Update from Haiti

(the view from our apartment window at 10 am, April 9, showing smoke from burning tires).

Hi everyone,

We are currently holed up in our apartment. We live on a side street but we hear a bunch of noise from the main street. We hear the occasional gun shot, which is likely the police trying to break up groups of people. Our friend Kurt who is not too far away has seen a bunch more and had big wafts of tear gas float into his apartment.

The situation here is complex. Here (below) is an article from CBC
which is pretty congruent with the reality here. We at KPL have been recording the increasing of food prices since January! and you they go up by week on staples like rice and oil.

It’s true that gas and the increasing demand for biodiesel is making things more expensive here! It’s also true that Haiti has learned to become dependent on imports, since Haiti conveniently became a good dumping ground for surplus food items - first grains, and now everything from sugar (totally producible here but produced in southern US by Haitian legal and illegal immigrants) to drugs (new and expired) used clothes and those big fat televisions.

I know Haitians who eat a 90% local diet and I know Haitians eating a 90% imported diet. Guess who’s in the city and who’s in the country!

Every day in the Nouvelliste (national paper) on the radio and on TV, the government is talking about local production! who knows if Haiti can produce the majority of its food itself because Haiti has never had the chance to try, but we can do better than 90% imports and if we did, there’d be much less pressure on the city and the ports and less opportunity for corruption which is so real. (We have even seen MCC aid meat -another story all together- sold in markets many many mountain kilometres from where it was given out.) Imports are a band-aid solution for a country that’s overpopulated and a nice little boost for the US economy. When I was working at the Nature Centre at the Royal Botanical Gardens, we had a program for kids called Move, Adapt, or Die referring to what animals do when times get tough. Move, Adapt, or Die or Import - not so catchy. (No I don't think humans or animals but you'll agree there are similarities.)

As for: "Currently if you're in Haiti, unless the government is subsidizing consumers, consumers have no choice but to cut consumption. It's a very brutal scenario, but that's what it is." from the article below, this is not a joke! Every day the average person here, both in the city and country, literally works to make money to eat their next meal– while prices from rice to the taptap fare it takes them to get to work, they make the same amount of money but they can afford half as much. Turkish cookies are cheaper than Haitian bananas. Spaghetti noodles cheaper than Artibonite rice or plantains.

(other things you might hear or read about Haiti are a joke or actually not true- like people eating dirt when they are hungry- it’s not happening nor the whole story- another story actually- please take news about Haiti especially when it makes people look really stupid with a big grain of sea salt. Guaranteed it’s not the whole story! )

This crisis of food prices has given an old word a new definition: Clorox or Klorox is kreyol for bleach (chlorine). In the past month, “klorox” has come to mean the burning in your stomach when there is no more food coming. I don’t know why we had to wait until this point to say enough is enough or we've had enough of not enough. God help us!

love from Haiti, where were there’s going to be more moving, a whole lot of adapting, and dying.

ps we’re all at home with Martha and Junior and the guards too and we’re fine!

Soaring food costs threaten world's political stability: UN official
Last Updated: Tuesday, April 8, 2008 | 12:14 PM ET Comments70Recommend68
CBC News

Rising food prices could cause political instability worldwide, the UN's top humanitarian official said Tuesday, as clashes over food costs in Haiti and Egypt continued for a second day.

Pointing to a 40 per cent average rise in food costs worldwide since mid-2007, John Holmes, the United Nations under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief co-ordinator, said the trend is likely to exacerbate both the incidence and depth of food insecurity worldwide.

"The security implications [of the food crisis] should also not be underestimated as food riots are already being reported across the globe," he said.

Egypt has been rocked by two days of unrest as thousands protest the country's worsening economy and rising prices. The cost of cooking oil, rice and other staples have doubled since January, while the country of 76 million is suffering a shortage of government-subsidized bread.

UN peacekeepers in Haiti clashed with a crowd that gathered outside the presidential palace Tuesday, the second day of protests in the capital, Port-au-Prince, over food scarcity and costs.

The impact of climate change has worsened the food problem, Holmes said, as the number of recorded natural disasters has doubled from an average of 200 a year to 400 because of "extreme weather" over the last 20 years.

The rising price of fuel, particularly diesel fuel used to transport food, is also adding to the issue by prompting a simultaneous increase in the cost of food, Holmes said.

"Compounding the challenges of climate change in what some have labelled the perfect storm are the recent dramatic trends in soaring food and fuel prices," he said.

The UN's World Food Program has said it is short $500 million US needed to feed 89 million hungry people this year. Meanwhile, consumers should expect high food costs for at least another 10 years, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization.

"It's not likely that prices will go back to as low as we're used to," Abdolreza Abbassian, economist and secretary of the Intergovernmental Group for Grains for the FAO, said last month.

"Currently if you're in Haiti, unless the government is subsidizing consumers, consumers have no choice but to cut consumption. It's a very brutal scenario, but that's what it is."

With files from the Associated Press

Children adopted overseas now eligible for immediate citizenship

The Canadian government passed a new law in December that will allow internationally adopted children to automatically apply for Canadian citizenship, instead of having to become landed immigrants and wait a number of years to become a citizen. This is obviously great news. We have already applied for Gabriela's citizenship, even though her paperwork is not yet fully legalized here in Haiti. But, the process is picking up with a lot of pressure from us and our lawyer. Someday we'll write a book about it.

That's Gabriela among some of her friends at an after-school sports program in Cite Soleil. She's the really smiley one in the middle!

All is well here in Haiti, we'll try to send another update soon, along with more pictures. We're looking forward to the next set of grandparents coming to visit - Ted and Marge arrive on April 1.

Children adopted overseas now eligible for immediate citizenship
Last Updated: Thursday, March 27, 2008
www.cbc.ca

A 13-month-old Toronto girl has become the first adopted child born abroad to enter Canada as a citizen.

Citizenship Minister Diane Finley presented a teddy bear to the infant when she arrived at Toronto's Pearson Airport on Wednesday, recognizing her as the first child to be allowed into the country under the new rules.

In the past, adopted foreign-born children had to go through two steps to become a citizen: first they'd be processed as permanent residents, then they'd wait three years to become a citizen.

Changes introduced in December mean the children now become citizens as soon as their adoption is complete.

Rory-Adele Chan-Rushton is the first child to apply and become a citizen under the new regulations.

Her parents, Mark Rushton and Angela Chan, say it was important for them to bring home a Canadian child.

