A Search For Finality

Meg Laughlin: PETIONVILLE, Haiti

Jan. 12 was a happy day for the new American chef at the Villa Therese Hotel. Wearing a white chef's coat with his first name embroidered in black over his heart, he walked through the wrought-iron gates at the elegant 14-room hotel, past mangos and palms, to the kitchen.

Rodney Rightenburg, 51, had moved to Haiti in 2009, after his divorce. Just two days earlier, he had called his former wife and 5-year-old son, who live in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and told them he was doing well.