30621: Bick (reply) RE: 30613: Kathleen (reflections) 30588, 30598 (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

Paul Bick (paulbick@msn.com)

Hmmm, I suppose that depends on what you mean by "comfortable"  I'm not
really comfortable in my own skin half the time! And having my - culture of
unfathomable excess - reflected back on me as unfathomable poverty in Haiti
is doubly discomforting.  Many a first-time visitor to Haiti imagines that
the poor people she finds herself immersed in must all secretly want to cut
her throat - a not unreasonable (if wholly incorrect) response.. Lets face
it - we live in paranoid times... And anyone who lives, works or travels in
the world's increasingly plentiful troubled spaces - without keeping their
wits about them and taking appropriate precautions - is asking for it.

That being said, as has been duly noted, Port au Prince is a very different
place than the rest of the country.  I'm as comfortable at my friend Meres'
place in the mountains above Leogane as I am anywhere on the planet -
regardless of what's going on in the city - he has no walls and no razor
wire - and his community is a solid as any in the States..

I was in Haiti for a couple of weeks in May and I can only say that the air
- even in Port au Prince - is palpably less anxious than it was six months,
a year - two years ago. Life is back out on the street - and everyone tells
me (with caveats) that they feel at least somewhat "safer" these days -
definitely with regard to kidnapping.  The vibe is clearly different - less
tense than it has been recently.

Among other things I attended the Festival Mizik Jacmel and in spite of the
Sunday rainout - it was a great time - and a wonderful thing to do for
Haiti.  Music festivals and the like are a huge risk - if something terrible
happens they can backfire in every way - but in my opinion, if the event is
well planned, funded and executed (big ifs...) the risk is definitely worth
it  - Cultural events - live and organic - that bring people together to
express and construct shared identities in non-political and non-religious
terms are no luxuries - these "capitals" are the true wealth of any People -
and the positive signs of life that breathe hope into troubled times..