Back in the country, again.

Wednesday, August 08, 2012

Before I write anything today, it is critical that I share with you the reason for my blog.  Most of you know that my personal goal and future dissertation topic is to introduce technology to children in developing countries.  This is a project that began almost ten years ago by several companies including One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) which is the non-profit company that I have been writing about in grad school for the past few years.  Obviously this is not something new, however to many people that I speak to, it is very new.  The reason that I am writing this is because I think that in order to have more people come to Haiti, to help in the way the way that works for them, it is very important that they know how progressive some parts of the country are.

It is my opinion that what we see in the media about Haiti appears to be the bad stuff and nine times out of ten, the scenes are only Port-au-Prince (PAP) but there is so much more to this country than just one city.  Yes, you have to fly in to PAP and yes, it can be very crazy but that’s what makes PAP what it is.  A crazy, loud, busy, mini metropolis of guys in red shirts (outside the airport trying to help you with your bags) to a very unorganized airport dirt parking lot, to crazy motorcycles whizzing by with two, three, even four people riding together as you rapidly acclimate to new surroundings to people of all ages along side the road buying, selling, bartering, creating, cooking doing anything, that will make them a few pennies a day.

Since this is my second “landing” here in two months, I was very comfortable with the PAP introduction to craziness maybe because I resemble that trait myself. I was fortunate to be able to travel with my new boss and her husband who are full time residents of Haiti so I definitely had the comfort factor working for me. We met up with the correct driver (unlike my last visit), loaded up in the new 2012 Nissan and began our 30 minute commute to my new neighborhood of Peguy-ville.  

My first morning is located under Tuesday, October 7th even though it was written Tuesday, August 7th.  Enjoy!