First time in Haiti

Writer Ursula Le Guin said that it is not the end that matters as much as the journey to the end. I am enjoying the journey and I suspect that whenever I sit back and reflect on my life I will think that the last month of it has been special.

I started 3 weeks ago in Bosnia and what a place that was. I then made a number of speeches in the UK which seem to have opened up some life changing opportunities and then it was back in France for just a few days before the journey to Haiti where I am now. I am really in Africa although Haiti resides in the Caribbean.

Two high points already. I arrived from Miami via New York (‘Just a New York conversation rattling in my head’ – thanks to the Half Note) with American Airlines (is there a worse airline in the world?) and was regaled by a fantastic Haitian band employed to entertain new arrivals as they get off the plane and make their way to the terminal. They were great. I was whisked through customs by my ‘meeter and greeter’ when everyone else was getting a grilling and within ten minutes I was on my way to the UN compound.

The second high point was a conversation with Shqipe Hebibi, a Kosovar who is also a good friend of a friend of mine back in Kosovo, Arlind Bakraci. Shqipe has a story to tell. Shqipe was working in Afghanistan in 2005 when she and two others were abducted by Islamic fundamentalists on their way to lunch in a UN 4x4. Your chances of not surviving were, and still are, minimal. Shqipe said that everyone tells you that at moments like that you think your life will flash before you. What actually happens is that everything happens so quickly that you can’t compute what is going on. They were held for 27 days and became the lead news item around the world. Shqipe was very, very lucky. It seems that a wealthy Kosovar had made contact with the kidnappers and that the Moslem link together with money had eased her release as well as the release of her colleagues. As someone who is fascinated by the psychology of what happens in those situations I asked Shqipe how she now feels looking back. What she said really interested me because she says that she now tries hard not to forget anything that happened. So the 3 hostages talk about their experiences so they don’t forget. I had imagined that you would try to forget everything but for the three of them this clearly isn’t the case. They will be ‘there’ for the rest of their lives.

My hotel (Hotel Ibolele) is stuck in the side of a mountain overlooking Port au Prince – the higher position keeps the Malarial mosquitoes away – and while my room is one of the worst I have stayed in I have a twenty metre pool for my own use it seems. So every night I swim in the dark, in delicious heat and enjoy Cajan fish and Haitian rice. The mangoes here are stunning and the best fruit I have ever eaten in my life. I am eating 3 per day. Haiti is the world centre for Mangoes – over 150 varieties. So at breakfast I have a plate of mango and banana, fresh coffee, some bread and jam, a fruit juice made from fresh lemons and limes and I can see all of Port au Prince beneath me and for about 70 km. A warm breeze gently eases me into full work mode. I haven’t felt this well for 10 years.

In the midst of all this journeying Sam, my new Commissioning Editor has given me the go-ahead to write the next book. So December and January in France with my babies writing and reflecting on a marvellous passage in my life. And what is more I am booked out completely for February, March and April. I almost forgot to mention that I have just won a contract with the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. Enjoy the peaks Doug.

I am sorry if this blog sounds overly smug and congratulatory but I write it partly for myself. I just want to remember the special times.

I am finding time for music and today it is The Dells and a great piece of Northern Soul ‘Wear it on our face’. But a mention too for Charles Mingus’ ‘Haitian Fight Song’.