Second trip to Haiti post-earthquake

Thursday, May 13, 2010 – Port-au-Prince

A church is being built at Acra camp, using a wooden frame and tarps.

A tent from ORE for Johnnykel

Johnnykel informs me his platform is now ready so we’re going to make another try at getting his tent set up today.

Walking up the path in the Acra camp with him, I see people building a church. Perched in a tree, a man helps spread huge tarps on a wooden frame. I have a feeling people think they’re going to be here for a long time to come!

The tent takes all available platform surface

Two workers Johnnykel had to hire to level the surface are still at work with their pics when we arrive. “I thought the ground was soil” Johnnykel explains, “when it’s in fact rock, and hard rock. I could not do it myself.” Several friends of his have come to help and we start deploying the tent. It takes all the available space. It’s not an easy tent to erect but through trial and error, they manage.

Setting up this tent is not so easy but after trial and error, they manage.

Evelyn who is to give me a ride back in town, arrives at the site. It’s her first time up here and I await her reaction after she has caught her breath  “It’s like climbing Everest here!” she exclaims. We all laugh. I’m glad I’m not the only one finding it a steep climb!

The tent is up.

I think of the hardship of living in this camp, carrying water, food and other supplies on one’s head, up the hill, on slippery terrain, day after day after day…
“Is that what you’re going to have to do?” I ask Johnnykel. “Yes…” He has my respect, and so do all the residents of the camp.

Johnnykel finally in his tent.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010 – Port-au-Prince

Not feeling too well, Rodenson barely touches his meal. It's the first time I see him so down.

I go to the Champs de Mars camps this morning, to visit with the families I know.
Carline greets me with joy and takes me inside her new tent to see her son Rodenson. The little boy does not feel well and barely touches the meal she brought him. I can see by his eyes and slow reaction he’s under the weather. He doesn’t have a fever though. It may be just the blues. I try to cheer him up by giving him a set of watercolors, notebooks and color pencils. It’s the first time I see him so down.

A very smart deal

I inquire about the new tent – a disaster relief frame tent, donated by the Chinese, that I had seen before but it was occupied by another family. “That family left to go to the province” explains Carline, “and they could not take the tent with them because it’s too big and cumbersome, so we made a deal: I gave her the smaller tent you gave me and I got to have this one.” Very smart. I’m happy for Carline and her family.

Carline's new shelter. Her 10-year old son Rodson (Rodenson's brother) rolls up the door flap.

From living in a broken down pickup truck to sleeping in an 8×8 tent to living in a well ventilated and large disaster relief tent, this single mother of four does all she can to improve the life of her family, given the circumstances.

Jealousy strikes again

While at Carline’s tent, I get a call from Josette. She lost her cell phone and calls me from a neighbor’s phone. “Carole chérie, you know what they did to me?” she says all excited. “What happened Josette?”. “- Someone slashed my tarps with a razor blade! Now it rains inside again.” This is the second time someone destroys her makeshift shelter. The first time, she had her poles stolen (see blog entry 03/05/10) . I agree with her that she and her two little children can’t stay in that camp any longer . She found someone on Delmas blvd who will let her stay inside a gated property. “Can you help me move there?” she asks, “do you have a tent for me?”. Yes, I have a tent. “I’ll see what I can do to help you move, Josette.”  “Oh thank you, mamie cherie, thank you. God bless you!”

Not so easy to put children in school

Adeline combs the hair of her neighbor's daughter to get her ready for school.

I take leave of Carline and Rodenson, and continue my round. Around the corner, on the sidewalk I see Adeline who received a PATCH tent last week. She stuck some religious images of Jesus between the no-see-um screen and the window flap. She’s combing a little girl’s hair and smiles as I approach. “Is this your daughter?” I ask her. “No, it’s my neighbor’s daughter. I’m combing her hair because she has to go to school and her mother is busy.” Adeline, poor Adeline, she has the time. She scratches a meager living from selling individual candies and cookies from a flat wicker basket. I’m sure she must not make much profit or many sales as everybody sells the same thing.

Religious images are displayed on Adeline's tent.

She used to live near the Cathedral before the earthquake and had no place to stay afterward so she and her 14-year old daughter Judeline ended up on the pavement, sleeping under the stars with a torn-up tarp, before receiving the tent. She has two other children who went to Les Cayes in the southern province  to stay with relatives. She’s trying to put Judeline in school but her daughter’s school diploma got lost in the tradedy. “I sent a copy of her birth certificate to the Education ministry to try and get a copy of her diploma” she tells me. But she also has no money to let her daughter continue her studies.

Moving Josette to another location

Josette and her children sit in front of the tent received from PATCH-Haiti. But 4-year Magdali moans "I'm hungry... I'm hungry..." Painful cries to a mother's ear.

I get to Josette’s shelter located in the camp across for the destroyed National Palace and she shows me what happened. The big grey tarp covering her shelter is now lacerated with razor cuts. With her responsibility for two young children, it is indeed unsafe for Josette to remain there. I tell her where to meet me, away from the camp, and when my ride comes to get me, I take Josette and her children on board and we drive her to her new location across town.

It is in the courtyard of a big house that is deemed unsafe for occupancy. But the courtyard is OK and the owner has allowed three families to camp there. It has a gate that is closed at night. I meet the families welcoming Josette and we set up her tent.

