Haiti, Africa, Peter, Leo

I finally communicated directly with Peter last night by email to his government email account. I don't like to do that because I know he is okay, but busy and there is not much more than the obvious that we can say to each other. He was answering at 9:00 p.m., so that was a pretty good indication of where he was at that hour since I believe his laptop is still in what remains of his house. He is still very, very busy and promises to write more when things let up a little.

In another twist, I learned that our youngest son, Leo, has volunteered to go to Haiti. The Immigration Service had requested volunteers and Leo put his name on the list. He already has all the shots he would need and is cross trained in adoption and other necessary paperwork. Peter said it would be great if he came, but that decision would have to come from Leo's headquarters office. Peter will speak to the people he knows in Haiti.

The reason that Leo has all of his shots is that this Wednesday (yesterday) he was scheduled to deport an illegal criminal back to Africa. This is part of what he does as part of his job as an ICE agent. He was already on the plane with the person at Kennedy airport, but the man was being uncooperative, resisting and refusing to sit. Since this was a commercial airliner, other passengers were starting to get nervous. After discussions with the crew and pilot, it was decided to abort the trip (of the man, not the plane). Leo said that the man will still be deported, but either sedated or put on a special deportation flight. Leo wasn't all that keen on traveling to Africa anyway. He would have been staying at a five star hotel, but not long enough to even see any sights. That is usually the case when he goes abroad (usually two agents go together). Mostly the return flight is the next available flight and if he wants to see anything he has to use vacation time and then he's usually there by himself, so depending where he is going, it's usually not that much fun. On one of his first trips (I think it was to Sarajevo, not sure) he and his partner decided ahead of time to take the following morning flight home, when they could have taken one within a couple of hours or so of arriving. When they turned over their prisoner, the local police were incredulous that they would do that. "Why would you want to stay here any longer than necessary? There is nothing here to see." Which turned out to be true.

I have a concern about other family members wanting to go to Haiti. I certainly admire the courage and volunteer spirit, but I would feel uncomfortable if it should become a trend. Someone may remember that I got a Bob the Builder outfit as a retirement gift and may feel that with extra time on my hands, I too should head to Haiti. I don't know. My French is very rusty and I don't speak Creole.