Vudou Ceremony fall 2013

Proceed with caution!

Click on the following link to view a compilation of photos and video from a vudou ceremony at the perestyle of Max Bouvoir from back in the fall of 2013.

Enjoy!

Max Bouvoir's vudou ceremony

Or copy and paste this link http://youtu.be/FGefJ5FLU2Q into your browser.

Under an October Haitian Moon

Under a Haitian Moon

Fok ou konnen kote ou soti pou ou konnen kote ou prale.

You must know where you come from to know where you’re going.

Haitian Proverb

A Little R & R 

It’s been a bit since you all last heard from us, largely because we ‘did a Europe’ and basically took off the month of August.  Well, not exactly, but it was pretty close. 

One benefit of life in the Foreign Service is that some posts allow for one, two or three “R&R” trips (if you have the leave available), where airline tickets and some other associated fees are paid for by the State Department.  Given the relative difficulty of living in a place, one might get a different number of R&Rs over the length of a tour.  Because Haiti is classified as one of the more difficult places in which to serve, we get one R&R each of the two years we are here.

We had a wonderful time absorbing the silence, the clean fresh air, the company of family and friends, and the sights, sounds and tastes of the northwoods for a week when we rented a cabin on Twin Bear Lake near Iron River, Wisconsin.  We returned to Minneapolis for a few days, and then drove to Louisville, Kentucky to cheer on Tommy in his first-ever Iron Man competition, which he completed (amazing!) with a time of 14 hours 44 minutes and 56 seconds (truly astonishing when one considers he never competed in anything like it before; here he is crossing the finish line - http://youtu.be/nJzMtG1wC3Y ).  We drove back to Minneapolis for a few days again, then moved both Tommy and Sophie into their respective dorms/apartments at Gustavus for the start of the school year, which was rather more bitter than sweet, but c'est la vie.  Of course this is all part of the normal course of life, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.  All in all it was a fantastic respite from the oppressive heat, humidity, poor quality air and crushing poverty of Haiti, and long, long overdue after six straight months without leaving the island.  We vowed never again to go that long without a trip back the States…

Twin Bear Lake, Iron River, Wisconsin

A bounty of Iron River blueberries with Sue, Morgan, Dylan, Sophie, Tommy & Kate

Sophie & Snickers enjoying a quiet moment on Twin Bear Lake.

All the Panettis and a few Hintons in Iron River, Wisconsin.

Kate, Tommy & Cousin Tilly in Chicago.

Tommy just after finishing the 112 mile bike ride and just after starting the marathon.

This makes me smile. :)

The Song That Never Ends 

So once again the United States Congress did it’s darndest to panic the world by shutting down the federal government and bringing the planet to the edge of another financial catastrophe.  Good goin’ guys!  Looking forward to the next round just a few months from now…

Seriously, you may have wondered if or how the shutdown affected us here in the Paris of the Caribbean, and the answer is:  it didn’t.  Well, not really anyway.  A couple agencies had to furlough a few employees, but in general all things moved ahead full-speed (as much as that can happen in Haiti).  Federal offices that “provide for the national security, including the conduct of foreign relations essential to the national security or the safety of life and property” continued unabated around the world.  Embassy operations continued as normal here in Haiti, but like missions around the world, some special programming and travel were put on hold.  For example, a friend and I were to do a radio show on day three of the shutdown, but this was postponed on the first day.  In addition, a Haitian colleague from our Fraud Prevention Unit and I were going to head to the north of the country (to the north coast town of Cap Haitien and the surrounding region) for a week this October to spend five days meeting local officials and doing investigations, but that too was put on hold.

Now that the shutdown is over, life has returned to normal here, and we all anxiously await what happens next come the new year.

A Day in the Life 

I’m not sure if you knew this or not, but I actually have several different titles, as do my colleagues.  I’m not even 100% certain which of them one might say is technically my “real” title; you know, the one everyone can relate to and understand.  I am variously a Foreign Service Officer (huh??), a Vice Consul (double huh??), a Second Secretary (seriously??), a Consular Officer (is that like a Guidance Counselor?) and a diplomat (at least I’ve heard of that one!).  In addition, I am an “FS-04” and hold the military-equivalent rank of major.  (How ‘bout them apples?  However, that rank is only used for protocol purposes, for example if I ever attend a really important meeting or function and have to be placed in the right order, or not seated next to the wrong person.)  And if you’ve paid attention to the news over the last few decades you’ve no doubt seen evidence of our work doing stuff like trying to keep Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons; helping negotiate the accords in Bosnia (the Dayton Accords), Northern Ireland (Good Friday Accords) or Oslo (Israel and the Palestinians); helping write the NEW START nuclear weapons treaty with Russia; or trying to get Syria to end its civil war and eliminate its chemical weapons stockpiles.  All in a day’s work, you know.  But of course I do nothing quite so … well, exciting or important. So what is it that I do all day?

It should be fairly clear by now that I spend the bulk of my days interviewing people who want visas from me.  And while that might give a hint as to how I spend my time each day, it isn’t a complete picture, and certainly doesn’t give any indication of what anyone else does in the Embassy.  My wide audience of readers is constantly asking me for more (not really), so I give to you:  A Day in the Life Inside Embassy Port-au-Prince!  No need to thank me…  J

In a basic sense, I work in a fairly typical office building, it just so happens to be a United States Embassy, protected by United States Marines, large walls, and some pretty darn good security.  Each floor has pretty standard offices and cubicles for the 20 or so federal agencies present in Haiti.  I am in the consulate, which as you might recall is kind of a separate place, sometimes located within an embassy, sometimes not (typically only in larger countries with secondary cities of decent size).  This consulate is inside the embassy, and is a good part of the whole first floor.  Because of what we do here (among other things issue visas, which are highly valuable and secure documents, much like bank notes or birth certificate paper), the consulate has its own secure doors and guards and such, and not anyone can just waltz in when they please.  The inside of the consulate is a bit like a large, open-concept office space with lots of cubicles, copiers and filing cabinets, a few offices around the perimeter for the managers and the boss, and more than 30 ‘windows’ (kind of like bank teller windows behind bullet-proof glass) along one whole side where the interviews take place.

