Such a day. I missed church due to the urge of “personal needs”. Probably the unusual food. SUCH good food. You cannot resist eating it, eating too much of it, enjoying the flavors and spices and textures. The pumpkin soup this morning was especially good. I ate a bowl of that while last time here I was afraid to eat more than a few bites. A bowl of pumpkin soup here is a meal, more than a meal. And luscious with the colors, textures, mysteries of ingredients, spice and heat. Served SO hot in a small steamy room, around a single small table of plastic furniture and chairs huddled closely together, crowded with Haitians and Americans eating all together, jabbering back and forth in at least two languages if not three or four… who would know? And people come in, eat, and the moment they are finished they leave quickly to make room for the next.
And then the World Cup game. Watching it in a place in the world where electricity is scarce, television much more scarce, news of the outside world missing almost completely. Watching it in a place where people actually cared about the outcome. In a 10 X 12 room at Neil’s house, concrete floor and walls, not enough room for the twenty or more relatives and neighbors, open windows and doors with the breezes and bugs flying through. A small 14 or 15 inch screen, and satellite reception that went out with the rain. We missed the final goal due to no reception. The driving drenching rain that brings more life to a dry country, with the promise of more heat and higher humidity tomorrow marred the excuse for being together, but not the reason. The reason we were there couldn’t be helped or hindered by the World Cup outcome. Having a beer with friends and new Haitian friends, and watching Gina with her shining face interacting and listening and learning and glowing, watching the other kids playing basketball, of all things, during the World Cup game, and splashing in the wet grass after the pouring rain.
I suppose that is the reason for being there, for being here. Haiti is not a sad country, but a country that can make you laugh and feel joy while making you think and making you question whether you should be sad at what you see around you. But in the end the sadness is in you, not in the country, and the judgments we put on the people or the country are from our own sense of wealth or position. None of that comes from the people around you.
Now for dinner. And maybe another movie night? And most certainly the bat from the last two nights will come and visit, swopping around the dining room eating bugs, causing you to duck while knowing it won’t hit you. Strangely, it was knocked for a loop by the ceiling fan the other night. Must not be used to those…
