Dominican Sand and Sun, Work Woes/Breakthroughs, Jazz in the Park, and Pre-Carnaval Sundays

I thought about trying to give an update of everything that has happened since I last wrote a blog post in December, but I kept putting off writing it because there was too much to talk about…. And now it’s mid-February and I still have yet to put up that January blog post… but is anyone that surprised about my procrastination?  So, suffice to say, I had an amazing time in the Dominican Republic.  I stayed at a beautiful beach resort in Punta Cana with my family for the first 5 days  I then met up with my friends for NYE in Santo Domingo and then (among other things) went on several wild taxi/horse/moto rides to and from Las Terrenas, which is a small beach town in the Samana Peninsula.  Below are some pictures of the trip (none of these are my pictures since my phone shit out halfway through the trip--- so, thanks to Anne, Bridget, Mom, Annie, etc. for letting me use your pictures!).  It was great to see everyone and to spend some time just enjoying each other’s company.  I couldn’t have asked for a better vacation!

 

It is always hard to come back to work after a long vacation, but it was especially difficult for me this time around.  I was frustrated and disillusioned with work before I left for the trip and these feelings had not diminished when I came back to work.  I was in low spirits for most of January and I thought a lot about leaving Haiti after my contract ended in August.  I was tired of not having anything to do at work, I was frustrated by the language barrier, and I had lost a lot of my initial motivation. It was especially frustrating because everything else here was going really well for me--- I have great friends, I love where I live, and I am enjoying learning more about Haiti and experiencing all that the country has to offer.  The only missing piece to the puzzle was work, which was odd because this was the main reason that I came here--- to work and to learn.  Not being fulfilled by my work has been such an odd feeling for me and it’s something that I’m not used to.  At the height of my frustration, I found out that there would be a change in management for my project.  We would be down one staff member and did not plan on hiring someone new.  Due to this, we would be redistributing roles and responsibilities for our project.  While to outside ears, this might sound like a bad thing, it was actually a ray of sunshine peeking out from behind the clouds for me. It has only been a few days since this change has taken place and I have found that I have much more work to take on and my role as Monitoring and Evaluation lead on the project has allowed me to have a more active role in how our project progresses.  I have also begun working on a research study that will explore the “best practices” of different health networks in Africa and elsewhere with the overall goal of producing relevant information that we can use to shape the health network that we are building in Haiti. It is the first real project that I have been given and I am excited to finally have something that I can take ownership over.  So, while work can still be very frustrating and slow and I am not always working on things that interest me, I am happy to report that it has gotten a LOT better!  I feel that I am taking tangible steps toward making real contributions to the project.

On another note, I will also (after much debate, angst, and a lengthy pro/con list) be enrolling in a more intensive French class that will hopefully help me pick up the language more quickly so that I can better participate in meetings, etc.  I’ll explain my epic moral struggle in choosing between French and Kreyol in another blog, but I’m guessing whoever is still reading has likely had enough of me waxing poetic about my internal struggles.  I’ll try to keep it to one internal struggle per post to keep you all sane.  Cliff notes version: I’ll be taking the French class but continuing to learn Kreyol through my daily interactions with coworkers, market women, etc.  French is a necessity for work, whereas learning Kreyol would just be an added bonus (despite how much I wish it was the other way around).