Applicants for visas or Americans with appointments at the American Citizen Services (ACS) unit come into the embassy compound through a secure entrance, leave phones and other things with the guards, and proceed into an outside courtyard to wait for their appointments.  They enter the actual consulate and are in a fairly standard waiting room (again a bit like a bank), hang out in a line until their turn (those applying for non-immigrant visas) or just sit and wait to be called to a window (immigrant visas).

I typically arrive around 700 am (give or take about 10 minutes), and now of course I’m accompanied to work by my best girl, who recently took a job as a Consular Assistant. By the time we arrive in the consulate, some people are already there firing up their computer, making coffee, getting started on the work of the day.  In the consulate alone there are lots of people, like foreign service officers (FSOs), foreign service nationals (FSNs, or Haitians who work for the US government), eligible family members (EFMs like Kate), and a federal law enforcement officer who conducts investigations for us.  All told, there are probably about 75 people just in the consulate (the majority of whom are FSNs – about 50 all told).

The days’ applicants for visas typically arrive at the embassy before 600 am for their appointments.  (Keep in mind that very few people have private cars, public transportation is almost non-existent, and if an applicant came from somewhere outside of Port-au-Prince they may have spent several days on the road to get here.)  Applicants for non-immigrant visas start ‘intake’ around 700 am where they are fingerprinted and their relevant demographic data and photograph are entered into our computer systems.  Officers begin interviewing them around 800 am, and typically five officers will interview 350 – 500 applicants by about noon or one.

Immigrant visa applicants have more firm appointments, and they begin intake roughly at the same time, when they check in with the FSN staff and turn in any documents that may have been missing from their file.  Then they wait until called for their interview with one of us.  Officers start interviewing around 800 am, and typically five officers will interview around 100 applicants by around noon or one as well.

In the IV unit we interview people who want to move to the US permanently, virtually all of whom start life in America as LPRs (Legal Permanent Residents, or ‘green card’ holders).  It’s up to them whether they pursue citizenship or not, and that can take some time.  IV interviews are really based on two broad principles:  the relationship the applicant has to the petitioner (who is always an American citizen or LPR), and the necessary documents required to complete an application.  (By the way, none of this is necessary in the NIV unit, where the principle criterion is the applicant’s ties to Haiti, which suggest they do not want to immigrate and will return once their trip is over.)

A file for each applicant holds all the relevant documentation:  their actual petition, passport, medical report, financial support documents, sometimes a police report if they’ve lived in another country for a year or more, a birth and / or death certificate, a marriage and / or divorce certificate, and other supporting documentation like family photographs, email exchanges, cell phone records and money transfers (to name a few).  Files then go through extensive pre-interview preparation by our Haitian colleagues who look for missing documents, flag items in need of further examination or questioning, identify items that might indicate fraud, and generally make my life at the window much, much easier.  The days’ files are arranged, and applicants enter the consulate for their interview.

Interview day for the applicants generally means seeing several people:  Kate and the other EFMs take their fingerprints, they talk to an FSN who prescreens any documents applicants may have brought along to complete their file, and then they are interviewed by an officer.

Keep in mind as well that each file can be for multiple people; imagine not just a single individual coming for their interview, but a family of five or six.  Now consider a scenario I had recently, where the American citizen petitioner was a sibling who petitioned for his two siblings and their families here in Haiti.  There were nine people altogether.  Or a more extreme case, a sibling in the US who petitioned for his four brothers and sisters and all their kids, adding up to 21 people in four separate, but connected files.  (Four of us split that one up, thank heavens!)

An immigrant visa interview begins when officers take the file to their interview window, spend time looking through all the documents checking items for hints that lead to interview questions, looking over those things which have been flagged by the FSNs, and generally getting into the mindset needed to start questioning an applicant.  Then we call the applicant to our window and swear them in, using language similar to that which you might see in courtroom dramas on TV:  “Do you swear or affirm that the information in your file and in our conversation today is the truth?”  They sign their application, we sign their application, and we’re off to the races.

An interview is a complex animal.  Documents are rarely the reason a person is permanently disqualified, so almost everything hinges on the relationship.  However, those documents can provide clues to us and give us direction for our questioning (and sometimes they are fraudulent).  For example, consider the case of an unmarried son or daughter of an American citizen.  Quite often in Haiti these unmarried sons or daughters are of child-bearing age themselves and have several children already (who also may qualify to immigrate to the US either now or in the future, if the applicant does immigrate).  We ask for the birth certificates of their children because Haitian birth documents specify whether the parents were married or not when the child was born.  Therefore, if an applicant is applying for the ‘unmarried’ category but have any children whose birth certificates both identify the applicant and say the child was born “legitime” as opposed to “naturelle”, they are not qualified for the visa because Haitian law requires a legal marriage in order to identify a newborn child as legitime.  We spend quite a bit of time sleuthing to try and suss out how an applicant might try to hide relevant details that disqualify them, and if they have then we have to apply immigration law to their case and refuse their application under the right section or sections of the law.  (Keep in mind that interviews are all conducted in Creole, which I am now doing with varied levels of success.)

Now imagine all the permutations that exist in a family, in a society.  There are somewhere around 100 different types of US immigrant visas available in order to cover all those variations and types of applicants around the world.  Haiti is the sixth busiest IV post in the world (processing about 30,000 per year), which is amazing given the size of the mission.  Most of our ‘business’ deals with about 20 of those categories, and the following is a small sampling of some of the most common that we see here in Haiti:

Immediate relatives (no numerical limits)

IR1 – Spouse of a US citizen

IR2 – Child of a US citizen

IR5 – Parent of a US citizen

CR1 – Conditional spouse of a US citizen (married two years or less)

Family-sponsored, first preference (no numerical limits)

F11 – Unmarried son or daughter of a US citizen (these folks are not legally considered ‘children’ as a result of their age)

F12 – child of F11

Family-sponsored, second preference (subject to numerical limits)

F21 – spouse of an LPR

F22 – child of an LPR

F23 – child of an F21 or F22

F24 – unmarried son or daughter of an LPR

F25 – child of an F24

Family-sponsored, third preference

F31 – married son or daughter of a US citizen

F32 – spouse of F31

F33 – child of F31

Family sponsored, fourth preference

F41 – sibling of a US citizen

F42 – spouse of an F41

F43 – child of an F41

An odd immigrant visa that is really processed as a non-immigrant visa is a K1 visa, which is for a fiancé (and a K2 for the kids of a K1).

