Haiti

How to help: Haitian organizations

2010-01-16T20:55:00.001-06:00

The following are four smaller organizations that work in Haiti. They do not have international reputations, but they do impressive work in Haiti. They tend to have excellent Haitian leadership which, in my experience, makes for more successful programs. They are not search-and-rescue type organizations; they are going to be working hard in the long-term to rebuild Haiti.

National Human Rights Defense Network (RNDDH in French): This is the organization I worked for when I lived in Haiti. They’re absolutely amazing. I loved working for them. Unfortunately, their site doesn’t have any easy way to donate (except by sending an email—English is fine—to admin@rnddh.org), and most of the site is in French. The website has not been updated since the earthquake disaster. I’m guessing they have their hands full with other things right now.

The Lambi Fund: Lambi is the Haitian word for conch shell. Throughout rural Haiti, blowing into a conch shell is the traditional way to call people together—the sound is audible for quite some distance. (Though I do wonder if the cell phone revolution has put the conch shells out of business!) The Lambi Fund works in a wide variety of areas, from environment to micro-credit to leadership training.

Fonkoze: Fonkoze stands for “Fondasyon Kole Zepòl,” which means “Shoulder-to-Shoulder Foundation.” They are an “alternative bank” that provides micro-credit—small loans—to poor people in Haiti. This is an extremely important service in Haiti, and they have an excellent reputation throughout Haiti.

Beyond Borders: This organization is affiliated with Tony Campolo. I got to know them because I shared office space with them in Port-au-Prince. They always struck me as one of the most progressive, “with it” service groups in Haiti. They do excellent work in education and literacy especially.

How to help: International organizations

2010-01-16T20:50:00.003-06:00

There are many international organizations doing great work in Haiti. If you’d like to donate to an international organization, here are some possibilites:

Mennonite Central Committee (MCC): MCC is a leader in service and relief work throughout the world. They are highly respected and have a long history of working in Haiti through partnerships with Haitian-run organizations. It was thanks to MCC that I was able to work at RNDDH (above). They are my default organization to give to when a disaster hits.

Lutheran World Federation: They work thoughout the world, and are very active in Haiti.

Catholic Relief Services: Another well respected, international church-based organization.

Partners in Health: If you’ve read Tracy Kidder’s book Mountains Beyond Mountains, then you know about this organization started by Dr. Paul Farmer.

Doctors Without Borders: Be like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and give $1 million to this organization!

The Red Cross: I bet you’ve heard of them.

UNICEF: The branch of the UN focusing specifically on children.

I’m sure I have forgotten many great organizations, but since there are about 10,000 non-profit organizations working in Haiti, I’d better stop here.

News from Joseph, a university student and accountant in Haiti

2010-01-16T13:23:00.002-06:00

"We are still here. Our house is gone but we are here. There is no food or water. We’re in the street with our children, but we’re here. We’re sleeping in the street now just like everyone in our neighborhood—we’re all living in the street. From time to time there are aftershocks. We are very afraid but we’re praying. The first earthquake happened when I was in class, on the top floor of the building. But God saved me."

News from Ben, a photographer and reporter in Haiti (www.fonkoze.org)

2010-01-16T13:22:00.003-06:00

"When the actual earthquake happened, my wife and I had just gotten back from work and were about to eat dinner.The house started shaking and so we ran outside. Just as soon as it stopped shaking we decided to run back inside. My wife changed clothes and we grabbed a pickax and water and some bandages—we hardly have any first-aid kit. We went out into the neighborhood surrounding our house. The whole zone—there’s just houses that had fallen everywhere. We were working for a while trying to pull people out. Just after the earthquake a lot of the people in our community were working together. People were helping strangers and pulling them out of the rubble. I think everyone here is pretty shell-shocked.

"Today we were driving past mass graves and there were dump trucks pouring bodies into mass graves. It’s just everywhere buildings are fallen down.

"The response on the ground—so many of the offices of the major organizations have been destroyed. Their main offices have fallen so there’s been no response on the ground.

"Right now there’s thousands of people out in the streets and in the parks. A lot of them are running out of water and a lot of people haven’t eaten since the earthquake. There’s probably hundreds or thousands of people still trapped under the rubble. There’s just been no emergency response. People in their own communities have been trying to find people, but other than that. . .That’s probably the worst part—just knowing there’s probably thousands of people still alive up until probably today. Probably today was the last day."

[Photo from MCC.org. Listen to Ben’s account at http://mcc.org/stories/podcasts/world-shaken.]

News from Frislain, a community development worker in Haiti

2010-01-16T13:21:00.002-06:00

"I am alive thanks to the Almighty Lord. I was in a meeting in the building that collapsed on the UN staff, including the UN Chief Hedi Anabi [who was killed]. Thirty minutes after I left, the earthquake hit. I was in my office on the second floor. God grabbed me and put me outside and I am alive. All is well in my family. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers and continue to pray as the people and the country were destroyed completely. P.S. I am in the south trying to flee the terrible aftermath of Port-au-Prince."

News from Gibbs, a human rights activist in Haiti (www.rnddh.org)

2010-01-16T13:20:00.002-06:00

"I’m okay but things are not good at all here. I was at work when it happened—at work at RNDDH [the human rights organization, www.rnddh.org]. The office itself wasn’t damaged. My wife was at our house with her niece. My wife was in the living room and our neice [who lives with us] was in the kitchen when the earthquake happened. My niece started to run—she’d never been in a situation like this and she ran out into the street. When she was almost in front of the gate, the neighbor’s house fell on her. The neighbor’s roof and a wall crushed her head. She died right there. This happened in an area they call Diquini 63, in Carrefour [on the western outskirts of the Port-au-Prince area—closer to the earthquake epicenter]. Her name is Ismaella. She was eight years old. She is our godchild. I’m in shock. The morgues cannot take any more bodies so Ismaella’s family and I had no choice but to bury her quickly.

"My wife is okay. We’re sleeping like everyone else—in the street. When there are aftershocks and even when there aren’t we’re sleeping in the street.

"Our neighbor’s house is destroyed. Our house wasn’t destroyed but we can’t get into it—all the rubble from the neighbor’s house blocks us from getting in. There is a lot of damage in our neighborhood. There are more than 100 houses that are demolished. A lot of people died. I don’t have the exact numbers but there could be around 500 people who died in the neighborhood.

"We’re temporarily living in an area called Brochette where my wife has family. We’re eating together in a small community of my wife’s family.

"It is a terrible situation we’re in. It shouldn’t be this way. Things aren’t working like we’d like them to. I’m at the RNDDH office now. I had to walk here on foot to get here. This isn’t right. There is no transportation. It took me two hours to walk here. To get back to my house, it will be the same thing.

"Keep us up-to-date on how the fundraising goes. We’re waiting to hear from you."

News from Moїse, a seminary student in Haiti

2010-01-16T13:19:00.001-06:00

Dear friends, I want to tell you that my family and I are alive but in the school eight of us died and the building is completely destroyed. Thank you.

News from David, a pilot in Haiti

2010-01-16T13:16:00.001-06:00

We have experienced a major earthquake in Port-au-Prince. Our family is okay.

At the time that I’m writing this.. I have not had the opportunity to hear what is being reported on the news. You may have more information about this disaster than we do. Our cell phones are not working, so we cannot communicate with many people we are wondering about here in Port-au-Prince. Here is our version of the story…

I had a long hard day of work at the airport, having flown a lot, and I had carpooled with my coworkers to my house. I took the Christmas tree down, and we were doing a little bit more cleanup in the house, expecting to meet our landlord for a discussion this evening. My wife and I were in the living room talking, and watching our son as he was crawling around. With almost no warning the room began to shake violently, and continued for what seemed like a long time. I picked up my son, and the 3 of us were close together. All kinds of things in the house shook and slid and came tumbling to the floor. Bookcases and their contents, broken dishes and all sorts of things are strewn throughout the house.. but our house stood. All of the perimeter walls around our house stood, with only minor damage. We were shaken…literally… and now we are shaken emotionally.

There have been many aftershocks and tremors. They seem to be weakening.. but I doubt if it is over yet. Although our house did stand, we don’t know if it is compromised.. we are camping out in our driveway right now. Nathan is in his pac’n’play with a mosquito net over it next to our car. Our big perimeter gate, 18 feet wide by 10 feet tall, rattles and shakes ever time there is a tremor giving us warning to be on the alert. I’m not sure if we’ll get much sleep.

In the property next to us, the perimeter wall collapsed. In the next lot the entire 2nd story completely collapsed. The large supermarket we were in at this time yesterday, we heard that it has completely collapsed. Electric polls are down everywhere, and there will be no city power for some time I’m sure. We have some battery power, but are conserving all we can. We will be able to run our make-shift generator, but have little fuel. We don’t know how we will get food in the coming days.

Given the few facts we have, it seems probable that there has been extensive damage and loss of life. In spite of all the sorrow, this evening we heard a group from the nearby ravine singing songs of thanksgiving. Especially in these times, we recognize our need to turn to God. He is powerful, and the only sure One we can turn to. He is our Rock.

Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers. We have much to be thankful for.

New from Pierre, a human rights activist in Haiti (www.rnddh.org)

2010-01-16T13:13:00.001-06:00

"We’re fine. Everyone at work is fine. The country is demolished. Anything people can find to aid us is welcomed. If there are people who want to give, they will help us."

News from Sandy, a missionary in Haiti

2010-01-16T13:10:00.001-06:00

"Yesterday at 5PM we were home from work in our second story apartment. They had just hooked up the small generator so that we could have some electric after none for a couple days. We were in the kitchen when vibrations started and built to a crescendo. I thought the little generator was exploding. It lasted too long so we knew it was an earthquake. Everything started falling. The floor began to drop, ceiling tiles, cracks everywhere, everything fell off. I'm yelling Jesus save us. Jim is yelling Sandy we have to get out. We couldn't move till it got a bit more stable. We tried the front but the stairway had collapsed. The back door was open and we went over the back patio. It was only about 6 feet off the ground. Two men from a short term mission team ran to catch us as we jumped out. It was terrifying. Our new apartment has huge cracks but is standing straight. We cannot get in as the doors are stuck shut. The clinic main building is pretty good. Pharmacy and central supply are awful. The roof is on by a thread and it may drop at any time. We cannot get our supplies!!! Last night we worked all night long. 6 people died in our immediate work. Many more will. Most were children. Many open fractures, 2 little girls paralyzed, horrible lacerations that you cannot imagine. 3 babies born We took a couple hours off this morning from 4-6 AM. We started again early and they came in droves, desperate for help. We had only 2 docs, although our eye doc was sewing up head lacerations. All missionaries were fine as well as short term teams. We are exhausted. We have almost no supplies and medicines left. Please PRAY for us."

News from Guerino, a pastor in Haiti

2010-01-16T13:07:00.001-06:00

"Thank you very much for your prayer. God helped me to find a way to send you this mail. I left Haiti on January 11 to Paris. I arrived in Paris early on January 12. The earthquake was on Tuesday, January 13. I received that news on Wednesday morning. My house cracked but by the grace of the Lord my children are safe. After the big earthquake, there have been many aftershocks; because of that, people do not want to stay in their houses. Some neighbors decided to stay on an empty lot to spend the time together. Today, I tried to have contact them by phone but no success. My wife is with me but in a very bad situation. Please continue to pray that they can fortify my wife and to keep my children in a safe condition. Continue to pray for the country. I don’t know yet what I can do directly, because there is no communication now. Pease pray that the Lord can open doors and show what I need to do. Thank you very much for your support."

2007-05-29T22:16:00.001-05:00

A fire in the pine forest

A "kombit" where a group of men and boys work together to hoe a field.

Planting onions

An onion field that has been planted.

Fixing a flat on the motorcycle

A cabbage field

Cher-frere somehow managed to get the motorcycle down this mountain.

Getting ready to work a steep field

Leaving Haiti

2007-05-29T22:13:00.000-05:00

I sit in the airport on the second floor where there are little shops and coffee and drink bars. I have a cup of good Haitian coffee, rightly served with a saucer, and am at a small round table with my laptop. It feels very Oregonian. I’m watching the white people in the room, trying to imagine what a Haitian sees looking at them. First, our shoes are very servicable. The Haitian men are wearing shiny dress shoes, the Haitian women strappy sandals with thick coats of polish on their toenails, or uncomfortable and too-small dark navy office shoes with thick high heels. The white people are wearing Tevas. I have on tennis shoes. One white woman is wearing white leather Keds still covered in red mud. A Haitian would never leave the house with muddy shoes much less travel internationally in muddy shoes. Shoes are washed and shined constantly. Next, the white women don’t wear jewelry or much makeup or nailpolish. None of us white women in the room spent more than five minutes pulling our hair back into a ponytail this morning. The Haitian women wear gold: necklaces, bracelets, earings, rings, and many of them carry large and fashionable purses, the stuff of fashion magazines. The white people all have fanny sacks and backpacks. It’s like we were issued them along with our white skin. The woman with the muddy Keds pulls a bottle of OFF out of her fanny pack and sprays her arms. We are in an air conditioned airport so this strikes me as a little strange. Will she be afraid of mosquitoes on the plane too? The Haitians eat food from the bar: hotdogs in warm bagettes and croissants stuffed with chicken; the Americans next to me are eating Nature Valley granola bars. They have a large supply of them in plastic ziplock bags. One white woman is reading a novel. I’ve never seen a Haitian reading a novel in the airport (or almost anywhere, Djamina aside). The Haitians watch the Haiti-El Salvador soccer game on T.V. or doze or talk on cell phones.

There is construction work going on at the airport. Waiting in the immigration line, I see a sign advertising the renovations. BEHIND THE MACHINES THAT BUILD THE AIRPORT ARE THE MEN THAT BUILD THE AIRPORT, it says. Of course I make a mental correction: and women. Then I step forward in the immigration line and can see that penned onto the poster in blue ink are the words AND THE WOMEN!! There are plans to build those wing ramps so you can walk directly from the plane into the airport without having to pass outside. This is a pity, in my opinion, though it will be good for older people or people in wheelchairs. I love walking down the steep steps from the airplane when I arrive in Port-au-Prince, hearing the almost overwhelming noise of the plane and feeling the heat of the day. It feels like really arriving. It feels glamorous somehow. I love walking across the tarmac—and doing so I always think about the word tarmac and how much I like it—to the airport door where the troubadou band plays a welcome song. In any case, the construction work has begun. I hear a white man say to his group, Did you see the hole their digging? They’re actually using machines to do it.

On the plane, a flight attendent tells us the trilingual attendent who makes the announcements in French and Haitian Kreyol is sick; she will be attempting to read the announcements based on her high school French. She does so and it’s really awful and I cringe and hope she can get through it quickly. But no one else on the plane seems to mind. A group of Americans with matching Wells For Haiti (Isaiah 23: 2) t-shirts gives her a smattering of applause for her bravery. Everyone else either doesn’t realize she’s attempting to speak French or else is just very understanding. Perhaps they are well aware that soon they will be the ones with the accents. Up until this point it is me who is the odd one out, the one with the funny clothes and manners, the accent and the strange skin. But soon we will be in Florida and the tables will be turned. The square-jawed immigration agents (apparently a job requirement) will greet me with hearty Welcome back’s while they look suspiciously at the Haitian travelers and take their fingerprints. I will know how to work the revolving doors, how to ask for directions, how to drive in traffic. The same people I admired while they cooly drank Prestige in the Port-au-Prince airport will now seem strange—their pants too baggy, their skin too dark, their suitcases too big, their shoes too gaudy.

Note added later: Apparently immigration agents are no longer hired for their square jaws. Perhaps it has something to do with the Department of Homeland Security taking over the old INS, but the agents were downright pudgy this time. I presented my passport and immigration card and the agent said, “Haiti??? What the heck were you doing there?” “Research,” I said, “and visiting friends.” The agent shook his head like that was something too awful to think about and stamped my passport.

More Photos!

2007-03-28T01:55:00.000-05:00

A frilly purple umbrella

2007-03-28T01:38:00.000-05:00

The spring rainy season in Haiti has begun. It is a bit of a shock to spend the day talking with people who have had friends and family swept away by flash flood and debris flows and then, on my way home in the evening, pass farmers looking approvingly at the gathering storm clouds and expressing their wish for a good rain. The onion seeds that were planted earlier this month and last are now being transplanted to cooler, higher ground in the mountains above Fond Verrettes. The seedlings, planted in one of Fond Verrettes' ravines, were painstakingly watered and weeded by hand each day. Now the transplants will have to depend on rainfall. Despite the risk of flood disaster, daily life in Fond Verrettes demands hope and gratitude for a good rain.
On Saturday I planned to finish the last seven interviews in the town of Fond Verrettes. Fleurimond and I walked across the ravines to the far side of Fond Verrettes at 7 am when the sun was just starting to get warm and the sky was a beautiful, clear blue. Once I settled into the first interview Fleurimond left to return to his own work with the peasant farmer cooperative. (A truckload of fertilizer in arrived this week and people are coming by to pick it up via mule.) I finished three interviews in the Bois Neuf quartier and then waited out the first big downpour of the morning on the porch of the third interviewee. When the rain slackened, I set out across the ravines for the quartier of Kornel (see photo). The sun soon returned and everything was fresh and humid, drops of water sparkling everywhere. As I was finishing the second interview in Kornel another downpour began and we took shelter in an abandoned house as the rain thundered down on the leaky tin roof so that we had to shout to be heard.

I didn't realize that it was as late in the day as it was—2 o'clock. I'd told Fleurimond that I'd be back for lunch at 1 o'clock. He got worried and came looking for me. Amazingly, he found us. He showed up, his coat drenched, a wild look on his face, and, over it all, a girl's small frilly purple umbrella, which he'd brought for me not knowing I had an umbrella along. I felt awful that I'd worried him but also had to laugh at how he looked, with the child's umbrella that was more of a hat than an umbrella since it hardly covered his shoulders. (Fleurimond is tall and strong, which amazes Ben and I since it appears he subsists on little more than french fries, which he makes with local potatoes, and lots of oil and salt.)

The empty house we took refuge in had whitewashed walls inside and kids had drawn pictures on them in blue crayon. One was a life-sized drawing of what looked to me like a female U.N. peacekeeper standing stiffly like one of those toy nutcracker soldiers. Fleurimond pointed out a drawing of a woman, a stick figure with an interesting protuberance out to one side. It took me a moment to realize she was a pregnant stick figure in profile. Next to the figure someone had written "Andrenie is pregnant" in an amalgam of mispelled Kreyol and French. It was such a funny drawing everyone laughed and the others tried to figure out who Andrenie is. It was such a funny drawing I should have taken a picture. . .

Houseguest that I am

2007-03-28T01:37:00.002-05:00

Returning to Port-au-Prince today, I opened the door to my room and my first thought was, Look! They've put my favorite sheets on the bed! And my second thought was, Doesn't that mean I've overstayed my welcome here, when I actually have a favorite set of sheets?

Good Food

2007-03-28T01:37:00.001-05:00

When I think of "market"—especially an outdoor market—I think of fresh produce. Thus I am always disappointed when I go to the weekly markets in the countryside. I might find some scraggly green onions, a few unhappy heads of cabbage, some potatoes and avocados, but other than that at this time of year it seems most people are selling dried beans, corn meal, plantains (which, I'm sorry, but I can hardly consider a real vegetable), and unperishables: canned tomato paste, oil, cubes of maggi, salt and seasonings, soap, toothpaste, cheap candy, notebooks. There is nothing I want to buy, and yet I want to buy. . .something. Even I have a hard time feeling right about life if I go more than a few days without spending any money. For breakfast, Fleurimond would boil me an egg, which I supplemented with bread from the Fond Verrettes bakery. It's not good bread, in my opinion, but it's fresh bread. The main meal of the day: french fries, or rice with pidgeon peas. In the evening: whatever french fries or rice I hadn't eaten at midday. But even though I was hungry I found I didn't want the same thing I'd had earlier (but now colder). I wanted hot cocoa, or pumpkin soup, or carrot cake. I didn't want a boiled egg and bad bread and water for breakfast. I wanted hot coffee with cream, orange juice and a crusty bagette with real butter.
Mostly, I spent a lot of the week craving saturated fat and fresh produce. It felt unnatural—even claustrophobic—to not be able to buy a candy bar or orange juice, to know that there just was none to be had in the area.
One of the interview questions asks people to select whether 1) they are a family in the area with some means, or 2) they don't have a lot but they eat each day, or 3) they are malere, the truly destitute. Many people choose category number two, but they correct the question: they do not truly eat each day but they do goute—the verb for taste, or snack. All day long I would be with people whose relationship to food couldn't really be called eating—simply tasting a bit of food—and I, with all the bread and eggs and rice and peas I could ever want, could do little but fixate on how in the world I might manage to procure some chocolate.
Walking through a crowded Port-au-Prince street on my way home today, I saw Caribbean cherries, mangos, tomatoes, grapefruit, custard apples, watercress. Even though I didn't buy any of it, it was enough to feast my eyes on it and know I could buy and eat. The produce was available and I have money. What a wonderful combination! And so like America! Is that not the essence of the American dream—variety, availibility and purchasing power?
This afternoon, back in Port-au-Prince, I made some coffee, my first coffee in nearly a week. (They grow and sell coffee in Fond Verrettes but tend to roast the beans with so much sugar it's like drinking coffee syrup.) Then Woni, bless her, said, wouldn't you like some of this delicious flan with rum raisin sauce to go with your coffee? Mmmm, it was heavenly!

Zombies!

2007-03-28T01:34:00.000-05:00

Not far from where I've stayed in Fond Verrettes on past visits, in the quartier of Bois Neuf, a trail runs along the top of a ravine. Most everyone in Bois Neuf lives on the high terrace above the ravine, but there is one house on the other side of the trail, part way down into the ravine. I'd half assumed this house was abandonded until this past week when one of my interviews turned out to be at this house. Its occupant is an elderly woman, just widowed not more than a few days past. Perhaps I should have left her in peace, but it wasn't at first clear to me how recently she'd been widowed and I went ahead with the interview. As soon as I'd gone down the steep path leading to her house on a small ledge overlooking the ravine she began talking quickly. It became clear that one problem she had, among many, was that her house was currently occupied by zombies. Zombies? I questioned. Yes, she said. After someone dies there will be zombies around the house. Of course I'd heard of zombies but I didn't realize they were a consideration in a "normal" death. Or perhaps her husband's death wasn't normal, but I assume he also was elderly and died of age. She explained that people can be called upon to come to the house and, through prayer, exhort the zombies to leave. Her problem was that she hadn't been able to get anyone to come pray. Well, I asked, Why can't you yourself pray that the zombies leave? Ah, she said, I am an Evengelical. We can't exhort zombies. So far as I can understand, she was an Evangelic Protestant with a Catholic (or Voudun) problem on her hands. She couldn't deny there were zombies inhabiting the house, but as a good Evangelical Christian she also couldn't exhort that which her church didn't believe in.

In the interview, one of the questions is How many people live in your house? She shook her head and sadly said that she alone lived there. (Living alone in Haiti is rare and often considered almost tragic, a sort of poverty of spirit or community and something no one would ever desire.) With a gleam in my eye I followed up the question with another: And just how many zombies live here with you? She laughed good-naturedly and gave me a sly, knowing look.

Interview in Fond Verette

2007-03-22T01:08:00.000-05:00

This is a video of Anna interviewing a woman near Fond Verette. Sorry the video is so grainy, I had to compress it to upload it to the web. In the video, you'll see how Ben's Kreyol stacks up to Samuel's english! Click here: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2016776056

Guerline's Porch

2007-03-21T00:46:00.000-05:00

Please click http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2016265800 to see a video from Guerline's porch in Port Au Prince. The singing you hear is from Guerline's church visible in the video.

Vocabulary Words

2007-03-15T08:31:00.000-05:00

On Saturday, after Ben had been in the country less than 12 hours, we drove the 2-plus hours to Fond Verrettes, met up with Fleurimond and then hiked just about straight up for 3 kilometers until we reached the settlement of Karobyo on a mountain overlooking Fond Verrettes. I had one—and only one—interview to do here. Ben walked around taking pictures while I did the interview. One guy who lived there and was sewing up his plastic sandal wanted to talk to Ben.
Ben's Kreyol is growing but still limited to things like good morning, good afternoon, how are you, I'm fine, thank you, can I speak with Anna please, and the food is good. I suggested they try talking in English. Except that the other guy's English was even more limited: he could say good morning, good afternoon, and yesterday. Yesterday??? Sometimes it's strange the vocabulary we learn. I once met a man from Argentina who only knew a few English phrases but one of them was "yellow cake." I never figured that one out. In high school, my French class used the Capretz method, which pretty much was based on the premise that people learn French in order to pick up girls while on spring break in Paris. I remember spending entire class periods perfecting a Parisien accent and disinterested demeanor for "Can I have a light?". I felt so proud of my nearly flawless execution of the phrase that I wondered if I'd have to take up smoking.

Everything's Related

2007-03-15T08:19:00.000-05:00

My one month with the Trooper is over with as of today. There is a hole in the exhaust so I dropped the Trooper off at the garage and asked the mechanic to return the vehicle to the owners after he fixes it. (He is good friends with the owners, who also happen to be the same family that Janis' college roommate comes from.) The mechanic said he'd give me a ride home. Soon we were talking about friends we had in common, specifically three men who run a lodge I used to stay at high up in the mountains between Port-au-Prince and the south coast of Haiti. On the way down Delmas I realized I'd forgotten to pick up the questionnaires I'd had photocopied and asked the mechanic to drop me off there instead. He said, oh, that's my cousin's place; I'll just drop in to say hi to her. Last week I'd run into the photocopy lady at the grocery store and she'd told me the photocopier was working again if I had more things to copy. Then I'd gone to the other main grocery store in Port-au-Prince and run into the mechanic and his family. Also, the mechanic's father was the head of Haiti's forest service for over 30 years—this is the government branch that is charged with protecting the Pine Forest, which is part of my study area. It is such a small world here.

Mt. Kat

2007-03-04T13:11:00.000-06:00

There have been three fatal flood disasters in Fond Verrettes since 1994, each disaster worse than the one preceeding it. The first was with Hurricane Gordon, and second in 1998 with Hurrican Georges, and the third following an immense amount of rain in May 2004. The amount of rain that fell over several days in May 2004 must have been unbelievable. There are no records for Haiti, but even at the higher parts of the watershed where a group of houses is nestled in a shallow basin, people said the water came up to their chests. At lower parts of the watershed, the flood took the form of a fast and strong flow of water, mud and rocks. No family in the area was spared from loss. Throughout the watershed fields of potatoes, corn, beans, and onions were destroyed. Goats, chickens, horses, pigs and cows drowned. In Fond Verrettes and areas further downstream, thousands of people were killed and hundreds of houses swept away.
The sensational story is that of the floods. The lesser known story of the region also involves water—but instead of too much water, this story is one of not enough water. The area has no real rivers, only ephemeral streams that quickly dry up after a rain. There are a very few springs and these can dry up, too, in the dry season. People need water for drinking, washing, watering animals, and growing onion and cabbage seedlings. Most other farming—corn and sorghum and beans and the like—involves crops that rely soley on rainfall.
Cher-Frère and I were in an area called Mòn Kat (Mt. Kat) today, which is a good hour's walk+drive from Fond Verrettes. I was astounded to learn that most people living here get all their water from the Karetye ravine spring—the one that feeds the onion seed beds above Fond Verrettes. For people in Mt. Kat who don't have a resevoir to collect rainwater, or who can't afford to buy water from a neighbor with a resevoir—and this is most everyone we talked with—it takes 5 to 6 hours to make the trip to get water from the Karetye spring and then carry it back up the mountain. In years when the Karetye spring dries up people have to go even further. One couple told us their children complain of thirst even more than they complain of hunger.
Despite the poverty and the amazing difficulty of "mere survival," numerous people offered us gifts of potatoes and eggs and everyone graciously endured our survey questions.

Rooster

2007-03-04T13:09:00.000-06:00

I came back from Fond Verrettes yesterday evening to find this fine-looking red rooster in the yard. He was tied to a piece of wood by a string around his leg. With little sympathy for the rooster, whose days were surely numbered, I knew it was going to be a long night for me. The only thing worse than a rooster outside your bedroom window is a donkey: "bray" just doesn't convey the awful, cut-to-the-bone noise a donkey makes at all hours of night.
At 1:30 am the rooster began to crow. The sun was nowhere in sight. I resent anyone who says roosters begin to crow in the early morning. Even a dairy farmer doesn't consider 1:30 am to be early morning.
Both the rooster and I made it through the night, and the red rooster is to be butchered this afternoon. I can't say I'm unhappy.
I asked Genese if she'd be able to wash my clothes today. She said she wouldn't be able to because she had to wash the floors and then kill the rooster. When is the last time someone told you they were too busy, they had to kill a rooster?

Morne Catte DieuSeul Paul

2007-03-04T13:06:00.000-06:00

People are often surprised to seeing me walking through the area, especially if I'm a ways from the road. Today I left Cher-Frère at the top of a mountain and carefully made my way down the very steep slope to get one of my infamous "GPS points" that I use to validate land-cover data from satellite images. This extremely steep and rocky slope also happened to be the bean field of a spirited and graceful woman of 80-some years of age. Barefoot, she was clearing the field by hand to plant later this month. Somehow she managed to maintain her balance with no apparent effort. I was having a hard time imagining anyone walking down this slope much less planting on it. She looked up, saw me and said in wonder and with a laugh, "My! If it isn't a foreigner come walking right here!" Then, as if to no one in particular she said, "But why should I be surprised to see her, a foreign girl, here? Am I not, afterall, waiting for the day when Jesus himself will walk down this field to greet me? And should I be surprised then?"

Religous Leadership

2007-03-04T13:04:00.000-06:00

I did not endear myself to a certain local religious leader today. Moïse and I had stopped by his house last night and asked to talk to him. He was playing cards with some friends and told us to come back the next morning. When we showed up again he said he only had 10 minutes for me, would that be enough? No, I said, but I'll take the 10 minutes and return at another time to finish the interview. Then we waited for some time (during which one of his friends from the night before who'd several times had the maid refix her drink to get it just right sneered at me, "You should be preparing your questions for the clergyman, shouldn't you?) and finally he was ready to talk to us. I asked him if he was from the area and, if not, how long he'd lived there. He answered, "I'm not from Fond Verrettes," and then added a big "thank God!" I saw Moïse, who is from Fond Verrettes, startle when he said that. I asked about the flood disasters and he mentioned that he's on most every committee in Fond Verrettes and has been influential in getting some aid. I mentioned that many people were still living in harm's way and he agreed and talked on about that. Then I asked him if it did not present a problem that he was building such a grand church and presbytery while so many others, members in the church even, were still living in the flood zone with no possibility of rebuilding elsewhere. He immediately became cold and said there was no relationship between the two; they'd begun the church buildings before the 2004 flood. After that he refused to answer any more of my questions. Suddenly he knew very little about the area. On my way out I was looking for Moïse who'd gone off with a friend. The sneering lady said in a mean voice, "You can't go look for him.
When you come with someone you have to wait for him." I decided to just ignore her and soon found Moïse.

When you come with someone you have to wait for him." I decided to just ignore her and soon found Moïse.

Maps and Hens

2007-03-04T13:03:00.000-06:00

Most people here have very little experience reading maps, so my love of maps and aerial photos of the area usually finds no shared interest. (Years ago when I lived in Port-au-Prince I had a topographic map of Haiti on the dining room table. A very good friend of mine saw it and said, "I've seen people using maps in movies, but I've never understood how they can be used to get you from one place to another." That is just to say that map skills apparently are not taught in schools here and most people never use paper maps.) Today, however, I spent the day with a man whose family owns a lot of land in one portion of the Fond Verrettes watershed. He was interested in the air photos and helped me find the GPS reference points I needed. After we'd spent an hour walking up and down a mountain and through people's patio gardens he asked, "Which is harder: boot camp or Anna's dissertation research?" J
This same man lives alone and is rather endearingly called "crazy"—in the eccentric sense—by some others in the area. Most of his family lives in the U.S. and he'll probably give up his gentleman's farming one day to join them. He raises chickens and also has a fighting cock. He mentioned several times how much he loves his birds. I asked if I could take his picture and he said yes, if I'd also take a picture of his favorite hen. She was a beautiful creature, fat and round and brown with lovely speckles. Unfortunately she wasn't much interested in posing for the camera. I heard him say under his breath, "I love my hens so much, I don't know what I'll do when they die."

Ti Da

2007-02-25T16:46:00.001-06:00

Last Tuesday morning around 10:30 am I was enjoying being by myself in the house I stay at in Fond Verrettes, which is the office for the local farmer's cooperative. I was sitting at the desk writing notes. The air outside was warm but inside it was cool and quiet. Suddenly a small, bright face popped up on the other side of the iron bars that wall in the porch. "Hello!" said a young girl of about six years. "You're Anna, right?" She said she'd heard the priest introduce me at the mass Sunday morning. She'd also seen me Saturday at the onion beds where I'd let her look at one of the pictures I'd taken on my camera. She asked me how I was doing. She told me her name, which I couldn't understand. I must have looked at her quizzically because she helpfully added, "People call me Ti Da." She was returning from the outdoor market with a small bag of salt for her mother. She started to go and then asked if she could have a glass of water. I brought her a tall glass and she drank it in one long swallow, tossed the last bit onto the ground, thanked me, and left. I stood there thinking, What a lovely creature, so full of life and cheer and brightness!

Extra Reading

2007-02-25T16:45:00.000-06:00

I did not bring along enough leisure reading material for this past week in Fond Verrette—only one New Yorker magazine that I'd already partially read. It gets dark by 6 pm and besides talking to Ben (we found some crazy way that Ben can call me at a New Jersey number that goes through a cell phone communicating with towers in the Dominican Republic and rings at the Fond Verrettes radio station!) and writing research notes longhand, I read the New Yorker in the evenings by headlamp (thank you, Sara!). By the end of the week I'd read every article, every "talk of the town," every cartoon, and even every single review and announcement of movies, books, plays and restaurants! For being in a far-out place with no electricity and no real road to speak of, I certainly was up-to-date on happenings in Manhattan. I really knew I was hard up when I started reading the small print of the advertisements. Next time I know to bring a book!

Onion Beds, Fond Verettes

2007-02-23T01:17:00.000-06:00

The rest of the pictures are of the onion seed beds just outside of Fond Verrettes--actually in one of the four ravines that converges at Fond Verrettes. This is the only ravine that has a constant trickle of water in it--it is fed by a mountain spring. So people rent land in the ravine, clear out rocks to make seed bed plots, add compost and manure from their yards, and plant onion seeds. They water them using watering cans and water from the small stream that flows through the middle of the ravine. It is currently the dry season, but as soon as the rain comes--in March or April--they will transplant the seedlings to mountain fields about a 3- to 4-hour walk from Fond Verrettes. The timing is crucial here, because rain will also cause flash floods in the ravine and destroy seedlings left there. Yet there is no way of irrigating in the mountain fields, so they cannot plant the onions until after a rain. Most amazing, the onion seeds come in shiny modern-looking packets with instructions in English. The seeds come from Oxnard, California, twin city to Ventura, where I live.It hasn't rained in Fond Verrettes since November (it's the dry season), so everything is not only rocky but dusty. Then there is the the expanse of the huge barren riverbed filled with cobbles from the 2004 disaster that killed over 1500 people--a constant reminder of the death and destruction that has marked Fond Verrettes' history. These things together made it a most poignant place to be on Ash Wednesday. Moise and I went to the 7 am mass and the priest marked crosses of ash on our foreheads. "From dust you come and to dust you will return."

Fond Verettes

2007-02-23T01:11:00.000-06:00

1. photo of Moise, me, and Moise's grandmother in front of her house in Fond Verrettes

2. a spring-fed waterfall about a 40-minute hike from Fond Verrettes

3. further downstream from the waterfall, children collect drinking water to take to their homes

From February 13

2007-02-20T00:07:00.000-06:00

Thursday, 13 July 2006, Fond Verrettes

2006-08-10T16:22:00.000-05:00

I decided to get a few points by myself before breakfast so I went to the road above the house on the mountain called Bois Neuf. I attempted to climb a rock to see what was on top—barren or with trees, it was important because my 2000 satellite image indicated barren but from the road it looked to be trees, and this was on the mountain that they’ve reforested starting around 1998 which would mean the remotely sensed data is telling the same “story” as the people in the area —and ended up falling onto the road. I was quite scared and shaken up, though I wasn’t sure why. I was afraid I’d broken the GPS; all the batteries spilled out. I’d scraped up my palms and legs but then I noticed my ankle was swelling up in a huge way and I couldn’t put much weight on it. I hoped it wasn’t broken. I gathered up my stuff and found 3 of the 4 batteries. I had to sit at the edge of the road, even though it wasn’t really a good place to sit, since I felt I was going to black out. I tried to find the fourth battery and finally I found it and hobbled to pick it up before an SUV came by. It felt like a small victory to find all the batteries!

I slowly made my way down the gravel (steep!) path to the Bois Neuf path below and then to the house. It was easier to walk on the flat path. I really needed to lie down and elevate my leg, which they let me do, but they wanted to put tepid water on my ankle and I wanted ice. They finally gave me a small bit of ice—not sure it was enough to do anything—and agreed to let me elevate my foot. I asked for a heavy blanket since I was quite cold. It felt good to lie down and elevate my leg. I was frustrated, though, that they were more concerned about my scraped-up hands than my leg and were washing my scrapes with saltwater, which was fine but they were minor scrapes. I wanted ice for my ankle!

Ginette said she’d called someone who “pulls legs” to come check me out. She said the swelling was blood and needed tepid water to get rid of it, and that I’d displaced the veins in my ankle. Since she’s a nurse, I didn’t argue. They were busy gathering and buying the things necessary for the healing.

The healer had me get out of bed and sit on the porch with my feet on the ground. A small crown of about 15 people gathered to watch. The healer crossed himself and murmured some words and drew a cross on the ground with charcoal ashes. He put my foot on the cross and pressed it down, then took a corn cob (kernels eaten already) and drew a cross several times on my leg and food while murmuring things. He threw the cob behind his back and then repeated this with two more corn cobs, each thrown in a different direction. Then he poured clarin (undistilled rum) into a bowl that held a rectangle of maggi? He drank the rest of the rum. He lit a pine stick and set the rum in the bowl on fire. (It appeared the rum had a good deal of water in it as it wouldn’t burn easily, and there were some murmurs of disgust from the audience.) While it was boiling he added a handful of some sort of dried bark or leaves that looked like shredded beef. Then he mixed the rum and maggi thing and bark stuff. He looked at me and told me something about needing a heart—to the effect that you have to go through pain to get better. Then he took the bark stuff and rubbed and pressed and twisted my ankle. It hurt an awful lot at times but the crowd seemed interested to watch me squirm. They announced that I was very “djam” and brave. I hoped the squeezing and manipulating my ankle wouldn’t last too long. Then the healer pulled each of my toes—in the way I hate—and cracked three of them, which the audience was very satisfied to hear. You see? they said, Your veins were displaced. The healer, in my opinion having given the crowd something concrete, proceeded to put the rest of the bark on the most swollen part of my ankle and then wrap it in a cloth. He said my ankle wasn’t broken. I had to put some coins in a bowl to “lift” something, and the healer took one of them. I went and laid down, tried to eat something but couldn’t. The students left to hike the ravine and I fell asleep deeply for 2 hours. I felt much better when I awoke. Previously I’d just been happy it wasn’t a “flesh wound” that could get infected—the cloth and my leg look pretty dirty from the bark—but with my ankle feeling so much better I’m inclined to believe some of the treatment helped.

2006-08-08T11:35:00.000-05:00

Wednesday, 12 July 2006
After getting a ride to Fond Verrettes with Genïot (the Forest Service guy) last evening, Moïse and I walked to Opio and beyond (Grand Savanne?). I enjoyed the hike a lot. It is onion harvesting season so the mountains are full of people picking and transporting onions to market. Onions are one of the biggest cash-generating crops. People are generally in a joyous harvest mood. The onions are carried to Fond Verrettes in sacks on donkeys or on people’s heads. Going home we met a girl whose stubborn donkey had shed her load of onions. Moïse helped her put the load back on the donkey.

Many of the points I needed were near the path, which made it easier for me. Also, once we left the galet (dry riverbed) and climbed up a ways, the air became cool and fresh and there were pines every once in a while. Quite beautiful country. Though it is also evident that the west branch of Gros Cheval Ravine became wider during the 2004 flood (not just in Fond Verrettes). Several people I met used to live next to the river but their homes were destroyed by the flood waters and now they live with relatives on the mountain or in a “field house.”

People generally were quite kind—offering me coffee, fresh cow’s milk, onions. A lot of people knew Moïse (and many were related to him).

We returned to Bois Neuf around 4 pm after hiking about 10 km and ate lunch. I went back to collect a few more points in Ravine Ti Bourik (“Little Goat”). I met a woman living in Kornèy named Mona S. Her house was destroyed when Ti Bourik leaped out of its usual path and cut thorugh an area of houses and trees taking everything with it and leaving a small sliver of an island about 7 meters high from the surrounding galet with some houses where people still live. Mona, her husband (who has been sick for two months), and her 2 children moved to a house in Kornèy that had been evacuated after the 2004 flood. (The family had left their house and moved up the mountain to a safer area.)

Some boys who’d seen me with Moïse earlier and who are friends of his joined me. About five of them stayed with me and helped me navigate to points in the Ti Bourik riverbed. It was very enjoyable. The boys caught on very quickly. Julere asked me some insightful questions about what I was doing, including whether the research would be useful to people living there. Another man who joined us for a time asked if I thought a structure could be built to retain future flood waters and agreed with me that it wasn’t possible. The boys helped me pick out points on the orthophotos and then use our current GPS reading to figure out how many meters we needed to go south and east. They asked me if we’d do another point and I said they could decide. They looked at the maps and asked how far things on it were and I showed them how long a kilometer was. They decided we had time to reach the next point before it got dark. I told them they were very smart and they said, “If we could go to school, we’d really do well.” They asked how much money it takes to get to the US and I said that even harder than finding the $350 plane ticket was getting a visa.

Then we turned to go home. The boys said, “We don’t even know your name!” so we exchanged names. Then all but Julere took off running down the galet to where they’d tied their goats to the sides of the ravine that morning. It was such a lovely sight—five boys running over the rocks, the light getting dim, the goats calling, eager to get home for the night. I’d hardly seen the goats as we walked up the galet (the boys say they don’t generally put the goats to pasture on the mountains anymore, not since the 2004 flood), but now there were 10 goats runnings down the ravine towards home, their ropes trailing behind. (They know the way home, the boys told me.) Onzi was pulling one goat that didn’t want to budge—the goat was bigger than he was. When we reached the sliver of land in the middle of the riverbed, all the boys (but Julere) and goats turned—that’s where they live. Julere walked back to Bois Neuf with me; he was good company.

Monday, July 10
I was at the RNDDH office all day. We were hoping to go to Fond Verrettes today, but our ride fell through. We'll go tomorrow evening with Geniot instead, but we loose 1.5 days in the field once again. I was hoping to get to the Service de Geodesie et Cartographie and/or a library today, but insecurity was high in many areas of Port-au-Prince and people cautioned me against going downtown and using public transportation today.

Sunday, July 9
I stayed at home today. Serge and his family came for lunch and the World Cup final. I did go out once to meet Samy at the MCC guesthouse.

Saturday, July 8
I stayed home all day, slept in and did the boring work of naming photographs and data entry. But it's a welcome change after the past few days. I am all bruised and scratched up from many hours on a motorcycle and hiking through the "rak" (brush) and fields.

Wednesday, July 5 to Friday, July 7

2006-08-02T15:55:00.000-05:00

These past three days were quite adventurous. Cher-Frere (him name literally means "Dear Brother") picked me up early Wednesday morning on his motorcycle and we drove, after several stops, to Fond Verrettes and then, finding no food there, on to the Foret des Pins. From there we took the road to Gros Cheval--a road that neither of us had ever traveled before. It was extremely muddy--at one point we ended up knee-deep in mud, though luckily the motorcycle has no problems getting wet and all my "instruments" and papers and maps stayed dry--but passed through a large tract of the pine forest, which was lovely. It was market day in Gros Cheval, and we found some rice and beans to eat and then gathered a few data points in the Magoman area.

Cher-Frere found a peasant farmer he knows from the cooperative he works with in Fond Verrettes, so we spent the night (it was very cold!) with his family. Neither of us got much sleep. We had some strong coffee and potatoes--the most delicious boiled potatoes, straight out of the field and oh-so-flaky--for breakfast and set off for the Savanne Pistache area. We soon found out the road is impassable even for 4-wheel drive vehicles and many roads on my map no longer exist. The area we were riding through--just south of my study area watershed--was so pretty. It was like we were out for a picnic: the air was warm, the sky sunny and blue, pine trees everywhere, and flat clearings of daisies and ferns, everything smelling so wonderful. Soon the road became worse and we were stopping frequently to clear trees out of the path, or I would walk behind the motorcycle as Cher-Frere took it over logs or along dangerous ridges. At one point a tree was too big for us to move and we had to put the motorcycle on its side and push it under--not an easy task. We started to come across areas where at least half the pines had recently been cut and huge piles of pine wood being turned into charcoal by a slow smoldering process. Everywhere there were signs of recent deforestation, fresh sawdust, even the sound of lumber being sawed or trees felled. Finally the road became impossible to get through by motorcycle and we walked the rest of the way to Savane Pistache.

There, we found a mountain slope completely denuded of pine trees and covered with stumps. Everyone was afraid of us. As we walked up the mountain we noticed men and boys popping up from everyone around us, guardingly watching us and our progress and forming a semi-circle around us. As Cher-Frere said, they had no reason to be on that mountain except to cut wood. Many of them had axes. Cher-Frere stopped to talk and answer questions while I went on my own and scouted out a few of my research points. I could see Mt. Gentilhomme in the distance, but we didn't have time to got there.

When I returned, I found Cher-Frere standing in front of a group of about 25 people giving a "workshop" on the problems of cutting all the pines and listening to the complaints that there was no other way to make a living. They didn't want to let him go but he promised to return another time to hold a round-table discussion on the issue. :) I think it was great for Cher-Frere to get to this remote area and see what is happening here--he will tell SKDE about it and they will start working on the problem. [Note: Cher-Frere loves motorcycles and says that any development organization in Haiti worth its weight has a motorcycle. It's true that many areas in Haiti are inaccessible even by heavy-duty trucks.]

Further down the moutain we came on the ruins of a former water reservoir--from the time of the 1914 US invasion or earlier from colonial times??? People here were frightened by us, thinking we'd come to arrest them for the illegal tree harvesting. Groups of grown men ran away from me--a strange experience.

The road was rough on the motorcycle and it periodically needed some small repairs, which Cher-Frere capably did. However, when we pushed the motorcycle on it's side under the tree as we returned to Gros Cheval, it was not happy. Seemingly, we'd bought bad gas in Gros Cheval and some water had gotten into the carburetor. After an hour of trying to repair it, we started pushing the motorcycle to Gros Cheval--about 5 km away. It was tough work. Finally, after about an hour of this heavy work, Cher-Frere managed to coax the motorcycle back into shape and we were off again, though we'd lost precious time I wanted to spend collecting points. We turned around and I went back and collected some of the data we'd missed.

We'd had nothing to eat all day but the potatoes early that morning. We road back through Gros Cheval, back through the mud on the road to the Foret des Pins, and back down the mountain to Fond Verrettes, where, around 8:30 in the evening, we finally found some rice and peas and water (I was entirely dehydrated). We slept at the cooperative, which was wonderful except for a large tarantula.

Friday morning Cher-Frere did some work with the cooperatives (two weeks ago the main leader in the area, Adrien, was murdered in his home near Port-au-Prince and Cher-Frere was doing some investigating into the causes; the population in the area is stunned and reeling from his death) and I gathered some data and even got to talk on the local radio station about my research. Then, it was time to head back to Port-au-Prince. I didn't stay the weekend in Fond Verrettes--I was too tired, dirty, bruised and exhausted, plus my cell phone didn't get reception so I hadn't talked with Ben for several days. It was wonderful to be back at Pierre's, take a shower (I hadn't so much as washed my face the entire trip), talk to Ben, eat real meals, use the internet and rest!

Tuesday, July 4

2006-08-02T15:52:00.000-05:00

Supposed to go to Fond Verrettes today but the motorcycle needed a new battery. We'll try again tomorrow. I spent the day arranging everything for next week so I wouldn't need to return to Port-au-Prince for the weekend, but could spend it in the study area. I could use the extra days since I run into so many delays in getting to the study area.

Monday, July 3

2006-08-02T15:43:00.001-05:00

I went to the RNDDH office early today to use their printer and phone, then to the bank and the Bureau de Protection Civil with Andrenor. I walked to the UTSIG office and picked up the data!!! Yea! Now I have orthophotographs of my study site as well as some other government GIS data of the area. UTSIG has been extremely helpful. I went back to the BPC office for a quick chat with H about arranging travel with him to Fond Verrettes next week. Then to the univerisity in Damien (via a new--for me--taptap route) to talk with Andrenor and Director Richmond. I went to the university library to do some research but instead ended up rearranging the card catalogue boxes into their correct order--that had been bothering me for some time--and then decided I wasn't feeling well (allergies, heat, dust, etc.) enough to stay so I went home to rest and get ready for the trip to Fond Verrettes.

Saturday, July 1

2006-08-02T15:37:00.000-05:00

I stayed at home all day today. It was nice not to have to deal with the dust and heat and traffic of the streets, but by the end of the day I was pretty restless, and I missed talking with Ben in the evening, as we usually do. Ben and I skyped (not familiar with that verb? see skype.com to see how we talk for hours for free when in different countries), however, several times throughout the day since he is going backpacking over the long weekend and I will be in Fond Verrettes without phone/internet connections for most of the coming week. I thought it'd be nice to have a day without kids around, but I forgot about M. A cute picture of him is attached. He's taken to following me around--he is SO fascinated and interested in everything I do (he LOVED talking with Ben, loves the digital camera, loves how I iron my "beautiful" clothes, loves my screensaver, loves watching cartoons with me, loves the beautiful pizza I made and he tasted for the first time, etc.) yet I quickly tire of having someone breathing over my shoulder when it's hot and I'm doing tedious GIS work.

From Friday, June 29

2006-07-06T19:00:00.000-05:00

I haven't made as much progress on the research these last few days. At this point I mostly need to be in the field rather than Port-au-Prince. I've been doing GIS work on my computer for the most part. I went and bought two pairs of pants at an outdoor thrift market since I'll be riding a motorcycle next week and only brought a white pair of pants along from home. I spent many hours scanning two books that are classic works on the Haitian environment. Both books are out-of-print (and thus my editor husband gave his approval of my copyright enfringement) but Zalinx had loaned me his copies. I decided to go the digital route instead of photocopying even though getting the MCC scanner to work was a pain and it took such a long time, and now I am glad because I passed on copies of the scanned books to Zalinx and Andrenor and they were extremely pleased to have digital copies since hardcopies are so hard (no pun intended) to come by. I also spent more time than I like to remember attempting to get through to various people by telephone to arrange field visit logistics, and finding a working printer to make a copy of a report for Andrenor.

I forgot to mention! The girls and Chrismene left for Florida on Friday. Actually Pierre surprised everyone and announced at the last minute that he was going too, though he returned on Sunday. The house is very different and quiet without the girls around. It is a nice change for a bit and then it gets boring. I miss having Da run to greet me when I get home, and D and N to catch me up on the news of the day.

Not only did the girls and Chrismene go, but a 1-year-old cousin, their grandmother, and a great-aunt. There must have been at least 16 large black suitcases and it took two SUVs to transport everyone to the airport. I asked N and D who would get to have the window seats and they both quickly yelled, ME!

D, like the rest of her family, is an Argentina fan for the World Cup. Most Haitians root for Brazil, the most popular team here, or Argentina, since Haiti has never made it to the Cup. Unfortunately and surprisingly, neither South American team made it to the final four of the World Cup this year. (It's what most people here are currently talking about.) Last weekend after Argentina won a game, I went to the "fancy" grocery store with the girls and Pierre and Stephanie. They were all dressed in their blue-and-white Argentina jerseys, as were most other people in the store!

From Sunday, July 2

2006-07-03T21:28:00.000-05:00

I spent the morning and early afternoon with JS and Josette. They have a 16-month-old son, J, and another son due in September. Josette made rice, a black bean sauce, a tomato sauce, meatballs (with MCC canned turkey, a very hot item!) and key lime juice. It was very tasty! Pictures are attached of J and cousin L, age 10.

JS mentioned that the MCC country reps who just left Haiti knew someone who was kidnapped last December--an 18-yr-old Canadian who'd lived most of his life in Haiti. He was kidnapped during the day while he was driving with a Haitian friend along a road that's not known to be dangerous. The kidnappers had guns and stopped the truck, let the Haitian man go (or he got away), and took the Canadian to Cite Soliel, the most notorious slum in Port-au-Prince. When they got their ransom (not sure how much) they let the boy go unharmed. The boy said the kidnappers wanted the money to buy guns in order to keep fighting for Aristide to return (he's in exile in South Africa). The kidnappers treated the Canadian well--they gave him three meals each day and even fixed his truck, which had been damaged when they kidnapped him, and gave him money to fill the tank with gas when they let him go. Guess they must have felt generous with the ransom money coming in.

I asked JS if he thought most kidnappings were Aristide-related and he said that some were, but not all. He said that "people you wouldn't think are involved"--that is, wealthy, educated people, perhaps from the elite class--were behind some/many of the kidnappings simply as a way to make money. Some of the kidnappings are politically motivated, as was the case with journalist Jacques Roche who was killed last July despite the ransom being paid. A UN peacekeeping force has been here for--is it 2 years now? They're supposed to be disarming the gangs and thugs, but have just about nothing to show for their time here. They patrol the streets in expensive armored vehicles and SUVS, but besides driving around we're not sure what they do. They are not at all liked by most Haitians, who refer to the UN mission as "Tourista" instead of its official name, "MINUSTA."

From Monday June 27th

2006-06-30T20:36:00.000-05:00

Tuesday was an uplifting day after Monday's disappointments! I visited the FAES office for the fourth time and left after they still weren't ready with the report. I asked them to call me when the report is ready and I will pick it up. There just is no point in me waiting for over an hour each time I go there. I met Joseph at the MCC office and—despite the fact it was during a Brazil soccer game—he took me to the SKDE office, which had moved since I'd last been there. We saw Pastor G and his wife and they were very gracious and helpful. SKDE has a program in the Fond Verrettes area and they will put me in touch with the leaders as well as lend me a cell phone for my time in Haiti and give me the use of their driver and his motorcycle for three days. These are really wonderful gifts! I would not be able to get to the far reaches of my study area without a motorcycle. Pastor G also introduced me to Zalinx, SKDE's agriculture and environment expert. Zalinx was extremely interested and helpful. He's a recent graduate of the ag university at Damien and knows Andrenor and Ludger and Dir. Richmond and Dr. Carvil, etc. He lent me two books that are major but out-of-print works on Haiti's environment so that I could make copies of them. This is great, especially since the libraries that have these books don't necessarily have the means to make photocopies or scans. Zalinx also set up meetings for me with the motorcycle driver and Delices, director of the Fond Verrettes program. The driver said he could stop by the office that day so Joseph and I waited for him. It turns out that the driver, Cher-Frere, is a good friend of Tricia's, my old housemate when I lived in Haiti. She used to talk about him ALL the time. I got the feeling Tricia thought Cher-Frere could help her out with any problem she might have—she always spoke very highly of him and had a good time with him. So it was great to finally meet Cher-Frere. It's such as small world here! Cher-Frere said he can go to Fond Verrettes with me next week, so we will do that.

After SKDE, Joseph and I parted ways and I continued down Delmas to the government cadastral office. I'd been told there was a small chance I could find the 1986 photos there but, no, they only have data for the cities of Haiti and not the Pine Forest. They said they'll let me know if they hear of where the 1986 photos might be, but I think the photos are lost for good.

On my way home I stopped by Ginette and Moise's home since I'd not been able to reach them by telephone for five days. They were surprised to see me but impressed that I'd made such an effort to get in contact with them. I told them the plans I have to return with them to Fond Verrettes the week of the 10 th.

From Monday June 26th

2006-06-29T00:30:00.000-05:00

Well, today was a wasted day. I waited two hours at the Bureau de la Protection Civile (Haiti's disaster agency) for H to plan a trip to the study area and he never showed up. (In fact, I almost wasn't allowed into the Bureau since I was wearing a sleeveless blouse and there is a dress code requiring sleeves. I'd never heard of such a dress code in Haiti, but I managed to find an only slightly used handkerchief in my purse and position it over my shoulders.) Since I'd already missed my meeting with Joseph, I walked to the Service de la Planification Urbaine (for the third time) to look for the 1986 photographs. Their archives were in complete disorder and everything was covered in much dust. Needless to say, I didn't find the photographs. The former director was in the office and he said he'd never heard of these photographs. Everyone says they should be in the Ag Ministry, but everything there was burned during one of the political uprisings.

I stopped by RNDDH to eat some lunch and try to make phone calls. The phone system just keeps getting worse—it usually takes me at least 2 dozen tries before I get through to another phone. Very discouraging. I wasn't able to get a hold of anyone except Pastor G, who was leaving his office at 2 PM. I didn't think I could get there in time and I wasn't up for the long route (3 different public transport routes) to get there only to find Guillomettre had already left, so I didn't even try to go.

Instead I went (for a third time) to the FAES office and now have been waiting over an hour in the hopes that they will give me a copy of a report they wrote in 2000. I read the report at the Ministry of Planning and it's not a very good report, but I'd like a copy anyway. At this point, though, I'm not sure it's worth all my efforts. Once I leave, I think I'll walk to a supermarket to buy a map of the city. I'll try to go to some libraries this week but am not sure where they are located. (Also discouraging: I called the USAID office today and asked if I could stop by their library and was told the library is closed "for the moment." I asked when it would be open and they told me they had no idea, they didn't even know why it was closed and, no, there was no one else I could talk to who could give me more information. Unbelievable! Our tax dollars, hard at work.)

