beautiful but broken

It is such a great shame, Haiti is a beautiful yet broken country and could be so much more.  It has the potential to be every bit as exciting as any other Caribbean destination, but sadly with no mains power, clean water, healthcare, decent roads, or any other service we take for granted, nor any ambition at government level, I genuinely can’t see it developing.  Apparently the president visits us here in Cap-Haitien (the second, and probably only other, city in Haiti) very year or so.  Its then the roads are graded, pot-holes filled.  I assume that is the current (they never last long) incumbent’s minions giving the impression they think the president wants to see (else they get fired).  How about this statement of fact:

       In January, President Jovenel Moïse announced — by tweet — the end of the bicameral                     Parliament. All members of the lower chamber and two-thirds of the Senate are gone. There           are just 10 senators left. [I wonder who they support?]

A beautiful, but broken country indeed.  In another slightly conflicted moment I saw the beauty again, spending the night wild camping on ‘Rat Island’.  I didn’t see any rats, nor actually did I hear any, but I did sleep next to the fire, which we kept going most of the night…well it was warm enough to re-start for breakfast.  And we had the unruly and sometimes very annoying Wyecliffe on duty.  I’m not sure if I am falling into an expat-NGO-westerner can afford luxury amongst poverty lifestyle, but I do know I work long and hard for the people I serve, so don’t feel too bad about some downtime.  Wild camping with the emphasis on wild…and there might have been sand in the pasta, the coffee had a tinge of saltiness, and smoke gets in your eyes when cooking in the breeze, but actually these are not real issues…