So the debate I've been having since the drive home yesterday is truly what defines a third world nation/developing nation? What makes one nation inferior to those that surround it and warrants aid from others? There are technical definitions from what I can see online and what I have learned in class, everything from GDP to high birth rates, political freedom, freedom of information within the country and those that have not adopted to capitalism. Irony of all ironies that capitalism is viewed as a developed political theory...I feel capitalism is as developed as basic human instinct of only the strongest survive. So why based on those criteria would Haiti be viewed as a third world nation while the US viewed as a first world? Because the US is the so called hegemonic power, because cell phones run our lives and our dollar dictates the market system? With the emergence of the European Union that includes nations of all divides (1st through 3rd) as a leading hegemonic entity one that allows for sustainability of multiple countries, I beg to think that the US might lose it's almighty ranking.
In general I feel truly the only thing separating these developing nations from us is access to information. The US was founded on the ideas of freedom, liberty and happiness although most Americans make it through their day on a Soma holiday at best, thank you Huxley for that beautiful comparison. We built ourselves up not from sheer American ingenuity but rather exploiting those with this ingenuity around us and passing the information onto others within our nation. No longer are we a nation that is innovative and on the bleeding edge of technology, but one that is reactive to the market and our consumerism. Our only noticable difference over these developing nations is our access to this information that we use and sell at high prices (of course dictated by our dollar).
I would care to argue that if the Haitians had as much access to information even if they had the ability to google freely over here via non privatized ISP lines (that are ridiculously expensive) they could build a stronger nation. The problem currently for them is start up capital, it's not lack of intelligence, it's not lack of diligence, but rather sheer lack of luck. They have been struck down by mother nature's plights, but I can understand their desire to stay on their land, to try to make due with the world they inherited. Most of the income for their country is sent back out to the others that provide their current infrastructure (their telephone lines are Dutch as well as their ISPs), their textile industry destroyed by the goodwill of the US (i.e. see dropping off unwanted crap from the US on other nations) and their only true industries within the nation are limited and constantly rebuilding or changing as another capitalism giant steps in to "assist the natives". If you want to really help, have them rebuild their infrastructure, make a partner of this nation, provide inflow of money rather than just outflow, teach the people how they can grow, how they can sustain their own culture within their world using their resources. Use the access of information and best practices to help them, not hinder them, let's not keep them in a setting that goes against their resilience as a people, but rather use that dynamic energy to create a nation that be equal and be a competitor?
So where does your allegiance lay? With your pockets or with the survival of humanity? Many wonder why I am here in this nation...I do IT for a living, yes as my sister enjoys saying I am geek squad to the pope, but providing access to this information is where my allegiance lays. How can I build bigger and better systems, how can I automate processes that would take days/weeks/months to complete so that their resources can better be deployed in a different manner, and here alone is where I introduce the concept of ICT4D. The idea that technology can help sustain and aid those in developing nations by giving them access to the same knowledge and information that others have been passing for years.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Article on the Debris in Haiti
This is the Time Magazine that Jessica wrote. If you recall from past blogs I had met Jessica when we were out at the Haitian club.
Good article helps you to understand the true situation here:
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1994544,00.html
Good article helps you to understand the true situation here:
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1994544,00.html
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
mwen renmen Ayiti ♥
Had a half a day's worth of training today in Les Cayes. Taught two different training seminars full of really intelligent people with good questions, so that made me feel awesome. Training ran a little bit over, so didn't get to leave Les Cayes until close to 1:30. Needless to say it was about a 5.5 hour drive back. Got back to La Reserve in PaP at 6:00 PM and checked in. So, safe travel, no worries, just a tired butt.
So on the way home, I was thinking about everything I have learned thus far about Haiti culture and the situation it's currently in (let me give thanks to Google, our national staff, my buddy Molly and others that have been willing to answer my never ending plethora of questions) and I'm still absolutely impressed by the people in this culture. I also see a huge difference between Les Cayes and Port Au Prince. Thinking to comparisons that those reading this might understand picture Port Au Prince as New York City, it's densely populated, full of debris/garbage, full of merchants everywhere and the people are slightly more hostile. Now, contrary Les Cayes is incredibly laid back, since the earthquake didn't cause as much damage the debris is limited, the population is more sparse and therefore there is less trash as well, and it seems a lot more peaceful. PaP you see the typical media images of Haiti, those with weapons walking around, but there's also a lot more people to protect yourself against and a lot more people to fight for rations/aid. Les Cayes, I didn't see a gun, minus the ones on the police we were hanging out with on Sunday night. There are still guards and protection in Les Cayes, but I felt a lot safer and reminds me more of the south in the states. The hospitality in Les Cayes was unbelievable with people willing to give you rides to the market, bring you food, they brought me espresso every morning and constantly made sure that I was worried over. The pastor that has been translating for me even offered for me to come back to Les Cayes and stay with him, giving me his card and his cell phone number. PaP is still absolutely amazing, but has that big city feel to it. Each city has a truly has a part of my heart right now.
