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Haiti’s World Cup return
Haiti’s World Cup return has brought rare joy even as armed gangs forced Roobens Michel from Solino, burned his family home, and set off events that led to the death of his nephew.
“For two days, the violence stopped”
As Haiti prepared to play New Zealand in a World Cup warmup last week, Michel and others at the KID displacement camp in Port-au-Prince crowded around a single Motorola cellphone to watch Les Grenadiers win 4-0.
Michel said, “When we won,” adding, “we forgot we had problems. We spent the night celebrating, dancing in the streets. It was a beautiful experience.”
The Washington Post reported that on Saturday, when Haiti meets Scotland in Foxborough, Massachusetts, for its first World Cup match since 1974, the team will carry “the hopes and aspirations of a country struggling through one of its darkest periods.”
Hope amid violence
The BBC described how, for two days, violence stopped when then world champions Brazil arrived for a UN-organised exhibition match in conflict-torn Haiti in 2004, bringing Port-au-Prince to a standstill.
Haitian journalist Pierre Richard Midy recalled foreign friends asking, “Are you sure the Brazilians are playing in Haiti? It sounds like the Brazilians are at home,” and said it created “an atmosphere of peace” with gangs seeming “ready to turn the page and cease fire for two days.”
This year, the BBC said Haiti and Brazil are both in Group C alongside Scotland and Morocco, while Haiti’s national team have not played a home match for five years and their coach has never set foot on the island.
The BBC quoted Haiti’s all-time top scorer Duckens Nazon saying, “When we put the shirt on, it's more than a normal game. We are the first independent black nation in the world.”
Watching the tournament
In Port-au-Prince, the Washington Post said electricity remains unreliable, so many Haitians will gather around television screens, including Junior Deslouis, a displaced camp resident whose 18-year-old son is scheduled to take a final high school exam later this month.
“Democracy Dies in Darkness By Widlore Mérancourt PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — As Haiti prepared to play New Zealand in a World Cup warmup last week, Roobens Michel and a dozen others at the KID displacement camp here in the capital crowded around the dim screen of a single Motorola cellphone to watch”
Deslouis said, “I would love to be in the stadium to watch the game,” and added, “If Haiti won the World Cup, it would change the country.”
The Washington Post also reported that Lundy installed a giant television powered by solar panels, and that the 50-seat venue has been fully booked for each of Haiti’s pretournament matches.
Separately, the Haitian Times said nearly a thousand displaced children enjoyed a recreational day at Lakay Fun World on February 27, with Port-au-Prince City Hall organizing the event as insecurity forced the cancellation of traditional carnival celebrations.
