All About Haiti
Geography
Haiti was the first black independent republic in the world, winning its freedom from the French in 1804. The population if the country is currently more than six million in an area about the size of Massachusetts. The capital of Haiti, Port-au Prince, has a population of over half a million and is located seven hundred miles southeast of Miami, Florida. About 70 percent of Haitians live in the rural areas and the rest crowd into the cities.
The country itself is more mountainous than Switzerland with two large mountain chains running the length of the island. Haiti, known as the “Pearl of Antilles,” was one of the islands discovered by Columbus in 1492. Its name is an Indian word for “high land,” an appropriate title for the hilly landscape. “Haiti,” one writer said, “is the only place where a farmer can fall out of his cornfield.”
The country occupies the western third of the island of Hispaniola, and lies in the Caribbean Sea between Cuba and Puerto Rico. Spanish-speaking Dominican Republic occupies the eastern two thirds of the island. Besides Port-au-Prince, other major cities include Cap-Haitien, Port-de-Paix, Gonaives, Les Cayes and Jeremie.
All of Haiti’s 10,714 square miles lie in the Tropical Zone. In the areas of abundant rainfall, there is tropical vegetation, but there are no jungles, as the land has been widely used for agriculture. The average temperature is eighty degrees year round but varies with altitude and season.
Culture
The economy is poor. The average family income is $300 per year. Some of the people make a living through agriculture, although deforestation and erosion have destroyed the once rich industries of coffee, cotton, cocoa, sugar and indigo. Haiti still produces beautifully carved household objects from indigenous tropical hardwoods, paintings, needlework and basketry. The streets of Port-au-Prince are always colorful, filled with women carrying baskets of vegetables and other wares to market.
Schools in Haiti are not adequate and only three per cent of Haitian children in rural areas finish primary school. About eighty percent of the population is illiterate by American standards. Although French is the official language of Haiti, it is spoken primarily by the upper class. Creole is known by all and spoken by most Haitians.
In slum areas such as Cite Soliel, open sewers run through the city. The water from the sewers is used for bathing, laundering and cooking. Huts built on garbage heaps can house up to forty people. Twenty-seven percent of Haitian children do not reach their fifth birthday because of death from dehydration, diarrhea and malnourishment.
Although the wealth of Haiti is not found in dollars, it may be found in human kindness. Haitians are gentle and peace loving, and are proud of their long history of independence. Foreigners are welcomed as equals among all races and classes of Haitian people. The Haitians peasant is invariably friendly ad self-reliant.
History
In 1492, the island was inhabited by Arawak Indians who Columbus described as a peaceful, greedless and gentle race. They lived on manicoa, corn and wild berries. They worked with gold and clay and wove crude cotton fibers. In their communities private property was unknown. The Arawaks joyfully welcomed the arrival of the Santa Maria, but were soon pressed into slavery, despite the courageous resistance of some of their leaders. In 1502, Spanish troops conquered the last of the Arawaks. During the first fifty years of colonization, one million Arawaks—almost the entire population of Haiti—were annihilated by hard labor in the gold mines, on cotton and tobacco plantations, and by disease and the harsh treatment of the Spaniards.
In spite of the slave trade which began in 1503, Hispaniola was only prosperous for the first thirty years if the Spanish presence. Then the conquerors began to leave the worn-out mines. In 1545, the entire island had but 11,000 people. Around 1625, French, English and Dutch pirates began discovering the uninhibited western coast.
The gradual French occupation didn’t go peacefully in Haiti. The name of “Riviere du Massacre” (Slaughter River), presently part of the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, still testifies to the blood which was spilt during the French-Spanish confrontations there. With Bijswjk Treaty of 1697, Spain ceded the Western third of Hispaniola to France which was first called Saint Dominique.
