American Man – Missionary
< Previous Part 5: LESSONS Survival Carrefour After returning with Jè, Kevin settles into a new routine at the station. The Head Engineer has postponed his vacation. Tim is busy in Petionville, setting up soft rock radio station for the upper classes. Making everything less difficult, Kevin has also solved his transportation problem. Jè helped … Read more
< Previous Part 5: LESSONS Resilience Ti Legliz Village Kevin spends the rest of his time at Ti Legiz climbing up and down Mount Boueffe and working on other projects as assigned by Solange or Father Jean. He sends reports to Tim and Head Engineer about progress, never mentioning that he’s not camping on the … Read more
< Previous Department of Sud, Highway 1 toward Cayes Jè drives the station’s small Geo SUV on the main highway south. Highway 1 is really just a two-lane road with one shared lane of asphalt. Kevin doesn’t have a driver’s license or any documentation other than his US passport and a letter of Radio Protestant … Read more
< Previous Jè and Kevin step away and catch their breath before returning to the bags. Kevin dumps one onto the floor, disgorging a cloud of dust, chemicals, and rat droppings into the work space. Jè does the same with the remaining bag and a plume of dust fills the engineering bay. Coughing and sneezing, … Read more
< Previous Tim freezes, his eyes seeming to see Kevin for the first time. He slowly asks, “What exactly are you saying?” Kevin responds evenly, “I’m here on loan to your board. You can’t fire me because I’m independently funded and have air cover at the national level. And if you do, I’ll just go … Read more
< Previous Carrefour Kevin splits time between the FM station in Petionville and the main AM station and programming offices in Carrefour. The area around the station is growing rapidly as many Haitians from the provinces have been forced into the Port-au-Prince urban sprawl. Haiti’s political conflict has disrupted the country’s fragile economic system, resulting … Read more
< Previous Part 2: MISEDUCATION Missionaries “Whatever happened to those missionaries that disappeared after that firefight last week?”, Kevin asks. “I can’t believe we didn’t have any rounds come through the house.” Tim interrupts him, “Well, maybe you shouldn’t stand up on the roof when people are shooting at each other!” Kevin gives him a … Read more
< Previous Delmas For the next week, Kevin settles into his new living arrangements at Tim’s house. Protestant Radio has a small FM station in the Petionville neighborhood just a few miles up the mountain from Delmas. Kevin doesn’t have access to any of the station’s vehicles, so he’s always hitching rides back and forth … Read more
< Previous Part 2: MISEDUCATION Dechokaj Delmas Highway Tim maneuvers the Isuzu around the burning debris and cement blocks strewn across the asphalt. The obstacles behind them and traffic clearing ahead, Kevin turns to Tim as he shifts into higher gear, “Did you see that? Was that really a burnt body at the roundabout?” Tim … Read more
< Previous Part 1: ESCAPE / ARRIVAL Arrival Caribbean SeaNorthwest of Port-au-Prince, HaitiJanuary, 1991 Eleven months before Henri, Jocelyn, and baby Espwa set out on their voyage… The dull whine of the jet engines increases in pitch as the aging Boeing 727 begins its approach to Port-au-Prince International Airport. Kevin instinctively tightens his seat belt … Read more
< Previous Kevin follows as Tim maneuvers his way through the crowd, waving some sort of credential whenever someone steps aside too slowly. Following Kevin tries to seem friendly while avoiding eye contact. Sidestepping past a group of imposing, hard faced young Haitian men, Kevin has to stop abruptly when one steps in front of … Read more
< Previous They round a corner in the road and see what’s causing the traffic jam. Two tractor trailers are overturned and pulled across the road, forming a zig zag path between them. The makeshift checkpoint is manned by about a dozen young men. They don’t have any visible weapons but are collecting a toll … Read more