Haiti chérie — may god help you

Once again Haiti is in the news — for all the wrong reasons.

Shortly before elections were due the country’s president was murdered in his palace by armed invaders, allegedly mercenaries who had flown in from Colombia.

Nothing in the bizarre story adds up. How did the attackers gain access to the well-guarded presidential palace? What was their motive? Who paid them or commanded them? Who gained by this crime?

This latest scandal follows a devastating earthquake several years ago which prompted aid organisations to send cash, food and experts to help the country get back on its feet. Without obvious result. Over the years millions of dollars in aid have poured into Haiti, but the country remains the poorest in the Caribbean and Latin America.

Forgive me if, as somebody who has visited Haiti, I have a somewhat cynical attitude about its future. Sadly Haiti is an island with a brutal past and an unpromising future. Corruption is a way of life. A handful of its people live comfortable, opulent lives while many others exist in slum conditions.
Organisations such as Doctors Without Frontiers (more familiarly known as Médecins Sans Frontières, http://www.msf.es) do a tremendous job but they are faced with an impossible task.
Some surely did very well out of the Haiti earthquake. Inevitably, millions of dollars evaporated as corrupt local politicians siphon off aid money. Some NGOs and the many foreign companies awarded contracts for the rebuilding have been well compensated for their trouble.
Some years back I visited the island known as the “slum of the Caribbean” and only then did I appreciate what juicy pickings there are in poverty-stricken countries.
With a European aid worker, I travelled to the north of Haiti. We stopped at a godforsaken town, its dirt streets lined with hovels. At a grocery store we knocked back soft drinks. Then I took a look at the merchandise on sale — and was stunned.
Apart from an astonishing range of imported foods, one wall was lined with champagne, about 16 different brands, from Moet & Chandon to Dom Perignon.
“Who buys this?” I asked my companion.
He shrugged.
“The aid workers in this area. And they don’t need to touch their salaries. That goes into their bank accounts back home and they live off their expenses.”
Haiti chérie…may god help you!

Haiti — the vultures gather

Millions of dollars in aid are pouring into Haiti. It’s a great opportunity to rebuild a whole country.
But don’t bank on the cash going where it should. Forgive me if, as somebody who has visited Haiti, I have a somewhat cynical attitude about its future.
The scams have already started as bogus charities are appealing for funds to help Haiti via the Internet. They claim to represent everybody from Unicef to the Red Cross.
Make sure your donation goes to a genuine, truly dedicated organisation, such as Doctors Without Frontiers. More familiarly known as Médecins Sans Frontières or Médicos Sin Fronteras (www.msf.es), they do a tremendous job all over the world.
Unfortunately, I fear that 10 years from now there will be thousands of people still living in “temporary” emergency accommodation. It happened in Nicaragua, in Italy, in many other places hit by natural disasters.
But some will do very well out of the Haiti earthquake. Inevitably, millions of dollars will have evaporated as corrupt local politicians siphon off aid money.
And then there are the NGOs and the many foreign companies who will be awarded contracts for the rebuilding. They will be well compensated for their trouble.
I did not appreciate what juicy pickings there are in poverty-stricken countries until I visited the island known as the “slum of the Caribbean” some years back.
With a European aid worker, I travelled to the north of Haiti. We stopped at a godforsaken town, its dirt streets lined with hovels.
At a grocery store we knocked back soft drinks. Then I took a look at the merchandise on sale — and was stunned.
Apart from an astonishing range of imported foods, one wall was lined with champagne, about 16 different brands, from Moet & Chandon to Dom Perignon.
“Who buys this?” I asked my companion.
He shrugged.
“The aid workers in this area. And they don’t need to touch their salaries. That goes into their bank accounts back home and they live off their expenses.”
Haiti chérie…may god help you!

GUERRILLA WAR — SPAIN’S FORGOTTEN CONFLICT

IT’S A FORGOTTEN WAR. But its legacy lives on, affecting the lives of thousands of families.