By 1789 Saint Dominique was the richest of all France’s colonies and provided France with two thirds of her commerce. To be as wealthy as a St. Dominique planter was a French dream. The opulence that the well-to-do colonist flaunted half the year in Paris came from sugar cane, cotton, indigo, and coffee plantations, and in the continuous exploitation of “human ebony”. (Over 500,000 African slaves toiled in Haiti at the time of the French Revolution). By 1800 there were eleven Africans to every European in Haiti.
The French Revolution of 1789 accelerated existing tensions in Haiti. Rebellion began in 1790 when the “Affranchis,” an intermediate class of blacks and mixed bloods who had escaped from plantations were deprived of civil and political rights. Periodically, they would devastate plantations in hit-and-run assaults. Finally, a general slave insurrection exploded across the country in 1791. French commissaries sent to re-establish order, facing hostile planters, had no choice but to strike an alliance with the “Affranchis” and to proclaim the general abolition of slavery in Saint Dominique on August 29, 1793.
The French commissaries then left the task of fighting English and Spanish invaders to a handful of “Affranchis” and newly freed black officers. The most remarkable of these commanders, Toussaint L’Ouverture, pacified the whole island, was nominated “Governor for Life” and brought a semblance of prosperity to the colony. L’Ouverture stood against the French when Napoleon Bonaparte, pressured by white settlers, sent 2,000 soldiers back to Haiti to restore slavery. He was ultimately vanquished and deported to Fort de Joux in the French Jura Mountains where he died in 1803.
Under the command of Jacques Dessalines, the Haitians, bound by the same thirst for freedom, by the same language, Creole, and an electrifying religion, voodoo, took up their weapons once more against the French soldiers. Napoleon’s troops were defeated, and on January 1, 1804, the former slaves proclaimed the independence of Haiti. The new nation took back its Indian name, Haiti as it became the first black republic in the world. The militarized administration of Emperor Dessalines concentrated on defending the land against a possible return of French troops and on rapidly restoring the economy. Internal struggles over the problem of land distribution in the new nation ultimately led to Dessalines assassination on October 17, 1806.
The schism that followed between the autocratic and prosperous Northern Kingdom of Henri Christophe, and Alexadre-Petion’s liberal republic in the south, marks the struggle between the “Affranchis” and the mulatto elite who have traditionally fought for political power in Haiti, often at the expense of the Haitian masses. Today Haitians are paying the heavy price of 170 tumultuous years in which armed peasants were used by one elite group or the other.
On July 19, 1915, American Marines landed in Port-au-Prince and began an occupation to “defend democracy and American investments.” This occupation lasted 19 years and brought about some major achievements such as reorganization of public services ad the construction of roads; but it deeply wounded Haitian pride and reasserted America’s grip on Haiti’s economy.
In 1957 Francois (Papa Doc) Duvalier was elected power and skillfully used race and class differences to keep the army, the mulatto bourgeoisie and the church in check. His rule was one of the most oppression and violence, and his opponents were quickly silenced by murder or exile. The Tonton Macoute, Duvalier’s secret police, came into being at this time and it is estimated that over 50,000 Haitians were killed during Duvalier’s fourteen year rule.
Duvalier was succeeded by his son, Jean Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier in 1971 and over the next fifteen years conditions in Haiti worsened. By 1985, 81 percent of the Haitian population lived in poverty while Baby Doc squandered almost 600 million dollars meant for aid to Haiti. He was disposed in 1986 by the Haitian military.
Jean Bertrand Aristide, a Catholic priest, was Haiti’s first democratically elected president in an election held on December 16, 1990. Under his administration, the flood of Haitians leaving Haiti by boat, ceased, and violence decreased dramatically. Only nine months after his elections Aristide was ousted by a military coup in September, 1991. In October of 1994, Aristide was returned to power to serve out his term as president.
