I’ll write more later but just to let you know that we ARE back to school today. Marly went downtown to his office too. So, we’re praying that today there will be more calmness restored to the country. There should be some decisions regarding appointing a new Prime Minister too. Later
Well, I finally went out today. Unfortunantly it wasn’t for great reasons. A fellow missionary from church called crying and said that she thought she was having a miscarriage. They haven’t been in Haiti long and she didn’t know a doctor etc. Since she knew I had given birth to Joey here she thought I could suggest a doctor. I called my doctor at home on his cell home and he said that he was planning to open his office today. So, I went with her and my sweet doctor told her that she did lose the baby. I’m sorry for their loss.
We are relieved that things seems much calmer on the streets today. People and vehicles are moving about and businesses are open. I was happy to finally go to the grocery store.
The big news today is that the Prime Minister was fired. The people were demanding that as a solution to our problems. I don’t know what that will fix but I just hope it will calm down some of the anger.
Last nite on the news, the mayor of Delmas, our neighborhood said that 60 businesses had been broken into in just a few blocks area. They say 30 gas stations were attacked. We don’t have gas yet and Marly wants to keep what we have to get to church tomorrow.
Our school got a new Vonage phone, some computer based thing that I don’t understand. I was thrilled that I got to call my parents yesterday for FREE! It was so good to hear their voices. I won’t write again until Monday. Please keep praying for our dear little country.
Things seems calmer today. I should have said that I won’t necessarily write every day. I only have internet access from school so evenings and weekends I won’t write. We just went three days without electricity. The good news though is that some grocery stores are open. Since we usually go to the store twice a day (in the morning to buy what we’ll eat that day) and at night to buy what we’ll have for breakfast, it’s been a bit tough to not be able to go to the store. We do have a little ’shop’ in our neighborhood (hard to describe without you seeing it) that sells a few staples so that’s what tided us over. Don’t tell my mom that the only thing we had left for breakfast yesterday was warm coke and cake. It actually wasn’t bad! We had run out of gaz for the store and water but got both yesterday too. We’re running out of cash though. We don’t have enough gas in the truck to make it far so we need to wait to see which gas stations still remain open. We heard that at one gas station, the mob literally yanked the pumps themselves out of the ground. I’m not looking forward to venturing out to see all the damaged places as I’m sure it will be depressing. The gossip now is businesses will slowly open back up and people will start to dare to go out again but what people are really waiting for now is if the Prime Minister would resign. For me, I don’t know what it would take to get us out of this crisis but I guess I would try a few things just to see if it would calm the crowds down some.
Today Marly and the boys played legos while I attacked cleaning Sammy’s room. You know how it goes with a toddler, I put something away and Joey goes to take it back out again. I’ll come in to write if things get dramatically worse or better. later, Lauri
This is one of the better articles, I’ve seen discussing the President’s speech. It’s a bit long, so skim your way through it.
President’s speech calms Haiti protests, for now
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
On
the streets of Belair, a poor neighborhood that once championed Haitian
President René Préval, young men played dominoes, kids kicked around a
soccer ball and neighbors chatted in front of their houses Wednesday as
if it were a holiday. In Delmas, street vendors reopened for business
while the scent of burned rubber from blazing barricades still hung
heavy in the air.And around the National Palace on the Champ de Mars
plaza, Brazilian peacekeepers patrolled the perimeters while protesters
and nonprotesters sat side-by-side on park benches, reflecting on the
day’s events.Hours after Préval delivered a long-anticipated
address on national television, a sense of calm appeared to be
returning to Haiti’s capital. But the lack of immediate relief for
hungry Haitians fanned fears that protests would soon pick up again.Préval
announced fertilizer subsidies for farmers to boost national production
and a government plan to promote the production of eggs, chicken and
rice. He dismissed calls for ”easy economics,” saying the
impoverished country could not afford to remove taxes on imported basic
food staples. And he called for reason and solidarity, asking the
affluent — including government workers — to share their wealth with
the impoverished.”I understand your problems and your
despair,” said Préval, casually dressed in a buttoned-up blue Polo
shirt as he spoke on state-owned television. “I offer you sustainable
solutions . . . the road to national production and consuming national
products. But first of all, we need to get back on the road of peace
and work together.”Some in Haiti and South Florida agreed with Préval’s
assessment and urged quick action.”We
in the Diaspora are very concerned — we still have family down
there,” said Miami-based Haitian radio commentator Herntz Phanord.
