Rinse, wash, repeat

Election results delayed… on lock down….national staff leaving early.  Rinse, wash, repeat. Haven’t we been here before already? It feels a bit like Groundhog Day.

But today is a big day for Haitians, election results day. I’ve blogged about this before… today is the pinnacle of the last several months. Who will be chosen? Machetes have sold out in the markets, and the town is “hot”… apparently poised and ready to riot if favorite Sweet Micky Martelly (known for his smooth tunes, not his politics) is not chosen. Early reports show he is ahead, but the nation won’t know until the announcement is made…sometime between 5 pm and tomorrow morning we imagine.  Tonight Justin will be working overnight at our cholera center in Cite Soleil to make sure we’ve got an expatriate there should things go bonkers. Cite Soleil is of course the town that could potentially explode if things don’t get as they want…though nothing too crazy has happened during the elections in the past.  I’ll be down there with him, and I’ll be posting on how things are going. We’re bringing some Uno, Scrabble and other time-passing games to keep it interesting. More soon, from the craziness.

W.T.H.

At my desk at work I have a plywood shelf with quotes on it that people have written on it with a sharpie. In the bottom corner, someone has written “All I have to say is.. W.T.H.”

WTH stands for “What the Haiti” or “Welcome to Haiti”…depending on the day. It refers to the bizarre and random things that happen here, that afford no other response than a shake of the head, a roll of the eyes, a deep sigh. These moments are plentiful here.

rock paper scissors

Tonight is a tense night…  it feels a bit like groundhog day here, we’ve been through this before. Election results, again. Something more is brewing this time. Baby Doc is in town and now Aristide was given an invitation to return to the country. What the???? Past regimes and dictators returning. Fishy.  There are already several reports of burning tires, gun shots and unrest in downtown Port-au-Prince. UN is expected to hibernate for a week (umm what are you guys here for??) and there are rumors that the airport will close. Tomorrow we are expected to be on lock-down (can you say Office season 5  marathon?). Haitians sure love their rioting.

There are three outcomes in this: all of which will make some group unhappy.  And here, unhappiness = chaos.

1) Madame Manigat (the safe one) vs Celestin (the villian)

2) Manigat vs Martelly (famous singer, people’s choice)

3)Three-way run off (here we go again..)

We should have some sort of announcement soon… stay tuned. We seem to think option 3 will be the choice, as the govt will most likely prolong making any sort of significant decision and try to diffuse the people’s reaction as long as possible. Passive aggressive leadership at its finest. Preval will try to stay in as long as possible most likely. And on it goes.

I keep thinking we are perhaps in the middle of some history making here, that one day we will look back and say to our kids, “yeah… we were in Haiti when…”  Yet history keeps repeating itself here. Maybe time will tell this time.