#1025: A positive introduction to Haiti! : Petersen shares

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: Ingegerd N Petersen <inp.ry@ci.kk.dk>

In contrast to Jason Wilson's negative description of Haiti, I'm happy
to tell you that others see things differently.

In October my husband I boarded an Air France flight to Miami on our way
to Haiti, and as usual we  took a look at the Air France magazine. Lo
and behold! On the cover a watercolour showing André Pierre at his
easel, a jug of rhum in his hand, and a little smile on his lips. The
text says: Ayiti, une balade en Haïti avec Titouan Lamazou. The title of
the article reads, "Ayiti, mé wi", and starts, "Toujours méconnue,
souvent incomprise, Haïti la fière abrite un peuple d'artistes, inspirés
par le vaudou et l'histoire". What follows is a 30 page (!) collage of
text, printed and in handwriting, photos, watercolour sketches,
paintings, artists, interviews- I wish you could all have a copy. It's
beautiful. There are four pages about the fishing boats, with sketches
from the builder's yard, four pages of everything from caye to
gingerbread, two pages swarming with fantastic tap-taps, and  a page of
valuable information and even further reading like The Comedians,
Hurbon's Les Mystères du Vaudou, a few titles by Alexis and Gary
Victor....  It seems that the article is extracts from a book, Carnets
de Voyage (Editions Nouveaux Loisirs). In the information page, the
Oloffson is described as "elegant", but the Holiday Inn  as "plain"...
The text is in French and English, but the latter is considerably
shorter.

So it's not all negative images that are presented to the world. I
intend to tell Air France that they did a great thing for Haiti with it.

Ingegerd Nissen Petersen