Revenge of Voodoo

The burning of the Mask

It's customary to end a blog with some sort of reflections and life experiences page, but I've decided to take a different route.  I'll end with another story.  Last Friday, a bunch of us in the house were winding down the day, finishing up some loose ends with work stuff, checking e-mail, ect.  We were interrupted by all the Design Fellows in the house, storming down the stairs.  It was obvious that drinking had been a part of their weekly meeting.  Eric called me over and proclaimed that he had found the missing Voodoo mask.  The mask which we had weeks earlier blamed all the house accidents on.  The mask had tormented the house long enough and now it was time for Eric's vengeance.  The mask had to be destroyed.  Darren went for the extra diesel fuel stored behind the kitchen.

We took the mask to the burn bit out behind the house and held our own sort of voodoo ceremony.  Sandhya brought the salt to prevent any sort of demons or evil spirits from escaping and tormenting us further.  The whole thing lasted a matter of moments.  Within a half hour the voodoo mask was reduced to some smoldering ashes.

Now, you might think it unwise to upset the native spirits.  I will let you know that the next morning I awoke to find both of my legs still intact and my head normal sized.  If any spirits were released, they were subdued by Sandhya's salting.  Now, while my chances of experiencing a plane crash may have been increased because of the ceremony, I think the small sacrifice has been worth it to spend a few more memorable moments with my new life-long friends.  My time in Haiti has provided me with everything one could expect and more.  I will take with it many life lessons and even more life-long friends.

Paper Cranes w/ Eric

For the final video entry I've asked the man himself, Eric Cesal, to join me in talking about the people of Architecture for Humanity Haiti and the Paper Cranes for Japan project we're initiating at many of our school projects.  I must apologize for the background traffic.  Please listen carefully, Eric is an incredibly smart man.  They didn't ask him to be Haiti Regional Manager for nothing.  I'll follow up with some final reflections. 

The Road to Leogane

I've been meaning to post this entry on public transportation in Haiti for a while now.  However, events which transpired today have caused me to modify this post a little bit.  Most Haitians rely on the crude form of public transportation.  There are two basic forms of transportation: the Tap Taps and the MotoTaxis.

Haitian Tap Tap

The Haitian Tap Tap is a modified pickup truck with seating.  A couple planks of wood line the bed of the truck to form the seats.  Usually there is a cover over the top to shade the passengers and the tail gate is removed.  Usually to accommodate additional passengers, steps will be added to the back to allow riders to stand and hold onto the back and ride.  I am told most of the drivers of these Tap Taps rent the vehicles for a day, and basically just drive around town.  There's no set of predetermined routes for the drivers, but most of them have a routine they follow (probably because they know where the business is).  

Oftentimes, these trucks spew black oily smoke.  It's always a headache to get caught behind one of these things, especially when we're riding in the bed of our own truck.  Clearly these are not the safest mode of transit.  Before Tommy left, he recalled seeing a crash site where two Tap Taps collided.  It was reported that 9 people died in the collision and 16 were injured.  On a less tragic note, I saw firsthand a Tap Tap struggling to climb a hill.  The driver made all the passengers exit, then proceeded to climb the hill.  The passengers had to run behind until they reached the summit.  The were then allowed to reenter and resume their commute.

MotoTaxi

The other major form of transportation is the MotoTaxi.  These are dirtbikes with an additional seat added to the back for a passenger (or two, or three).  Its a much more direct route of travel, as opposed to the Tap Tap (much like a personal taxi versus a bus in the States or Europe), but it is also much more dangerous.

