Tale of Two Communities...

Some days just throw up the weirdest of combinations. You can hardly imagine you’re the same person, living the same life when, in such a short time, your experiences can be so varied.
Within 24 hours last week I visited 2 different communities. 90 minutes apart, same time zone, different worlds.

First we went to Shada, the largest slum in Cap Haitian. A rabbit warren of tiny, winding alleyways dotted with bits of metal, wood and half constructed blocks that served as homes. Teeming with people, children would come from everywhere, to look, laugh, beg, or simply shake your hand. The tiny alleys served as playground, sewer and tip and, when darkness fell, you would need to be an expert to navigate yourself around. This is one of the poorest communities in the world. People here eat clay cookies, patties of dirt from the ground, baked to give just the vaguest impression of food. Families here don’t name their children until they are 5, so likely is it that they will not live that long. We were visiting a community clinic with a Doctor we help to fund, and a project that was concerned with establishing, relatively, hygienic toilets in communities like these. Little beacons of hope in a dark place.

The next day, travelling home, we had a few hours to kill in Florida between flights. We decided to do the tourist thing and go on the boat tour of Fort Lauderdale harbour, complete with commentary of the riverside mansions of the rich and famous. The contrast was, of course, surreal, stark and jarring, from one of the very poorest to one of the richest communities in the world.

The mansion in the picture was that of Wayne Huizenga, out of his $6bn fortune he has bought half a dozen other similar properties along the river, as well as a $90m yacht, he likes the place. Wayne owns Blockbuster Video, as well as the Miami Dolphins football team, and the States baseball and basketball teams for good measure. To be fair though, my home is more like Wayne’s than a typical Shada dwelling; it has a front door, rather than a tatty piece of cloth or corrugated metal, it has lights, and a tap inside, more than one room, and a toilet. The toilet’s the thing, the key to health, wealth and happiness, at its most basic, the reason why those community eco-loos in Shada are so vital. And the irony? Wayne Huizenga’s fortune, long before the videos and the sports teams, was built on one thing…Waste Management. There’s money in most things, but the way it’s shared around, well it just feels a bit crap sometimes.