The next day
Somehow amid everything else, Ti Mon climbed up onto the roof the night before, reconnected the hose, and now the water barrel is filled. Everyone gathers around Ti Mon to thank him and his little face breaks out in a huge grin. So now there’s clean water (within reason) for bathing, toilet flushing, and cleaning. Kevin has stuffed his jumble of gear into his backpack, except for a bottle of local, raw rum called clairin that won’t fit in his bag. It goes perfectly with coconut water and cane sugar but as Kevin is asking, “How am I gonna get this back to Carrefour without drinking it, along with my friends in the tap-tap?” Dirk replies with his perfect accent, “Fair dinkem!”. Jocelyn laughs before rolling her eyes, “Bouki net!” Ti Mon just nestles himself deeper into Kat’s lap and grins like he’s won the daily lotto.
Kevin’s plan is to take the return trip back to Carrefour, after attending a local Haitian church service with Kat and Dirk. As they’re about to leave for the service, they hear banging on the metal gate in the courtyard. Jocelyn takes Ti Mon inside the house. Kevin follows Kat and Dirk outside to see what’s going on. They can hear words and phrases from the other side of the gate. Dirk’s face hardens and he positions himself just out of sight beside Kat, as she opens the peephole to see outside. After a few tense moments, Kat relaxes and says “It’s just the neighbors”.
She opens the door and lets a small group of Haitian women inside. Jocelyn tells Ti Mon to wait inside and then joins them. After smiling shyly and nodding politely to Dirk and Kevin, the neighborhood women launch into a very intense conversation with Kat. Kevin can’t understand much of what he’s hearing, but the back and forth is clearly urgent. Dirk is listening closely and Kevin tries to make eye contact, but he’s taken the sentry position at the gate’s peephole. Finally, the conversation slows and Kat thanks the women over and over, giving each a hug as they walk back out the gate.
After they leave, Dirk closes the gate and exhales loudly. Kat sees Kevin’s confused face and explains, “They were here to warn us of another coup attempt tonight. Everyone seems to have a different set of information about what’s going on.” Dirk, “I can’t decide if it’s Tele Joel or the real thing!” He sees Kevin’s confusion, “Tele Joel is the Haitian term for the game of “telephone” where rumors get passed from one bloke to another until no one remembers the original story. The most common Haitian name is “Joel”. But no one has phones, so Tele Joel!” Kat continues, “Some are hearing that the coup has already been successful. Others say the police attempted the coup but the military stepped in and stopped it. The neighbors couldn’t agree on exactly what’s happening, but they all are very worried about our safety.”
Dirk walks to a nearby storage shed and pulls out the heavy chain and massive padlock that was used to lock the gate the night before. He wraps it through the steel door handles and locks the padlock. He calls over to Jocelyn, “Key on peg!” after patting it on its hook just to be sure. He says to Kevin, “That will keep them out for a while. But if they want in, they’ll get in.” Kevin asks who “they” are. Dirk chuckles humorlessly, “That’s always the question. It could be Lavalas supporters who think we’re siding with the US government against them. It can be disgruntled former Macoutes who think we’re leftists. It can just be criminals looking for a soft target. When these things get started, anything can happen.”
While Dirk is certainly no pacifist, he’s working with Education NGO and Kevin because they all believe non-violence is the only sustainable strategy for social change. Kat is also from a peace church background so Kevin asks her, “How serious is this and what are our options for self-protection?” Kat looks over her shoulder reflexively and lowers her voice to just above a whisper, “We really have no support of any kind here. Our whole mission is to live among the community and become part of their culture. They don’t have security protection, so we don’t either.” Kevin starts laughing, “Wait, we’re not in Kansas anymore?” Kat’s giggling just short of maniacally now, “Oh, no. This is really real!” Dirk bursts out laughing and adds, “If I remember correctly, your Navy Seals always say, why bother bringing my own weapons? If I need to one, I’ll take yours!”