I'm about whateva man..

As usual it’s been a long time since I wrote something and a lot has happened since. Currently I am at my cousin’s apartment in Santiago, Dominican Republic where I’ve been having a chill time.   Santiago is a much laid back town compared to the go go go pace of Santo Domingo.  My other cousin lives in Santo Domingo and I will be leaving on Thursday to go spend the rest of my time in the DR with her.  I am currently on my “R&R” from work.  I had been going back and forth on what to do for my much needed week off.  I was playing with the idea of going to Brazil with a friend of mine, but it was too rushed and ticket prices were like 8 billion dollars.  I am happy I am here though spending time with family and really just turning my brain off.  

Originally, I wanted to spend the weekend in Port-au-Prince to see the famo and then catch a flight or bus to the DR.  However, due to the elections and more importantly the return of Jean-Bertrand Aristide I was not able to enter the capital.  The org I work for felt it was not safe for me or anyone for the US staff to venture away from the main headquarters.  I even had to leave my local residence. Was it necessary? I guess. Who knows? So far the elections have gone smoothly.  Aristide came, gave his mumbo jumbo speech and the county, and thank god is not on fire yet.   So since I was unable to head to the capital I had to get to the DR by other means.  So at 7:30am last Friday I was driven to the border town of Elias Pina in the Dominican Republic. The road to Elias Pina starts off pretty smooth. If you are leaving from the central plateau, you cross through Lascahobas and into Belladaire.   The roads in Belladaire are complete junk. It’s like driving on rocks and you basically pick which hole you want to fall into.   The driver who took me who is also head of dispatch for the org had the local radio station going.  The radio show was focusing on how local politicians never do much for residents of Belladaire.    Once we get to the border of the DR you automatically know you are no longer in Haiti.  The roads are paved, the people are speaking Spanish and there are trees. This is my 3^rd time in the DR and while I have had a great time so far with my cousins, I am mad EH on the DR.  It’s a beautiful island with beautiful women. The government, private sector or whoever has done a good job of maintaining the roads and investing into the country. Haiti can learn a few things on this end. However, Dominicans are racist as all hell. Ask a Dominican in the DR if they think they’re black and see what they tell you. 

The blatant acts of racism started when I got to customs. After I was done paying a 20 dollar fee for entering the country (it should have been $5) me and the driver had to talk to someone to see if he could drive me the bus station. This dude refused to let us do so because it was “market day” and he was “afraid we’d run over someone”.  Now while this might sound like viable excuse, I didn’t buy it.  Even people outside of the office who I told what was said to me and driver didn’t buy it.  The driver who is maddd chill told me to let it slide and I took a mototaxi to the bus station.   After I get to the bus station and dap up the driver and thank him for everything I get on the Guagua.  Que es un guagua? A guagua is a bus that is used by the general public to get around cities and the country.  It’s cheaper than a coach bus, but probably not as safe.  They are usually packed to the brim and the drivers are a bit wild. I’d compare them to TapTaps in Haiti or imagine Fung Wah but like worse.  Once we took off I just prepared myself for a long ride in the back of a GuaGua. Little did I know that the bus would be stopped over and over again for passport checks?  Literally every 20 min for the first 2 hours of the trip, the bus was stopped.  Border patrol, the police or whatever they were would come on the bus and point out the Haitians and dark skinned Dominicans who they think were Haitian to show passports.  This happened at least 10 times and each time it was worse. What makes shit worse is that the people performing these searches were far from smart.  Twice I was asked to get off the bus to explain what was in my passport. I have visas from different countries and they took it for me having a fake passport. One guy was starting at my Malian visa and asking me what it was.  I literally took my passport from him and opened it to the first page and showed it to him. What was really sad is that some of the border cops were dark as all hell and they still feel the need to hand pick the Haitians and the Dominicans who were a little too Moreno for their liking.  This experience has left a sour taste in my mouth. Despite the fact that Haitians and Dominicans share the same island, we have shit else in common.   A lot of tight ass aeropostale t-shirts and tight jeans.  Dominicans consider Haitians to be the lowest of the low.  My cousin was getting her hair done and I waited for her after I got my haircut.   The lady who does the pedicures was smiling at me a lot and I was like oh shit! (smile back licking lips).  She asks my cousin if I’m her man and my cousin is like uh no that’s my cousin. So she starts to ask me where I’m from.  I tell her I was born in NYC, but my family is Haitian.  She tells me “You’re Haitian? But, you’re too cute to be Haitian.”. Annnnnd done. 

