Money is a touchy issue here in Haiti. As foreigners, we are constantly associated with having it. As employees of a development organization that finances community development work, we are looked to as a major source. On the street, we are almost constantly asked for it. It's frustrating and has been one of the most challenging aspects of living in Haiti. It was similar when we lived in Senegal.
BUT, just the other day we were in a little deli/restaurant about 45 minutes away, on our way to Port au Prince. Inside were two boisterous, loud, middle aged Americans from Kansas or something. They were super happy to see us. They didn't speak a lot of kreyol and were obviously just off the plane, doing some kind of mission trip for spring break or something.
Anyway, we got to talking and joking around. They asked what we were doing in Haiti, who we worked for, etc. Then, of course, we got to talking about money. They asked if we had to raise our own support, if we were paid, etc. We explained the MCC system and that we get a small stipend per month, but also get most of our living expenses covered. I guess these guys started feeling sorry for us so they offered to pay for our lunch. We politely declined, saying that it was covered by MCC and wouldn't come out of our pocket, so it wasn't a big deal.
I couldn't believe what happened next.
One of the guys whipped out his wallet and stated rifling through his Haitian money - gourdes. He obviously wasn't familiar with the value of the different currency notes, so he pulls out two 50's and literally throws them at me and says, "here, take this." He's got this big goofy look on his face like he is the most generous friendly God Bless America kinda guy in the world. I look down at the money and see the two 50's, which actually equals about $2.50 US and just couldn't believe how insulted I felt by this dirty, cheap gesture. In a way, I appreciated the thought - he was trying to be generous to us when he realized that we really don't make any money doing our work here in Haiti. But at the same time, I was totally insulted that first, he literally threw the money at me, second that it was less than three bucks (kinda like giving a little kid a quarter to go buy a popsicle) and third, that he thought that money would make me feel good.
It was quite the cultural experience and sure made me laugh.
MvG
Friday, March 23, 2007
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Shout out
Just wanted to send a shout out to our friend and colleague Kurt. Kurt's the dude who showed me how to post videos on our blog - much to the grandparent's delight. Kurt is a cool cat and you can check him out at http://www.kwhildebrand.blogspot.com
Enjoy!
Matt
Enjoy!
Matt
Monday, March 12, 2007
Monday, February 26, 2007
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Gabriela Eats Sugarcane
Esther's parents have arrived and we went for a walk today to see some gardens near our house, including our colleague Jean Remy's sugar cane garden. We all sat in the shade eating sugar cane and Gabriela felt a little left out. So, here she is, sucking on her first piece of sugar cane.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Looking out, looking back.
We recently took a trip up above Port au Prince to an area called Kenscoff. It's lovely and cool, a nice break from the heat and dirtiness of Port au Prince. Kurt, another MCCer and I, are looking out over a valley filled with small mountainside farms. Gabriela is looking back at Esther.
We're back
Well, it's been quite a while since we've posted. To learn what has been going on the last six months, go over to http://www.flickr.com/photos/17291444@N00/
Gabriela has been keeping us busy and there have been lots of ups and downs. We celebrate the ups and are working through the downs. Thanks for your support!
Our work with MCC continues to go well. The new tree planting season is just starting. January and February are the first few months for the tree nurseries to get organized, get materials prepared and start planting seeds. This will all culminate in June with the eventual distribution of more than 400,000 trees. The school program is also going well and we have added 4 new school this past year.
Anyway, this is just a quick update. We hope to get back into blogging a bit more. Don't forget to check out our picture site on flickr too - http://www.flickr.com/photos/17291444@N00/
Blessings to you all.
Matt and Esther
Gabriela has been keeping us busy and there have been lots of ups and downs. We celebrate the ups and are working through the downs. Thanks for your support!
Our work with MCC continues to go well. The new tree planting season is just starting. January and February are the first few months for the tree nurseries to get organized, get materials prepared and start planting seeds. This will all culminate in June with the eventual distribution of more than 400,000 trees. The school program is also going well and we have added 4 new school this past year.
Anyway, this is just a quick update. We hope to get back into blogging a bit more. Don't forget to check out our picture site on flickr too - http://www.flickr.com/photos/17291444@N00/
Blessings to you all.
Matt and Esther
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Which way to go - the Bagdhadisation of Haiti or nation building?
(copied from
http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/cgi-script/csArticles/articles/000043/004339
.htm)
Which way to go - the Bagdhadisation of Haiti or nation building?
Monday, November 20, 2006
by Jean H Charles
When the Americans invaded Baghdad and the citizens of that city descended
onto the Museum to pilfer and steal documents and pieces that go back to the
beginning of civilisation, I thought here we are again: the Iraqis and the
Haitians are brothers under the skin.
After each so-called revolution, some Haitians have gone on to destroy the
best pieces that are part of their national patrimony. It came to my mind
that pacifying Iraqi will be a difficult task if it is not reasoned within
the context of nation building. Two years after the invasion, the issue of
nation building or pacification of the belligerents is still the debate du
jour.
Saddam Hussein, like his comrade Mashall Tito, had kept his country united
with the sheer tools of dictatorship, using one group to dominate and
oppress another one. Yugoslavia was dismantled into several countries as
soon as Tito was dethroned. Iraq might sink into a civil warfare that might
create three or four Iraqs if the concept of nation building is not quickly
ingrained into the ethos of the population.
Haiti has been going through the same process. A pioneer of people
self-determination, it has shown the way through independence (after) and
nation building (before) the United States. This guiding light was of a
short span, Haiti descended into revisionism from 1806 (the assassination of
its founder father: Jean Jacques Dessalines) to today, 2006. It is
inhospitable to the majority of its population: the former slaves that
climbed the mountains after the independence have not received any
privileges or rights of citizenship. They live in their rural counties where
successive governments have not bothered to invest the minimum of capital
infrastructure to create roads, build schools and hospitals for them. Two
governments that claimed to remedy that problem, Duvalier and Aristide, have
in the end exacerbated the Haitian situation by using the Tito and the
Saddam Hussein tools (the Ton Ton Macoutes and the Chimeres) to maintain a
stable and submissive Haiti.
Which way for Haiti, or as a matter of fact for Iraq? Should the United
Nations through the MINUSTHA keep order in Cité Soleil (one of the major
slums of Haiti) with the cannons and the tanks or should it become a
catalyst for the creation of a Haiti that will be hospitable to all. The
same equation is also valuable for Iraq: should the American and Coalition
forces maintain order with more troops or should they urge the Kurds, the
Shiites and the Sunnis to create an Iraq where all the citizens of the same
country will strive for a shared vision of the future.
This question is at the heart of most of the problems of this world. Should
the United States build a wall à la Israel to keep the Mexicans from
entering illegally into this country or should it urge Mexico to become more
hospitable to its own people, so they will have no urge to leave their
homeland? Should France make life miserable for the Africans in France as a
deterrent for tempting to immigrate to France, or should it urge the African
leaders to be more sensitive to the needs of their people, so immigration
would not be an enviable option.
In the end, the salvation for Haiti or Iraq resides in the strong will of
the government and of the civil society to create a nation where the shared
vision of the future is part of the ethos and of the fabric of the
citizenry. The United States through the Civil War and the Civil Rights
Movement has suffered the labour pain of creating that impulse where black
and white feel united in creating a country where the shared vision of the
future is tantamount. The United States will win the hearts and the minds of
the people of this world if it is willing to export and sell its experience
of nation building. The war against terrorism has a strong ally in the
concept of nation building but terrorism will thrive in the land of failed
States and perishes naturally in countries where nationhood is a state
policy.
The people of the United States have changed course in the midterm elections
because the protracted war in Iraq led by the Republican government seems
without an issue. In fact, the people of Iraq like the people of Haiti (with
MINUSTHA nicknamed TOURISTHA by the naughty Haitian mind) have lost
confidence in their saviour to bring them into the Promised Land. In Haiti,
like in Iraq, kidnappings and terrorism have quadrupled under the nose of
the occupying forces. There will never be enough troops to pacify those
countries unless and until the local population sees itself part of the new
paradigm of building a country that will be good and benevolent to all. In
Haiti, I have not seen a minimum of signals that a caring government or a
caring United Nations are involved in injecting the sense that Cité Soleil
is unfit for human habitation, that the development of Haiti will start when
each rural county will receive a minimum of investment or patronage to take
off with the multiplying synergy of the willing Haitian work force.
I was visiting some Caribbean islands recently: Dominica (an interesting
model of governance), St Lucia (where there are no slums), and Antigua (on
the move!); It pains me that Haiti, with its nine million inhabitants; with
a century-old university that provides every year thousands of young
professionals in medicine, law and engineering; with a Diaspora filled with
luminaries, cannot get itself together to lead the region in vision, growth
and development.
Iraq, the ancient Mesopotamia - the Mother of Civilisation - like Haiti -
the cradle of black emancipation - should become respectively the guiding
light for the Middle East and the motor of the Caribbean region when both
countries will understand that salvation comes from within in reconciling
with thy brethren to create a nation that is good for all.
Jean H Charles, MWS, JD, is Executive Director of AIDNOH Inc, a non-profit
organisation dedicated to make Haiti more hospitable to Haitians. He can be
reached at Jeanhcharles@aol.com
Friday, July 21, 2006
Gabriela sightings.
Gabriela has escaped cyberspace! She's obviously out exploring.
She has been sighted at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/17291444@N00/ where
she has her own slideshow. Check her out : )
Fans of Gabriela.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Friday, June 16, 2006
Adventures in Haiti: The Tree Planting Edition
Greetings friends far and wide,
these days we get up at 4 AM or before to be at one of the 22 tree nurseries
at dawn when the local population is expected to show up with baskets,
plastic containers, buckets, and calabash shells to pick up trees. It's
early but great fun and lots of chaos (mostly because standing in a line
isn't natural-- remember grade 1-- and many here haven't done it so push to
the front, stand in the middle of the path, and call out "mango, manGO,
MANGO" until you get one or, worse, beg your friends who work in the tree
nursery to give you whatever you want out of ORDER which drives us anal N.
Americans crazy and provides obvious insights into Haitian politics.
We DO love the work. Growing trees in the sunshine. It's like hugs for the
heart. See photo of Matt handing out mangoes to the young ones (on the blog
site). We do mangoes last as a bribe to get folks to leave (that's why they
all have their containers on their heads). the truth is as all my degroots
can tell you, it's just fun hanging out in a pepinyè/tree nursery!
getting up at 4AM means. . . you go to bed in the rain . . . well . . .
ideally. It seems to rain for a few days and then stop for a few days.
This has caused a bit of havoc in our tree distributions which start with
the rains. It's a crazy, but very rewarding time of year because it is the
culmination of the last 8 months of work with MCC's 22 local tree nurseries
and school tree nurseries (for their 1st year). We don't have the final
figures yet, but we hope that we will reach our objective of planting around
375,000 trees this year.
We will post a few pictures on our blog site, so head on over there if you
want to see what a tree distribution looks like. Although the pictures don't
do justice to it, it will at least give you a glimpse. Of course, if you
were to visit at this time, you'd see for yourself how fun and crazy it is
all at the same time.
On a personal note, we are planning to be in Canada for a few weeks in July.
We will probably bump into at least a few of you. I (Matt) will head out to
Vancouver for 5 days to be with my brother and sister-in-law and my
nephew/niece in utero, as well as some great friends that I haven't seen in
forever. The plan is to catch up, fish, eat and watch Holland win the World
Cup!
Hup Holland Hup!
The rest of the time will be in Ontario. I (Esther) will spend most of the
time with A&T family in Sarnia specifically Lake Huron where we'll catch up
with Matt after Vancouver. After we get back to Haiti in mid-July, we are
hoping that they be a darling baby arriving ! Of course, we are excited, and
ANXIOUS too. The first-time parent jitters I guess. Please pray for us as
we will be new parents and we're also going to try some ancient/modern
things like adoptive breastfeeding (I, Esther am already on drugs, herbs,
and breast stimulation so we can partially feed our babe naturally) and
diaper-free (we've never seen a disposable and rarely a cloth diaper on a
Haitian baby). We'd appreciate your prayers and support already (especially
Mama Natty herself Tanya Black). So, the next time you hear from us, it may
very well be the baby news!
(For parents with babies 6 months or under, do check out Ingrid Bauer's
Diaper Free. It's obvious and could save a land from being filled.)
Stay tuned, and be well.
Don't forget to check the blog site for pictures:
http://www.mattandestherinhaiti.blogspot.com
Matt and Esther, planting trees in Haiti, with big smiles!
prayer requests:
1. rain for Dezam area and all of Haiti
2. health and goat proofing for the new young trees being planted daily
3. health for the mother and baby in utero that we hope to adopt and our
several siblings who are expecting as well.
4. health for our young laundry woman's daughter who is 7 months pregnant
and suffering without explanation.
5. safe travels and happiness as we get together with family and some of you
too
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Adventures in Haiti: The Earth Day Edition
Happy Earth Day EVERYONE !
We hope you are all out enjoying Springtime, working in your gardens, planting trees ?! (and reading e-mail from Haiti : -)
Tree-planting season is nearly here in Haiti. We’re so excited about planting and even more EXCITED about becoming parents. We wanted to share a little bit of planting and parenting with you. We believe both will be good for the future of this little island.
Adoptions aren’t free, so we thought about selling something Haitian like vanilla or handicrafts-- but you’re already probably trying to Spring-clean your house . . .
. . . so here’s our idea. For every dollar you donate to our adoption of a Haitian baby, we will plant or give out a tree seedling to our friends and neighbours for them to plant. Currently we need to raise around $1750 CAN ($1500 US) (There is no minimum or maximum to trees seedling we are ready to plant!)
The trees we plant and give out for planting in gardens, mountainsides, fresh water springs, and riverbeds on the island off Haiti will be part of the heritage of our little one and the other little ones of Haiti who are growing up and learning the great gift of trees.
If you have some money left over and do want to try something Haitian, check out your grocery store and you may have the chance to taste a bit of Haiti in a mango. Baskets and donkeys and trucks loaded with perfect mangoes travel through and from Dezam daily. That’s right, it’s mango season and Haitian mangoes are coming soon to a store near you. Not much is sweeter than a Haitian mango (see photo below for evidence)!
If you’re not ready to help out with money, thoughts, prayers and e-mails are just as welcome! Adopting feels like a daunting challenge, but with all of your love and support we already feel hopeful about where this adventure is going.
Here are the contacts for donations by cash or cheque:
Ted and Marge Van Geest
59 Simpson Rd.
St. Catharines, ON L2N 3Z5
OR
Thea and Art DeGroot
6090 Brigden Rd.
Sarnia, ON N7T 7H2
Mèsi !
Esther and Matt
(Here’s our e-mail: greatspirit@fastmail.fm)
DISCLAIMER: So you’ve probably noticed, we’re all about trees. Please note that the trees we plant and give out to raise money for our adoption are NOT in any way part of our reforestation work with MCC.
**Also, MCC is helping us out by paying the equivalent amount to childbirth costs in Haiti (~$2500 US). The total cost of adoption within Haiti is around $4000 US. If total donations exceed $1500 US, we will turn over the extra $ to MCC.
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Adventures in Haiti: The Motorcycle Diaries
Well, it wasn’t quite as dramatic as the famous motorcycle journey of Ché Guevara, but our recent motorbike trip was quite the adventure anyway. This past Sunday, myself and three other MCCers (James, Brian and Edwin) headed out on our motorbikes from Port-au-Prince. Destination: Jeremie and the Southern peninsula. James and Edwin are both leaving Haiti soon and neither had seen that part of the country yet, so we decided to check it out.
