For a couple years now, my family, friends, and the HRP Board have been quietly – and not so quietly – telling me to quit with the traveling back and forth to Haiti. Too dangerous.
I have lived in Haiti for well over ten years and many people recognize me. (I sort of stick out, being a white guy with the beard and all…) I have friends everywhere: in the market, within the police force, up the mountain, among the network of NGO personnel working in Haiti, and more.
All that means that I have friends willing to help me with the toughest part of the trip to and from the US. There are people who pick me up and take me from the airport to my home. I have had a new pattern of flying into Port au Prince and then taking a puddle-jumper on to Jacmel to be driven the last leg through the mountains. Frankly, for a long time, the real trouble has been mostly in the PAP ring and with the second flight I could simply jump over all that. I have also tried some ruses. Once my cop friends put me in the back of a police car and pretended that I was an apprehended person they were taking “to the station.” Instead, they delivered me safely home.
But, all tall tales aside, by the end of 2024 the scales were tipping too far. I made the tough decision that I could not return to Haiti, even for the shortened stays that I had been planning.
And, it breaks my heart. I feel disconnected from my life there. Goodness knows why… I’m on the phone all the time putting out fires. People call about finding food. People call about finding a way to farm and raise food. People call to report on others and their health, or the state of the market, or the state of the roads. And everyone calls asking for money. It never stops.
Haiti has been my home. My friends there are an emotional ballast in the face of life’s challenges. I have watched kids turn into adults and trees grow from fragile small saplings. I have reveled in the art, Carnival, and music of the country. And, I have looked up at the stars at night, all the brighter for the lack of light on the mountainside.
As 2025 is unfolding, the FAA continues to halt all flights to Haiti. I will be writing to you from the States until I can return. Yes, I have much to do here and many people to meet. I have already made some wonderful new connections and have the time to reconnect with longstanding supporters. Thank you all for filling in the gaps in my heart.
Michael Anello
Executive Director
