Haitian Dining
There is one food group in Haiti: STARCH. You may think that starch can consist of whole grains, flour, potatoes, rice, some vegetables perhaps, pasta etc. You may even think, gosh, I love starch that sounds like a great excuse to be off my Atkins diet. Well it is not so great, let me tell you. Here is a sample dinner experience, and it is very representative of a typical lunch OR dinner.
The dinner bell is rung by Se Julliana, meaning everyone needs to come into the community dining room. We stand behind our chairs until most people show up, and then we sing a prayer, it goes as follows:
Then everyone takes their plate, and turns around to the “buffet” style set up and this is the spread: spaghetti with oil, rice with beans, white wonder bread, and a hotdog. LOL who eats pasta and rice in one sitting? The Haitians do, and they also like putting ketchup on the whole mess, mixing in a hotdog, and then using the bread to scoop it up.
Rice and beans are served at every meal, sometimes just the rice actually. This is very tasty, and the seasoning used is very good, however this is not healthy at all. I have been on a no carbohydrate diet for almost 8 months, and this is KILLING me. Ok, I’m being dramatic, but you can only eat rice and beans, pasta, and white bread so much.

I also lied about there only being one food group in Haiti, there is one more: FAT. Haitians looooove fried food, and everything that is served warm is fried in oil. Everything is fried: chicken, plantains, okra, onions, potatoes. They also add oil to everything because they think they need the extra calories. Oil is added to tomato sauce, rice, eggs, spaghetti, even hot spiced chocolate that is sometimes served for breakfast. The amount of fried breading on certain things that could be healthy negates any nutritional value or the food item. For example, dinner last night consisted of fried okra (chopped up okra pieces mixed with breading and then fried), fried plantains, fried chicken, boiled cabbage, and coleslaw mixed with habenaro peppers, pikles. Because the fried food is cheaper and tastier according to some, that is the “main course”, the non fried food was supplemental so its hard to make a complete meal out of the healthy stuff. Needless to say, you feel greasy and sluggish after eating that stuff.

Favorite condiments for the Haitians consist of sugar, ketchup, Louisiana hot sauce, and mayonnaise. Now the latter deserves some attention, as there is no system of refrigeration here. I really just don’t want to think about it. When cold veggies are served, like carrots, beets, and potatoes, they are mixed with a nice thick layer of mayo. It is so nasty. There truly is no alternative, as we are not allowed to make our own food, and the concept of made to order is not something they “do” here.

Snacks sold on the street consist of fried banana chips, beignets (doughnuts), and some other interesting looking concoctions which I have begun to try slowly. After eating food prepared at the market (risky I know), you have to wait overnight to see how your body can "handle it" so to speak. Thus far, Haitian food 2, Erin 1. A more safe choice are the numerous candies and packaged crackers and shortbread cookies. If you would like straight suger in a more healthy from, you can opt for picking a mango off the tree as a snack. The mangos are sooooo good, as are the sweet green bananas.

Haitian Shopping

The formal economic sector in Haiti is virtually non-existent. The only stores I have seen are in the bourgeoisie neighborhood (known as Pettionvile) in Port au Prince. These were mostly clothing boutiques that sold French haute couture, some coffee shops, and internet cafes. There are also small “mini-marts” in the lobby of the Total gas stations. The economy consists of market women, or ti machen. Food, clothes, drinks, soap, shoes, toothpaste, and small household items are sold by the side of the road by these women. Occasionally men will sell items too, or walk around selling mini packets of potable water or fried snacks. The same items are available at nearly every market stand, and the brands are all the same too. It is repetitive and odd compared to the number of choices we have in the States, but the simplicity is actually relaxing. You don’t have to agonize over what one out of 20 different types of toothpaste to buy, you just buy Aim and that’s the end of the story.
The hard thing to get used to is the lack of food choices, and how the food is kept before it is sold. There is no electricity, so raw chicken and fish are not refrigerated. Consequently they lay out in the sun or if you’re lucky under an umbrella before they are sold. They aren’t covered either, so flies and debris get all over them. All rice comes in 15 or 20 pound bags marked with the American flag and are piled up on street corners before they are sold. I feel bad for the people who buy the bags on the bottom on the pile because the streets may be wet or covered in wet trash that will seep into the bag. At the visitor center, we raise and kill our own chickens so at least the need for refrigeration is somewhat skipped over, but the rice and beans are laid on the ground to dry before being prepared (God made dirt, and dirt don’t hurt is my new motto).
I had my first Haitian shopping experience on Saturday at the market in Ton Gato (literally translated into Tomb Cake). This market comes every Wednesday and Saturday to this area, which is about a 45 hike from the visitor center. I learned how to negotiate prices by saying Kombyen pou ca? Ca trowp! Kombyen pou blan, no? (How much is that? So expensive! It’s the white person price, right?) After managing to not get completely ripped off, I purchased a yellow plastic bowl and a pineapple, papaya, and apricot (not really an apricot, I don’t actually know what it is) to put in the bowl. I also bought a New York baseball cap. I then proceeded to carry the items in the bowl on top of my head as the Haitian women do, but I sucked. I’m looking forward to Wednesday, so I can have another shopping trip.

