Thanksgiving 2013

     I would like to tell you about my Thanksgiving in Haiti in Christianville. But I can’t. I wasn’t here. After a long GoogleChat with my daughter, Cecile, last Saturday night, I decided to go home to Silver Spring for Thanksgiving. I was not planning on going home until December 19 for the Christmas holidays. I had told my kids many times not to worry about me being far away because Haiti is so close to the U.S. and it is relatively easy to go back and forth. People do it all the time. Why not me? So I went on line and booked my flight for Wednesday with a return to Haiti on Saturday morning. A two day holiday with my kids. I told no one back home except my lab manager (I asked him to prepare a box of supplies that I could take back to Haiti with me) and my son (to pick me up at the airport). I asked Pierre not to tell Cecile and Odile and to make it a surprise. Of course, Cecile may have been a little suspicious when Pierre told her that he bought a 12 pound turkey for Thanksgiving dinner for the three of them. But she did not push the question of the size of the turkey any further.

     Wednesday morning, Makendy drove me to the airport. Traffic was light and it took us just an hour. I had taken one of the UF suitcases for my checked bag and slid in a couple of items. The suitcase was mostly empty. The reason for taking it was to fill it up for the trip back. That is the exception to Haiti rule #4: Nothing leaves Haiti, except empty suitcases to be filled and brought back. The temperature was 90F in PAP when I left and it was 29F and snowing lightly in Washington when I arrived. Door to door, it took 12 hours, including a three hour layover in Miami. Haiti is close and in the same time zone as DC and New York so there is no jet lag.

     Pierre picked me up at Washington National and drove me back home. We walked into the house, Pierre said, “Hi girls” and I said, “Hi girls”. “Papa?” was the response from the girls in the family room. Odile and Cecile were incredulous. Yes, it’s me. I was home for Thanksgiving.

     November 28, 2013, was not just Thanksgiving Day for us this year. It was also a day of remembrance. The day marked three years since my wife, Bernadette (Bedou), died of lung cancer in 2010.

Gate of Heaven Cemetery, November 28, 2013

Every November 28 since Bedou’s death, I was either with the two girls (Pierre was away at school at Penn State) or with just Odile (Cecile was away at the University of Virginia and Pierre was still at Penn State). This year all three kids would be together for the first time on this anniversary. I had to be there with them. And I was. We drove out to the cemetery together on Thursday morning. The air was cold and crisp, the sky was blue and the sun was bright. The weather was very much like the day of Bedou’s funeral. We stood there each of us with our own thoughts. And I said a few words. I said how proud their Maman would have been to see where each of our kids is today. How well they did in school, how they have grown and matured. Bedou’s death was such a terrible loss for us all. Yet the kids pulled themselves together and moved forward, exactly as Bedou would have wanted them to do. I am so proud of Pierre, Cecile and Odile and I love them so much. And I miss Bedou. We drove back home and everyone helped out with Thanksgiving dinner. I was so looking forward to some green vegetables and meat that was not chicken. We had a great meal.

Thanksgiving table, November 28, 2013

Odile, Pierre, and Cecile, November 29, 2013

     Saturday morning 2:45, my alarm goes off and I am up and out of bed. I need to finish packing my stuff for my return flight to Haiti. Cecile is still up. I say goodbye to her and then she goes to bed. I had already said goodbye to Odile who is sleeping over at a friend’s house. Pierre is up and getting dressed. He will drive me to the airport. It is much like back in October when I left to come down to Haiti. Except this time it was a different airport, the weather was colder, and I had no clothes in my luggage. The items in my suitcase and backpack consisted almost entirely of material for the lab and food items for our house (some spices, 10 lbs of basmati rice for Meer, and Gala apples; apples are really expensive in Haiti). I wasn’t leaving to begin an adventure. I was going back home. My flight from Washington National to Miami departed on time at 6:00 am. American Airlines flight 1665 from Miami to Port-au-Prince was also on time. I got off the plane at 12:10 pm. I told you Haiti is not far.

     After clearing customs, I pulled out my Haitian cell phone. I already had three missed calls from Meer. I need to re-learn my cell phone ring tone. Meer came out to the airport with John, a weekend driver, to pick me up. John met me in baggage claim. It was 29F in Silver Spring when I left. It was 90F in Port-au-Prince when I got my bag and we walked out into the midday heat. I breathed in the hot air. I felt at ease among the crush of arriving passengers as I navigated the phalanx of men asking if I needed a taxi and made my way toward the parking lot. I found Meer, we loaded my bags into the Everest, and headed to the Visa Lodge for lunch. This restaurant is the same one I had lunch at on arriving in PAP back in October. It was the subject of an earlier blog post (see 10-03-2013 post). After having lived in Haiti for six weeks now, my attitude is changed from those first impressions of shock and disbelief. There clearly is a class divide in Haiti between the rich and the poor. And there is a middle class and people who have money to spend have places to spend the money. I even heard a report on All Things Considered last week about the number of luxury hotels being built in Port-au-Prince. There is a big push to develop the tourism industry here. So I can’t criticize people for living well and eating well. I asked John, our driver, if he had eaten at the Visa Lounge before. Yes, he said, last year. The buffet was good.

Buffet table at the Visa Lodge

Salad bar, spinach, fries, lasagna, rice and gravy, and a type of fish beignet. Maryland was playing North Carolina State on the flat screen TV behind us as we ate. Yes, this, too, is Haiti. John and Meer each had seconds. I declined. I lost ten pounds since coming here in October, but I’m not starving and I feel great. I eat what I need (the menu is not too varied) and that’s it. Keep it simple. I did, however, have a brownie for dessert at the Visa Lounge (in case you were wondering, they do take Visa; by the way, when you use a credit card here, you are always asked to show a photo ID; a U.S driver’s license is acceptable).

     John pulled the Everest into its parking space next to the lab. We got out and brought the luggage into the lab to unload the lab supplies then brought it back to the house for the rest of our stuff. I saw Dale and Ingram and Solomon and Georgie. Everyone asked about my trip and Thanksgiving. I’m back with my C’ville family and working in UF-EPI Haiti Lab 1-Gressier. The adventure continues.