Little 4-year old Magdali clings to her mother and moans “I’m hungry… I’m hungry…” Josette finds a cookie and gives it to her. I can just imagine the pain of a mother who has no food to give to her children. Fortunately Josette is on ORE’s food list but a month is a long time for stretching the rations. Plus you have the neighbors to share with. Josette would like to start a little commerce and sell things but she has no money to invest and no references to get a loan.  Her two young kids prevent her from seeking work outside the home.  16-month old Rebecca is not even hers – she rescued her after the earthquake killed her father. The toddler’s mother died in childbirth. “Rebecca, she’s the Lord’s child” says Josette, “she’s dependent on God. She needs to be baptized. The priest told me she needs to be baptized, but I have no money.” So Josette worries about that too.

Homeless in Port-au-Prince, across from the National Palace.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010 – Port-au-Prince

Delivery of ORE’s tents

Bringing ORE's tent and cots to Dahomé camp.

Today Evelyn and I will deliver some of the tents purchased by the ORE team in Florida for a few families they identified on the last trip to Haiti. These are family tents and the recipients are very happy at the prospect of getting some kind of temporary but decent shelter. They’ve been living since the earthquake either with friends or under tarps.

A view of another camp from Dahomé camp.

We first go to Dahomé camp on Delmas 6 – tarp-covered shacks as far as the eye can see greet the visitor. We explain to Timogene how to set up the tent. Friends will help him as we have to go on.
Our next stop is in Tabarre, past the airport,  and with bumper to bumper traffic it takes us 90 mn to get to our next recipient. He has his own field and will set up there.

Timogene and a friend spread out the tent he received from ORE.

On the way back to Port-au-Prince we stop at a Home Depot-like store, just past the American Embassy, where many foreigners buy imported construction materials and other home improvement supplies. It looks just like a Home Depot. I need to buy tarps to give with the dome tents I distribute as well as one for Makil’s tent for added protection against the rains. When it rains in Haiti, it pours and of course tents are still not the best shelters in tropical storms. It is so frustrating to see hundreds of thousands of people withstanding the elements with nothing more than a plastic roof. We do what we can.

It is so hot that in spite of our air-conditioned vehicle, we get back to the capital exhausted.

Tarp camp on the airport road.

Delivery of a tent at Acra camp

A view of the anarchic constructions built on the hills surrounding Petionville. These were spared by the earthquake, but it is a disaster waiting to happen.

Later in the afternoon I meet with Evelyn again in Petionville, at the Acra camp to deliver another one of ORE’s donated tents to Johnnykel. He’s to meet us at the camp after work (he’s found a job with an NGO but has to take two tap-taps -public transportation pickups – all the way from Martissant in the outskirts of Port-au-Prince where traffic is the worst). When she arrives at our meeting point, Evelyn has problems getting her car off the street and onto the dirt path leading to the camp as a sedan, all doors opened, blocks the way. Blaring music coming from inside prevents a man leaning half way into the car on the passenger side to hear the horn.

One side of Acra camp viewed from the street.

I go to the car and leaning toward the driver’s side I say “Hello?”…Hello?” No answer. “Could you please move your car?” I scream on top of the racket. At that the man looks up, and with a hard look on his face, barks at me “What for???” I explain the problem, pointing to our vehicle, while Evelyn through the windshield window grins as wide as she can and gives him the thumb’s up. The guy softens up a bit and agrees to move his car out of the way. As I turn around, I catch a glimpse of a pistol in his pants pocket. I do a double-take – yep, a pistol. OMG.

Carrying the tent package Johnnykel leads the way up the hill at Acra camp.

Johnnykel arrives shortly thereafter and Evelyn hands the tent and cots to him and a helping friend. She has to go back home but I stay as I want to photograph the setting of the tent. And so I follow the two guys along the narrow slippery uphill dirt path lined by rows of tarp-covered shacks. The whole camp is made up mostly of shacks erected on the hillside. We climb and climb. I puff and sweat under the heat.

A family smiles at our passage as we go up the hill to Johnnykel's platform

I have to stop to catch my breath, forcing Johnnykel and his friend to slow down. Eh, I’m not twenty anymore! They’re used to it and climb with the agility of goats in spite of the weight of their loads. A good thing if he’s to live here. Finally we arrive almost on top of the hill at the platform he’s prepared for the tent.

A pinch of Liberty at Acra camp.

I can see right away this is way too small and the tent won’t fit. Space is at a premium in this camp and he does not have much. Sorry, Johnnykel, but you’ll have to enlarge this platform before the tent can be erected. Plus the skies have turned grey and rain is on the way. Time to go. I take a minute to appreciate the view he will have from his site – all the way to the Bay of Port-au-Prince. You have to find the silver lining wherever you can.

Johnnykel accompanies me back down. A friend will pick me up on the street at the entrance of the camp. On the way down the path I feel it would be wise to warn Johnnykel of what I saw earlier “Johnnykel, are you aware there are people here that are armed?” I ask him in a whisper. He looks at me shocked “What? Are you sure?” I tell him about the pistol sighting. He pauses and gives me a description of the car and the man. “Yes, that’s him” I reply. He relaxes and laughs “Oh, I know him. Not to worry. He’s a civilian policeman!”. I’m relieved.

View of the bay of Port-au-Prince from the heights of Acra camp.

Monday, May 10, 2010 – Port-au-Prince

Traveling back to Port-au-Prince

I am returning to Port-au-Prince today with an ORE vehicle and driver. Taking advantage of the “roue libre” (free ride) are some members of the Dossous family: Paola (going back to school in Port-au-Prince), Natacha (going back to her agronomy classes in Leogane), Ricardo (going back to Port-au-Prince where he makes a living by reselling water and other beverages) and a friend of theirs. They had come to Camp Perrin over the weekend to give a song recital to celebrate Mousson’s birthday.

With Jesus as their Pilot, passengers load bulky items on the top of a truck.

Feeling slightly car-sick during the 4-hour journey, I remain silent in the front seat, but hear them talk in the back. Their conversations revolve around whom they lost and who survived the earthquake, about a friend who remained stuck and was unable to be freed and died in the rubble, about someone who was given water for several days before being pulled out. Four months after the catastrophe, their memories of it are vivid, detailed and unforgettable. They don’t talk of the properties they all lost, but of the victims. There are no tears or crying, just feelings of gratefulness to have known the people who passed away and of joy at recalling their lives.
After a period of silence, I hear Paola say with spiritual insight  “I am in the world, but I am not of the world”.

An incident in the capital

Chased by his angry victim, a thief with his pants slipping down runs past us in a rubble-obstructed street

When we get to the capital, our line of vehicles gets rerouted by U.N. officers as an anti-Preval demonstration is taking place on the Champs de Mars, near the destroyed National Palace. We take smaller side streets, obstructed by rubble which delays traffic. As we are held up by a traffic jam, a man holding a bag runs straight towards us, chased by others screaming “Thief! Thief!”. Someone tries to tackle him, he shuns falling, runs past our car but is caught by other neighbors who start punching him  against our back door. In the vehicle, we feel the punches. Ouch! The thief manages to escape again. Looking through the back window, we see him running for his life. We are still standing in place when people come back, saying they let him go after recovering the stolen goods. He was lucky. Much of the time these altercations end up with the crowd putting the thief to death.

Port-au-Prince street scene.

Makil’s new shelter

We stop at ORE’s former office site to see Makil, the messenger. He is one of the recipients of the big tents received by ORE from generous donors in the U.S. and we want to make sure he’s OK. Makil is one of those people who can’t keep anything for himself. He had already been given a tent by a friend but he sent it to his family in Jacmel while he slept in the street under the stars.

Makil invites us in his new shelter, a tent donated by U.S. donors to ORE.

He oversees ORE’s food kits distribution but forgets to keep the one allotted to him. Always finding others in more need than him, he gives away what is meant for him.

With the rains coming early this year, we are now satisfied that Makil will have dry nights. His tent has been erected in the courtyard of the damaged house where the office was located. He was told the tent is a loan – so he cannot give it away!

Makil will be dry on rainy nights in his new tent.

Sunday, May 9, 2010 CAMP PERRIN

Torrential rain at ORE's

The day is overcast and in the afternoon torrential rains pour down on Camp Perrin. My last day at ORE’s.

Saturday, May 8, 2010 CAMP PERRIN

Flailing of the beans

Dry black beans are being threshed to separate them from their pods.

This morning I go and witness the flailing of a harvest of dry beans at a farmer’s traditional home. One worker uses a stick while a boy uses a palm frond and both energetically thresh the dried pods to release the black beans.

The black beans

Black beans being winnowed

Once all beans have fallen off, they will be swept up and then winnowed in a flat basket to get rid of straw, pods and other dirt particules.
The Davezac Canal

Along the Davezac canal

In the afternoon I walk along the Davezac canal that traverses the whole town and fields. This canal was built in 1759 (finished in 1770) by a French colonist, Pierre Valentin Davezac de Castera, born in Tarbes in the Hautes Pyrennees in France.

The canal

Its main purpose was to irrigate the fields. At the time Haiti was one of the richest colonies of France. Elie Davezac, his descendant, lives in France and was invited to come to Camp Perrin last year for the 250th anniversary of the creation of the canal but was not able to make it.

Young girls playing and bathing in the canal

The Camp Perrinois were very excited at the idea of meeting the descendant of the creator of a canal they thoroughly appreciate in their daily lives.

Cloud reflections at sunset

Besides irrigating the land, the canal provides running water all year round in which locals bathe, wash clothes, play and cool off from the summer heat.

A couple of ducks enjoy the canal too.

It is a very pleasant walk in late afternoon.

Friday, May 7, 2010 – CAMP PERRIN

Food kits final preparation steps

ORE's opened food kits fill the storage area

The food kits are completed today. The storage room is filled with all the open bags. A few more steps are required.

Maurice does the work with pride

Plastic bags filled with black beans are all closed with a knot and

Opened food kits showing their contents

the overall bags containing rice, beans, corn, sugar and tomato paste cans are sewn shut with a portable electric sewing apparatus.

Kits are sewn shut.

Then all bags are reloaded into the truck together with gallons of cooking oil, boxes of leeks and crates of sweet potatoes that will be distributed individually. They will be transported to Port-au-Prince during the night to arrive for distribution at 7:00 AM. The trip from Camp Perrin will take the truck about five hours.

The truck is loaded with food kits

The whole food distribution program is labor intensive and extra people, among them some displaced from the capital, are hired especially for this.

The Dossous Family Among the displaced from the capital who were evacuated to Camp Perrin after the earthquake is the Dossous family we mentioned earlier during our first post-earthquake trip to Haiti. The whole family adapted well to their new life in the countryside. It is a very large family with two groups of four sisters, their children and their in-laws who lost their houses in the earthquake.

Sisters Nancy and Marceline with Marceline's son Michael

Jo Anne's son, 5-year old Jonathan, could be modeling for children clothes!

