Unlucky
In Sudan during the 1980s there was a comment you used to hear a lot whenever bad news arrived. “When God made the Sudan,” someone would say, “He laughed.”
Then it got adapted. At the school where I was teaching, a student painted a message on the outside wall of the staff room. “God will punish the Sudan.” A few days later, another added, “And we will punish the headmaster.”
There was a common feeling that Sudan was an unlucky place, that it never got a decent break and never would. But other nations might claim to be even further down the pecking order when it comes to receiving good luck. In 2015 I went to one of them: Haiti.
The story of that country is a list of disasters and catastrophes starting with the arrival of Christopher Columbus whose ship ran aground there in December 1492. Once repaired and refloated, the expedition did not stay long, but they did leave behind a number of things, among them smallpox. So it began.
By 2015 there was hope that a corner might have been turned. The debris and ruins of the devastating earthquake in 2010 were still very evident: after all, over 150,000 had died and an estimated 250,000 houses had been destroyed. There were still piles of rubble everywhere. But a little swagger and style had returned. This is a vibrant, colourful place and an artistic powerhouse.
This week, being separated by travel from my notebooks, I can’t bring you a backstory in writing. However, I do have my hard drive with photos. With more bad news lately from Haiti, I wanted to show something of the sheer creative genius, and the beauty, of that troubled, but wonderful, country.
I’ll be back in a couple of weeks.