28321: Allen(observations)my 8 days in Haiti(4/12-4/20) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: "allengatorz@juno.com" <allengatorz@juno.com>

Hi everyone:  I just got back home to S Florida from Haiti this afternoon from my third trip to that wonderful place.

Four of us flew in to PAP on the 12th and then onto Mole St. Nicolas via MAF.  Great weather and beautiful in Mole.  The wind was blowing nicely and the water was beautiful.  On Monday we decided to do the 12 mile hike by foot-trail up to Creve which is just below Mt Chilotte. What a hike!

What a great time.  The music school that I started Easter 05 in Creve now has 90 young people as students.  I am hoping to get some more musical instruments donated; all I have taken so far is acoustic guitars, but when I spoke with the class and mentioned other instruments like, violin, drums, trumpet, keyboard, etc these enthusiastically embraced by various individual young persons.

When we arrived back in PAP on the 19th our AA flight(the last of the day) was canceled.  Because AA could not contact us in Mole they graciously put us up in the Coconut Villa for the night and paid for the taxi and the meals.  I walked the area around Delmas 19 and there was much activity.  I was told that there was so much activity because Thursday everything was going to be closed down for the Friday elections.

Before I left for Mole I ask my friend who drives us from the National Airport to the Domestic if he could get me a Rene Preval T Shirt.  When we showed back up he had three for me.  I wore one mainly because it was clean(I had given most of my clothes away and had been wearing the same shirt for two days).  Wow did I get a response...and it was all positive.  I had a real nice guy walk with me for a while and came to find out he was a Haitian journalist name Casseus Robinson Robin'n.  I had been reading Kathie Klarreich's Madame Dread before the visit and only wish I could have stay for more of the action.  Man, I love that place!!!!!!!!!!I can't wait to get back.

Doug


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