"It makes the process so much easier and so much less stressful. The journey, especially for international adoption, is so long, it can take so much time … and to have this at the end of it makes it so much easier for a lot of families," said Chan.

The Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada says about 2,000 foreign-born children are adopted by Canadians every year.

All of those children now have the option of becoming citizens right away.

A Taste of Danger You Won't Find in Port Au Prince

A Taste of Danger You Won't Find in Port Au Prince

I received an email this past week. The title was "A Taste of Danger You
Won't Find in Port au Prince." The junk email came from Kayak.com, a
website that helps would-be travellers find good travel deals on
flights, hotels and car rentals. They were advertising for some
off-the-beaten path "dangerous" destinations such as Beirut and Morocco.
I must have registered my email address and entered some basic
information about myself, because they knew that I live in Port au
Prince. You might have received one of these emails too - but yours said
"A Taste of Danger You Won't Find in Vancouver" or " . . . Miami" or . .
.. "fill in your hometown here."

This probably didn't strike you as odd or ironic - because it's true,
there probably isn't a whole lot of danger in Campden or St.Catharines
or Wichita. But when I got the email, I couldn't help but laugh.

I do live in Port au Prince and yes, (mom, stop reading now) it can be
dangerous. There are some areas of the city controlled by gangs. Drug
and weapon running is becoming serious business here. There is simmering
political tension that could explode at any minute. Haiti, if only
temporarily, overtook Columbia as the kidnapping capital of the Western
hemisphere. These are all facts that affect daily life here.

What struck me most about the email was the reminder about how little we
know about many of the places we hear about in the news. Or, should I
say, how little we know about the truth. Or how little we know about the
rest of the story. When we hear "Kenya" we used to think of red-beaded
Massai warriors, or vast game parks. Now we think of a contested
election and violence. But what about the reality that exists between
the National Geographic version of Kenya and the CNN version?

Unfortunately for Haiti, the National Geographic perception does not
exist. For the vast majority of people, the CNN version is their only
understanding of this incredibly fascinating and complex country. The
guidebooks and travel sites that we read before coming to Haiti in 2004
all started with the phrase, "Haiti, the poorest country in the Western
hemisphere, . . . " That's the CNN version of Haiti. But the reality is
so much deeper and while I don't pretend to understand Haiti, I do feel
like I've gotten to know it much better over these 3+ years. Danger
exists and poverty is real - that is to be neither diminished nor
ignored. But thankfully, the truth is so much deeper.

For example, did you know that Haiti was the world's first free black
republic and the site of the first successful slave revolt? (This is not
the place to talk about modern day economic slavery being exacted on
Haiti - we'll save that for another entry.) Or, did you know that
Christopher Columbus' first landing spot in the "new world" was Haiti?
You've probably heard of some famous Haitians. One of the most popular
right now is Wyclef Jean, but there are many more - artists, athletes,
business leaders, and many more. Don't forget about Michaelle Jean,
Canada's Governor General. CNN shows you the denuded hillsides, but I've
walked through pine forests here. You've probably seen the seaside
shantytown of Cite Soleil, but I talked to someone today that lives in a
"good" neighbourhood who said that Cite Soleil has more paved streets
than most areas.

The good news I want to leave with you is that Haiti is getting better.
Things have changed - a lot - since the crisis of 2004. The government,
while struggling, is stable. There are signs of economic growth and
investment in Haiti. There is an exciting movement to support local food
and artistic production. It's ok to walk the streets in many parts of
the city. Kidnapping has decreased dramatically. Many gang leaders have
been arrested and there is news of high profile arrests quite often. So,
if it's a danger buzz you want - go to Morocco. If it's an experience
that will make you shake you head, laugh, cry, shake your fist, smile,
think, dance and lift your hands to the heavens, and in the end
transform you beyond your wild imagination, well, we have an extra bed
waiting for you here in Haiti.

The Adventures Come Home for Christmas

We're re-sending this as many of you did not receive the first version
because it was too big with all the pictures. Check out the blog for the
picture version. G E M

****
Dear friends and family,

Another year has come and gone on this lovely island we call home. Attached
are stories and adventures from the past year. We hope and pray that you
are all well and that this year brings blessings, fun and adventure for you.

Gabriela, Esther and Matt

PS. If you can't open the attachment, you can also find this posted on our
blog: www.mattandestherinhaiti.blogspot.com

The Adventures come HOME for Christmas!

We’re sitting here listening to Stuart Maclean on CBC on our satellite radio – it’s a story about Dave raising a Christmas turkey. It’s a worldly reminder that the season of celebration is here, but the celebration we anticipate is not so much the turkey dinners (even though the turkeys are piling up at the markets even here in Haiti), the caroling or the gifts. The Celebration we are always eager to celebrate is the birth of Jesus.

Christmas for us this year was a rite of passage. It was the first time since the day we got hitched in 1998 that we celebrated Christmas at HOME. Many of the years, we were shuffling between St. Kits and Sarnia, Christmas in Senegal, and the last few years here in Haiti always called us into the city or up into the mountains.

Home for Christmas was made possible by a visit from Oma and Opa who called in November and said “if you really want us to come for Christmas, we will!” Of course we “really wanted” and so they came. Everyone got along famously. . .



And we went all out for the occasion…Christmas cookies, tree, and an angel..


Highlights of Christmas at HOME were plentiful…

Esther- reading the Christmas story by candlelight followed by Handel’s Messiah, making and giving out Christmas cookies, the birth of Isabel

Gabriela- everyone staying home, going for walks, the birth of cousin Isabel (a fellow diva in amongst a pack of garcons).

Matt- finding ways to meld our Canadian and Haitian experiences into a fun and unique Christmas celebration, some much-needed new books to read.

You’ll have to ask Art and Thea about their highlights of Christmas in Haiti.

But the most fun and powerful was New Years at Gwo Jean, our fondest New Year’s ever - topping driving home from Florida once, being on an airplane back to Senegal, and drinking whiskey while Niagara Falls fell and froze onto us (remember Trevor?). What’s really special about January 1st in Haiti is that it marks Haitian independence. So while we were spending our 4th New Year’s in Haiti, Haiti was celebrating it’s 204th year of independence. There was drumming, strumming, dancing, and chopping (the vegetables for the pumpkin soup we and everyone else in Haiti eats for breakfast on New Year’s Day). The highlight was the dual bonfires, one representing 2007 and one for 2008. Into one we offered our regrets and thank yous and the other our hopes for the new year.

We are especially thankful for 3 lovely years with MCC in the countryside of Dezam, where Gabriela tasted her first sugar cane, took her first steps, made her first phone calls, and enjoyed country living; this ended in early October when we moved to Port au Prince.

. . .we said we wanted to stay away from Dezam for 3 months but we couldn’t resist showing
DEZAM to Gabriela’s cousin ZAVI and Matant (Aunt) Jennifer when they came for a visit in late November.



As for our hopes, they are in the making:

Matt: I started a new job with the International Organization for Migration (IOM). IOM is implementing a large US government stabilization program throughout Haiti. This includes short-term projects such as paving small portions of roads, rehabilitating schools, installing street lighting, fixing canal and water systems, etc. These are all simple projects, done quickly with the intent of making people in some of the most volatile neighbourhoods in the country feel that things are getting better in Haiti. It’s hoped that this stability will create the opportunity for other international organizations, the private sector and the government to make more long-term investments. My own role is on the management team in the headquarters of IOM in Haiti (we have six sub-offices throughout the country). It has been a big change – long days sitting at the computer – but a good challenge for me to work in a new kind of environment.

Esther: I couldn’t imagine living in Port au Prince but here we are. We have a lovely apartment that makes it possible for Gabriela and I to get around on foot and public to work, the gym, the market. My 2nd job after the most important job in the world (mothering, duh) is working with a group of people to promote buying, eating, producing, celebrating everything Haitian for the good of the environment, economy, and all that is in the Haitian soul, not to mention the Haitian stomach. The campaign, should you hear about it on CNN, is called Kore Pwodiksyon Lokal. And I’m not joking, KPL will be on National Television beginning February. My participation involves a developing a school garden and curriculum, promoting hand-woven djakouts (grocery bags), among other things.

Gabriela: Mama and Papa speak three languages to me: Creole, English, and sign language. After 17 months of this, they started wondering (out loud) if I was getting confused. So here’s my trick. Every time someone comes to the gate or knocks on the door, whether they are my mama or not, I call out “Mama. . .Mama”. It cracks them up every time and there’s nothing I like more than cracking people up.

Our favourite things about Port au Prince: staying in until 10 AM w/o turning into toast, trying to speak French, picnics in the Wynne Forest Reserve on Sundays, my nanny Martha and going with her to play with Ti Jo most mornings, ping pong at the gym, our swimming pool, the big mix of people.

Scary things about the city: traffic, motocycles, driving in traffic to work everyday, sometimes an hour.

What we miss most about Dezam: planting, hiking around the mountains, my MCC colleagues, knowing what my job is, those gorgeous bucket showers, rivers to splash in, Lusilya, Jean Remy, Tonton (Uncle) Brian, bean sauce every day for lunch at Edith’s restaurant

Favourite food (after soap): currently mandarins, bonbon siwo, akra and local chicken

Favourite past-times: playing ping-pong with Matt on the weekends, moving furniture, riding around the city in my sling, jumping on Papa at night, and dancing to the ringing cell phones, playing with Gabriela.

Aspirations for 2008:
Finish two children’s books I started in 2006.
Visit my Oma.
Get up the slide at the park by our house.
Meet my cousins.

Challenges:
Sleeping without putting my feet in my parents’ faces.
Staying focused
Having so much.
How to live well as a stranger in a strange land.

Stay tuned to http://www.mattandestherinhaiti.blogspot.com for other news and pictures. Thank you for your news and for helping hold up the sky.

G E M

to my cousin Zavi

Dear Zavi,
It was SO much fun to meet you!
Thanks for coming to see us.
Hi to my TonTon Will and kisses to Matant Jennifer!
mucho amor, Gabriela

city life II

city life I

Ending Famine, Simply by Ignoring the Experts

This article appeared in the NY Times today. I think it's a perfect example of how prescriptive development has gone wrong in so many places and how just using a little common sense can have dramatic impacts on people's lives. Unfortunately, most majority world government leaders are either too inept, too corrupt or too susceptible to pressure from the powers that be, that they aren't able to make the same kinds of decisions that the Malawian government made.

Anyway, I'd be interested in hearing comments.

Matt


December 2, 2007
Ending Famine, Simply by Ignoring the Experts
By CELIA W. DUGGER

LILONGWE, Malawi — Malawi hovered for years at the brink of famine. After a disastrous corn harvest in 2005, almost five million of its 13 million people needed emergency food aid.

But this year, a nation that has perennially extended a begging bowl to the world is instead feeding its hungry neighbors. It is selling more corn to the United Nation’s World Food Program than any other country in southern Africa and is exporting hundreds of thousands of tons of corn to Zimbabwe.

In Malawi itself, the prevalence of acute child hunger has fallen sharply. In October, the United Nations Children’s Fund sent three tons of powdered milk, stockpiled here to treat severely malnourished children, to Uganda instead. “We will not be able to use it!” Juan Ortiz-Iruri, Unicef’s deputy representative in Malawi, said jubilantly.

Farmers explain Malawi’s extraordinary turnaround — one with broad implications for hunger-fighting methods across Africa — with one word: fertilizer.

Over the past 20 years, the World Bank and some rich nations Malawi depends on for aid have periodically pressed this small, landlocked country to adhere to free market policies and cut back or eliminate fertilizer subsidies, even as the United States and Europe extensively subsidized their own farmers. But after the 2005 harvest, the worst in a decade, Bingu wa Mutharika, Malawi’s newly elected president, decided to follow what the West practiced, not what it preached.

Stung by the humiliation of pleading for charity, he led the way to reinstating and deepening fertilizer subsidies despite a skeptical reception from the United States and Britain. Malawi’s soil, like that across sub-Saharan Africa, is gravely depleted, and many, if not most, of its farmers are too poor to afford fertilizer at market prices.

“As long as I’m president, I don’t want to be going to other capitals begging for food,” Mr. Mutharika declared. Patrick Kabambe, the senior civil servant in the Agriculture Ministry, said the president told his advisers, “Our people are poor because they lack the resources to use the soil and the water we have.”

The country’s successful use of subsidies is contributing to a broader reappraisal of the crucial role of agriculture in alleviating poverty in Africa and the pivotal importance of public investments in the basics of a farm economy: fertilizer, improved seed, farmer education, credit and agricultural research.

Malawi, an overwhelmingly rural nation about the size of Pennsylvania, is an extreme example of what happens when those things are missing. As its population has grown and inherited landholdings have shrunk, impoverished farmers have planted every inch of ground. Desperate to feed their families, they could not afford to let their land lie fallow or to fertilizer it. Over time, their depleted plots yielded less food and the farmers fell deeper into poverty.