Between Two Fires could not be more timely. This important book throws fresh light on a bitter guerrilla conflict which raged years after Spain’s Civil War and went largely unreported during the long years of dictatorship.

Attempts have been made — through the Ley de la Memoria Histórica — to heal some of the lingering wounds but this has only succeeded in exacerbating the fierce debate. Passions still flare when the Franco years are recalled.

Between Two Fires is the first book in English to examine the subject in depth. It throws fresh light on that desperate rebellion, which raged during the 1940s and 1950s

Scouring official archives from Seville and Barcelona to London and Washington, journalist and author David Baird has sought to dig out the true story behind the anti-Franco resistance movement. For more than five years he travelled across Spain, seeking out survivors and checking official and unofficial archives.

The result is his acclaimed book, Between Two Fires — Guerrilla war in the Spanish sierras. In the words of noted British historian Paul Preston: “As exciting as any thriller, yet deeply moving, it deserves to be read by everyone concerned with the history of contemporary Spain.” 

This is the true story of what happens when humble country folk find themselves in the front line in a secret war. Leading the guerrillas against Franco’s Civil Guard was a legendary figure, Roberto, a veteran of the Civil War and the French Resistance, charismatic but doomed.

Guerrilleros, villagers, Civil Guards give a moving account of bloodshed and betrayal,  courage and heroism. Little did they know that as the guerrilla war raged, politicians as far apart as London and Moscow were pulling the strings.

Check this Maroma Press website for more details and how to order this book, which in the words of Lorca biographer Ian Gibson “throws an intense light on an epic struggle”.

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LA GUERRA OLVIDADA EN LAS SIERRAS DE ESPAÑA

SE TRATA DE UNA GUERRA OLVIDADA — la lucha de unos guerrilleros en los años 1940 contra el regimen de Franco.  Una guerra de que el público no fue informada, ni dentro del país ni afuera. Ahora hay una nueva edición en castellano del libro de David Baird, La gente de la sierra — Lucha sin cuartel contra las fuerzas franquistas.

Cada día hay menos gente que vivío en su propia carne aquella lucha. Uno por uno, los testigos se van desapareciendo. Pero el libro La gente de la sierra deja constancia del impacto terrible de aquella guerra desconocida en las sierras de Málaga y Granada.

Recoge el testimonio — apasionante, espeluznante y emocionante — de los campesinos de la Axarquía. Y también de los guerrilleros y de la Guardia Civil.

Time to hit THE OTHER COSTA

Until recently there was no decent guide in English to one of the most scenic parts of southern Spain, a sub-tropical area which enjoys 3,000 hours of sunshine every year. 

But that’s all changed! Pick up a copy of “East of Malaga – Your guide to the Axarquía and Costa Tropical”.

Forget about Torremolinos, Marbella and all the other crowded resorts. Instead, head for The Other Costa. When leaving Malaga airport simply turn left instead of right and head east. Soon you are driving along the stretch of coast that runs from Málaga to Nerja, Almuñecar and Salobreña.

LIFE, DEATH AND HUMOUR IN A SPANISH VILLAGE

EVER MEET A WOMAN cured of disease by visions of the Virgin, a blind beggar who rides a motor-bike, a phantom who terrorises a whole community? You’ll find them all and much more in Sunny Side Up, David Baird’s nostalgic — often humorous, always moving — book about life in rural Spain.

It may read like fiction, but it’s all fact. It’s the Spain that Hemingway never saw and never wrote about.

“Baird’s ironic glance back over the past 30 years is recommended reading for anybody who has ever wondered what happened to ‘the real Spain’,” according to the Sunday Times.

When you travel the back roads of Spain, it’s easy to imagine that nothing ever happens in those whitewashed villages you pass, slumbering in the sun, forgotten by the world, far from the rat race…

Dream on. Behind those white walls you will find more drama and passion than you could ever imagine. All human life is here, in all its varieties.

British journalist David Baird and his Dutch wife found that out fast enough when — after travelling the world — they settled in an Andalusian village, seeking “the simple life”.

