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

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

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

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

planting "kashema" (custard apple seeds) in Savana Wòch Tree Nursery

planting "kashema" (custard apple seeds) in Savana Wòch Tree Nursery
Originally uploaded by mattnest.

birdwatching 101 with Pwofesè Bwett

birdwatching 101 with Pwofesè Bwett
Originally uploaded by mattnest.

Carrot-top on Mountain-top

Carrot-top on Mountain-top
Originally uploaded by mattnest.

looking out over the edge

looking out over the edge
Originally uploaded by mattnest.

black eyed susan vine grows to heaven

black eyed susan vine grows to heaven
Originally uploaded by mattnest.

a rack of lamb for the veggie-head...p.s. why is this Caribbean-dweller wearing a sweater?!

a rack of ribs for the veggie-head...p.s. why is this Caribbean-dweller wearing a sweater?!
Originally uploaded by mattnest.

Hiking in the Mountains

Hiking in the Mountains
Originally uploaded by mattnest.

Cyvadier Jacmel lookout

Cyvadier Jacmel lookout
Originally uploaded by mattnest.

Giant Papaya!

Giant Papaya!
Originally uploaded by mattnest.

mattandesthercuties

mattandesthercuties
Originally uploaded by mattnest.

Truck in the mud!

Truck in the mud!
Originally uploaded by mattnest.

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

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.

part of our MCC Dezam team

part of our MCC Dezam team
Originally uploaded by mattnest.

Our nephew Grayson

Our nephew Grayson
Originally uploaded by mattnest.

I'm Crazy!

I'm Crazy!
Originally uploaded by mattnest.