I’m still trying to figure out the genealogical relationships of the family! Not easy, but they don’t mind my questioning and repeating names and relationships.

At first the family was lodged at the EFACAP school. Last month ORE was able to find an empty house for them, and with free rent for a year (paid by ORE) to help them fall back on their feet, they gladly moved into their new home. Besides, the nearby irrigation canal flowing outside their courtyard was an incentive they could not resist.

Jo Anne irons on the floor of their new house

I go and pay them a surprise visit in the late morning. They greet me with excitement. Jo Anne is ironing on the floor – furniture is still very sparse in the house, besides beds and mattresses. But they have a TV set and right now, Michael Jackson’s “This is It” is captivating young Jonathan, Jo Anne’s 5-year old son.

Natacha enjoys cooking

I go through the house, All the way to the back, outside, is the open kitchen area where a big pot of rice and one of black bean sauce are cooking on two charcoal stoves. Natacha, whom we had met on the way to Camp Perrin and who is an agronomy student in Leogane, came to Camp Perrin today to spend the weekend with her sisters at the house.

Natacha grinds spices for the beans

“I love cooking” she tells me as she stirs the bean sauce. “We need spices for the beans” she adds. She gets some cloves and pound them with a small wooden pestle and mortar. Paola, Jo Anne’s sister, arrives from the canal with some wet clothes she just washed and hangs them on the line to dry.

Paola gets a kiss from one of the children

The younger generation of children comes back from school in their uniforms and a round of kisses ensues. One can feel excitement in the air. Indeed, the whole family gathered together this weekend for a very special event: Mousson’s birthday.

The younger generation: Front l. to r.: Naika, Michael, Jamesley, Samantha. Back: Erika, Laurie.

So Natacha, Paola, Ricardo (Sherline’s husband) came from Leogane and Port-au-Prince respectively, to celebrate later this afternoon, with the rest of the family, the happy day of the birth of their benefactor.

Mousson’s Birthday A particularity of the Dossous family is that it is a singing group from Port-au-Prince that has already put out their first CD. Normally the birthday of ORE’s director is not celebrated, but since the family had expressed the wish to give a recital to thank Mousson for all the help they got from her and ORE after the earthquake, it was decided they would do it on Mousson’s birthday.

The gathering of guests with the singers seating in front row to the right.

By 4:30 PM, guests are gathered on the chairs set out for them outside and the singers – several Dossous sisters – arrive, all dressed up.

“We are gathered here today to celebrate a day that is very dear to us, the birthday of Dr. Mousson” Paola tells the audience.

The children sing Happy Birthday to you!

After a prayer sung by the Dossous sisters to open the celebration, the young children play a skit. “What is a birthday?” one ask. Another responds “A birthday is the best time to celebrate the day someone is born and to thank God.” “How are we going to celebrate Dr Mousson?” “We, the displaced of Port-au-Prince whom she considers like her children, are going to sing for her, to narrate for her, to acclaim her. Happy Birthday Dr. Mousson!“. A gift-wrapped package the size of a very large frame is brought to the birthday girl. It is a reproduction of an Indian painting of Krishna and Radha under glass that Ricardo brought by bus with great precaution all the way from Port-au-Prince.

The Dossous family singing for Mousson's birthday

The Dossous sisters then entertain Dr Mousson and the audience with religious songs celebrating the Creator and their faith. The choir sings beautifully and their love for the Lord and their terrestrial benefactor shines in their eyes. Other members of the family, young and old, also take the stage to give riddles and jokes – a favorite of any Haitian audience who bursts into laughter.

Mousson seated between Jo Anne (l.) and Paola and Natacha (r.)

I later asks Paola the name of their group. “It’s called Boussole (compass)” she tells me. “Why that name?” I inquire. “To help people find their bearings” she explains. The choir, comprised of many more people when they perform in Port-au-Prince (“Today we’re just a representation of each voice, alto, soprano, etc” Paola says), sings mainly religious songs and is preparing their second CD.

Thursday, May 6, 2010 – CAMP PERRIN

Putting food kits together

Today various types of food are being gathered by ORE’s Relief Efforts teams for their food distribution scheduled for Saturday in Port-au-Prince.

Bags of imported rice are stored at ORE. The rice will be distributed in food kits

ORE buys staples available from local producers such as beans, corn, thus stimulating the local economy. Local rice being too expensive, the organization buys 55-lb bags of rice imported from the US. I hear that locally produced rice is three times the cost of imported rice, but since Haitians prefer it because it tastes better, when they do buy it, it is reserved for Sundays or special occasions.

For this distribution 260 victim families in Port-au-Prince are on the list to receive each a food kit. Among them are a few families from the Champs de Mars camps that I was able to have included in the list. Makil, ORE’s assistant in the capital, is very conscientious and has organized a system of distribution cards that each beneficiary receives. The distribution is still done at a gated school ground. ORE also distributes at two other sites in Petion-Ville and on Delmas boulevard.

To show the various steps necessary to prepare a food kit and to give an idea of the work involved, I join ORE’s team as they go to producers’ homes.

Leeks

Florence Bien-Aime prepares bunches of leeks.

Fresh vegetables are always included with the kits so we first stop at a farmer’s compound to check on leeks. I was hoping to see the actual operation of pulling them out in the field, but the task was already done. Since the leeks were ready for harvesting, the farmer did not want to wait and have thieves do it for him. When we arrive the leafy greens are being cleaned and bunched up. Each family will receive one bunch with their kit.

Black beans

Our next stop is at the home of a black bean farmer.

Harvested bean pods are drying in front of the farmer's traditional home.

Black beans are a complementary staple that is eaten with rice or corn. Haitians either make a black bean sauce or cook the beans with rice. This is bean harvest season and a harvest is drying on a tarpaulin in front of the farmer’s traditional home. It will later be flailed in order to separate the beans from the dried pods.

ORE will buy all three bags of black bean from this farmer.

This farmer has three bags of beans to sell which are measured by ORE’s worker with a standard size can (called “marmite” in Creole). When all necessary quantities of beans are gathered, a total of 1.4 ton is distributed in the kits.

Beans are measured with a standard size can called marmite

Sweet potatoes

After the beans are brought back to ORE’s, we are to pick up sweet potatoes from a couple of producers in nearby Saut Mathurine, 45 minutes away. On the way we see dark grey clouds on the horizon.

The lucky ones have an umbrella for the rain.

Sure enough we are caught by a downpour before we reach the town. Small clusters of children returning from school hurry up, a leaf of breadfruit tree covering their heads. The lucky ones have an umbrella. By the time we reach the producer, the rain has turned into a fine drizzle.

Washed by hand one by one, the

Crates of sweet potatoes are carried to ORE's pick-up truck.

purple and white tubers are packed into crates that are then carried to our pick-up truck and unloaded into the bed. Because of the rain, not all tubers were harvested in time so we leave with 915 lbs filling up the whole bed. They are meant as a supplement for this forthcoming distribution.

White and purple sweet potatoes will be added to the next food distribution.

During avocado season, avocados were added to the kits. It’s obvious that someone (in this case ORE’s director) knows Haitians’ tastes in food and manages the diversity and availability of local produce to give the earthquake survivors some indirect tender loving care as an added bonus.

Sweet potatoes fill the truck bed.

Mousson was hoping to add onions to the kits also, however there was none left on the market to buy.

Rice

I’m back at ORE’s in time to witness the unloading of the bags of imported rice, bought locally.

Back at OREs, sweet potatoes and rice bags are unloaded.

With each kit containing 36 lbs of rice, a total of 4.25 tons of the cereal will be sent to Port-au-Prince. Sweet potatoes are unloaded from the pick-up truck. Workers are already packaging the beans into individual bags.

Unloading rice into ORE's storage building

In the fruit drying building, prepared bags of sugar and of ground corn are waiting to be added to the kits. Canned tomato paste and a gallon of cooking oil will complete the kits.

Packing beans in individual bags

Because of transportation cost, the food distribution schedule has changed from bi-monthly to monthly, people receiving the equivalent of two bi-monthly rations at once.

6-lb bags of ground corn for food kits

Due to budgetary constraints however, this may be the last food distribution.

6-lb bags of brown sugar for food kits

Tuesday, May 4, 2010 – CAMP PERRIN

Pathway leading to ORE's office. Hanging mangoes are of the Coeur d'Or variety (Golden Heart).

I spend the day at ORE’s, the Organization for the Rehabilitation of the Environment run by Mousson Pierre in Camp Perrin.

Flowers seen on the path to ORE's office

Flowers on ORE's property

ORE's office in Camp Perrin

ORE’s mission is to improve environmental, agricultural and economic conditions in rural Haiti. Its development projects involve high revenue tree crops, improved seeds, cash crops and marketing programs – designed to increase yields and income, produce nutritionally rich foods, and to protect the environment.

Watering of banana plants on ORE's property

As Haiti emerges from its current disaster, these programs will play an important role in long-term recovery.

Watering banana plants - Fruit trees such as banana have been proven key for the prevention of soil erosion due to rain or hurricanes.

Reinforcing the environment with commercial fruit and spice trees, and bamboo

“Since 1985, ORE has produced over a million grafted fruit trees in Haiti.

Grafted mangoes of the Zilate variety seen at ORE's.

By promoting fruits and other commercial tree crops, experience shows that in time communities start to protect their trees because of the attractive revenue they generate. By providing improved seeds, soil conservation measures, and offering production and marketing assistance, we are able to help the farmers replace subsistence farming with commercially successful agriculture.

Mango flowers - A drought has brought a second flowering of the trees which will produce a bonus harvest in August.

Increased income from fruit trees producing annual commercial crops helps to remove the economic pressure on local ecosystems. In regions where the program has been able to create concentrated regional fruit production, farmers are beginning to look on orchards of mangos, avocados and citrus as investment opportunities.

Young bambou plants - in background is one of the multi-purpose shade areas.

The ecological impact is clearly visible, the tree cover is increased and soil erosion are reduced. Fruit trees, spices, high value bamboo, suitable for construction and handicrafts, soil conservation measures and leguminous trees such as Calliandra (used as pole for yam production) all add up to a powerful environmental protection package – offering farmers cost-effective solutions that will help preserve the ecology for future generations.” Excerpt from ORE’s website www.oreworld.org

Monday, May 3, 2010 – PORT-AU-PRINCE

Violette unfolds the tarp that will cover her shack and that of her neighbor Marline.