I went to Leogane today with Darren and some of the University of Minnesota students.  Darren had a meeting and I was to show everyone the site.  Highway 2 which connects Port-au-Prince to Leogane was hard hit by the earthquake.  You can see the cracks and bumps where the earth shifted beneath.  Like much of Haiti, it has yet to see any repair.  That unfortunately does not dissuade people from slowing down however.  On the way back we were slowed by a roadblock.  As we approached, we could see that it was an accident.  I could see the front end of a Tap Tap smashed in and a crumpled MotoTaxi on the side of the road.  "He's dead" our driver said.  "He's dead."  I looked to the side of the road and saw the Taxi driver, blood coming from his mouth.  We rode the rest of the way back in silence.

We are not allowed to use any of the public transportation.  George the architect says he sees a person killed in a Tap Tap once a week.  We are very fortunate Architecture for Humanity provides us with three excellent drivers.  Ronald, Patrick and Isnard are our drivers and they all do their jobs well.  It takes a lot of pressure off of Eric and the rest of us.  It does limit our mobility, but we gladly exchange it for safety. 

BAR Architects w Jonathan & Elie Dubois w/ Sandhya

Apologies for the delay in this week's blog entry.  Our internet (always spotty) went down last night and I was unable to upload.  Also, apologies for the length.  I'm down to two entries and I'm trying to get all my housemates in.  This week I've asked Jonathan to describe what he and his firm, BAR Architects, is doing down here and what his experiences have been while here.  Following that interview, I've asked Sandhya to help explain the Elie Dubois project.  I'll finish it out with an update about the house and the elections.

Because this blog entry was delayed, the actual election results came out Monday evening.  As expected (from the latest predictors) Martelly won.  That's probably good news on multiple fronts.  First, Martelly is a much more progressive candidate, and he will be more likely to implement changes to help NGOs and Haiti itself.  Second, his following was the younger crowd, the crowd more likely to riot.  Since he won, there's no need for that...right?

BONUS Video Blog #2: Birthday Blog

Today's mom's birthday, so I'd like to send her a special video blog:

Regarding the elections, there's been suspected widespread fraud about, so the Haitian Election Council has decided to delay the announcement of from the Presidential Election to Monday.  So we'll have a couple more days a civility (hopefully) before some likely demonstrations.  Stay tuned...

The Rebuilding Center & Bati Byen w/ Lyndia

A major component of Architecture for Humanity in Haiti is the development of the Rebuilding Center.  The Rebuilding Center is the office located on Rue Rebecca in Petionville where AfH is stationed.  Other people in the design field also have offices there, including Yves, the contractor who built our first school in Ceverine and Mark and Sabine, the planners who are helping us with Leogane.

In a perfect world, AfH would establish the Rebuilding Center and then hand it over to local professionals to continue the work.  This obviously wouldn't be sudden transition.  AfH's role in the Rebuilding Center will decrease over time, until we are able to leave it completely as a self-sustaining entity.  

I've asked Lyndia to help explain other aspects of the Rebuilding Center, paticularly the Bati Byen program which is established to develop the building profession.  Afterwards I explain other events we have held at the Rebuilding Center, and the upcoming week.

BONUS Video Blog: Why Buildings Fall Down w/ Rick

Bonus video blog this week.  My friend asked me to do a blog explaining why Haiti suffered so much devastation from last year's earthquake, while other countries (Chile, New Zealand, Japan) didn't suffer quite so much.  It basically comes down to preparedness and response.  Haiti handles these issues one way, the other countries a different way.  I've asked our structural engineer, Rick, to help explain a few of these concepts regarding construction methods and the role a government can play in preparing/responding to natural disasters.

I've had a couple people say to me that the devastation in Japan is equal or greater than that in Haiti.  My response to that is while Japan has suffered greater loss in property value and buildings damaged, the loss of life (somewhere around 8,000) is only a fraction that of Haiti.   I would be surprised if that number ever surpasses 10,000 in the end.  While this number is terrible and tragic, to put in perspective Haiti lost between 200,000 and 300,000 people.  This is the result of stringent building codes vs non-existent building codes  While the buildings in Japan took damage, very few of them failed completely, collapsing and killing its occupants.  Haiti was a different story, as explained in the video.  These codes are meant to save lives, not money.  Obviously emergency response also contributes with lives saved, as Japan has a world-class response and Haiti's is almost non-existent.

