Hi guys we're still healthy, happy, and safe in Port-au-Prince! On Sunday we went on a hike in the mountains above Haiti and saw beautiful views of the mountains (Deye mon gen mon [Beyond mountains there are mountains]). The hike gave us the chance to get out of the city and into some fresh air (and near some cows!). We had a picnic of baby bananas and banana bread up there and we shared funny animal encounter stories. After the hike we came back to the guesthouse for lunch and then we heard from Ron, a man born in America who lives in Haiti now and has lived here for 25 years. He is accepted as a member of the community in which he lives and he has a lot of insight and experience to share about Haiti.
Ron spoke to us about Haitian development under some of the more recent political regimes. He echoed a lot of the things we have been hearing. He spoke about the internal conflict that he thinks Haitians have to solve: the conflict between pride for their country and history, and the inferiority complex that is ever-present. Ron is very knowledgeable so hearing from him was important for us and for our learning process.
On Monday we went to the work site to put in another couple hours of rubble removal. We ate lunch at the church after the work and then we rushed back to the MCC guesthouse to get cleaned up to go to RNDDH (National Network for Human Rights). We heard from Pierre, who has been working in Haitian human rights for a long time (and is a very high profile person in Haiti), and has been reporting on the human rights violations in Haiti. He spoke to us about his specific work in human rights - the trainings they do and the reports they write, as well as the sources of their information. He also shared some of his personal opinions about the current political situation and the new President, President Martelly.
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