Back in that between space, home in good ol' St. Joe. On my out, I had an early morning meeting with the MercyCorps head (courtesy of a ND connection). So Wilfrid and I hit rush hour on our way into Port au Prince, making 90 minutes into 3 hours. Conversation was pleasant, but per usual, also had the radio on.
News update turned to the opening statements of the UN conference for Haiti, during which donor countries pledged $5.3 billion immediate-term aid to a total of $9 billion. [to the skeptics: yes, there is a government plan for reconstruction available online, if you read French, and a committee co-chaired by Bill Clinton and PM Jean Max Bellerive to monitor use of disbursed funds...]
Wilfrid immediately cranked up the volume. "Our country is kraze nèt [totally destroyed]. We need to build it again." Shortly after the UN report, Radio Caribe played the remake of "We are the World." I asked Wilfrid if he knew the song. "Yes," he replied, "I heard it was made for Haiti."
Most poignant to me was when we had hit a particularly congested spot in Portail Leogane, stopped by packed lines of people on their way to a food distribution. 8 AM on the dot, every morning, the country listens to its national anthem, "La Dessalines"... remembering how they once won freedom.
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