Lessons from Mellier

Elise (far left), one of our interpretors, Caz, Deanna (our amazing chef!), Molly, Claudie (another amazing chef) and Ace singing some Creole hymns together.

This morning constituted a tearful goodbye for us in Mellier. We had just enjoyed a lively last community dinner and night of singing and dancing with our new Mellier Methodist Church friends the night before. It was such a joyful event. Everyone noted that we rarely see this side of Haitian life in the US media. Even though 43 students are no longer able to attend the Mellier Methodist school after last year's earthquake, the teachers get paid only $60 per month and go for months sometimes without any pay at all and a number of skinny children and adults in the community are consistently malnourished, we still saw a clear picture of Haiti. It has great beauty, strength and wisdom to share with us. The Mellier Methodist Church community taught us what it means to share, to rejoice in music, to appreciate even the small things that one has. We bring these many lessons back to DC tonight and will continue to process and work together towards greater understanding and action in the days and months to come. Here are a few team insights for the road, though, in the words of our team members.

Doug: "It’s been bittersweet. I’ve made a lot of friends that I now have to leave. I’ve learned about capacity to give, including figuring out how much capacity I personally have…and what I don’t have."

Doug (far right) offering a gift of workers gloves to Mellier Foreman, Boss Wech

    Susan: "I learned to love with a broken heart." 

Susan, taking a picture in the back of our "Tap Tap" as we cross over bumpy Leogane roads on our way to buy papayas (which Nicole is holding.)

Laurie: "I learned to manage expectations…both my expectations and other people’s expectations. For being such a broken country in many ways, Haiti is still such an incredibly beautiful one. I wish that more people would take time to learn the history of the Haitian people."

Laurie helping Joseph, a 17 year old previous student who can no longer afford to attend school, review English lessons.

Molly: "I learned more about what it truly means to accompany people and really be present to them…that it is a long, but satisfying journey."

Molly (on far right) with Nicole, Elise, Jana, our interpretor Jean Claude and Mark...moving some dirt for the church!

Ace: "I learned that there are limitations in power to physically change things, but there is enormous power in love and community."

Ace with some of his new Mellier friends, Harold on the left and Jean Claude on the right.

Margaret:  "I learned how to be prayerful and trust in God."

Margaret, 4th from the left, was an amazing addition to this small group meeting with women from Mellier Methodist Church. She had a special rapport with the women, especially being the only person with children on our team!

Mark: I learned that life is most fully lived on the challenging edges.

Mark helping Mellier 5th and 6th graders write letters to some of his students in Baltimore.

As we have a 3 year long commitment to Haiti mission, volunteer and advocacy work, we will continue to partner with the Methodist Church of Haiti in identifying the areas where we might be of greatest service. We're hoping to maintain and continue to grow this special relationship with the Mellier Methodist community in the middle of this work. And hopefully, God willing, we'll be able to come back in October so that we can learn and share at an even deeper level.

Haiti First Impressions

Our Foundry United Methodist Church volunteer group just arrived yesterday in Port-au-Prince. As we jostled along the bumpy streets , sweating out the DC rat race and in the Haiti heat, it was wonderful to hear the team's reaction to experiencing Haiti for the first time. Here are a few of the observations:

Mark: Haiti is full of life: barking dogs, crowing roosters, car alarms at 3 in the morning, sellers peddling goods in the market, artists showcasing their colorful paintings. I hope to listen this next week and be a part of the wonderful community of this church and of Mellier.

Margaret: For me, the main thing is community. My first impression is that there is an importance of community here. I know that at least a dozen of the children in Mellier have lost their parents after the earthquake. From what we have heard, the community their has really embraced those children and is helping to raise them. I'm looking forward to witnessing this first hand. Second, for our own Foundry group...I feel like we are part of a larger system.

Doug: The American and Haitian methodists we've met so far have been incredibly friendly. I'm really looking forward to seeing the other parts of Port-au-Prince, especially where the center of the earthquake destruction has happened. And, I'm eager to arrive in Mellier, and see what rural life in Haiti is like compared to the city. From what I've heard, it seems like there's big divide. Fresh air sounds good as well.