I had a case recently for a K1 visa where the petitioner is a native-born American engaged to be married to her Haitian fiancé.  The fiancé had two children from an earlier relationship, and both kids are K2s.  We required the birth certificates of the Haitian fiancé as well as those of the two kids, and when I examined the fiancé’s birth certificate I noticed it had been altered in three places to change the last name of the fiancé to match that of the last name of the children.  The kid’s birth documents appeared legitimate, but if I was right, then the Haitian fiancé may have altered his birth document in order to match the last name of kids that aren’t biologically his, and if true, it might indicate that he and the US citizen petitioner are involved in human trafficking (trying to take kids to the US who are not theirs).  I have suggested the fiancé have a DNA test with the two children, and if it shows they are his biological children then they may get their petition approved if they can demonstrate that they are truly in a fiancé relationship. The case is in review and so there hasn’t been a resolution yet, but this case illustrates that this can be serious business.

We interview people to the tune of about 5 an hour, or until the days’ applicants have all been interviewed.  We then have lunch (there is a nice little cafeteria in the Embassy) and then have meetings or work on special projects.  We also process immigrant visa files at our desks, for example after an interview we may require the applicant to return with missing or additional documents or suggest they have a DNA test (like the K1 case above), or we may suggest a fraud investigation based on details uncovered in the interview.  When that happens, the applicant may return several weeks later with the necessary documents or the DNA test may be complete, and then the file needs to be reviewed by an officer and a further decision made.  Embassy Port-au-Prince business hours are 700 am – 330 pm, and we tend to leave work by about 400 pm.

So there you have it, a day in the life of the consulate in Haiti.  Officers in other sections (political, economic, management or public diplomacy) or with different agencies (CDC, USAID, USDA, the US Coast Guard, etc.) do vastly different work around the city, out in the country and often work directly with business and government leaders as opposed to the general public like we do.

Crazy Story of the Day:  The Major and the Tell-Tale Heart 

So a colleague was driving near the embassy recently with his FSN driver when they (surprise, surprise) ran into some crazy traffic on a Port-au-Prince back road.  Suddenly a car came directly at theirs driving the wrong way, and stopped immediately in front of their car totally blocking any forward progress.  His driver started a ‘conversation’ with the other driver using the speaker system that embassy car is equipped with, trying to convince the other guy to get the heck out of the way.  My friend was just frustrated with the whole thing and opened the door to yell at the guy in English (not particularly helpful here), and they then noticed the other guy holding a mayonnaise jar out the driver-side window.  Strange enough, but then they noticed something odd about the jar.  The other driver yelled something back at the embassy driver, who then just capitulated and let the other guy make his way past.  My buddy asked what the other guy was up to, and was told he held a human heart packed in ice in the jar and needed to get to the hospital.

Seriously, you can’t make this shit up.

Life Outside of Work 

Now you know the ins and outs of a day in the life of one Consular Officer at Embassy Port-au-Prince, about which I am sure you are eternally grateful.  A month ago Kate started as a Consular Assistant at the Embassy, working in the same section as me, taking fingerprints and processing DNA requests for applicants.  We hosted a wine tasting party here in September for about 40 people or so (the Ambassador even showed up!), conducted by a local importer of wine and liquor.  There was a little Oktoberfest celebration held here at Canne a Sucre in late September that, despite the rain, was a great success.  Our good friend Andrea moved from the consulate after a year to work her last year in the economic section, and she had a great party to commemorate the move and just allow us to enjoy one another’s company for an evening.  Yesterday we kicked off the new school year at a Catholic all-girls school in the city by teaching some English to a group of bright and energetic high school girls.  And of course we continue our association with the local SMDT orphanage, which continues to provide us with a sense of fulfillment.

During a recent visit to SMDT, we noted several major improvements to the building and grounds.  An electrician came and fixed much of the open wiring we saw throughout the building and installed a small generator so they can operate a few lights and fans in the evening.  A new water pump was installed that allows them to move water from the below-ground cistern to an above ground barrel, making it easier to dispense water.  One tent was removed and four open-air classrooms were built, covered with tin roof and complete with desks and blackboards.  A natural gas tank and line was installed and hooked up to at least one of the two gas stovetops they have, helping to reduce their reliance on dirty, forest destroying charcoal (a really serious problem here).  All in all, Carlo is not only saying the right things, but is taking proactive steps to improve the general living conditions for the kids and his family.  A US Embassy grant has been approved to help build and install a playground for the kids, and so things are really moving in the right direction.

Of course this does not mean all is hunky dory at SMDT.  The needs are still great, and the donations sent from abroad are very, very welcome.  Thanks to all who have sent clothing and supplies – from the many individual contributions to coordinated efforts from the likes of the Jefferson High School Student Council and the Prior Lake Junior Optimists, all the contributions have been well received and Carlo and his family are very thankful for the assistance.  In the event you or an organization are interested, Carlo and his mom put together a list of the most pressing needs at the moment, and if you’d like to contribute any of the following, please let me know.

Twin bed sheets

Pillows

Toothpaste

Tooth brushes

Shampoo and conditioner

Deodorant

Diapers

Body sprays

Sanitary pads

Underwear / boys boxers

Bras

Bath towels

Kitchen towels

Sandals

School shoes

Body lotions

Large plastic buckets

Laundry hampers

School glue

Staplers

Any donations can be mailed via United States Postal Service to us at:

Dave & Kate Panetti

Unit 3400 Box 24

DPO - AA 

34060

Ask at the Post Office for special rates to DPO / APO / FPO addresses.

Three or four new open-air classrooms replaced an old donated tent.

A new gas tank and line were installed.

Kate and Boudneyson being goofy.

Several doctors and nurses were visiting recently to give the kids pre-school check-ups.

Some of the kids of SMDT saying goodbye to Sophie.

Blame it on the Rain 

Several weeks ago I had a medical appointment in south Florida and we were in need of a short break, so we spent a perfect long weekend in Fort Lauderdale at a friend’s small condo not far from the beach.  Upon our return to Haiti on Monday afternoon, the skies opened up and dropped several inches of rain in a short period, which has real consequences in Haiti.  (Fortunately so far, the much predicted hard hurricane season hasn’t really developed into much, knock on wood.)

Here is a link to a short video of what a little rain can do here.  Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/4HJ1437ZZHI

So you’ve wasted another perfectly good thirty minutes of your life that you aren’t about to get back, and for that I thank you. 

As we often say to one another during our daily struggles here in Haiti, “Lavi ap kontinye…” (Life goes on…).  Generally speaking life is good for us, and we hope you can say the same.

Team Panetti at #30 Canne a Sucre.

July has come and gone...

Good afternoon friends!

This is a short update, as we'll be heading back to the good 'ol U S of A in a few short weeks for much needed R&R, and I don't anticipate much excitement will happen between now and then, other than, you know, work and such, which isn't all that exciting most of the time.

July 4, 2013
Just a few days ago, our nation - and those of us in international posts around the world - celebrated the 237th anniversary of American independence.  I mentioned briefly in the last edition that I was responsible for planning this celebration for the Ambassador, having been chosen for the assignment a scant five weeks after arrival at post.  My first post.  With no previous experience in the Foreign Service.  And for which I had no real knowledge of the people, sections, departments, processes or hierarchy of any embassy community from which to draw.  It was quite an honor, but also quite a heavy responsibility, as typically the Independence Day celebration at an embassy is the principal public diplomacy event of the year (unless it is a year for a national election) for the Ambassador.

The Embassy invited about 1000 foreign guests to a two-hour fete at the Ambassador's residence; business people, politicians, artists, musicians and other important Haitians who had done or would do business with the Embassy. (The Prime Minister and several other MPs and legislators were there, and the President later called the Ambassador to let her know how sad he was to have missed the party!)  We met at her home on Wednesday, July 3rd at 700 pm.  Several large tents and canopies were erected on the back lawn, principally to provide cover for the bartenders and wait staff who would serve a variety of canapés and drinks from 200 bottles of American wine and a variety of other drinks.  A small jazz ensemble - featuring an Argentinian female vocalist who lives in Haiti singing American jazz standards in English - played throughout the evening.  The shade of the many large trees on the property, and a high cloud deck that day, provided a respite from the Haitian sun, and while a 30% chance of rain is the daily standard here, no rain fell that day (sooo grateful for the good weather!).  After the young chauffeur/singer gave the crowd chills with his renditions of the national anthems of the US and Haiti, speeches were given, followed by a champagne toast, and a short fireworks show.  From all reports, I've heard it was a successful and enjoyable event, and despite my fluctuating blood pressure and pulse rate as we dealt frantically with a last minute substitution of the fireworks purveyor, I also enjoyed myself.  

The next day being a US national holiday, the Embassy was closed, and so the entire Embassy community - Americans and Haitians alike - organized a cook out/potluck and July Fourth party of our own, but without the big, expensive fireworks display or live band.  Still and all, quite a few people came to our little corner of the city here in Canne a Sucre for an evening of fun and games.  We even imported the traditional American picnic games of an egg and water balloon toss.  Left quite a mess, but also caused quite a few laughs.

Should you have nothing better to do with your life for the next few minutes, here's a little summary of the events for your enjoyment:  http://youtu.be/A3eyn-n7Q2Y


The Job(s)
So work for me continues as expected, although just last week I transitioned out of the non-immigrant visa unit and into the immigrant visa unit, which operates at a slower, but more methodical, pace. After almost five months in the NIV unit, I adjudicated about 3500 tourist and other travel visas. Yesterday I did my first real immigrant visa interviews, and adjudicated just under ten.  One of the principal differences between the two types has to do with documents.  NIVs require few, if any, real documents by the applicants.  Mostly it is based on the three- to five-minute interviews, and whether or not an applicant can convince an officer during that interview that their ties to Haiti are sufficient that they will undoubtedly return to Haiti after their trip to the US.  In IV, applicants have to supply medical, financial and other detail-heavy documents to support their case, often including DNA test results, in order to establish their ties to the person in the United States - either an American citizen or a legal permanent resident (the holder of a so-called 'green card') who is petitioning for them.  Should they convince the officer of their ties to one another - that they are truly related or have a strong relationship - and their documents support their application, then an immigrant visa can be granted.  Neither type of visa (NIV or IV) guarantees entry into the United States, however. A visa simply gives a person permission to travel to the US, i.e. to a port of entry (airport, border crossing, what have you).  Ultimately, Customs and Border Protection officers must make the final decision, right there at the airport or border crossing, wherever the port of entry exists.

Come the new year, I'll move again, this time to American Citizen Services, the special unit that aids and assists US citizens in a variety of ways.  Sometimes US citizens have children who are born in Haiti that need birth documents, sometimes AMCITs lose their passports and need a new one issued, sometimes they get in trouble with the law, sometimes the worst happens and an AMCIT dies while visiting Haiti.  Unfortunately this has happened several times over the past few weeks, keeping our ACS unit very busy aiding grieving family members here and back in the States.  One of the victims a few weeks ago was actually a member of our Embassy community, a young USAID Foreign Service Officer who had been in Haiti only a few weeks at the time of her death.  She and several others were involved in a serious car accident when hit virtually head-on by a truck driver who later fled the scene.  It was difficult for all involved, of course most definitely for her husband and children.

Sophie continues her work in the Community Liaison Office, researching and writing articles for the Embassy newsletter the "Tap-Tap;" compiling information on rates of pay for domestic help hired by members of the Embassy community; and creating a document to assist in providing health insurance for that same domestic help.  About the time she started there at the end of May, a cadre of college students arrived to be summer interns at the Embassy, just like her.  They have turned out to be a great support system for one another, and many have become fast friends, really adding to the overall experience for Sophie.

Kate recently interviewed and was offered a position at the Embassy, working as a Consular Assistant who will be taking fingerprints and processing DNA tests for IV applicants.  She awaits the completion of her security clearance, a necessity to work in an Embassy, and will likely start soon-ish, or perhaps after we return from our trip back to the States.  In the meantime, she's been very busy assisting a summer camp program at the orphanage we visit (SMDT) most days each week, teaching short classes in a variety of subjects or conducting activities to keep the kids active and engaged during their camp time.  Anyone visiting us gets the opportunity to join her during these sessions, and must be prepared to be overwhelmed with physical affection by the children who live there.  

A visit by #1 son
Tommy has had a busy summer working at the country club, and is also training hard for his Iron Man competition later this summer.  He was just here for about a week to visit - he left today, unfortunately - and of course one of the things he did was accompany Kate to SMDT during the week.  He was a big hit with the kids, lifting and carrying several of them at a time around the property.  We did the obligatory restaurant visits, and had a trip to the beach.  He was supposed to leave on Thursday this last week, but Tropical Storm Chantal put the kibosh on that plan.  Mom and dad didn't mind having him around a couple extra days, however.


Chantal and other weather events
Well, the "Tropical Storm That Wasn't" came through the neighborhood last week, and provided the Port-au-Prince area with several days of high clouds and steady light rain for about a day, causing no flooding or damage in the area.  Of course, no one knew that in advance, and so the entire nation, the entire Caribbean region, battened down the hatches in preparation for the worst.  The Embassy closed early on Wednesday, and then made the decision to close all of Thursday as well.  When it became clear the storm was going to be a non-event, employees were called in late on Thursday and life went on as usual.  Of course the hurricane season has just begun, and so more excitement is sure to come as the summer goes on.

Oddly, at the same time Chantal was doing virtually nothing here on the island of Hispanola, some crazy summer thunderstorm was dropping five inches of rain in three hours back in Bloomington, causing still more water damage in our home.  Ironic, isn't it?

I had another interesting trip in traffic recently as well, somewhat weather related.  A few days before the Fourth of July party at the Ambassador's, I had to go up to her residence for preparations and rehearsals.  There was some rain during our rehearsal, which kind of washed out the practice we needed, but the rain didn't last too long and - once again naively - I wasn't too worried.  A colleague and I hopped into our Embassy car and headed back to Canne a Sucre, which under normal circumstances would take about 30 to 45 minutes.  Due to the light rain and some 'road construction' in front of the Embassy (well, at this point it's only adding curbs the full length of the road, or about ten miles, all by hand, and then the actual road work will start), we made it close to home and once again just stopped.  Literally, I could have thrown a rock or a baseball to hit the roof of a house in the compound when we were stuck in traffic.  I could see the houses, and the Embassy was no more than a few hundred meters away, and we just stopped moving.  More than 90 minutes later we managed to cross the street into the compound and get home, the entire trip having taken more than three hours.  I'm telling you, traffic here is something else.

The coming month or so
In just about three weeks we'll be heading back to the US for a spell.  For me, it will be my first time off the island since our arrival in late January, and is well overdue.  Circumstances haven't really allowed me to go anywhere for more than a weekend (other than spring break in the DR back in April, but that was on the same island), and now I have leave built up, so the time has come.  Kate and Sophie will be leaving just ahead of me to head back to Minnesota to trade in the our last remaining vehicle in the States for a newer model, and to get ready for our little vacation.  I return on August 9th and we head to northern Wisconsin for a week on the lake in Iron River, near Lake Superior.  Tommy will compete in the Iron Man in Louisville on August 25th, and we'll be there to cheer him on.  We then return to Minnesota to get Sophie ready for college in St. Peter, Minnesota, where she will join Tommy at Gustavus Adolphus this fall.  I'll return to Port-au-Prince around Labor Day, and the fun will start again.

We are extremely excited for this upcoming trip, and can't wait to catch up with family and friends after our first long stint here in Haiti.

Life is chugging along, and so far is good.  We hope you can say the same.

Under a June Haitian Moon

Under a Haitian Moon

Fok ou konnen kote ou soti pou ou konnen kote ou prale.

You must know where you come from to know where you’re going.

Haitian Proverb

Summer

Hello, friends, and welcome back!  Given the kind of cold, snowy and wet spring experienced in large portions of North America, I’m quite certain people are plenty happy to have warm summer days finally upon us (excepting the deadly thunderstorms and tornadoes of late, to be sure).  As hurricane season has just begun for us here in the Caribbean, the daily weather has taken a turn as well, for now it’s typically 91 degrees and sunny every day instead of the usual 90.  So it goes.  However, the rains and storms are certain to come (some already have; more on that later), and predictions have it that this season will have more serious tropical storms and hurricanes than in the recent past, which does not bode well for this country and its people.  Stay tuned, it’s going to get hot and heavy soon.

Travels

Since the last note a couple months ago, we’ve managed to visit a bit more of the city and country, and had a nice trip to the neighboring Dominican Republic as well.  Given the lack of independence and mobility regarding life in this city, these little trips have been very welcome indeed.

Tommy had spring break in late March, and flew into Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic where we met for the first couple of days of our little vacation.  We walked freely (unaware of the relative dangers there, although in relation to Port-au-Prince, it’s a comparison not quite worth making); visited the home of the son of Christopher Columbus; went to a modern shopping mall (none of those here); spent a day visiting with friends who are stationed at the Embassy in Santo Domingo; attended Easter vigil at a cathedral built in the 1500s; did the traditional Easter lunch at Taco Bell (yes, yes, I know how awful that sounds, but there are no American restaurants – fast-food or otherwise, except one Domino’s Pizza shop – here in Haiti, and Taco Bell … you know … just kind of presented itself to us that day); saw an actual movie in an actual theater (none of those here either); and generally enjoyed being together again walking through the historic colonial zone and visiting with friends from Haiti who happened to be there at the same time.  

Good to have you back, T!

My girls.

Old church bells in the Colonial Zone of Santo Domingo.

The first home in the Americas for the family of Christopher Colombus, occupied by his son Diego.

Tommy and his new little friend.

Easter Vigil at the Cathedral in the Colonial Zone, dating from the 1500s.

After a couple days in the capital, we drove our rental car about three hours all the way to the eastern-most point on the island of Hispanola to a resort town called Punta Cana.  We chose a three-bedroom apartment found on the TripAdvisor website instead of an all-inclusive resort (of which there are many in the area), and spent six days just steps from a beautiful white sand beach, complete with warm turquoise seas of the Atlantic, swaying palm trees and open air cafes on the edge of the sand, and even spent a pleasant hour conversing with a Dutch ex-commando who owns a small cigar shop right on the beach.  (I think I found my retirement plan!)  We took several day-trips to go horseback riding and zip-lining in the nearby mountains, snorkeling and picnicking on a remote island (well, remote except for the 2000 other people brought out there by boat for the same reason), and Tom and Sophie even went swimming with dolphins!  All in all we had a splendid time.