I ride my motorbike a lot for work in Dezam, but I’ve never been on it for more than an hour in a row, so even after the first few hours after leaving Port, my butt was pretty sore. This would become a theme of the trip.
I won’t get into all the details, just share a few highlights;
The road from Aux Cayes on the southern coast all around the western tip of the southern coast was quite good. We were expecting this road to be terrible and the road from Jeremie to Aux Cayes over the mountains to be much better. The coastal road was beautiful, winding it’s way in and out of the mountains and spending a lot of time along the beach. There are a few pictures here on the blog site of this road. The road of the mountains, which is a national highway, was, in fact, complete junk. It was rough, windy, rocky and not a lot of fun to drive on. We made it though!
We got a great (and free) lunch at a little guesthouse on the way to Aux Cayes, which even included chocolate cake for desert. Chocolate cake became another one of our themes, and it even made a welcome appearance a few days later! After lunch, we hit the beach and did some body boarding in the waves. Very fun.
There are some beautiful, clean, well kept towns on the south western coast, including Aristide’s hometown of Port Salud. We stopped once and tried to buy some beachfront property, but all the guy wanted to talk about was the need for a latrine project in his community. Since this wasn’t a work trip, we didn’t pursue that one and quickly gave up on the idea of buying his land. Maybe someday though!
When we got to Jeremie, we had no idea where we were going to stay so just started driving. Ed had heard of a place outside of town so we took a road we thought might go in that direction. We stopped at the local airport and started asking around about hotels and they pointed us to a place further up the road which was owned by a Haitian-Canadian couple. It was a little paradise at most end of the road place you can get. It was a beautiful place, quiet, good food and nice hammocks. We played cards, drank a few Prestige’s but didn’t brave the ocean because it was too cold. The rain came that night, which cooled things off, but made us a bit afraid of the roads the next day.
They didn’t turn out to be too bad despite the rain, but it was a bit muddy at times. Nothing these intrepid motorbikers couldn’t handle though. We hit Jeremie, filled our tanks and headed for the mountain road that would complete our loop back to Aux Cayes. On our final day, we were going from Aux Cayes to Port in order to make it to a farewell lunch for James back at the MCC office. The day was going smoothly until an unfortunate accident where an old man crossed the road in front of Ed. Ed started to veer around him to the right thinking the man would keep going. The man froze, hesitated, then turned back, in the same direction Ed had just veered. He hit him head on. Both hit the pavement hard. James, Brian and I were a bit further back and didn’t see it happen and when we got there a large crowd had already formed. Ed waved us down and we stopped. The old guy was pretty hurt and we started figuring out what to do. We wanted to pay some money and get out of there. Accidents can be bad for the driver in that crowds can get angry and violent at times. We about had it settled and were going to take off when we realized that someone had taken Ed’s bike key. More talking and finally it was agreed that we would go to the hospital with the man to ensure he was ok and to pay all the necessary expenses. This was another adventure. Hospitals are notorious for exploitation and the fact that we were white didn’t help. We ended up spending about 3 hours there, including having to go ourselves to the pharmacy and to pick up the X-ray tech to get x-rays done. We paid for all the expenses and a handsome sum to the family on top of that. Ed decided to take off about half way through just in case there were more problems. The family started to ask where he was but we just said that he went to check something out and he would come back. We finally got it settled and hit the road again meeting up with Ed just outside of Port.
We finally made it back to the office around 5 where they still had a little food left over from the farewell party that we, including the guest of honour, missed. All told, we did almost 800 km’s from Port to Aux Cayes, Jeremie and back. Total riding time over the 5 days was probably 35 hours. I had a great time and was really happy I went. The pictures here show some more of the story. I don’t know if I need to do a trip like that in a while, but it sure is a great way to see a country!
I ride my motorbike a lot for work in Dezam, but I’ve never been on it for more than an hour in a row, so even after the first few hours after leaving Port, my butt was pretty sore. This would become a theme of the trip.
I won’t get into all the details, just share a few highlights;
The road from Aux Cayes on the southern coast all around the western tip of the southern coast was quite good. We were expecting this road to be terrible and the road from Jeremie to Aux Cayes over the mountains to be much better. The coastal road was beautiful, winding it’s way in and out of the mountains and spending a lot of time along the beach. There are a few pictures here on the blog site of this road. The road of the mountains, which is a national highway, was, in fact, complete junk. It was rough, windy, rocky and not a lot of fun to drive on. We made it though!
We got a great (and free) lunch at a little guesthouse on the way to Aux Cayes, which even included chocolate cake for desert. Chocolate cake became another one of our themes, and it even made a welcome appearance a few days later! After lunch, we hit the beach and did some body boarding in the waves. Very fun.
There are some beautiful, clean, well kept towns on the south western coast, including Aristide’s hometown of Port Salud. We stopped once and tried to buy some beachfront property, but all the guy wanted to talk about was the need for a latrine project in his community. Since this wasn’t a work trip, we didn’t pursue that one and quickly gave up on the idea of buying his land. Maybe someday though!
When we got to Jeremie, we had no idea where we were going to stay so just started driving. Ed had heard of a place outside of town so we took a road we thought might go in that direction. We stopped at the local airport and started asking around about hotels and they pointed us to a place further up the road which was owned by a Haitian-Canadian couple. It was a little paradise at most end of the road place you can get. It was a beautiful place, quiet, good food and nice hammocks. We played cards, drank a few Prestige’s but didn’t brave the ocean because it was too cold. The rain came that night, which cooled things off, but made us a bit afraid of the roads the next day.
They didn’t turn out to be too bad despite the rain, but it was a bit muddy at times. Nothing these intrepid motorbikers couldn’t handle though. We hit Jeremie, filled our tanks and headed for the mountain road that would complete our loop back to Aux Cayes. On our final day, we were going from Aux Cayes to Port in order to make it to a farewell lunch for James back at the MCC office. The day was going smoothly until an unfortunate accident where an old man crossed the road in front of Ed. Ed started to veer around him to the right thinking the man would keep going. The man froze, hesitated, then turned back, in the same direction Ed had just veered. He hit him head on. Both hit the pavement hard. James, Brian and I were a bit further back and didn’t see it happen and when we got there a large crowd had already formed. Ed waved us down and we stopped. The old guy was pretty hurt and we started figuring out what to do. We wanted to pay some money and get out of there. Accidents can be bad for the driver in that crowds can get angry and violent at times. We about had it settled and were going to take off when we realized that someone had taken Ed’s bike key. More talking and finally it was agreed that we would go to the hospital with the man to ensure he was ok and to pay all the necessary expenses. This was another adventure. Hospitals are notorious for exploitation and the fact that we were white didn’t help. We ended up spending about 3 hours there, including having to go ourselves to the pharmacy and to pick up the X-ray tech to get x-rays done. We paid for all the expenses and a handsome sum to the family on top of that. Ed decided to take off about half way through just in case there were more problems. The family started to ask where he was but we just said that he went to check something out and he would come back. We finally got it settled and hit the road again meeting up with Ed just outside of Port.
We finally made it back to the office around 5 where they still had a little food left over from the farewell party that we, including the guest of honour, missed. All told, we did almost 800 km’s from Port to Aux Cayes, Jeremie and back. Total riding time over the 5 days was probably 35 hours. I had a great time and was really happy I went. The pictures here show some more of the story. I don’t know if I need to do a trip like that in a while, but it sure is a great way to see a country!
