First contact and celebrity gossip

My last post triggered a number of responses expressing concern for my safety. I very much appreciate the sentiment, and safety and health are certainly things for which we appreciate your prayers.

But let me hasten to add that really, much of the Port-Au-Prince area is safe. Like any big city, there are "good" parts of town, upscale neighborhoods and such and there are bad parts of town. Also, there are areas that aren't safe at night, but that are fine during the day. We've been greatly blessed in having good staff/translators who have advised and directed us on safety issues. Without them, we probably would've gotten into a lot of trouble.

Another factor also is just the large number of expats around. The UN has a very strong presence here. And all sorts of NGO's are around, including the Red Cross (from various countries), USAID, and a host of others.

Side note: a lot of them have put their logo on the tarps and tents they've distributed, so as we drive by a tent city, you can see which NGO's have been particularly well represented on any stretch of road. There's also lots of tarps without any logo. So the logo on the tarp is kind of like corporate branding, but in the disaster relief context.

Anyway, I suspect that for some of the neighborhoods we've gone to, we're the first white people ("blancs") they've ever seen. And yes, for them, Asians are blancs, just like Europeans. And from a safety perspective, this makes them curious (rather than hostile or such. This tends to be more the case in the rural areas rather than the urban ones, though there are also many urban areas where this holds.

And we try to wave and smile as we pass by, especially when we go past kids. It's kind of heartwarming to see how often they respond by waving back at us, though it's also something I've become desensitized to.

Asians are far rarer than Europeans, and while they're both in the same "blanc" category, Haitians do recognize the differences. And, judging from the depth of the curiosity I see in some faces, I suspect I may be the first Asian face they've seen in person.

Though of course, they've watched tv and movies, and sometimes they point at me and say (either to themselves or others): "Jackie Chan!" If you've ever met me in person, you'll know that I look nothing like Jackie Chan aside from us both being East Asian. (Notwithstanding any wishes on my part for anything approaching his athleticism.)

For some reason, when S and R were here before me, they'd point at R (who is Asian), and kind of wonder about her. And somebody (don't know if it was Bl, or S or someone else), started the rumor that R was the sister of Jackie Chan. And so S, especially in the past few weeks, has furthered the rumors and misconceptions by telling people that I'm the brother of Jackie Chan.

It's kind of funny, but it's also a little strange that I might be the only Asian person they'll ever see in person in their entire lives.

I suspect R got back at S by telling some Haitian kids at MOH that S was "Madame Brad Pitt". Some at MOH realized that S wasn't married, so then they thought she was Brad Pitt's girlfriend. Or other girlfriend. Or "other other" girlfriend. (Indeed, the teens here keep up with American celebrity gossip to a surprising extent.)

And apparently, she was asked by one of them why he hadn't married her. ("S, if I was Brad Pitt, I'd marry you!") S replied by saying that she'd been asked, but she wasn't sure he was the right guy for her. This provoked surprise and amazement--the concept that a woman might choose to reject an offer of marriage from Brad Pitt was a shock. And from other conversations, it seems that in Haitian culture, once a woman accepts a guy as her boyfriend, she's already almost implicitly agreed to marry him if he ever asks. So it would be somewhat surprising for her to reject a marriage proposal from any boyfriend, let alone one from Brad Pitt.

Kind of funny, but the fact that it was kinda sorta believed by these kids indicates how little contact they've had with Americans/blancs:

"You're from America--do you know ______ (insert name of celebrity)?"