Trouble brewing... or not.

People often ask me, "What is Haiti really like?" It is an impossibly broad question which many people have dedicated their life's work trying to answer, and still come up short.

I usually just say, "It's never boring."

Currently, the president is out of the country for medical reasons, leaving a very unstable government in his absence. A group of citizens are protesting the recent murder of a policeman by blocking off a main road that leads to the south of the country with burning tires and parked trucks. A rather large group of former military personnel are forming a new military on their own accord, and all of the police are on strike. It would seem then, that all hell should be breaking loose, yet somehow order is maintained and work goes on.
The next few days/weeks/months should be interesting no doubt, and whatever happens, I'm sure it won't be boring.

A Haitian boy stands next to burning tires placed in the street to block traffic. The demonstration was in response to a local police officer who was murdered on the job.

Filming a "Meet the Journalists" segment for the pulitzer foundation in connection with a recent investigation that was just completed by Ayiti Kale Je.   Photo by Alexis Erkert

No matter what chaos the days bring, there is always solitude at night.

Remembrance

Yesterday marked the second anniversary of the earthquake that shook Port-au-Prince and left over 200,000 people dead. For me, it was only a headline in the newspaper, but for many people here in Haiti it was the anniversary of the day that they survived, and many of their loved ones did not. I couldn't imagine living here when it happened. Nor could I imagine living through the 2 years that have passed waiting for the aid money to trickle down to the people and turn things around. Yesterday gave me an intimate view of just how far reaching the destruction was, and just how resilient and faithful the people that lived through it are.

 Additionally, I am wholly impressed with my colleagues who found the strength to not only pull through it, but go to work and report about it.

Here are a few photos of people taking to the streets to remember.