Malawi’s leaders have long favored fertilizer subsidies, but they reluctantly acceded to donor prescriptions, often shaped by foreign-aid fashions in Washington, that featured a faith in private markets and an antipathy to government intervention.

In the 1980s and again in the 1990s, the World Bank pushed Malawi to eliminate fertilizer subsidies entirely. Its theory both times was that Malawi’s farmers should shift to growing cash crops for export and use the foreign exchange earnings to import food, according to Jane Harrigan, an economist at the University of London.

In a withering evaluation of the World Bank’s record on African agriculture, the bank’s own internal watchdog concluded in October not only that the removal of subsidies had led to exorbitant fertilizer prices in African countries, but that the bank itself had often failed to recognize that improving Africa’s declining soil quality was essential to lifting food production.

“The donors took away the role of the government and the disasters mounted,” said Jeffrey Sachs, a Columbia University economist who lobbied Britain and the World Bank on behalf of Malawi’s fertilizer program and who has championed the idea that wealthy countries should invest in fertilizer and seed for Africa’s farmers.

Here in Malawi, deep fertilizer subsidies and lesser ones for seed, abetted by good rains, helped farmers produce record-breaking corn harvests in 2006 and 2007, according to government crop estimates. Corn production leapt from 1.2 billion metric tons in 2005, to 2.7 billion in 2006 and 3.4 billion in 2007, the government reported.

“The rest of the world is fed because of the use of good seed and inorganic fertilizer, full stop,” said Stephen Carr, who has lived in Malawi since 1989, when he retired as the World Bank’s principal agriculturalist in sub-Saharan Africa. “This technology has not been used in most of Africa. The only way you can help farmers gain access to it is to give it away free or subsidize it heavily.”

“The government has taken the bull by the horns and done what farmers wanted,” he said. Some economists have questioned whether Malawi’s 2007 bumper harvest should be credited to good rains or subsidies, but an independent evaluation, financed by the United States and Britain, found that the subsidy program accounted for a large share of this year’s increase in corn production.

The harvest also helped the poor by lowering food prices and increasing wages for farm workers. Researchers at Imperial College London and Michigan State University concluded in their preliminary report that a well-run subsidy program in a sensibly managed economy “has the potential to drive growth forward out of the poverty trap in which many Malawians and the Malawian economy are currently caught.”

Farmers interviewed recently in Malawi’s southern and central regions said fertilizer had greatly improved their ability to fill their bellies with nsima, the thick, cornmeal porridge that is Malawi’s staff of life.

In the hamlet of Mthungu, Enelesi Chakhaza, an elderly widow whose husband died of hunger five years ago, boasted that she got two ox-cart-loads of corn this year from her small plot instead of half a cart.

Last year, roughly half the country’s farming families received coupons that entitled them to buy two 110-pound bags of fertilizer, enough to nourish an acre of land, for around $15 — about a third the market price. The government also gave them coupons for enough seed to plant less than half an acre.

Malawians are still haunted by the hungry season of 2001-02. That season, an already shrunken program to give poor farmers enough fertilizer and seed to plant a meager quarter acre of land had been reduced again. Regional flooding further lowered the harvest. Corn prices surged. And under the government then in power, the country’s entire grain reserve was sold as a result of mismanagement and corruption.

Mrs. Chakhaza watched her husband starve to death that season. His strength ebbed away as they tried to subsist on pumpkin leaves. He was one of many who succumbed that year, said K. B. Kakunga, the local Agriculture Ministry official. He recalled mothers and children begging for food at his door.

“I had a little something, but I could not afford to help each and every one,” he said. “It was very pathetic, very pathetic indeed.”

But Mr. Kakunga brightened as he talked about the impact of the subsidies, which he said had more than doubled corn production in his jurisdiction since 2005.

“It’s quite marvelous!” he exclaimed.

Malawi’s determination to heavily subsidize fertilizer and the payoff in increased production are beginning to change the attitudes of donors, say economists who have studied Malawi’s experience.

Britain’s Department for International Development contributed $8 million to the subsidy program last year. Bernabé Sánchez, an economist with the agency in Malawi, estimated the extra corn produced because of the $74 million subsidy was worth $120 million to $140 million.

“It was really a good economic investment,” he said.

The United States, which has shipped $147 million worth of American food to Malawi as emergency relief since 2002, but only $53 million to help Malawi grow its own food, has not provided any financial support for the subsidy program, except for helping pay for the evaluation of it. Over the years, the United States Agency for International Development has focused on promoting the role of the private sector in delivering fertilizer and seed, and saw subsidies as undermining that effort.

But Alan Eastham, the American ambassador to Malawi, said in a recent interview that the subsidy program had worked “pretty well,” though it displaced some commercial fertilizer sales.

“The plain fact is that Malawi got lucky last year,” he said. “They got fertilizer out while it was needed. The lucky part was that they got the rains.”

And the World Bank now sometimes supports the temporary use of subsidies aimed at the poor and carried out in a way that fosters private markets.

Here in Malawi, bank officials say they generally support Malawi’s policy, though they criticize the government for not having a strategy to eventually end the subsidies, question whether its 2007 corn production estimates are inflated and say there is still a lot of room for improvement in how the subsidy is carried out.

“The issue is, let’s do a better job of it,” said David Rohrbach, a senior agricultural economist at the bank.

Though the donors are sometimes ambivalent, Malawi’s farmers have embraced the subsidies. And the government moved this year to give its people a more direct hand in their distribution.

The village of Chembe gathered one recent morning under the spreading arms of a kachere tree to decide who most needed fertilizer coupons as the planting season loomed. They only had enough for 19 of the village’s 53 families.

“Ladies and gentlemen, should we start with the elderly or the orphans?” Samuel Dama, a representative of the Chembe clan, asked.

Men led the assembly, but women sitting on the ground at their feet called out almost all the names of the neediest, gesturing to families rearing children orphaned by AIDS or caring for toothless elders.

There were more poor families than there were coupons, so grumbling began among those who knew they would have to watch over the coming year as their neighbors’ fertilized corn fields turned deep green.

Sensing the rising resentment, the village chief, Zaudeni Mapila, rose. Barefoot and dressed in dusty jeans and a royal blue jacket, he acted out a silly pantomime of husbands stuffing their pants with corn to sell on the sly for money to get drunk at the beer hall. The women howled with laughter. The tension fled.

He closed with a reminder he hoped would dampen any jealousy.

