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Volunteer in Haïti Marc Vanhauter part 1
Marc Vanhauter, already a volunteer for a long time for Cunina, stayed some weeks in Haiti. His departure had been delayed several times, due to the instable situation, but the end of August he finally left. During his stay there, he sent us some messages from Haiti...here you can read them.
I arrived after a long and exhausting trip in Port-au-Prince. Sunday, I got up at 4 am and left at 6 am to Zaventem. As a result of the very severe security measures, I had to stand in the line for a long time before I could check-in and could pass the passport control. And there were several more control post to pass (even with physical search). This was also the case in the other airports in Chicago and Miami. Finally after a long travel time, I landed in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti.
Jan, Wiliness (my godchild) and her brother Junior were waiting for me. It was a happy meet again. Presents were exchanged. Happy faces. I enjoyed a very nice feast (mushroom soup, French fries, 2 sorts of meat and tomatoes) I already discussed many things with Jan.
I will talk later about this. I finish my first message here.
On the picture, from left to right, you can see: Jusline (Djuna), Jan, Sherline, Marc, Wiliness (my godchild).
Until the next message, regards
Marc
FRIDAY 24th of August 2006 - 0:45
Jan drove from the airport to the foyer, taking the route he normally always takes, but lately he avoided the ‘dangerous’ districts (like Cité Soleil and Cité Solidarité). On the access roads to these districts, there are policemen, who are armed to the teeth; tanks from the UNO and blue helmets are driving continuously through the streets. On the other way going to the airport, which we recently took, a hundred persons were taken hostage some weeks ago. Therefore you need to pay attention whenever you drive on this road. The safest situation is when you can see a lot of traffic, which is driving at normal speed.
The armed actions of the gangs from the slums have diminished and in fact, they even stopped. The hostages continue to happen. On Tuesday night, 22nd of August, a person (while we were sleeping) has been kidnapped at the corner of our street. That is the reason why we will not go out at night, too dangerous. There are also some neighbors who we avoid. Port-au-Prince still is an unsafe city.
Regards
Marc
MONDAY, 28th of August 2006
Dear
Friday, 25th of August, we left, in order to escape from the oppressive heat and from the unsafety, to Caeyes Jacmel for some day of beach. The children who were present at Mamosa were allowed to come with us. The other children were on vacation at their parents in the midland. This way, these children could have a short but an enjoyable holiday before the start of the school. Present were:
Junior, Wiliness, Floraine, Vedeline, Fednat, Jusline (Djuna), Sherline, Jan (père Jean) and myself. At 7.15 am we left, to be in advance of the, at some places, busy traffic. First we drove to Petit-Goâves because Jan had to make some agreements relating to volleyball trainings and tournaments with some of the youth. From there we need to turn back a little to take the road leading to Jacmel. The road from Port-au-Prince to Jacmel is, according to the Haitian standards, (and even the Belgian standards) very well passable. In Jacmel we had out lunch and we visited the covered market (a construction from metal, which was made in a workplace in Bruges, my town of birth). After that we continued to drive to Cayes Jacmel where we moved in in the beach hotel "Cyvadier Plage". 2 rooms for the girls, Junior and Jan in one room and one room for myself (Jan and the children, who are more or less adults except for Djuna, wanted it that way. A room for myself because I was the one who paid it all. We put straight away our swimming suit on and we went to the sea. There were great strong waves, which sometimes surprised the others, and me and then we were knocked down. It was for sure that we had a great deal of fun there. Afterwards, we played in the swimming pool of the hotel. After dinner, tired but satisfied, we went to bed. Saturday morning, Jan and myself read quickly through our mails but we did not have sufficient time to answer the mails. On the program of the day, there was a tour in the region and a visit to the former trainee post of Floraine, who studied to become an agricultural engineer. At present she is following her masters. A bright student! At noon, clouds appeared and the see became wild. We decided then to go to the swimming pool. After dinner, we played "UNO' all together (a card play). Meanwhile it started to rain and the wind was blowing. Haiti got trouble with the cyclone "Ernesto". The storm lasted the entire night. For Sunday morning a beach visit and a swim was planned but because of the big rainfall we had to cancel this. Therefore we spent the morning playing the card "Chicago". After lunch we left to go ‘home’. It was still raining firmly. Jan needed to pay attention for landslides. Also on some parts of the road were floated. But fortunately we all got home safe. The day after, we heard on the radio news that the cyclone took 2 lives on Haiti.
That they mean it serious to deal with the criminality and the unsafety in Port-au-Prince (and in entire Haiti); we can conclude form 2 messages on the radio. The notorious leader of the popular movement J.P.P. (Jan sa pase li pase) named René Civil, was arrested in Port-in-Prince in a stolen car and he was in the possession of forbidden weapons. This movement is notorious because they create unrest and does use vandalism and violence. In the car there also was a corrupt policeman. A second hopeful message: a kidnapped person could escape through a window and as a result, the police could round up a place of residence of a group of kidnappers. Here also a corrupt policeman was involved. In the group of the kidnappers they also found a representative of the people and a white man married to an Haitian. In July 65 kidnappings had been officially registered. .
In the next message I will tell you what Jan and myself already discussed. Because Jan still has no electric power, I mail this message from a cyber café.
Regards
Marc
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