Time to go to school

Last week I started my shift at 08:00 and when I arrived at the commissariat a young boy that I have seen before came and asked me if he could polish my boots for a little money. Seeing so many kids in the morning going to school I asked him why he wasn't going? He told me that he did not have the money to pay for it. So naturally I asked him how much he needed but he was not sure. He told me that he needed books and to pay for the school. Being a father I was not feeling well to see this young boy polishing boots while he could be at school learning something that would help him improving his condition and in the future his country. The next day I was working night shift so I told the boy to wait for me here at 09:00 tomorrow and we would go to the school together and find out was he needed. Next day at 09:00 the boy was waiting for me so we got going and walked together through the streets with people looking at us a little puzzled for the least to say. It took us about 20 minutes to get to the school but we made it. I met the principal, a very nice lady who told me that she knew the boy. His name is Joseph, he is 14 (born in 1999 but day and month unknown)and he will go the the 4th grade. The registration fee for the school had already been paid for him a while ago by another UNPOL but he needed to pay for his books and the monthly fees. I told her that I was here to pay for the books and for the whole year of school (once Joseph assured me that he would attend). Once that was done I told the principal that I would give her a call every now and then to confirm that Joseph was attending the school. She was happy that I would follow up with her and encourage the boy to go to school. On the way back I talked to Joseph and told him that if he shows me that he is really willing to seriously attend school I had no problem to pay for books and fees for the following years, however if he drops it I would not waste any more time with him. I bought him some sugar cane from a merchant on the side of the road and we returned to the commissariat. There are so many kids who need help here, of course I can't help them all but if I can help a few of them to get a better life for themselves so I'll do my best with what I have. Being part of a mission like MINUSTAH is a wonderful experience but we are part of a huge organization which does not really give a personal satisfaction of accomplishment since we are here only for a year. It's like working on a huge puzzle but you know that you'll never see the full picture while you are there. On the other hand, an individual action like the one with Joseph (as little as it is) gave me an instant feeling of accomplishing something. I came here to help and I want to return home knowing that I did.

This guy just lost control of his load while I was taking the picture

Market day on the Haitian side - The end of the day

More pictures from the border during market day

Family transportation

Gas is expensive here, so let's make sure we do only one trip ;-) 6 on a motorbike, that's the best I've seen so far.

My backyard

Today for the first time I went to take a peek in my backyard. The house where we stay is somehow build in 2 parts; the front which is finished and where we live and the back which has one unfinished apartment on the top floor and maybe 5 rooms similar to mine unfinished as well on the lower floor. It is a mess to get through all the wires and piles of rubbish but today I decided to take the challenge and here what I saw through the window's opening: That is not the prettiest view we could wish for when in the Caribbean but Haiti has a population of over 10 millions souls on a land of almost 28.000 km2 (Vancouver island is 31.000km2). Haiti is also mountainous ("Ayiti" as per the indigenous Taíno name for the island means land of high mountains), therefore wherever they are able to build they have to squeeze. And I doubt the city hall here requires much permit and inspection when someone decide to build a house :-)

The Dominican border

At the border: On the head, in a wheelborow, on a bike or a motorbike...etc any goods bought at the Dominican are brought back in Haiti to be resold. Trucks over loaded of goods and people, take the roads for different regions of Haiti. The Dominican republic and Haiti have recently held a meeting in Ouanaminthe to develop a bilateral exchange between the 2 countries. From now on the border will be open to Haitian to buy goods in the Dominican from 07:00 to 19:00. The market days are held on Monday and Friday. The border is a blessing for Haitians but a disaster for Haiti. The bilateral exchange is to me rather an unilateral exchange. The Dominicans provide the goods and the Haitians buy them. Haiti has not much to offer than the Dominicans don't have; Cheap labor would be the only thing that comes to mind when thinking about it. In Ouanaminthe, there used to be an ice factory (since the electricity is rather sparse here, most of the people in this region of Haiti rely on big blocks of ice to keep their perishable food) but for years now the factory is closed and instead of trying to get it back on, the Haitians buy their ice in the Dominican Rep. Sure it is nice that the Haitians have access to what they need but on the other side of the coin, they are totally dependent of the Dominican Rep and no sustainable economy is developed here. According to an Haitian border officer I spoke to, approximately 10 to 20 thousands people are crossing the border during market days, and after patrolling the border on regular basis I believe these numbers to be possible. It is insane, from the moment the gate opens in the morning to the moment its closes, huge waves of Haitians are literally running to the Dominican Rep, buy their goods and come back loaded like donkeys. If I had to watch the border from up in the air I imagine it would be like watching ants at work carrying loads way bigger than their body and bring it to their nest. Add to these human waves, the permanent shouting, the noise from the motorbikes exhaust as well as the fumes and the heat and you have the perfect recipe for a headache. Not a place to relax for sure ;-)