“Everybody is suffering, except for a few families. It’s not fair.”NO
IMMEDIATE RELIEFPhanord said the private sector hasn’t done enough to bring in
goods or lower food prices to help the poor.In
Belair, Evens Henry, 21, said: “It’s not all about jumping up and down
breaking stuff. We have to get to work. If we get to work, we will have
food.”In his half-hour address to the population, Préval at
times aimed his words directly at looters, who earlier in the day
ransacked more gas stations, banks and government buildings. During the
speech, the sounds of U.N. peacekeepers firing rubber bullets to
disperse crowds peppered the background.”I order you to stop,”
Préval told the looters. “The police cannot accept violence, and the
people will not accept violence.””To the people of Haiti who are
demonstrating, who are suffering, I ask you to go home,” Préval pleaded.As
word spread around Port-au-Prince about Préval’s speech, residents said
tensions dissipated. But even though the demonstrations ended Wednesday
afternoon, it did not mean there was widespread satisfaction with
Préval’s message, several added.”Nothing has stopped. The cost
of living has not gone down. So the demonstrations have not stopped,”
said Sadrac Jean-Dupain, one of the thousands who stormed the streets
of the capital for a third consecutive day Wednesday morning.Equally
unimpressed with the president’s address was Louines Durandis, 56, an
unemployed father of seven. Durandis said that while he credits Préval
for pushing national production in a country that has become highly
dependent on imported food, the lack of concrete measures by the
president made his address nothing but talk.He had hoped Préval
would announce a two- to three-month reprieve on customs duties on
basic food staples being imported into Haiti. When that did not happen,
Durandis said, he became fearful protesters retreated only temporarily
to “reflect and strategize.”PAYING THE PRICE”Subsidizing
imported goods is not the solution,” Préval told the people. “Today,
we are paying the price for more than 20 years of bad political
decisions. I’d rather today, we subsidize national production.”Both
Préval supporters and critics voiced discontent at the lack of
immediate action coming out of his speech. Many said it was long
overdue and did not go far enough to quell the demands of protesters
who have been calling for Préval’s government to resign.”It was
time for him to speak about national production, but he did not speak
about what he is going to do about tomorrow,” said Pierre Leger,
President of the Chamber of Commerce for the Southern Department, where
protests first erupted last week.A one-time friend who has
become one of Préval’s harshest critics, Leger long warned Préval about
the impending social explosions, as did others.But the president
has shown an aversion to pressure. Even after Parliament called his
prime minister, Jacques-Edouard Alexis, for a vote of confidence in
February, and after warnings, Préval did not speak to the nation about
the challenges his government was facing.When he did address the
rising cost of food, he offered tongue-and-cheek responses such as a
now-famous admonition to Haitians: “If there is a protest against the
rising prices, come to get me at the palace and I will come demonstrate
with you.”His words came back to haunt him Tuesday when
protesters stormed the palace gates asking to see him, and U.N.
peacekeepers had to be called in.Special correspondent Jean-Cyril Pressoir and
Miami Herald staff writer Trenton Daniel contributed to this report.
This is one of the better articles, I’ve seen discussing the President’s speech. It’s a bit long, so skim your way through it.
President’s speech calms Haiti protests, for now
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
On
the streets of Belair, a poor neighborhood that once championed Haitian
President René Préval, young men played dominoes, kids kicked around a
soccer ball and neighbors chatted in front of their houses Wednesday as
if it were a holiday. In Delmas, street vendors reopened for business
while the scent of burned rubber from blazing barricades still hung
heavy in the air.And around the National Palace on the Champ de Mars
plaza, Brazilian peacekeepers patrolled the perimeters while protesters
and nonprotesters sat side-by-side on park benches, reflecting on the
day’s events.Hours after Préval delivered a long-anticipated
address on national television, a sense of calm appeared to be
returning to Haiti’s capital. But the lack of immediate relief for
hungry Haitians fanned fears that protests would soon pick up again.Préval
announced fertilizer subsidies for farmers to boost national production
and a government plan to promote the production of eggs, chicken and
rice. He dismissed calls for ”easy economics,” saying the
impoverished country could not afford to remove taxes on imported basic
food staples. And he called for reason and solidarity, asking the
affluent — including government workers — to share their wealth with
the impoverished.”I understand your problems and your
despair,” said Préval, casually dressed in a buttoned-up blue Polo
shirt as he spoke on state-owned television. “I offer you sustainable
solutions . . . the road to national production and consuming national
products. But first of all, we need to get back on the road of peace
and work together.”Some in Haiti and South Florida agreed with Préval’s
assessment and urged quick action.”We
in the Diaspora are very concerned — we still have family down
there,” said Miami-based Haitian radio commentator Herntz Phanord.
