I don't think we're in Kansas any more
Nov. 12th, 2007 04:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_siobhanI think the hardest thing to process about Haiti are the massive dichotomies.
Take urban sophisticated intelligent people who are comfortable with computers and cellphones, who watch music videos and football on television. Plonk them down in a country with over 80% unemployment, where half the kids can't go to school because there is no money and where the only income available is often from selling wares on the side of the street.
There is incredible natural beauty and appalling urban decay. But you can still see the bare bones of cities that were once beautiful, with wide boulevards and bright airy buildings, now crumbling.
There is incredible energy here. This isn't some sleepy backwater. This is the home of the only successful slave revolt in the world and the people are damn well aware of it. They know exactly what has been done to them and by who, yet we are approached in the street every day by people who tell us that they are glad we are here visiting their country, that Haiti welcomes tourists.
It's been a mind-blowing trip and unlike any place I've ever been before.
I can see why some people find it so addictive.
Take urban sophisticated intelligent people who are comfortable with computers and cellphones, who watch music videos and football on television. Plonk them down in a country with over 80% unemployment, where half the kids can't go to school because there is no money and where the only income available is often from selling wares on the side of the street.
There is incredible natural beauty and appalling urban decay. But you can still see the bare bones of cities that were once beautiful, with wide boulevards and bright airy buildings, now crumbling.
There is incredible energy here. This isn't some sleepy backwater. This is the home of the only successful slave revolt in the world and the people are damn well aware of it. They know exactly what has been done to them and by who, yet we are approached in the street every day by people who tell us that they are glad we are here visiting their country, that Haiti welcomes tourists.
It's been a mind-blowing trip and unlike any place I've ever been before.
I can see why some people find it so addictive.