My Memoirs - Citizen of the World

observe the potential of making Haiti into a tourist destination, like
the Dominican Republic, its neighbor next door.
When we arrived in Port-au-Prince and passed through the city of
about 3 million people we were shocked by the poverty that was
everywhere. We were placed in a compound of villas with private
swimming pools. As usual, I walked with a few travel agents
around the city. I remember visiting the market. The people
surrounded us like flies, begging to be our private tour guides. It is
really the poorest country on the Western Hemisphere. As I could
speak some French, I was told about the misery that exists in the
country, where 80% of people did not have jobs. Many had not
worked for years and in order to survive, had to exchange
vegetable and other produce among themselves. Some told me that
they had not touched money for years. The President at the time
was Jean Paul Duvalier, a corrupt thief who ran away with
millions of dollars and now lives in Paris.
Before the trip, I knew that Haitians were very talented, and many
were extraordinary painters. I purchased a few paintings, very
inexpensive, especially a famous one entitled The Market Place, a
popular scene of the market in Port-au-Prince, showing a colorful
portrait of many heads and faces with lots of colors, like yellow,
blue and red that is very common with Haitian art. The thing that
impressed me the most was the material that they used. They had
no money to buy canvas or even paper, so they used empty burlap
bags that had been used to contain sugar sent by the United States
and other countries. In my house, I am privileged to have several
beautiful pieces of art, where on the back I can see the written
words, sugar, flour, etc. Incredible…What an injustice! I was so
sad and frustrated that I was given a villa with a swimming pool
and the locals did not even have water for soup. Three days after
arriving there, I took a flight to Chicago, called my wife. She
asked me how I was enjoying Haiti. I told her that I was in
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