“I don’t want anyone to complain,” he said. “It’s not me who chose. It’s you.”

The women sang back to him in a chorus of acknowledgment, then dispersed to their homes and fields.

Killing a Chicken, Softly

Here's Josh and Marylynn (ok, really Joseph and Sayil) killing two chickens for our first "local" dinner!!

These are the days we'll remember (10 000 Maniacs).


Stay tuned for Gabriela and the loaf pan. And soon after, Gabri meets cousin Zavi who's coming with his Mom from Winnipeg later this month. Yippee! In the meantime keep your tires pumped, if not you can find Gabriela and Joseph at Delmas 75.

BREAST IS BEST !

Here we are with our Milk Mamas (2 babies and their Mamas who helped us be able to nurse Gabriela 5.5 months on breastmilk only). Mèsi, Thank you Ketly & little Jazlene, Bel Fanm and little Karlens. It was a scandal as they say in Dezam (the most popular, hard-to-believe story in Dezam for months) a miracle that continues. We switched to bottle at 6 months (incl. still one bottle/day of breast milk) but Gabriela has continued to nurse at my breast --she just feel asleep at my breast-- despite not getting milk still today at almost 16 months. (She actually made me relactate small drops at 12 months). I LOVE that Gabri does love-nursing and Gabri showed us that the nursing is SO MUCH MORE than MILK. I once asked Matt what he liked about Gabriela and he said: I love it that she still nurses! (Guess who's back in the running for husband/papa-of-the-year!!!?)

Gabri and Janey

Here's Janey Wynne, Haiti's leading ecologist, sharing the secrets of the earth with Gabri including LOVE and SHARING, BEING TOGEHTER, RESPECT for LIFE. . .

The Current and Future MCC (Haiti) Directors

We know we can't play this game much longer.

That's the-what-we-want-Gabriela-to-be-when-she-grows-up-game. Gabriela's personality is bursting out. And everyday she makes it more and more and more obvious that she understands what we say and do, FOR EXAMPLE: Matt dropped his keys on the ground, Gabri picks them up and walks over to the door, holds the keys up to the keyhole. She shampoos her head in the shower whether she has shampoo or not, she's eats soap (just kidding that's not an e.g.), the other day, well actually everyday, kids yell "blan blan" to me and when they yelled it, Gabri yelled "blan" too (Who know to whom but it makes me nervous?) (Imagining that "blan" might be her first word is my little nightmare : } but already she calls me Mama despite the fact that 3 in 8 people we pass on the street is saying..."you're not her Mama".)


what her parents want her to be when she grows up:
Esther- dancer (in the Lion king) b/c I'm not denying that this is still what I want to be as long as I still have time to garden
Matt- good at sports





The photo is Gabriela w/ Charity Coffey who has a neice Gabri's age far away in Michigan which I suspect is why she invites little G to visit her at work.

Happy Birthday EILY !!

Hi Eily, hey man HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY...I tried to call you but reception was poor. Helas! Can't wait to meet and run around some Canadian forests with you.
LOVE
Gabriela, making calls since 5 months

Gabri's Bubble Bath

There are hundreds of things we love about Dezam, one of them is water. Fresh, clean, cool, tree-filtered water flowing in rivers, streams, waterfalls, springs, rain, and taps. We are water babes! We are happy healthy frogs. I thinking about Port au Prince (where citizens often pay for a bucket of city : ( water) and where we are moving next week), when I was inspired to put Gabri in a bucket this Sunday morning and dump water on her head, thinking it might be more efficient for bathing when we get to the city. She didn't mind a bit... : )

Resident Evil in Haiti

Ok, so I guess "Resident Evil" is a film-video game mega-series, seemingly tending towards the scary, evil side. Anyway, when I read this I was reminded about how much we deal with sterotypes about Haiti. I remember when we were planning on coming here 3+ years ago and virtually everything we read started out like this: "Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere . . ." We need to shake these simplifying one-liners and narrow stereotypes.

Resident Evil 5 Set in Haiti?
02:09 pm EDT @ September 20th, 2007

So it appears that some of us press dudes may have jumped the gun about Resident Evil 5, saying that the game takes place in Sub-Saharan Africa.

According to Kotaku, who claim they got this tip from their "well-placed insider," the game doesn't take place in Africa at all. Instead, Haiti, a troubled nation in the Caribbean, is the location for the latest zombie-mowing extravaganza from CapCom.

Would make a lot more sense, seeing how keen folks are over there on chicken blood, dolls and needles. Then again, the voodoo tradition was actually carried over by slaves from Africa, so go figure.

As far as atrocities and genocide go, Haiti is not lagging too far behind, say, Ivory Coast, or Rwanda, so in that sense, any such nation would be an excellent (creepy) choice for a survival horror game.

Motorcycle Diaries, Part 2

A while back, beginning of August I think, we did our (2nd) annual motorbike trip here in Haiti. Me and Brian who both did the trip last year with James and Edwin, took on Josh, the new guy, of Crokinole movie fame, and Kurt (yes, Kreyol Kurt), another MCC motorbike trip newbie.

The trip was a bit short this year because we had to get back for Gabriela's baptism, but we had a blast anyway. This year we did a little more relaxing, exploring, swimming kind of stuff, whereas last year it was some hardcore riding. We stayed 2 nights out at MPP. Mark Hare, a guy a few of us knew already showed us around some of their innovative agriculture work.

On the way back to Desarmes, I had the bright idea, since we were going to get back too early and we hadn't really done too much heavy riding, to drive up one of the Digicel tower roads. It looked so nice, and smooth, and high. Would be a great view once we got to the top. But, we never got to the top. The road was bad. Haiti bad. Worse than Haiti bad. Started out ok, but got progresively worse as we climbed. Big rocks, steep inclines, sharp turns. Maybe 3/4 of the way we decided to take a break, but the break turned into a decision to turn around.





We hopped back on the bikes, only to find that Brian had a flat on his bike. So, we jumped right in to change the tire. Our collective knowledge and experience got us . . . well, didn't get us very far. Every little step took us reeeeeeeeeeeeeeealy long and it ended up taking 2 hours to fix. This was at noon. At the top of a hill. With no trees. In Haiti. And we had only a little bit of water left. It was HOT. But, we managed to get the tire changed with a new tube. But, only minutes later we realized that the tube was not holding air. So, Brian hurried down (as much as we could hurry) to find a Bos Kawochou (a real tire repair man) to get it solved. The hurrying didn't work too well for me. I feel twice. Not badly, but my pride was hurt - and I busted one of my mirrors. But we made it and lived to tell the tale.