After spending a week there I definitely would live in the Santo Domingo over Santiago.  While Santiago is nice, it’s a little too slow for me.  This is coming from the guy who lives in rural Haiti.  Santo Domingo is a lot like Miami. There is a specific part to it that is very well developed where they have malls with Gucci, Prada and all that other nonsense.  While that’s cool and all, I was more impressed with their roads.  Despite the blatant acts of racism that Dominicans use on Haitians, I can say that I wish Haitians invested in Haiti the way Dominicans invest in the DR.  We don’t need malls, but roads, trees and decentralization would be nice.

Chicharron

So at the midway point of the trip, the oppression mobile stopped at a rest stop for bathroom and food.  I was hungry as hell and decided to get some Chicharron (deep fried pork belly). Yo, I don’t know what I was thinking.  The minute I bit into it I know I made a grave mistake.  They gave me 4 and I hate 1.5.  The next 3 days were epically horrible.  I seriously thought I had cholera. Thank God I didn’t. Never again will I eat a Chicharron from the street. Minus 10 for Joel. 

Bingo Night

So about 4 years ago in Haiti, this even called Bingo Night took the country by storm.  So much that the host Kako Bourjolly travels to places where there are a lot of Haitians (NYC, Boston, Miami, Santiago). It’s more like a gong show. He makes people get on stage and either strut their shit or make complete fools of themselves.  December 08 unfortunately I was one of the people who made a fool of himself. Anyways they give away prizes, crack jokes, play all types of new and old hits.  The theme in Santiago was Karnaval because the one in Haiti this year was not very well welcomed due to people still living in tents.  It was a lot of fun and I danced my ass off.  I know more Haitian songs that I thought, I surprised myself.  Speaking of which, I’m on a Konpa (genre of Haitian music) binge and can’t get enough of it.

Swedish House Mafia

One of the highlights of my trip to the DR was going to this House concert by this group called Swedish house Mafia.  I don’t listen to house music, but my cousin, her man and her friends were all going so I tagged along. Incredible.  I fist pumped for about 4 hours, but it was a wild wild time.  I need to learn Spanish.  I hate not being able to properly communicate with people. “Yo habla un poquito pero yo quero hablar much”. Fuck.

Anyways, despite having access to hot water, smoothly running internet and el krispy kreme donuts I missed the shit out of Haiti.  What can I say, it’s home now.  I came back and kissed the cook on the cheek and promptly ate my plate of rice beans and poule pays.

I promise for pics soon….

It’s been a long time since I left you, without a blog post to step to (step to 6x).

