Haiti - My Living Situation

While in Port-au-Prince, I stayed with Samba Sidibe, a Malian who runs CHF International there, in his apartment in the Montagne Noire neighborhood (like Petionville, in the hills above Port-au-Prince). In the apartment were Samba, Samantha (who mostly listened to music at home since she was disturbed by the sights she saw in town), Junior (real name: Louis Joseph), and me. Junior had been studying in San Luis Potosi, in Mexico, and is now in Haiti trying to help people survive, relocate, and rebuild. He formerly worked in the Port-au-Prince mayor's office. Samba has lived in Port-au-Prince for years, and works long hours working to create job training opportunities for Haitians.

Every night we ate a stew made of goat meat and vegetables, with a creamy bean mixture, over rice (except for one night that we substituted corn grits for the rice).

We had power the whole time I was there, sometimes from the generator at the apartment complex, and sometimes from public power (about half the time). We had water service about half the time, and the other half, we had to use buckets for everything. Drinking water comes from large bottles that are delivered to the house.

I slept on the mattress in the living room (visible behind Samba). Junior and the woman who cooked for us slept outside in a camping tent on the porch. Samba and Samantha slept in the bedrooms.