The Rural Haiti Project

"Vwazinaj Se Dra Blan" “Your Neighbor is your Security Blanket”

noreply@blogger.com (Rural Haiti Project) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 10:15:00 +0000

Many, if not most Haitians living in areas that were affected by the earthquake congregate in public parks, soccer fields, church yards, neighbors’ yards or in the streets in front of their homes in makeshift encampments. When we asked people in Jacmel, Port-au-Prince and Leogane the question “will people be sleeping in their houses soon?” everyone’s response was about the same: “no one will be sleeping inside any time soon” and in many instances we heard “what every Haitian wants most right now is a good tent!” Some have even gone so far as to say that a new community camp culture is taking shape in Haiti because “there is a sense of solidarity in the camps, people feel less alone and stay because they feel a sense of security…they help each other so they can survive. If you are stuck for food for example, you no longer have to endure starvation, because if the group is cooking, you will eat…and new friendships are forming.”

Although life in communal camps seems to be the vogue now in Haiti, there are also signs that at least some people do want to return to their homes (if they still have homes) sooner rather than later, but that they are afraid to sleep in their homes until they can find an expert to give them the assurance that their homes are safe and could withstand another earthquake. This fear is significant for those with homes made of concrete. For instance, in Leogane (one of the most affected areas), a woman sitting with her family in front of what looked like an undamaged concrete home, explained “I won’t go back in until a good engineer examines the house and tells me it is safe to inhabit; until then, there is no way we are sleeping in there – we will sleep in the streets.”

Whether Haitians will end up creating a permanent cultural of sleeping in encampments and tents is debatable and remains to be seen, but what seems certain, and understandably so, is that many Haitians will not return to sleeping indoors without strong assurances that their homes are safe. Furthermore, and perhaps more importantly, any rebuilding in Haiti will have to be done in organized phases and take into account sustainable land use management, undergo master planning, careful zoning policy and adopt and enforce international building codes (e.g., The Caribbean Uniform Building Code (CUBIC)). All of this work will likely take some time and therefore, in the immediate, there is an urgent need for proper temporary housing so that people can live outside their homes and occupy public spaces under sanitary conditions with dignity until their homes can properly be rebuilt.

The Rural Haiti Project has established an architectural committee to help rural areas plan sustainable rebuilding efforts that take into account global visions for durable communities. Our work in this committee will seek to find funding to help communities rebuild and provide them with the professional and strategic support necessary for a viable future.

“S’a a, se Frijolito ki sove’l” “That one, it’s Frijolito that saved him/her”

noreply@blogger.com (Rural Haiti Project) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 06:05:00 +0000

The Earthquake happened just before 5 PM. Between 4 and 5 PM on weekdays, most people in Jacmel (as is probably the case for many people in Port-au-Prince as well) gather together in each other’s homes to watch Frijolito (“Amarte Así”), a Mexican soap opera dubbed in French. In Jacmel people speak of dying or surviving along the lines of where that person was when he or she was watching Frijolito, and thus, Frijolito either killed or saved you. For instance, if someone left their home and was watching Frijolito at another’s house and died there, people say “Frijolito touye’l” (“Frijilito killed him/her”) or, if a person’s house fell while they were somewhere else watching Frijolito, people say, “Frijilito sove’l.” (‘Frijolito saved him/her”). Walking in town, Jacmel January 24, 2010

“M’santi tè ap Moulen!” “I feel the earth is grinding away!”

noreply@blogger.com (Rural Haiti Project) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 06:04:00 +0000

Running out into the streets after an aftershock…Jacmel, January 24, 2010

“Ou Santi’l?!” “Do you feel it?!”

noreply@blogger.com (Rural Haiti Project) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 06:03:00 +0000

Running out into the streets after an aftershock…Jacmel, January 24, 2010

“L’anme Ale” “The Ocean Left”

noreply@blogger.com (Rural Haiti Project) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 05:59:00 +0000

“When it happened I was sitting here on the wall on the beach outside the Art Center…suddenly the earth started shaking, pieces of the Art Center falling from up high behind me and I saw the ocean recede as far as my eye could see and I saw all of the mountains in the ocean, I saw fish jumping to try to get to the water…I was so confused I actually ran inside the Art Center and ran right out through the other side of the building.” FOSAJ Artist January 24, 2010

Jacmel Hospital Visit January 24, 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Rural Haiti Project) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 05:23:00 +0000

Today we visited the only public hospital in Jacmel. All of the patients were laying outdoors under tarps tied to trees and poles with beds lying in close proximity of each other. Some patients had family members next to them, some with no one present. As we walked in we saw ladies with plates of rice and beans topped with macaroni, distributing what we were later told was the only meal of the day that was given to patients, served at around 4PM.

