Aquin (Fond des Blancs)

Drack had told me that he would like to bring me to the central high lands of southern Haiti, his hometown. The drive can be anywhere from 3 to 6 hours depending on the time of day, the rivers to be forded, and the traffic. It is only a 100 or so miles so you get an idea of how bad the roads are. Many still show the damage of the 2010 earthquake with huge potholes and large cracks criss-crossing the roads. Because most of these country roads have never paved or were years ago, their condition is, frankly deplorable. However that does not slow down drivers of cars, motorcycles, trucks or buses. Pedestrians walk on the roadsides at their considerable  risk (see post “A Dirty, Little Secret”).

We forded two rivers in the dark; one relatively large and one small. We were driving at night and Drack had to yell to men bathing on the other side where was it best to cross. Essentially we had to do a u-shaped maneuver. He rolled up all the windows as he explained that he had previous experience where the water poured into the car.  This being the rainy season, there was no way to judge in the night how deep was the river.  At one point, Maryna accidentally spilled some water on Sam’s foot causing her to scream – she thought it was something alive and slimy.

To kill the time, Samantha and Maryna play a game called “20 Questions” although the new rules in the car were as many questions as it took to get the right answer (some answers were “black hole;” “The U.S. Constitution;” “Mt. Everest;” and “Christina Aguilera.”  (Go figure… )  I joined in on a couple of rounds. Although we asked Drack to join he declined preferring to concentrate on driving, though he did listen and loved the final answers.

Drack’s family home was nestled in a tropical-wooded area. The house was built of unfinished concrete blocks with a tin roof and had no electricity. The bathroom and the shower (water in pails) were outside and open to the heavens. However I paid for the gas to run the generator so that I could run my sleep machine (C-PAP), to charge our batteries and have lights. An older woman with a kindly countenance cooked our meals -- the best being the grilled white fish direct from the sea that she had marinated in fresh limes. 

For the two days, all of us became engaged in conversations in and outside of the house. I was busy with my AIDS outreach – it’s my main activity wherever I go.   Drack visited many of his old buddies. I spoke with a very interesting young man Yves who was one of Drack’s childhood buddies. Like many Haitian young people, his dream is help his country and its people. However a contentious part of our conversation dealt with the assassination of Osama bin Laden. He wondered why the United States hadn’t treated the terrorist like it did Saddam Hussein, who had a perfunctory trial before being hanged. I explained that there were political considerations that overrode a strictly legal rules.

And that Obama’s decision was approved by an overwhelming majority of Americans who wanted to see this sad chapter finally put to rest with Bin Laden’s death.

We started off the morning at a town meeting in an open-sided hall overlooking Aquin. The acting Mayor Mr. Briel introduced me to the crowd of 160 that was mostly adults. I told the story of Ben, my PeerCorps member who was born with AIDS. Like all my stories, it was both sad and uplifting and the facts of HIV/AIDS were imbedded in the storyline. Mr. Briel asked for financial help for the town. I explained that I was not a wealthy NGO and did not have funds to contribute – explaining that my volunteering to come to his area was my major donation. However, I am going to talk my Rotary club in Norfolk and see if there is some way it can donate bio-sand water filters to ensure clean water and the prevention of Cholera.

On Saturday afternoon Drack drove Samantha and Maryna to the beach for some well-deserved R & R.  It was essentially a deserted beach for miles on Haiti’s southern coast.  Maryna described it as a paradise and their photos back up their claim.  Why do beautiful, deserted beaches exist along Haiti’s pristine Caribbean waters when million dollar hotels crowd the sands in other locales.?  It is the result of a collapsed tourist industry that was devastated by the initial news that Haitians were among the first AIDS carriers (that we now know was an injustice and a slander of a nation).  Also factors were the political unrest that brought in UN peacekeeping forces and the horrific 2010 earthquake – and now the spreading Cholera epidemic.   Poor Haiti.

While they were at the beach, I spoke to teens at the high school, to both music and English language classes.  Later, I spoke on the local radio station so people that hadn’t come to any of our meetings or to the school were informed about TeenAIDS’ mission.