Religious Influence
Haiti’s official religion is Catholicism, although about 13 percent of the people are Protestant. The Catholics, mostly through French, Belgian Canadian and American priests, have done much to advance education in Haiti. It is often said that Haiti’s people are 80 percent Catholic and 100 percent Voodoo as most Haitian have some Voodoo beliefs. Voodoo, the folk religion of Haiti, is a mixture of Christian and African beliefs that incorporate religious rituals with black and white magic. For the Haitian, magic helps to balance the injustice in their world. Even the poor believe that the wicked can be punished by being turned into a zombie or loup garou (were wolf). Through voodoo, Haitians can serve their gods and celebrate life and eternity. Through magic, they can manipulate the world and make the gods their servants. Voodoo helps to bring relief to the suffering and turmoil of the Haitian peasant.
Methodism was accepted in Haiti in 1817, when President Petion asked the Methodists to establish a primary school in Port-au-Prince. There followed periods of persecution from hostile coalitions of government and Catholic clergy, especially after the signing of the Concordat with the Pope on March 28, 1860. Following the signing there was a popular upsurge of French culture and education through organized Catholic orders. When the Episcopal bishop from America visited Haiti in 1861, a presidential declaration was published stating that all religions have the same rights to tolerance and encouragement of the government. The government also proclaimed Sunday a holy day and prohibited markets on Sunday.
There were two marked periods of revival in the Methodist Church. The first period was by a mature local preacher, Sadrec Hippolyte, 1868-1871; the second by a youth, J. Charles Pressoir, 1880-1900. They emphasized the Holy Scripture and taught Christian doctrines. Many important families became Protestant at this time. The Rural Rehabilitation Center at Jeremie and an agricultural demonstration center at Petit Goave were established by the Methodists in the 1950s.
Bird College is named for the British Methodist missionary Mark Baker Bird, who directed the mission over a span of forty years. It has classes from kindergarten through junior college in one section, and a center for teaching and technical studies in another section. The Methodist Church also coordinates the Protestant and government agencies to teach adults to read Creole.
In a broad, country-wide expansion, the Baptists were very active through preaching evangelist and ordained pastors. The works of Baptists were so far-reaching and intense that the designation Baptist is almost synonymous with any Bible-preaching Protestant, regardless of denomination. For that reason it is almost true that there are two categories of Christians in Haiti, Catholics and Baptists. The popularity of the term Baptist for the Protestant proselyte in Haiti became current just prior to the turn of the twentieth century. At that time a series of Baptist churches were founded across northern Haiti by Elie Marc, a Frenchman by birth. He had become a Protestant in New England where he received his theological education in a Baptist seminary, before operating a branch for ministerial training in France. He later went to Haiti to devote his life to missionary work. On December 1, 1929, Elie Marc’s son, Reuben Emile Marc, after receiving his higher education from his father’s alma mater began 40 years of ministry in Port-au-Prince.
About 20 percent of Haitians belong to the Protestant churches. These approximately 700,000 Protestants are divided between 40 denominations and church groups aligned with interdenominational foreign missionary work. In descending order of size, the five main groups are Baptists with about 295,000 members, the Pentecostals with approximately 168,000 members, the Adventists with about 50,000, the Wesleyans, including the historical Methodist, with about 45,000 and the Episcopal with about 38,200.
The Protestant Mission is very active in educational work in elementary, secondary, and teaching and vocational schools, in theological training institutions, in adult literacy and cultural training classes. They are also involved in medical work in dispensary and hospital services, public health instruction and preventative medicine, nurse training, maternity and child care centers and family planning assistance. In addition they are involved in technical work such as rural rehabilitation and demonstration centers, and social work at orphanages, rest homes for the aged, and community development programs.
FOR THE VISITOR TO HAITI
Dress
For women, light-weight or cotton skirts and blouses or dresses are best in the city. For men, casual clothes should be included with work clothes. T-shirts and shorts are fine for the mountains and a light weight sweater or sweatshirt is recommended for the sometimes cool nights. Plan on a hat or bandanna in the sun. Sandals and sneakers are adequate for footwear.
Miscellaneous Information
1.Cameras. Be discreet when taking pictures in the city. People often demand money in return for allowing you to take their picture. Although most village people like having their picture taken, always ask first. The villagers appreciate any copies you may send later. Take sufficient film, as it is quite expensive in Haiti.
