Brazilian soccer fans cheer in celebration on the streets of Jacmel, Haiti after Brazil beat Chile, 3 to 0 in the second round of the 2010 World Cup Soccer match.Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail
More than tents, sacks of rice and beans or bags full of purified water, what Haitians really needed post-earthquake was, apparently, a good dose of World Cup soccer.
On the days that Brazil and Argentina play the entire country goes crazy - people are glued to outdoor television sets and are mostly oblivious to other forms of life (truck drivers are known to be so oblivious to traffic and highway dangers that some non-government organizations give their drivers game days off to avoid potential accidents).
In town, whenever goals are scored, cheers erupt with such voracity that they can be heard for blocks and blocks across Jacmel; parades of flag-waving motorcycles and SUVs spontaneously erupt.
Not since I arrived here in February have I seen such energy - or such cheer - which has been largely enabled by the 150 televisions the government shipped across the Southeastern Department for public use. "The World Cup saved us," the mayor's spokesman, Frantz Magellan Pierre-Louis, told me the other day while sporting a yellow Brazil jersey and sipping an afternoon Prestige on the gritty shores of Jacmel. He had to raise his voice a little so I could hear him - all around the beach hangout were we met, portable radios and full-sized televisions had been rigged up to show the Brazil game, and the volume on each device was turned up as loud as possible, which had the effect of drowning Frantz's booming voice right out.
All around him, rows of Jacmelians were crowded around the televisions (most of which were set up on the counter of the outdoor liquor stands that dot Jacmel's beachfront) even though the workday was far from through.
"This month of the World Cub is probably psychologically worth more than one dollar [of aid]per head for each Haitian," Frantz said. "The earthquake hit, we didn't have carnival. Carnival is the annual social shot," he said. "World Cup saved us. I bet you it lowered crime, especially rapes and women abuse because the guys have found something."
If only the World Cup could last for months.
Photo: Brazilian soccer fans cheer in celebration on the streets of Jacmel, Haiti after Brazil beat Chile, 3 to 0 in the second round of the 2010 World Cup Soccer match.
Photo credit: Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail