I learned a bit more about Richenord (pronounced nothing like it is spelled - you may know him as Little Brother...) yesterday when went to the beach. Turns out hey may not actually be an orphan - at least not in the typical sense. He does live permanently at the EMPACT house, but I got the impression that his mother is still alive. I think his domestic situation may be of a different sort.
Sunday was our "day off" from classes, and we had been scheduled for a beach day. Nicole and I were both a little bit on the fence about this, as it involved a two hour Tap-Tap ride in each direction, and our backsides were already quite sore (and still are). We decided to undertake the challenge, largely so we could see another part of Haiti. The beach was strange - a beach resort of sorts for super rich Haitians and foreigners. Of course, the entire drive TO the beach is nothing but slums and poverty. I'm glad we took the drive, but I'm not sure I would want to pay for the $15 dollar day pass again. For reference, here is the back of the Tap-Tap. Hard wooden benches over bumpy roads with bad suspension.
One of the more interesting things we passed was a new "village" being established by Haiti's President to "house" the homeless. Decent looking concrete structures - much like the rest of the housing in the city - but located smack in the middle of nowhere. As nice as it looked, I couldn't help but think we were watching the genesis of "a project," or simply the next slum.
Gotta run, but here is a picture showing a two dollar bag of mangoes. Be jealous!
That's all for now - back to the U.S. on Wednesday.
Cheers,
Nick
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