Friday, April 14, 2006
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Reflections on Monitoring the Haitian Presidential Elections
Reflections on Monitoring the Haitian Presidential Elections
The presidential and legislative elections held in Haiti on February 7, 2006
were momentous and another big step in the process towards democracy in
Haiti after Jean Bertrand Aristide was forced out of office in 2004. These
elections were held after several lengthy delays and many were starting to
lose hope that they would even happen. However, on voting day, the Haitian
people turned out in much greater numbers than expected and overwhelmed the
greatly unprepared electoral officials.
Generally speaking, I was impressed with how the elections went off and was
quite happy that there were no major incidents of violence as many,
including the interim government had predicted. From my perspective, and
those I monitored with (organized by the Réseau National de Défense des
Droits Humains (RNDDH - http://www.rnddh.org) the election was, in general,
free and fair. It gave me a very good insight into the process behind the
scenes and also the strong desire of Haitians to move on into a new period
in their history. It was a very long day for the team of monitors I worked
with, from 5 in the morning until past 10 at night running around to
numerous polling stations to check out the situations there. We were also
able to participate in the monitoring of the counting of votes at one
station. The significant size of the turnout, and even some of the scenes
of people forcing their way into election stations are signs of hope for me.
I had friends and family write to me saying they had seen the ³riots² and
³utter chaos² on the streets and in the voting stations. This was not what
I saw. Yes, it was chaotic, but not chaos out of a desire to create
disorder. It was chaotic in that people wanted to vote and were having
challenges in doing so. They needed to vote and nothing was going to stop
them.
Despite these hopeful signs, there were also many irregularities and signs
of fraud. Ballot boxes full of ballots found in the dump outside of the
city; certain voting centres attacked and burned down, and then closed off
for voting; many people not finding their names on the voter lists and thus
being turned away; intimidation and undue influencing of voting, especially
by party representatives in the voting centres. Perhaps the largest issue
of all was the way in which the election was finally decided. Preval did not
have the requisite 50% + 1 of the vote in order to avoid a run-off vote.
Many of his supporters mobilized and took to the streets to demand that
Preval be declared President, which, in fact, was the end result. It was
clear that Preval would have a won the second round of voting and in order
to avoid chaos and further division, the international community proposed
that the blank ballots be distributed proportionally among the candidates,
which pushed Preval¹s percentage of the vote over 50% - and he was declared
President. I am uncomfortable with the solution because it flaunted the
constitutional process for the election, but the result, in the end, would
have been the same. So, democracy took a hit, but at the same time, the
country can move forward.
Preval has a major challenge before him. He has to respond to ³the masses,²
those living in the poor slums who came out en masse to vote for him. Many
in these slum areas have been blamed for much of the instability and
certainly have been involved in kidnapping and other acts of violence.
Preval also has to respond to the elite classes of Haitian society who did
not support him, and who have also contributed to much of the instability
the country has faced since the ouster of Aristide in early 2004. If he can
respond to the needs of both of these groups of people, while bringing
stability and security, he will be supported. If not, there is a great
chance that either group will try to undermine his presidency and drag him
down.
I, for one, remain positive and hopeful. If I can¹t derive hope from the
process and the future, and how God will use this experience for his good,
then there is no sense in my remaining in Haiti to do the work that brought
me here (reforestation). Now that the process is mostly over, many Haitians
also have a renewed sense of hope. These are all steps in a long journey,
and so let us continue to pray that it be a blessed one.
Matt van Geest
MCC Haiti
------ End of Forwarded Message
Thursday, February 16, 2006
FW: Preval declared President
Very interesting developments.
We are happy about a decision that will hopefully curtail mass protest, but
at the same time, we¹re a bit confused by the process.
Matt and Esther
16 February 2006
Elections 2006 : a decision rendered
Posté le 16 février 2006
At 3:00 am this morning, the CEP announced that following an adjustment of
the ballot counting, Rene Preval of the Lespwa party is the newly elected
president of Haiti, with 51.15% of the vote as calculated. The results
announced were based on a decision (ultimately a proposition made by Brazil)
to divide the blank ballots between all of the presidential candidates
according to the percentage of valid votes counted. Such actions are not
provided for in any of the legal documents concerning the electoral process.
The UN mission was ultimately responsible for providing security for the
ballots and other electoral material. The recently exposed scandal involving
the discarding of electoral material created serious problems for MINUSTAH
and for the international community as accusations of fraud abound, further
tainting a mission that is already plagued by hostile accusations and
general mistrust on the part of the population.
Clearly Preval is the choice of the people, and RNDDH is of the belief that
he would have won the election even if a second round had been called. Many
of the other presidential candidates indicated that their parties would
support Preval's Lespwa in the event of a second round. To resort to the
tactics as used by the CEP is an embarrassment for the country and its
people who came out in massive numbers to democratically elect a president
on 7 February 2006 - a day which will be remembered with pride in the minds
of the Haitian people. While it is true that chosing to divide the blank
ballots has seemingly averted additional crisis and potential violence, the
action taken has no legal basis. As Haiti struggles to find the road leading
to democracy and the Rule of Law, it is imperative that the voice of the
people be heard and be respected. Furthermore, fundamental human rights must
be promoted, protected, and defended, and the law upheld.
RNDDH will continue to monitor and analyse the situation in the coming days
and weeks. A full report on RNDDH's analysis of the electoral process will
be published in the next few days.
*********************************************************
Kristie van de Wetering
Human Rights Program Officer
Réseau National de Défense des Droits Humains (RNDDH)
9, Rue Rivière
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Tel: 509.245.3486 / 245.5821 / 244.1495
Fax: 509.244.4146
Email: kvwetering@rnddh.org
kotchka19@hotmail.com
www.rnddh.org <http://www.rnddh.org>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>
>
> Subject: Discarded Electoral Material Found in Dump: RNDDH's preliminary
> investigation results
>
>
>
>
>
> Haiti Situation Update #3 Discarded Electoral Material Found in Dump:
> RNDDH¹s preliminary investigation results
>
> Afternoon of 15 February 2006
>
>
>
> As reported earlier, last evening Haitian television channels showed images
> of discarded voting ballots in piles of burning garbage just north of
> Port-au-Prince. An RNDDH and POHDH delegation went to the area this morning
> to gather information.
>
>
>
> The RNDDH/POHDH delegation was able to confirm the existence of several
> hundreds of ballots that had been discarded in the dump. According to
> individuals living in the area, once the trash was dumped, a bulldozer was
> used to cover it and children were told not to play in the piles as the waste
> was toxic. When RNDDH arrived, the electoral materials were visible;
> however, the majority of what was dumped is still allegedly under heaps of
> garbage. The delegation documented the presence of destroyed ballot boxes,
> at least one completed form on the opening of a particular voting office
> (procès verbal), at least one page of a list of registered candidates
> (complete with signatures), as well as several ballots (presidential,
> senatorial, and deputy ballots).
>
>
>
> Of these ballots, there were: void ballots (bulletin nul) meaning that there
> was more than 1 choice indicated when only 1 was permitted and/or the ballot
> was not signed by members of the voting office*; blank ballots (bulletin
> blanc) that were signed but with no choice indicated; valid ballots that
> were both signed and indicated the appropriate number of choices; and finally
> unused ballots that were neither signed or marked with a vote. The majority
> of the ballots seen were valid ballots and unused ballots. The ballots
> documented by the delegation came from voting offices in Thomazeau (northeast
> of Port-au-Prince), Carrefour, Martissant, Léogâne, and Kenscoff (all towns in
> the West department).
>
>
>
> This morning the UN spokesperson, Mr. David Wimhurst, made a press statement
> regarding the dumped ballots. He indicated that during Election Day, 9
> voting centers (centers** not voting offices) had been vandalized. He
> suspected that the ballots found at the dump must be ballots from these
> centers/offices. According to his statement, the centers in question were as
> follows: 4 centers in the Artibonite, 4 centers in the Northwest, and 1
> center in Nippes . However, these areas cited do not correspond with the
> ballots that the RNDDH/POHDH delegation saw at the dump, all which came from
> offices in the West department. When asked how these ballots would have
> ended up in the dump, Mr. Wimhurst only replied by saying that each of these
> areas is ³only one-hour away². No further explanation or clarification was
> provided.