2.Shopping. Every town and village has market places. Beware of high pressure vendors. Seldom do they expect you to take the first price. Try to bargain, but not too much.
3.Beggars. Many are professionals. Women have been known to rent or borrow children to beg for them. You can show your compassion without given them money.
4.Food. Don’t buy or eat food cooked on the streets. Unpeeled fruit is okay but wash the fruit before you eat it. Do not drink any water unless it has been filtered. Bottled soft drinks are fine.
5.Requirements for entry and customs regulations. A valid passport, proof of citizenship (birth certificate, voters registration card, naturalization papers), and a round-trip ticket for a stay of up to 30 days are required.
6.Airport information. Port-au-Prince Airport is eight miles from the city center. The taxi fare is $10 U.S. for up to five passengers.
7.Mail. Mailboxes are in the post office and some random stores.
8.Telephone / Internet. Local calls cost 10 centimes. Useful numbers in Port-au-Prince are:
a)Airport Information 2-3913
b)Tourist Office 2-1729
c)Operator, Directories and Emergencies 0
d)Overseas Operator 09
Calls should be limited to emergencies as it can be difficult making and receiving calls. Internet service is sporadic; found mainly on campuses and in some hotels and libraries.
9.Electricity. 110 volts, 60 cycles AC.
10.Conduct. Be ready to give the first smile and the first “Bonjour.” See how Haitians open up to you. They are quick to read the atmosphere of your person whether you have a genuine respect for them and interest in them. Do not discuss finances, government, or politics.
Exposure to Haiti
Exposure to the world’s heartache may cause you to feel the same as Bob Pierce, who said, “Let my heart be broken with the things that breaks the heart of God.” It’s possible that as you are exposed to Haiti your heart will be broken and challenged with a new sense of urgency to make a difference. Perhaps this experience will help you to find your place in the world. Your trip, although brief, will make such an impression upon you that your life will never be quite the same.
Information furnished thanks to Ron Sweeten
Haiti was the first black independent republic in the world, winning its freedom from the French in 1804. The population if the country is currently more than six million in an area about the size of Massachusetts. The capital of Haiti, Port-au Prince, has a population of over half a million and is located seven hundred miles southeast of Miami, Florida. About 70 percent of Haitians live in the rural areas and the rest crowd into the cities.
The country itself is more mountainous than Switzerland with two large mountain chains running the length of the island. Haiti, known as the “Pearl of Antilles,” was one of the islands discovered by Columbus in 1492. Its name is an Indian word for “high land,” an appropriate title for the hilly landscape. “Haiti,” one writer said, “is the only place where a farmer can fall out of his cornfield.”
The country occupies the western third of the island of Hispaniola, and lies in the Caribbean Sea between Cuba and Puerto Rico. Spanish-speaking Dominican Republic occupies the eastern two thirds of the island. Besides Port-au-Prince, other major cities include Cap-Haitien, Port-de-Paix, Gonaives, Les Cayes and Jeremie.
All of Haiti’s 10,714 square miles lie in the Tropical Zone. In the areas of abundant rainfall, there is tropical vegetation, but there are no jungles, as the land has been widely used for agriculture. The average temperature is eighty degrees year round but varies with altitude and season.
Culture
The economy is poor. The average family income is $300 per year. Some of the people make a living through agriculture, although deforestation and erosion have destroyed the once rich industries of coffee, cotton, cocoa, sugar and indigo. Haiti still produces beautifully carved household objects from indigenous tropical hardwoods, paintings, needlework and basketry. The streets of Port-au-Prince are always colorful, filled with women carrying baskets of vegetables and other wares to market.
Schools in Haiti are not adequate and only three per cent of Haitian children in rural areas finish primary school. About eighty percent of the population is illiterate by American standards. Although French is the official language of Haiti, it is spoken primarily by the upper class. Creole is known by all and spoken by most Haitians.
