I purchased this map from the gift shop of the Hotel Montana in Haiti in 1997. The hotel was destroyed in the earthquake. President Aristide had just peacefully passed power to President Prevail. Dr. Farmer, Father Charles, Tom White, Jim Hudson and Marcel were all still alive.
Bill Gates hadn’t discovered Haiti yet. The Clinton Foundation hadn’t disappointed so many. It was more than a decade before the earthquake and Jean Dominique and Michèle Montas were still on the air in Port au Prince. It was before the hospital in Boucane Carre or school in Petite Harpoon was even built and the hospital and nursing schools in Leogane still stood. Cholera was still eradicated and MDR TB and HIV were more injurious but less prevalent
Hurricanes and accompanying floods were not regular biblical catastrophes and you could drive through Croix-des-Bouquets or run to the market without getting kidnapped or shot. There were reliable democratic elections and a presidential palace and ofcourse a president that cared about Haiti and her poor majority.
We had so much hope then. We need to find that hope again, the Haitian people deserve it.