Laurie: I was impressed with Petionville. Restaurants are running, some people are working. People are kind and friendly and seem to really be helping one another. At least some good things are happening. To each person whom I said "Bonswa," everyone responded with a smile on their face. I came across a few people selling art on the street. My impression of them was that they were extremely kind, very educated (tri-lingual!), very friendly. After talking for a while, I was able to ask them where they were the day of the earthquake. They were thankfully outside, getting some sun and laying up against a building. The ground started shaking right before their eyes and they ran for safety. Thankfully, they were alright. I look forward to getting to know people better throughout the week and just listening to their stories.

More to come!

Baby Doc is Back in Town

Unfortunately, the rumors are true. The dictator dynasty heir, Jean Claude Duvalier - the same man who was thrown out of Haiti 25 years ago for having stolen millions and killed thousands - just landed in country. Last night, as I sat next to my colleague and friend, Marie, in a thankfully still quiet neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, we kept saying the same thing over and over: this is crazy.

Jean Claude Duvalier, back from exile

Everyone agrees that it doesn't make any sense for Duvalier, nicknamed "Baby Doc," to have returned. Perhaps  as bad as his notorious father Papa Doc, who initiated a 30 year era of intimidation and fear through his dreaded gang of "Tons tons Machoutes," Jean Claude is an unwelcome sight. This country just got done mourning one of the worst disasters it has ever experienced. And now, they have to deal with this.

All around the streets of Port-au-Prince, people are asking "what does it all mean." Duvalier says that he has simply come back to help his country in this time of great struggle. No one is buying that, though. An old Kreyol phrase comes to mind: “tout sa ou we, se pa sa,” which basically means, “All that you see right now, it’s not really as it seems.”

Some say that the French let him back into the country in order to have a one-up on the US. Others say that the US masterminded it in order to initiate enough political upheaval to help oust Preval, put in their own hand-picked interim government and avoid having the leading Presidential candidate, Mirlande Manigat, come to power. Still others theorize that Preval is actually behind the surprise arrival, that he is trying to instigate some political upheaval himself in order to help keep himself in power until May. Still others say that Duvalier is sick, now an old man, and has come back to his home country to die. Who knows what to believe, though.

One thing is clear from last night's events: Haiti deserves justice. It deserves the millions of dollars back that it had stolen by the Duvalier family, other corrupt leaders and multiple bad trade and aid policies throughout the years. It deserves a solid reconstruction plan that is inclusive of the actual Haitian people, and built on the needs of the poor rather than the pay rolls of foreign companies. It deserves a robust and stable government that listens to its people, builds sturdy, sustainable infrastructure, and holds fair and democratic elections. And it deserves markets: fair global trade markets and actual physical markets in which to sell goods.

I saw one such market yesterday morning. The cell phone company, Digicel, has invested money in rebuilding the Hyppolite Market in downtown Port-au-Prince. The new market is definitely beautiful, and at least appears to be an example that rebuilding is happening. Yet, the question still remains: is this what people need most right now? What about the 1.5 million still living in deplorable camp conditions? In fact, Haiti needs much more: reconstruction that lifts the people up, creates proper interim and longer-term housing, implements an inclusive agriculture and food security plan and creates sustainable business and income generation.

The new, Digicel-funded Hyppolite Market in Port-au-Prince

One thing that Haiti does not need right now is a resurfacing ghost of the past who will only cause more problems. The country is poised now for the next big surprise. Does Duvalier’s return open the door for the return of Aristide? Can Duvalier actually be tried for his crimes against the Haitian people as Preval has promised? Hopefully history will not repeat itself and a peaceful solution can surface. 

Food as a Human Right: Haiti's One Year Commemoration

Haiti Food Aid Distribution

For me, one of the most striking images of the 2008 global food crisis was that of a young Haitian man with a mouth full of straw. The man was making a public protest at the astronomical food prices in local Haitian markets, reflecting nation-wide outrage at a food system that has been domineered by cheap imports and food aid dumping. Almost 3 years later, at the 1 year commemoration of the January 12 earthquake, Haitians have even more reasons to protest. Food security stands on a long list of neglected national and international policies that have thwarted their attempts at gaining sovereignty. Yet, the right to food...the right to grow it, to choose it and to earn enough money to buy it, is one of the most basic of human rights. Everyone on this earth has a right to eat enough nutritious food to live well, and to do it with dignity.

