Bas-Ravine, in the northern part of Cap-Haitien
As one Haitian man said (heard on the radio) this morning (paraphrasing): "As some come here to help, they are seen as only wanting to help themselves."
And as is chronicled here, distrust of "the government" (or total nonbelief) lies at an almost unbelievable, 99%.
With illiteracy persistently at 50% plus, is such really that much of a surprise?
Somehow, Haiti remains a singular island among various islands worldwide of almost complete isolation and despair.
On the other hand, here comes technology (and all that usual and necessarily, incumbent greed) to bring some semblance of reprieve, if not, virtual, rescue.
Read about what The Gates Foundation and Digicel have recently accomplished and have in mind for a future Haiti here.
Also, here you find Digicel Haiti’s CEO Maarten Boute referring to the new mobile banking service as "the Tcho Tcho mobile banking service."
Now where did that moniker come from?
Perhaps . . .
Tcho tcho:
"The Tcho-Tcho are a primitive tribe of Asiatic people found living in the remote corners of Asia. The name has a long legacy of darkness attached to it. Among the Tibetans, Tcho is a word for black magician,' 'evil monster' and 'destroyer.' Among the Hmong of Laos and Vietnam, they are known as Tchaw-Tchaw, 'the Eaters.' They are universally hated by their neighbors, loathed for their fearsome pratices and their worship of inhuman gods."
Or maybe simply:
Tcho:
The name TCHO is a phonetic spelling for the first syllable of chocolate. Some have said that TCHO means where Technology meets Chocolate, because we are obsessed with innovation in everything we do.
Whatever the derivation, it is certainly hoped that both the completely illiterate and the rest within Haiti somehow embrace the future and each other with a greater, more substantial degree of trust.
Is that so much to ask?
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