned out that we would connect on a far deeper level. It turned out that we were each willing to discuss bowel movements with each other at the breakfast table. Huge value add. What more can you ask for in a colleague that you’re traveling the global south with?

On our first night in Port Salut we met a pair of supporting characters that should have their own syndicated spinoff; Yanouchka and Hugo. Yanouchka is a savvy young Haitian hustler back from New York to capitalize on opportunity in her native land – tapped into the NGO and local networks; the ultimate go between. She has her eyes on hatching some local business schemes, and I’m looking forward to seeing them succeed. We celebrated her 30^th birthday the other night by helping her lose her glasses and break her sandals. She took it in stride. Hugo is a Frenchman in cowboy boots, a ponytail, safety pin earring, Castro hat and Russian army surplus jacket. His laptop bag on the back of his motorbike has Camus and Nietzche in it. He only likes classic rock and only speaks English when he’s drinking. He’s 24 and in Haiti helping a program that employs the handicapped to make peanut butter, self-sufficient. He wants to go to Afghanistan when his contract here is up. He may not yet be THE most interesting man in the world, but a Dos Equis ad could one day be in the cards.

We met them while grabbing a drink at Auberge, Christian’s place. Christian is a French ex-pat, restaurantuer, hotelier and hardware store owner that bullies the ‘mini fut’ (foosball) table. He’s unassuming, friendly and the closest thing to a mogul that this town has to offer. He loves Phil Collins in a way that would be unhealthy if loving Phil Collins could be.

From Port Salut we moved on to Les Anglais, the base of this operation, and into the welcoming, half empty smile of Julio. Julio (pronounced with a hard J) the Les Anglais Hotelier, who was once Julio the New York City taxi driver, is on a mission to fatten me up. He looks sporting slumped in his plastic chair with his wife beater pushed up and stomach hanging out. He knows a tandem shot would be twice as nice, so the meals come fast and furiously. Anything his hotel lacks in polish it more than makes up for in personality, Julio’s personality. Julio runs at least three different businesses, employs 12 people directly and scores more through wholesaling to small scale entrepreneurs, and likes to talk to me at night about what he’d like to see happen here. His is a vision of business helping people and of his philosophy I’m becoming more and more a convert.

As I write this paragraph I’m taking my dinner porridge at a table in the dining room. What sounds like a Haitian Cindy Lauper is blaring at what would seem an unsustainable volume. Julio has his shirt hanging over his shoulder standing at the bar, which is chest high, three feet from the television screen. This is his perch, and it’s a spot for one. Two paces from the door, where a random patron will sit, Julio’s back facing him, as they stare intently at futbol highlights. Fans remain off as I sweat through my shirt. The occasional child will peak through the door stare at me in the back and runaway. No mind paid to the patron or his perch. An easy character to miss from that angle, but overlooking him would be a grave mistake.

Two volunteers, the president of an organization, and a secretary of state walk into a bar...

Like shooting stars, other brilliant cameos have flashed across my screen. Brian, the large, by any cultural metric, bearded missionary from Tennessee – A one man action network trying to help a local church and orphanage through sheer force of his own indomitable will. His friend Jason, the young pastor from Cincinnati who told me about a terrible scam he once witnessed of the handicapped being exploited in a Tennessee Goodwill, pays for his trips to Haiti by running an adult Dodgeball league. Again, he pays his way to Haiti through for profit Dodgeball.

There is Dan, EarthSpark’s upsettingly young founder, lead advocate and current PHD candidate. A New Yorker born and bred, recent acknowledger of his own lactose intolerance and frequenter of a late night Waffle Shop in Pittsburgh, he thinks Primanti Bros is overrated. He also seems to think that energy poverty is unacceptable, that we have the tools to make positive changes in this world and that we ought to. He also drops an occasional ‘Oy’ that would make any bubby proud.

There are Mike and Lupe who have spent the past 40 years traveling the world working in rural energy in Sudan, the Phillipines, Nicaragua, Peru, and more. Mike left school in Southern Cal in the summer of Love, moved to SF where he saw a flyer on a bus for the Peacecorps, took the leap, found his way to Nicaragua, to the jungle and to Lupe.

And there is Rene Jean-Jumeau who along with a few of his friends shared a truly good day with us. Sitting in a beautiful home, cooking a meal together, and then letting me poke and prod for information on their country and their people. Opening my eyes to their take on the reality of Haiti, its past and its future. They were an inspiring and tremendously interesting group… And a few days after I met Renee, I sat in a restaurant watching on TV as it was announced that he had been named Haiti’s first ever Secretary of State for Energy.

The quantity and quality of high level, interesting people I’ve met in Haiti is in an inverse relationship to the time I’ve spent here. Government officials, Business leaders, UN and NGO workers, small scale entrepreneurs, teachers and students have all crossed my path and left indelible impressions. Their ideas, plans, stats, thoughts, would be overwhelming if they weren’t so focused and interesting. Success is a chapter all its own which hopefully is forthcoming, but in the meantime, the introduction is fascinating.

I have moments of surety in the work being done here, followed by lapses into frustration and doubt. I marvel at those that commit their lives to helping the less fortunate. I look at them and wonder how many truly feel that their actions are ‘helping’ in the way they want them to? Do they do this out of a sense of duty? Do they believe in the efficacy of their actions or just in the righteousness of their beliefs? Are they all just masochists at root? Answers to the small questions are just as difficult to come by here as those to the big ones, but it shouldn’t and doesn’t stop one from asking them. I’m honored to be crossing paths with these characters and though I’m not sure by what means I can measure it, I’m certain that I’m the better for it.

Filed under Haiti