AP correspondent provides look at life in Haiti

Jonathan Katz is an Associated Press correspondent who was stationed in Port Au Prince in Haiti for more than three years, and it shows in his writing, which is vivid, three-dimensional and demonstrates his in-depth, personal knowledge of the country and its people.

He was there for the hurricane disaster, when his own house came down around him and he barely got out in time. There are several detailed maps – one of which lists what is still standing and what became part of the rubble.

The book provides a brief history of Haiti and its attachment to America – and its gradual decline.

Schools and housing collapses occured even without a hurricane, as they were so shoddily built; the highest grade is ninth and most people barely make a dollar a day – the ambitious and the rich have left.

Indeed, it’s nearly official the country is “at or near the bottom of any social economics indicator.” Though it has a population of 10 million, it has a tiny police force, little plumbing or electricity and there is precious little gas to put in a fireman’s truck.

Despite Sean Penn, both Clintons, George Clooney and others publicizing the need for help – and money was poured into Haiti and the UN sent 22,000  people, it’s not clear they helped a whole lot. The government there is passive – promises it makes are not kept; corruption is so rampant, many are reluctant to put aid in the government’s hands.

The island is subject to huge storms and heavy rains; very few people could live in their houses after the hurricane. So tent cities sprang up, confusion is everywhere, people do very little communicating with each other and no one seems to be good at planning.

So few people have clear titles to their homes;  land and buildings that are left are so unstable, people just appropriate land  – any they can find, as the government has so few records and squatters just appeared.

To make things worse, Katz was able to prove UN troops brought cholera to the island by not repairing the septic system, so it leaked into a small river in which Haitians – most of whom have little or no water – swim and wash.

Katz organizes his material so well; each chapter is devoted to a different aspect of Haitian living. He writes with humor, with great sympathy for the people, though perhaps not so much for their leaders.

He even hints at his own feelings (which are in separate pieces in italics). Katz wrote the book, he said, partly to share the various conditions that “left the Haitian State so anemic, it couldn’t even count how many citizens it had.”

He has done that.

Book info:
The Big Truck That Went By
By Jonathan M. Katz
Palgrave Macmillan, $26

Posted by Rae Eastman on May 16, 2013. Filed under Arts and Entertainment,Book Reviews,Columns,Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry