Few more pictures

Few more pictures to show you the beauty of Haiti.
It would be nice for Hati to develop tourism but once tourism will flourish here, it will be very difficult to enjoy this island the way we do it today. Big hotels, waves of noisy tourists and vendors harassing us on the beach like in the Dominican Republic will probably take over the serenity of the place. Let's hope at least that sex tourism will be avoided with strict laws; unfortunately poverty often leads to exploitation of all kind.

Vacation time in Haiti

As I say in the previous post, it is a shame that the security in Haiti is so unstable otherwise they could develop tourism on most of the island. Beautiful beaches, nice people to meet and good local food such as fresh fish, lobster, delicious fruits and vegetables. But Haiti has also mountains which would offer very nice trek opportunities for those like me who prefer the mountain to the sea.
Now, let's talk about my first few days of vacation in Haiti.
A morning walk along the beach in Port Salut (at 7 am), allowed me to meet some fishermen coming back from fishing on board of their hand made boats with some of their catches. They were happy to show me what they got and even told me to take pictures which is quite unusual for Haitian. Life here is fairly relax and people seem to live at the rhythm of the sea, one wave at the time. The sand is golden, the sea is turquoise and the palm trees are omnipresent, the perfect background for an exotic picture album from paradise.
After my little walk, I went to a French restaurant for breakfast. This place is right on the beach and the food is good. Veggie omelette, fresh fruits, nice dark coffee and freshly squeezed orange juice was my choice of menu for this morning. This nice meal and the early hour I got up to come here made me a little tired so I went to the beach under a huge tree and had a very pleasant nap for over an hour. Few locals are around listening "Kompa" music which is Haitian native music in Creole. Kompa music on one side and the sound of the waves on the other was the perfect way to deeply relax. I wish I could share that with my family other than pictures and stories but maybe one day when Haiti will be secure enough, we will be able to come together here and I'll be able to show them the beauty of this island and its people.
Voilà, that's all for now, my lobster has arrived and I really don't like to eat cold so bye for now.
Warm regards to all from Haiti chérie.

Spiny lobster on the beach

Fisherman just returning with his catch

New functions in the mission

After a busy month of January, I come to the end of it on vacation. I use these days off to visit some of my contingent mates at Les Cayes (South of Haiti). I took the opportunity to also visit Port Salut, a village right on the beach located approximately at 35 kms from Les Cayes).

Before I get to the vacation part I should quickly explain what my new functions are within the mission.
The MINUSTAH mission is scheduled to end up in 2016. To say that the UN will get out of the country completely would be a little presumptuous but at least the mission the way we know it know will end.
Since 2012 until 2016, the mission has a plan to fully professionalize the Haitian National Police (HNP) but to reach that goal a rather substantial amount of money is required from all donor countries such as Canada, USA, France to only name the largest contributing countries in Haiti. That's where I come into play. My role is to create the bridge between the HNP and all the contributing countries (11 so far) and to ensure these countries are still motivated to continue to help Haiti and specifically the HNP in order to secure the country and allow its development. Instability is the root of the problem here and the reasons why tourism is almost inexistent and why no companies are willing to invest here.
It's a very demanding job but I really like it; I feel that I'm contributing to the solution of the problem. Until my last day on the job, I was working on a big meeting (first of its kind in this mission) which will reunite the HNP and all contributing countries to exchange on what has been accomplished so far, what needs to be done still and try to get everyone committed to the realization on the plan including the Haitian government. It is nice to have the rest of the world involved to try to help Haiti, but Haiti has also the duty to show that she is actively participating into the solution. Hopefully, the outcome of the meeting will be positive and the realization of the plan will go on as scheduled. That will be discussed in an other post.

Happy New Year 2014

A quick little message to wish you all a wonderful new year 2014.
May this year be a source of inspiration to us all.
May this year be the year when we'll look inside ourselves and find the wisdom.
The wisdom to look at the world with the eyes of a child and to remember to appreciate these beautiful little moments that make life so special.

Best wishes to all.

Joyeux Noël

Merry Christmas to all.

It is interesting to see Christmas lights on some of the balconies or in some bushes surrounding houses with 25*C in the shade. I'm not use to it but I have to admit that I appreciate a little break from the Canadian winter. I spent Christmas eve with a Norwegian, an American and a Canadian sitting outside only wearing a t-shirt ;-) We had a nice little dinner but we didn't party too long. Working 7 days a week, we have to adopt a fairly sober living style in order to keep up with the pace or we get burn quickly.

Few pictures from the helico on my way back to PAP (Port-Au-Prince)

Back to work

After a good break home, here I am again.
It was nice to spend time with the family, however it was starting to be too cold for me. The Haitian weather is definitely much better in the winter time. I'll get a warm Christmas for a change ;-)
I returned to Haiti on the 26th of November and was expected to go to PAP (Port-Au-Prince) on the 29th, however, due to protest by the population, the UN Security issued a restriction of movement to all personnel which means that I could not take off. Same story occurred again on the 02nd of December but I finally made it on the 06th. Again, unpacking everything and starting from scratch. That certainly keeps me busy and away from what I should be doing. I hardly believe that almost 4 months went by already (on the 19th) but I feel I didn't accomplished much yet.
I started my new job 2 days ago so I'll need few weeks to get really into it and to be able to actively participate. I am located to one of the bases in PAP and for security reasons we are strongly encourage to stay within our compound after work. That is a drastic change from what I used to live in the region. It will basically be home to base and base to home 7 days a week. At least the job seems to be interesting so that's a plus. I'll miss the contact with the locals and the local police members but if I can participate to Haiti reconstruction and stabilization through my work I'll be happy with that.
My role will be to monitor quick projects that are on-going or completed and report to the donor countries how their monies were spent in order to get more participation from these donors in the future. I'll have to liaise on a regular basis with several embassies from different countries and have a meting time to time with the biggest players and show them concretely what was accomplished. Some much money has been spent for such a long time in Haiti, donors (either governments or enterprises) from all around the globe want to see hard evidences that the Haitian cause is not just a lost cause. And I agree with that, that should have been implemented long ago.
Anyway, in my next post I'll publish few pictures taken while on the helicopter flying over the Haitian mountains on my way to PAP.