This morning red T-shirts and standing sun umbrellas marked Digicel can be seen all over the Champs de Mars. Following the heavy rains, the cell phone company distributed them at dawn to the camp residents. Violette and Marline had rain pouring through their roof tops. Barely touching the flimsy tarp brings pockets of water dripping. “But we kept dry ourselves with your ponchos” they tell me. I give them a very long tarp that was just donated to me and which can cover both their small shacks. Right away, other women come and submit their grievances. Tarps are badly needed. I can’t promise anything. “Write my name down… and my telephone number” requests Carline Louis I just met. To appease her, I do so. “Now, write down “tarp” next to it” she adds. I do as she looks down my notepad. “Write down IMPORTANT!”. I write the word down and undeline it twice. “Very good!” she approves, gives me a kiss and goes on her way, reassured.

Members of the committee Tet Ansanm (Women's Action for the Children), with their newly acquired Digicel Tshirts.

The Committee Tet Ansamn (Women’s Action for the Children) gives me a list of their 20 most needy families. I had called them earlier to give them the good news that OREworld will be able to add a food kit for each of these families at their next food distribution on Saturday. The list is typed on letterhead paper and the committee thanks me profusely.

Rosemarie Cherisme with a tent donated by PATCH-Haiti

The Earth shakes again!

2:21 PM – I’m checking the internet at a friend’s office in the building of Valerio Canez when a strong tremor of three seconds shakes my chair. Surprised, my friend and I look at each other and suddenly scream “Earthquake!” and rush out of the building. All employees run outside and we all laugh. Later we learn it was a 4.4 magnitude earthquake. There had been another one of 4.2 magnitude at 12:40 AM this morning, but I slept through it.

A collapsed building on Delmas, result of the January 12th earthquake.

Leaving for Camp Perrin

Mousson (OREworld) has come to Port-au-Prince for the day on business and in the afternoon we go back together to Camp Perrin where I’ll spend a week. Near Leogane we stop along the road to quickly say hello to Natacha Dossous who’s been awaiting our arrival with excitement. She is one of the displaced rescued by OREworld. An agronomy student she is now continuing her studies in Leogane but misses Camp Perrin.

We arrive in Camp Perrin well after night fall.

Sunday, May 2, 2010 – PORT-AU-PRINCE

In late afternoon a heavy thunderstorm breaks out in Port-au-Prince and all along the Haitian coast all the way to Carries to the North,

Trees are whipped by torrential rains, thunder resonates through the valley, the mountain has disappeared under a grey watery wall. Downpours beat down on the capital. What of the campers all over the metropolitan area?

Stormy skies over Port-au-Prince

Thursday, April 29, 2010 – PORT-AU-PRINCE

Distribution of a few tents

This morning I meet Ismane, my former house helper, who comes to help me distribute and set up a few tents to some families on the Champs de Mars. It’s unbelievable that after more than 3 months, earthquake victims are still in need of the most basic necessity – a roof over their heads.

Poor sanitation and diseases put young children at high risk in the camps.

Rains have started early and downpours are frequent. Again and again I hear the same comment “The government doesn’t do anything for us”. I cannot stay doing nothing, even though my modest means may provide only a patch on the wounds of destitution and distress. Through PATCH-Haiti (Photography in Aid To Children of Haiti), a program I started long ago, and with the proceeds of a photo sale fund raiser I organized in Albuquerque, I was able to buy and bring eight dome tents to provide emergency shelters to the most needy I meet on my visits.

Lavilia Mertilus receives a dome tent from PATCH-Haiti to replace her tomb-like shelter.

Lavilia, the woman who sleeps in the tomb-like shelter, is overjoyed – I came back with a tent for her! She throws her arms to the sky and thanks the Lord. “BonDie, merci, merci, oui!”. (Good Lord, thank you, thank you!) she screams. “We call on the Lord” says an on-looker “and we await Jesus”. The tent size is 8×8 feet and we look for space. The only space available in the maze of shelters would be right on the pathway and some neighbors say she can’t set it up there. She argues there is plenty of space for people to make a detour. After a while, they soften up and say OK. Since nobody knows how to set up the tent, Ismane and I take the time to do it for her. People are excited and another woman asks me to come and see where she lives “It’s as bad as her” she says, talking about Lavilia. I go and look. Indeed, a small and flimsy tarp is attached on poles no higher than three feet. “When it rains I sleep on the small table with my daughter, underneath the tarp. Otherwise I sleep right there on the pavement.” she explains to me. She sells some small items such as candies and cookies, displayed in a flat basket on an bucket.

Adeline Gaspard and her daughter Judeline show where they live - under the small blue tarp.

Wanting to make sure her story is true and that it’s not just the place where she holds a small commerce (it’s so incredible that she would still live this way), I call Guerda, the spokeswoman for the area with whom I spoke yesterday. She comes and confirms this is where Adeline Gaspard and her teenage daughter Judeline spend the nights. I promise to bring her a tent tomorrow. On my way out, I realize I still have a tent I left with Rodenson’s mother that was meant for someone else who improved her lot and does not need it anymore. I could give it right away to Adeline. As I said before, it takes time to give anything to anybody and one has to be discreet so I don’t walk with all the tents but leave them in a secure place and distribute them one by one.

Adeline is now all smile after we erected a dome tent for her. She will put the blue tarp on the tent as an added protection against rain.

I return to Adeline’s site with the tent and tell her we’re going to set it up for her. She can’t believe it. A large smile replaces her frown. “You see” Guerda tells her, “when Carole promises something, it happens. It’s not like organizations that come and talk to us and we don’t hear anything more from them.” I never saw anyone clearing all her clutter to make space as fast as Adeline does. Then again, Ismane and I set up the tent. By then it’s high noon and the heat is stifling. Sweat is dripping from my face and body. Without eating, I feel light-headed. After the tent is up I’m ready to call it a day.