Pele Update/Connectivity w/Inveneo Guys

This week's gives everyone an update on the Pele School, particularly the challenges facing the latrine building.  The struggles stem in in trying to get an unproven building design to work in a new culture.  There are many technical aspects which must be overcome and at times we find them daunting.  Please bear in mind that the creative genius behind the Pele School and Latrines belongs to Schendy Kernizan, one of the first members of the AfH Haiti team.

 

We'll follow up with a discussion with a fellow NGO, Inveneo and what there mission in Haiti is, and then finish up with a discussion about the upcoming election.

Dogs, Voodoo and Accidents

Haitian Voodoo Mask

So many of you will recall when the Global Nomads stayed with us.  I believe it was Brandon who one day bought a voodoo mask and hung it outside the house (without anyone knowing).  This is where Eric and I place the blame for events which unfolded the following weeks.


Incident One: About a month ago, Eric was out walking Lady as part of his normal morning routine.  One day the slopes of the backyard was particularly slippery and Eric lost his footing, tripped and landed on a lamp of all things.  He ended up going to the hospital where he found out he had a couple broken ribs. 

Diagram of Eric's Accident

Evidence of the Injury

Incident Two:  Last Friday, before work, Eric and I were going to go hit the gym before the day started.  The day before I washed my shorts and hung them out to dry.  As I went out to retrieve them the following morning, Chance was waiting to greet me.  She was in a agitated state of excitement which involved lots of jumping and nipping.  To avoid the onslaught I ran down the steps to the clothes wash area and jumped the last 4 or so steps.  I did not see the clothesline which hung over the steps.  I was clotheslined by the clothesline.  Somehow I managed to go to the gym that morning, but was very sore the following days.

Diagram of TJ Accident

Incident Three:  A while ago, a bunch of the crew were riding in the back of the TaTa, our truck.  I was not with them.  While sitting in traffic, a drunk driver slammed the into a car, which slid into the TaTa, causing Lyndia to fall out.  She landed on her back, pinching a nerve.  Now she's supposed to sleep on a board. 

Diagram of Lyndia Accident

Eric and I are planning a burning of the voodoo mask sometime this week.  I'm a little hesitant.  I think it might be a pardora's box type of thing where we release the spirit within the mask and it reaks havoc all over the house.  We'll have to see.

Carnival/Leogane Update w/Simone

I've asked Simone to help me with this week's video blog.  She's kinda the party organizer of the group, so it made sense to have her talk about Haiti's biggest party, Carnival.  She went to both the Jacmel and Port-au-Prince Carnivals and can give testimony to both.  I'll later update everyone with the Leogane Housing Plan.

University of Pennsylvania

This past week we welcomed 12 students from the University of Pennsylvania to the house.  They are currently working on a Haiti studio.  They've been asked to look at different aspects of Haiti, and come up with design ideas to improve upon the living conditions following the destruction of the 2010 earthquake.

Design Review of Students' Work

Ideas ranged from looking at improving the quality of life in the tent camps, to using the rubble as a means for creating new green spaces within Port-Au-Prince.  You could tell all the projects were well thought out beforehand, but one can never really sense what to expect until visiting the country.  I could tell after visiting the country a couple of days, many perceptions on how the students' projects would work changed.  After making last minute adjustments based upon on-site research, the students presented their projects to the public in an open house at the Rebuilding Center.

The idea of studios based around disaster stricken areas brings up an intriguing idea about the architectural education.  From my limited experience of architectural schools, it always seemed we we're trying to push the envelope.  It was always about the 'what if' and the designs which came out (and usually the ones which garnered the most praise) were the radical designs.  Interpretations of how the movement of people can be flipped vertically to help determine the section a building, or using different vantage points to allow varying floor plans to create an amorphous building skin became commonplace in architectural education.  All these ideas pushed the boundaries of construction and the interpretation of what architecture should be.