2006-06-26T11:23:00.000-05:00

Today I went to church around 7 am with Samy and Yonel and their two children, S (age 5) and E (age 3). Yonel is one of the pastors of the church, which is very small (21 people today, including children) and meets in a school. It was a good service--the usual singing, Bible study (done very well by Yonel) scripture, prayer, offering (just over US$1 total), and sermon. Guerline's mother, Michelle, was there along with her husband Pierre and two of their children, Boubou and Dave.

One of the pastors who is also the director of the school the church meets in asked for prayer for the school as it seems they are having problems getting accredited.

I went home with Samy and Yonel and stayed with them until mid-afternoon. I watched some of the Ecuador-England soccer game (without sound as the TV didn't completely work) and talked with the children, who had many things to tell me. They were very cute. S is a very smart, articulate 5-year-old; she showed off some of her dance routines and songs and poems. E was very much into my sunglasses; he even knew how to put them in his shirt pocket. Samy made us some delicious cherry juice (from real cherries) and gave me a croissant for a snack. Later she made rice and beans with a vegetable sauce for the main meal and I sat and talked with her as she worked. She and Yonel have both been without work since September. They live with Samy's dad so they don't have to pay rent, but they find it difficult to buy food and pay for the children's education (there are very few public schools available). S is a Compassion International kid, but the money they receive each month only covers about 1/3 of her school costs, much less food and clothes and health care.

Around mid-afternoon I returned home and I've been doing some GIS work, email and phone calling since. I talked briefly with H from the govt disaster office and he complimented me on the good work I've been doing, which was nice to hear. Andrenor and I will meet with him tomorrow morning. I'll also go to see Pastor G with Joseph, stop by the FAES office for the third time, and visit the Urban Planning Office to see if the photos they dug up are the ones I want. Let's hope so. . .

Anna's Trip to Fond Verettes (Study Area)

2006-06-24T14:06:00.000-05:00

Map of Fond Verrettes. Four ravines (Carretier, Gros Cheval, Ti Bourrique and Delai) converge at Fond Verrettes and flow northwest. I stayed in Bois-Neuf Nord. The town center (formerly with hotel, police station, church, presbytery, market, restaurants, etc.) used to be located in what is now the riverbed south of Guimby and Cazeau.

Looking south over Fond Verrettes (with police commissariat in distance).

Figyè tree that has survived in the middle of the Delaï Ravine, downstream from the cemetery (looking downstream).

Andrenor, Anna, and Ludger (Agronomy Student)

2006-06-19T20:08:00.000-05:00

The two students I am working with are Ludger and Andrenor. They are 5th year students in the Dept of Natural Resources and Environment at the ag univeristy in Damien. They've finished with classes and only need to do their thesis to graduate. As is unfortunately the case here, they will probably find great difficulty in getting work once they graduate even though the ag univ at Damien is a very competive program to get into. They are both from the city of Cayes on the south coast of Haiti. They were roommates for several years in the dorm at the university and are good friends.
The current president, Rene PREVAL, and the new prime minister, Jacques Edouard ALEXIS, are both agronomists by training, though I'm not sure if either went to the university in Damien. Two very positive recent developments in Haitian politics are the almost anonymous confirmation by the parliment last week of Alexis as prime minister and the confirmation that Mario Andresol will remain as the head of the police force. Andresol is about as good as they come in the police and has been working to rid the police force of corruption and abuse. Alexis has appointed his cabinent of ministers, and, from what I gather, has been very diplomatic about appointing many ministers from opposing parties to create a sort of coalition government. No party has a majority in parliament. It is very encouraging to see the level of compromise and collaboration at the highest level of government right now. The former quasi-USA-appointed prime minister after Aristide fled the country over 2 years ago, Gerard Latortue, has returned to his home in Boca Raton, Florida, and supposively is more than happy to have passed on his post to Alexis and be able to enjoy his retirement watching the World Cup and enjoying his grandchildren.

Last night P was driving Stephanie and me home from the party. There are often police check points on the roads, especially at night. At one stop the car in front of us was seen giving money to the police--P pointed this out. P said that the police will sometimes indirectly ask for money--saying something like, "You know, a man can't even buy a beer around here these days." But he said that, unlike in places like the Dominican Republic or Brazil, if you don't give them anything they won't get mad or do anything to you. That strikes me as very (and uniquely?) Haitian! I've never had police ask me for money, but P says he might tell them he doesn't have any money on him and they'll just wave him by. In any case, they didn't even stop us last night.

2006-06-17T11:26:00.000-05:00

I just got back from visiting some govt offices with Ludger. Still no luck with the 1986 air photos, but I will call the Office of Urban Planning next Friday and in the meantime they will search their archives to see what they can find. The director has only been there for 2 years so isn't familiar with the photos.

Then we went to the Ministry of Environment and looked through their "library" (not much of one--very dusty and with stacks of books crammed everywhere, but we found two piles of reports on the Foret des Pins). A couple of the reports look interesting. I read bits of them and will try to find copies in the ag univ library. I already feel I'm getting faster at reading in French.

It is pretty interesting to learn about the history of land settlement in the higher elevations of my study area. There are ruins of a coffee plantation from colonial years, but the area was very little populated until a road was built from Fond Verrettes (middle of watershed) to the Pine Forest (top of watershed) in the 1920s--probably by the Americans, I think, since they (oops, we) were occupying Haiti at that time and building many roads. A law in 1926 designated the general pine forest area as a forest reserve. Then, in 1937, there was a huge massacre of Haitians living in the Dominican Republic under the rule of dictator Trujillo (read a good fictional account by Edwidge Danticat in her book The Farming of Bones), and many who survived the massacre were repatriated to Haiti and, in some cases, given the opportunity to cheaply buy land from the state in the area I'm studying. Thus some of the towns in the region are the result of agricultural colonies established in 1937.

In 1942, the US government via a "society" known by its acronym, SHADA, was given permission to harvest timber from a huge tract of land in the Pine Forest. The opportunity for jobs connected to this timber operation and the renting of SHADA land to raise food for its workers attracted many people to the area--the second and largest migration of people into the Pine Forest. In 1957 SHADA conceded its land to private logging operations, called "the unscrupulous exploiters" in one literal translation. Under Jean-Claude Duvalier, the land was reclaimed by the state and designated as a protected area for reforestation (dictators often have stellar environmental records in this sense). In the last 20 years, however, the various governments have been unable or unwilling to practice much oversight of the Pine Forest, which continues to be exploited for timber, agriculture and fuel.

Okay, so maybe I can cut and paste that for part of my dissertation. Anyway, I think it's pretty interesting.

I'm at the RNDDH office and things are coming together for the party tonight. I can smell someone grilling something in the courtyard--yum!

From June 15

2006-06-16T08:10:00.000-05:00

Today was a national holiday. I went to meet Moise at 8am to make plans for staying in Fond Verrettes. It looks like he and his aunt will go with us--Moise will be our guide and his aunt will do the cooking. We'll stay with his aunt's mother. Moise is related to Julien, the school teacher that I thought we would be staying with, but Julien is his cousin, not his father. Moise tells me there is no food in FV (the market is only on Fridays, and is not very big) so we will need to bring that with us, it makes sense for us to stay with Moise's aunt's mother. Whew! His aunt and I will go grocery shopping on Monday.

I've spent the rest of the day here, reading UNDP reports in French, catching up on the news, and taking a nap. I'm feeling a little stir-crazy but trying to relax and enjoy the uneventful day. Tomorrow there is a party at RNDDH for Sylvia and Edwin, who are leaving MCC; I'm looking forward to it.

This morning around 7 am I went to Pierre and Chrismene's bedroom door to see if I could get a ride with Pierre--turned out he wasn't going to the office today--and found the whole family all in bed together. It was very cute! I think the girls usually go get in bed with their parents in the early morning and the family spends time together. They are very close. I remember times when most of my family would all be on one bed or in the bathroom all brushing our teeth at once. :)

Rodrigue Grills Corn on the Cob

2006-06-16T08:07:00.000-05:00

From June 14

2006-06-16T08:01:00.000-05:00

I had a pretty good day but am very tired. Still didn't get to the 1986 photos, but have a meeting for Friday when hopefully they will be found. We stopped by the Office of Civil Protection (the govt disaster agency) and talked with a man I met last summer who is very in the know about my study area. He said he would accompany us but he is sick right now (in fact, he was on the way to the doctor's and had tried to escape our notice but someone who didn't know this led us back to him after we'd already left the building) so maybe later this month or next. Stopped by the UTSIG office to deliver a letter--my request for data. Then we (Andrenor and Ludger, the two univ students) went to the UNDP office and met for quite a while with a man who works there, and he gave us all the reports UNDP has (a huge stack) even though they are not yet official. He was quite interesting and has a book by a geographer he thinks might interest me.

Then we went to the RNDDH office to work--look over the reports and the GIS data I have. That didn't go so well, because they really have had almost no experience with GIS and I don't know any of the vocabulary for this sort of thing. We ate lunch around 2pm with everyone at RNDDH--it was someone's birthday so there were two delicious cakes from a french patisserie--and then, after a little more GIS work we watched some of the Germany-Poland soccer match. I wrote a letter requesting information from the FAES office, and then got a ride home with Pierre.

Tonight Rodrigue had some corn from a friend's field and he grilled it over charcoal for us and we all sat around outside eating it.

