It’s hard to believe I have less than a month less in Haiti. It feels like the time has gone quickly yet at the same time it feels like I left a long time ago. I am starting to count down the time until I leave, but I am also trying to make the most of my remaining time. Last Sunday I went to the beach with my boss, my boss’s friend, and my roommate. Out of all the beaches I’ve been to, this one was the nicest and the most expensive. There were waiters and waitresses to bring you drinks on the beach, and a nice buffet lunch. It was nice to rest a little bit before going back to work on Monday. Below is a picture of me with my roommate Famil at the beach.

It is now more than five months since the earthquake. Lately I’ve been asked by some people stateside how things are here. Although I have seen some signs of progress such as road construction or dump trucks clearing rubble, the pace is painfully slow. Next to Fonkoze’s Port-au-Prince branch, a group of young men were out this week with hammers and pickaxes separating concrete from steel and removing blocks from a collapsed building. It was difficult to hear that they discovered bodies under the rubble.

Because the government refuses to remove rubble from people’s property, many dump their rubble in the streets, causing traffic jams. Most buildings remain in the damaged state they were moments after the earthquake. Hundreds of thousands of people still reside in tent cities. I am beginning to wonder if many choose to live this way to save money on paying rent. The government has selected a couple of places to relocate tent dwellers, and although the selected sites are not in flood zones, they are not close to Port-au-Prince and (as far as I can tell) have limited access to necessities like a fresh water source. It almost seems like the Haitian government is putting them in the middle of the desert so that people can forget about them.

Last week my boss sent me to Jeremi, a small port town on the southwest coast, to visit more clients. Although there were numerous construction crews out repairing the route, it still was a 7 hour drive from Port-au-Prince. My boss had assured me that the hotel had satellite television so that I might be able to watch game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals, but of course that hotel was booked and the one I stayed at did not. Luckily, I was able to rent an internet connection for a couple hours to listen to the game online, but was not able to hear the winner in overtime. I can assure you that when I return, I will watch a recording of the games.

We had some free time after finishing visiting the clients, so the driver and I went to explore the city. Jeremi is one of the greenest cities in Haiti and at some points I felt like I was in a jungle. I can’t imagine how pretty Haiti was when it all looked like this. There is a wharf that allows you to drive out a couple hundred yards from shore that I went out on to take some pictures of the city. Although the coastline is very pretty from afar, the beach consists of piles of garbage.

One of the hardest moments of my trip was when we were on our way back from exploring. As we drove by a group of 10 people or so walking along the side of the road, I looked back to see what was going on and saw people crowded around a girl whose face was coated in blood. I told the driver to see what happened and he had the girl come to his window to talk to her. She was getting water at a well when an older man waiting behind her hit her. After discussing with the driver, he did not think it was a good idea to bring her to the hospital as he claimed the cops would think we did it to her. I ended up giving her some money (although likely not enough) hoping she would use it to go to get some medical attention. However, I worried that one of the people she was with would steal it from her after we drove away. I wish I could have helped her more or would have thought to call my boss so he could talk to the driver to figure something out on how to get her to the hospital. Unfortunately, I feel like this kind of thing isn’t rare in Haiti.

On a more upbeat note, it is fun to be in Haiti during the world cup. I feel the country needs something to celebrate to get their minds off of things. The majority of Haitians are Brazil fans and the rest are Argentina fans. Parts of the city are saturated with Brazil and Argentina flags. I saw a man drive buy with a Brazil flag duck taped to the hood of his car.At first I was surprised because the unpopular UN peacekeeping troops here are Brazilian, but I have learned that Haitians merely cheer for these countries because of their soccer teams.

Whenever one of the two is playing, the city stops. Workers in the office circle around someone who smuggled in a little TV to work or has a TV on their cellphone. Whenever a team scores a goal in one of Brazil’s matches, either the Brazil fans are cheering for a Brazil goal or the Argentina fans are cheering for the opposing country’s goal. Suspiciously, we have never had electricity at our apartment go out during a world cup match.

Last Monday-Thursday, I went on a site visit to a city along the northern coast of Haiti named Port-de-Paix. As I mentioned in my last entry, I went alone rather than with my boss as in previous trips. Because the drive to Port-de-Paix from P-au-P can take anywhere from 6 hours to 8 hours or more depending on the conditions of the roads, I flew on a regional airline. It took the propeller plane (really wasn’t as scary as it seems, just loud) about 35 minutes to make the trip. The more interesting part of my journey is how the credit agent (Business Development’s people in charge of interacting with clients) and I visited clients.

Although several credit agents use public transportation (trucks and buses) to visit their clients, the majority of the agents are given motorcycles. Over the rocky roads common in Haiti (see picture below), often a motorcycle can get you to your destination twice as quickly as a truck.Although you are almost always going slower than 15 mph, trucks often are left behind crawling along at 5-10 mph.

I had ridden on a motorcycle a few times before for short journeys, but not for as long as I did on this trip. In addition to Port-de-Paix, we had to visit clients in Jean Rabel, a hour and a half motorcycle ride, and Gros Morne, a two and a half hour motorcycle ride. It did not help that the agent’s motorcycle was more of a dirt bike, and therefore was not as comfortable as other bikes I’ve ridden on.

The northern coast of the country was very green compared to the rest of the country, and grows lots of mangos and plantains. There are also many rivers, which complicate travel in the rainy season. The first river we crossed, the agent paid a couple guys a dollar to push his motorcycle through the river (about 3 feet deep but 150 feet wide) and had another couple guys give us piggy back rides across. At another shallower river, the agent drove his motorcycle through the river (I’m sure this is horrible for the engine) and had me ride with a more experienced driver in motorcycle river-crossing. The driver had me put my legs under his armpits and on the handlebars so that I did not get wet. I will only spare you all with one more example. On the second day in Port-de-Paix, we had to cross a river about 300 feet wide by boat. The agent paid a group of guys a couple dollars to put his motorcycle on the back of a boat and then push us across the river in the boat (see picture below). This brought to mind playing Oregon Trail as a kid and having to ford rivers. The river crossings were a welcoming respite to long and painful rides.Returning to the hotel each night aching made me appreciate the credit agent’s job.

The hotel I stayed at was a step up from what I’ve been used to here. My room had a fully bed, a television, a refrigerator, air conditioning, hot water, wireless internet, and a fan. I realize these sound normal for a American hotel, but in a city of 50,000 people in rural Haiti, it was pretty nice to have for a few nights. Although I was not able to understand everything the clients said, with the help of the agent, I surprised myself and was able to interview all of the clients about how the earthquake affected their businesses. As I have mentioned before, many businesses buy their stock in P-au-P and lost both their stock as well as kids in school, family members, etc. It is sad to hear many of these stories, but encouraging hearing from the clients whose businesses are starting to return. This next week, I will be continuing to interview clients in the central part of the country. Thankfully, transportation will be via car and not motorcycle.

I am now settled at my new place. It is a house close to Champ de Mars (the big public park in the center of P-au-P and is a 10 minute walk from work. It is not the nicest place I have ever stayed in (still showering by buckets), but the owner has internet and television (when we have electricity) so it has been nice getting the chance to listen to the Blackhawks games on internet radio. I no longer have people to cook for me but there are many places (gas station, restaurants, street vendors) to buy food from nearby. Since my stomach does not always handle Haitian food very well, I have been eating a lot of sub sandwiches, pizza, and spaghetti.

I tried to come into the trip with few expectations, but so far this trip has been a lot different than I thought. I realize one cannot know how such experiences will be like without trying them. I have enjoyed touring parts of the country and learning about Haitian culture, but I feel like something is missing. Everyday I walk by thousands of tents on my way to work, but I can’t say that I really know their stories or what they’re going through. It’s often hard to tell how sick a person is by seeing them. Sure, I hear through other people about their struggles or read about them on the internet, but I almost feel like I’m desensitized to what these people are going through, still living in damp tents almost 5 months after the earthquake. I realize I am working to help Haitians develop the country through growing small businesses, but I can’t say I’m getting a strong sense of satisfaction out of this. I can see that I’m contributing to Fonkoze, but it is more difficult to detect if I am helping Fonkoze clients. I wonder if I could be of better use here. I am not certain if this is just me never settling and always wanting more, a sign that this isn’t for me, or something else. I think that this experience has a lot to still teach me about who I am and what I want from life.