Tap Taps and Pop Tarts

Life on this beautiful Caribbean island continues unabated as I continue to settle into life as a staff member of The Haitian Project. My new office is set up and running at Manutech - which also happens to be the place where snail mail is sent. Yes, who could have guessed that I would be mimicking my four years as a Notre Dame Library mailman here in Haiti…

Regardless, my job this year has allowed me to interact more with life outside the friendly walls of LCS. This includes meeting with the dean of the private medical school, requesting donations of large sacks to store recyclable plastic, and riding a Tap Tap for the first time! This last accomplishment is easily the most exciting of the three as it is something that I had been waiting over a year to do. In case you do not know, Tap Taps are brightly colored and slightly altered Toyota Pickups that serve as “public” transportation here in Haiti. Tap Taps are privately owned but nearly every member of the public uses one on their way to school, work, or the grocery store. The concept is not unique to Haiti and in many ways they are very similar to boda bodas in Uganda and other forms of “public” transportation throughout the developing world.

Outside of Tap Taps, the most interesting news in Santo has been the appearance of Pop-Tarts near the school. Never before seen, these delicious treats are selling for 7 gourdes a package - 17.5 cents! Incredible, really, considering such items would easily fetch $1.00-1.50 in vending machines in the USA...

But where in the world are they finding Pop Tarts cheap enough that they can sell at record-low prices?? Word on the street is that USAID's food aid program in Haiti includes Pop Tarts, which are kindly being sold to this USA American in need of delectable pastry treats...

In other news, there is a sign for a grocery store near the school that just might be my favorite sign in all of Haiti. It says "More Bread," but in French this translates to "Pain Plus". Makes me smile every day.

Peace

Office of External Affairs

Bonjou!

As you might have heard, no longer am I a volunteer with The Haitian Project. Instead, I am now staff, working as the In-Country Director of the Office of External Affairs. My general responsibilities include managing scholarships for alumni, facilitating alumni employment searches, securing in-kind support from the Haitian business community, and any other random task that Mr. Moynihan (THP President) needs completed.

For example, this past week included writing the final report for one of our neighborhood housing projects (we rebuilt the home of one of our cooks - she has worked with LCS for 20 years!) as well as traveling to the largest IDP camp in the country (Petionville Country Club, 54,000 people) to interview a LCS alum for the THP fall newsletter. These tasks are in addition to slowly taking over the office, preparing to hire additional staff, and compiling an alumni database that includes all current alumni. Despite the business, I am very excited about the upcoming year. Even without Wyclef running, it is an important time to be working in Haiti...

Interviewing Mackenzie (the LCS alum who is running all 16 of Catholic Relief Services camps) easily made last Friday my best day. He is intelligent, disciplined, and has the necessary charisma of a terrific leader. Haiti is fortunate to have people like him. He gave me a tour of some of the projects he has been managing, and we ran into another LCS alum from the same promotion (99'). The other alum is now a doctor, having studied medicine in Cuba before returning to Haiti...