With 76 percent of Haitians living on less than $2 per day, 3 million people not receiving enough calories, and over half of all consumed food deriving from imports, this crucial human right is not being met in Haiti. This presents an even greater challenge in light of food price projections. Riots have already broken out in countries like Algeria and Tunisia, where people cannot afford to buy sugar, oil and basic staple foods. Experts agree that Haiti stands on even more fragile ground, ill equipped to absorb the next impending global food crisis.

Despite the unique challenges of today's post-earthquake environment, Haiti's food problem has been a long time growing. Many argue that Haiti was nearly self-sufficient in the 1980's, able to grow enough food to feed its people. Yet, the United States, other international governments and international financial institutions put great pressure on Haiti to liberalize its trade policies. This included cutting tariffs on outside imports like rice, reducing publicly financed support programs for farmers, allowing outside companies to cut down forests and deprioritizing agricultural development. In addition, foreign governments responded to different natural disasters by sending food aid commodities that competed with local markets.

Today, Haiti imports over 80% of all its rice. This is a direct effect of US food aid policies. At the March 10, 2010 Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing, President Bill Clinton publicly apologized for his contribution to these policies and Haiti's current food dependent state. "It may have been good for some of my farmers in Arkansas, but it has not worked. It was a mistake...I have had to live everyday with the consequences of the loss of capacity to produce a rice crop in Haiti to feed those people because of what I did." See full article.

Understanding Haiti's food and agriculture history and our own role in that history is an important step towards helping to correct the past. Multiple Haitian organizations and civil society platforms exist, like CROSE, MPP, Tet Kole and PAPDA, that have the expertise and people power to help change Haiti's food reality. These groups have been actively working with my own organization, ActionAid, to improve agricultural development and food security policies in country. They have protested foreign quick fix solutions, like Monsanto GMO seeds, and have promoted local production and food purchase. They have denounced food aid dumping and agricultural development contracts that are domineered by foreign firms, and have offered powerful alternatives that can help to lift the Haitian people into a new era of food sovereignty. If we truly want to help the Haitian people to feed themselves, then we must listen to these voices and challenge our own decision-makers to do the same.

Elise Young

Senior Policy Analyst

ActionAid USA

elise.young@actionaid.org

Read more about ActionAid's rights-based approach to development in Haiti.

Cholera in Haiti

Haiti, U.S. and International news feeds are all reporting on the devastating cholera outbreaks that are currently rocking the country. Over 1,030 people have now died, over 14,600 are reported as being infected and as many as 50,000-100,000 might actually be infected. The UN estimates that up to 200,000 are likely to become infected overall. The scary thing about cholera is that it strikes very quickly. Terrible diarrhea and vomiting can cause a person to become completely dehydrated and die within 48 hours. Haitian rural communities with little access to medical centers are understandably afraid. The hospitals in certain towns, such as Gonaives, are completely overfull with cases and cannot accept any new ones. I’ve talked first hand with Haitians over the last few days who express their desperate feelings of powerlessness in the face of this new invisible enemy.

Poulie women asking for cholera prevention trainings in the different local schools to help protect their children.

A lot of confusion exists about how cholera made its way into Haiti and about how it is spreading. Here is what I know or have heard so far. The Center for Disease Control tested certain infected persons and asserted that the current strain of cholera most closely resembles one from Southeast Asia. The cholera originated in the Artibonite area, near the Artibonite river, where Nepalese UN troops were stationed. Many Haitians and international NGO’s suspect that the Nepalese troops might have unknowingly brought the cholera to the country. The UN and World Health Organization contend that they tested the soldiers and that they are not the source. However, many Haitians doubt the truth behind this. As a result, certain protests against the UN troops have taken place in the Central Plateau town of Hinche and in the Northern town of Cap Haitien, where over 50 people have died. We were all very sad to learn today that in the Cap Haitien protest, which turned violent, a 14 year old Haitian boy was killed. Understandably, many Haitians and Haitian organizations now want the UN troops to go. Yet, with the pending elections and fear of potential violence, this leaves the country in a bit of a quandary.

The big question remains…how do we now deal with this cholera epidemic? So much money has been put into International NGO’s and overall health initiatives. One thing that I know for sure, though, is that success can only be achieved if International Donors, NGO’s and Health Systems respect the already existing Haitian organizations and networks. This is one of the reasons why I have faith in my new employer, ActionAid, and other similar rights-based organizations. I believe that they truly respect and partner with local Haitian organizations. The results can be amazing. I have the proof.