I'm not trying to be critical of this thinking.  In fact, I became one of those 'theological' students, creating designs based loosely on a cultural, social and site specific context.  But the studios which revolve around disaster relief cause people to think about social ramifications of good design and how it can truly fix life's problems where they are really needed.  It's thinking about 'what if' in a different way.  Instead of 'what if this cantilever spanned across the courtyard?' the question is 'what if we used high design to solve social problems in Haiti?'

UPenn Students with AfH

This really gets to the bottom of what Architecture for Humanity is about.  Using high design solutions to solve social problems in areas devastated by catastrophe.  I really appreciate what the U of Penn students did in taking this specific studio.  I'm sure other universities around the country and globe do similar work, (ISU did a Hurricane Katrina studio while I was there) and that's very encouraging.

Mountains & Oceans w/ Dot

A little Back to the Future this week.  I've invited Dorothy Miller (aka Dot) to help recollect our journeys around the country.  A few weeks ago we went up into the mountains, and the following week we visited the ocean.  Definitely worth the trip.  It was good to get out of the city and see a little more of Haiti than just the aftereffects of the earthquake.  After our discussion about our journeys together, I go on to explain about a neighborhood cleanup the house participated in.

Trash

Eric and Cristina were both gone for periods of time this past week.  In their absence, they asked me to watch over Lady.  This gave me an excuse to get outside of the house and check out the neighborhood.  It's a very hilly (as most of Haiti is) so simply keeping my footing was an adventure in itself.  (Just a few weeks ago, Eric cracked a couple ribs walking the dog).

But it wasn't the rugged terrain which caught my eye.  I had mentioned this in my first video blog, but it still gets me when I see it.  There is trash everywhere!  Obviously this is the first thing the dog jumps in when she sees it, but that's beyond the point.

Trash in our Backyard

Being a third world country, Haiti lacks many basic services many of us in the States enjoy.  There is no trash collection, much less decent roads for garbage trucks to travel.  Since there is no communal place for trash to be stored, it gets dispersed throughout the entire city.  And I'm not sure who is to take the blame on this.  Neither the government nor the private sector provides any sort of trash collection, yet it's also on the individual to show a little environmental stewardship. 

I think this is more a case Haiti being an underdeveloped country.  I saw underdeveloped as opposed to undeveloped in the sense that Haiti is living in the 21st century, but it's development over the past 200 years have clearly been behind the curve.  They've witness many of the trends seen by other areas of the world in the past couple centuries, namely the urbanization of it's people and commercial globalization.  The are large masses of people in the cities.  Nearly one-third of the country's population lives in the Port-au-Prince area.  And all these residents have access to many consumable products we have in the United States.  You can find many street vendors selling plastic bottles of soda or some sort of snack food.  Yet, Haiti is clearly not developed in many other elements of daily life.  Several areas of infrastructure, for example, is either installed and poorly maintained, or completely absent.  The roads are built from asphalt, but low maintenance requires 4-wheel drive simply to get through town.  There's a power grid, but the capacity of the country's power plants do not even come close to the demand.  Most of the power plants run at 50% or below capacity.

I think this leads me back to the first point, all the trash.  Clearly when you condense people into a smaller area, and provide many of them with the use-once-and-throw-away products we've grown accustomed to in the US without providing a means to dispose or recycle the waste, this is what you end up with.  Now, some of the trash does get burned.  Actually a lot, but you can't burn it all.  There's simply too much, you'd make all of Port-au-Prince a blazing inferno.  Plus, alot of the product would give off toxic fumes when burned.  The amount of trash, has caused me to rethink my own consuming habit while down here.  I no longer buy any juice in plastic jugs, one because there's no facilities to recycle, but also the burning would lead to air-born pollutants and toxins.

