Meeting the Gang Leaders

 

The following day was an exceptionally unusual day as I recognized the difference it made to sleep, eat and live with a people whom so many misunderstand.  It was survival to them as usual, despite their life uncertainties.  The merchants selling their goods, their smiles and their resignation to their stagnant condition were and everlasting canvas forever engraved in my heart. 

I spent most of the day meeting different people, different organizations and groups.  They all had one thing in common, a chance to live a normal life put in one word; change, something they feel seems to shy away from them every single day of their lives.  I called for a meeting with the gang leaders looking for an opportunity to speak to them in an attempt to understand their quandary, or the reasons for their actions.  In the mean times, I was in company of a few Lieutenants and found most of them to be very informative and talented.  One especially with the name of Shaba I stumbled on was a great rapper and composer.  He had a few tales of his own and a few encounters face to face with the “MINUSTAH”, he described to be purely inexplicable to be alive today.  He demonstrated his talents with two members of his group.  Shaba mainly kept us company during our stay in the city.  About five o’clock,   I was visited by at least three of the gang leaders with the exception of the notorious “Amaral” the head leader of unified gangs of Cite Soleil who wanted me to meet him on his turf, which I gladly accepted.  Just before dusk we drove to a quartier called Belekou where I saw two men playing cards assisted or guarded by about six others.   One of them I assumed to be the main leader, greeted me with a “Sat Pase?” (What’s up?).  “Wait a few minutes while I finish this game” he smoothly said.  Don’t worry I replied, I am at home as I started to tour the area accompanied by a few of his Lieutenants.   There was a “Gaguerre” (Rooster arena) which I ascertained to be his favorite pass time.

He came and shook my hand and asked me to follow him upstairs in a two story building where I found an office with a desk and three chairs.  He jokingly asked my reluctant volunteers to leave us alone as they had nothing to worry.   We talked about everything and nothing just to break an ostensibly apprehension between the two of us.  “I congratulate you for your courage to come here” he said to me with a slight grin on his face.  I replied that I congratulate him as well to receive me as his guest.  So I said, what got you into this life?  “A long tale that I probably will explain to you next time we meet.  For now it is just circumstantial where it has become a way of life”.  “What I need from you”, he said, “is very simple, I heard about you and the work you are doing here and I hope you can help me.  You see, I have this computer here and would love to use it but have no electrical power here.  Can you get me a small inverter and two batteries; in addition we need a guitar for our band and soccer uniforms for our team?”   I was basically mystified by his request and surely did not know what to expect.  To me that was really a small and innocent request for which I had no difficulty saying yes. 

We departed from each other as if we had known each other for a while.  He and his Lieutenants accompanied us to our van.  We drove back to the hotel where different groups of people were awaiting us for more meetings, with a strange feeling of accomplishment but yet unconvinced as I did not find his true motivation for his abduct and scare tactics actions.  The rest was left to my imagination.

A day later, I received a visit at the Hotel from John Joseph Joel and Rene Monplaisir who both showed some interest in my work.  John was at his home turf. We met in my hotel room where he said was his favorite when he stays here.  We spent the whole evening talking, had a few drinks and a meal.  John spoke highly of his political and friendly relation with Rene Garcia Preval recently reelected and soon to be inaugurated as the next President of the Republic of Haiti.  He also made some interesting proposals one of which to propose me as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, that he said he will discuss with the president at the appropriate time.  I was a bit bewildered but confident to accept if that nomination should become a reality as it will help me speed up and advance Operation Hope cause on behalf of the deprived and forgotten children…   This meeting was to become the beginning of a longtime friendly relationship I thought.