2006-06-13T08:30:00.000-05:00

I'm pretty tired out today. I missed my ride to the university this morning so had to take public transportation. After I met with some professors (they were expecting me last week but I couldn't get ahold of them then) I decided to go to a government office downtown. All in all I took 7 different taptaps or camionettes today--very tiring! I was in some unfamiliar territory and many kind people along the way helped me out with directions. I had one bad experience: I crossed a street to buy something to drink and ended up in the midst of a crowd of about 35 men, two of whom were meanly trying to get me to buy drinks for them, which I ended up doing. Nothing happened, but it was not a good situation.I met a geographer who works at the Ministry of Agriculture. He was very interested to talk with me and had all sorts of knowledge to give me for my project--including the location and scale and origin of the 1986 aerial photographs I've been looking for for over a year. I thoroughly enjoyed talking with him. He knows of Clark U and Pierre.I also found in the Ministry of Planning's library a 2000 report on Fond Verrettes that I've been searching for. I'd still like to get a copy for myself.I tried to get in contact with a priest in Croix-des-Missions whom I'm told may be able to put me in touch with the priest in Fond Verrettes. (And he may be able to give us a place to stay there.) I'll try him again tomorrow. I also tried to meet with the Director of the Water and Forest Service, but he was teaching a class. I wanted to ask him if he could help us out with transportation to the study site.Tomorrow I will hopefully get a ride to Damien with the Vice-Dean and then have a meeting with Prof Richmond, Director of the Dept of Natural Resources and Environment, and some students.

From Saturday, June 11

2006-06-13T08:20:00.000-05:00

I went to Guerline's place this morning. We spent the entire morning talking and it was really, really nice. She's doing well. She had a choir practice at 2pm so I left then, went to a supermarket to see if my debit card works there (it does, at least for buying things) and returned to Pierre's. Most everyone was watching the Argentine soccer game at 3pm but I ended up sleeping through the entire game. This evening I watched the end of Miss Congeniality II with the girls and then we played a card game. It's been hot today!

2006-06-09T09:40:00.000-05:00

2006-06-09T09:17:00.000-05:00

The world cup starts tomorrow and everyone is gearing up in Haiti--since the Haitian national team isn't in the World Cup, most Haitians are "fanatiks" of Brazil or Argentina. Many cars these days carry Brazilian or Argentinian flags.I returned to the Geodosy and Cartography Office and UTSIG this morning. I bought a few more aerial photos and a topographic map. I found out that a fair amount of work looking at land cover in the Soliette River basin has been done using the aerial photographs from 1978 and 2002. It's a little discouraging to learn this--the UNDP will be coming out with a report on this land change sometime this year--but it still will be the first time an analysis is done using satellite images as the primary source. I am also trying to look at more than two points in time, which hopefully will give a more detailed view of how land cover has changed. I also found out that as a student I will probably be able to get the digital data for free, or at least a reduced price. This is very good news. UTSIG has a lot of data and some very helpful GIS technicians; it's impressive to see how much work they've done.I took a taxi to the RNDDH office and greeted everyone and ate with them--a delicious meal of passionfruit juice, rice with vegetables mixed in it and a sauce with conch meat, bell peppers and onions. The RNDDH cook, Sister E, is one of the best cooks around. I had my laptop with me so I showed our wedding photos to some of the staff.I spent the afternoon at RNDDH making phone calls, emailing and working at my computer and then got a ride home with Pierre. Woni made some juice from a granadilla that was amazingly delicious. Chrismene also picked a big corossol from a tree in their yard she had planted a few years ago; I imagine she'll make juice from it tomorrow. One of the best treats of being in Haiti is all the delicous fresh juice!

I spent some time on my "private balcony" reading the New Yorker when I got home--reading about a very different world of renting a 5-bedroom apartment with a private garden in Manhattan. D had a "step-up" (graduation of sorts) today as she will be entering 9th grade next year. She goes to an American school so the system of grades is the same that we are used to. Yesterday the family found out that N had passed her entrance exam to get into the same school and today we found out D passed her exam too. I asked what sort of exam they could possibly give to a 4-year-old and was told she had to know her colors and shapes, etc. I wonder if it is not more of a screening process of the family than the student. In any case, the school is quite difficult to get into, I hear.I haven't been able to get in touch with the professors at Damien (the ag and environment university). I was hoping to visit the school tomorrow but will probably hold off on that. I need to take a trip to my study area but need to find people to go with me. I will ask the folks at Damien, at the Bureau de Protection Civil (the Haitian FIMA).

Anna's Second Day in Haiti

2006-06-07T23:12:00.000-05:00

The household is a study in globalization. Right now the girls are downstairs watching MTV and singing along with Hillary Duff. (I guess they get US cable here--more amenities than our house in CA, though I just tried to wash my hands and we're out of water for the moment.) The family has a beautiful house. They also have people who cook and clean, so you can see why Bethany and I call it Hotel Esperance. There is another "blan" (foreigner) staying here! She's from Belgium and is working at RNDDH this summer. I haven't met her yet since she spent last night at a friend's.I slept very well (though my mattress is covered in plastic. . .) and got up at 6:30 am. Woni, who usually does the cooking, is gone for a few days but Chrisman had made pancakes and hard-boiled eggs and fresh pineapple for breakfast. Last night for dinner I had rice crispies. :) The main meal is eaten around 1:30pm, and for that yesterday I had corn and beans with fish.Today I got a ride with D on her way to school. (Most kids are chauffered to school--either on foot by an older sibling or in a car, if they can afford it.) E, the driver, dropped me off at the UTSIG office in downtown Port-au-Prince. UTSIG is the governmental GIS and remote sensing office for Haiti; it started around the year 2000 and is fairly active. Unfortunately, they had a problem with their computers this morning and couldn't get most of them to run. I talked with Claudejane who deals with public requests for data and she asked me to come back tomorrow, which I will do. Then I talked with Manes and Jude, two GIS and remote sensing specialists who work for UTSIG. I'd met Manes last summer and have emailed him with questions on several occasions. He and Jude were very helpful in letting me know what data exist and in what condition/format/etc. They seemed interested in the project and it was fun to talk with Haitians who've had some of the same training and education as me. I mentioned I'm a Clark student and use Idrisi and they told me how impressed they are with Idrisi (and hopefully with the fact I'm a Clarkie!).
\n\nFrom the UTSIG office I walked to the government\'s Geodesy and\nCartography Office. I\'d never been there before (last summer when\nI visited it was in gang-controlled territory so I couldn\'t reach it)\nbut I knew it was by the main cathedral and I was able to find it\nwithout much problem. I\'d been told that this office had aerial\nphotos of the entire country from 1978. I was pleasantly\nsurprised to find that they have the photos and I could buy copies for\nabout $2.50 each. I\'d heard rumors that the office had been\nburned sometime in the last years and so I didn\'t know the state of\ntheir operation. I think the negatives were burned--a huge\nloss--but they still have some of the prints. I bought 10 photos\nand will return later this week to buy the other 2 photos and 2\ntopographic maps for my study area (I ran out of money, which I imagine\nthey found amusing). I had no idea it was so easy and cheap to\nget these topo maps--I\'d been looking for them for quite some time with\nno success until today! I will scan the aerial photographs (maybe\nwhen I\'m back in CA) and attempt to georectify them and use them for\nreference data for the 1979 satellite image classification. I\nfeel very fortunate to have found the photos AND to have been able to\nbuy copies for myself. Amazing! Someone really should scan\nall the photos for the country so there are digital copies, especially\nif all the negatives are gone.\n\nA man from the Geodesy office walked me a couple of blocks to where I\ncould find a camionette (small van used for public transportation) that\nwas heading to Delmas, the part of the city I used to live in and not\nfar from where Pierre lives. Then I walked about 3/4 mile to a\ntaptap station where I got a taptap (I got a front seat) for the short\nride to Pierre\'s neighborhood. I paid 15 gourdes (40 cents) for\nthe camionette and 8 gourdes (21 cents) for the taptap. US$1 \u003d 38\ngourdes right now.\n\nLater today I will go to the bank to exchange some more money, but\nother than that I will stay at "home" and do some computer work,\nemailing, phone calls. It is overcast today and may rain later,\nso it is not quite so hot. It is very breezy at this house, which\nis very nice, but it still can get quite warm inside, or outside if I\'m\nwalking or sitting in traffic in a crowded vehicle.",1]
);
//-->
From the UTSIG office I walked to the government's Geodesy and Cartography Office. I'd never been there before (last summer when I visited it was in gang-controlled territory so I couldn't reach it) but I knew it was by the main cathedral and I was able to find it without much problem. I'd been told that this office had aerial photos of the entire country from 1978. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they have the photos and I could buy copies for about $2.50 each. I'd heard rumors that the office had been burned sometime in the last years and so I didn't know the state of their operation. I think the negatives were burned--a huge loss--but they still have some of the prints. I bought 10 photos and will return later this week to buy the other 2 photos and 2 topographic maps for my study area (I ran out of money, which I imagine they found amusing). I had no idea it was so easy and cheap to get these topo maps--I'd been looking for them for quite some time with no success until today! I will scan the aerial photographs (maybe when I'm back in CA) and attempt to georectify them and use them for reference data for the 1979 satellite image classification. I feel very fortunate to have found the photos AND to have been able to buy copies for myself. Amazing! Someone really should scan all the photos for the country so there are digital copies, especially if all the negatives are gone.A man from the Geodesy office walked me a couple of blocks to where I could find a camionette (small van used for public transportation) that was heading to Delmas, the part of the city I used to live in. Then I walked about 3/4 mile to a taptap station where I got a taptap (I got a front seat) for the ride to my neighborhood. I paid 15 gourdes (40 cents) for the camionette and 8 gourdes (21 cents) for the taptap. US$1 = 38 gourdes right now.Later today I will go to the bank to exchange some more money, but other than that I will stay at "home" and do some computer work, emailing, phone calls. It is overcast today and may rain later, so it is not quite so hot. It is very breezy at this house, which is very nice, but it still can get quite warm inside, or outside if I'm walking or sitting in traffic in a crowded vehicle.

stereophotos

2006-06-07T23:04:00.000-05:00

Ala li bel!

2006-06-07T00:15:00.000-05:00

Anna In Haiti

2006-06-06T23:06:00.000-05:00

This is a blog to keep everyone in Anna's life updated on her Adventures in Haiti. As you know, Anna is beginning work on her dissertation, and she will be in Haiti from June-July 2006 and Feb-April 2007. Come back often to see how her adventure is going, and to see photos from her trip.