The underdeveloped nature of Haiti also is the major reason behind the devastation of the earthquake.  When you stack millions of people into a small area, living in 200 year old buildings with no first response, you can expect catastrophic results when a natural hazard occurs.

Léogâne/Guys' Weekend w/Darren & Tommy

Hey everyone.  Special bonus this week, two videos!  Actually they both cover the same material, but I've shortened one of them.  This week I've asked Darren Gill from Dublin, Ireland and Tommy Stewart from Ft. Worth, Texas to help me out discussing the Leogane project.  Darren's a Design Fellow with the AFH team.  He's worked with AFH in other parts of the world also.  Tommy's a volunteer, like me, and this is his second stint down here in Haiti.  They're both tremendous workers and teammates on this project and I've already learned a lot from both of them.

Later on I discuss this past weekend, where all the women in the house left for various reasons, leaving the La Maison unguarded against us unruly men.  I will apologize ahead of time for the traffic in the background.  Looks like I'll need to find a better interview spot.

Full Video

Abridged Video (sort of)

The Matilec

Matinec

As uneventful as last week was, there were a couple of high points.  One was last Thursday when Simone and myself decided to visit the local hardware store, Matilec.  Actually, I don't know if you could consider it a high point, maybe just an event worth noting.

It all starts last Thursday morning.  It started out simple enough with the usual activities: breakfast, wash up, brush teeth and then go to make my bed.  For some reason, the mosquito net this time around decided to fall apart.  I'm actually not sure how it originally was put together, because when I examined the damage, the only pieces I could find were a metal ring (which held the net) and a screw hanging from the ceiling.  After many fruitless attempts to put it together, I decided I needed some new hardware.  I decided to adventure out to the local hardware store to obtain the necessary components.

Matilec is located a couple blocks north of the office.  Thursday over the noon hour I headed up to the store and brought Simone with me (for translation).  Matilec is a four story hardware store, much like an Ace back in Sioux Falls, except the display area is much smaller.  It's set up with retail displayed throughout the first floor space.  Although nothing is organized in any sort of meaningful or practical manner, Simone and myself were able to find the hooks with relative ease.  I then went to a floor worker (as indicated by his yellow polo) and asked to purchase "one hook."  He understood once Simone translated. 

Waiting in Line for the Teller

We then followed him to his computer, which looked like something NASA used for the Apollo XIII mission.  He printed off a slip of paper on his 80's paper (you know, the kind with the perferated edges and makes a screeching sound when it prints).  He handed me the paper and pointed me to the teller.  I examined the slip as I walked over, all I could understand was the 1.75 on the bottom.  1.75 can mean anything in Haiti, goude, Haitian dollar or American dollar.  I went to the teller, which was similar to a ticket counter at a ballgame.  I handed her the slip and spoke through the hole in the glass.  Apparently the total was 1 goude, which is equivalent to about 2 1/2 cents.  I was then given another slip of paper (this time yellow) and had to take it to another counter where I would receive my purchase.

The Hook

I walked over to the next counter, which was full of people.  I held out my yellow slip, desperately trying to get the attention of the worker.  I felt like a guy on wall street trying to purchase the next hot stock.  After about 15 minutes I got through, handed the paper.  The guy then signaled through a walkie-talkie to someone else (I presume on another floor) because almost instantly I saw a bucket attached to a rope behind him shoot skyward.  A few moments later it dropped back downward, with my hook in it.  He handed to me and the ordeal was over. 

Goods in Haiti have such a variance in pricing compared to the United States.  One could go to the grocery store and easily spend $8 on a box of Frosted Flakes or $10 on a quart of ice cream, and then turn around and spend $.02 on a coat hook.  I wondered how the Matilec could ever afford to pay everyones salaries on such low prices, especially since I had to go through 4 employees to spend that .02.

Later that night, I went home to install the hook, proceeded to break it off in the ceiling and we got to do the whole thing over again the next day.

