When we pulled into the schoolyard, I could hear the children singing (they might have been singing the alphabet in French; it sounded like a learning song). They were very organized, and disciplined, as they came out of their classrooms and queued up in front of us.

They sang some more songs and the local “head of the chamber of commerce" (no one really knows what this guy's job is) gave them a rousing pep talk about drinking clean water and staying in school.

We set up our simple water filtration system which was an inline water filter (good for 1,000,000 liters of H2O) on a hose connected to a 5-gallon ACE Hardware pail. It's a mighty simple gravity-fed system, but enough to keep giardia (and their parasitic brethren) out of the water. Now if the children just had clean cups to drink from, a place to store their cups, filtered water at home, ...

The children screamed "Merci!" (with the Chamber guy's encouragement).

I spent time talking with two UN soldiers from Argentina. They wore side arms and one of them was carrying a 12 gauge shotgun (with additional shells attached to the butt of the gun). Their task today is to check in on five mountainous schools, but they couldn't find the fifth. Talking to the locals, it didn't sound like there was another school. These soldiers were on foot, deep in the mountains. The conditions were hot, dry, and difficult.

Lots of the kids held out their hands to us and pointed to their stomachs: the international sign that they wanted food. I sat down with a small group of children and said, “Je suis Steve" They giggled and told me their names.

Visiting Jean-Remy Antoine's Village

Yesterday, after working in the clinic, Jean-Remy told me he wanted to talk to me. With Alexandre as our interpreter, Jean-Remy explained that he was trying to get through medical school in the Dominican Republic, but that he needed money. (You don't need to be in Haiti long before someone asks for money.) Jean-Remy showed me his now-faded university transcripts from two years ago and explained his situation. I couldn't tell if everything was legit or if his plea for funding was like the Nigeria email scams (a cynical gringo here). To help me understand the bigger picture, I asked Jean-Remy if I could go to his house. So today, after returning from the mountains, I went to the hospital and told him I'd like to meet his family and see his house.

The taxi ride

The "taxi" ride costs $0.25, but unfortunately, we couldn't get change for my $1 bill. We ended up giving the driver the whole dollar and receiving insufficient change, although the short change did buy us a ride in the front seat. I'd never seen a Blanc in one of these taxis. From the looks I received, I'm not sure the locals had either.

Jean-Remy and I walked through the marketplace of his small village. It was filled with trash (environmental consciousness seems to only be a cause of the wealthy). Everyone stared at me. A few people asked for money. A couple of people ran up, put their arms over my shoulder, and wanted Jean-Remy to take a picture of us.

People were selling various items in the marketplace, from tomatoes and garlic to DVDs (I'm unsure where they get power to watch the DVDs).

I took a lot of photos, mostly by shooting from my hip so I wouldn't draw additional attention. There is a rumor amongst some of the Haitian people that Blancs sell the photos in the USA and make a lot of money, so some Haitians want to get paid if you take their photo.

As you can see in these photos, Jean-Remy's town is poor (as is all of Haiti). Dirt poor. It looked like pictures from Africa. And man I felt white!

Jean-Remy took me to a "technology school" that he and a friend were trying to run. Jean-Remy had an attendance roster of students and several computers. However, they no longer had any electricity and were unable to keep the school open. It is a shame it costs so much to ship anything to Haiti (a 10-pound box costs $150) or I'd ship him a generator.

Next, we went to his house. I took family photos and let them look at themselves on my camera. It was pretty exciting for them. But what they really liked was seeing Jean-Remy at work. I don't think his mom had never seen him with a stethoscope at work.

Returning on the taxi was equally adventurous (they again had the Blanc ride in the cab). I don't think this taxi would pass any state's safety inspection, but it did get me "home."

Of all my experiences during my short time in Haiti, the visit to Jean-Remy's village was the most memorable. It gave me a peek into what it's really like to grow up in rural Haiti. And oh how we take our lives for granted! It's easy for us, and for me, to think that our life's comforts and possessions are the result of our hard work, but look at where we started. I think that if most of us started where these people start, living in dirt and scrounging for daily food, well, even with hard work, we'd still be living in dirt and scrounging for food.

As of 2013, I'm still in contact with Jean-Remy and sending him money each month to help pay for his university tuition in the Dominican Republic. [A rare update to this journal: In 2023, Jean-Remy, aka Antoine, graduated from medical school. I've been supporting him and his family since I visited Haiti. I flew to the Dominican Republic to celebrate his graduation.]