A Walk Through Leogane

We walk everywhere we need to go. The main mode of transportation here, motorcycles, are kind of dangerous because there is so much traffic on the roads so we stick to walking. What do we encounter on our daily walks through Leogane to the tent cities where we perform the verbal autopsies?

Well once we step out of the clinic we hear our neighbors shouting our names and running towards us to say hi. I don't think I have ever left the clinic without them knowing! As we walk down towards the center of town, the main thing we have to be careful of are all the motos and tap taps zipping by. The motos like scaring foreigners by coming really near them as they drive by and they honk way too loud for their size! The motos are the main mode of transportation in Haiti - they are like taxis in the US or rickshaws in India. They are mostly used to travel short distances like to the store or hospital. Tap taps are the other mode of transportation...although these are used more for transportation between places further apart such as between two cities. They are basically big trucks painted with bright colors and usually filled to the brim with people. They are called tap taps because you basically "tap" when you want to get off.

An unfilled tap tap...a rare sight...usually they are overflowing!

As we get to the center of town we usually see school children coming back from school. They have really beautiful uniforms that are very neat. All the girls have socks with beautiful lace on them. A funny thing about the school children is that we see so many boys, even older boys, carrying around pink, american princess backpacks...I don't quite understand why? Oh, and a lot of times people will wear shirts from US but I dont really think they know what the shirts say. For example Missy was telling us that she saw a relatively large man in his thirties wearing a shirt that said "Daddy's little girl". I have seen several older women wearing shirts that say stuff like "In need of a boyfriend" of "Top reasons you should date me". Once we even saw someone wearing a Duke jersey...I dont think they knew that what they were wearing sold for so much in the states!

Throughout the streets the women are usually selling various items...from food to clothing to medicine. Little kids try to sell us bags of water...they are these little bags the size of a typical ice pack which are used like we use water bottles in the states. Also on the streets we usually run into dogs every 10 or so steps we take and goats every now and then. The dogs avoid the humans for the most part, which means I don't have to worry about them!

On a more somber note, its hard to notice the lack of buildings on our walks. Sometimes we pass through areas that are literally ghost towns. What once used to be a neighborhood is just rubble with only door frames still standing. Then we enter the tent cities where the people are now living and you can't help but think what is going to happen when the rainy season really hits. Some of the tent cities we go to have nice camping tents donated by AID agencies such as USAID, but then there are other where literally its a dirt floor and 4 sticks connecting 5 pieces of cloth.

Usually around 12 or 1 pm when we head back the clinic, it starts pouring on us, which I don't mind because it finally cools down! But the walk gets a little slippery. Once I made the mistake of wearing flip flops after it had just rained and I kept sliding out of my flip flops right into mud. As we approach the clinic we are, of course, greeted by our neighbors and all the children running up to say hi :) Its a nice way to be welcomed home!