Looking for Some Relief

Haiti Family Inititative

Jacmel, Haiti

Sunday, July 14, 2013 - I am alone at the moment, in Haiti, in a boarding house. For $50/week, I have a room, a shared bathroom and a meal a day. There is no air conditioning but there is a floor fan right next to my bed. The electricity is controlled by the government and runs from 2PM to 4 AM only.  That means that my inadequate fan dies promptly at 4AM with a click that wakes me up and fills me with dread.  My dark room, with its closed window to prevent a mosquito invasion, now becomes an oven.  The mosquito net now becomes one more barrier to any cool relief.

I step out in the dark hallway, and feel a cool breeze from somewhere. So I go back to my room and find something to prop open the door.  A bag of beans crammed at the doorway allows just enough of a breeze to sneak in and offer some relief.

I finally fall asleep again but the roosters start to announce a new day.  They call back and forth to each other for the better part of an hour.  Now the household is up and moving.  I hear someone scurry pass my door and head to the bathroom.  The bath water has arrived.  I get up and think to myself, “This is going to be a long two weeks.”