It’s Sunday afternoon in peaceful Cange over looking mountains beyond mountains.  I have been here just over 4 weeks and it feels like I’ve been here 6 months.  So much goes on here every day it’s really hard to explain all of it.   Things are picking up as I get used to work and life here.  Now that I kind of have my feet on the ground I can say I am currently based in 2 cities.  The first one is Cange which is very quiet and small.  Within Cange I stay in the compound which kind of feels like a campus. It’s its own world and it is the Medical world.  I like staying here because it reminds me of home in the sense that it’s very easy to adapt to.  I made 2 good friends here both of which are American.  I am cool with the main US staff, but these 2 dudes are the realest.  So that’s one of the things that make Cange cool.  What I don’t like though it’s a bubble and you get caught in it.  While what goes on here is real, it doesn’t always feel like reality.  I am sectioned off and only see a part of what goes on in the central plateau.  That is why I have been staying more where I was originally supposed to be based in Mirebalais. Mirebalais is a small city that is very hustle bustle.  There I have 2 roommates, one is a Psychologist and the other dude is kind of an office manager.  Both are around my age and pretty chill. Even though the house in Mirebalais is not that homey, I like that I am living with Haitians and chillin with them as well.  That’s what is missing in Cange.  When I am in Cange I stand out as a foreigner more. It’s probably because I am with program staff or the volunteers all the time.   People in Cange automatically know what the deal is and it makes it harder to be 100% comfortable and easier to retreat to the los blancitos. In Mirebalais I am just blending in like a chameleon which is how I like it.   The majority of people outside of Cange are surprised when I tell them I am American and that I’ve been here for 4 weeks.    I’m making more Haitian friends by being in Mirebalais which is kind of cool. I have never had Haitian friends in Haiti except for people in my family. While my family is amazing, I have always been introduced into their way of doing things which is different from the way I do it. Everywhere I’ve lived or studied included an independent component that I’ve never had in Haiti.  NYC, Rio and Bamako I’ve been able to come and go how I please — In Haiti not so much. Even though I work here I am still limited into where I can go and where, but I hope to be able to change that soon.   I hope at some point I learn to drive here.  Not having your own car is like not having legs in Haiti.  You basically have to wait for someone to carry you around from place to place.

Work

Work is good. Mad exhausting but good.  I feel like I am all over the place.  One day I’m in an all day meeting with doctors, the next day I’m doing site visits helping choose sites for youth programs.  One thing I love about this gig is that I am seeing parts of the country I would never have seen otherwise.   I went to a few spots this past week where I was like “wow, this country is beautiful”.  One is called Seaux D’eau where there is this huge natural water fall.  Another place which is a sleeper is called Marche Canard.  It literally means Duck Market.  We crossed this small river and then I was in this little city with Ducks waddling everywhere straight chillin.  If there was some sort of leadership in Haiti, it could be a tourist hot spot.  Unfortunately, that doesn’t currently exist but I’m hopeful that eventually it will.  That’s another thing that has been new for me. Hope for Haiti.  Watching the news about Haiti on CNN doesn’t make me hopefully.  The media has a way on just showing us the worst of the worst.  The Media has made it where when you mention Haiti people think starving babies, earthquake, cholera and political unrest.  Do those exist? Clearly they do, but there is so much more that no one sees.   I have been lucky enough to see these things and work to ameliorate those communities.   Within these communities are people who are ready to work really hard to make change.  Sometimes I wonder if those in power know about these people.  Haiti’s 2^nd round elections are in about 2 weeks.  The candidates are Mirlande Manigat and Michel Martelly.  Manigat is well respected in Haiti and has experience in politics.  Michel Martelly aka Sweet Micky is respected because of popularity. Whoever wins I hope has Haiti’s best interest at heart. 

Appearance

I tried growing a beard.  It was going well until I started looking like a hobo. Mission failed.  I’ve also realized that dressed to impress Joel needs to make appearances once in a while.  People here don’t play. Ladies got their toes and hair done all the time, dudes hair cuts are on point and OD on the cologne.   So now I’m less inclined to look less like “who shot ya” and clean up a bit more.

So I’ve gotten into a bootleg workout routine to stop myself from blowing up like the world trade.   The dudes I live with in Mirebalais wake up at 5:30 to work out in the mornings.  I’ve started to join them.  At first waking up at 5:30 was pretty horrible.  There is nothing worse than waking up when it’s dark out.  But you know what? Just like cold showers, waking up early is sadly getting easier and easier.  As a matter of fact, I feel guilty when I wake up at past 6:30.  This also means crashing at like 9:34 pm every night, mad sad yo.  Anyways the first day we worked out and it was kind of comedic. When a Haitian person tells me you “oh I work out”, you need to witness it to see if they really work out. Moving around and making breathing noises is not working out.  That’s what goes down, until this one dude Jacquelyn rolls though.  This guys works with us and is a monster.  The other day we had a “séance abdomineux” aka abs work out. That shit was crazy. I’m still in pain now and even laughing hurts.  I still need to work on increasing my cardio while I’m out here, because carbs are winning the battle. Lately gaining weight hasn’t been concerning me, but cholesterol level has.  I never had cholesterol problems in my life, but um yeah.  Another dope thing about Mirebalais is that the cook (LUCY) asked me what I liked and I was like VEGITABLES and FRUIT. So she hooks it up and yam them shits down not just because it’s good, but it because I need that roughage son.