As we walked through the patient laden courtyard we were immediately greeted by a hospital administrator and a teacher who heatedly started to fill us in on the situation at the hospital; we did not have a chance to ask the first question. The men told us that they did not understand why there was so much aid coming in at the port and the only hospital in the town still had not received medical supplies. The men noted that they had heard that milk, tents and medical supplies had arrived but that nothing had been brought to the hospital yet. We looked over and saw what looked like an army tent on the other side of the hospital’s courtyard. We asked the men about this and they told us that they believed that this was probably a Canadian or U.S medical team working independently. They explained that these foreign doctors conducted surgery but that the patients were then sent back to the hospital’s care, but that the hospital seriously lacked adequate medical equipment and the staff to properly care for the patients. The men also told us that there was a group of Cuban doctors on the other side of the hospital. We asked the men where the food that was being served came from and they told us that an organization called PAM had donated the rice, however, the hospital was running out of gas for cooking and that they would probably run out in a day or two. In addition, they mentioned that they had no fuel for the hospital ambulances.

Soon after, we were joined by a doctor who had just delivered a baby under one of the tarps. The doctor noted that it had been a complicated delivery and that among other things, he had lacked a suction pump, but that luckily one of the foreign doctors who happened to be walking by, noticed the problem and brought over a suction pump to help. The doctor said that after delivering the baby he advised the mother that she should see a pediatrician before leaving the hospital in case the baby had caught an infection during childbirth because it may have come into contact with an open abscess that the mother had. The doctor left the mother and newborn to tend to other patients and when he returned she had left with the baby. The doctor does not know if she ever saw a pediatrician, and he explained that since there is a shortage of pediatricians in Jacmel anyway, that it probably would have taken some time and effort to find one and that since most of the nurses did not show up for work today (he did not know why), there was no one to keep the woman from leaving.

The doctor subsequently recounted his experience on the day of the horrific earthquake. He told us that he is a gynecologist and came to the hospital as soon as the earthquake hit on January 12th. He told us that most of the injured that night suffered from broken limbs and needed orthopedic surgery and amputations. Because there were no orthopedic surgeons in Jacmel at the time, he had to conduct many amputations himself, a procedure he had never done before as a gynecologist.

After talking with the doctor and the others, we headed to the hospital pharmacy to donate medical supplies consisting of syringes, surgical kits, surgical masks, soap, blankets and other materials. At the pharmacy we met with two head nurses who permitted us to walk under the tarps to visit patients. We visited with a mother and a baby girl about 6 months old. The baby had been injured in the leg. We noticed that the baby needed a clean diaper, but the mother did not have any, nor did the hospital. The nurse gave the mother some kind of makeshift bandage to serve as a diaper for the evening. We promised the mother we would come back in the morning with diapers.

After assessing our visit, we decided that we could help the patients by providing breakfast. Depending on the food we find in the area on different days, we will bring breakfast to the hospital, which may consist of a variety of bread, milk, bananas, plantains, seasonal fruits such as tangerines and hot cereals. We will be visiting the hospital daily.

La Montagne, Jacmel January 23, 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Rural Haiti Project) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 05:00:00 +0000

This morning we visited 80 children that we work with in Terre Rouge, La Montagne located in the mountains, approximately 40 minutes by car from the major seaside city of Jacmel. Jacmel suffered significant damage and casualties in the earthquake and we wanted to check up on our kids in Terre Rouge. Upon our arrival we were relieved to learn that all of our kids were accounted for and none were wounded! After discussions with the children and a walk around town we learned however, that many homes had been damaged or destroyed and, similarly to many Haitians today, many families in Terre Rouge are also now homeless or have damaged homes. It is interesting to note that the reason that there were no deaths in Terre Rouge is most probably due to two significant differences with major cities: (1) all the houses in Terre Rouge are small one story structures with corrugated metal roofs supported by wood joists and rafters (thus roofs did not cave in and the walls fell outwards) and (2) most people in Terre Rouge work outdoors in their yards or in fields during the day and spend very little time indoors until later in the night.