The ActionAid Cholera Prevention Training taking place in the small village of Poulie in the Central Valley, next to Lascahobas.

On Sunday, I was able to join the 10 member ActionAid Emergency Response Team as they executed a series of cholera prevention trainings in Lascahobas (the town that I blogged about on 6.27.10) and the neighbor village of Poulie. What an impressive endeavor. On Friday, after an ActionAid staffer came back from the field and reported on new cases of cholera and a request for ActionAid’s help, the team immediately contacted their local Haitian NGO partner, COSADH. COSADH, in turn, notified their field liaisons that ActionAid would be arriving on Sunday to do the prevention trainings.

Explaining the contents and use of the cholera prevention kits.

Our team arrived in Lascahobas at 11:30am on Sunday. We met for an hour with our partner COSADH and a team of local ActionAid/COSADH trained facilitators who are from the area and know the people well. We split up into 3 different teams. I joined the team going to the small village of Poulie, where we worked with the ActionAid/COSADH facilitator, Jacqueline Morette (who also serves as a facilitator for Oxfam.) Jacqueline is an amazing woman…strong, warm, well educated…a real community leader who helps to lead the Association of Women of Poulie. I actually had the pleasure of meeting Jacqueline in Washington, DC, when Oxfam brought her to the States to meet with NGO’s and members of Congress. (She remembered me well and was quite surprised to see me show up at her door in the middle of this very rural area.)

Jacqueline, ActionAid Emergency Response Trainer, Wesner, and Me in the village of Poulie in the Central Valley

Jacqueline sprung into action and mobilized the youth and local artists, who then went door to door to announce that there would be a community-wide cholera prevention training in 1 hour at the local school. We spent that hour talking with Jacqueline under her coconut tree and learning more about the community and the concerns over the growing cholera threat. At 2pm, we headed to the local school and low and behold, over 100 community members were gathered, ready and eager for the training. It was a wonderful, interactive, productive hour long training on the different ways to prevent and treat cholera, that included singing, story telling and community engagement.

I just kept thinking during the training, “this is how you do community development and community emergency response…with people, not for people…through the community, not above the community.”

Poulie Community members waiting in line to receive ActionAid cholera prevention kits.

This is the type of cholera response that Haiti most desperately needs right now. One that is considerate of local Haitian organizations, knowledgeable of the language and culture, connected into community leaders, and sensitive to the unique geographical needs. If International NGO’s and donors want to really help Haiti, we need to first look at our own intentions, prejudices and hierarchies, and seek to reach out in more authentic and respectful ways.

The ActionAid Emergency Response team handing out image-based educational flyers and cholera prevention kits (1 gallon bucket, chlorox to treat the water, soap, toilet paper and oral rehydration solution) to Poulie training participants

Mountains Beyond Mountains

The book is right, Haiti is ridiculously gorgeous. I had the most amazing opportunity today to join my new friends, Alexis and her husband Ben, on a hike through a nature wonderland of sorts. Alexis is the head advocacy person at Mennonite Central Committee, based in Port-au-Prince. Born of American parents, having grown up for 18 years in Cameroon and having spent the last 2 ½ years dedicating her life to progressive Haiti development (and learning fluent Creole) she is quite the global citizen. Her husband, Ben, (also American, a good Creole speaker and a real globe trotter) is a talented photographer who works with several of the different International NGO’s operating in Haiti. After a few meetings with Alexis and realizing that she was my kind of person (down-to-earth, respectful of Haitian culture, warm and welcoming,) I was delighted when she and her husband invited me to join them for a day of hiking on a beautiful nature preserve in the mountain village of Kenskoff, about 20 kilometers north of Port-au-Prince.

The preserve is the work of a Haitian American woman named Janie, who bought up the land to protect it and turn it into a natural reserve where community members could help repopulate the land with indigenous plants. The result is a lush Eden of orchids, begonias, impatients, fruit trees, vegetables and green, exotic plants that I have never even seen before. We started up into the hike surrounded by a distant mist that gave the mountain and its flora an ethereal glow. We greeted every Haitian that we passed in Creole and were received with the warmest, most sincere response at every turn. (Creole goes a LONG way…It is inspiring how the Haitian people have held onto their language and so respect its use by foreigners.) I oohed and ahhed over the amazing agriculture projects all around us: terraces of sweet potatoes, cassava, peppers, tomatoes and onions. Green houses with marigolds and lettuce and herbs.