In slum areas such as Cite Soliel, open sewers run through the city. The water from the sewers is used for bathing, laundering and cooking. Huts built on garbage heaps can house up to forty people. Twenty-seven percent of Haitian children do not reach their fifth birthday because of death from dehydration, diarrhea and malnourishment.
Although the wealth of Haiti is not found in dollars, it may be found in human kindness. Haitians are gentle and peace loving, and are proud of their long history of independence. Foreigners are welcomed as equals among all races and classes of Haitian people. The Haitians peasant is invariably friendly ad self-reliant.
History
In 1492, the island was inhabited by Arawak Indians who Columbus described as a peaceful, greedless and gentle race. They lived on manicoa, corn and wild berries. They worked with gold and clay and wove crude cotton fibers. In their communities private property was unknown. The Arawaks joyfully welcomed the arrival of the Santa Maria, but were soon pressed into slavery, despite the courageous resistance of some of their leaders. In 1502, Spanish troops conquered the last of the Arawaks. During the first fifty years of colonization, one million Arawaks—almost the entire population of Haiti—were annihilated by hard labor in the gold mines, on cotton and tobacco plantations, and by disease and the harsh treatment of the Spaniards.
In spite of the slave trade which began in 1503, Hispaniola was only prosperous for the first thirty years if the Spanish presence. Then the conquerors began to leave the worn-out mines. In 1545, the entire island had but 11,000 people. Around 1625, French, English and Dutch pirates began discovering the uninhibited western coast.
The gradual French occupation didn’t go peacefully in Haiti. The name of “Riviere du Massacre” (Slaughter River), presently part of the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, still testifies to the blood which was spilt during the French-Spanish confrontations there. With Bijswjk Treaty of 1697, Spain ceded the Western third of Hispaniola to France which was first called Saint Dominique.
By 1789 Saint Dominique was the richest of all France’s colonies and provided France with two thirds of her commerce. To be as wealthy as a St. Dominique planter was a French dream. The opulence that the well-to-do colonist flaunted half the year in Paris came from sugar cane, cotton, indigo, and coffee plantations, and in the continuous exploitation of “human ebony”. (Over 500,000 African slaves toiled in Haiti at the time of the French Revolution). By 1800 there were eleven Africans to every European in Haiti.
The French Revolution of 1789 accelerated existing tensions in Haiti. Rebellion began in 1790 when the “Affranchis,” an intermediate class of blacks and mixed bloods who had escaped from plantations were deprived of civil and political rights. Periodically, they would devastate plantations in hit-and-run assaults. Finally, a general slave insurrection exploded across the country in 1791. French commissaries sent to re-establish order, facing hostile planters, had no choice but to strike an alliance with the “Affranchis” and to proclaim the general abolition of slavery in Saint Dominique on August 29, 1793.
The French commissaries then left the task of fighting English and Spanish invaders to a handful of “Affranchis” and newly freed black officers. The most remarkable of these commanders, Toussaint L’Ouverture, pacified the whole island, was nominated “Governor for Life” and brought a semblance of prosperity to the colony. L’Ouverture stood against the French when Napoleon Bonaparte, pressured by white settlers, sent 2,000 soldiers back to Haiti to restore slavery. He was ultimately vanquished and deported to Fort de Joux in the French Jura Mountains where he died in 1803.
Under the command of Jacques Dessalines, the Haitians, bound by the same thirst for freedom, by the same language, Creole, and an electrifying religion, voodoo, took up their weapons once more against the French soldiers. Napoleon’s troops were defeated, and on January 1, 1804, the former slaves proclaimed the independence of Haiti. The new nation took back its Indian name, Haiti as it became the first black republic in the world. The militarized administration of Emperor Dessalines concentrated on defending the land against a possible return of French troops and on rapidly restoring the economy. Internal struggles over the problem of land distribution in the new nation ultimately led to Dessalines assassination on October 17, 1806.