In addition to damages to homes, as we expected, many families in Terre Rouge are having additional economic difficulties due to the severe crisis in Jacmel. Jacmel is the center of economic exchange for Terre Rouge and the area of La Montagne generally. Therefore, to help families get back on their feet, we provided each child with enough bulgur wheat and spaghetti to bring home to help feed a family of four for approximately a week. We also provided the community with a first aid kit and medicine (to be managed by a town nurse who is a member of Rural Haiti Project) to treat the children in case of sickness and wounds in the future. We will conduct a similar visit on Wednesday, January 27th with the children we work with in Kaminette, near the town of La Vallée de Jacmel.

Alcid Kesly, Haiti Cherie

noreply@blogger.com (Rural Haiti Project) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:00:00 +0000

Workshop La Montagne - January 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Rural Haiti Project) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:00:00 +0000

01-28-08

We left from the historic seaside city of Jacmel for the town of Terre Rouge in the mountainous region of La Montagne that reaches about 500 meters above sea level. The climate in Terre Rouge is warm on most days but cool at night and in the early mornings. The color of the soil is rich red resembling red clay.

We made the journey sitting in the back of a pickup truck full of food and art supplies, driving uphill on a bumpy and winding road with the scenic backdrop of the Caribbean Sea and the city left behind.

We were on our way to meet 27 students between the ages of 6 through 12 who attend a local school called L’école Presbyteriale de Saint Pierre et Saint Paul, along with some of their school teachers, parents and other members of the community.

Welcome

We arrived at the location for the workshop by mid morning, the home of a respected and loved elder, Mr. Mathieu Agella. Mr. Agella’s home is a “lakou” (a set of connected yards and homes that make up a compound) positioned amidst a small forest of trees and plants that Mr. Agella and his family maintain. Mr. Agella grew up in La Montagne and is a horticulturalist, a coffee grower and a carpenter. Mr. Agella explained that if he ever cuts down a tree he replaces it immediately. He is an example of an endangered set of values and knowledge held by the “peyizan” of Haiti that, amongst other things, holds a strong belief in cultivation and maintenance of the local ecological system.

Mr. Agella welcomed us with open arms, along with members of his family, teachers, parents and other members of the community in attendance.

The children on he other hand sat in rows in the middle of the main yard dressed in their school uniforms with serious looks on their faces. The director of the school informed us that the children had prepared welcoming songs for us and that they had been waiting all morning to finally perform and so we all agreed that it was best to let the children sing before we made any introductions. We were also excited to hear the children sing! The first song, sung in a flowing rhythm, went like this:

“Mesye dam, Mesye dam se bonjou n’ape di nou, se bonjou n’ape di nou, se bonjou n’ape di nou.
Nou vini, nou vini, pou n’ aprann fè bèl bagay, pou aprann fè bèl bagay, pou n’ aprann fè bèl bagay.
Nou kontan, nou kontan, nou tout pra l’ travay ansanm, nou tout pra l’ travay ansanm, nou tout pra l’ travay ansanm.
Mesye dam mesye dam lala lala lala lala…”

“Ladies and Gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, we are saying good morning to you, we are saying good morning to you, we are saying good morning to you.
We come, we come to learn how to make beautiful things, to learn how to make beautiful things, to learn how to make beautiful things.
We are happy, we are happy that we will work together, we will work together, and we will work together.
Ladies and Gentlemen and gentlemen, lala lala lala lala lala….”

After the singing, we introduced the project, answered questions, engaged in some discussion and set up for the drawing/painting session. The children started to relax and had fun as we took their pictures and showed them pictures of past workshops in other communities.

Workshop

We conducted two phases of drawings with the children. For the first phase we blindfolded the children and they drew with two crayons each. The intent of this exercise was to try to have them use solely their imaginations rather than draw objects strictly as they saw them in the immediate surroundings. At first, some of the children were apprehensive about being blindfolded. Some voiced the concern that they would not be able to do a good job if they could not see, but after a little bit of encouragement, the children worked diligently on their drawings; although some peeked at times and roared with laughter when they were caught!

The second drawings consisted of a freestyle exercise using acrylic, pencil, markers and crayons. As a constraint however, we asked the children to think of a place that they loved in Terre Rouge as they drew.

We were very impressed with the results. For instance, we noticed how the children influenced each other if they stood side by side. As a result, some of the drawings were very similar as if two artists were working in tandem on a series of paintings with a singular theme.

In addition to solo drawings, Hervé worked on a large painting with a number of children. This collaborative work used acrylic and red earth as mediums.