Weekend in Port-au-Prince

Last weekend was my 28^th birthday.  Shout out to everyone who showed me love. I really appreciated it.  When I’m away from home it means even more to me. I got to spend a wonderful weekend with my family who spoiled me (as usual).  Went to Pizza Garden (that’s right Pizza Garden), home of the best pizza in the western hemisphere.   I chilled with my cousin and his wife (newlyweds) in their new home, saw many aunts, cousins and uncles, went to the beach and then finished it off by watching the new look New York Knicks (Stat and Melo 3x) beat the corny ass Miami Heat. What was also cool is that I got to see some New School peeps who are working in PaP.  It was REAL dope seeing them because like I said before I am not used to having friends outside of my family in Haiti.  However, as much as I hate to say it, Port Au Prince is done.  I think PaP by far is the most depressing place in all of Haiti.  We are more than a year since the earthquake and PaP is still a giant shit show.  I know a year is really not that much time, but man oh man. Tent camps, NGOs, NGO SUVs and NGO workers a dominating the capital of Haiti. Haiti has become the Cancun of the humanitarian world and I guess I’m a part of it.  What made me realize that I am a part of it was when I saw my friends from New School at this bar I went to with my cousin his wife and friends.  I saw them and automatically wanted to chill with them. It turned out that I spent more time with them at the bar than I did with my cousin and his peeps.  I couldn’t help it; I have more in common with them. But, when it was all done I took a step back and realized that I’m a part of this world.  This makes me even happier that I don’t work in Port au Prince.   The majority of NGO workers that working in Port au Prince, regardless of if they work hard or not are contributing to the ongoing problem.  It’s similar to the gentrification that has been dominating NYC for years now. We (NGOs) are controlling the market. Everything is gear towards us and our salaries.  When I bought my beer at the bar the total was given to me in US dollars.   The dollar has been dominating Haiti for a while, but now it’s screwing everyone over.  Also, there is nothing worse than going to a restaurant that is across the street from a tent camp.  That’s rubbing it in and I wouldn’t be surprised if revolt were to take place.  I’m just saying. Imagine you live in a tent with your kids and the people who are supposed to help you are at the expensive boogie restaurant across the street.

What I miss

Aside from family and friends, I miss basketball…like a lot. Knicks get Melo when Joel is in Rural Haiti. Great.   I also miss going to bars and just chillin.  NYC bar scene is like no other in the world. What I would do for a six point beer and a flat screen TV showing New York Knickerbockers basketball.

Next time I post, I promise for some pictures…..

Disclaimers: these won’t all be accurate according to date.  A ton of stuff has been going on, but I just don’t have time to post it all.

Also, I don’t use the names of the org I work for or orgs I’ve been collaborating with.

Post number two.

I am writing from the balcony of the guest houses at the main hospital in Cange.  It’s dark out, but usually it overlooks some mountains further out.  I’ve officially been here for over 2 weeks and I am a lot more settled than I was when I got here (duh). I just got back from spending the day with my family.  My mom, dad, 2 aunts, uncle and family friend came up from Port-au-Prince and spent the day with me.  They met me at the main hospital in Cange and then we went to Hinche (next town over) for late lunch/dinner.  It was really good seeing them.  I had not seen my parents since I arrived at the airport when I first got here, that was literally for 20 min.   It was cool showing them around the facility and it was also cool knowing that they are at ease with where I am.   My mom and one of my aunts had never been to the central plateau so it was a giant adventure for them.   They packed a small care package for me with some essentials that I was missing (hair brush, sunscreen and hangers).   It felt good to be able to contribute to a conversation about Haiti and have them respect me because I am now officially walking the walk and talking the talk playboy.   Lunch was mad tasty and there were vegetables (peas, carrots and beats)!  

