Leogane

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I've realised that almost all of our posts so far have been either about life at the All Hands base or the projects we do so I want to tell you about Leogane, the town we're staying in.

Leogane is about 20km from the capital, Port-au-Prince, though that means a 3 hour drive because the road is so bad and congested. It's a pretty sizable town and it was at the epicentre of the earthquake. Other than the main highway and a few stretches of road the majority of the thoroughfares are massively potholed dirt tracks and whilst there are a few buildings still standing a lot of them have been condemned so most people live around the ruins in tents or shanty town shelters made of tarpaulins. Life is pretty much lived on the street and personal space is zero.

In spite of everything people are good natured and get on with their lives day to day amidst the dirt and rubbish which is everywhere. Streets are lined with people selling a few items from little tables. There's the egg sandwich lady down the road (a big favourite with volunteers), the gingerbread man who balances big slabs of the stuff on a board on his head and walks around, the bike repair man in a little yard and the Digicel mobile phone charging booths all over town.

People get around on bikes or motorcycles for the most part, skirting round the collapsed roads and pushing their way down the tiniest, most populated alleyways beeping all the way. Motorcycles are handy taxis and a driver will often dump his girlfriend by the side of the road to take a fare from one of us (we're sincerely hoping he'll go back to pick her up later so we're not causing countless relationship breakdowns!). Motorcycles by no means stick to the 2 person norm of the UK; I saw 5 people on one the other day, and transporting outlandishly outsized items on the back is completely normal.

The main means of transport for us whilst working is taptap - an open backed pickup truck onto which a seemingly limitless number of people can be piled. You cling onto the sides as the drivers speed along, overtaking trucks in the face of oncoming traffic but always making it unscathed. We pile our wheelbarrows, tools, cement, timber, water barrels and shovels on the back, then squeeze around the edges, tap-tapping on the cab roof to let the driver when to set off and where to stop.

Kids shout "hey you" whenever we walk by, it's one of the few phrases in English they know, and they'll ask what your name is endlessly just to make conversation. Whenever we're on a site they'll want to help and I've grown used to 8 year olds being far stronger than any of us. We have a lot of Haitian volunteers and also employ lots on the Cash For Work programme so it's rare to walk around town without meeting people we know and calling "bwen jou" across the street. You never feel like a local but we definitely feel at home in Belval Plaza, our neighbourhood.

It's a really vibrant, frenetic but also laid back town and whilst it's not always calm it's easy to stay safe and feel comfortable here.

H&T
xxx

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