The schism that followed between the autocratic and prosperous Northern Kingdom of Henri Christophe, and Alexadre-Petion’s liberal republic in the south, marks the struggle between the “Affranchis” and the mulatto elite who have traditionally fought for political power in Haiti, often at the expense of the Haitian masses. Today Haitians are paying the heavy price of 170 tumultuous years in which armed peasants were used by one elite group or the other.
On July 19, 1915, American Marines landed in Port-au-Prince and began an occupation to “defend democracy and American investments.” This occupation lasted 19 years and brought about some major achievements such as reorganization of public services ad the construction of roads; but it deeply wounded Haitian pride and reasserted America’s grip on Haiti’s economy.
In 1957 Francois (Papa Doc) Duvalier was elected power and skillfully used race and class differences to keep the army, the mulatto bourgeoisie and the church in check. His rule was one of the most oppression and violence, and his opponents were quickly silenced by murder or exile. The Tonton Macoute, Duvalier’s secret police, came into being at this time and it is estimated that over 50,000 Haitians were killed during Duvalier’s fourteen year rule.
Duvalier was succeeded by his son, Jean Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier in 1971 and over the next fifteen years conditions in Haiti worsened. By 1985, 81 percent of the Haitian population lived in poverty while Baby Doc squandered almost 600 million dollars meant for aid to Haiti. He was disposed in 1986 by the Haitian military.
Jean Bertrand Aristide, a Catholic priest, was Haiti’s first democratically elected president in an election held on December 16, 1990. Under his administration, the flood of Haitians leaving Haiti by boat, ceased, and violence decreased dramatically. Only nine months after his elections Aristide was ousted by a military coup in September, 1991. In October of 1994, Aristide was returned to power to serve out his term as president.
Religious Influence
Haiti’s official religion is Catholicism, although about 13 percent of the people are Protestant. The Catholics, mostly through French, Belgian Canadian and American priests, have done much to advance education in Haiti. It is often said that Haiti’s people are 80 percent Catholic and 100 percent Voodoo as most Haitian have some Voodoo beliefs. Voodoo, the folk religion of Haiti, is a mixture of Christian and African beliefs that incorporate religious rituals with black and white magic. For the Haitian, magic helps to balance the injustice in their world. Even the poor believe that the wicked can be punished by being turned into a zombie or loup garou (were wolf). Through voodoo, Haitians can serve their gods and celebrate life and eternity. Through magic, they can manipulate the world and make the gods their servants. Voodoo helps to bring relief to the suffering and turmoil of the Haitian peasant.
Methodism was accepted in Haiti in 1817, when President Petion asked the Methodists to establish a primary school in Port-au-Prince. There followed periods of persecution from hostile coalitions of government and Catholic clergy, especially after the signing of the Concordat with the Pope on March 28, 1860. Following the signing there was a popular upsurge of French culture and education through organized Catholic orders. When the Episcopal bishop from America visited Haiti in 1861, a presidential declaration was published stating that all religions have the same rights to tolerance and encouragement of the government. The government also proclaimed Sunday a holy day and prohibited markets on Sunday.
There were two marked periods of revival in the Methodist Church. The first period was by a mature local preacher, Sadrec Hippolyte, 1868-1871; the second by a youth, J. Charles Pressoir, 1880-1900. They emphasized the Holy Scripture and taught Christian doctrines. Many important families became Protestant at this time. The Rural Rehabilitation Center at Jeremie and an agricultural demonstration center at Petit Goave were established by the Methodists in the 1950s.
Bird College is named for the British Methodist missionary Mark Baker Bird, who directed the mission over a span of forty years. It has classes from kindergarten through junior college in one section, and a center for teaching and technical studies in another section. The Methodist Church also coordinates the Protestant and government agencies to teach adults to read Creole.