Ouanaminthe police station. Proudly renovated by Canada for info see: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/haiti-nation/NM3R7ow4zE4/7Nukarp15LoJ

Main entrance: Back: Main office: UN generator for our office: Residents of the unfinished part of the station:

Pictures (miscellaneous)

Common shack found in Haiti: People and dead goats: Pharmacie in Haiti: Either rocks, tires or even branches are used to alert motorists of a hazard on the road: PNH check point: Bags of charcoal for sale for cooking. One of the reason for Haiti deforestation problem:

Night shift...foot patrol

Yesterday night at 20:00 the national police initiated a foot patrol. Apparently the head of the police station in Ouanaminthe wants to have that kind of patrol at least once a week in order to be seen by the population and to conduct throughout checks on motorized vehicles. Since we live on the border with the Dominican Republic, weapons, drugs and other illegal goods are being trafficked in that zone. We were 2 UNPOLs on shift, since I needed the exercise I decided to go with the foot patrol while my partner followed us with the UN vehicle. For these patrols we always have a PNH (Police National de Haiti)vehicle, a UN police vehicle as well an UN army vehicle to ensure our protection in case things would go out of control. The commissaire (the head of the police station) was among his men and walked the whole 2 hours patrol with us. I had the opportunity to talk to him regarding his needs and expectations for his police station and from our conversation I learned that the Ouanaminthe police station currently has 30 men available but in order to be able to run the police station a minimum of 50 men is required. Also a motorbike squad is required if they want to be able to catch traffickers who usually use motorbikes and go through paths in which a car is not able to compete. Another greatly needed tool for drug detection is a dog squad. The commissaire has requested these long ago and still keep on sending requests but so far all of them were fruitless. I told him I would add his comments to my report and maybe at one point something will happen. The commissaire also told me that he received flashlights for his men a while ago which is a needed tool especially in the region where streets lights are luxury the problem he never got the batteries for them. The same thing goes with electricity for the police station. In case of electricity shortage which is a daily issue here, the PNH have a generator but unfortunately not the budget to buy gas. I suggested solar panels as a alternative to which the commissaire replied the solar panels are already on the roof but the batteries they are suppose to be charging are dead. When I look at the staff shortage and the equipment the PNH are working here I can only admire them to be able to provide the service they are still able to provide. Anyway, back to the foot patrol. The PNH members walk in a fennel pattern this way if someone tries to go through the first officers without being checked the officers in the back close to their patrol vehicle are usually able to stop them and check them out. And to what I've seen yesterday, it works. We went through streets which are rather dirt roads with garbage all along the way and the smell that goes with it. People who live in shacks made of plywood boards and rusty metal roof looked at us and even seemed to enjoy the "parade". I have seen little kids naked in these shacks looking at us with their big eyes opened wide and seeing them growing in that misery I could not stop thinking how lucky my kids are to be growing in a country like Canada in a real house, with plenty of nutritious food and schools to go to. I brought candies from Canada that I tried to give discreetly to the ones close to me. Giving something here could potentially become a nightmare for the one who receive the good so it should be done carefully. Often, older kids are watching and if you give something to a younger one, it is common to see a young kid being beaten for what he just received. So he got robbed and beaten on top of that, his lucky day turns out to be a nightmare. At one point we entered a brothel and as you can expect it, it was dark, smelly with long narrow corridors with small bedrooms on both side. Some of the girls there seemed to be barely in their 20's and their clients did not seem much older for the majority of them. I felt so sorry for these girls and the path life put them on. When we returned on the street a man in his 50's came running to the commissaire and was complaining about a young man but I could not quite understand what it was about. The young man was brought to the commissaire by the PNH but then was released and the people from the street who gathered around had a good laugh. I was quite puzzled and asked the commissaire what just happened. He explained to me that the older man is the father of the younger male. The young male asked some money to his mother to buy food but instead of buying food he went in the brothel and spent all the money. The money given to the son was probably worth a week of food so no wonder the father was such in despair. Upon the release of the son, the father gave him a slap across the face that he will probably remember for a very long time. During the patrol few motorbikes were observed turning around ahead of us when seeing us, unfortunately without a motorbike squad there was nothing we could do to try to intercept them. After 2 hours walking in dirt roads, smelling garbage, smelling the fumes of the traffic and hearing the noise of the streets I was glad to return to the office to write my report. I'll try to take some pictures next time and add them to the blog just to give you a basic idea of the mess we are walking through ;-)