Surviving a trip to Haiti: Tips to Stay Alive?

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dubious

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Two of my friends are going to Haiti to do rebuilding work in Haiti. This is not a Green Zone situation: they are going to be working for local Haitian organizations inside a local community. They have no self defense training. They have no weapons. There is no security detail. On the plus side, they are very bright individuals. One of them speaks perfect French.

What are the top things they should worry about? Kidnapping obviously pops to mind. Does anybody have any advice or links to really good articles?

Some ideas I suggested: Don't use the same route every day to the work site, always know where the embassy / police station is, pack walkie talkies, get a walking stick for self defense.

Is pepper spray an option? Please take a moment to help these wonderful people get the information they need!
 
There are a lot of guns floating around in Haiti so unarmed defense might not work so well.

I would stay in groups of more than four persons and definitely avoid the downtown area of Port-au-Prince as much as possible. After dark, I would not really go out. Speaking French helps but the official language is Creole and even though I had gone to school in France, it took me a few months to learn Creole and getting used to understand the different dialect.

If they have the money, your friends can hire a body guard/ armed security from one of the many security companies. Personally I never trusted in those guys but if you have no other option, it may be the lesser evil. Kidnapping of US citizens has decreased after the CIA or some such organization went into Haiti and extracted a few surviving kidnappers and put them on trial in the States.

I would also recommend good medication against malaria with the rainy season at hand and get plenty of Immodium because Haitian happiness sucks!

It was not really covered in the news but two Dominican guys collected a lot of food items shortly after the quake and drove it over in a personal relief effort. The Haitians shot them, they do not like Dominicans very much.
 
If they're working as relief workers their best defense is to have as may local friends as possible. Becoming part of the community and being accepted as one of the locals helps prevent being selected for crime.

If they won't be doing this then their options are to constantly behave as if they're in hostile territory, which isn't possible for relief workers.
 
If they're bright individuals, have them consider the third option:

DON'T GO TO HAITI.

It's a rotten hell hole. They've gotten enough relief money to rebuild what they had at least 3 times over, and it's so corrupt that none of it will be put to any good use anyways.

Not worth the effort. It's bad enough they got so much of the rest of the world's money. Would you want your friends to do "relief work" in Somalia? It's the same characters there as in Haiti. It's total anarchy, take what you want, kill anyone in the way.

I'm all for humanitarian aid. But when the people you're helping have a good portion of their population that would be more interested in kidnapping you because you're an American to try and make some fast cash, they're on their own.

The fact that all this nonsense is going on after the disaster shows no desire to rebuild and no gratitude for anyone who will.
 
If they're working as relief workers their best defense is to have as may local friends as possible. Becoming part of the community and being accepted as one of the locals helps prevent being selected for crime.
Click to expand...

In general that might be good advice but Haiti is a little different. If you carefully study their history, you will find a culture of corruption, lies, deception and betrayal in their French influenced heritage.

I found no loyalty among Haitians. If you get a security guard for a limited time, you would be foolish to pay him a good salary, but rather pay a good premium if you can leave unharmed. From that money he can then pay his informants and allies.
 
If you get a security guard for a limited time, you would be foolish to pay him a good salary, but rather pay a good premium if you can leave unharmed.
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+1

it would most likely be his only incentive to just not take your friends money and have them kidnapped anyways.
 
Bovice said:
If they're bright individuals, have them consider the third option:

DON'T GO TO HAITI.

It's a rotten hell hole. They've gotten enough relief money to rebuild what they had at least 3 times over, and it's so corrupt that none of it will be put to any good use anyways.

Not worth the effort. It's bad enough they got so much of the rest of the world's money. Would you want your friends to do "relief work" in Somalia? It's the same characters there as in Haiti. It's total anarchy, take what you want, kill anyone in the way.

I'm all for humanitarian aid. But when the people you're helping have a good portion of their population that would be more interested in kidnapping you because you're an American to try and make some fast cash, they're on their own.

The fact that all this nonsense is going on after the disaster shows no desire to rebuild and no gratitude for anyone who will.
Click to expand...
I'm with him. Don't go. I like the adage, God helps those that help themselves and tend to do just that. These third world countries don't help themselves improve. They wait for the US or UK to come rushing with our tax dollars to do for them. I also believe that charity should be local and freely given. I help people around me, that I know will benefit from my help because they are trying to help themselves.
 
