Vancouver Haiti

More from Daniel

2010-03-20T00:33:00.001-07:00

I heard from Daniel, our translator in Port-au-Prince, who also works for Pax Christi organizing sports in Cité Soleil.

Daniel was worried about the role of NGOs in Haiti before the earthquake - as was Rea Dol (see here). Now that even more money has come to Haiti since the earthquake, he told me:

I am here working hard so this opportunity for haiti would not just go to the NGO's and haiti will stay poor and even poorer.

He also sent a general update on his activities:

Building peace while rebuilding Haiti

Dear friends,

My apologize to all friends to whom I could not be in touch with for the past several weeks. I know that I have promise report to people who donate money to our relief effort and proposals to potential donors. However, there is so much to be done that even I were three persons it would still be impossible to fulfill all my daily tasks. Again, my apologize to all of you and hopefully in the future I will do my best to fix this situation.

It has been two months now since the earthquake open the eyes of the world on over 200 years of ignored suffering. Many efforts so far to bring adequate relief to the people of Haiti, but I feel concern that so many groups trying their own things have not accomplish much. While hundreds of NGO’s are on the field, the very basic has not been done so far. In places like Cite Soleil where we are operating the picture of children malnourish and thousands sleeping under plastic self made shelter, make us really sad.

Since the very beginning, Pax Christi decided that we should join the relief effort because with no one to advocate for this neighborhood, nothing will make it there while we all know that there were huge needs for everything even prior to the quake. Because our center SAKALA was damaged, we moved our activities to a nearby open space (donated by the municipality last year) with hope to find support so children in our program would not die of hunger or into a fight during the crazy distribution that was going once in a while.

Thanks to the generosity of longtime friends like Bob Fisher USD 200, Anne Richter , John Stewart, Marilyn Elsen, Lucy Fuchs, and Shirley Poore USD500, Bishop Gumbleton, Coleen and Miriaam USD 200, Seth Donnely though his school USD1000, Laura White USD50, MCC through Felix, Pure water though Jack, beloved friends like Kara, Neesh, Monica, Eric, Mark, Yvette and all the names would not fit in this update, Pax Christi was able to launch it relief activities among the children and extended now to people in the surrounding of the center. .

100% of this money that was donated by our lovely friends was used to feed 25 children in the first week following the quake and now about 150 people benefit from this feeding activity. Over the last two months we receive visits of couple medical team and some of the children who were injured from the tragedy found medical assistance for free.

While the information about fugitive taking control of the neighborhood and terrorized the population was intimidate NGO’s to come inside Cite Soleil, our on-going sports activities with the children brought evidence to the NGO’s and government on the needs of this neighborhood and also got rid of pretext of violence to forget about the people there in the distribution activities.

While big NGO’s were arguing about strategies, we were the first to start with child friendly space to bring a little recreation to the children, some food and some education. With the very poor resource that was available to us, we kept feeding the children, feed some elders, provide potable water to the population and empower the people to be part of promotion of a more sustainable future for Haiti.

Everyday, boys and girls come to our new center around 7:00 AM to 8:30 AM practicing soccer, jumping rope and racing. During the day two teachers come to run educative and recreation activities like, reading for the youngest, circle stories, show and tell and more until 1:00PM when the lunch is served. After the break lunch they come back for more discussion and workshop on what they new Haiti should look like. The program varies on days, sometime there is a site visit to educate or just for fun. The youngest children are also part of community service work. They help in distributing potable water to the nearby camps and bring lunch to the elders as a sign of respect for their wisdom and volunteer helping small NGO”s with food distribution.

Every Sunday we run the distress day, the four groups name after: Tet ansanm, Nou la, Nou kapab, and lape gaye (Joining minds, Still Committed, We can and Peace Spreaders) have fun while competing against themselves. Parents who are so stressed of the conditions in Haiti enjoy this space that help both children and themselves to be healed. The last two Sundays we show the movie of Gandhi and My best friend that were enjoyable. The success was so big that we will try to get as many movies possible to show one movie every Sunday. We also proudly started , two weeks ago the third edition of the kite event. The theme One child, One kite and One wish is very inspiring and our objective is to have 1000 children, 1000 kites and 1000 wishes flying in the sky on April 4^th the holy sunday.