Housing Expo/Civil Unrest w/ Gerry

Uneventful week for this the final few days of my first month.  Fortunately I have some backed archives of events I've been a part of.  I start things off with the Housing Expo at the Karibe Hotel which took place about a month ago.  Second, I bring in my co-worker Gerry Reilly to tell his story of Dignite School in Jacmel.  While I seemed to evade political distress in the capital, there's always some sort of civil uprising somewhere in the country.

Design Reviews

Hey everyone, not many interesting things have happened this week.  Compared to the past couple weeks, this week has been very tame on the political front.  No news of demonstrations or rioting.  Aristide didn't make his triumphant return to Haiti, and the Bebe Doc proceedings haven't taken fruition.  We do have weeks before a president is named, so there's plenty of time for something to happen.



 The group listens as updates on
the Clinic are revealed



Lyndia & Stacey discuss their work
at the Design Review



This week (and every week) the office puts on Design Reviews.  This gives everyone a chance to see each other's work, see progress and make suggestions.  We usually have them last thing Fridays, but this week we had it on Thursday.  That's because we had a couple other NGOs joining us:  the Open Street Map and Building Goodness Foundation.  Both are groups involved with projects in Haiti.  Open Street Map is a wiki-based website which allows users to edit a worldwide network of maps.  It's kind of like Wikipedia, but with roads and landmarks instead of encyclopedia entries.  Building Goodness Foundation is like many other NGOs, looking to build communities in places of need.  They have been working in Latin America for a while, but now they have set up permanent building managers in Haiti following the earthquake.  Unfortunately for us, neither of these groups presented any of their work, we just showed them ours.

I will attach links to the Open Street Map and Building Goodness Foundation.  You can see much of our work we presented on the Open Architecture Network.

House Tour/Global Nomads w/ Stacey

Hello Everyone.  Clearly I need to work on editing these videoblogs down a bit.  They seem to be getting longer and longer each week.  Although, some of you may like the length.  It's getting so long simply because there's so much to talk about down here.  This week I'll give you a quick tour of the house we're staying in.  Architecturally it's quite unique, for there's no real order to the house.  It would make a good Goldeneye level.  The second part I will talk about another NGO who stayed at the house the past couple weeks, the Global Nomads.  You'll also notice I've started to ask fell AfHer's to help with the blogs.  The first installment features Stacey McMahan helping explaing the Global Nomads and the Student's Rebuild organization.



I've attached their link to the side.  It may be awhile before they finally post the videos on their website, but they have put them up on Youtube.  You can watch them here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/StudentsRebuild

Now please keep in mind, these guys are professional videographers AND they had like 40 hours a day editing time, so their videos are a little higher quality than mine.  Either way, they're worth watching, especially the Tele Ghetto video.  Definitely check it out.

Cats & Dogs...and Aristide

Midweek blog time. 

Arch enemies Chancè and Terminator

The house we're staying at has three pets: Lady, Chancè, (pernounce Shonce) and Terminator.  All three belong to Eric.  Lady is originally Eric's pet back from the states.  He used her as a clever ploy to get his girlfriend Cristina down here.  She is very well behaved.  The other two, on the other hand are not.  Chancè was purchased down here on the side of the road by a vendor.  She was just a pup, but I never saw those days.  She's very excitable and has a lot of disciplining to do.  Also, she has many friends in the neighborhood.  They're favorite passtime is spending most of the night delivering "doggie telegrams" across the ravine.  The other night there must've been an emergency because the sequence went: "bark-bark-bark---BARK---BARK---BARK---bark-bark-bark.  (Note: barks are dots and BARKS are dashes).  Terminator, is Chancè's arch nemisis.  They are always fighting with each other, Terminator usually being the instigator.  Whenever she's not fighting with Chancè, she's probably trying to steal a chair away from someone, usually after they've been sitting there for a while.  Apparently Terminator had kittens a couple months ago.  She has since been fixed, although rumors are flying that she's pregnant again.  She does look larger since I first got here, Eric should try to get a refund.