Saturday I went to an area out of the city of Thomonde called Bay Tourib. This place is literally in the middle of nowhere. The road to this village was nightmarish. Once falls move and you’re done.  Props to the driver Lesley, for handing that road like a G.  It was a windy road that I think was meant only for donkeys, mountain goats and big foot.  Somehow we make it and we get to this place.  One of the doctors from the ONG who has worked there recently meets up with the community leaders to introduce us.  Right away one of the leaders tells us their biggest concern is health.  He explained to us that when someone gets very sick and needs to be taken to hospital, 4 of them carry the person on a make shirt stretcher to the nearest hospital.  The nearest hospital is a 5 hour walk from where they are and many times the sick person dies on the way there. They were hit very hard by the Cholera epidemic and the ONG started sending the doctors to that community.  Once doctors for the ONG started seeing the conditions of Bay Tourib, the 4 teams NGO social assistance program I’m working on decided to use it as the pilot.  In 2007 the World Bank gave the ministry of health money to build a health center.  The center was built and never utilized. 

One thing that Bay Tourib made me realize, no matter how desolate and fucked a place is there are always a hand full of people who are beasts. One of the community leaders in Bay Tourib we couldn’t be any much older than me is a teacher, a mason and activist.  He rounded up other members of the community to build a 3 room school that was mad of mud that holds 70 students.  It was complete shit house, but he and 2 others teach kids primary school.  Crazy.  Stuff like that is what can make me try just a little bit harder at whatever it is I do.

Other ish

Guess who’s immune to cold water showers son? When I first started showering here I had it planned out:

1.       Turn on the water and let it run for like 1 min and hope that it would miraculously get warm.

2.       Jump in and spin around 3 times and then jump out

3.       Soap up

4.       Jump back in and spin around 3 times again. DONE

Now I take long ass cold showers.

I’m also trying to grow a beard. My dad can grow a diesel ass beard. I can’t. My dad snores really loud. I snore really loud. Thanks dad.

I’ve started to work out, but not much cardio yet.  The main hospital has these stairs that are intense and I’ve run them a few times in the AM.  The goal was to run them 5 times, but so far it’s only been 3.  Don’t judge until you try it.  They also have a gym with just machines, but I’ve been using those too.  But, the most important thing has been portion control.  Since rice is a staple here, there’s pretty much no use in cutting it out so I just don’t pile it in.  When I would come to Haiti for vacation the goal would be eat as much as possible. It’s different when I get these types of delicious foods every day.

Anti-Malaria Meds

Mefloquine – I hate it.  They give me jacked up dreams.  They aren’t nightmares per say, but the dreams are VERY vivid.  I wake up and I’m like damn, that shit felt a little too real.  Last week I woke up after a wild ass dream eyes wide open telling myself, “I gotta get off this shit”.  I took the same pills when I studied about in Mali in 04, but I did not have these dreams.  It could be because I’m older? Who knows, but I might try to change meds.

Shout out to those of who sent me some music. Please keep them coming.   I will try and start posting pictures.  I felt uncomfortable taking pictures of people and things, but since my boss has been asking me to I’ll start posting some.

Tristan:  seriously wield that moral authority like a mighty sword

What’s good everyone?

Gotta get this first email out because I got a lot on my mind.  Week one in Haiti is almost over and I’ve been meeting a lot of people and attending many meetings.  This past week we had the head of the Global Health and Psychiatric division at Harvard was here for the past week. He’s a real chill guy and gave me his headlamp thank god.  He’s been training the doctors on how to prescribe medication to mental patients.  So I have been in attendance of those meetings, helping with translation and just trying to learn as much as I can.  So I am a part of the Mental Health and Psychosocial support team, but the main part of my job is working on Economic development /reform in the central plateau.  On Wednesday I have a meeting with members of 2 microcredit groups. They assist the poorest of the poor achieve financial independence. This is done in a few ways – commerce or raising livestock (goats, chickens, and cows).  I am really excited about this namely because I’ve always been interested in helping the poorest of the poor gain some sort of dependency (Thank you WHY Hunger).  I know that as the job goes on, I will have a billion things to do. I am still not set up yet in terms of where I will be living. There really hasn’t been any time to do so, which I can’t like I’m annoyed about.  I will be living out of a bag most of the time, but just to know that all my stuff will be in one central location will put me at ease.  Right now I’ve been bouncing around between various little cities in the Central Plateau and last night spent the night the capital. So far my favorite places are Cange (where I’m at now and where the main hospital is) and Lascahobas. Lascahobas is where the majority of beans are produced in Haiti.  Unfortunately, it has not reached its full potential because these farmers are being priced by the international market. Haiti has so much potential, but many things are impeding it from getting to where it should be.

Random thoughts

Yesterday, I spent the day/night in Port-au-Prince and already I see things way differently than I used to as a kid. As a kid it was all normal to me as weird as it sounds. By normal I mean it was ok that PaP was so crowded. It was normal that you had people working for you and you would just accept the master slave mentality. It was normal that PaP has everything (kind of) and that the rest of the country doesn’t. What kind of crack was I smoking? It’s bogus.  I had a meeting with the Center for Disease and Control for getting buckers and water purifying stuff at the US Embassy in PaP. That shit is massive building near the airport that looks like it belongs in D.C. The minute we (me, my colleague and boss) walked into the door I felt oppressed. I felt that same feeling I get when I arrive at JFK. Even though the security guards were all Haitian, they looked at me the same way American security personal looks at visitors from other countries. It’s a completely different world in there.  However, I give them props for serving some Haitian food at the cafeteria.

Food in Haiti

Uh, yeah if I don’t work out while I’m here I’m going to get fat. They feed us so much food here it’s kind of insane. Haitian diet consists of carbs, carbs and carbs. The food is delicious, but I have got to get a handle on finding a work out regiment.  Monday I am going to start excursing (running, pushups, sit ups etc). I have got to, like my life depends on it.  Any of y’all who have suggestions please send them this way.  There is a gym by where I’ll be living and my Haitian-American ass will def be signing up for it.

My Coworkers

So far everyone is pretty chill.  Everyone is really smart and I have to be on beast mode constantly. I feel like I am doing a lot more listening, which I don’t mind.  I don’t want to get into the habit of saying something just for the sake of saying something.  I will be working with a number of people expats, Boston based people and Haitians. Everyone is a monster. I am very, very impressed my many of the Haitian staff.  This one girl who is a resident psychologist is a beast. My boss (not Haitian) she’s a monster. She’s the queen of multi-tasking and takes on a lot. I am looking forward to take some of her load (I say that shit now).

Cholera

In terms of the issues that Haiti is dealing with that’s always in the news (Earthquake, Cholera, Politics), the one I’m exposed to the most is Cholera. Being 2 hours away from the capital, I don’t see rubble or the aftermath of the earthquake. Maybe some displaced persons from PaP have relocated to the central plateau, but that is it. Cholera is still very much here and many people are suffering from it. I am constantly washing and hand sanitizing my hands. I’ve also had to stop biting my nails which is harder than I thought it would be. They have hand sanitizer at all the sites and I carry my own bottle as well.  I also have 2 nalgene bottles that always have bottled water in them, so I’m straight.

MUSIC

Please email me music. I am using my work computer 90% of the time and I have ZERO music on it. Anything will do (JAZZ, HIP HOP, R&B, SALSA, rock, ELECTRONIC, BRAZILLAIN I DON’T CARE)

CONTACT INFO

SKYPE –JMALEBRANCHE

HAITI CELL – STILL WORKING ON THAT

GMAIL IS THE BEST WAY TO GET AT ME

I miss you all. Please keep in touch.

Joel

On the bus to Boston for training with the new gig. I had a great weekend thanks to my wonderful friends who threw me a surprise party on Friday. I really had no clue what was going on and was even a little freakout. It turned out to be a great night, but also a late one. It started the rest of the weekend up and the theme of staying up real late was in full force. Saturday we went to a bar/lounge in the LES. I’m going to miss that. Either way I am excited for what the future holds. All I can think about now is what I’m going to eat at this rest stop…

eventually this will get a lot more detailed….