I agree, urge them not to go. It's not a disaster zone, it's the Titanic. The quake that did this was MILD. I've been through much larger quakes. Larger quakes happen all the time with nowhere near this level of death and destruction. Another such quake, or a truly big one, would finish what's left of the place. If that weren't bad enough the relief efforts have been shifted from the capable hands of the Marines to a motley assortment of NGO's, UN relief workers and the bad old Haitian government. Pretty much the very worst combination of people to have running your country. Beneath which you have a deeply entrenched criminal underworld that's interconnected with the officials.

If you want to help out after a quake, you'd see much better bang for your buck in Chile.
 
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I am another one in support of Bovice's "don't go to Haiti" option. I know a lot of folks think that the warm and fuzzy feeling in their belly is worth "helping" places like Haiti. Well, to me it is not. Haiti is as Cosmoline stated, the Titanic of nations. It is basically a welfare state... in mentality. And regardless of how much money and aid the world pours into Haiti, it will still be a hell hole... now and forever until the ocean reclaims it.
So, tell your buddies not to buy into all of this "save Haiti" garbage. No mortal effort can save that god forsaken island. If they want warm and fuzzy feelings, tell your friends to help someone that is willing to help themselves too.
 
I was actually scheduled to go as a linguist, but honestly by now, the urgency has passed. Like they say, three-letter intl agencies have taken over, and they have plenty of French linguists. There is little help I could give while risking my tail, someone else can go.
 
I spent the years 1990-1993 living in The Dominican Republic. About 60 miles from the Haitian border. Never had the urge to go there and the locals avoided it also. On the other hand, DomRep has a lot going for it. Great Rum, Coffee, A good Beer, and absolutely gorgeous women. Cost of living is Cheap too. I enjoyed my time there.
 
Dubious,

The best and safest thing they can do is not to go. In my opinion, if they really want to help those people, then the best thing they can do is to find a reputable Haiti Relief charity of their choice and give money or volunteer time here in the States. There are already plenty of people down there to help. They should only go if they are highly -trained and experienced recovery and mitigation experts whose expertise will be invaluable to recovery. I don't think that is the case. All they will be doing is adding two additional bodies to stretch limited food, water and shelter resources.

Granted, I don't know your friends, and I don't mean to cast aspersions, but some of the "brightest" people I've ever met have been some of the dumbest. Going to Haiti under the circumstances you describe is not "bright" at all. It's monumentally stupid.
 
My cousin who is a med student recently got back from Haiti after providing medical assistance for two weeks. She said they had private security assigned to them and they where still very nervous. She knows of two incidents while she was there that security had to draw down on someone. It is a near lawless society under crisis, a combination which should be avoided.
 
... i know lil girls who work for humanitarian orgs ... they do go,
so grown men might as well.

Get a guard. And get your job done.
 
... i know lil girls who work for humanitarian orgs ... they do go,
so grown men might as well.

Get a guard. And get your job done.
__________________
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MP7,

Haiti is not anything like a walk down the Reeperbahn on a Friday night, even after the St. Pauli game.
 
[RANT] Don't go in the first place. I never understood why folks in the US feel like they have to save the world, especially in countries where they hate us and want to see us dead. Isn't there enough to do in our own country? [/RANT]

Ok - got that off my chest...
- stay in groups (at least 3 or more and armed with machetes or some other blade weapon and have more than one pepper spray)
- take a different route every day
- if they drive, be prepared to run people over and keep on going
- keep your passport on your body - duct taped... so that you can get the hell out in a moments notice


dubious
Join Date: February 19, 2007 Posts: 365


Surviving a trip to Haiti: Tips to Stay Alive?
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They have a lot of homework to do, if the organization they are working with/for isn't providing them the basics. I'd suggest:

http://www.culturegrams.com/ - this is a subscription service, but a lot of libraries buy it. Tell your friends to find a place that has them and get the one for Haiti.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ha.html

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1134.html

http://countrystudies.us/haiti/

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/httoc.html

Travel guides like those from Lonely Planet - http://shop.lonelyplanet.com/index.jsp . buy direct via the web or check with local bookstores.

The best and most current sources of information will likely be people who have just returned from there, or organizations supporting relief work in country. http://www.haitirelieforganizations.com/ has at least a partial list. Were it me I'd be talking to Franklin Graham ( http://www.samaritanspurse.org/ ), it happens we used to share the same gunsmith, but you don't have to tell anyone I said that.

hth,

lpl
 
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