After the drawing sessions we took a lunch break and ate traditional rice and beans, a beef dish called Tasso Boeuf and salad. We ate with the children and talked with them informally and got to know them on a personal level.

After lunch the children disappeared and returned with gift baskets for us and sang for us while a few of them played drums on plastic buckets. The farewell song went like this:

“Elèv nan Sen Pyè jodi a n’ap fete, n’ap parèt pou nou fè kè visitè yo kontan.
Elèv nan Sen Pyè yo n’ap monte, n’ap desann n’ap parèt sa nou pote
Mwen menm Rosita ki soti nan banbou se pou m’ fè madam Yanick kado”

“Students of Saint Pierre, today we are celebrating; we are showing up to make the visitors happy
Students of Saint Pierre we are going up, we are going down; we are showing what we have brought
Me (name of kid), who came from (part of the county the kid is from) I have brought a gift for (one of us)”

After the song we said warm goodbyes and promised to return. We also scheduled meetings with the director of the school and other community leaders to plan our next visit.

Results/Vision

On this visit we established the beginning of what we aim to be a long-term relationship with the children we met and the community of Terre Rouge. Through discussions and the artistic process we started to learn about the area, to learn about some of the problems that the children and the community face as well as about the positive aspects of the community. Our goal is to work with these children (and others along the way) and with the community in a collaborative manner, provide assistance and conduct workshops to help these children become leaders for change in their communities as well as to help these children achieve immediate goals that can help them succeed as individuals and contributing citizens. We cannot wait to return soon!

Summer 2007 Workshop, Friday July 27th

noreply@blogger.com (Rural Haiti Project) — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 16:19:00 +0000

The Rural Haiti Project summer 2007 workshop Friday July 27, 2007

It’s six o’clock local time this morning. We are doing our routine preparation for the morning. Something different is about to happen today. We are having two guests today, Estone who is the chair maker and a nurse who will talk about health issues.
We have a lot of drawing sessions and presentations scheduled for today. The kids will be working late again.
I can’t wait to see the work that they will produce. I hope that it will be as fulfilling as last year and that the stress of working late will not take a toll on them. As I mentioned yesterday that the older kids took drawing material with them to work; they will be arriving with new drawings and we are planning a presentation for this morning for the work that they did yesterday afternoon and the new kids will attend and also will present their work as well.
It promises to be very exciting. This morning, and so will shall see.

The fruits of the day are ripping. The kids are producing some really great work and our special guest, Estone who is the local craftsman demonstrated and worked with the kids on how to make a chair with leaves from a plant called “liech” which is found in wetlands. One of the kids whose name is Billy Mombrun picks up the skills very well and fast to point that the other kids started calling him “Estone” and Estone himself said he would recruit Billy to work with him at his shop.
Before the arrival of Estone; all of the kids; the new group and the old were mixed together to make murals. Overall they did 9 murals.
We had a horticulturalist that came to teach the kids about grafting plants together. His demonstration was how one can have 8 different kinds of mangos from one tree. After his demonstration in the school with the kids he took us to an actual mango tree and did it on site. The graft must stay bound for 22 days before the top of it can be unbound.
The day was thrilling. We had the kids present their work and it was a blast. A lot of them are shy and they speak very slowly and low, but some of them had a lot great ideas and expressed themselves very well. For example there was one that painted a house in green and yellow with the Haitian flag on top of it. When we asked him why this was so and he said that he loves Brazilian football but Haiti is his country and could not but the Brazilian flag on that of the house. I finally connected with new kids today. They were so cute and adorable.
Tomorrow is the last day of the workshop and we are closing it by giving each kid a tree to plant and take care.
I am so overwhelm by the outcome of today that I do not really know where to start and how much to put down.

With all do respect, I will let the images do the talking for me.

Thank you all.

The Rural Haiti Project Summer 2007 Workshop Day 2

noreply@blogger.com (Rural Haiti Project) — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 23:02:00 +0000