>
>
>
> In response, the President of the CEP, Mr. Max Mathurin, made a statement to
> the press further complicating matters. According to Mr. Mathurin, he was
> not aware that 9 centers in the aforementioned departments had been
> vandalized. In these instances, an incident report must be prepared and
> distributed appropriately. He claimed that while perhaps reports were
> provided to other members of the CEP, as president of the CEP he had not
> received or seen any reports written about these incidents. Additionally, no
> reports concerning such incidents had been submitted by the respective
> Departmental Electoral Offices (BED). Mr. Mathurin indicated that if such
> incidents had been reported, the CEP would have informed the population.
>
>
>
> As of this afternoon, this is what can be reported. Further updates to
> follow.
>
>
>
> Pierre Esperance
>
> Executive Director
>
> RNDDH
>
>
>
> * NB: The president and vice president of each voting office was required
> to sign each ballot and note the number of the voting office. This was to be
> completed prior to opening the office for voting, however, in many cases, the
> ballots were signed throughout the day as people voted. RNDDH observers
> noted in at least one voting office in the Port-au-Prince area that a decision
> was made NOT to sign the ballots as this was taking too much time.
>
>
>
> ** NB: Recall that each voting center contained a series of individual
> voting offices
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *********************************************************
> Kristie van de Wetering
> Human Rights Program Officer
>
>
>
> Réseau National de Défense des Droits Humains (RNDDH)
> 9, Rue Rivière
> Port-au-Prince, Haiti
> Tel: 509.245.3486 / 245.5821 / 244.1495
> Fax: 509.244.4146
> Email: kvwetering@rnddh.org
> kotchka19@hotmail.com
> www.rnddh.org <http://www.rnddh.org>
>
>>
------ End of Forwarded Message
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
FW: Haiti Update#2 - 15 February 2006
Dear all,
I hope we are not bombarding you with too much info on the Haitian
elections. It¹s obviously close to us and we want to keep people informed,
and possibly provide a perspective that you don¹t hear about on CBC or CNN.
So, I will continue to pass along these updates that are written by the
director of one of MCC¹s human rights partners her in Haiti.
For those who got this message via other means, I apologize for cross
posting.
Matt and Esther
MCC Haiti
Haiti Situation: Update # 2
Morning of 15 February 2006
The residents of Port-au-Prince woke up to barricade after barricade along
most roads throughout the city yesterday morning. Barricades of burnt out
cars, tires (some burning, some not), rocks, trees, and other debris made
for interesting obstacle courses for individuals trying to navigate the
roads in attempts to carry out their daily activities. By afternoon, most
of these barricades had been pushed aside, following a clear message from
presidential candidate René Preval for demonstrators to respect the rights
and property of others and to remove the barricades and road blocks. Some
demonstrations continued but traffic circulation was freely flowing. There
was hope for more calm and stability in the days to follow.
However, news reports showing stacks of electoral ballots found in a burning
garbage dump outside the city created a new wave of outcry on the part of
Haitian citizens, and demonstrations popped up around the city last night.
People are demanding an explanation.
Thus the city awoke again this morning to more barricades and road blocks in
some areas, most of which were easily crossed.
Last night, the CEP made an announcement that an investigation was to be
opened into the question of the discarded ballots. The CEP has also said
that MINUSTAH was initially responsible for the security of the electoral
material. It has been reported that following the 7 February election,
the private company ³Boucard Pest Control², contracted to collect trash and
discarded materials for the UN, began collecting trash from a variety of
locations across the city as requested by the UN. Some 20 garbage trucks are
said to have dropped off garbage, including but not exclusively, electoral
materials deemed as trash. According to the owner of Boucard Pest Control,
with whom I spoke earlier today, his employees just picked up the trash and
were unaware of the contents.
At this point it is difficult to make any concrete conclusions about the
electoral materials found at the dump. More than one possible explanation
exists. Firstly, it is possible that these ballots represent valid votes
that were cast on Election Day and then deliberately discarded so as to skew
the final outcome of the vote. Secondly, it is possible that the ballots
discarded at the dump were unused ballots, left over from Election Day. In
many voting offices, not all of the +/- 420 ballots issued were used on
voting day, as fewer people than registered came to vote in those centers.
These ballots found last night are said to have been signed by members of a
voting office. It is possible that many of the unused ballots had already
been signed during voting day but not used by the end of the day. At this
point, this is all speculation. RNDDH, accompanied by a member of the
Platform of Haitian Human Rights Organisations (POHDH), has sent a
delegation out this morning to the dumping area to investigate into this
latest development.
We will update you further as results of our investigation are analyzed.
It appears that for reasons of security, the final results as last
calculated are not being published. Following the meeting with Preval, CEP
officials, and government officials on Monday, the government has decided to
suspend the process and to form a commission to deal with questions of
contestation on the part of the Lespwa party. This would lead one to
believe that the final results as tabulated did not result in a clear-cut
victory for Lespwa and thus the reason for the contestation. However, no
official statement has been made in this regard. Herein lays one of the
problems and sources of frustration. Another potential for problems lays in
the possibility of other parties contesting their place in the final
results. For example, Chavannes Jeune (UNION) has claimed that according to
his calculations, he is in second place, not fourth. If there is no second
round, he will not contest. However, should it go to a second round, he
claims he will contest the initial results.
In terms of predictions concerning the level of violence, for now the
demonstrators are peaceful, despite being restless. However, I am of the
opinion that sooner or later the patience will run out and the frustration
will spill over into violent acts, whether isolated or widespread, that is
hard to predict. Much depends on how the CEP and/or the government respond
to the current allegations and to the overall situation. It was encouraging
yesterday to see PNH patrols accompanying the demonstrators as they headed
up to Pétion-Ville.
Some questions have been raised about the role of the UN (and perhaps also
the international community) in the electoral process. I think it would be
fair to say that 80% of the electoral process has been in the hands of the
UN (via UNDP and MINUSTAH) and the Organisation of American States (OAS).
All funding for the elections has been handled by these institutions,
including money from the Haitian government for the elections which had to
pass through the UN before being distributed to the CEP. All voter
registration lists were prepared by the UN/OAS, and the placement of voting
centers was determined by these institutions. (In the past, the system of
voting centers was not used, but rather a system involving a greater
distribution of voting offices. This newly introduced system clearly had
its drawbacks, but also its advantages, too.) The UN/OAS was responsible
for the distribution of electoral materials to the individual voting
centers, as well as collecting the materials/ballots and delivering them to
the CEP tabulation center at the completion of the voting process. Finally,
the UN/OAS was responsible for securing electoral material in secure storage
containers, designed for this purpose.
Again, we will try and keep you updated as information is obtained.
Pierre Esperance
Executive Director, RNDDH
*********************************************************
Kristie van de Wetering
Human Rights Program Officer
Réseau National de Défense des Droits Humains (RNDDH)
9, Rue Rivière
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Tel: 509.245.3486 / 245.5821 / 244.1495
Fax: 509.244.4146
Email: kvwetering@rnddh.org
kotchka19@hotmail.com
www.rnddh.org <http://www.rnddh.org>
>
>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2006 1:12 PM
>
> Subject: Update on Situation in Haiti - 14 February 2006
>
>
>
>
>
> Update on Current Events in Haiti
>
> 14 February 2006
>
>
>
> I am pretty confident that some of the events taking place in Haiti right now
> are making the international news, and so I am sure that many of you are
> aware that the situation is quite tense and precarious at the moment.
>
>
>
> As of this morning, the CEP has yet to announce any final results.
