"My own luggage consisted of a shoulder bag and a carry-on, but I ended up with a suitcase the size of my ten-year-old. The message had been sent far and wide that a relative was going to Ha�ti, so everyone and their mama had yon komisyon (�a commission�) to give me to take for them. Each komisyon was an object�sometimes eerily soft and slippery, sometimes firm�tightly wrapped in plastic bags and duct tape. Everything was stuffed into said suitcase; and �somebody� in Ha�ti would come for it.
But five rolls of paper towel? Don�t they have rags in Ha�ti? Dried herring and salt fish�seriously? A Ziploc bag of nail polish? Again, these are the questions and complaints of a neophyte�daughter of the diaspora."