As Gonaives goes, so goes the nation

Gonaives is a city situated straight up Haiti's winding main Route National, several hours outside of Port-au-Prince. We were told it's long been considered a hotbed of political action in Haiti, that from the early days of the slave revolt that led to independence up through today, Gonaives has been at the center of it all.

Which reminds me, you might not know who the "we" is to which I'm referring. Chiefly, I have my lovely wife Katharine by my side. She's a master's student in international development completing an internship with CEC-FOP, a grassroots Haitian NGO doing amazing work with an acronym for a name that still befuddles me. Meanwhile, two of Katharine's classmates are also here with us, Sarah and Gina. It's been wonderful having one foot firmly planted in Cite Soleil for my internship while the other foot dances around Haiti trying to follow Katharine and Co. on daytrips that are a part of their work. I'll share some more about these adventures as time goes on.

Back to the "City of Independence." Instead of giving a blow-by-blow account of my trip to Gonaives and other parts of Haiti (because you don't want to read it and I don't want to write it), I'll try to use this space to occasionally give quick snippets about some of the short excursions or experiences I've had outside of Cite Soleil.

Something ridiculous: Having to spend $540 to rent an SUV for a three-day trip. (Thanks countless NGOs for driving up the rental price . . .) Thankfully the cost was spread around quite a bit. You certainly need a 4x4 though, even though you're traveling on one of the country's main transportation routes.

Something saddening: Seeing how Gonaives is still heavily damaged from floods several years ago. It's been a rough decade, with two major floods caused when hurricanes swept through the region, the most recent in 2008. Why such bad flooding? Gonaives and many of the hills and mountains surrounding it are deforested, a common problem in Haiti. With so little to absorb the water or slow its descent down hill, it inundates the city.

Something humbling: Brizard Valcin is a man wearing many hats. He's a lawyer by day, and a school principal, and head of a credit union, and Sunday school teacher, and a father of three children. We've found this to be the case with many of our hosts in Haiti thus far. By his own account, there are so many needs and many qualified individuals leave Gonaives or Haiti for greener (or more forested) pastures. So many like Brizard step up to do what they can with great humility, while all the while we stand by with mouths agape.