“Everybody is suffering, except for a few families. It’s not fair.”NO
IMMEDIATE RELIEFPhanord said the private sector hasn’t done enough to bring in
goods or lower food prices to help the poor.In
Belair, Evens Henry, 21, said: “It’s not all about jumping up and down
breaking stuff. We have to get to work. If we get to work, we will have
food.”In his half-hour address to the population, Préval at
times aimed his words directly at looters, who earlier in the day
ransacked more gas stations, banks and government buildings. During the
speech, the sounds of U.N. peacekeepers firing rubber bullets to
disperse crowds peppered the background.”I order you to stop,”
Préval told the looters. “The police cannot accept violence, and the
people will not accept violence.””To the people of Haiti who are
demonstrating, who are suffering, I ask you to go home,” Préval pleaded.As
word spread around Port-au-Prince about Préval’s speech, residents said
tensions dissipated. But even though the demonstrations ended Wednesday
afternoon, it did not mean there was widespread satisfaction with
Préval’s message, several added.”Nothing has stopped. The cost
of living has not gone down. So the demonstrations have not stopped,”
said Sadrac Jean-Dupain, one of the thousands who stormed the streets
of the capital for a third consecutive day Wednesday morning.Equally
unimpressed with the president’s address was Louines Durandis, 56, an
unemployed father of seven. Durandis said that while he credits Préval
for pushing national production in a country that has become highly
dependent on imported food, the lack of concrete measures by the
president made his address nothing but talk.He had hoped Préval
would announce a two- to three-month reprieve on customs duties on
basic food staples being imported into Haiti. When that did not happen,
Durandis said, he became fearful protesters retreated only temporarily
to “reflect and strategize.”PAYING THE PRICE”Subsidizing
imported goods is not the solution,” Préval told the people. “Today,
we are paying the price for more than 20 years of bad political
decisions. I’d rather today, we subsidize national production.”Both
Préval supporters and critics voiced discontent at the lack of
immediate action coming out of his speech. Many said it was long
overdue and did not go far enough to quell the demands of protesters
who have been calling for Préval’s government to resign.”It was
time for him to speak about national production, but he did not speak
about what he is going to do about tomorrow,” said Pierre Leger,
President of the Chamber of Commerce for the Southern Department, where
protests first erupted last week.A one-time friend who has
become one of Préval’s harshest critics, Leger long warned Préval about
the impending social explosions, as did others.But the president
has shown an aversion to pressure. Even after Parliament called his
prime minister, Jacques-Edouard Alexis, for a vote of confidence in
February, and after warnings, Préval did not speak to the nation about
the challenges his government was facing.When he did address the
rising cost of food, he offered tongue-and-cheek responses such as a
now-famous admonition to Haitians: “If there is a protest against the
rising prices, come to get me at the palace and I will come demonstrate
with you.”His words came back to haunt him Tuesday when
protesters stormed the palace gates asking to see him, and U.N.
peacekeepers had to be called in.Special correspondent Jean-Cyril Pressoir and
Miami Herald staff writer Trenton Daniel contributed to this report.
We’re relieved that today seems thing a bit more calm in Haiti. All businesses were still closed and there were very few vehicles on the streets but at least it wasn’t as violent as the last days. There were reports of burning tires, shooting, looting and other disorder on the streets especially downtown. We did run out of drinking water, cooking gaz and food but Marly went out and found the things we needed in some shops on side streets. I started picking up Sam’s bedroom today which is a huge, never ending project. Since I work full time, long days, it’s nice to have unplanned days at home to catch up a bit. I’ll come to school again tomorrow and write another post. Please keep praying for our dear country in such pain.
I’m at school right now and I can see they were burning tires right on the corner here. The people dumped over a huge garbage bin to block the street too. The only vehicles out are police and UN. We decided not to have school the rest of the week since we don’t know how things are going to be on the streets.
Since the weekend, we’ve had quite a bit of unrest in several parts of Haiti. It increased dramatically yesterday and today is worse. Yesterday almost all of our parents came to pick up their kids early from school. Several though, once here, felt like they didn’t feel safe to go back out on the streets again and so stayed in our closed compound with us. Directly across the street from our school on Delmas, a major street, a gas station/store was looted. It was awful to watch the huge crowd of people breaking in and stealing everything from inside. They even took the culligan water bottle, opened them, threw out the water and left with the bottles. I talked to someone who had his car windshield broken by rocks being thrown randomly. Our school was cancelled today and the President gave a short speech on TV. We’re still waiting to see the reaction to what he said (or didn’t say) to see how the streets will be tomorrow.