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So we were stuck behind quite a while. The Red Cross made a deal with François Duvalier: One second-hand ambulance for three third-hand kids, and off we went. I arrived in Miami at the age of seven, big-eared, scared and scarred. One month later I stopped hearing Creole, two months later I stopped hearing French, three months later I was in Primary School in English. I remember feeling very different from the others when I entered primary school in the States. First there was that weird French name no one could pronounce, then there were all those Americans and Cubans. There were almost no Haitians in Miami then. We were among the first. No one knew at that time that a million more would follow in the next ten years. Most of the first wave went to New York, Montreal and Africa. Miami was just beginning the feel the effects from the influx of Cubans that would forever change its very nature. The Americans in Miami did not like the Cubans then, considering them an agitated, noisy and oily subspecies. Since I did not speak English yet, the Americans thought I was a quiet Cuban. Since I did not speak Spanish, then or now, the Cubans thought I was a smallish American. Corn-Flakes deprived? Boy did I feel left out. I remember thinking to myself: "Hey, what did I do wrong? Haitians don't want me, Americans don't want me, Cubans don't want me, Does anybody want me." It's funny now, but at seven it was not as funny to live, as it is to recount today. One year later, I had completely forgotten about the existence of Haiti.

Haiti - Village At Dusk - Louis Bonaventure Jr Henri Deschamps is the creator and editor of Haiti Global Village, Haiti's premiere online community. We always enjoy Deschamps  innovative and often courageous writing as well as his very creative website. Haiti Global Village is devoted to Haiti and the Haitian People throughout the global village. Explore and discover in Haiti Global Village: an interactive online community, resources and information for Haiti and the Haitian people throughout the world; information and resources on Haitian Culture, Art, Literature, Music, Society, Humor, Business, Economy, Politics, News, Communications, Computers and the Internet in Haiti. Participate in an extensive collection of Discussion Forums and Bulletin Boards on Haiti, Classifieds, Polls and Surveys dedicated to Haiti and the Haitian people-  http://www.haitiglobalvillage.com -

My parents, no doubt in the midst of a traumatic upheaval never spoke to us of Home. They realized we were well on our way to becoming "blancs" because the prospects for a safe return were growing dimmer by the month. The light at the end of that tunnel kept getting further away till finally we stopped expecting it to be there.

But who understands or cares when you're seven. I remember being extremely impressed with those big 1 litter Coke bottles, then made out of glass. WOW! At seven that's enough to make you drop your boots, and your roots, and run for the ice.

I spent 13 years in America, quite unaware of the existence of Haiti, drinking lots of Coca Cola.

When I returned after François Duvalier died I was a "diaspora". I didn't speak a word of Creole, didn't speak a word of French, had no concept of Haitian Culture.

Guess what: "The Haitians didn't want me ".

An exceptional story? Not at all. A story similar to the ones of hundreds of thousands of Haitian families, of millions of Haitians.

The moral of the story is this: "Almost all Haitians grow up uprooted; uprooted from Africa in the beginning, uprooted from our culture while living in Haiti, uprooted physically from Haiti in the end. And then, when we return, we don't quite fit in. Too many transplantations can kill even the healthiest trees or at the very least breed a new tree based on a culture of rootlessness.

So what does that have to do with the Internet.

There are over one and a half million Haitians overseas. As much as 20% of our total population lives full or part time in foreign lands surrounded by foreigners, speaking foreign tongues and immersed in foreign cultures. They are strangers in strange lands. This is one of our defining characteristics; as a country, as a people, as a culture.

The vast majority of us left because we had to for one reason or another. The vast majority of us would like to come home one day full or part-time and we will.

In the meantime, the Internet will carry us Home.

Is that a small thing for a country with our specific history, profile and needs. I think not. I think it's a real big thing. Better than that huge Coke bottle.

Within three years at least half a million Haitians will have access to the Internet. Where do you think they will be headed?

Home.

There are thousands of people building the Haitian Internet at this very instant. They are building, what will be for us Haitians, above all else:

A Bridge Home.