Filed under: Exploring, Living in Haiti | Tags: Art, Basketball, Croix de Bouquets, Haitian Creole, Indiana Jones, Port-au-Prince, Voodoo
How have I been spending my time in Haiti? Here’s a list of this past week.
- Visiting a Haitian artist colony in Croix de Bouquets. The artwork is made from scrap-metal cut and shaped into images of everyday life. The art deserves to be shown here and when I go back I’ll bring a camera.
- Visiting a “cultural center”/Voodoo priest’s house and listening to some of the most inspiring drumming I’ve ever had the pleasure of witnessing. And getting a half-hour lecture on Voodoo (which is a religion like any other, and not what you see in Indiana Jones).
- Having my boss’ car breakdown on me while climbing a steep hill in rush-hour traffic. Then, after somehow finding a mechanic on the street to fix the car, trying unsuccessfully to drive home up another steep, muddy hill while a tropical mini-storm slicked up the road. Failing half way up, I had to back down while cars and motorcycles passed on either side. But at the bottom I played games with half a dozen kids while watching other cars try and fail to overcome the mud, rain, and slick road.
- Finding Progresso soup in the market.
- Playing basketball in front of a hundred people in a Port-au-Prince neighborhood where, outside of my two friends and I, no other foreigner appears to venture. Then losing because we were out of shape. But making about a dozen new friends in the process who couldn’t believe we spoke Creole.
- Watching an “extreme biker” put on a show in a Croix de Bouquets park, also in front of maybe a hundred people, again many of whom couldn’t believe we were there and spoke Creole.
- “Turning 16 again” and getting to drive while abroad for the first time in almost three years. This may be the biggest development. It can’t be understated.
Filed under: Exploring | Tags: Entrepreneurialism, FONKOZE, Haiti, Marché en Fer, MINUSTAH, Port-au-Prince, United Nations
I just tore open my only pair of work jeans, irreparably. Too much marching around Haiti’s Central Plateau. Lucky for me I’m not that concerned. Haiti is so full of high quality used clothes that even the rich buy secondhand rad pèpè. The optimist in me says it’s an opportunity for upgrade, that’s all.
Port-au-Prince, in particular, overflows with street-corner entrepreneurs hocking the new and used. They sell from their homes, on sidewalks, at intersections, in gas station parking lots (dog food is most reliably found at the gas station). And the range of goods is incredible. Next to neatly presented CDs and art, I’ve seen full dining room sets arranged on sidewalks, ready for sale. If you’re in Haiti and need a tent, I know where to get that too.
In fact, I estimate something like 90% of Fonkoze’s clients do just that with their micro-loans – they take their money, buy something in bulk, then set about to resell in smaller quantities, and somewhere in the process they make back their investment plus interest. It’s not “adding value” like economists stress, but it can churn out a small profit.
In Haiti, money changes hands under the sun: along narrow, winding city streets and in wild open air markets. These open air markets are the amalgamation of Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Safeway, CVS, and your favorite clothing spot. Whatever you need, if you can’t find it on market day, then there’s a good chance you won’t be finding it at all. The notable exception is luxury items. The really rich avoid these markets altogether – although they’ll send down maids and servants in search of a good deal.
Being in the capital the other day, and needing a new pair of work jeans, I set off to explore Port-au-Prince’s largest open air market, the Marché en Fer. (more…)
