Bound for Haiti

Haiti appears to be small in total landscape with a large population of almost 10 million people.

Sometimes life changing decisions for me  feel as if they take years to make, but occasionally, every once in a while my choice to act happens almost immediately.  Since the spring I had been actively, however sporadically working on the logistics to get to New Zealand for the upcoming SSWC10 in Rotorua.  Everything seemed to be pointing in that direction.  Back in July and August I did a 60 day contract job for STANLEY Brand writing as the company's voice on their social media network.  The funds I earned during that little gig came at the perfect time to offset the expenses needed for a ten day travel to the land of Zeal in the name of Single Speed mountain biking.  Plus, an old Golf Company Marine buddy of mine lives in Raglan on the west coast below Auckland about 80 miles from the event.  Roscoe told me I could drop in and that he would teach me to surf and take me on a boar hunt with K-Bars as our hunting tools.  Surfing good, killing anything with a K-Bar bad.  

I was working the ticket brokering for NZ as recently as two weeks ago when all of a sudden I started second guessing the trip.  Not sure why, maybe a tinge of intuitive bite sort of speak, but within a few days of wavering on putting myself in the airborne tube for an entire two day transfer forward in time I heard the word Haiti in my head.  Tragedy struck tragedy in the form of a 7.0 earth quake, 8 miles deep on January 12 in Port Au Prince(PAP according to my ticket) that killed over a quarter of a million fellow humans.  In the hours following my internal revelation about not wanting to go far away to ride my bike all over again I started thinking about creating a document both written and photographic. During the past few days the more I thought about the potential gains of going to Haiti v. New Zealand the more I became positive that this is what I am supposed to be doing.

This past Saturday I talked to a helpful Travel Broker in Plaza Midwood and then on Sunday morning I booked my flight from CLT to PAP through MIA.  My plane leaves this Saturday and returns to the Jar the following Sunday.  As far as an itinerary, I really do not have one because I could not bring myself to double click or street view the answers that I am looking for.  Doors are already opening though. Yesterday a German named Mueller whom I have been randomly chatting with at the Cool & Cool told me about some Jesuit Priests he does business with that may be helpful.  And, I am hoping at some point to run into Robert Rose whom I met here in Charlotte in early August while he was on his first break since the quake.  This white South African had dedicated the previous seven months of his life to helping the people of PAP by keeping the Doctors, Nurses and property of a clinic on the hill safe. 

Due to this trip I will be incommunicado with you my lovely audience from after this Friday's post until around October 27th when the daily B-Log will start all over again.   For the rest of this week I may be updating with some last minute thoughts and ideas.  As well I plan to post some contributing work from my friend Nathan who has been in Serbia since the late spring.  There was an uprising and clash the other day in Belgrade and he was there for it, his perceptions in writing are interesting to say the least.