Transfer to PAP (Port-Au-Prince)

I just found out at the end of last week that I am re-deployed to Port-Au-Prince. I didn't ask for it and it came like a cold shower. I was just getting accustomed to Ouanaminthe and got involved in several projects with schools and an orphanage and now I have to drop it all and go to work in PAP. Most of the people who are deployed in a region want to go back to PAP but personally I was really happy here and for an unknown reason I have to leave. That sucks. Anyway, the mission must go on, even in the pollution, the noise and probably in an office writing report of some sort.
My 3 weeks off to Canada will give me a nice break but also the opportunity to go back to the mission refreshed with a positive attitude despite the situation.
I'll publish more news after I arrive to my new posting in PAP.

UN vehicle involved in an accident

Yesterday, while on patrol, we received a call regarding a UN vehicle involved in a collision.
We dropped everything that was on the go and we made it to the location as fast as possible. We were told during training that in Haiti when UN personal get involved in an accident that the population may become hostile and therefore help is required to secure the scene, fast.
We arrived on the scene few minutes after the call was received but a large group of people had already gathered around. We observed that a UN truck was involved in a collision with a motorbike. Only the female passenger of the motorbike sustained minor injuries. Our first duty was to try to secure the scene as well as we could but with all these people watching and talking loudly explaining to the late comers what had happened that was not an easy task. The local police was obviously overwhelmed by the situation so we conducted the investigation, talking to witnesses, taking pictures and trying to understand how the collision occurred. A judge of the peace was brought on the scene to determine who was at fault. Many people came forward to tell the judge that "MINUSTAH" was at fault and "MINUSTAH" had to pay for the damages and the injuries the female passenger sustained. Some even were explaining to the judge what happened not based of what they've seen (they were not there) but based on what they believed occurred and what they heard. We conducted our investigation in a professional manner and once we had all the details we talked to the judge and explained to him what had probably occurred based on reliable witnesses and evidences found on the scene.
We were shocked to noticed that a part of the motorbike rear fender has been ripped from the bike and placed on the road to try to change the version of what really occurred. Fortunately, the pictures I took upon our arrival show the fender was still intact right after the collision. This important fact was brought to the judge's attention since he was starting to believe a biased version that didn't matched with the evidences and the few reliable witnesses' statement. We could see that the judge had a hard time to come to the conclusion that the motorbike was at the fault, most probably due from the pressure from the crowd. At one point he even told me that the person with the most financial means should pay for the damage???  I replied that we were not here to discuss who was going to pay what but rather to find out who was truly responsible for the collision based on real facts at hands. The monetary side of it would be discussed later by the people in charge of that aspect. The judge said that he would go home and render his decision later on after analyzing all information he had gathered.

This little incident caused very minor property damages and light injury to one person but that showed me our Haitian can be manipulated by only few nice speakers. Most of the people present were accusing the UN vehicle driver to be at fault based on what they were told. They were simply taking this as the simple truth.
Election time is near and it is always a source of confrontation with the authorities. Roads are being blocked, tires are being burned in the middle of the roads...I have now no doubt in my mind that politicians who want to discredit the government in place use the population to their advantage by lying to them blatantly.
I recently learned that some people want to see the MINUSTAH out from the country because they were told by politicians who are against the actual president, that the Haitian government pays us and that's why the government has no money to help them; another blatant lie.
The population here for the majority has no education and is obviously easily fooled. Yesterday, I have to admit, I was angry to see these people so easily manipulated but compassion is the key word to keep a positive attitude in the mission and education is the other key word to hopefully see one day a Haitian nation able to think on its own.

Visit of an orphanage

I just came back with my buddy Edwin from a visit to a local orphanage. There are only 2 sisters there from Columbia to take care of over 70 kids. Most of them are left on their own on the street. We see them on regular basis at the border trying to get something to eat or to drink from the UNPOLs or the soldiers who are stationed there. The sisters try their best to at least provide them with one meal a day. It is not easy since they don't have exposure like those big NGO (Nongovernmental Organizations). They have to talk to the local people to get help. They have an organization which provide them with a bag of rice and a gallon of oil every week. It is good but not sufficient to feed that many kids. UNPOLs like Edwin are involved and try their best to help but once again there is only so much one can do. It takes more than few people to help such cause. With enough funds, the sisters would be able to provide the kids with food, clothes but also education and education is the key to get those kids off the street and maybe to give them a chance to avoid the slippery slope of a criminal path.
When I return to Canada, I'll talk about this project to people interested to get involved into a cause. That would be a fantastic chance for them to help someone in need with the insurance that their donation will be used entirely to that cause and nothing else.

Few pictures below taken by Edwin at his last visit: