March 1, 2004

Dear Everybody:

I just received an e-mail from a friend that understandably said “we need an update”, so I’m obliging. It has been a really tense week since my last letter.

On the day of my last update, rebels took over Haiti’s second largest city, Cap Haitien in the north. They continued to take over cities throughout the week and another previously unknown rebel group took over Aux Cayes, Haiti’s third largest city in the far south. Panic eventually overcame the pro-Aristide armed gang in Port au Prince and all kinds of robbery, looting and killing then ensued in the capital. Apparently various car dealerships have had all of their vehicles stolen and the port of Port au Prince is a total mess. Aristide waited until Sunday morning to flee the country and the last I heard he is in Africa somewhere.

It is hard for me to know how most Haitian people feel about Aristide leaving, but there is a sense of great frustration. Many Haitians had pinned great hopes on him for bringing some kind of change to Haiti. The feeling that seems to predominate now is one of hopelessness. I don’t think anybody believes that Haiti will henceforth be a stable, democratic country because the pattern of government serving its own self interests has been in operation without exception for the entirety of Haiti’s history.

We are fortunate to be in one of Haiti’s few calm spots. We have had telephone service throughout the troubles and we have still been getting some electricity at night. Even though we are in a relatively calm area, we still made plans to leave because if Aristide had somehow held out for a month or more the country would have gotten very hungry and desperate, and anybody with food or money could have become a target. Leaving by airplane became impossible when the Port au Prince airport shut down. We were planning to leave today on a boat belonging to David Vanderflier, a Canadian missionary we know who works in the south of Haiti. Yesterday though we changed our minds after Aristide left and international troops planned to arrive. A short time after Aristide left some frightened government people tried to hijack David’s boat to try to flee Haiti but they failed and David and his family escaped unscathed, if a little shaken. Last time I spoke to David he was also planning to stay in Haiti but he is understandably nervous.

Most Haitians aren’t looters or armed gunmen and they would like to see their country develop. I think most people will welcome the international troops to come here and bring security to the country. An example of what the recent chaos has brought occurred on Thursday. A thief was caught down the road stealing three cows. The newly formed community patrol caught the thief and burned him to death on the road. I talked to some friends about it and asked why they didn’t put him in prison. That was a dumb question because most of the prisoners in Haiti have been freed by various rebel groups and the prisons aren’t legitimate institutions at the best of times. When I thought about the situation a bit harder I asked why they didn’t remove the thief’s hand like they used to do in various other countries. I think hand removal would be a more humane method to discourage theft, but for now burning to death is the preferred method. In more stable eras, thieves in Haiti were treated far more humanely. When stability returns, police start doing their jobs and prisoners stop being released en masse into the public, perhaps Haiti can have security and justice in some form.

I have one reflection about the current problems in Haiti. To a large extent, life continues as usual throughout political troubles. People still greet each other warmly in the street and still sell their produce in the market. I have taken advantage of the relative calm in our area to introduce myself to various communities and talk to them about our well drilling project. Without exception, I have received a warm welcome and in most places the communities have come together, formed water committees and started talking about how they can take care of a well if we come to drill one in their zone. Even during political turmoil, women and children throughout Haiti still carry their water a long distance on their heads from whatever source they can find.

Clean Water for Haiti received some very good publicity recently when CBC radio played documentary show based on interviews with Tal Woolsey (Bob Rouge) the mission founder. Here is the link if you want to listen to it over the internet: http://www.cbc.ca/haiti Select Sounds Like Canada, then select Bob Rouge. I have yet to hear the show, but I have been told it’s quite good.

I’m going to keep this update short because there will probably be a lot more news to write about again in a short while.

Blessings, Chris Rolling