Exiled since 2004, Aristide plans to
return to Haiti in the near future.



On the political front, this week saw continued demonstrations resulting from the OANs election anouncement.  Monday saw several marches on the presidential palace, and in Petionville, where are office is located, there were many gangs roaming the streets.  Several of these gangs were accused of mugging people (paticularly foreigners) in broad daylight.  We were warned against travelling outside, and if we had to, try not to look too 'white'.  Unfortunately, my tan hasn't quite settled in yet.

Also on the docket is President René Préval and the Haitian government have granted a passport to exiled former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.  The move paves the way for his return before the final presidential elections.  Aristide still has incredible support, especially amongst the poor.  Should he return, we will undoubtably experience more demonstrations and rioting.  It's been therorized that the move is to benefit Préval, who by allowing an Aristide return (and inevitable subsequent rioting) will need to delay or cancel the elections, thus allowing him to remain in power.  Transparency Internation didn't vote Haiti the world's most corrupt country in 2004 for nothing.  Stay tuned.

Civil Unrest/Superbowl

Hey everybody.  This week's episode comes a day early because of the 'Big Superbowl Bash' a bunch of us at the house are going to.  Apparently they start Superbowl festivities in Haiti the same year they do in America, so we're supposed to be there at 2pm.  In anticipation of this event, I'm placing a post a day early.  Definitely feel I'm getting better at this, thanks to some words of encouragement.  You'll also notice I've made more edits than usual.  After reviewing the video, I notice I made up a lot of words.  So as to not sound like Sarah Palin, I edited these portions out.  Hope you all enjoy.

Elections

Hey all.  Thought I'd take a few moments to update everyone on the situation down here.

The big news in Port-au-Prince (and the remainder of Haiti for that matter) is the announcement of the final candidates for the presidential election.  The election up to this point has been marred with controversy, speculations of fraud and international involvement.  All my accounts are based on conversations I've had with my roomates and what I've read.  By no means could they be considered 'inside information'  I'm still trying to piece it all together, but I'll give it my best shot here. 

Apparently the results this week stem from an earlier vote last year and the results of that election.  The Haitian constitution requires a candidate to receive 50%+ of the vote to become elected.  This year there were something like 12 candidates running, basically assuring a runoff.  The runoff is always held between the top two vote-getters.





  

Mirlande Manigat

The controversy stems when the governement anounced the top two candidates as: Mirlande Manigat, opposition candidate and former first lady of Haiti and Jude Célestin, member of current President Puvall's party and backed by the governement in power.  A close third place belonged to Michel Martelly, a popular musician from Haiti.  The vote numbers were something like Manigat 35%, Célestin 23% and Martelly 22% (although don't quote me on that).  This is where the riots began.  Brought up was evidence of balot stuffing (or at least the assumption of balot stuffing) when a recount was done and found inconsistent numbers in numerous districts around the country.  Many collection stations had similar numbers across the board except for one box at each station, where Célestin's numbers were off the charts.  Appart from the 'stuffed boxes' the numbers probably would've been closer to: Manigat 35%, and Martelly 23% and Célestin 0%. 

Michel Martelly

In enters the OAN, Organization of American States, to review the election process.  Over the next few months, pressure continues to build for Célestin to step down.  He never does, and just this morning the OAN gave the runoff spots to Manigat and Martelly.  Preval, from what I've heard, approves of the outcome. 

Jude Célestin

The official announcement of the final candidates were supposed to be announced yesterday after the commute home.  Then word got out that it was going to be mid-afternoon.  We decided as an office to leave early and avoid any sort of civil unrest.  Apparently everyone else in Port-au-Prince had the same idea.  We left around 2 and got home shortly before 4 (normally takes a half-hour tops).  Either way, they didn't announce the results until this morning.  There was definitely a sense of tenseness in the air, like things were ready to blow.  There were rumors of demonstrators assembling in the downtown area, but we have yet to hear of any rioting. 