> Initially, the CEP had announced that the final results would be announced 3
> days following the elections. However, the last CEP announcement of partial
> elections results was Saturday, 11 February, during which time a press
> release was also published announcing that the final results would be
> announced Sunday, 12 February in the evening. Since that last press
> conference on Saturday afternoon, there have been no statements from the CEP
> at all (perhaps except for the occasional posting of an update on the CEP
> website www.cep-ht.org <http://www.cep-ht.org> ).
>
>
>
> The initial decision was made to publish partial results as they were
> calculated. As such, initial results reported that former president René
> Preval, party Espwa (translated as Hope), was in considerable lead with more
> than 60% of the vote as counted at the time. That lead began to decrease as
> the results from other voting centers across the country were submitted and
> calculated. As of Saturday, that lead remained just over 50%; however, it
> slipped just under that mark to just over 49% according to the partial
> results published on Sunday (on the internet), and now to just over 48% as
> of Monday morning.
>
>
>
> There remains a significant gap between Preval and the candidate next in
> line, namely former president Leslie Manigat, who for most of the partial
> results published has hovered around 11%.
>
>
>
> According to the electoral law, a presidential candidate must receive 50%
> plus 1 of the votes in order to win the election in one round. Should
> he/she not achieve this, a second round must be held with the two candidates
> receiving the most votes. The CEP has a responsibility to apply the
> electoral law.
>
>
>
> Preval supporters have poured out into the streets in huge numbers to demand
> the final results and to celebrate Preval¹s electoral victory as the new
> president of Haiti. Protestors in support of Preval are saying that they
> will refuse to accept a second round, a run-off, for the presidential
> elections; that they have already voted and Preval has won. Large
> demonstrations, accompanied by numerous large road blocks consisting of
> burning tires, rocks, burnt out cars and other debris, were observed across
> the city on major as well as smaller roads, and making movement throughout the
> city difficult at best. A large group of demonstrators managed to push their
> way into the court yard and exterior grounds of the Hotel Montana in
> Petion-Ville, making their way into the reception area, pool and
> restaurant/dining area. There was a distinct and noticeable lack of Haitian
> police and/or UN presence in the streets yesterday, and again this morning as
> barricades were set up again in several neighbourhoods with crowds
> assembling. Demonstrations and road blocks have been reported in other areas
> of the country such as Jacmel and various towns in the Artibonite Valley.
>
>
>
> For the most part the demonstrators have been peaceful and little violence
> and/or vandalism has been reported, with the exception of an incident
> reported in the northeastern part of the city (Tabarre) where at least one
> Preval supporter was shot and killed yesterday morning, several others
> injured. What exactly happened is unclear at this time. Witnesses claim that
> a UN patrol shot at the demonstrators; however the spokesperson for the UN
> claimed that the UN patrol shot a couple of rounds in the air in order to
> take control of the situation after which several shots were fired in the
> area by unidentified individuals.
>
>
>
> Without the publication of the final results, it is difficult to know how
> things will evolve from here on. Should Preval not win the majority and a
> second round is announced, the tension and potential for widespread chaos and
> violence will necessarily escalate to what degree and level it is hard to
> predict. One potential solution in the event that Preval does not win a
> majority is for the candidate in the second place position, in this case
> Manigat, along with the cooperation of the other presidential candidates in
> the top 9 places, to make a decision to concede the vote and to give the
> election to Preval. This is an acceptable solution and one that was recently
> used in the Dominican Republic where the margin between the first and
> second place candidates was must less than the margin between Preval and
> Manigat. At this point, we do not know if this option is even being
> considered by the parties in question.
>
>
>
> We do know that yesterday Preval met with members of the current transitional
> government, members of the CEP and the international community at the
> National Palace. Details of that meeting have not been released. Earlier
> this afternoon, Preval held a press conference at his residence in
> Port-au-Prince where he addressed the current situation. In summary, Preval
> denounced the manner in which people have been demonstrating a manner which
> he believes serves to isolate the Espwa party on a national and international
> level. He supported one¹s right to demonstrate but asked that people
> demonstrate intelligently, in the spirit of peace and reconciliation. He
> called on his supporters to respect the rights of others, to respect their
> property and possessions and to remove the barricades so as to enable people
> to go to work and provide for their families. Preval also talked of
> isolating those who do not support him and/or his party, saying that there
> will always be people that will never convert over to the Espwa party.
>
>
>
> For RNDDH, the statement was a welcomed and much needed one. The only point
> of concern was the concept of isolating your enemies, with is open to much
> interpretation.
>
>
>
> RNDDH is extremely concerned with the potential for widespread violence in
> the coming days, especially given the PNH and UN¹s apparent decision to stay
> off the streets. The population¹s safety both that of the demonstrators
> and innocent bystanders is compromised when security forces are not
> sufficiently present in situations such as we are seeing now.
>
>
>
> At this point, RNDDH is of the belief that Preval will win the presidential
> election, even if it goes to a second round. At least 7 of the other
> presidential candidates, including Evans Paul, Chavannes Jeune, and Dany
> Toussaint, have publicly stated that they concede that the mass population has
> voted for Preval and that they are in agreement on bypassing a second round.
> With the country already divided, RNDDH is of the opinion that a second round
> would only serve to further divide the country and create additional
> problems.
>
>
>
> In terms of the RNDDH office, we are continuing to operate as usual, with
> more flexible hours for the staff as many have had difficulty arriving at the
> office and/or returning home, yesterday in particular. The office will
> remain open as RNDDH must be available to monitor the situation and receive
> accounts and reports of any human rights violations taking place.
>
>
>
> We will do our best to keep you updated on the situation here, but please do
> not hesitate to write if you have specific questions or concerns.
>
>
>
> Most kind regards,
>
> Pierre Esperance
>
>
>
>
>
> *********************************************************
> Kristie van de Wetering
> Human Rights Program Officer
>
>
>
> Réseau National de Défense des Droits Humains (RNDDH)
> 9, Rue Rivière
> Port-au-Prince, Haiti
> Tel: 509.245.3486 / 245.5821 / 244.1495
> Fax: 509.244.4146
> Email: kvwetering@rnddh.org
> kotchka19@hotmail.com
> www.rnddh.org <http://www.rnddh.org>
------ End of Forwarded Message
Monday, February 13, 2006
The Adventure Grows
Dear family and friends,
Just as the country that has adopted us takes another step towards
democracy, we have decided to participate in the future of Haiti by adopting
a Haitian child.
We're a few steps into assembling the paperwork to complete our adoption
dossier and MCC welcomes our adoption plan as long as we're halfway into our
term. That's March (2006)!! We don't have a child identified yet (that we
know of) but Bondye konnen (God knows) there's one out there that will bring
us love, joy, challenge and add a new kind of adventure to the one that we
started together when we got hitched.
We ask for you to help us pray for the child that will join our family and
the mother and the family as adoption is gift that comes out of a loss.
We also ask for you to pray for Haiti, a beautiful country not without
riches that we pray will soon to become part of the heritage of our family.
Excuse us for being products of the 2000's but we'll be starting a(nother)
BLOG to keep you posted and so that you can travel on the adventure of
adoption with us. We will send the address asap.
Peace and love to all of you!
Esther and Matt
Friday, February 03, 2006
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
A Day in the Life . . . 2
The second in a series of "A Day in the Life . . . "
Today, the 5th of September, was a pretty typical day. Got up at the crack
of dawn (ok, Esther got up at the crack of dawn, and I crawled out a half
hour later), washed up a bit and headed down to the office, a 15 minute walk
(except that I had my motorbike, so I rode down.)
