19582: Rolling: out with the old (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Chris Rolling <chrisrolling@chrisrolling.com>

Dear Everybody:

I just received an e-mail from a friend that understandably said "we need an
update", so I'm obliging. It has been a really tense week since my last
letter.



On the day of my last update, rebels took over Haiti's second largest city,
Cap Haitien in the north. They continued to take over cities throughout the
week and another previously unknown rebel group took over Aux Cayes, Haiti's
third largest city in the far south. Panic eventually overcame the
pro-Aristide armed gang in Port au Prince and all kinds of robbery, looting
and killing then ensued in the capital. Apparently various car dealerships
have had all of their vehicles stolen and the port of Port au Prince is a
total mess. Aristide waited until Sunday morning to flee the country and the
last I heard he is in Africa somewhere.



It is hard for me to know how most Haitian people feel about Aristide
leaving, but there is a sense of great frustration. Many Haitians had pinned
great hopes on him for bringing some kind of change to Haiti. The feeling
that seems to predominate now is one of hopelessness. I don't think anybody
believes that Haiti will henceforth be a stable, democratic country because
the pattern of government serving its own self interests has been in
operation without exception for the entirety of Haiti's history.



We are fortunate to be in one of Haiti's few calm spots. We have had
telephone service throughout the troubles and we have still been getting
some electricity at night. Even though we are in a relatively calm area, we
still made plans to leave because if Aristide had somehow held out for a
month or more the country would have gotten very hungry and desperate, and
anybody with food or money could have become a target. Leaving by airplane
became impossible when the Port au Prince airport shut down. We were
planning to leave today on a boat belonging to David Vanderflier, a Canadian
missionary we know who works in the south of Haiti. Yesterday though we
changed our minds after Aristide left and international troops planned to
arrive. A short time after Aristide left some frightened government people
tried to hijack David's boat to try to flee Haiti but they failed and David
and his family escaped unscathed, if a little shaken. Last time I spoke to
David he was also planning to stay in Haiti but he is understandably
nervous.



Most Haitians aren't looters or armed gunmen and they would like to see
their country develop. I think most people will welcome the international
troops to come here and bring security to the country. An example of what
the recent chaos has brought occurred on Thursday. A thief was caught down
the road stealing three cows. The newly formed community patrol caught the
thief and burned him to death on the road. I talked to some friends about it
and asked why they didn't put him in prison. That was a dumb question
because most of the prisoners in Haiti have been freed by various rebel
groups and the prisons aren't legitimate institutions at the best of times.
When I thought about the situation a bit harder I asked why they didn't
remove the thief's hand like they used to do in various other countries. I
think hand removal would be a more humane method to discourage theft, but
for now burning to death is the preferred method. In more stable eras,
thieves in Haiti were treated far more humanely. When stability returns,
police start doing their jobs and prisoners stop being released en masse
into the public, perhaps Haiti can have security and justice in some form.



I have one reflection about the current problems in Haiti. To a large
extent, life continues as usual throughout political troubles. People still
greet each other warmly in the street and still sell their produce in the
market. I have taken advantage of the relative calm in our area to introduce
myself to various communities and talk to them about our well drilling
project. Without exception, I have received a warm welcome and in most
places the communities have come together, formed water committees and
started talking about how they can take care of a well if we come to drill
one in their zone. Even during political turmoil, women and children
throughout Haiti still carry their water a long distance on their heads from
whatever source they can find.



Clean Water for Haiti received some very good publicity recently when CBC
radio played documentary show based on interviews with Tal Woolsey (Bob
Rouge) the mission founder. Here is the link if you want to listen to it
over the internet: http://www.cbc.ca/haiti Select Sounds Like Canada, then
select Bob Rouge. I have yet to hear the show, but I have been told it's
quite good.



I'm going to keep this update short because there will probably be a lot
more news to write about again in a short while.



Blessings, Chris Rolling