We'll hold our breath until after the final election, due to happen in March.  For now, while it still seems a bit tense, things are calm.  Fortunately, AFH takes every precaution on these things and doesn't leave anything to chance.  While I miss out on the excitement, I don't need to fear for my safety.  I guess that's a good thing.

Work/Projects

Hello everyone.  My latest video blog installment describes some of the work that's being done around Port-au-Prince.  I start with a project I am currently working on with Schendy, and follow it up with a downtown planning project put on by the Prince's Foundation (Prince Charles) and Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company.  A couple things to note: I still struggle a bit in front of the camera, but hopefully am improving.  Also, I did this recording in the evening, so the video quality isn't the greatest.  My appologies.  I will continue to update you on our projects and the work we are doing down here.  For now, here's a taste.

Food

A few people have asked me about the food down in Haiti.  I should first and foremost tell everyone we have a couple servants who work the house.  For the most part, they are excellent cooks.  We usually have something different every night.  It's prepared for us when we get home from the office.  That being said, some of the food is unusual.  Don't get me wrong, it doesn't TASTE unusual.  Just how it's prepared.  And I'm not always able to identify the meat I am eating at any paticular meal.  And it isn't always cut to Western standards.  Rohan, our tech guy in the house informed me that most 'butchers' in Haiti don't have butchering equipment.  More often, the meat is cut (hacked) with a machete.  It often results in small shards of bone incorperated into the meat.  Tonights meal was paticularly boney.  It was as if an animal was sent through a wood chipper and then cooked afterwards.  It was tasty, but you definitely had to take your time.  There's also a lot of beets, usually mixed in with a salad.  I like salads, but I hate beets.

We have a very westernized grocery store we shop at called Giant.  They cater to Americans and Europeans who live down here.  The prices are not cheap.  There's also smaller markets and the street vendors. 

The drink that Haitians are known for is there rum.  I have not had any as of yet, but I'm told it's very good.  But it can give a killer hangover, something to do with the high sugar content.  It's apparently common practice to bring home a bottle when one leaves Haiti.  Perhaps we can all share a drink upon my return.

Initial Reactions/First Week

Hey everyone!  Just completed my first week in Port-au-Prince.  Seen a lot of things and done a lot of work already.  I've included my first video blog.  One thing I hope to accomplish the three months I am down here (aside from the rebuilding projects) is to improve the professionalism of my video blogs.  I need some work on my delivery, performance and video work.  Fortunately I set the bar low.  Hope you all enjoy.

Initial Thoughts/Reactions

I arrived in Port-au-Prince mid-afternoon yesterday (January 15th).  The country-side is incredibly beautiful,  where from the vantage point of an airline passanger, one can see the immense transitions in topography, where mountains meet the ocean, and forests scatter the landscape.  However, once we flew in closer and lower, I could see the images that most of us have seen on the tv.  My heart sank to my stomach from my first glimpses of the tent cities, scattered like legos across the hillside.  The deeper into the city you go, the denser these tent cities became.  Among the city were remnants of the earthquake, collapsed buildings spotting the city. 

I went into this trip with no expectations.  I figured if I had any, they would almost certainly be wrong.  When I arrived at the airport, the demographics completely inverted themselves from my midwest home.  I also struggled through customs.  I knew no Creole, but fortunately most of the airport staff spoke English.



View from our house, the la Maison



After the first 24 hours in Haiti I find myself still adjusting.  The AFH team down here is very knowledgeable.  Our main focus right now is schools.  The team has had a presence down here for not quite a year now, and already have 7 school projects going.  I will be working with Schendy (Shkin-dee) on one of the larger ones.  Start work tomorrow.

Opening Credits

Coming Soon