Haiti Day Six: Time for a Change

This was a day for decisions. After spending all day on the UN base because of a story deadline, I decided I’m ready to get out. It’s been nearly a week, and I’m sick of this lifestyle. I go from the tent to the cafeteria to the internet spot to the bathroom to the bank, and back again. Everything is so sterile, white-washed, without character. Sure, there are plenty of perks: free wireless, free lodging, plenty of food and water.

But the thing that bothers me most has nothing to do with any of that. I need to be closer to everyday people. Haitian people. All the aid workers here are doing a vital and praiseworthy job, and it’s nothing personal, but I can’t be around them much longer. Doctors, soldiers, journalists, policemen, firemen…foreigners. I feel like I’m not seeing the real Haiti, not fully understanding what’s truly going on in this city. That’s not at all the way I like to do this job. I want to live with the people, struggle with them, talk to them, try to understand them. Obviously, I’ll never be able to fully step into their shoes. But the least I can do is try.

Officials here at the UN also made a decision today that will make my move even more timely. I found a notice on my tent, ordering me to dismantle it in the interest of air safety (we’re camped right off the end of the runway). Rumors are flying, but I think they might kick us all out tomorrow. Oh well, the end of an era. It’s been an interesting week here, and I know the next will be just as good, if in a much different way. The weather gods also decided to help me out the door. It rained hard tonight, my tent leaked, and that proved to be the last straw.

So I don’t think I’ll be moving to the fancy journalist hotel, nor to any other foreigner-fest. But anything can happen, since I have to find somewhere that’s safe to camp. I don’t really want to sleep indoors, since aftershocks are still a threat. I need to be somewhere that’s close to the real Port-au-Prince. After all, a journalist can’t document a place if he can’t even see the forest for the United Nations trees. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.