In a broad, country-wide expansion, the Baptists were very active through preaching evangelist and ordained pastors. The works of Baptists were so far-reaching and intense that the designation Baptist is almost synonymous with any Bible-preaching Protestant, regardless of denomination. For that reason it is almost true that there are two categories of Christians in Haiti, Catholics and Baptists. The popularity of the term Baptist for the Protestant proselyte in Haiti became current just prior to the turn of the twentieth century. At that time a series of Baptist churches were founded across northern Haiti by Elie Marc, a Frenchman by birth. He had become a Protestant in New England where he received his theological education in a Baptist seminary, before operating a branch for ministerial training in France. He later went to Haiti to devote his life to missionary work. On December 1, 1929, Elie Marc’s son, Reuben Emile Marc, after receiving his higher education from his father’s alma mater began 40 years of ministry in Port-au-Prince.
About 20 percent of Haitians belong to the Protestant churches. These approximately 700,000 Protestants are divided between 40 denominations and church groups aligned with interdenominational foreign missionary work. In descending order of size, the five main groups are Baptists with about 295,000 members, the Pentecostals with approximately 168,000 members, the Adventists with about 50,000, the Wesleyans, including the historical Methodist, with about 45,000 and the Episcopal with about 38,200.
The Protestant Mission is very active in educational work in elementary, secondary, and teaching and vocational schools, in theological training institutions, in adult literacy and cultural training classes. They are also involved in medical work in dispensary and hospital services, public health instruction and preventative medicine, nurse training, maternity and child care centers and family planning assistance. In addition they are involved in technical work such as rural rehabilitation and demonstration centers, and social work at orphanages, rest homes for the aged, and community development programs.
FOR THE VISITOR TO HAITI
Dress
For women, light-weight or cotton skirts and blouses or dresses are best in the city. For men, casual clothes should be included with work clothes. T-shirts and shorts are fine for the mountains and a light weight sweater or sweatshirt is recommended for the sometimes cool nights. Plan on a hat or bandanna in the sun. Sandals and sneakers are adequate for footwear.
Miscellaneous Information
1.Cameras. Be discreet when taking pictures in the city. People often demand money in return for allowing you to take their picture. Although most village people like having their picture taken, always ask first. The villagers appreciate any copies you may send later. Take sufficient film, as it is quite expensive in Haiti.
2.Shopping. Every town and village has market places. Beware of high pressure vendors. Seldom do they expect you to take the first price. Try to bargain, but not too much.
3.Beggars. Many are professionals. Women have been known to rent or borrow children to beg for them. You can show your compassion without given them money.
4.Food. Don’t buy or eat food cooked on the streets. Unpeeled fruit is okay but wash the fruit before you eat it. Do not drink any water unless it has been filtered. Bottled soft drinks are fine.
5.Requirements for entry and customs regulations. A valid passport, proof of citizenship (birth certificate, voters registration card, naturalization papers), and a round-trip ticket for a stay of up to 30 days are required.
6.Airport information. Port-au-Prince Airport is eight miles from the city center. The taxi fare is $10 U.S. for up to five passengers.
7.Mail. Mailboxes are in the post office and some random stores.
8.Telephone / Internet. Local calls cost 10 centimes. Useful numbers in Port-au-Prince are:
a)Airport Information 2-3913
b)Tourist Office 2-1729
c)Operator, Directories and Emergencies 0
d)Overseas Operator 09
Calls should be limited to emergencies as it can be difficult making and receiving calls. Internet service is sporadic; found mainly on campuses and in some hotels and libraries.
9.Electricity. 110 volts, 60 cycles AC.
10.Conduct. Be ready to give the first smile and the first “Bonjour.” See how Haitians open up to you. They are quick to read the atmosphere of your person whether you have a genuine respect for them and interest in them. Do not discuss finances, government, or politics.
Exposure to Haiti
Exposure to the world’s heartache may cause you to feel the same as Bob Pierce, who said, “Let my heart be broken with the things that breaks the heart of God.” It’s possible that as you are exposed to Haiti your heart will be broken and challenged with a new sense of urgency to make a difference. Perhaps this experience will help you to find your place in the world. Your trip, although brief, will make such an impression upon you that your life will never be quite the same.
Information furnished thanks to Ron Sweeten