Wigs – the new forced trend

Marline's rooftop definitely needs improvement.

Of course, in spite of Guerda explaining that I’m not an organization and can only do so much, women come to me asking me to visit their shelters and to write down their names. Marline Jean’s roof shows big holes and she definitely needs a tarp. “With each rain, I get wet and everything in here is soaked” she complains. The same goes with her next door neighbor, Violette. I give them rain ponchos to wear when it rains until they get a tarp. I notice a woman combing a wig, then putting it on her head. “Why do you wear a wig?” I ask, suddenly realizing several women wear wigs. “The stress made our hair fall off” the women explain, showing me their heads with very little hair left.

Distress written on her face, Marline wears a wig to hide her balding head. Many women explain stress from the earthquake made their hair fall off.

“Aren’t you hot with a wig on?” I ask Marline. “Yes, but I have such an ugly head, I resign myself!” She adds they need psychologists also.

For more details about PATCH-Haiti, please see: www.adventurephotoexpeditions.com/PATCH.htm

Traffic conditions in Port-au-Prince

A friend of mine calls me to tell me she’s in the neighborhood and ready to pick me up. I bid farewell to the camp residents and five minutes later I rush into the life-saving air-conditioned vehicle with Ismane. It will take me ten minutes of cold air to feel revived.

Because of torn up roads, potholes, narrow ways, rubble spread half way across the streets and an incredible number of cars for the size of the capital, traffic in Port-au-Prince is unbearable, bumper to bumper at all times of day. It is exhausting and takes hours to get anywhere. Most of the time is spent in traffic, so one cannot do much in a day.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010 – PORT-AU-PRINCE

Reuniting with families on the Champs de Mars camp

Today I’ll make my rounds of the Champs de Mars camp. My first stop is for Rodenson, the little amputee. I look for the pick-up truck in which they live but can’t find it. It’s gone! But his mother Carline sees me looking for them and calls me. They now have the tent I had sent to them through Ray from ORE-Miami so the owner of the truck got his vehicle back, fixed it and it’s now running. “We think of you so often” Carline and Rodenson tell me. “Me too – I just arrived in Haiti and you’re the first ones I come to see”. They’re overjoyed by my visit. Miriam, the grand-mother, has gone to church, and Anne the little sister is in school. Rodenson has a clean bill of health, his foot having healed properly, and will soon be fitted with a prosthesis. If I’m available the day of the fitting, I will go with him to Handicap International. They tell me they have been receiving ORE’s food regularly. The owner of a very large tent well ventilated with several openings, donated by China, lets them use this area to do their cooking. It’s set under a tree, which provides some shade.

"Ti-Tremblement", born a few hours before the earthquake, with mother and other relative

I continue through the Champs de Mars and get called in by a family group, sitting outside their shack. In the midst of them, is a baby boy – 3 1/2-month old Mackenley, born on January 12th at 2:00 AM, a few hours before the earthquake. “His nickname is Ti-Tremblement (Little earthquake)” the baby’s father says with pride as the mother nurses him. It’s their first child. A big Haitian flag is draped on one of the walls of their small shack just large enough to spread a thick blanket for mattress.

As I leave them and get back on the street, a young girl surprises me “Carole!” and gives me a hug. It’s 8-year old Angie, whom I had met last time. “I had gone to the portable toilets, when I saw you stopping to talk to this family, so I waited for you.” She explains, excited. “I was just on my way to see you, Angie!” I tell her. Together we go to where she lives, across from the National Palace. Clearing up has started at the Palace and the collapsed middle part with the staircase entrance is gone. Angie’s mother went to the town of St Marc to visit a sick relative and Angie is staying with her adult female cousin. Her little friend Love has left, her family having moved to another area. “But I still see her, she was here last night” Angie informs me. I ask her if she ever went to the recreation center Plas Timoun. She does not know what I’m talking about. So I explain “It’s a place nearby for children your age to do artistic activities and I told your mother about it so that you could go.” I’m disappointed that Angie missed this opportunity. “Maybe she forgot…” she says sweetly of her mother. Anyway, Angie is now back in school which she attends every afternoon. Her former school building was destroyed so the school relocated on Lalue street and classes resumed.

A few shelters down the way, Josette spots me and excitedly covers me with hugs and kisses, shouting my name. We laugh, and all her neighbors around us laugh too. They’re so happy I’m back and did not forget them.

"Ti-Tremblement" with his father in a shelter made of USAID tarpaulins. A Haitian flag covers one side.

The mere presence of someone paying attention to them gives the people joy, some emotional respite from their plight. And yet so few outsiders bother to come and see how they live – it could be out of fear or out of indifference. These people have so much to teach us on faith and resilience, I feel enriched at their contact. Trying to survive in an environment not fit for human beings, they are not begging. Josette has a fantastic story to tell me (which had already been related to me by the other party):

It’s a small world

Last week a Haitian woman passing through Port-au-Prince on business, stopped in front of the National Palace and talked to the people there to see if they had received any help. The camp received no help, but Josette told her how only two journalists had helped her so far: Julie and Carole. Carole??? Could it be…? After investigating the identity of “Carole”, who Josette said was this French photographer living in the USA (which confirmed the woman’s intuition), the visitor learned that Josette had been put on a food distribution list and was receiving food at the Marie Esther’s School (where ORE distributes the food kits). Through an extraordinary coincidence – of all the people in the camp – Josette, an ORE’s food receiver, had just met Mousson Pierre, the ORE director and food donor. “It was your friend I met!” concludes Josette. As we say, it’s a small world!

