Today

So, things have been quieter outside the school today. It's been raining, drizzle mostly, all day; that's made things better, I think. There are fewer tire fires, too. The only bad thing that's happened down here was that a UN convoy got stoned. Apparently, on top of them being blamed (justifiably) for the cholera outbreak, they are now the ones guarding the CEP, which is the Haitian election committee. So the people have been increasingly violent towards them. This morning, Ben Kilpatrick, the high school history teacher, Ben Saylor, middle school science and math teacher, Aaron Hendrik, high school Bible teacher, and myself walked from the school up to Petionville and back with a Haitian who tutors Creole at the school and aspires to be a journalist. It was somewhat of a spur of the moment thing. I went outside and walked the street for about an hour yesterday and when I heard that Jean (the Creole tutor) was going to Petionville to take pictures I wanted to go with him. I speak some Creole and am very familiar with the streets between our school and Petionville and above, so I didn't feel as much at risk. The two Bens joined us at the last minute. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME, if you know what I mean. We have been extremely safe and unbothered at the school. Going outside was, at best, exposing ourselves to greater danger. But the crowds were very docile at that point and we encountered more good-natured people than angry people. It didn't hurt that people were always laughing and poking fun at my beard. We had heard that things were much worse in Petionville so we wanted to see for ourselves, with every intention of turning back as soon as we saw trouble. Well, we really didn't see trouble. Not from crowds, anyway. Things seemed much quieter in Petionville than they were in Delmas, opposite of what it was yesterday. The fires were all out up there and the crowds weren't as charged. There was a lot of broken glass on the streets, something we hadn't seen in Delmas. Though going through Delmas we passed several burned out cars in the street. Again, these were relics from the day before; nothing was going on as we went through. There were a few unsettling parts of our outing. We met a drunk man who was singing Bob Marley songs and swearing loudly (in English) at the UN and the government. Outside the CEP headquarters in Petionville, he almost got tear gassed by Jordanian UN troops. Ben K dissuaded the soldiers, however. He was marvelous, actually. After that one man left, things were fine. There was a Sikh there who had a blue turban instead of a helmet, which I thought was extremely cool. After that, we passed a large crowd with a loud band marching toward the CEP. We later heard that there was some shooting when they got there and some people were hospitalized. We were doing our best to avoid the crowds and, had there been one when we were at the CEP, we never would have gone near it. In all, we were gone about three hours, which was much longer than we had wanted to be gone, but we got to see a lot. But things were not tense for us at all. Everyone we met was friendly and we had a translator with us as well. I am highly recommending that people do not do this, however, and I do not think that I will be doing it again. Things were extremely calm this morning but they are getting less so as the day has progressed. So far, as I said, we've been perfectly safe at the school and it's best to stay that way. I haven't felt any reason to be afraid and I'm really not afraid. I really, really wanted to see it, though. I felt like I would be ashamed if I had to say to my grandchildren one day that I hid in my house the whole time or watched it all over a wall.

From Yesterday

This was an update e-mail I wrote yesterday. I decided to put it up here so more people could read it. I'll post later today (assuming internet is working) what's been going on today.


Well, hello. I just wanted to let you know what's happening here. They announced last night the results of the election and it's obvious fraud. Not the election itself, though that was pretty racy, too. It's the results that were announced which obviously don't correspond to public opinion. So there have been "riots" and demonstrations since last night pretty continuously, though obviously more this morning. There is a major roadbock (complete with smelly burning tires) just outside the school on Delmas, right at the 75 intersection. We can see one up the street and down the street, too. Apparently they are all over. From the reports that we've been getting on facebook, etc., we are in a relatively quiet place. By quiet I mean non-violent. There are reports of people breaking windows and looting in Petionville. I talked to an NPR photographer (oxymoron?) who had just come from there, though, and he said it was just like it is here. There is some admittedly creepy stuff that's been going on but nothing that has threatened us. Some of the people here insist on taking pictures (pretty constantly, in fact) which the crowds really don't like and has earned us some rude gestures. Other than that we've had nothing but friendly reactions from protesters and onlookers. I went down into the street for about an hour this morning and talked to people and everyone was polite and non-threatening. Off of Delmas some places selling food and such are still open in the vicinity. In general, it doesn't seem threatening at all. A couple people threw rocks at a UN convoy but they have even been moving the roadblocks to let the police through. Nothing has been remotely violent yet. The stuff going on outside our building is apparently being organized by someone. (We've been referring to him as "the boss".) He's been very peaceful so far, even admonishing the stone throwers, so we have good hopes that it will stay peaceful in our area. Nobody is alarmed (except the alarmists) right now. Those who were here during the last elections and the food riots a couple years ago say it's just normal stuff. It's not violent, yet, and there really isn't much to point in violence at this point. It's complicated because people are also upset at the UN for causing the cholera epidemic but, again, we aren't a target. All in all, it was an exciting morning, the first time seeing burning tires and such for most of us, but nothing more. The Hendrik kids have been playing all over campus, enjoying their day off. It's really quite safe here and even on the street, for those brave enough to go outside (like me!). To be honest, I didn't want to say that I watched the "riots" without ever going down and talking to people. I've always been told that Haitians will be protective of you if there's any danger but I got to experience it firsthand today. Every time waves of protesters would come down, this one group of guys I was talking to stood to either side of me and slightly in front and herded people past. There was one point everyone started running (I think someone must have thrown a stone at the UN vehicles; that's the only thing that I've seen that made people scared.) and, again, aside from that momentary startling, I didn't feel threatened at all. I'm safe back inside now and I just wanted to let you know that I'm perfectly alright, that there's nothing to be afraid of and that none of the people with experience expect anything more than a potentially long wait for the country to get running again. Internet hasn't been reliable but I'll keep you apprised as I can.