After getting the tire fixed, it was a straight shot back to Dezam. One quick stop for Pringles in Cange, then the pavement in Mirebalais and we were cruising. We let it fly on the road between Mirebalais and Dezam - at least until dusk started to settle. It was FUN going fast, not something we get to do so often in Haiti with all the bad roads.

Back in Desarmes, we met up with Esther, Gabriela and Marylynn who had their own two-wheeled adventure. They tap-tapped up to Mirebalais with their bikes, and then biked back. They had a blast too.



I'm starting to work on the guys to get a trip going up to the North West (Gonaives, Anse Rouge, Jean Rabel, Port de Paix). We'll see!



PS. You can see a few pictures of the swimming hole we went to a bunch of times over at Kurt's blog. You'll find it way at the bottom a really long, but interesting, post about his family's visit to Haiti.

The Adoption Process: More Delays

Well, we're a bit disheartened by the latest news about adoptions in Haiti. You can read about it below, but the basic point is that the government has stopped processing adoptions while they do an investigation into a particular orphanage. Needless to say, this is frustrating for us and for the many other families waiting to finalize the adoption of their Haitian children. At the same time, we recognize how essential it is for the Haitian government to effectively monitor the orphanages operating in Haiti - because there are a bunch that are not above board.

Anyway, we're feel incredibly blessed that we have been with Gabriela since she was a "ti zwazo" (little bird) at 18 days old. That's more than a year ago now!!! Seeing her after a week away in San Diego was great, and we can't believe that we made it so long. We thought it would be a fun little break, but it was a lot harder than we thought! Gabou has that kind of effect on people I guess!! So, we continue on.

Please pray for the adoption situation in Haiti to be straightened out, for those abusing the privilege of caring for children in orphanges to see a better way, for those in the government here to get their act together and make the process a little more realistic, and for all those families waiting for kids - to have patience.

Peace and Love,

Matt, Esther and Gabriela.


** from http://ibesr-updates.blogspot.com/ **
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Don't Shoot the Messenger

I've debated for about a week on whether or not to post this because I know what an uproar it is going to cause. But! Being I'm continuing to receive emails, and now the lists are questioning things as well, the time has come.

I will tell it to you straight-up, but always keep in mind that things change daily.

Both IBESR and Parquet are supposedly ‘on hold’ from releasing the files or from getting final signatures until the investigation is done and/or until Mr Gassant in Parquet changes his mind and decides to cooperate. The latter could be longer than the investigation. But the good news for others is they are still accepting files – just not letting them go. MOI does not seem to be affected by the other offices being on hold - however, this could change. I am unclear at this point as to whose decision it is/was to release or not to release files from the two offices.

The reason is that awful story that was everywhere about the corrupt orphanage. Either UNICEF is investigating adoptions, or IBESR decided to hold their own investigation into adoptions based on UNICEFs recommendations.

It appears that once one of the bottlenecks in the Haitian adoption process gets unwrinkled, another one always has to pop-up to take its place.

Sorry I don’t have better news… However! If anyone knows how to speak French, maybe you can call Mdm. Beaudin’s office and get the scoop from the source. Mdm Beaudin oversees ALL of the adoption process through out Haiti – not just IBESR.

As usual, I will post more when I learn more.

posted by Kodak McClain | 6:18 PM

Gabri Goes Goodbye

Well, Gabriela is becoming an independent young lady and her new thing is walking to the gate, opening it, and walking out the door. She also loves to wave "goodbye." It's quite cute. This is all good practice, since today, for the first time since July 20, 2006, she is without at least one of us. Yes, we left her for a week with her nanny back in Dezam. We're heading out of the country for a few days and since she doesn't have papers yet, she can't travel. Sooooooooo . . . we left her this morning with a mixture of trepidation, worry, excitement for the freedom and eager anticipation for when we see her again on Sunday. We'll let you know how it goes!

Matt and Esther

Today I was baptized.

Today I was baptized in front of my family, friends, and community
at Legliz St.François de Dezam.





Last week, Pè Makenzie said I had to have a Catholic "Maren" (Godmother) and Catholic "Paren" (Godfather) to be baptized so now I have two marens: Guylene & Gerda, and at least one paren: Jean Remy.

Today I was baptized with water, oil, and light.

I liked all three but the oil was a new feeling and I was so fascinated that I sat still for 30 seconds while Pè Makenzie made the cross on my forehead with oil.

Today I was baptized.

"Jodia, yo te ba m mak BONDYE."
Today I received the mark of God.
I don't know yet where God will lead me.

love Gabriela, God is my strength


Then my guests ate peach kuchen (with papaya for peaches : ) and passion fruit-lime juice. .





. and I took a nap.

(Thanks Josh and Kurt for taking pics and Brian for washing plates & forks and Marylynn for cutting papaya etc. and in general just being wonderful "tontons" and "matants" and Gerda and Jean Remy for being Paren and Maren and explaining the ceremony to my folks. G)

the Gabriela day

It's the Gabriela day but it should actually be called the Matt and Esther and all our friends and family and the whole community of Dezam's day because it's the day we got so "lucky" (in the most divine sense), that Gabri came to live with us and we came out to Dezam and Dezam started to fall in love with her. (that's how WE see it: we're the ones who got lucky but we'll save that for another post.) So just because she's been so wonderful, we forced her to wear earings for her, our party.

Here's who helped us celebrate the anniversary: Rocky, Rubenski, Fafa, Dawonika, Jazline, Serena, Solène, Karlens in spirit (and their Mamas) and Kurt from Port au Prince, Don and Donna and Holly from Oregon who not only choose the right sparklers and balloons and party favours for the occasion but also made the place look festive with "Haitian" streamers. You can see them here (beyond the guy with the knife).


The blocks and bubbles were big hits but the water balloons were the best. . .

. . . and the pineapple upsidedown cake with aerosol whipped cream was even better. That's fresh pineapple and get this! we made it ourselves. At least one little person was impressed.