The people from what I can tell throughout the nation are very dynamic people. They adapt easily to change and are survivors in that no matter what they will find a way to make due. This oftentimes meaning taking over family responsibilities if necessary, waiting outside of offices for weeks on end until they can find a job, building shelter out of discarded materials, and finding a way to make ends meet to provide for their family. The amount of faith this culture has is phenomenal as well. You can see it broadly proclaimed on their vehicles (everything from personal vehicles to their tap taps (taxis) give praise to Jesus and speak of love). It's truly impressive to see a culture that has been abused by natural disasters, poverty, and disease still has faith in a power that most in these situations would turn their back on. From what I was learning from the national staff, religion is passed down through the family. There is no ability to choose your religion in Haiti, whatever your parents are you become, no questions asked. Since most kids are raised by their mothers, nuclear families aren't very common in Haiti, the religion seems to stem from what she conveys down to her children. The majority of the population is considered to be Christian with the majority of the people identifying as Roman Catholic. Now our national staff also will state that they are Mormon as well as Protestant. The statistics show that roughly half of the nation identifies as practicing voodoo, which somehow ironically is tying in with Roman Catholic beliefs. The people will ask you straight out your religious beliefs and with a high percentage of them (85%) being Catholic, it carries a high weight to have faith in Jesus and the Bible.
Anyways, random thoughts and ramblings from me but I'm impressed that when most abandon religion because how could an all powerful, all knowing, good God cause pain on people, these people turn more towards him for the grace they have been given. They still profess Merci Jesus for their life and make due with what they have access to. I am constantly impressed by the resiliency of the people to make due in any situation they are given. Now, with the rant done, enjoy the photos of today's trip from Les Cayes back to Port Au Prince:
One of the many houses in Les Cayes
The Colorful Tap Taps that I keep speaking about. They act as taxis and I have seen up to 20 people jam into these to go from place to place. They cost approximately a quarter USD to get a ride. Oftentimes they give praise to God or Jesus on the windshield of sides of the truck
The busy streets of Les Cayes. You can see people on motorcycles and bicycles as school was letting out. The schools here run a half day. The students wear uniforms depending on the school they go to and are easily identifiable.
One of our CRS Cameos. It's a Land Cruiser with a snorkel so we can go through rivers and not have the engine stop. I'm still super impressed with this truck
The CRS Les Cayes office where I have been located the last two days
A view of the road and the mountains on the way home from Les Cayes
I am seriously enamored by the vegetation and the skylines of this country
The large piles of trash in PaP. Complete with goat on top eating trash. There are a lot of random goats, pigs, cows that just wander through the city. This is in addition to stray cats and dogs.
Another one of the camp sites. These camp sites range from a few tents to hundreds of tents. The tents are made up of actual camping tents, boards, tarps etc.
Um yea, not coming home
So on the way home, I was thinking about everything I have learned thus far about Haiti culture and the situation it's currently in (let me give thanks to Google, our national staff, my buddy Molly and others that have been willing to answer my never ending plethora of questions) and I'm still absolutely impressed by the people in this culture. I also see a huge difference between Les Cayes and Port Au Prince. Thinking to comparisons that those reading this might understand picture Port Au Prince as New York City, it's densely populated, full of debris/garbage, full of merchants everywhere and the people are slightly more hostile. Now, contrary Les Cayes is incredibly laid back, since the earthquake didn't cause as much damage the debris is limited, the population is more sparse and therefore there is less trash as well, and it seems a lot more peaceful. PaP you see the typical media images of Haiti, those with weapons walking around, but there's also a lot more people to protect yourself against and a lot more people to fight for rations/aid. Les Cayes, I didn't see a gun, minus the ones on the police we were hanging out with on Sunday night. There are still guards and protection in Les Cayes, but I felt a lot safer and reminds me more of the south in the states. The hospitality in Les Cayes was unbelievable with people willing to give you rides to the market, bring you food, they brought me espresso every morning and constantly made sure that I was worried over. The pastor that has been translating for me even offered for me to come back to Les Cayes and stay with him, giving me his card and his cell phone number. PaP is still absolutely amazing, but has that big city feel to it. Each city has a truly has a part of my heart right now.
The people from what I can tell throughout the nation are very dynamic people. They adapt easily to change and are survivors in that no matter what they will find a way to make due. This oftentimes meaning taking over family responsibilities if necessary, waiting outside of offices for weeks on end until they can find a job, building shelter out of discarded materials, and finding a way to make ends meet to provide for their family. The amount of faith this culture has is phenomenal as well. You can see it broadly proclaimed on their vehicles (everything from personal vehicles to their tap taps (taxis) give praise to Jesus and speak of love). It's truly impressive to see a culture that has been abused by natural disasters, poverty, and disease still has faith in a power that most in these situations would turn their back on. From what I was learning from the national staff, religion is passed down through the family. There is no ability to choose your religion in Haiti, whatever your parents are you become, no questions asked. Since most kids are raised by their mothers, nuclear families aren't very common in Haiti, the religion seems to stem from what she conveys down to her children. The majority of the population is considered to be Christian with the majority of the people identifying as Roman Catholic. Now our national staff also will state that they are Mormon as well as Protestant. The statistics show that roughly half of the nation identifies as practicing voodoo, which somehow ironically is tying in with Roman Catholic beliefs. The people will ask you straight out your religious beliefs and with a high percentage of them (85%) being Catholic, it carries a high weight to have faith in Jesus and the Bible.