The view from our apartment balcony.

Pretty darn happy.

The Dish was a bit surprised by his sudden appearance.

Hand-rolling Dominican cigars.

Team Panetti on the way to "make snorkeling."

There are several similar resort-type beaches within a few hours’ drive of Port-au-Prince, and we’ve now visited two of them, recently Club Indigo, which is really the former ‘Club Med’ from back in the day when tourists actually frequented Haiti in rather significant numbers.  There we enjoyed a day of tropical drinks in the sun on the white sand beach, cooled off in the refreshing waters of the Caribbean, and watched a local guy selling fresh conch and lobster from a surf board just off shore.  We also engaged in an exciting little multi-national sand volleyball game with some nice computer tech volunteers from Ireland, Columbia and the States as well as a few diplomats from the Chinese Embassy in PAP.  A good time was had by all.

Mr. Paul selling fresh lobster and conch (lambi in Kreyol).

Mmmmmmm....

Club Indigo.

Over the long Memorial Day weekend, a small group of us from our Embassy caravanned to the south-west coast about five hours and spent the long weekend on Île á Vache (Cow Island), a beautiful little island about five miles off the southern coastal town of Les Cayes.  No cars are allowed, but there are several hotels and little villages that co-exist there, connected by sea routes and walking paths.  The beach at Abaka Bay Resort recently made the list of CNNs 100 best beaches of the world (coming in at something like #57), and the resort offers three meals a day (included) and nicely appointed, comfortable cabanas right on the beach.  We spent three days in more clean turquoise waters and soft white sand; explored the rougher coastal areas and ‘pirate’ caves; hiked the small hillocks through small rural villages attracting the attention of residents and school kids; talked to locals building wooden fishing boats and mending fishing nets by hand; enjoyed cigars and pretty good rum punch on the cool evening breezes, and generally decompressed from the workaday week and the struggles of living in Port-au-Prince.

Our sturdy boat, The Minnow.  Not really.

Abaka Bay Resort.

Welcome to Cow Island - here's a Rhum Punch!

The view from our cabana.

Aaron and me with local fishermen.

Typical home in the village of Ile la Vache.

Really, who needs clothes?

Typical home in the village on Ile la Vache.  Goat extra.

Sigh.

Madame Jean Marie, proud principal of Star of the Morning school.

Each boat is built by hand and takes about three-months to complete.

Sophie and I joined a small group of expats from the Canadian Embassy and ours on a hike in the mountains east of the city one Sunday afternoon when Kate was visiting Minnesota to see Tommy.  We drove up into the hills for about two hours on some pretty scenic roadways (well, the roads themselves were far from scenic, but the surrounding countryside was).  We hiked up and down into some rural areas, always accompanied by a couple of enterprising unofficial ‘guides’ who hoped to earn a few bucks from the outsiders.  While straining our leg muscles and lungs, we encountered villagers who seemed to be easily hiking the steep grades in bare feet yet also in their Sunday best coming home from church – some carrying little kids, some clearly more elderly than me – almost always attracting attention as the blan (the Kreyol word for white but also used to describe any foreigner – white or not – including African-Americans).

Some homes outside of Petionville are painted bright colors as part of an effort to  brighten the area, as most homes are just concrete-gray.

The hills and terraced farming south of Port-au-Prince.

Beyond the mountains are more mountains.

Returning from church and easily managing the climb.  We, on the other hand...

Taking a dip in the Petite Bassins Bleu.

The price one must pay in order to enjoy these unexpected tropical oases here in Haiti is that one must actually be in Haiti to enjoy them, entailing difficult drives in uncertain conditions, often on less than ideal roads, in incomprehensible crowds and traffic through some areas of Haiti that are striking in their poverty and where living conditions are frankly inconceivable.

Travails

Even with those nice trips under our belts, it’s not terribly difficult to remember where we’re living, as the challenges of living in a developing, third-world country are very real, and of course nothing for us as compared to the average Haitian, most of whom will never experience some of the places we have visited.

Into the “zone”

One rather “in your face” example occurred one weekend in May when Sophie was visiting Minnesota.  Kate and I signed up for a ‘windshield tour,’ one of many events coordinated and sponsored by the Community Liaison Office at the Embassy.  We met up with another dozen or so participants on a bright Saturday morning and boarded the two armored fifteen-passenger vans for a trip into a “yellow zone,” followed close behind by another armored vehicle in which were half-a-dozen armed Embassy guards to keep us safe.  We drove though several areas of Port-au-Prince which, under normal circumstances, we are highly discouraged from entering, not to mention stopping or exiting our vehicles.

Crowded market scene in downtown PAP.

The market area near Cite Soleil, often cited as the largest slum in the Western Hemisphere.
This area is in a red zone.

Damaged building in downtown PAP, still standing and with markets under its unstable structure.

The crush of people all seeming to sell the same products to one another alongside the road and down every side street, the trash piled into small mountains or scattered across the roadway for miles on end or filling the small canals that pop up in the city periodically, the buildings that look as if they survived (or didn’t survive) an aerial bombing raid even if they’re still in use, all the stray dogs and barefoot children provide a glimpse into this third world country that, despite this giant run-on sentence, almost defies description.  And then amidst it all is Le Marché en Fer (The Iron Market), a recently renovated large, open air market where commercantes (vendors or small merchants) sell everything imaginable, from mangoes and other fresh produce to homemade vodou potions and statuettes or talismans made with real human skulls.  We were allowed to wander this market for about an hour or so, closely followed by our very nice, very large armed guards, at least one of whom hadn’t yet been there despite working for the Embassy for the past six years and, you know, being Haitian.  I’m sure we gave them indigestion at least when we broke off into several small groups and they then had to find a way to keep an eye on all of us as we wandered the narrow aisles crowded floor-to-ceiling with all manner of goods.  Unfortunately this beautiful and interesting market isn’t someplace we can take visitors given our status with the Embassy, which is one of the ways in which the necessary regulations to provide us with protection serve to limit our independence.

