Haiti - An unforgettable experience

We never planned on visiting Haiti. I don't really know why. Maybe it was because of the rumours we'd heard about the social instability and insecurity of the country. I don't know.

But this quickly changed when, back in March, we went to see the Michael Beans (Michael Gardner) show in Leverick Bay, BVIs. At the end of the show, he tells the audience about the Good Samaritan Foundation of Haiti, an NGO he co-founded back in 2007. This organization built a school and is responsible for educating and serving lunch to 340 students per day. After discussing the idea for all of 1 minute, we offered to sail to Ile-à-Vache (a small detour on our way to Cuba) and take any supplies they had available. We were given books, shirts, but mainly snorkel gear for the fishermen of the village who consider this a small treasure as it makes their livelihood a lot easier. In Puerto Rico we also stocked up on soccer balls, school supplies, baby clothes, etc.

We set sail and after 3 days and 3 nights at sea, we arrived in Ile-à-Vache very early one morning. As we approached the anchorage and were looking for a spot to drop the anchor, a couple of locals came out in their dug-out canoes and welcomed us to the island. This, we soon learned, became a daily tradition.

Every day, no less than 20 people of all ages, though only males, came to the boat looking for the captain. With big smiles and very respectfully, sometimes in perfectly clear English, sometimes with a little bit of trouble, they offered to do anything: cleaning the bottom of the boat, polishing the stainless steel, cleaning the deck, getting fruits and vegetables, taking you to the local market, taking you to the city, taking you to a tour and even doing laundry or cooking for you. Basically, they offered to do anything. For any of this work, you'd need to provide the materials and the tools as they simply don't have the means to get them. Some of them asked for things you could spare: fishing hooks, lines, anchor and sails for the adults. Cookies, milk and soccer balls for the kids. Others simply requested that you refer them to any friends of ours.

The first afternoon, we decided to go and explore the village a bit. We quickly realized that we were not going to be able to go anywhere without a local acting as a guide. I'm not sure if this is tradition or simply another way for the locals to make a little bit of money. This is how we met Jasmin and he became our guide and local point of contact. He took us through the village, to a resort and a beautiful beach. There's no electricity anywhere on the island but you do see some solar panels. There's also no paved roads, making the task of walking a muddy effort after some rain. A fact that the locals don't seem to mind at all and many of them do it barefoot. There's also no cars on the island except a police 4x4, but we did see a few motor bikes. The big majority of the locals simply walk everywhere or take a water taxi. There's not a lot of tourism here and, therefore, we stood out. But other than just staring at you, specially the little ones, they are very friendly and they all greet you very politely.

Caille Coq

Traditional sailboats of Haiti

Walking around Caille Coq, with our guide Jasmin

The second day we decided to go to the market in Madame Bernard, a village that's a 2-hour walk away from Caille Coq, where we were anchored. This market is run twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays. We had the option of taking our dinghy and arriving there in 15 minutes. Or walking through 3 villages for about 2 hours. Surprisingly or not, we decided to take the longest way and walk there to see more of the island. This proved to be the right decision although it got really hot and it was quite muddy from a rain the previous night. Each village was a collection of about 5 or 6 houses. All of them were very simple. Some had concrete walls, some had canvas walls. Roofs were made of zinc and fences were made of palm tree leaves. On average, I'd say they were about 5x8.

There are a lot of animals on the island too. Mainly cows, bulls, horses, donkeys, goats, chicken, pigs and the occasional dog.

The market was full of people. There was a lot of fruits and vegetables, rice, corn meal and salt in bulk. Dried fish (making the market quite smelly) and chicken (by pieces or whole and live). Some of them had tarp and wood stands. Some of them had simply tarps laid out on the mud.

Going to the market. Jasmin picked us up on his dinghy.

Walking towards the market.

A local building a fishing boat.

Arriving to Madame Bernard, where the market is.

Madame Bernard

Donkeys parking lot, next to the market.

The market, view from our water taxi.

A French boy, two Canadians, and 2 local boys. Hours of play time in the village!

On our third day, another local, Phelix, took us to the school in La Hatte. We walked for about 30 minutes and got to the farm. Here we met yet another local that showed us around and explained the efforts they are taking to grow chickens and vegetables to feed the children of the school.

We then continued to the school. The school is quite big and Phelix and the principal took us around each classroom, where all the kids stood up to greet us, sang to us and smiled a lot. The school has a big cistern that holds 2500 gallons of water, a nice kitchen and washrooms. The school is free and they provide everything to the students, including lunch. For many of these kids, if not all, this will forever change their lives. Being there, I realized what a small contribution we have made but even so, I felt quite happy being able to contribute my little grain of sand. If you can spare some time or money, please consider donating to the Good Samaritan Foundation of Haiti. The work they are doing here is amazing.

Walking to the school.

Agriculture farm of the Good Samaritan Foundation

All in all, our experience in Haiti has been great and one I will forever remember. We have to move soon, though, as we still have a lot of miles to cover and hurricane season is quickly approaching.