Anyways, random thoughts and ramblings from me but I'm impressed that when most abandon religion because how could an all powerful, all knowing, good God cause pain on people, these people turn more towards him for the grace they have been given. They still profess Merci Jesus for their life and make due with what they have access to. I am constantly impressed by the resiliency of the people to make due in any situation they are given. Now, with the rant done, enjoy the photos of today's trip from Les Cayes back to Port Au Prince:
One of the many houses in Les Cayes
The Colorful Tap Taps that I keep speaking about. They act as taxis and I have seen up to 20 people jam into these to go from place to place. They cost approximately a quarter USD to get a ride. Oftentimes they give praise to God or Jesus on the windshield of sides of the truck
The busy streets of Les Cayes. You can see people on motorcycles and bicycles as school was letting out. The schools here run a half day. The students wear uniforms depending on the school they go to and are easily identifiable.
One of our CRS Cameos. It's a Land Cruiser with a snorkel so we can go through rivers and not have the engine stop. I'm still super impressed with this truck
The CRS Les Cayes office where I have been located the last two days
A view of the road and the mountains on the way home from Les Cayes
I am seriously enamored by the vegetation and the skylines of this country
The large piles of trash in PaP. Complete with goat on top eating trash. There are a lot of random goats, pigs, cows that just wander through the city. This is in addition to stray cats and dogs.
Another one of the camp sites. These camp sites range from a few tents to hundreds of tents. The tents are made up of actual camping tents, boards, tarps etc.
Um yea, not coming home
Welcome to Les Cayes
Monday, June 7, 2010
Kijan Ou Ye
So today was my first day teaching training in Les Cayes. Les Cayes is a little beach town about 4+ hours south of Port Au Prince (PaP). After the night of hanging out with the boys needless to say this morning was a little bit rough on me. Got up and had breakfast at the hotel with Alex, Ramons and the driver. Then we headed to the office. The office is only about 15 minutes away from our hotel. There are lots of street vendors on the way. Now Les Cayes is in better shape than PaP, first of all it's not as densely populated meaning not as much trash and not as many sanitation issues. Also, the earthquake resonated from PaP, meaning PaP was the epicenter for the quake and then similar to a doppler effect, it rippled outward, so the mass destruction occured in PaP. On the drive down you can see how it goes from crumbled buildings ever several yards to most of the buildings in Les Cayes still being relatively in tact.
On the way to the office. Random cows grazing on the side of the road.
My hotel, La M'anguier
The city is very similar to the french quarter in New Orleans with what they call gingerbread houses. Beautiful colorful houses with doors that open outward, large windows, and oftentimes gorgeous murals on the side. There are more animals around here and the conditions for them are slightly better. I've been having a heart attack about how animals are treated in Haiti. Keep in mind the people are impoverished so domestic animals like cats or dogs are viewed as pests that are trying to take food from your family. Oftentimes they are eaten or are tortured for no reason (ironically, there is a group in from the humane society right now, not sure what they are going to do, but all of my love for whatever they can do). Anyways, the animals around here are treated better and aren't picked on as bad. This morning, my breakfast definitely included two adorable kittens begging me for food, which I definitely gave into. See pics below.
One of my breakfast mates
Her counterpart that had me at meow
Downtown Les Cayes, right outside of Nima
The inside of Nima
The surprises I found next to our table at Nima
They can't be more than a few weeks old!
More downtown Les Cayes
Pictures to entice you:
Quite possibly one of the best beers ever. I mean on the bottle it even says it won the 2000 World Beer Cup!
Local small market merchants.
The local bank. Each of these stands is an independent banking situation
On the way to the office. Random cows grazing on the side of the road.
My hotel, La M'anguier
The city is very similar to the french quarter in New Orleans with what they call gingerbread houses. Beautiful colorful houses with doors that open outward, large windows, and oftentimes gorgeous murals on the side. There are more animals around here and the conditions for them are slightly better. I've been having a heart attack about how animals are treated in Haiti. Keep in mind the people are impoverished so domestic animals like cats or dogs are viewed as pests that are trying to take food from your family. Oftentimes they are eaten or are tortured for no reason (ironically, there is a group in from the humane society right now, not sure what they are going to do, but all of my love for whatever they can do). Anyways, the animals around here are treated better and aren't picked on as bad. This morning, my breakfast definitely included two adorable kittens begging me for food, which I definitely gave into. See pics below.
One of my breakfast mates
Her counterpart that had me at meow
The office was beautiful, it's not as security oriented down here and not nearly as violent. There aren't constant guns in your face and the people are more laid back. Our office is still gated and still protected, but it doesn't seem as intimidating. The office staff is incredibly friendly as well. I was given a pastor today and tomorrow to be my translator for my training. He is amazing, he taught English at this office before to the staff and I believe he is a partner with CRS. He runs the Bethesda fellowship which includes like 12 churchs, a couple orphanages, schools etc. During our break today, he ran and brought kids home from school. He truly is inspiring and incredibly intelligent. So all of the trainings went well, they ran over because people had great questions and wanted to really learn about systems and how they could use IT to better their work.
Went out to lunch with Alex and Ramons before they left to go back to PaP at Nima. It's a great international restaurant that has vegetarian food. Came back and taught more advanced training and then came home. I miss having people around to talk to like the boys, but I only train half a day tomorrow before I head back to PaP.
Downtown Les Cayes, right outside of Nima
The inside of Nima
The surprises I found next to our table at Nima
They can't be more than a few weeks old!
More downtown Les Cayes
Highlight of the day is my buddy Molly checking in on me to make sure I'm eating and to make sure I'm doing ok. It's really nice to know that people that barely know you truly care about your well being. Planning on seeing them tomorrow when I get back into PaP.
Other than that had a great skype conversation with my sister, my two nieces and Scott. My nieces definitely amused me and made me miss them a ton. Lots of cute songs such as Heartbreaker by Taio Cruz and Ludacris, the barbie song (which I sang with them) and something else that sounded like Spongebob but I'm not quite sure. Also got to talk to some other friends and finally Sammie got skype too! Now I'm just being addicted to Kompa videos online and trying to figure out this crazy Haitian dance. I'm truly falling in love with this music and the culture, anyone up for moving to Haiti?
Pictures to entice you:
Quite possibly one of the best beers ever. I mean on the bottle it even says it won the 2000 World Beer Cup!
Local small market merchants.
The local bank. Each of these stands is an independent banking situation
Sunday, June 6, 2010
bon swa
So tonite got better. Went out to dinner with Alex and Ramons who I am traveling with. Had a great set of veggies and rice. Drank some prestige (might possibly be one of the best beers I have encountered, won the 2000 beer olympics or something like that). Went bar hopping with the boys. Apparently I fit right in with them. Loving some quality time in Haiti, missing my friends in Bmore, but damn it's beautiful out here. The music is good, the beer is fantastic and my coworkers dance :)
CRS Voices
Link to the CRS Blog about the earthquake and what molly went through....just found this online, but it's pretty interesting. Molly has been providing a lot of answers to the questions I have and giving me a bit more insight to the true life in Haiti.
http://crs-blog.org/haiti-quake-survivor-back-to-work-on-relief-effort/
http://crs-blog.org/haiti-quake-survivor-back-to-work-on-relief-effort/
Learning to Love PAP
So I had an awesome day yesterday. Got up, was semi afraid that I was gonna be spending the day by myself in my hotel room, but about 8 AM I got a text from Molly asking if I was tired of my hotel room and did I want to go with her to work then over to hang out with her. I texted her back, got up, jumped in the shower and she picked me up.
We went into the office for a couple of hours. She had to write some emails and I showed her how to use CRS Global a bit more. Had a great couple skype calls with Alex and Brie :) So then we left went to Eagle Market which is the Haitian grocery store so we could pick up food so we could make dinner later. Eagle Market pretty much has anything that one could imagine from groceries to liquor to fans to house goods, a bank etc. Molly picked up food, I kinda just walked around awkwardly staring at things and taking it all in. They had a nice selection of fruits and veggies, most of which I had never seen before. I think if it weren't for the fact that I was leaving for Les Cayes in the morning, I probs would have run train on that market.
Left the market and headed back to Molly and Kevin's place. I would attempt to spell it but it's got some crazy name that sounds like La Jek de jour or something, I'm sure I'm completely off. They live in this nice little guarded community that they call the equivalent of Haiti's Melrose place. It's basically a bunch of sweet condos that are all linked together in multiple buildings, but the residents are all NGO staff (everything from Clinton Foundation to USAID to CRS to CARE to CONCERN etc). So most of the people in the community are other international people that have come to provide aid assistance to Haiti. Their apartment was super cute, spacious, nice screen in porch and reminded me of something you'd see in Florida. Hung out around there talking with Molly and then Kevin came home and we all watched Babel. If you haven't seen this movie you should definitely check it out, reminds me of Crash in the way it's filmed with it's multiple stories layering over one another.
Molly and I made a middle eastern dinner of hummus, falafel, and israeli cous cous. I was super excited that I actually had food to eat and even more so that I had a feeling I wasn't going to get sick this time! Dinner was awesome and Melissa and her friend Renee stopped by. Kevin also picked up Richard (one of our drivers for CRS) so we all were hanging out. Well next thing I know it's determined that we are going to go out and hit a Haitian club. So a buncha girls come over the house to meet up with Ritchy and Kevin and Molly; they are from other NGOs, I can't really remember most of their names but several worked for USAID and one for Time Magazine (ok shameless plug, she's a really cool girl named Jessica who has an article coming out on monday on the debris issue in Haiti, so check it out).
Went to this club that honestly I don't remember much of the name. Yes, broke security protocol and snuck out, but we did it in convoy, so it's still ok right? The club was actually super nice. It was apparently opened by two Croatian women that decided to pack up and leave convienantly on the day of the Earthquake. They still went through with creating this club and from what I can tell it definitely paid off. Walking into the club, they have security guards and they wand you to make sure no weapons go into the club (I felt like I was home in Baltimore!) and when you get in they have a stage with a dancing area and a bar and a nice little lounge side with chairs. So of couse we ended up at the bar. Did shots with Kevin and he bought me Rum Sours. Spent a lot of the night talking to Jess that works for Time Magazine. She has been living in DC but she's actually from Haiti, so she could tell me a bit about the culture but still talk about home. Ended up making new friends with Richard (even though we actually couldn't talk to each other)....apparently I remind him of some american artist (musican). Our group ended up dancing, now Molly and Ritchy can tear up some copa, and Richard tried to teach me to dance but I'm totally not used to having dance partners. Was definitely a ton of fun. There was a great couple of live bands, all of which cover Marley which as we all know is an epic win! Between sets they played a mix of American pop dance music (with Haitian crazy sped up back beats) and Haitian pop. Everytime I would dance Richard would laugh and give me daps and hug me. Lots of dancing, good drinks and great company. When we left there's definitely an influx of locals that know to beg people coming out of the bar, which was semi intimidating, but just ran into the car with the others. They dropped me back at the hotel and I got a good nite's sleep.
Now today, not so fun, woke up packed up everything, and got picked up to head to Les Cayes. It was over a four hour drive to Les Cayes. The scenery was beautiful, got to see a lot of towns, but sitting in the car that long is rough. Got to Les Cayes to the hotel we are in and while it's pretty, it lacks a lot of lighting, people I know and has no tv and the internet I have to sit outside to get, so I'm not sure what's gonna happen when I have to head inside in the next 15, hopefully it'll feel like being a stronger connection.
This is a view of the beautiful forestation in Haiti. Palm trees, beautiful leafy green plants. There is a huge problem in Haiti lately with deforestation which has resulted in Haiti being significantly less dense than it's neighbor, the Dominican Republic.
We went into the office for a couple of hours. She had to write some emails and I showed her how to use CRS Global a bit more. Had a great couple skype calls with Alex and Brie :) So then we left went to Eagle Market which is the Haitian grocery store so we could pick up food so we could make dinner later. Eagle Market pretty much has anything that one could imagine from groceries to liquor to fans to house goods, a bank etc. Molly picked up food, I kinda just walked around awkwardly staring at things and taking it all in. They had a nice selection of fruits and veggies, most of which I had never seen before. I think if it weren't for the fact that I was leaving for Les Cayes in the morning, I probs would have run train on that market.
Left the market and headed back to Molly and Kevin's place. I would attempt to spell it but it's got some crazy name that sounds like La Jek de jour or something, I'm sure I'm completely off. They live in this nice little guarded community that they call the equivalent of Haiti's Melrose place. It's basically a bunch of sweet condos that are all linked together in multiple buildings, but the residents are all NGO staff (everything from Clinton Foundation to USAID to CRS to CARE to CONCERN etc). So most of the people in the community are other international people that have come to provide aid assistance to Haiti. Their apartment was super cute, spacious, nice screen in porch and reminded me of something you'd see in Florida. Hung out around there talking with Molly and then Kevin came home and we all watched Babel. If you haven't seen this movie you should definitely check it out, reminds me of Crash in the way it's filmed with it's multiple stories layering over one another.
Molly and I made a middle eastern dinner of hummus, falafel, and israeli cous cous. I was super excited that I actually had food to eat and even more so that I had a feeling I wasn't going to get sick this time! Dinner was awesome and Melissa and her friend Renee stopped by. Kevin also picked up Richard (one of our drivers for CRS) so we all were hanging out. Well next thing I know it's determined that we are going to go out and hit a Haitian club. So a buncha girls come over the house to meet up with Ritchy and Kevin and Molly; they are from other NGOs, I can't really remember most of their names but several worked for USAID and one for Time Magazine (ok shameless plug, she's a really cool girl named Jessica who has an article coming out on monday on the debris issue in Haiti, so check it out).
Went to this club that honestly I don't remember much of the name. Yes, broke security protocol and snuck out, but we did it in convoy, so it's still ok right? The club was actually super nice. It was apparently opened by two Croatian women that decided to pack up and leave convienantly on the day of the Earthquake. They still went through with creating this club and from what I can tell it definitely paid off. Walking into the club, they have security guards and they wand you to make sure no weapons go into the club (I felt like I was home in Baltimore!) and when you get in they have a stage with a dancing area and a bar and a nice little lounge side with chairs. So of couse we ended up at the bar. Did shots with Kevin and he bought me Rum Sours. Spent a lot of the night talking to Jess that works for Time Magazine. She has been living in DC but she's actually from Haiti, so she could tell me a bit about the culture but still talk about home. Ended up making new friends with Richard (even though we actually couldn't talk to each other)....apparently I remind him of some american artist (musican). Our group ended up dancing, now Molly and Ritchy can tear up some copa, and Richard tried to teach me to dance but I'm totally not used to having dance partners. Was definitely a ton of fun. There was a great couple of live bands, all of which cover Marley which as we all know is an epic win! Between sets they played a mix of American pop dance music (with Haitian crazy sped up back beats) and Haitian pop. Everytime I would dance Richard would laugh and give me daps and hug me. Lots of dancing, good drinks and great company. When we left there's definitely an influx of locals that know to beg people coming out of the bar, which was semi intimidating, but just ran into the car with the others. They dropped me back at the hotel and I got a good nite's sleep.
Now today, not so fun, woke up packed up everything, and got picked up to head to Les Cayes. It was over a four hour drive to Les Cayes. The scenery was beautiful, got to see a lot of towns, but sitting in the car that long is rough. Got to Les Cayes to the hotel we are in and while it's pretty, it lacks a lot of lighting, people I know and has no tv and the internet I have to sit outside to get, so I'm not sure what's gonna happen when I have to head inside in the next 15, hopefully it'll feel like being a stronger connection.
Typical Till breakfast loaded with vitamins, anti malaria medicine, antibiotics, a jug of water and a cliff bar
On the way to Les Cayes. This is an image of one of the typical camp sites. The camps are made up of hundreds of tents that have been given to them by NGOs. In these camps there are zones, for example you have green zones/red zones/gang zones/ red light zones. In these camps they have everything you can think of in these tents from barber shops to restaurants to movie theatres! These people are used to constantly needing to rebuild due to the natural disasters they face every year, normally in terms of hurricanes.
One of the buildings left, note this one stayed while the giant one next to it crashed. If you can see there's people on the debris of the other building breaking it down. NGOs often employ native of Haiti to break down the buildings and discard of debris for cash. It's a program cleverly titled cash for work. The problem is there is no true trash system in Haiti, so there's no place to discard the rubbish. Imagine no landfills and no centralized trash system, it leads to a lot of sanitation issues within the nation.
Another building on the way to Les Cayes. I just liked it, no significance :)
This is a view of the beautiful forestation in Haiti. Palm trees, beautiful leafy green plants. There is a huge problem in Haiti lately with deforestation which has resulted in Haiti being significantly less dense than it's neighbor, the Dominican Republic.
A typical housing situation, beautiful small concrete house surrounded by lush vegetation.
On the way to Les Cayes, we were driving down the street and then all of a sudden there was no road. Turns out the last hurricane took it out and now there's a river.
Vegetation and a river running through it. These rivers are oftentimes where people bathe and do their laundry. You will see the villagers all lined up, they bathe and go to work. There still isn't a good water/sanitation program, but then again there wasn't one before the earthquake either.
Chilling in the new hotel room in Les Cayes. See guys? Not Dead!
And I'm in love
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Bonjou
So I'm starting to pick up a slight amount of Creole. I have to say Creole might be one of the most interesting languages. Apparently, it was derived as a means to outsmart the French so it is what they deem the poor man's french. I was told it was a mixture of spanish and french, but the more I understand, it truly is just a unique language. It's contextual in nature meaning nouns have one word for multiple things (for example he/she/it all are li and this/that can be the same word which is sa. Everything depends on the context in which it's in. So technically it should be one of the easiest languages to learn, but it invovles a lot of memorization. And unfortunately when you know a little they talk like you know it all :) The joy of Creole is that the accents are removed, so it's exactly phoentic so you can use a translator and be able to speak and probably pronounce things correct, quite unlike french and their multiple vowels!
So yesterday was a pretty typical day. Got up, the driver took me to the office. I found out that I would be working with the aidsrelief sector of our programming, so I went to their office at 52 delmas. Yes, it's literally four blocks from 81 delmas but I am not allowed to enter the street for fear of kidnapping. The driver took me to the office, where I taught them training on automation of documents, how to use sharepoint to better automate their systems to provide more time for them to do health programming within country. The health programming crew seems to be incredibly intelligent lots of good questions and their english was almost flawless. I found that one lady, Alexandra, that worked there left Haiti 20 years ago was educated in the states at NYU and Chicago for her masters and came back to help after the earthquake. I'm always so impressed with the stories of our staff especially our national staff as the amount of trials and tribulations they go through yet the determination they have to make a difference. It truly is beautiful and trust me I'm not trying to sound like a Hallmark card, I'm honestly just floored. There's a drastic difference between the people within the states and the people of Haiti. Yes, there is violence and kidnappings that outnumber the states, but if you look at the state of the economic and social situation they are in, I can see why they feel the need. They are literally stealing to feed their families. The unemployment rate in Haiti is roughly 60% and with the textile mills shutting down it's only on the rise. The US and other nations thinking they are doing well are dumping their unwanted goods (think Goodwill rejects) on Haiti which is causing Haitians to no longer have a need to buy clothes. This is destroying the textile industry and hence removing more jobs. Most people in Haiti are what you would call small market vendors meaning they somehow have a connection to random items (I saw a table devoted entirely to motor oil, one that sold used tires, some that sold the free clothes from goodwill, some that sell the items given to them for their care from NGOs) and sell them on the street or in an organized market.
Anyways, puts soap box away, so taught training came back to the office taught more training. Eventually ended up back at the residence for the evening where I got to spend most of the evening skyping it up until I fell asleep on my laptop. I know, super cool kid.
So yesterday was a pretty typical day. Got up, the driver took me to the office. I found out that I would be working with the aidsrelief sector of our programming, so I went to their office at 52 delmas. Yes, it's literally four blocks from 81 delmas but I am not allowed to enter the street for fear of kidnapping. The driver took me to the office, where I taught them training on automation of documents, how to use sharepoint to better automate their systems to provide more time for them to do health programming within country. The health programming crew seems to be incredibly intelligent lots of good questions and their english was almost flawless. I found that one lady, Alexandra, that worked there left Haiti 20 years ago was educated in the states at NYU and Chicago for her masters and came back to help after the earthquake. I'm always so impressed with the stories of our staff especially our national staff as the amount of trials and tribulations they go through yet the determination they have to make a difference. It truly is beautiful and trust me I'm not trying to sound like a Hallmark card, I'm honestly just floored. There's a drastic difference between the people within the states and the people of Haiti. Yes, there is violence and kidnappings that outnumber the states, but if you look at the state of the economic and social situation they are in, I can see why they feel the need. They are literally stealing to feed their families. The unemployment rate in Haiti is roughly 60% and with the textile mills shutting down it's only on the rise. The US and other nations thinking they are doing well are dumping their unwanted goods (think Goodwill rejects) on Haiti which is causing Haitians to no longer have a need to buy clothes. This is destroying the textile industry and hence removing more jobs. Most people in Haiti are what you would call small market vendors meaning they somehow have a connection to random items (I saw a table devoted entirely to motor oil, one that sold used tires, some that sold the free clothes from goodwill, some that sell the items given to them for their care from NGOs) and sell them on the street or in an organized market.
