quite a night

Spirits were still high after receiving the fantastic news in the week that another charity, Living Water, had agreed to sink a new well for the hospital.  It’s not that the current well was running dry but at only 10’ deep the quality of the water had always been in question; the lack of either a sewage system or any waste management system meant that both were pretty much everywhere and so at that depth it was highly likely that the extracted water was compromised.  To address this problem HHA installed a water purification system a few years back, however a number of folk, staff and patients, will not drink the water as they do not like the taste.  It tastes fine to me, but my tastebuds are probably shot to pieces anyway, after all I drink (or used to drink) a little too much Kronebourg.  However, the new well would be much deeper, perhaps 100’and so of much better quality and more sustainable for the hospital.  It also may not need treatment.  An absolute game changer.  We hope they will start in January.

So we were eating at Denny’s tonight, not the American chain of diners but Street Food.  Real, authentic Haitian Street Food, apparently.  We drive down town, along the boulevard, past the noisy, trendy and mostly neon bars and restaurants, then suddenly take a left and another left along nondescript, barely lit streets.  It’s just after dark, and there are no streetlights so it would be tricky to spot if you didn’t know where you were.  I mean it is conspicuous with smoke bellowing out of the BBQ on the sidewalk and the grunge-style graffiti art advertising on a convenient wall (in bright yellow, just like the Denny’s© chain).  But as I say it is dark and there are no tables outside: though as we arrive (unannounced) a table and 8 chairs rapidly appear on the sidewalk.  It is busy with locals stopping for a take-out, always a good sign.  They only serve chicken which comes with a side of plantain, pikliz and …pasta(?).  I’m thinking that a week into this deployment my stomach will be able to hack it, and I’m subsequently proved correct, thankfully.

We leave a little after 8, just as a rain shower starts.  The streets are dark of course, and empty, traffic is quiet …hmmm.  We see a small fire in the distance, but that’s not uncommon – burning of rubbish at the roadside happens a lot.  There is no oncoming traffic, though we see headlights in the distance.  As we get to them we slow and the driver shouts across to us to turn back.  We could take another route, but press on and go with the blue lights and 1000W spotlights (the Village vehicle also doubles as an ambulance on occasion).  When we get to the fire, we see it is in the middle of the road, which is blocked with random furniture.  This is where the recently installed ‘bull bars’ come in handy as we ease an upturned table aside and press on.  Still deathly quiet on the streets.  But it seems we are in luck, the recent rain has put off the crowds and protestors and the remainder of the journey is thankfully uneventful, but it made me think…