24828: kathleen (reply) re: 24796: Severe: Miami Herald Article on MPP's Jean Baptiste(4/18)

[sak-pase@bimini.ws]

kathleen burke <kathleenburke704@hotmail.com>

These are the people and the region I work with in Haiti.  Bazelais, 
without whom
I would never be in Haiti, is Chavannes' younger brother by one year.
I stay in a birthday cake house, formerly that of a Belgian priest, next to
the church, beneath the seminary and middle school, over the primary school
and the offices of MPP.  The land is lush and the view of faraway mountains
a treat when I watch the sun go down from an open terrace.  Yesterday, we
planted morning glory seeds and moonflowers.  I have three sweet Haitians
to help me, and six big rooms.  The house belongs to the Church and the
brothers like me and I just have to maintain things to stay. I brought all
my N.E. and Haitian art here in 2000.  It is not bleak here. When I go down
to the MPP headquarters to catch a ride to Hinche, I am stopped many times
by Bon Jour!!! from little kids and grownups as well.  I love it here, and
so would many others.  The head of the cafe here tells me that when he was
a teenager, he could drive to PortauPrince for a movie and back at night.
Now, the road is so bad it takes at least five hours.  The EU was
contracted to fix the road, but the people in Gonaives are fighting it so
they can have the road.  It is always like this in Haiti, except in our
groups, where we help each other (other groups as well, I'm sure) .
Every day I learn something new - today, it was that the primary school 
buses students
from area school to other area school, all ages.  Two buses were at the 
Little Sisters of Ste Therese this a.m.; the yellow one (just like the U.S. 
ones) took me down to the cafe in Hinche (the one at MPP is not working).
The last time I came back from the cafe, after taking a photo of oxen in the 
river, I saw a great crowd of soldiers in three different uniforms with one 
tank with a bazooka and troop trucks.  I asked if I could take aphoto; the 
camoflaged Nepalese soldier said yes but a man who I later saw was from 
Ginea erupted in anger and excited French - really had his knickers in a 
twist.  Luckily, the head man and a soldier at his same rank knew me from 
the cybercafe and reassured him about the motives of "La Blanche."  The 
Asian and African soldiers were asking me to take pictures but I didn't 
think it would be wise or even humane to humiliate him.
I see Carol J. Williams is at it again.  When I tried to contact her 
regarding the actual name of the Executive head of MPP, who just received a 
significant award, she was silent.  I guess she prefers to have her views 
presented as facts rather than biases, not a good thing in a journalist.   
Whoever itwas who commented that her views were shaped in Petionville should 
also add Kenscoff.  Too bad.
I am learning to joke in Kreyol.  Wish I could be more fluent, but keep 
trying.  I understand, but trip over my tongue.  Still, it is fun to hear 
from Ti Boss, that he is closing the door to the dining room too hard and I 
can't open it, that he is dong it to protect the refrigerator from raids 
from all the little cats that are circling around the neighborhood.  Our cat 
makes ferocious noises like a very big dog to tell us she is starving and 
needs to eat all the time in the last stages of her pregnancy.
The death of the Pope, Ravix Ramissainte, and GrandSonne were preoccupying 
everyone last week; this week it is the hope that the good work done on 
farms in Papay can transcend politics (altho I see garbage dumped 
deliberately by one side on the land of the other, a frequent Haitian 
expression of disapproval) and focus attention on those who do want to help 
Haiti, and are succeeding in an unpublished fashion.  kathleen burke