It was a precious moment when we all shared one thing we love about our babes. I asked Matt to go first just to start the ball rolling and he said how wonderful it is when he comes home and Gabri hears the gate and hears his voice and runs to edge of the balcony to greet him, busting with joy. Then one by one the other Mamas said the same thing and I thought "oh brother" because this is so what the Haitian educational system teaches it's students: to repeat. Repetition isn't always bad I guess. I can't complain when the sun comes up every morning against the bluest of skies and 1031+ days later I still love rice and beans for lunch. It's pretty cool that water I use to cool my face is the same water that cooled Toussaint Louverture so he could lead the Haitian revolution without a sweat and that a lot of tropical trees "reboujane" (grow multiple new trunks of good wood to replace one that's cut). And it's alright that we can keep coming to God and/or our friends for forgiveness when we've made the same mistake. I can't say I'm a big fan though when my phone card runs out mid-converstation again or I fall in the mud (i can't count how many times i've fallen for lack of 2 hands since my other hand is often supporting Gabriela in the sling) or big countries repeatedly take actions that hurt smaller countries and related, some countries could benefit from a coup d'etat cap to avoid the redundancy. Anyways that's all history and so is Gabri's party and I'm a little sad because it was really a lot of fun.

seriously

A Year on Hispaniola.

Back in November when I was hiding in our house wondering what to do with a baby and how to become anonymous in the most extraverted culture in the world, I don't know what was worse: the minutes dragging or how hot it was getting by the minute in our little Haitian house with rock walls and corrogated tin aka a griye pen (toaster). But the minutes and days, weeks, months have passed by and by the graceful and surprising ways of God we've gotten better at loving our neighbours and the day before yesterday marks a year that I've spent on this lovely little island of reality and dreams without leaving. One of the dreams we were having back in the day was to make our family grow...here in Haiti a dream has come true for us when we met the angel Gabriela and and she agreed to come live with us. 2 days from now marks a year of me and Gabriela and Matt living all together.
Here are a few things that happened this year, the first of G's life.

The war in Iraq is STILL going on and no one (well almost no one) thinks it's a good idea...still.



Henry David Thoreau was reincarnated in a washtub in Waterloo, Ontario.


















Tim Hortons became Fonthill's official donut, and Grayson Van Geest, Fonthill's official dutchie (well ~50% dutchie).









A baby popped out of an eagle's egg in
not-so-rural Manitoba.














And Jane De Lange turned 85 !
That's at least 3x your age Tiger (Woods) Happy Birthday OMA !


. . . and OMA, here's a message from your
6th great grand daughter:



Did any of your dreams come true this year?



Post your dreams here:
Please, we want to hear about them ; ) or send us an e-mail to: greatspirit@fastmail.fm if you don't want the world to see them yet.

love Esther & Matt & Gabriela
(cousin of Grayson, Ronin, Eily, and Zavi)

The Vagaries of Weather

Esther and I both grew up in families with deep agricultural roots, in fact, her parents still run a garden centre in Sarnia () Both of our families come from Holland and both were farming families. I spent much of my childhood, even into university, working in agriculture. Esther does a lot of gardening. We love nature. We love eating it's bounty. We love planting trees in our work now with MCC.

But it wasn't until last month that I started to feel like what I think farmers back in North America feel about the weather, specifically rain, and or lack thereof. You see, our work is very cyclical and is based on weather patterns. We start planting seeds in the nurseries in January and from then until early June, the committees are taking care of the trees in preparation for the big planting season when the rains start in June. We plan the tree distributions, but they are always based on the rains. If it hasn't rained the day before, we will not do a distribution on the next day, because we don't want people planting in dry conditions. Watering the seedlings after they are planted out is not an option, so we don't want to waste 6 months of work - so we wait for the rain.

This year, we had our 3 week schedule perfectly worked out, 2 distributions per day to do our 23 nurseries. We had a nice rain before the first distribution day and day one went off without a hitch. But then right away we were hit with 3-4 days with no rain, so we got behind almost from the start. But then the rains came and we were able to catch up after week two. Week three was a whole different story. The rains just stopped - completely. We went through that whole week with no rain and so our plans were thrown away. I had a planned trip to go visit friends back in Ontario ( for just after the distributions were to have finished, but because of the rain, they were to continue after I left.

While I was in Canada I felt this deep, gutteral emotion for Haiti, especially thinking about the rain. Is it falling? How much fell? Did they do the distribution today? How many distributions are left? How is the planting going? Are they all going to get done this week?

I checked the internet for weather patterns in the Caribbean. I emailed and called to get updates. But no rain. I didn't fall for 10 days. The distribution schedule was thrown into a tizzy and our staff were wiped out from having to deal with it all.

And I found myself relating to farmers in Ontario worried about the rain. Or too much rain. Or too cold. Or too hot. Or hail on the peaches. Or bug infestations. Or whatever vagaries of the weather Mother Nature would throw at us.

Or God, right? Yes. Still, despite the problems the lack for rain posed for us, the rains DID come, the distributions HAPPENED and over 400,000 trees were PLANTED! Thanks be to God.

Matt

Happy Birthday Gabri!

Gabriela took us up into the mountains above Portoprens for her b-day and then down the other side, give or take 2190 meters!!!!!, to Perido where we bought a candle and then took a taptap to the hotel in Jacmel where we met the other delegates (including the Minister of the Environment) for a 2-day environmental conference. The hotel kitchen was closed but Christophe turned a banana into something we could put Gabriela's candle into. Mèsi Christophe! Here we are singing "bon fet" (Happy Birthday) --left to right: Nahomie, Jean Remy, Estè, Matye, & Frantzo. Earlier that day Gabri's cousin Zavi was also having a party somewhere in Manitoba. . . . . .

Life!

Dear Zavi, welcome. . . can't believe you're 18 days old already! That's how old I was when I came to live with these funny blan (white folks). Speaking of, you could use a little Haitian sun nes pa? You're looking quite angelic though and very much alive. In my first language, Haitian Creole, we say lavi for life that's why we've been calling you Zavi Lavi
love Gabriela ps hi to matant Jennifer and tonton Will

maestro G at the drums (Legliz Nouvel Jerisalem, Charye)

Gabri walks.

Saut d'eau

Livrezon or tree distribution is getting the opposite of a raincheck. . .for lack of rain, we haven't been able to hand out trees. To cheer ourselves up, we went to Saut d'eau, an incredible mystical waterfall. Here we are: me & Gabri, Kurt, and Nahomie (she's the basking beauty). Try to find Saut d'eau on a map of Haiti (it's in the Artibonite). To read about LiVREZON, keep reading below. Pray for rain so everyone can plant plant plant!

We're Dancing.

