Haiti

For many years, friends and acquaintances have reacted to my devotion to Haiti with the question, "What is it that you love about Haiti?" I have no satisfactory response other than to describe a country "where art is joy." The first Black republic and the richest Caribbean country in the early 19th century has suffered an endless chain of political and natural disasters: Toussaint Louverture's imprisonment and death in a French prison; France's imposition of reparations to secure Haiti's independence; the U.S. military occupation during the first quarter of the 20th century; Trujillo's massacre of sugarcane workers; the Duvalier family dictatorships from 1957 to 1986, major earthquakes, and the condemnation of the country by the current U.S. president. The Haiti we knew is no longer. Today the country is overrun by rapacious gangs that have no respect for its people or the rule of law, and it seems to have been forgotten by the international community.This book is a memoir and a tribute to the country we have known over the years. The essence of Haiti is captured in Caroline's 1976 article written for Two-wheel Trip. It augments my impression of the Haiti we have collected in the artwork and photographs reprinted here.Caroline and I first visited Haiti in 1969 when we were living and working in the Dominican Republic, and we have visited Haiti almost every year up to the 1990s. We last traveled there fifteen years ago and we recall with great fondness the charm of its people, the richness of its culture, and its physical beauty, a Haiti that will never again be as we remember it.-Tom Crawford