And this was in a yellow zone, not even a red zone from which we are expressly forbidden from venturing other than to simply pass on through on the way to somewhere else.

The Marche en Fer, which was originally built to be a rail station in Cairo but was moved to PAP in the mid-1900s.
The market was largely destroyed by the earthquake in 2010 and was recently renovated and re-opened.

One can find nearly anything at the Iron Market.

Scary-eyed voudu icon.

Voudu talisman with a real human skull.

Home-brewed concoctions for voudu ceremonies.

He had a bad day, methinks.

On that same trip we visited the Museum of Haitian National Pantheon where we saw a very large, very old anchor theoretically from that famous little ship Santa Maria among other important historic artifacts and displays.  Just down the road is the famous monument dedicated to the revolt of slaves (le Marron Inconnu / Neg Mawon / the Unknown Brown), which is located across the street from where the National Palace once stood before it was destroyed in the earthquake.  Disturbing as the area is, it was nice to have an opportunity to see areas of Port-au-Prince that one normally only hears or reads about.  Of course our experience might have been quite different without the armored cars, drivers and armed guards.

The ceremonial tomb containing the interred remains of Haitian heroes
Toussaint Louverture and Jean-Jacques Dessalines.

The Bicentennial Tower in downtown PAP, constructed by the
Jean Bertrand Aristide government yet never completed.

The Marron Inconnu, the Unknown Brown, a monument commemorating the only successful slave revolt.

Here's a short film of our trip through the city:  http://youtu.be/5NmpKSo-RGU

The Perfect Trifecta

So before we arrived in Haiti we were warned about many things:  the poverty, the garbage, the traffic, the wonderful people, the systemic dysfunction, the many coups over the years, the traffic, the beautiful countryside outside of Port-au-Prince, the occasional violence and lawlessness, the traffic, and more.  And then one day it rained.

Back in May I had agreed to do a radio show at a small station called Radio Ibo, which has an English language show on Thursday nights (the world is nooot quite ready for me to be doing such a thing in French, and certainly not in Kreyol).  The show was about 30 minutes long and the subject was Memorial Day (which was not a bad fit for an old Civics teacher), and had the added benefit of being a fun and interesting distraction.  An Embassy driver came by to pick me up (since it was an officially sanctioned event a driver was arranged for me) around 400 pm, and we arrived about six miles later in just under an hour.  (Remember that thing about the traffic?)  While waiting to start the show it rained for a little while.  I looked out the window and watched the rain for a bit, and while it came down pretty hard for a few minutes, nothing seemed out of order.  The rain was over when I left about 45 minutes later (about 630 pm) and there were slight sprinkles off and on during the ride back, so I wasn’t particularly concerned. 

Little did I know that on the other side of the hill from the radio station (where the Embassy, and Canne a Sucre, are located) the rains came somewhat harder and lasted about 45 minutes.  To me it seemed a bit like a summer thunderstorm in the Midwest:  It rained hard for a little bit, then stopped and wasn’t a big deal any longer.  Unfortunately in Haiti, you can’t count on things to work like you expect them to.

Fortunately (!) the Embassy was built on a flood plain, and due in no small part to that, the deforestation in the hills above the city, the lack of a complete storm drainage system and the pretty heavy downpour that occurred on this side of the hills, the street in between the Embassy and Canne a Sucre was completely flooded and traffic came to an absolute halt.  That happens from time to time at home, but this … this was something else.

The normally chaotic traffic had indeed come to a halt, but now traffic along the entire length of the road for miles in either direction was not only stopped, but the road was chock-full of cars and trucks (some of which stopped working and were subsequently abandoned right where they stalled), motorbikes and people the entire width of the street and sidewalk, with several feet of brown, trash-filled water rushing down the street – also the entire width of the route, and then some – at a frenetic pace.

My trip back was fairly typical of PAP traffic.  For the first hour.  Then we hit the road which connects to Boulevard 15 Octobre (the street where one will find the US Embassy), and my life was utterly and completely arrested on the spot.  Recall that I was about six miles away from Canne a Sucre & the Embassy when at the radio station.  Recall also that traffic isn’t the greatest here.  Add in such a storm and what you get is the perfect trifecta:  An absolute mess.  Five hours later (you read that correctly), at 1130 pm, I was back in our humble abode in Canne a Sucre #30.  Five hours to go about six miles.  About 60 people were stranded at the Embassy until 1100 pm or so, as they couldn’t get their cars out of the parking lot onto the street due to … well, due to everything.  Some of them were even from Canne a Sucre, just a short walk across the street, but couldn’t even cross on foot for the same reason.  I’ve never seen anything like it, and veterans of Haiti said that storm was even worse than Hurricane Sandy (in the sense of flooding on the street by the Embassy, not overall death and destruction in the country).  Tommy mentioned a rather big storm that passed through Minnesota recently that caused some heavy, localized flooding.  The big difference is that flooding like that is generally gone in an hour or so; here the water flowed at quite a clip for about 12 hours, and there was still water flowing the next afternoon.

And hurricane season hadn’t even begun yet.  Keep your fingers crossed!

The view from the Embassy looking toward Canne a Sucre.

It's worth noting that it is not raining at the moment.

The water spread well beyond the width of the road.

Haitian Whiplash

So just five months have passed since our arrival, and while it’s normal to experience highs and lows in rapid succession when there are major life changes, this has been something quite extraordinary.  Consider the following:

1.  Weather.  As you now know, most days are sunny and warm.  Others, not so much.

2.  Environment.  The city is very dry and dusty (except when it rains, of course), and there is an abundance of garbage strewn virtually everywhere.  Outside the city it’s quite beautiful, and while not exactly lush, is certainly far more green than in Port-au-Prince.

3.  People.  There are many wonderful people in Haiti, and everyone I’ve met at the Embassy has been very friendly and works very hard doing the work of the US government.  Then out of the blue a friend has her purse snatched by a thief on a motorcycle in one of the nicer parts of town.

4.  Language.  After a year of learning French, and then essentially re-learning the specific grammar and vocabulary to conduct interviews for non-immigrant visas, now I’m trying to incorporate Kreyol into my interviews, which should be easy (so they say), but it requires me to now ‘un-learn’ all those rules of French grammar.