After several wonderful hours of exploring this natural treasure, we finally decided it was time to descend. Just then, the mist began to rise and the mountains and valleys and tiered terraces leapt out before us. Breathtaking. As we carefully navigated down the red earth path, we passed by a procession of community members dressed in red shirts, making their way up to the top of the mountain for a planning meeting. We said “Comment ou ye…or how are you?” to each person and were greeted with a warm smile and laugh. “Mwen byen, par la grace du dieu.” “Very good, by the grace of God.”

Once Alexis, Ben and I made it back down the mountain, we ventured to the town market, where Alexis enthusiastically greeted her friend Christine, a vegetable saleswoman who also dabbles in horticulture. I witnessed such a beautiful and sincere warm embrace between the two women. Christine was obviously delighted to see her old friend Alexis and talked a mile a minute in Creole to her, updating her on the news of the town and market. I felt the divides of race, culture and nationality just slip away at the moment. This is the Haiti that I came to see…a land of mountains beyond mountains and human connection beyond connection.

After Alexis and Ben bought a good sampling of vegetables and I bought a lovely orchid arrangement that Christine had created, we said orevwa and began to head back into the reality of Port-au-Prince. The traffic and noise and pollution and cramped corners slowly emerged. Yet, I still felt high from the day, and seemed to carry a new lightness back into the city with me. My new friends showed me that Haiti still has many wonderful things to teach me. And today proved yet again that one of these lessons is hope.

Parlez-vous soccer?

This is the gorgeous view from the ActionAid Guest house in Haiti, in the Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Pacot. It is a wonderful reminder that beauty really does exist in Haiti...even despite the earthquake effects, cholera outbreaks and aftermath of Hurricane Tomas. I have 3 great examples to back up this claim.

First, beautiful views abound. If you just head up into the hills or mountains a bit, you can see bright blue waters, towering mountains, lush trees, colorful flowers. The higher you go, the more you realize that Port-au-Prince is not the only part of Haiti, and that its rubble, trash and compact IDP camps are not the only things that define its character.

Second, the Haitian people are beautiful. Warm, thoughtful, quick to laugh, sensitive, strong, loving...Haitians constantly amaze me. How, in the middle of so much destruction and sickness, can people be so human, so connected, so solid? Two wonderful proofs of this fact are my current roomates: Marie (our ActionAid Haiti Human Resources Director and overall organizational mom) and Irvy (Marie's best friend of over 30 years.) I will have to devote another blog entry entirely to these two women. Despite the fact that both women lost their husbands years ago, that both women were traumatized by the earthquake and lost people they cared about, that both have children to worry about educating and overwhelming responsibility to care for the lives of others, they are free, loving spirits. Their full belly laughs fill the home. Their kindness and smiles are infectious. They really know how to live (and how to make a foreigner feel right at home.)

Third, Haitian children are beautiful (ok, children do officially count as people, but they still get their own category.) When I emerged from the Guest House yesterday early evening to go for a walk with Marie, the children and their soccer ball descended. A round of voices started asking me if I knew how to play soccer. I joked and teased them and said of course I did, but did THEY know how to play soccer, or would I have to teach them. This resulted in the most beautiful chorus of giggles and laughter and enthusiastic pleading for me to come and play a quick game with them.

I am proud to report, that I scored 2 goals, blocked over a dozen attempts and successfully managed to not embarrass myself on the makeshift soccer field (consisting of a small dirt patch of semi-even ground, rocks for goals and a sadly deflated soccer ball.) In fact, I even got some good praise from the gathered bystanders. Of course, my fellow players were only 8 year old boys who were playing without shoes, but that's beside the point. Soccer turned out to be a language that we could all speak. And the children's supreme delight with me playing reminded me that Haitian children are beautiful miracles...with a joie de vivre that deserves our greatest respect.

I suspect that my next blog might be a bit more reflective of the many challenges that Haitians are facing right now: the cholera deaths, the slow pace of removing rubble, the disputes of land tenure and fact that Haitians are being pushed off of IDP camp land. Yet, today, I just want to bask for a minute more in the beauty that is Haiti. I hope that you get a chance to do the same.