Movie premiere and bargaining

HATIAN MOVIE PREMIERE
It was my first big social event since arriving in Haiti. We were invited to the premiere of a documentary by Arnold Antonin, a well known non-fiction filmmaker, educator, and organizer of the local Haitian filmmakers advocacy group. The title was GNB kont Atilla. GNB is an expression in Kreyol meaning that one has courage beyond reason. Literally it means one has "balls in the ass." I can't help you out with the "kont Atilla," part, but I know if I had balls in my ass, I'd be one bad muthaF--shut yo mouth!

Anyway, it was about the recent ouster of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February of 2004. The significant events leading up to the coup began in September of 2003, but things have not been calm here since Aristide was forcibly reinstated by the US government in 1994...after he had been forcibly removed in 1991. People in the US complain about "negative campaigning." but her in Haiti politicos are either assassinated or driven into exile. The process actually has it's up side, but please don't take this to mean I support political violence (as cathartic as it may be).

The film has stirring footage of the mass demonstrations by students at the state university, then by the people themselves. Aristide brought much pain and sorrow to Haiti, and there is not a level of Hell deep enough for him to be cast that would pay back the damage he has wrought. Nonetheless there are many people (mostly NOT in Haiti) who want his reinstatement.

When Aristide sought help from the US to keep him in power, President George W. Bush did the only good and decent thing he's done in 4 years: he told Aristide not to let the door hit him in the ass on the way out. Fear in Haiti is that a Democratic president will help bring Aristide back, as Clinton did in 1994. Honestly, do you think Kerry, or the American people for that matter, care enough about Haiti to risk American lives? Get real.

The story told in the film has tremendous immediacy, and seeing how an entire nation rose up to expel a corrupt leader is inspirational. It gives the outside world a glimpse into the horrible social and political problems in Haiti and forces us to see them as human beings. Despite such insurmountable problems, the Haitian people still have hope.

The film, unfortunately, has several flaws. First, it is about 2 hours long: ok if the material collected could support that length, but it doesn't. The filmmaker begins to repeat images and situations to the point that an outsider (someone not living in Haiti at the time) gets lost. A tight narrative structure, established in the first 20 minutes or so, is completely lost in the middle 2/3. And the ending, which should have been a rousing victory, loses it's steam and plays as anti-climactic.

A more thoroughly edited version of GNB could enjoy international distribution, but the current version should be considered a work in progress. But Arnold has already made several DVD's, and a planed release of the film in a theater in Jacmel (a southern beach resort town) is planned for this weekend. I told Arnold that I would be happy to talk about ways to make the film more accessible to the international audience, and he graciously accepted my offer. We'll see whether or not my input is seen as helpful or hurtful to him. I hope it's the former, but Sacha says that, from his experience with other Haitian filmmakers, Arnold may take my comments personally--which they are not meant to be. If I thought the film was a mess (or bad, or unworthy of being seen by a wide audience) I wouldn't even make the offer.

I was hoping to meet some new folks at this soirée, but I am still significantly inhibited by my limited abilities in French. People who know me would probably enjoy a quiet, more contemplative Ken, but I'm afraid I'm coming off as closed off and rude. Anyway, Sacha was too busy putting the Don Juan moves on a young Haitian woman, so he was not available to introduce me to very many folks. I did connect with the people I have already met here, and it did give me a social setting in which to get more comfortable being here. As the evening wore on, however, my opportunity was slipping away.

Afterwards we enjoyed free nibbles and wine, chatted in the beautiful courtyard of the new Karibe Convention Center, and made plans to meet up somewhere for drinks and chat later on. The chosen destination was the Presse Café, a local hangout in Pétion-ville jam packed with an incredibly varied mix of people. A local kompas band was playing and the place was jumping. Couples danced away despite the close quarters and everybody seemed to be having a good time. The crowd was surprisingly old for a dance club: many in their 40's and 50's. But several youngsters (early 20's) still made their presence felt. The color spectrum was decidedly lighter than what I have been seeing in most parts of Haiti (more on that in a separate post) but the folks with money to spend tend to be lighter skinned.

The boys pestering you to have them watch your car while you drink and dance are definitely poor and dark. "Protection and Security" is one of the really big entrepreneurial industries in Haiti, particularly in the night club and restaurant areas. You have to remember exactly who you agreed to watch your car because you don't want to pay the wrong person. Believe it not not, even after several hours, the street businessman will remember you and make sure he gets his fee. That doesn't stop 2-3 others from trying to sneak in before the true protector identifies himself. BTW, the fee is a staggering 10-25 gourdes (about 30-75 cents US). As I learn more Kreyol from Sacha I am enjoying the various sales pitches that each young man has to get your business.