Haitian Fashion
The Haitians are generally well dressed. Typical garb for kids are dresses for the little girls, which can range from a regular cotton sundress to something that may be considered play “dress up clothes”. The little boys wear shorts and tee-shirts. Older girls and women are usually dressed up more, wearing tights skirts, tank-tops, and nice blouses (everything is tight). I’m shocked by how tight their skirts are, because walking up the steep paths would be impossible in my opinion if I couldn’t get a good wide stride going. Perhaps more shocking is the number of women who wear high heels with their skirts AND walk up the mountain. The heels are stilettos, but still, I would break an ankle. Flower print anything is popular, and asymmetrical cuts are popular too, i.e skirts with a diagonal hem.
Older men generally wear collared shirts and polos, tee-shirts only if they are very poor. Almost always men wear pants despite the heat, only the poorer men wear shorts. The young men are very posh, their style being most similar to American fashion. They always look nice, wearing boot-cut dark wash jeans and polished square toed dress shoes (think Kanye West). Black, red, and blue are the choice colors for their polos (collars are always popped, I love it) and nice tee-shirts that usually say “New York”.

A lot of the tee shirts you see are discarded American clothes from sports teams that didn’t win the Super Bowl, or high school track and field team shirts. I also saw a FBI (Federal Booty Inspector) shirt, and a high school age kid wearing an “I Love Soccer Moms” shirt, lol. Wearing shower caps or plastic aprons as an everyday item also seems popular, even if it isn’t raining.
Hairstyles on men and women are short. Women have braids and cornrows, or just a simple bun at the base of their neck. Young girls will wear longer hair tied in barrettes or decorated with ribbons, but no one over the age of 12 has that look. Old women cover their heads in bandannas or colorful scarves.

Overall, Haitians are dressed to the nines more so than I expected, and I’m usually underdressed. They think it is strange that American who live/visit here wear camping type clothes (i.e shorts, tee-shirts, and loose fitting pants).

Haiti Update

Things are going well for me in Haiti right now. I took some time to set my room up, and make my space a little more comfortable. I have books and our project folders lined up on my desk, clothes hanging, and on the top bunk of my bed I’ve organized other clothes and stuff needed for showers etc. The water was running today, which may account for why I’m in such a good mood! I also went to the mache a (market) with two other volunteers, Kerry and Meredith. Kerry taught me how to negotiate prices in Creole, and how to pick ripe mangos, pineapples, and papayas out. I also tried this starchy, biscuit-like snack made from cassava root and ground spices which was very yummy and cost about 5 cents. It was a nice 50 min hike/walk to the market, so I got some exercise too. I tried putting all the fruit into a big yellow bowl I also bought and balancing it on my head for the walk home like the Haitians do, but I sucked at it. I settled on balancing it on my shoulder instead.
Tomorrow is Sunday, so Mike and I will be going to leglize in the Pepto-Bismal building (aka very pink church). Another long term volunteer, Meredith, is going with us. He warned us that church services last for about 2 hours or more, so he will instruct us as to where to sit so we can make a swift exist after communion. 200 people + 80 degrees= Erin leaves church ASAP.
Mike and I have been doing meetings and having conversations with APF members, and things are looking good for us now! Although people are enthusiastic in talking with us, it is slow going because we don’t speak Creole, yet. Our “official” lessons start Monday at 2. Many, many Haitian men are interested in giving me Creole lessons however, so I have been learning a bit more than Mike, lol. We have created a work schedule this week that mostly revolves around doing interviews with teachers and students at St. Antoine school via translator Maurice. The dinner bell is ringing now, bye bye to all

Bon Soir Tout Monde!

I am here, in Fondwa. Things are as I expected, and I'm still adjusting (to chickens and pigs running around and no electricity being the big differences among many). Today I went to St, Antoine school and helped the 1-3 grade kids make paper bag hand puppets, and did some data collection interviews for my project. It was great, the kids were fun, and taught me some Creole (I am blan (white) hahahaha).
Mike and I had a good meeting with local APF managers and I'm very excited about the future of the project. I also learned I will be havuing Creole lessons three times a week with our translators!
The future is bright, and I made friends with a Cuban who gives me rum...

A bien tot

Found this blog with some good pics of Fondwa and the visitor center where we are staying! The comments are interesting, the man seems to have a lot to say without explaining how he gathered his information on the projects and what criteria he used to make his value judgements. That reinforced in my mind why standardization and transparency is very important for us in this project. Check out the link: http://www.galenfrysinger.com/fondwa,_haiti.htm

Countdown

Ok, so it's exactly one week until we are on the ground in Port au Prince. I'm mostly packed, but still doing some shopping. Also got to very briefly meet Sister Carmel and Father Phillip, who seemed nice enough... only time will tell otherwise.
Nothing very important to say now, so check back closer to D-Day!