Anyways, puts soap box away, so taught training came back to the office taught more training. Eventually ended up back at the residence for the evening where I got to spend most of the evening skyping it up until I fell asleep on my laptop. I know, super cool kid.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
You Bought a What?
So today was Corpus Christi day here in Haiti which is a national holiday. Luckily, Mary who works for our organization took some pity on me and invited me to join her and Helen and some of their national staff members at the beach. Mary came to pick me up at like 8:15 this morning and ran directly into the parade. Basically, from what I was told the holiday is about how god is number one or something like that, so she accidentally cut off the parade today as they were saying the french version of our father. There were floats and lots of singing, it was quite interesting, but caused issues with us trying to leave for the beach.
So, we went to the office to meet up with Helen and the national staff. The way that CRS is structured is we have international staff members (normally from the states) and national staff members (people from the country where the program is held). The idea is that the Haitian people know the best way to rebuild their country with guidance from our CRS international staff members and once they are trained and the country gets back on it's feet, we can exit and hopefully these national staff members can keep contributing to the rise of the nation. Anyways, neither here nor there, the point is that most of our national staff are not what one would consider well off; in the US they would be considered poor. Most Haitians are still living in tents on the street where it's often loaded with trash and is not very sanitary, but the building structures around Port Au Prince aren't safe. CRS is working to get transitional housing, but this means a lot of our staff are also subject to harsh conditions. They truly are resilient from what I learned today in the conditions they live in and yet they get up everyday bucket bathe and take a long journey to work. They are incredibly driven, incredibly bright and super sweet. Most of our national staff I met today were in their early 20s and most of the girls at this point already had multiple children oftentimes unmarried. Children are a symbol of status within this country even if you are unmarried.
Yet, I digress again...so we left the office and started our hike to Kaliko beach. We had a bus for our 16 national staff and Mary got a land cruiser for some national staff, Helen and myself. The voyage was a little over an hour to the beach. I got to see a lot of the town on the drive and got to ask Mary about life before and after the earthquake. She had been part of the country program prior to the earthquake so it's interesting to hear what's changed and what hasn't. We got to Kaliko Beach which was stunning. It's actually a beach club, so it's a beach, has access to a pool, has a restaurant and a bar. It was stunning, the buildings were beautiful, the pool was great, and the beach had gorgeous blue waters. For the entrance price which was 30 USD, you got food, drinks and access to the whole resort. The cool thing is CRS paid for the national staff that normally couldn't afford it and they were so happy to be there. Not only was it a day off from work, but it was a day that they actually weren't responsible for children and they got to relax and just have time for themselves. The amount of child like wonder and excitement they displayed was quite adorable. You could tell they really liked their coworkers and also really loved what they did as they discussed it in the pool.
So, I was laying on the beach right after we arrived and I look up and I see a man with a sea turtle. I looked to Mary and was like um why is that guy holding a sea turtle? So we went to investigate. It turns out that the man was selling the turtle for 1,000 Gourd (Haitian money) which roughly was $20USD. People around here eat them and then use the shell for bowls. Well needless to say, I kirked out and said I would give him the money if I could just have the turtle. So, I bought a sea turtle today...Mary and I swam him out past the waves and far from the shore (I didn't want him recollecting little Pierre after we released him). So, I'm swimming out with this sea turtle (He was probably a foot long or so, just a baby) above my head and I realize he only has three flippers (probs why he was caught). We swam him way out then released him. It took him awhile to dive down so we followed him, but eventually he swam away and all seemed right again.
Spent the rest of the day swimming and hanging with Mary and Helen. I struggle with national staff just because of the language barrier but by the end of the day some of them realized I could speak spanish and were talking with me. Needless to say they wanted to know if I was married and how many kids I had, I told them only dogs and no husband. The day was awesome, the beach was gorgeous, I had good company, got to drink local beer that's actually pretty tasty and actually had real food other than cliff bars. They had a buffet so I got to have black bean sauce and rice and fried plaintains! So far so good, no issues. We had to leave the beach to get back for security timeframes, but plans to hang out on Saturday!
So since you all are wondering pics of the beach below:
So, we went to the office to meet up with Helen and the national staff. The way that CRS is structured is we have international staff members (normally from the states) and national staff members (people from the country where the program is held). The idea is that the Haitian people know the best way to rebuild their country with guidance from our CRS international staff members and once they are trained and the country gets back on it's feet, we can exit and hopefully these national staff members can keep contributing to the rise of the nation. Anyways, neither here nor there, the point is that most of our national staff are not what one would consider well off; in the US they would be considered poor. Most Haitians are still living in tents on the street where it's often loaded with trash and is not very sanitary, but the building structures around Port Au Prince aren't safe. CRS is working to get transitional housing, but this means a lot of our staff are also subject to harsh conditions. They truly are resilient from what I learned today in the conditions they live in and yet they get up everyday bucket bathe and take a long journey to work. They are incredibly driven, incredibly bright and super sweet. Most of our national staff I met today were in their early 20s and most of the girls at this point already had multiple children oftentimes unmarried. Children are a symbol of status within this country even if you are unmarried.
