Love for Haiti: Information and Correction

My friend Burt and team member on my third trip is a wonderful and intelligent man. He has been all over Haiti many many times. He even can speak fluent Creole, very impressive! He reads my Blog on a regular basis and is always giving me positive feedback! Thanks Burt! He recently sent me an email providing me with more information/history of Haiti and a correction from a previous post. I am so glad to have Burt who knows way more than I do about Haiti , and to provide me with information I do not know and correct me when I wrong. Thanks Burt, you are a good friend. Please read what he has to say below!

My Friend, Burt!

"I also especially enjoyed your photos of homes you passed on your way from the ferry up to the compound. The last one is wonderful both from an artistic standpoint and for what it shows. In this same post, you show the high compound walls with rows of conch shells and broken glass along the top as substitutes for razor wire or metal spikes. In your last photo, you show a home enclosed within a very low wall, two-courses high. One might ask, this wall obviously is too low to protect the home from intruders, so what's the point of having it?
The walls we see in Haiti enclosing individual homes, household yards (lakou) and larger compounds (e.g., St. Francis) are commonly there for security and protection, but there's more to them than that. The concept, like many things Haitian, originates in West Africa where homes, yards and compounds traditionally have been enclosed by packed clay walls for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. They were high enough to slow down an intruder, but couldn't keep out a determined one. Their primary function was, and still is, to define social space. The space within the walls is the family's and must be respected. The space outside the walls is public space and doesn't imply the same obligations. One of the most evident characteristics of this distinction between family and public space is in the fact that in both West Africa and in Haiti, one keeps the family space clean. That's especially evident in your photo. That's why almost everyone sweeps clean their yard or compound every morning almost always with a brush broom of palm fonds -- whether the yard is paved or simply packed earth. And that helps explain why you'll see trash and garbage thrown anywhere outside these walls. Since it's public space, no one has a responsibility to take care of it. Even if one tries to be a good citizen & clean up litter, someone else will just litter it again -- so why bother? Occasionally, the Haitian government goes on municipal clean-up campaigns, but there's little money for them to do this -- which is too bad, because it would provide good employment for many people.
Even if the kloti (enclosing wall) is only a foot high, everyone is expected to respect it. For example, when one wants to enter someone's yard, they call out "honè" (honor) to ask if they can enter. If it's OK for you to come in, the host will reply by saying "respè" (respect). If there's no response, either because no one's home or because they don't want to see you, you shouldn't enter.
One final editorial item, the town where St. Francis of Assisi Church is located is "Anse-à-Galets" (note the hyphenated "à" in the middle) which means "Harbor of Stone" and refers to that low limestone ridge that extends into the gulf on the north side of the harbor and forms a natural breakwater. That probably explains why the largest town on Lagonav (the Creole spelling) is located here. Anse-à-Galets isn't just a town; it's also one of two geographical areas called "communes" or "communal sections" on the island -- the other one being Pointe-à-Raquette, which I think is the commune in which Lotoré is located. "