Soon they found that things were not so simple. The sub-title of Baird’s book is The 21st century hits a Spanish village. It’s the tale of  a rural community as its shifts from a medieval way of life into the computer age.

There’s passion and pathos, humour and tragedy. And also an insightful dissection of local ways, as well as a wicked glance at expatriate eccentricities.

Baird’s other books include Between Two Fires, a highly acclaimed account of a largely unreported guerrilla war in Spain in the 1940s, as well as travel books and two works of fiction (Don’t Miss The Fiesta! and Typhoon Season).

Sunny Side Up, distributed by Maroma Press, is on sale through English bookshops in Spain and via Amazon and other Internet sellers. It has been selected by several Spanish schools as a set book for its pupils.

The German edition, Leben im Pueblo, translated by Uwe W. Paulsen, is available from the publisher, Verlag Winfried Jenior, Lassallestr. 15, D-34119 Kassel, Germany. Tel.: 0561-7391621, Fax 0561-774148. E-Mail: Jenior@aol.com. Homepage: http://www.jenior.de

Take a trip to THE OTHER COSTA

Until recently there was no decent guide in English to one of the most scenic parts of southern Spain, a sub-tropical area which enjoys 3,000 hours of sunshine every year. 

But that’s all changed! Pick up a copy of “East of Malaga – Your guide to the Axarquía and Costa Tropical”.

Forget about Torremolinos, Marbella and all the other crowded resorts. Instead, head for The Other Costa. When leaving Malaga airport simply turn left instead of right and head east. Soon you are driving along the stretch of coast that runs from Málaga to Nerja, Almuñecar and Salobreña.

LAND OF ETERNAL SUMMER

FINALLY it seems that winter is coming to Spain after one of the longest summers on record. Finally the ski slopes, from the Sierra Nevada to the Pyrenees, are being groomed for what promises to be a memorable season.

Along the country’s southern coast, however, sun-worshippers from northern climes are still stretching out on the beaches.

It recalls the the time, so long ago, when my wife and I fled the British winter by taking a train across Europe to the coast that some bright spark had dubbed “the Costa del Sol”.

RUPERT MURDOCH’S BIGGEST BLUNDER

AUSTRALIA’S OUTBACK IS A ROUGH, TOUGH PLACE. And nobody knows that better than the world’s leading media tycoon: Rupert Murdoch, dubbed the Dirty Digger.

He controls scores of newspapers and television channels from Tasmania to New York City. But he has not had it all his own way. 

Way back in the 1960s, before Murdoch set out to conquer the world, he learned a useful lesson: before going into battle, carefully check the opposition.

He blundered by starting a circulation war in the wrong place: the Outback. And ended up making a humiliating retreat. The scene was Mount Isa, a tough mining town lost in the red rock desert of northwest Queensland.

Sunny Side — the 21st century hits a Spanish village

Sunny Side Up is David Baird’s ironic look at rural life, reflecting the dramatic changes in southern Spain since he went to live there more than 30 years ago. And now it’s part of a school curriculum — making it required reading in Spanish schools.

“This is a bit daunting,” admitted David, a journalist and author long based in the Axarquía (the eastern corner of Málaga province), when he heard that Sunny Side Up Up — The 21st century hits a Spanish village had been selected as a set book for Fifth Grade students at the Escuela Oficial de Idiomas in Motril, Granada province.

“I have to give presentations to the students and I’m used to asking questions rather than answering them.

“Fielding questions from a bunch of critical students is a different game — especially for somebody who until recently had never made a public speech in his life!”

Hilarious, nostalgic and moving, his book inspired the Sunday Times to comment: “Recommended reading for anybody who ever wondered what happened to the ‘real Spain’.”

After working around the world as a journalist, David has been based for some years in Spain, reporting  for international publications on everything from earthquakes to wine festivals.

Sunny Side Up is published by Maroma Press (www.maromapress.wordpress.com) and is available from English-language bookshops in Spain or from Amazon.