The World Cup is too great of an event in Haiti for me not to make a post about it. I remember growing up in Haiti, people would gather in living rooms or wherever there was a television to watch the World Cups. I remember the electricity company would sometimes give power just so people could watch the games.
Now when it comes to soccer, the Haitian population has always been divided into two teams : Brazil and Argentina. If you rooted for one of those teams, you remained loyal even through losses. If you were a Brazil fan, you always rooted against Argentina and vice versa. I remember my mother being a Brazil fan and my father being an Argentina fan, so games were always interesting in my house. But after my family moved to the US, World Cups had a different dynamic and no longer caused as much anxiety and noise. So for years, I have craved watching the World Cup the way I used to watch it as a child.
Being back in Haiti, it has been a pleasure watching the world cup with the same childhood anticipation I used to have. When you drive around, you have the impression of being in an international community because there are flags of the different countries playing in the World Cup everywhere. Even if you are not into football, there are indications that important games are happening. You know Brazil or Argentina are playing when entire neighborhoods are screaming and dancing. You know one of these two teams are playing when traffic is smooth in the Port-au-Prince streets because most people are somewhere in front of a television. You know one of these two teams are playing because people leave work early to go home to watch the games, as work schedules are created around game schedules. Today, as I left work at the regular time I usually do, a few people said to me “So you’re leaving to go watch the game too? Tout moun nan football. You’re a Brazil fan!” I quickly responded as they laughed : “No way, I’m a Haiti fan all the way, like 100%!”
But today was the day when many people cried. This day, July 8th 2014, marks the day where many Haitians lost money, houses and even wives because of the bets they made as they were so sure Brazil would win. I did not care much for the game until I heard someone in the streets screaming: “Dammit 4-0!” After the first 30 minutes of the game, many people rooting against Brazil took to the streets with German flags or Argentinian flags. The game became the topic of discussion everywhere and all the people wearing green and yellow looked tense. After the 5th goal, I thought about the African Cup match between Senegal vs Ivory Coast that I attended in Senegal when the Senegalese set the stadium on fire as they realized they were losing. I wondered if the Brazilians would do the same.
As Germany scored the 7th goal, more people gathered on the streets and you could hear the rara bands forming, celebrating the loss of Brazil which, to them, meant that Argentina had a bigger possibility of winning the Cup. And soon after, the clouds must have felt the loss of Brazil as the weather went from sunny to rainy, mourning the suicide mission in which Brazil just partook.
Haiti: A Different Perspective 