We had a meeting scheduled with ODD, a local development organization that
MCC (the organization we work for) supports. The meeting was for 8 - but we
all knew it wouldn't start then. We do make a point of showing up on time
for our meetings, if not just to encourage the Haitians we interact with to
consider perhaps showing up a bit earlier! At 9, there weren't enough
people for us to start the meeting - in fact, there were more MCCers (6)
than ODD members. So, we decided to cancel the meeting. I was rushing
trying to get out because I had a whole bunch of computer work to do. As we
were walking out the door, a bunch of ODD folks showed up, so we decided to
do the meeting anyway.
Meeting went well. Main purpose was to talk about their request for funds
from MCC to help them buy seeds to plant limes. Limes are a pretty popular
tree here, and there is good money to be made in them, so we've been
encouraging people to plant more of them. We wanted to discuss some
technical things with ODD, but mostly to help them see that they really need
to have some clearer plans in place before we can just give them money.
They want to plant 5000 trees, but have no real idea how many they planted
last year, how many were sold to the local population, etc. Andy they still
have a few thousand sitting there in their tree nursery. Blah blah blah,
lots of talking around each other, repeating each other's points, etc.
Meeting ended and I rushed back to the office to work on financial reports.
Had a backlog of financial reports to work on - for some reason I just never
got around to doing June and July reports. So, that came back to haunt me
today as I scrambled to find receipts, remember expenses from months ago,
etc. But it all worked out and, amazingly enough, balanced squarely too!
Made a quick run to the local Caisse Populaire (Credit Union) to deposit an
MCC cheque and get out some cash. Then went back to the office and sat in
on part of the seminar that Esther is leading on teaching teachers how to
facilitate MCCs environmental education curriculum. It's going great so far
- the teachers are really in to it! Got a free lunch out of the deal too!
It's pretty funny because the MCCers who are not involved in the seminar, me
included, tend to gravitate to the seminar area around lunch time, just on
the off chance there is food!!!!
Ran to the cybercafe after lunch to send off the financial reports, check up
on other email, and read the news. All this stuff happening in New Orleans
and environs is crazy. I just think it's so sad that in situations like
this, it brings out the worst in some people. I was reading about snipers,
and armed gangs, and looters, etc. I know they are the vast majority . . .
but it's still sad.
At 4 we had a meeting with another local organization, ODEPE, who is
interested in starting up a tree nursery. MCC would like to open a new one
this year too and so we've been meeting with them to see if it could work.
This was to be the 3rd in a series of meetings to help us make a decision,
and they were to have a minimum of 80 people present so that we could see
that the community was behind it. Unfortunately, when we started the meeting
at 4:45, there were only 27 people. So we couldn't proceed and had to set
another meeting. The ensuing discussion took the better part of an hour, so
it was a meeting, even though it wasn't really a meeting. Anyway, I hope it
works out - I'd really like to open a new tree nursery this year.
Came back to the office, picked up some firewood for the cooks for tomorrow,
grabbed some food from the fridge at the office (we don't have one at our
house) and walked up with Esther. I made dinner while she showered, and then
we ate. Soup. It was good. Along with cassav bread and wonderful avacados.
I bought 5 avacados yesterday for 20 gourdes, which is about 50 cents US.
Can you believe it!
Ok, off to bed. Tomorrow should be another exciting day!
Matt
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
A Day in the Life . . . 1
A day in the Life . . . Day 1
Probably the most common question that Esther and I get, especially when we
are back in Canada is : ³So, what it is that you do anyway.²
Well, we thought we¹d blog a few of our days in the next little while.
I¹ll start.
Tuesday, August 23
Today was a fairly relaxed day, at least to get started. The plan was to
meet with 3 of my colleagues. We were preparing to head off to the northern
part of the country to lead a workshop on how to run a tree nursery. That¹s
a big part of work here helping communities produce trees through
community based tree nurseries. We would like to expand this work, and one
of the ways we hope to do that is by training other local organizations to
help them get started on the same path.
Our meeting was set for 9, so I headed down to the MCC office here in Dezam
at around 7:30. It¹s about a 15 minute walk from our house to the office,
through the local market which was just getting going for the day. Before
the meeting got started I prepared a few last minute documents that we were
going to use for the training. I also started to gather some of the
materials we would need to help us in the workshop. Our meeting started at
about 9:20. We went through some last minute things and we¹re set to go. I
placed a call to the people from another organization who were to meet us
enroute. They were leaving from Port-au-Prince, to meet us in Pont Sonde,
approximately a 2-3 hour drive. We are only about 30 minutes away, so I
wanted to make sure they were on the way before we left. Well, apparently
they were having problems with a tire and hadn¹t even left yet. So we had
to sit tight for a while. Another call about 45 minutes later, and they
still hadn¹t left. We started to get a bit worried about the time, because
with the rain at this time of year, the roads can be pretty bad. We had a
7-8 hour drive ahead of us, so we didn¹t want to leave late, hit rain and
arrive in the dark. We decided to go ahead without the second vehicle from
Port, even though it would have been preferable to drive together.
The roads were rough, very rough, but thankfully we didn¹t encounter any
major problems. We arrived in Bassin-Bleu, where we were supposed to find a
small hotel to stay the night. The person from the other organization the
one in the vehicle a few hours behind us - said we could get a room there.
Alas, no rooms available. We walked down to the local CARE office because
someone had mentioned that they had a guesthouse. Indeed they did, but they
needed prior authorization from their head office in Port, and besides, they
didn¹t have enough room for all of us. So, we made a quick decision to
keep driving to Port de Paix. (For those of you who have Haiti maps close
by, Port de Paix is on the north coast, more on the western side). That was
another 2 hours from where we were, so we had to get moving to arrive before
dark.
We arrived in Port de Paix. I was the only one in the group who had been
there before, but the last time we had a local person arranging everything
for us, and we stayed in a pretty nice hotel on the outskirts of town. We
didn¹t have the budget to pay $60 US a night, so we had to drive around and
find a place in town. We did manage to find something after a while, but it
wasn¹t exactly the nicest place. I had single room and had to use the
public bathroom in the hall. The bathroom was a bit gross, with only half a
seat on the toilet! It was pretty hot too, but the fan did take the bit off
that. Had a pretty crappy dinner of chicken and banan peze.
So, that was the day. A little office work and short meeting in the morning.
And then 8 hours of driving and having to wing it to find a hotel in Port de
Paix. By the way, Dezam to Port de Paix was exactly 160 km. 8 hours to
drive 160 km. Welcome to Haiti, and a day in the life . . . of Matt.
Saturday, August 20, 2005
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Aristide in Exile
This is a recent article that appeared on rabble.ca. It's interesting,
which is why we post it here. This doesn't mean I agree, nor does it mean
that MCC endorses it.
Matt
Aristide in exile
>by Naomi Klein
July 15, 2005
When United Nations troops kill residents of the Haitian slum Cité Soleil,
friends and family often place photographs of exiled President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide on their bodies. The photographs silently insist that there is a
method to the madness raging in Port-au-Prince. Poor Haitians are being
slaughtered not for being ³violent,² as we so often hear, but for being
militant; for daring to demand the return of their elected president.
It was only ten years ago that President Clinton celebrated Aristide's
return to power as ³the triumph of freedom over fear.² So what changed?
Corruption? Violence? Fraud? Aristide is certainly no saint. But even if the
worst of the allegations are true, they pale next to the rap sheets of the
convicted killers, drug smugglers and arms traders who ousted Aristide and
continue to enjoy free rein, with full support from the Bush Administration
and the UN. Turning Haiti over to this underworld gang out of concern for
Aristide's lack of ³good governance² is like escaping an annoying date by
accepting a lift home from Charles Manson.
