Delmas
For the next week, Kevin settles into his new living arrangements with Tim’s family and Nadine, their housekeeper and cook. She lives nearby and is married to a pastor who works for a local church. The roosters always wake Kevin early and Nadine always has coffee waiting. After Tim’s family are finished with breakfast, she goes to market, cleans, and cooks the evening meal. She’s usually able to finish up in time to walk her kids home from school.
There is a lot of time spent cooking each day. Without reliable electricity or propane for stoves and ovens, most food is prepared over charcoal in the yard outside the kitchen. Haitians cook their rice and beans differently from their neighbors in the DR or Puerto Rico. The process usually takes a full day of stirring a cast iron pot. Since it’s a lot of work and Americans can never get the recipe quite right, Nadine shops each day and cooks meals with whatever is available in the market. Kevin asks Nadine to show him how to make his own coffee. She laughingly agrees to have a blan as student, and shows him how to make his own coffee in the Haitian style. First by grinding the beans, then percolating over a bed of coals, and then served with lots of condensed milk. The hand-powered coffee grinder was made by Nadine’s neighbor, who sells them at the Iron Market. The little aluminum coffee pots are in every kitchen and have thick wooden handles to allow the pot to be handled over high heat.
Their modern appliances require constant attention. Tim’s wife, Martha constantly emphasize the rules for maintenance of the house’s electrical and water systems. “You do NOT want to experience water-borne illness!”. Five-minute showers at most, with no hot water other than what’s been solar heated in the water drums installed on the house’s roof. The refrigerator door must never be left open. The freezer never gets cold enough to freeze anything, so it’s filled with water jugs. The family teaches him a sort of sing-song nursery rhyme on his first day, “Never ask for ice. Always drink from the bottle. Unless the ice cubes say Culligan!” Since Kevin once spent a hunting trip in the outhouse after drinking “pure spring water”, he sings along each time.
Tim is showing Kevin the elaborate electrical system of batteries, backup power units, solar panels, and a small Honda gasoline generator. “We only get a few hours of electricity per day, so it’s important that the charging leads be attached to the battery system at all times. I don’t like the kids trying to connect the cables, so make sure everything is connected before you leave the house”. Kevin asks, “When do you think the power will be back to normal?” Tim laughs, “I’ve been over ten years and this is normal. National Power can only generate electricity after paying bribes to get diesel into their generators. Then, protection money to keep the copper on the power lines and out of the scrap yards. That leaves us with rolling blackouts across a city of millions.”
As Tim shuts the door to the utility closet, his teenage daughters come into the kitchen with their backpacks and Walkman headphones over their ears. Tim gets the attention of his oldest and says “You’re not going to be able to drive to Mission School. I need the Isuzu. I’ll be taking Kevin over to Carrefour and expect to be there all day. You’ll have to hitch a ride with your mother.” She sighs but replies, “Yes, Dad. Mom will make sure we get there safely.” His younger daughter rolls her eyes and says, “We could walk there in ten minutes!” Tim turns to her, “We’re still in safety mode and you know that. Please take this seriously. No walking on these streets. Your mother will pick you up at the Mission. Just do your homework while you wait.”
Protestant Radio has a small FM station in the Petionville neighborhood just a few miles uphill from Delmas. Kevin ends up there when Tim doesn’t take him to the AM station in Carrefour. Kevin doesn’t have his own vehicle, so he’s always hitching rides back and forth to Creole lessons and the FM station. His language acquisition is a concern for Tim, in case Kevin gets lost or has an accident on the road in a station vehicle. Of course, Kevin’s safety is his main concern. How would Kevin ever find his way home without flawless Creole?
After another week of this, Kevin is starting to “climb the walls” as Martha puts it to Tim over lunch one day. She turns to Kevin, “I heard you ask Nadine to help you with your Creole. That’s a good idea, but she’s trying to improve her English. It’s one of the benefits of working for us, along with free tuition for her kids at the Mission School.” She glances at Tim before continuing, “No problem though, I’ll explain it to her.” Kevin shifts in his seat, as Martha continues, “Are the language classes helping?” Kevin sighs, “They are, but I really struggle with learning written French as a foundation. I just can’t “hear” what I’m seeing on the page. It’s the same problem I had during training. How can I improve my ear if I’m only using Creole a few hours a day.”
