Receipts Beyond Receipts

Bonjou! This is our seventh day in Haiti and I write off-line as Jack struggles with our broken wireless connection. The solar panels that power the rectory at St. Suzanne were inexplicably devoid of charge this morning until the "technician" pulled out various live wires, sparked them together, and twisted them with pliers. But still, the wireless fails, and our blog may wait yet again for its debut.

This morning before breakfast, Madame Serge, one of the women in town, approached us on our way to the rectory. Her son, Sergo, is a second year med student sponsored by HBHH. Madame Serge informed us that Sergo could not take his exams because of outstanding tuition fees. Yet HBHH had received no bills or receipts for the money. Smiling, Madame Serge assured us that these documents had indeed been submitted to Pere Medenel--who authorizes transactions in St. Suzanne before they go to the HBHH Board. We told her that we would discuss the matter with Pere Medenel that morning.

Pere Medenel, the pastor of St. Suzanne, is in his early thirties and our host in St. Suzanne. He speaks French and Creole and fortunately for Jack and I, his English is decent as well. Between our feeble attempts at French grammar, deficient Creole vocabulary, and Pere Medenel's English, we manage to communicate reasonably well. He has a quick laugh and an easy smile, which burst forth when we speak well in French or Creole. Our meals with Pere Medenel are also punctuated with soft meows from his kitten who winds about our ankles and pulls at our shoelaces as we eat.

Over breakfast we inquired about Sergo. Pere Medenel continued chewing and shook his head. Sergo had presented Pere Medenel with all requisite paperwork and receipts well before his first year at school began. Since then, Pere Medenel had heard very little from him and received nothing--despite having made it clear what documents would again be needed. Until now, anyway. Apparently Sergo had communicated with Pere just a few days before but still failed to submit all his papers. Without these papers, tuition will not be paid and Sergo cannot sit for his exams.

Pere Medenel again informed Sergo of what was required. As for us, we will update Madame Serge, request the missing documents, and hope to hear back from Sergo. But this matter seems indicative of a general trend. Time and time again missing receipts halt HBHH projects--or result in unpaid tuition. Projects are lost in limbo or students cannot take exams because of missing slips of paper. Sadly, as a non-profit, HBHH cannot operate without receipts for tax reasons. On one hand, the equation seems simple:

project proposal + approval + receipts & updates = funding

Yet projects continually snag on the last component. By all accounts, obtaining receipts in Haiti is a Herculean task. Vendors rarely (if ever) offer them and one can obtain a handwritten version only upon determined and insistent request. HBHH operations thus hinge on the alteration of typical Haitian business behavior and strangely, the IRS is indirectly changing Haitian accounting. Haitians’ seeming failure to follow simple procedures leaves HBHH frustrated and perplexed. Americans’ seeming meticulousness often leaves their Haitian counterparts exasperated.

I’m sure we’ll have much more to say on the matter soon,

Andrea