Women’s Action for the Children Committee

Josette wants me to meet the committee “Tet Ansanm” ( Heads Together) – “Women’s Action for the Children” , located a few shelters down.

A group of camp children line up to receive candies on the Champs de Mars.

Someone from some organization distributes candies to camp children. Josette and I go to where a small desk with chairs have been installed on the sidewalk. The assistant coordinator, Irma Samuel, and two other members explain to me they are a a group of women who got together for the sake of the 400 children in the camp and their parents. They are women who have lost their husbands and other relatives, whose houses have been destroyed, and they have received no help. “We don’t want to prostitute ourselves, but we have no means and don’t know what to do” she says. The women are asking for any aid with food, clothes, school for the children, medical care. It’s too costly for them to enroll a child in school and children are getting skin problems due to the poor sanitary conditions of the camp. They say no official has come to the camp to inquire about their well-being. Irma then shows me a typed list of all the children’s names.

An older child bathes her siblings on the sidewalk on the Champs de Mars.

I say I can’t promise anything but I’ll spread the word. If not all can be helped she suggests that at least twenty families who are in desperate and urgent need of aid be helped. I think OREworld may be able to help.

Lavilia and two other relatives have been sleeping in this tomb-like shelter since the earthquake.

An extreme case of human abuse

I’m amazed to see that almost four months after the earthquake and after billions of dollars have been donated, people are still living in such precarious conditions, some without shelter. I meet the spokeswoman of another group, Guerda Anier, who wants to show me an extreme case of human abuse (there is no other word). Leaning against the pedestal of the statue of the shackle-free Unknown Escaped Slave, a tomb-like pile of trash starts moving: an old woman emerges from a small opening. Actually she is only 51 years old. Lavilia Mertilus has been sleeping there at night with her adult son who has mental problems and another relative since January 12th, the day of the event. She only has the rags on her back. I promise I’ll be back tomorrow with a tent for her. I know tents are not the solution but until something is done to provide these victims with decent and permanent shelters, it’s better than nothing.

Greeted with smiles and kisses

What strikes me the most as I wander through the maze of make-shift shelters are the smiles and kindness of the people, adults and children alike. They greet me with smiles and kisses in the midst of a deplorable environment. The resilience of the children so vulnerable is astonishing. How could we not want to do all we can to help them? That’s why I call what I do humanitarian journalism vs. objective or neutral journalism.

My next visit is for the two sisters Dodo and Sifina, who live nearby. Dodo has just come back from the Ste Catherine hospital (in the slums of Cite Soleil, quite far from the Champs de Mars) where her 19-year old son is being treated for malaria and yellow fever (so she says – I tend to think this yellow fever which does not exist in Haiti is associated with hepatitis or typhoid). She brings him liquid food every day on doctor’s order. Her daughter who had gone to Les Cayes and could not enroll her children there has returned and is now with her during the week. She’s as sweet as her mother, looks like her and has the same voice. For the weekends, she goes back to Mariani (outskirts of Port-au-Prince) where she lives with her husband.

I ask around for a certain Emile Joseph. He’s an 18-year old teen whom I met last time and who was living with two other boys his age in a shack so small that once inside I could not back up enough to photograph the whole room. The young men had told me they spent their nights sitting down as indeed there was no room for them to lie down. I wanted to bring them a tent. I ask, I ask, nobody knows that name. I can’t find the shack. Finally someone tells me he moved out and is now in a tent camp by the destroyed cathedral.

The Haitian artistic sensibility

TiZo sits on his bed in the shack he construted and decorated, turning an ugly site into a work of art.

It is so hot, I almost feel faint. The sun is getting to me. The stuffy heat in the shacks I visit is getting to me. How can people live like that? It’s noon, there’s barely any shade. I’m ready to leave and I’ve been here only three hours. As I prepare to leave the square saying goodbye to Dodo and her family, I hear someone shout “Haitian!” I don’t pay much attention. Again the same shout “Haitian!”. I turn around to see who’s shouting like that, and whom do I see? Emile Joseph! “Emile Joseph, I’ve been asking for you! Is it you shouting like that?” I ask, surprised and happy to have found him. “Yes, I’m calling you. To me you’re Haitian”. He tells me people know him by his nickname “TiZo”. His two friends who lived with him have gone elsewhere and he’s not at the cathedral camp but still here and he’s built himself a bigger shack that he takes me to see. When he opens the door, I can’t believe my eyes: the four walls are covered with beautiful advertising posters by Rum Barbancourt, representing colorful market scenes of the primitive painting style. “I got those posters for 50 gourdes ($1.25)” he says with a wink. The Haitian artistic sensibility is present in the most miserable living conditions. Here’s a young man who’s got only two years of primary school behind him, who turns an ugly shack into a work of art.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010 – PORT-AU-PRINCE

Arrival in Port-au-Prince

From the plane flying over the bay of Port-au-Prince, one sees patches of blue and white everywhere on land: tent camps. On the ground, all along the airport road, tents, tarps, tents – all turning black from the cars exhaust fumes. Three months have passed, nothing has changed. Feels like people are settling in the transitory – seemingly here for a long, long time. Ominous grey skies on the mountain top.

I’m so looking forward to seeing tomorrow the families I met on my last trip.