A few weeks ago I visited Aristide in Pretoria, South Africa, where he lives
in forced exile. I asked him what was really behind his dramatic falling-out
with Washington. He offered an explanation rarely heard in discussions of
Haitian politics ‹ actually, he offered three: ³privatization, privatization
and privatization.²
The dispute dates back to a series of meetings in early 1994, a pivotal
moment in Haiti's history that Aristide has rarely discussed. Haitians were
living under the barbaric rule of Raoul Cédras, who overthrew Aristide in a
1991 U.S.-backed coup. Aristide was in Washington and despite popular calls
for his return, there was no way he could face down the junta without
military back-up. Increasingly embarrassed by Cédras's abuses, the Clinton
Administration offered Aristide a deal: U.S. troops would take him back to
Haiti ‹ but only after he agreed to a sweeping economic program with the
stated goal to ³substantially transform the nature of the Haitian state.²
Aristide agreed to pay the debts accumulated under the kleptocratic Duvalier
dictatorships, slash the civil service, open up Haiti to ³free trade² and
cut import tariffs on rice and corn in half. It was a lousy deal but,
Aristide says, he had little choice. ³I was out of my country and my country
was the poorest in the Western hemisphere, so what kind of power did I have
at that time?²
But Washington's negotiators made one demand that Aristide could not accept:
the immediate sell-off of Haiti's state-owned enterprises, including phones
and electricity. Aristide argued that unregulated privatization would
transform state monopolies into private oligarchies, increasing the riches
of Haiti's elite and stripping the poor of their national wealth. He says
the proposal simply didn't add up: ³Being honest means saying two plus two
equals four. They wanted us to sing two plus two equals five.²
Aristide proposed a compromise: Rather than sell off the firms outright, he
would ³democratize² them. He defined this as writing antitrust legislation,
insuring that proceeds from the sales were redistributed to the poor and
allowing workers to become shareholders. Washington backed down, and the
final text of the agreement ‹ accepted by the United States and by a meeting
of donor nations in Paris ‹ called for the ³democratization² of state
companies.
But when Aristide began to implement the plan, it turned out that the
financiers in Washington thought his democratization talk was just public
relations. When Aristide announced that no sales could take place until
Parliament had approved the new laws, Washington cried foul. Aristide says
he realized then that what was being attempted was an ³economic coup.² ³The
hidden agenda was to tie my hands once I was back and make me give for
nothing all the state public enterprises.² He threatened to arrest anyone
who went ahead with privatizations. ³Washington was very angry at me. They
said I didn't respect my word, when they were the ones who didn't respect
our common economic policy.²
Aristide's relationship with Washington has been deteriorating ever since:
While more than $500 million in promised loans and aid were cut off,
starving his government, USAID poured millions into the coffers of
opposition groups, culminating ultimately in the February 2004 armed coup.
And the war continues. On June 23, Roger Noriega, assistant secretary of
state for Western Hemisphere affairs, called on UN troops to take a more
³proactive role² in going after armed pro-Aristide gangs. In practice, this
has meant a wave of Falluja-like collective punishment inflicted on
neighborhoods known for supporting Aristide. On July 6, for instance, 300 UN
troops stormed Cité Soleil, blocking off exits and firing from armored
vehicles. The UN admits that five were killed, but residents put the number
of dead at no fewer than 20. Reuters correspondent Joseph Guyler Delva says
he ³saw seven bodies in one house alone, including two babies and one older
woman in her 60s.² Ali Besnaci, head of Médecins Sans Frontières in Haiti,
confirmed that on the day of the siege 27 people came to the MSF clinic with
gunshot wounds, three-quarters of them women and children.
Yet despite these attacks, Haitians are still on the streets ‹ rejecting the
planned sham elections, opposing privatization and holding up photographs of
their president. And just as Washington's experts could not fathom the
possibility that Aristide would reject their advice a decade ago, today they
cannot accept that his poor supporters could be acting of their own accord ‹
surely Aristide must be controlling them through some mysterious voodoo
arts. ³We believe that his people are receiving instructions directly from
his voice and indirectly through his acolytes that communicate with him
personally in South Africa,² Noriega said.
Aristide claims no such powers. ³The people are bright, the people are
intelligent, the people are courageous,² he says. They know that two plus
two does not equal five.
Naomi Klein is the author of No Logo and Fences and Windows. This column has
appeared in The Nation.
Friday, July 15, 2005
Adventures in Haiti - 4
Adventures in Haiti - 4
July 15, 2005
Dear friends, family, colleagues, distant contacts and anyone else whose
email address got onto our email list:
You haven't heard from us in a while . . . but life is still sweet and green
(The rain is here, even if it's not in Southern Ontario). Since you heard
from us last (which we can't remember when it was) we've been pretty busy.
In the last few months we have:
- done a few seminars and a whole bunch of visits to the tree nurseries.
It's always fun to visit, thin, transplant, compact, and degarni mangoes
with the committees, see all the trees coming up and getting hyped about
giving the trees to people in the communities
- visited churches in each of the communities to mobilize and educate them
about the distribution of trees.
- finished the first round of tree distributions in the 21 communities where
MCC works. Thus far, 291,000 tree seedlings have been distributed. We hope
to hit 400,000 by mid August.
- Handed out certificates to our 138 students (from 4 local schools) in
environmental education for the 2004-05 school year. Highlights were
visiting forests, writing letters to the Haitian minister of the environment
reminding him to protect Haiti's forests, eating and planting mangoes,
planting trees in the schoolyard on the last day of school.
Big plans to expand the program to make it more hands-on and participatory
by marrying it with the tree nurseries are taking shape. In the past
months, each of 21 tree nurseries choose a school that they'd like to work
with. We'll choose 10 to start with this year. This means we're training
the teachers to do the teaching (this year and previously, Esther and
Francklin were teaching). Esther is tying herself to a chair to write the
curriculum and training planned for the first week of September.
By September, we will also have a new person to replace Francklin to work
hand in hand with Esther to support the teachers, the students, and their
visits to the tree nurseries.
- went on a retreat with our MCC colleagues. The first year that we went as
a whole team (Nationals and Expats). It was a lovely few days on a remote
island off the coast. Great food! Air conditioning! Amazing showers! Lovely
beaches! Ahhhhh . . . . life in the Caribbean. But we were happy to come
home to the valley (Artibonite) again.
- we've also been getting more and more settled into our MCC team, our house
that we moved into in January, and our community. It's both rewarding and
challenging to be more and more "known" in our community. Becoming more
proficient in Creole, being comfortable walking around everywhere and
talking to the neighbour through the cactus fence is fun . . . but having to
talk to everyone and face the barrage of demands and kids yelling at you
isn't always fun. Life really isn't fair.
The big news is that a new soccer field has gone up across the road from us
and there are organized games there every few days with Kompa Kreyol (music)
and snacks for sale. It's 10 gourdes to get in (about 25 cents) but we can
watch from our front yard for free. Next time y'all visit, we'll try to
arrange a match for you to watch. We are thrilled to be part of the crowd
and not what the crowd is watching.
In other news . . .
- registration for elections has started. This is a positive development,
but many people feel like the elections won't happen on schedule. Port au
Prince is still having some problems. The presence of UN troops helps
sometimes, but also hinders sometimes. There is talk of the US Marines
coming in again.
- two hurricanes just passed through - Denis and Emily. We got a few heavy
rainstorms, but nothing too bad. The south of Haiti, typically, was hit much
harder and people died when a bridge collapsed and there are always issues
of drainage due to lots of plastic (imported mostly- blah). These two
storms mark the beginning of the storm season, and are also a reminder of
last fall's devastating floods in Gonaives.
Ok, that's the news from Desarmes. We hope and pray that your lives are also
enriching you and those around you. Please let us know how you are all doing
and what exciting things are happening in your lives.
If you want to, you can visit our blog site. We just uploaded a bunch of new
pictures there. You can also go back and read some articles that we put up
a few months ago. We'd especially encourage you to read the ones that detail
the current human rights and political situation in the country.
http://www.mattandestherinhaiti.blogspot.com
Be well. Love and peace to everyone.
Matt van Geest and Esther deGroot
MCC Haiti
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)