It seems that anytime I am feeling especially frustrated or unsure of myself, there is always something amazing happening here that pulls me back in and reminds of how privileged I am to be living and learning in such a beautiful country. So, without fail, right in the middle of all of my work confusion, Haiti happened to be hosting its annual International Jazz Festival. The festival drew Jazz artists from around the world who came to play at various events that were offered throughout the week.  One of the events was a free concert in a public park down the street from my apartment.  There were thousands of people who turned out for the show (the event featured 2 Haitian bands and 1 band called “Soul Rebels” from New Orleans).  You can see a video of the Soul Rebels concert here (Start the video at 3:00--- the audio doesn't do them justice-- it was so good!). Many times I feel disconnected from my Haitian neighbors and I feel like I am living in an expat bubble, but since this concert was free, it meant that anyone could attend.  Without the prohibitive cost that many events in Haiti have, access wasn’t restricted to wealthy Haitian elite or expats as it usually is.  I felt like a real part of the community--- singing to the music and drinking Barbancourt along with the rest of the concert-goers rather than being isolated behind an iron gate at an exclusive event.  It also helped that the bands were great performers and put on a great show.  This free show ended up being one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen… and it all happened within walking distance of my apartment.  You can’t beat that!

Besides the Jazz Festival, the Carnaval festivities have started picking up.  Carnaval (also spelled Kanaval or Carnival depending on who you’re talking to) is similar to American celebrations of Fat Tuesday/Mardis Gras/etc. While Fat Tuesday is not until March 4^th this year, Haitians essentially start the celebrations right after the Epiphany holiday in early January.  This means that EVERY Sunday from early January until March 4th, I will be greeted with a rara band (or two or three if I am lucky) parading down my street in the afternoons. Rara bands are groups of musicians, dancers and, often, some bystanders that are drawn into the action that play “mizik rasin” (rasin translates to “roots”--- it involves lots of drums and heavy beats and hearkens back to Haitians' roots in Africa). These bands are an important part of the Carnaval celebrations in Haiti. Rara bands can simply be a group of people making music together, they can be symbolic performances designed to tell a story or to support a particular political candidate, they can be tied to religious themes (be they Voodoo or Christian), or they can be all of the above and more. The rara bands that I have seen so far usually have trumpet players, drums, tambourines, and maracas plus some handmade metal trumpets that look very similar in shape to a vuvuzela (think World Cup in South Africa).  Another popular instrument is a huge plastic pipe (it looks like it’s just a standard PVC pipe that you would find at a construction site) that is used to produce a loud, bellowing tone.  No matter how tired (read: hungover) I am on a Sunday morning, I can’t help but smile as I stand on my porch and watch these bands pass my apartment, dancing, waving flags, and playing spirited music as they march through the streets of Port-au-Prince.  This past Sunday, I went with a friend to watch the rara bands come down Route de Delmas (a big, busy street near where I work).  Every Sunday until Carnaval, thousands of people flood Delmas to dance, drink, play music, celebrate, and sing. Delmas becomes so swollen with people on these nights that from about 7:30-9:30pm on Sundays during pre-Carnaval season, it is literally impossible to drive on this street because it is filled to the brim with people, instruments, and party trucks.  The party trucks (called "char") are constructed on top of semi-truck beds and they serve as a platform for 50-100 people dressed in coordinated t-shirts to dance and sing to the music that is being blasted through built-in speakers on the truck. I don’t have a working camera here, so, unfortunately, I don’t have pictures that can better illustrate what it’s like; but, if you picture any large festival/parade, you'll get the idea.  The amazing thing, though, is that this parade down Delmas happens EVERY Sunday during pre-Carnaval season.  The elaborate costumes, masks, and other traditional festivities will wait until the official Carnaval events in late February and early March, but these weekly Sunday celebrations are still pretty impressive.  Each and every Sunday, people march for hours, walking from Downtown all the way up to Petion-ville, with all the raras and party trucks and partiers eventually culminating in Petion-ville and with celebrations lasting well into the night (yes--- this all happens on a Sunday night). I am still in awe of how massive the celebration was.  If this is just a typical pre-Carnival Sunday, I can only imagine what the official “warm-up” event will be like in Jacmel on February 23^rd and what Port-au-Prince will be like from March 2^nd through the 4^th when the real Carnaval events take place.  Just the pre-Carnaval parades on your “average” Sunday are a sight to behold. Hopefully I will have some pictures and videos to share with you so you can see what it’s like!

Na we pita! (see you later!)