After Presse Café we went to Barak, a large and crowded club with a long bar in an air conditioned section connected to an open air patio. The patrons here are most definitely younger, and I felt a lot like Gramps standing by the bar listening to the eclectic music and watching the free form dancing and mating rituals. Many foreigners (meaning non-Haitian white people) hang out here and the same folks tend to show up night after night. I heard that Barak shows some US sporting events, so I made a promise to stop by and check out some of the World Series games. They start here at around 7:00 PM, so the place is practically empty then. By 10-11:00 PM it's literally ass to ass. I was able to meet the handful of American regulars, as well as some upper class Haitians. The mood is festive and borderline crazy. We stayed until 1:30 AM and things were still in high gear.

This evening made it clear to me that, if I am going to really enjoy Haiti and get to know what it's like to really live here, I need to come out of my shell. I've never been in a situation where I felt like such an outsider. But that's all my own doing. Nobody here is deliberately trying to shun me or make me feel bad/guilty or whatever. At Presse Café, slumped up against a speaker with my Prestige beer, I started to feel very lonely. THen, I decided to just look at the setting and situation differently. I began to sway to the music (kompas is very danceable, even if you don't dance), smile at the other patrons--who smiled back, by the way-- and for the first time in 3 weeks I felt comfortable being me in Haiti.

CURRENCY, BARGAINING AND MATH
The Haitian currency system is needlessly confusing. It's especially cruel and unusual in a country with an illiteracy rate above 70%. The money is in gourdes. There are 5 gourds to a Haitian dollar, but an actual Haitian dollar doesn't exist--just gourdes in several denominations. Prices in stores and restaurants, however, are listed either in Haitian dollars or US dollars. The process going from gourdes to Haitian dollars requires complete memorization of the 5-times table. If you want to go to US dollars, it's 7.2 Haitian dollars per US dollar.

TEST: If an item costs 35.78 Dollars Haitian, how much is that in both gourdes and US dollars? See below for the answer.

Anyway, even the poorest, youngest, most illiterate people in Haiti can instantaneously convert gourdes to Haitian dollars and vice-versa. I thought they were supposed to be illiterate? I bet most elementary school children in the US can't snap off those calculations in their head, yet children here who never even go to school can easily do it. The reason, of course, is that money is a rare and cherished commodity in Haiti. Maybe if we don't give our kids all the money and things they want, they'll learn math better than they do now. At least it would teach them the value of money, which is a lost notion in our affluent society.

Enough sociology for now. On to bargaining and the fact that EVERYTHING in Haiti is negotiable. I am a typical naive foreigner (openly advertised by my pale skin) and I'm used to paying whatever the merchant says he/she wants for a particular item. I've been told in Haiti that I should NEVER pay the initially asked price for anything except in a store where prices are clearly marked. I haven't had too many bargaining encounters, but I've watched Sacha deal with market vendors on the street. He sees the entire experience as sport, so he gives each and every vendor a bad time about the price of their avocado, sugar cane, car-adapter cell phone chargers (a particularly hot item, which they sell in the middle of the streets), or whatever. He said that the vendors see my white skin and immediately double or triple the price because they know guilty, affluent white people will pay it.
A woman on the street was asking 24 gourdes for 2 huge avocados (quickly, convert that to US dollars!). Sacha offered 20. They yammered at each other in tones that bordered on angry until the woman finally gave in. She relented, even though her children would go without food and water for the next week (a common--and probably true--story from many street merchants).

I was in the car window nearest the woman and gave her 25 gourdes. Sacha just laughed and drove off. I felt like an idiot. This could be one thing I will never get used to in Haiti, but bargaining is a way of life here. It's part of the culture in a poor country where everything has a price but there isn't enough money to go around. I can afford 25 gourdes for 2 avocados, so why should I try to talk the vendor down? Just so I don't get "screwed" like some dumb foreigner? In the above situation, it's clear that the poor woman selling avocados on the street is, always has, and forever will be, the one who is screwed.

NEXT TIME: More dubbing epiphanies, "Don't eat the fresh fruits and vegetables!" and avocados the size of footballs.

ANSWERS: 35.78 dollars Haitian is 178.90 gourdes and $4.97 US It's the price of a bottle of Chilean wine. 25 gourdes is 69 cents US.