He's with the guy with the white beard

It's been a different week this past week. And the week before, in a different way.

I'll start with last last week, which is when Bn, who's the president of the foundation, came to Haiti. He's also S's dad. And both S and R anticipated his coming with a mixture of 1) gladness, since S wanted to see her dad, and R really likes and respects him, 2) relief, since there were some big things going on that he needed to be apprised of and make decisions about, and 3) expectation that we would be going at a much faster pace, since they expected him to be a mover, a shaker, someone who gets a lot done and pushes those around him to get a lot done.

And yes, it was. Bn's trip was a week, and it was an intense week. He's a big guy, in his 50's or 60's, with a large white beard. (R said that at some orphanages, kids will just start calling him "Papa Noel" which is Father Christmas, or Santa Claus.)

Bn has been to Haiti many times before the earthquake, and shortly after it, he was here for something on the order of 6 weeks. So he knew almost everyone that I'd been meeting and getting to know during the time I've been here, and he knew them far better than I did.

A few days before he arrived, S had been feeling sick with some gastro-intestinal malady. So that Sun morning, R got a list of her symptoms, and we drove to MOH to see if we could ask Dr. M about her condition, and see if she could give us something to help her. We got there, found Dr. M, and she was willing to do even more than we asked: she wanted to come and see S and examine her personally (basically, she wanted to make a housecall). And MOH, remember, is more than an hour away from the house.

But Bn's flight was arriving that afternoon. So she gathered some medicines, then came with R and me to the airport to pick up Bn. We got there, and he was waiting by the side of the road with a single carry-on. R greeted him, gave him a hug, and then asked "Do you want to drive?"

Now mind you, we knew that Bn had left his house around 5 or 6 am that morning, been on something like 3 different flights to get to Port Au Prince, and it was around 4 pm when we saw him. So I thought it was a joke.

But no. We put his carry-on in the back, he takes the keys, and the rest of us climb in and he drives to the house. (Through the streets of Port Au Prince, which are slightly less crazy than usual because it's Sunday afternoon.)

We get to the house, we all see S, who's in bed, greetings are exchanged, Dr. M examines S and tells her which pills to take, and then Bn puts his stuff in one of the rooms. Bn enters the room, and says, "let's add prayer to the treatment here." He kneels by the side of the bed where his daughter is lying, and we all pray for a bit.

We then talk for a little longer, then Bn and I drive Dr. M back, while R stays with S. It's about 5 or 6 in the evening.

The entire hour plus trip to MOH, Bn and Dr. M talk about what's been happening since he left, and how people are doing, and who's doing what. We get there, and BJ, the president of MOH is around and says hi. Conversation ensues between Bn and BJ. They arrange to talk at greater length on Tues. I follow Bn as he checks on D and J, to see if they're around and awake, but they're not. Then Bn wants to check on a fence that he's helping to put up on MOH's campus. We drive around MOH checking on the fence. Then Bn wants to check on C and S, 2 guys that Bn sent to Haiti to help MOH put up the fence and some buildings. We find people who know where they're staying, so we drive there, and Bn talks with C and S for a while.

It's around 10 pm, and I'm fairly tired at this point. But Bn is indeed a dynamo, and talks most of the way back to the house.

Side note: during the drive, we're on National 1, the main freeway in Haiti that connects the northern parts with Port Au Prince and the southern parts, presumably. Bn tells me that he heard that when we drive that road at night (and really most roads in Haiti at night), we should not stop for anyone. The reason is that there are stories that some Haitians deliberately pretend to be in distress on the road, try to flag down expat drivers passing by, and then kidnap them and/or rob them. Realize, too, that it's a lot easier to try to flag a passing motorist here because of the many large and deep potholes in the roads here, and the many many unpaved roads here.

Anyway, we get home around 11 or so, and then Bn helps pour some gasoline in the generator, and checks it out, starts the generator, and we all go to sleep.

So that's kind of what Bn is like. Lots of energy, is very comfortable speaking his mind, and also listening to what others say, prays over a lot of things that I would take for granted. Willing to extend an already long day to reconnect and renew relationships with people he hasn't seen in a month.

Later that week, we do a bunch of stuff.

Bn meets various people at MOH to talk about a possible project to build homes for folks who lost their homes in the earthquake. We check out a similar sort of project that Habitat for Humanity has been doing for some time in Haiti.

We check out a possible site for the homes. Bn also explores a small river that flows out of the mountains to the sea (possible hydroelectric project?)

We visit 2 orphanages, one really poor (basically, some tarps set up in a clearing, some benches and chairs, a cooking area, some tents, and one woman who runs it). The other is pretty well off--this one run by expats, with Haitian staff and expat volunteers. They mananged to get about half their kids abroad after the earthquake, into the homes of adoptive parents in the U.S., Canada, France, and some other countries.

It's also determined during the week that S will go with her dad back to the U.S. R was already scheduled to go (she'd already planned a trip to Asia on business for somoe time). So that left me as the only expat, here to hold the fort and get stuff done with the Haitian staff.

And so, that's been this past week. The plan is for Bn and S to come back after 2 weeks in the U.S., so we'll see how I hold up.

More on this past week in the next post. But for now, one of the funny things that happened the week after Bn left was that I drove to MOH with By (a Haitian staff worker who translates, among other things, for us).

The MOH campus is surrounded by a wall on the side facing the road. Within the wall are two gates (1 is a side gates manned only until 3:30 each afternoon). Each gate has security guys with big guns (either rifles or shotguns, don't remember). This is not unusual at all, as I mentioned in a previous post.

In any case, I drove up in a gray rental car (regular, 4 doors, sedan type). Usually when we've gone in the past, someone's driving the blue Nissan X-Terra (SUV). But that car is a manual transmission vehicle, and I don't know how to drive stick. So the gray rental for me.

The guard at the gate doesn't recognize the car, and apparently doesn't recognize me. So instead of opening the gate, he walks up to the car. I lower the window, and By leans over and says something in Haitian to the guy. The guard recognizes By, says a quick reply, then walks back to the gate to open it.

As we drive in, By tells me that what he said to the guard was: "He's with the guy with the white beard."

And that was enough to get me in. By explains that the guard probably doesn't know the name of the foundation I'm working for, probably doesn't know the names of any of my coworkers. But he knows that the guy with the white beard has been approved by the management. And now that he's told them that I'm with that guy, I'm ok, too.