Tim is getting impatient, “None of the other American staff have struggled like you. What did those Haitian exiles teach you in Miami, if not their language?” Kevin opens his mouth to reply, but Martha interrupts, “Obviously, you learned a great deal before you arrived. And you’re right. Everyone learns language differently.” She turns back to Tim, “Kevin’s an adult, but I understand your concern about liability. Why don’t we let him use our Yamaha for local trips. He can start practicing his Creole by filling Nadine’s shopping list at the market.” Kevin nods enthusiastically, “Yes! That would help so much.” Tim looks at his wife for a moment, then back to Kevin and finally replies, “First you need to get the Yamaha running and then you need to wear a helmet.” He pours his coffee out into the sink, “I’ve got to get downtown for a meeting.”
Kevin learns that the house’s caretaker and guard is named Fritz. In addition to being a former police officer, he’s an excellent mechanic. When Kevin tries to speak with him in Creole, Fritz laughs and stops him. “I don’t have any kids in school and already speak English. Please don’t make me listen to your Kreyol!” Kevin immediately roars in laughter and thanks him profusely. Fritz helps Kevin clean the Yamaha’s carburetor, replace the fuel filter, gap the spark plugs, and the 175 cc engine is now running better than ever. Fritz then offers some tips for surviving on Haiti’s roads. “No one likes motorcycles down here because so many zenglando attacks are by men on motorbikes.” Fritz cautions, “The other drivers will run you over if they get a chance. Don’t weave in and out of traffic or someone will stop that real quick.” Fritz gives Kevin a heavy chain, “If you’re not riding it keep it chained to something immovable. In Haiti, it’s understood that if you don’t secure your property, you must not need it as much as the next guy!”
Radio Protestant FM
Tim and Kevin are having a status meeting at the station in Petionville. The power is out and with no fans, the room is hot and stuffy. Tim fans himself with a sheaf of papers, “I appreciate your input on our network expansion, but we contracted with NGO Tech to maintain what we have now. I need you in the field more than I need you here. That’s why your NGO was supposed to get you up to speed on Creole before you got here.” Tim pauses and Kevin responds in a weary voice, “Your board asked NGO Tech to get me down here ASAP, with or without language skills. My orientation in Miami was a stopgap, otherwise I would have been delayed another six months.” Tim starts shuffling the papers on the desk between them, “Well, you’re here now so let’s make the best of it.” Kevin sits back in his chair, “Let’s do that. But let’s also remember that the Catholic stations will take me any time. The only reason Radio Protestant got me first is that your equipment needs the most maintenance. I still think I should be doing “train the trainer” with the technicians while learning Creole from them. They already know enough English to read the technical manuals.”
Tim sits back and eyes Kevin for a moment. “I’m beginning to think those exiles only taught you about their insurgency.” Kevin shakes his head slowly, “I shared that background with you to emphasize why we should reposition our line-of-sight FM repeaters. I can’t believe you’re fixated on how the Haitians in Miami run their own licensed radio station. We called it pirate radio as a joke. Just because Gustavo’s a Haitian journalist doesn’t make him a criminal.” Tim shakes his head, “I don’t care about any of that. But his reporting did real damage to some of the station’s supporters here and in the US.”
Kevin wipes his forehead with the back of his arm, removes his eyeglasses, and tries to clean them with his sweaty t shirt. He puts them back on before replying, “I can work with you or anyone without having to agree on politics. But that doesn’t mean I’ll condone labor violations just because a pastor or missionary is involved.” Tim’s face is red now, “Well, of course no one is asking you to do that. But as a news outlet, we can’t have staff mixing their personal politics with the mission. I don’t want to hear about Miami or how you arrived here with so many contacts. I’m asking you to hurry up and learn Creole so you can do your job. We don’t have enough technical staff to cover the work without you.” Kevin nods slowly, “That’s exactly my point and it’s not a statement against capitalism. The station’s finances won’t be stable and the equipment can’t be maintained properly without the local staff doing the technical work. Rather than paying for consultants like me, wouldn’t a few pay raises help with staff retention? Tim snorts, “Oh, sure. Then I’ll have every other employer down here angry at me for raising wages! Just do your job and let me worry about managing the staff.” Tim stands up, signalling the meeting is over “See you at the house later.”