Money

Money is a touchy issue here in Haiti. As foreigners, we are constantly associated with having it. As employees of a development organization that finances community development work, we are looked to as a major source. On the street, we are almost constantly asked for it. It's frustrating and has been one of the most challenging aspects of living in Haiti. It was similar when we lived in Senegal.

BUT, just the other day we were in a little deli/restaurant about 45 minutes away, on our way to Port au Prince. Inside were two boisterous, loud, middle aged Americans from Kansas or something. They were super happy to see us. They didn't speak a lot of kreyol and were obviously just off the plane, doing some kind of mission trip for spring break or something.
Anyway, we got to talking and joking around. They asked what we were doing in Haiti, who we worked for, etc. Then, of course, we got to talking about money. They asked if we had to raise our own support, if we were paid, etc. We explained the MCC system and that we get a small stipend per month, but also get most of our living expenses covered. I guess these guys started feeling sorry for us so they offered to pay for our lunch. We politely declined, saying that it was covered by MCC and wouldn't come out of our pocket, so it wasn't a big deal.

I couldn't believe what happened next.

One of the guys whipped out his wallet and stated rifling through his Haitian money - gourdes. He obviously wasn't familiar with the value of the different currency notes, so he pulls out two 50's and literally throws them at me and says, "here, take this." He's got this big goofy look on his face like he is the most generous friendly God Bless America kinda guy in the world. I look down at the money and see the two 50's, which actually equals about $2.50 US and just couldn't believe how insulted I felt by this dirty, cheap gesture. In a way, I appreciated the thought - he was trying to be generous to us when he realized that we really don't make any money doing our work here in Haiti. But at the same time, I was totally insulted that first, he literally threw the money at me, second that it was less than three bucks (kinda like giving a little kid a quarter to go buy a popsicle) and third, that he thought that money would make me feel good.

It was quite the cultural experience and sure made me laugh.

MvG

Shout out

Just wanted to send a shout out to our friend and colleague Kurt. Kurt's the dude who showed me how to post videos on our blog - much to the grandparent's delight. Kurt is a cool cat and you can check him out at http://www.kwhildebrand.blogspot.com

Enjoy!

Matt

Gabriela Stands!