Worldview Magazine - Fall 2007 - (Page 33)

Letter from Port-au-Prince THE WORD ON KIDNAPS When did Haiti reach the Tipping Point? by Matt Marek T wo years ago as I was headed for Philadelphia, I turned around at the far gate, G or H, in Miami International Airport and read this Transportation Security Administration warning sign: Travel to Port-au-Prince airport should be avoided at all costs. I had just gotten off an American Airlines flight from Port-au-Prince and was struck by this warning to passengers on their way to the Northeast of the United States. I was working and living in Port-au-Prince then and now, so I couldn’t follow the TSA warning. When I returned to Port-auPrince a week later I wondered, What does the Transportation Security Administration know that I don’t? I never was under the impression that Port-au-Prince was safe, but kidnappings were an anomaly to me then. I heard about them on the radio. I read about them in the local and international newspapers and magazines. But mostly, the stories of kidnapping atrocities came to me via telejòl–Haitian word of mouth–about friends of friends of friends or someone who knows someone who knows someone who was kidnapped. I always told myself that these stories must be fabricated by virtue of Haiti’s extensive oral culture. I remember the childhood game called telephone in the States where I’d sit in a circle of several friends and whisper a phrase in the ear of my neighbor. By the time the phrase came back around to me, I couldn’t recognize it. The old woman’s dog was pink became Bold doorman’s frogs stink. This is like telejòl. I also couldn’t rely on local or international reporting which sensationalized with headlines like, “Kidnappings Hold a Nation Hostage” exacerbating the fears and supporting warnings like the TSA sign. At the least, I thought it couldn’t be happening at that level because I hadn’t been kidnapped. When the rate of kidnappings was reaching the 200 a month mark I limited my time in the streets. I’d A UN peacekeeper gives water to a suspect in Cite Soleil. walk from my house to the market via the maze of neighborhood corridors without a threat. Alone I would jump in my car and do unannounced visits to projects adjacent to Cite Soleil and throughout Port-au-Prince. I’d stroll through my neighborhood; play basketball in the street or shop at the outdoor market. However, the chatter of kidnappings always influenced the rate of this activity. ut such is life in Port-auPrince. You see it in the pace and activity in the streets. You see it in the numbers out at night. The danger is centralized and even departmentalized, but absent in the WorldView 33 B STR New/Reuters http://www.brynmawr.edu/postbac/ http://www.brynmawr.edu/postbac/

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Worldview Magazine - Fall 2007

Worldview - Fall 2007
Contents
Presiden'ts Note
Lafayette Park
Introduction
Interview
Commentary
Editor's Note
Letter from Rumbek, Sudan
Listings
Letter from Yekaterinburg, Russia
Letter from Codaesti, Romania
Letter from Catia La Mar, Venezuela
Letter from Gumare, Botswana
Letter from Ridder, Kazakhstan
Letter from Rincon, Cape Verde
Letter from Port Au Prince
Another Country
Community News
Giving Back
Opinion

Worldview Magazine - Fall 2007

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