Port au Prince, Haiti Day 2, Trip 4

I arrived very early yesterday and am once again, am struck by the flood of "etranje" who have invaded Ayiti. Between these trips, I have found myself feeling great concern that Ayiti will be trampled underneath the well-meaning--and, sometimes not-so-well-meaning--inundation of outsiders who position themselves as experts, despite many (most, perhaps) having no previous experience in this complex cultural and cosmological context.

I almost wish someone would stand at the airport with a sign that says: THANKS--BUT NO THANKS. PLEASE GO HOME UNLESS WE INVITED YOU. There is no monitoring or control process here; I recall Rwanda where all NGO's wanting to operate went through a vigorous approval by the then controlling RFP; or Kosovo, where after several significant blunders by NGO's, stricter entry and control measures were established.

Ayiti needs this. Apparently much of the control has been signed over. If this is true, it will simply mean another and equally destructive tragedy to this beautiful country.

A friend shared the recently discovered original deklarasyon l'independans that was discovered in England. One of the principles it emphasizes is "Live Independent or Die."

Once stability has been restored here, I hope:

1. The Declaration will be returned to Ayiti, to the place of its birth

2. The world will read it, and respect it.