The rain is here and it’s LIVREZON (tree distribution) season and I love it! (It’s just about tied for fun with Degroots Nurseries in May only here I get to walk through waterfalls on the way to tree nurseries and in Sarnia I get to eat my Mom’s cooking.) The cell phone alarm went off at 3:20am and by 4 Nahomie was with me and then Meleck on our way to Valere where we left the truck at Michelet’s house and he joined us on foot down to the river and up to and down to the Chanpyon tree nursery to hand out trees to the community. I didn’t fall in the mud and only fell once on 70 degree slope down to the tree nursery while Michelet made us laugh with his announcements in the megaphone: Get out of your beds people! Come and get trees. In 2 hours the 3 of us with the 7 Tree Nursery Committee members including Ketly and her 7 month belly, handed out 15,000 trees (100 per person) and sold a couple hundred. On the way home Bwanando invited us to his lakou (yard) where they brought us chairs and plates of rice and beans and juice. It was 8:30 AM. . . yahoo! I was stoked. . . we still have the whole day ahead of us. We crossed the river where I couldn’t resist jumping in for my morning dip and we were back in Dezam pronto and back at the office where I ran right into this adorable scene.

Lusilya wears many hats (most are lovely red) including one as a professional toilet trainer and we all love her — there’s no doubt she’s from heaven. Haitians are "top" on toilet training and it must be part genetic.
Hmmm...how long would it take me to plant 100 trees? And I was off on my bike with a case of kasya up the hill to the piece of millet field we’re transforming into a forest. Hoes moved rhythmically up and down making music on the rocks in the soil, the people swinging singing gently while I planted in the morning sun. Here’s what planting looks like.

You dig with a hole with a pikwa, a little deeper than the tree in the bag. You put the tree in and compact the soil behind it leaving a bowl shape around it so when the rain falls, water falls and sits in the hole keeping the tree fresh. The rocks mark the tree for those who will be hoeing the millet (on the left) and might not see the tree. Last year’s millet stalks will provide the little fertilizer these tough little kasya, that everyone loves but the goats, need to survive. Thank goodness b/c goats are the principal agents of deforestation at this point here in and around Dezam.

Back to the office where I put some clothes on Gabri and we were off to the dispensary hoping we could find her vaccination records, which we lost, maybe because we are not always sure we believe in vaccinations. Luckily when I showed up the nurses asked me if I wanted to weigh her so I didn’t have to fess up right away. We figured out our vaccinations and Gabriela weighed in at 19.3 lbs. I couldn’t resist the photo opp. so I borrowed a phone and called Matt to bring the camera. “No problem” he said and a minute later Wodline arrived with the camera.

That’s right, today Gabri’s nanny Lusilya came over to play with Gabriela while her sister Sonya cooked lunch and their niece Wodline made juice and ran errands for me and Matt!

Lunch, corn and beans and Creole sauce with fresh avocado slices and passion fruit juice, was waiting and so were my colleagues, so we ate and then half the team went to count trees at nurseries that will hand out trees tomorrow. Nahomie and Frantzo and I stayed back and we discussed how to follow up on the trees that students planted. Then they ran home before the rain came and then Madame Mamou who sells the BEST little fat bananas came by with a bunch of 24 just when we were on our way out to get bananas. We bought on credit b/c Matt walks around with all the money and he was out counting trees. Gabri and I were stir crazy when he got home but the sky was rumbling so we went to Bel Fanm’s (the women who pumps a bottle of milk/day for Gabriela) to borrow back our umbrella and then up to Madame Mamou’s where she took our 52 gouds ($1.40) and reprimanded us for walking in the rain. “What rain !?”, I said, like I just arrived on this Carribean island, and that’s when the rain really started : ) We walked down the long way to buy some gingerbread from our old neighbour stopping to watch a soccer game and a dominos game and the rivers forming in the road and EVERYone called us in from the rain: “Come sit with us out of the rain!” but we didn’t because we love walking in the rain.

I’m sitting here typing in my raincoat because it’s a cold 29 degrees : ) and I’m procrastinating from having to take a rainwater shower b/c it’s even colder up there where the rain starts. Gabri is playing with Katya and Samantha who came over to get food for little Rocky who needs a little help and extra food to make a full recovery from malaria.

There will be fruit salad with dinner and CBC on our Sirius satellite radio and we’ve already downed a pot of Rooibos tea. Re: news, you may have heard on the news about the under 17 Haiti National Soccer Team? They were in New York, in transit, on their way to a tournament in Korea and 13 team members disappeared into clandestine life in the US. But you might not have heard that there are people waking up with the birds, growing trees and raising children, and saying welcome, come in, drink some juice with us, and there are some dancing too. Life is good here in Haiti in many many ways. So if you see one of those 13 players, talk gently b/c they're likely missing home. And like us, and/or our parents, over time, they'll get used to their new home too. Hope life is good where you are too!


love Esther and G and M

PS. Check out the girl's T-shirt in the photo above to understand this post's title.

The Little Goat

Here's a little tree just planted by these 5 eco-activists (students in the MCC-supported enviro-ed. program) from the town of Lejan. Planting is part 1. Part 2 is protecting from animals, in particular, the goat.

Most Haitians have nicknames, including our little Gabriela. We call her Gabri or "Kabrit" or "ti Kabrit" which means little goat. Here's the little Gabriela goat. . . will she make it through the homemade barrier to this little mahogany tree?

the maestros of Dezam

soo here's something new-- Gabriela and Matt stayed in Port a day while I travelled back to Dezam to co-facilitate with Nahomie and Frantzo our last Fòmasyon Pwofesè Anviwònman (Environment Teacher's Training) so I had no one to film but everyone but Gabriela. For our trainings, the teachers become their students so we do everything w/ them that they will do w/ their students. Last year we were the water cycle; this year
I asked the teachers(students) to write songs w/ at least these 6 words in them:
1. sun
2. cloud
3. rain
4. river
5. roots
6. tree

Of course, I provided the first example, using the melody of the "Im Nasyonal" (National Anthem) which by the way is really has great words I'd love to teach you sometime, but for today we MCCers (Nahomie- whose natural musical talents are not fairly represented here, Frantzo, and me) are up first and then the teachers take it away with their own song composed in 5 mintues.

you'd think she was the governor general

Friday nights in Dezam : )

yoga babe masters apavistacanostana

biker babe

Breaking News from Haiti

Breaking News: Something Happening In Haiti

Cool Photography Project in Haiti

Just stumbled across a pretty interesting photography project going on with students here in Haiti.
Here is an excerpt from the website http://www.rocksandtrees.ca/haiti/index.html

Gabriela and the coffee tree

monday is market day in Leje

Gabriela and the "mi mi"

Money

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

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

Gabriela Stands!