The Rural Haiti Project Summer 2007 Workshop Day 2 July 25th 2007

It’s me again,

It’s raining almost every evening since I got here and the main street of the town is not paved and is full of holes. Sometimes one is driving through lakes. The infrastructure is in an extremely bad condition.
We are always running a generator for most of our power supply, (we need to get these green energy companies to supply us with renewable energy equipment).
The workshop opened this morning at 7:00 am with the theme song for the environment
“Let’s put our hands to protect our environment, it’s yours, it’s mine, it’s yours, it’s his/hers, it’s our, let’s put our hands together to protect our environment.”
We did a series animations with the new kids; some of them recited poetry, some told stories, others told some jokes, and danced.
We had a guest lecturer today who lectured on environmental protection, specifically reforestation and the problematic of deforestation (soil erosion, drought, and depleted ground water supply). The kids were very involved. They asked many questions and gave their opinion on how any reforestation efforts should be tackled. We are very confident that the message is getting through, but there is still a lot of work to do in that department, as we need to get them to influence their parents on curbing certain practices. we have burning garbage everywhere. it's a desaster. The smell of burning plastic like spraying perfume in the early evening hours and somtimes they burn through the night and you see them still burning in the early morning.
The kids from last year were at it again with their drawings sessions where 90% of the drawings are houses. One of them drew a clinic and a bunch of people going to it with a little cartoon bubble note saying this town needs more clinics. Last night a couple of them dropped off some drawings they did during the course of the year at my place. Pretty cool drawings of mostly flowers and couple of cartoon figures.
I tried to go online last night to send post some images to no avail the infrastructure he is not up to par. Worst is today when my cousin went to get us internet service which we had inquired about, they want us to pay $250.00 for the equipment then charge $60.00 a month for the service but the catch is that you don’t really own the equipment because they want you to pay three months upfront so to get access for something that most of us pay very little for we need to spend nearly $500.00 dollars. We need your help in setting up a center with a few computers in other to warrant such exorbitant and undemocratic practice. Well with more computers we can have more kids visiting the center to get help with their schoolwork and, learn computer technology and communicate with world. Back to the kids, the new kids are so cute, they had their first drawing session this afternoon. We have a couple of 4 year olds in the workshop they were excellent.
Some of them show great capacity to learn, but others still do not know how to write their names. We are working closely with these kids to give them the basics of reading and writing. We will sponsor a percentage of their school year.
We are making arrangements for some of the kids to go online and blog and check out the website site. They are always very excited to see slide shows of the photos that we took of them.
We have tree planting scheduled for Friday and a light training session with a local artisan that I know since I could remember, his name is Estone and he makes chairs with dried banana leaves.

Save the date for July 12th we will have a private reception to view the work of the kids, videos and photos of the whole workshop.

Summer 2007 Workshop Day 1

noreply@blogger.com (Rural Haiti Project) — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 22:45:00 +0000

Hey Everyone, fir

Thank you for all your support. I made it in one piece.

Today was the first day of the workshop, it will end on saturday with a big exhibition.
This morning we had the original 20 kids that we did the workshop with last year nd we added another 35 to the program. The group in Haiti organized a great show this morning. We started t 7 am everyone wakes up early in this country at 6 am everyone is up and already having their overly sweetened and overly strong coffee. Te program started with a lottery to choose the 35 additional children, the parents were very involved as well. The kids were engaged in creating a song entitled "let's put our hands together to protect our environment." The song is recorded and I will share the video with you. The kids from last year's workshop will be involved in recycling plastic bottles and bags to create a series of objects that can be used by local vendors with stalls along the streets. They also will be working in planning a "lakou." a Lakou is a property that is like a small village where members of the same members of a family lives gneration after generation. Now Many of these lakous have become mini slums. The goal will be for them to carefully analyze one of these lakous and come up with a development plan for it.
The new kids will take the same path of the kids last year with drawing programs and intense activities on how to portect their environment and care for it. we hope to plant trees and clean the streets of the town. They will go on a campaign to tell their parents and other kids about garbage disposal and recycling.
We are very proud to say that we are consuming all our food from producers in the country right down to the cows that leaves not far from my family's property for milk (now that is green). Did I say that the cows are not given any hormones or other chemicals 100% organic milk. Only if the ladies preparing the food could put a little less sugar in the milk and the other beverages they prepare.. Lol..
Talking of being green we bought all aluminum plates,untensils and cups that we can use again and again. We did not use one single disposble plate and untensil.
We have a lot programmed for tomorrow morning and the afternoon. There are two sessions, one that runs from 7:00 AM to 1:00 PM and another that runs from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM which will be a like an art/architecture school studio.
Until tomorrow. Right now I am using a cyber cafe to write this. Tonmorrow we should have our own service.I am unable to upload any media on this blog it is way too slow.
Take care and come back and check the blogg out adn thank you for all your suport.

Sincerely,

James-Herve Sabin

The Rural Haiti Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Rural Haiti Project) — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 20:49:00 +0000

Hi,
We will be posting live updates to this site while the project is in action.. Stay tuned for more information.