5.  Crowds.  Many streets are chock-a-block full of people at all times of the day, and then we return to our compound in Canne a Sucre and one could roll bowling balls down the streets as we hole up in our air conditioned homes.

6.  Wealth.  The poverty here is astounding and widespread, with GNP per capita of about $700 per year.  The gap between the haves and the have nots is equally astounding:  One percent of Haitians control 50 % of the economy, and the 500 top taxpayers generate 80% of the tax revenue in a country of 10 million.

7.  Work, part I.  Just as I start to get comfortable with the routine of a days’ worth of interviews, someone will present themselves at my interview window with something so unusual as to eat up 20 or 30 minutes of my time instead of the expected – and now somewhat normal – four to five minutes.

8.  Work, part II.  Just as I start to get comfortable with the routine of working in the Non-Immigrant Visa Unit, I move to a new one.  I’ll be changing to the Immigrant Visa Unit in July, about the time I’ll have mastered many of the NIV issues.

9.  Work, part III.  Sophie arrived in Haiti at the end of January, and did some volunteering a few days a week, leaving long periods with nothing much to do until May when she started her summer internship at the Embassy, where she now works 40 hours a week.

10.  Mental health.  This life is very interesting, but very challenging.  Having built up 20 years of social capital with family and friends, starting all over building up similar capital in a foreign country can be quite exhausting.

Keeping the ‘Fun’ in Dysfunctional

I met a guy recently who told me a story.  A rather incredible – common yet uncommon – story.  It started with an accident, and illustrates the larger narrative here in Haiti, I think.

Driving his car one day on the crowded streets in Port-au-Prince, he worked his way around corner at a busy intersection.  As often happens, a motorcyclist came from nowhere and managed to squeeze into a space he had no business trying to squeeze into.  Almost inevitably, there was a collision, and the biker went down, although he was fine.  Unfortunately the biker had a passenger, as motorcycles are often used as a cheap form of public transportation around town carrying three or four people at a time, and she was injured quite badly, with several broken bones.

Now, according to our friend, what commonly happens in such situations is that the driver of the car would speed away, never to be seen again and leaving the others to fend for themselves.  Uncommonly, however, he got out of his car, and with a potentially hostile crowd of onlookers gathering, made his case that the motorcyclist was the one at fault (the crowd evidently agreed with him).  Then he did the only thing he could think of, which was to put the woman in his car and proceed to a local hospital, a risky endeavor in and of itself (ambulance service is essentially non-existent here). 

On the ride to the hospital, he learned that the woman was a teacher, and the pain was causing near hysteria for her life and the life of her son based on her perception of the severity of her injuries.  Upon arrival at the hospital, immediate up-front payment was required for her treatment, as this type of pay-as-you-go system is the rule here.  Of course she couldn’t come up with the fee, and once again – uncommonly – he called his business office to have his assistant bring some cash over to the hospital (credit cards are rare here too).

The assistant brought several hundred dollars in the local currency (Haiti uses the gourde), and the doctors admitted her, performing surgery on one broken limb.  However, her injuries were such, and conditions in the hospital were such, that the other limb couldn’t be operated on, and the next day our friend decided to move her to the Doctors Without Borders clinic for better care, where she remains almost a week later.

When retelling the story to us, you could see the despair and sorrow in his eyes, both for the injured woman and for Haiti writ large, for there are so many systems in this country in need of repair it is hard to know where one should start.  A mon avis, the triple systems of education, health care and physical infrastructure are the most critical in order to rebuild Haiti, and such reforms were under way when the earthquake struck and reversed most if not all of the progress that was made during the first decade of the new century.  It turns out that, since independence in 1804, the only governments in all of Haitian history to complete full terms without a coup d’etat or something, have occurred under the occupation of the US Marines or the United Nations.  However, our new friend sees elements of progress returning, and does in fact have hope for his country.  He is proof of that, as he could have left years ago but instead has remained here to do his small but critical part.

SMDT, continued

Another glimmer of hope comes from the SMDT orphanage we continue to visit.  Each week we hear the right things from Carlo, the Director, and we see evidence of his efforts to do the right things as well:  He has built a chicken coop and stocked it with almost 100 chicks to sell in order to raise some funds; he has a nascent garden in one corner of the lot; he has rebuilt a latrine with a proper toilet and has plans to plumb it; he is giving some of the kids responsible roles for caring for the building, the younger kids, the chickens and the garden; and he has created a schedule of chores and tasks so the kids have some structure to their lives.  Sophie has arranged for a collection of goods from Jefferson High School in Bloomington and I’m working with a group in Prior Lake to do the same in the fall, all of which – combined with the work of Carlo, his family and the team of volunteers from the Embassy – will serve to help rebuild this one little corner of Haiti.

Should you be interested, copy this link into your browser and see a short Public Service Announcement Sophie made to use at Jefferson:  http://youtu.be/YvrBXPZ7BGQ.  We’re trying to help Carlo run a summer school program for up to 80 kids, and if you are so inclined, contact us offline and we’ll talk more about what items are needed.

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch

Alas, here we are, at the five month mark of our time in Haiti.  Sophie has now registered for fall semester of freshman year at Gustavus Adolphus and is working full-time at the Embassy in the Community Liaison Office as a summer intern.  Kate and some colleagues from the Embassy are planning to take on a Saturday English-language program at a local Catholic girls school in the city, and she is hoping to be a regular at SMDT during the summer to do some teaching.  Now that I’ve done more than 3100 non-immigrant visa interviews, I’ll be moving into the Immigrant Visa Unit the first week of July, just after the Embassy Independence Day Celebration at the Ambassador’s residence that I’ve been planning and coordinating.   (Pray along with me to the weather gods for good weather!)

So far we’ve managed to avoid cholera, malaria, dengue fever, accidents and injuries, and have had nothing more serious than a little touch homesickness and Haitian Sensation – known in other parts of the world known as Montezuma’s Revenge, or even Delhi Belly in India.  There was a big black spider we had to deal with in the house one day, but the Hoover took care of him right quick, karma be damned.

Life is a bit complicated, but good.  We hope you can say the same.

Not interested?  Send me a note and I'll take you off the list, no harm, no foul!  :)
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are my own and not those of the U.S. Government.  Please do not disseminate widely without permission.