Yet, I digress again...so we left the office and started our hike to Kaliko beach. We had a bus for our 16 national staff and Mary got a land cruiser for some national staff, Helen and myself. The voyage was a little over an hour to the beach. I got to see a lot of the town on the drive and got to ask Mary about life before and after the earthquake. She had been part of the country program prior to the earthquake so it's interesting to hear what's changed and what hasn't. We got to Kaliko Beach which was stunning. It's actually a beach club, so it's a beach, has access to a pool, has a restaurant and a bar. It was stunning, the buildings were beautiful, the pool was great, and the beach had gorgeous blue waters. For the entrance price which was 30 USD, you got food, drinks and access to the whole resort. The cool thing is CRS paid for the national staff that normally couldn't afford it and they were so happy to be there. Not only was it a day off from work, but it was a day that they actually weren't responsible for children and they got to relax and just have time for themselves. The amount of child like wonder and excitement they displayed was quite adorable. You could tell they really liked their coworkers and also really loved what they did as they discussed it in the pool.
So, I was laying on the beach right after we arrived and I look up and I see a man with a sea turtle. I looked to Mary and was like um why is that guy holding a sea turtle? So we went to investigate. It turns out that the man was selling the turtle for 1,000 Gourd (Haitian money) which roughly was $20USD. People around here eat them and then use the shell for bowls. Well needless to say, I kirked out and said I would give him the money if I could just have the turtle. So, I bought a sea turtle today...Mary and I swam him out past the waves and far from the shore (I didn't want him recollecting little Pierre after we released him). So, I'm swimming out with this sea turtle (He was probably a foot long or so, just a baby) above my head and I realize he only has three flippers (probs why he was caught). We swam him way out then released him. It took him awhile to dive down so we followed him, but eventually he swam away and all seemed right again.
Spent the rest of the day swimming and hanging with Mary and Helen. I struggle with national staff just because of the language barrier but by the end of the day some of them realized I could speak spanish and were talking with me. Needless to say they wanted to know if I was married and how many kids I had, I told them only dogs and no husband. The day was awesome, the beach was gorgeous, I had good company, got to drink local beer that's actually pretty tasty and actually had real food other than cliff bars. They had a buffet so I got to have black bean sauce and rice and fried plaintains! So far so good, no issues. We had to leave the beach to get back for security timeframes, but plans to hang out on Saturday!
So since you all are wondering pics of the beach below:
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Getting Through
So yesterday was productive and today is turning out to be three times as productive. Trainings are on point, custom tailored and thank goodness for people willing to translate! I've had several staff members and several national members come up to thank me to taking the time to teach them how to use systems that can benefit their daily work. The big selling point is that I can provide the technology if they can tell me what they need assistance with...I met with human resources today and came up with ways to automate their policies. I also had a productive meeting with the head of the country program to teach him how to use the tools created to benefit his staff. Our fellows seem to be the most intrigued as most are here on TDYs (temporary displacement) from other country programs, so the knowledge that they learn here will be infused throughout our other regions.
As far as the other portions that aren't work related, I am still shocked by the lack of traffic regulation throughout this country. Everyday coming into and out of work is one of the most terrifying experiences. There are constant car accidents, there is no right of way and there are no dividing lines for those driving. Needless to say our security protocol is that if we are in an accident, do not exit the car as that's how they kidnap NGO staff. Now I will honestly be shocked if I don't end up in a car wreck before the end of this trip. And to think you all were worried about the opposition to NGOs, I'd worry more about whiplash and crazy driving. I mean they literally go on sidewalks and go around people and almost run over pedestrians.
Now as far as security goes, I can see why we have strict protocols. Leaving the office later yesterday, ended up leaving the office around half after five involved getting a convoy of at least two cars with drivers and at least two people per car. This actually makes sense in that leaving the office there were guards with rifles at post and tons of police officers scattered throughout the city with guns as well. I am guessing most of the crime for the country occurs during the evening hours. I am safe and repeat am being taken care of, just things I've noticed that I thought I should post about.
Evenings are pretty boring I am locked in my room after work and can't really do much. I depend on the internet that is fairly sparse depending on the time of day and whether or not there is electricity. So once again feel free to be my friend online via facebook or skype or google talk. When I do have connectivity, I am online and friendly faces or rather text is always helpful.
Alright off to teach another training. Til later
As far as the other portions that aren't work related, I am still shocked by the lack of traffic regulation throughout this country. Everyday coming into and out of work is one of the most terrifying experiences. There are constant car accidents, there is no right of way and there are no dividing lines for those driving. Needless to say our security protocol is that if we are in an accident, do not exit the car as that's how they kidnap NGO staff. Now I will honestly be shocked if I don't end up in a car wreck before the end of this trip. And to think you all were worried about the opposition to NGOs, I'd worry more about whiplash and crazy driving. I mean they literally go on sidewalks and go around people and almost run over pedestrians.
Now as far as security goes, I can see why we have strict protocols. Leaving the office later yesterday, ended up leaving the office around half after five involved getting a convoy of at least two cars with drivers and at least two people per car. This actually makes sense in that leaving the office there were guards with rifles at post and tons of police officers scattered throughout the city with guns as well. I am guessing most of the crime for the country occurs during the evening hours. I am safe and repeat am being taken care of, just things I've noticed that I thought I should post about.
Evenings are pretty boring I am locked in my room after work and can't really do much. I depend on the internet that is fairly sparse depending on the time of day and whether or not there is electricity. So once again feel free to be my friend online via facebook or skype or google talk. When I do have connectivity, I am online and friendly faces or rather text is always helpful.
Alright off to teach another training. Til later
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