Our greatest victory over the last two months is the discipline of these children in every activity going either inside or outside Cite Soleil. Our mission to create peace ambassadors among them work perfectly. Again, we acknowledge the effort of our friends who sent sports uniforms during the past three years of our program. Now we see what existing resource is about and how nice soccer uniforms can be wonderful relief helpers uniforms.

The only problem is the fact of not being able to meet the demands to register to the program that increase every single day. Since we call the space child friendly space, parents come from all over the neighborhood to bring their children with hope they will be fed and have some time fun with other children. But unfortunately like you can imagine, the resources are very little and cannot meet all the needs.

The executive committee of Pax Christi goes from meeting to meetings to find assistance , but so far it is only promises that we get but nothing concrete yet. But we are hopeful that over the days something will happen so we can better organize the activities and be able to commit to more.

Around Port-au-Prince, it seems things are back to normal. For us, it is a big concern that things appear for some people to be back to normal already. It has not been previous to the earthquake, so in no way it can be now. While the media begin their tradition to forget about Haiti, in Pax Christi Haiti together with the children we want to advocate on this need to promote the culture of peace through living examples as something that should be part of the reconstruction of the country. We desperately look for potable water, food, tent and adequate sanitation. But also our focus is to stand the examples that others can follow for a new chance for Haiti.

We are already working on many projects that should implement this new vision. With constant call we received from committees in nearby camps, we are now trying to develop the concept of model camp where we can help the voice of the weakest to be finally heard. We try to find help for the camps so the distribution can get to the parents of the children in the program. Through the camps we work with, We try to encourage more ecologic solutions. We want to encourage alternatives energy and distribution with dignity. The committees are more participative and have women and children participate in the main decision of the future of the cam. We promote democracy and peace culture, somehow, with the children, we are beginning to put foundation for the new Haiti to build.

Also, we have this project to make the caravane of gratefulness and love. Our 13 years old team and 17 years old should go for a tour in the DR to play games with other school there a way to have the children sharing their gratitude with the DR people who have been so helpful, but also to encourage a lasting peace and reconciliation among these two nations.
Our involvement is already very productive for the neighborhood, so far we have received over 500 relief kits from MCC to distribute in nearby tents, with help of both Pure water organization and MCC we provide potable water to about 400 families.

Our commitment as a relief effort is to continue promote a new Haiti through examples among the people. We can not make it without support of friends who believe in that need to canalize all strength toward making of this tragedy an opportunity to create better living in Haiti. A special thanks to our generous friend, so far USD1600 has been spent just in providing a meal to our children. And this is because we could receive food from some friends. About USD400 on equipment and materials for our daily activities. A lot of what we used to received from friends stopsince last week. We can no longer serve, while the needs are still the same. Our staff is still willing to volunteer their time , but we need your help to continue. With one dollar per children we can arrange to get 150 people a meal every day. Your love and solidarity prayer toward the people of Haiti are precious. We know how much it is a difficult time for all of us, so your support mean gold for us.

To keep going we need you to try to link us with connections that can help us making better with more resources.

Ak Lape

Wish list:

1. board games (to get more games for more children who come in the program)

2. a movie projector (as we launch special class and educative movies, this is a very useful tool to have)

3. Laptop computers (to keep going with our computer class with the young children.

4. Video camera (need a flip camera to document our work )

5. Books in French

6. Paints and brushes

7. Also all that can help us make a difference among the people in this neighborhood

Nearing on two months...

2010-03-06T14:48:00.000-08:00

The NY Times video feature has an update on Rea Dol and the SOPUDEP school:
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/03/06/world/americas/1247467192053/the-mother-figure-of-morne-lazarre.html?emc=eta1

Meanwhile, Doctors without Borders and Partners in Health are warning that the aid effort in Haiti is itself a disaster:

Here is the Doctors without Borders update, entitled "Haitans facing 'intolerable breach of human dignity'".

http://www.msf.org.uk/articledetail.aspx?fId=twomonth_haiti_20100305

The Partners in Health press release is below:

For Immediate Release

March 5, 2010

Contact: Andrew Marx, (617) 998-8977

Meredith Eves, (617) 998-8945

Partners In Health’s Executive Director Ophelia Dahl and

Chief Program Officer Ted Constan Issue Call to Action

Dahl and Constan Say Conditions are Inhumane and Getting Worse

Scale of Devastation Requires Partnership and Increased Support for the Haitian Government

BOSTON - On a press conference call earlier today, Partners In Health’s Executive Director Ophelia Dahl and Chief Program Officer Ted Constan issued a call to action - to governments, NGOs and individuals - to do a better job addressing the inhumane and rapidly deteriorating conditions on the ground in Haiti.

Dahl and Constan returned to the United States Tuesday evening after a week-long trip to Port-au-Prince and Cange, in Haiti’s Central Plateau. According to USAID, there are approximately 600,000 displaced people living in 416 makeshift camps in Port-au-Prince. PIH has established clinics in five of these settlements, providing primary care, reproductive health care, HIV testing and screening for malnutrition to a community of 80,000 to 100,000. PIH is also continuing to treat thousands of patients at its 12 health facilities – operated in partnership with the Haitian Ministry of Health – in the Central Plateau and Lower Artibonite Valley.

Please see below for key quotes from the call:

Ophelia Dahl on the humanitarian crisis: “More than seven weeks after the earthquake, there remains an urgent humanitarian crisis. The situation is very bad and getting worse. We witnessed hundreds of thousands of people living in makeshift temporary shelters; spontaneous settlements made of scraps of cardboard and plastic bags. What little people have is soaked, because they’re sleeping in the rain, and the makeshift shelters are already breaking down and dissolving. The conditions for the homeless and displaced people are absolutely inhumane and getting worse every single day.”

Ophelia Dahl on the response to the earthquake: “We all can do a great deal better, and we must do a better job of actually getting supplies, tents, shelter and sanitation to people who need it. We are issuing a call to action.”

Ophelia Dahl on Camp Dadadou, a spontaneous settlement in Port-au-Prince: “…Many children are suffering from chronic water-borne diseases from drinking water that’s been contaminated, often by human waste because there are no sanitation facilities. At Camp Dadadou, there are approximately 20 babies who have been born [since the earthquake] and more than 100 expectant mothers who are at risk of death due to complications in child birth. The complications infection that develop after delivery are very serious. If your birthing suite is a tent situated on a flooded astroturf floor in mud, it just gets worse and worse.”

Ophelia Dahl on help for Haiti from Boston: “Boston has been incredibly supportive. We were inundated with offers of support from local medical partners including Partners HealthCare and its consortium of hospitals, Dartmouth-Hitchcock, construction companies including Shawmut, medical supplies companies like IMEC, and Harvard Medical School. The generosity piece of all this is a very positive story. There is no one who hasn’t come through. What we hope is that the partnership won’t stop when the news stops. We’re already in conversations with Partners HealthCare and Harvard to make sure that they are engaged in continuing medical education and to help rebuild Haiti’s medical infrastructure.”

Ted Constan on call for partnership: “Our presence in the camps has allowed us to see first-hand the lack of critical services – especially sanitation and shelter. PIH is issuing a call for action, and for us that means a call for partnership. PIH is a health care organization, though we have experience with water projects and economic development and housing. But the scale of this involves a need for a much larger and much more specialized intervention than what PIH can provide… We are supportive of efforts to pass out tarpaulins, but this is not really a solution for the long term. What’s required is more than tents, what’s required is transitional housing or at least a strong enough shelter that can withstand mud, strong rains and strong wind.”

Ted Constan on supporting the Haitian government: “Just last night a child died for want of a small part – an oxygen regulator. It’s something easy to procure, but the Haitian Ministry of Health has limited funds and limited capacity to keep these (health) facilities well stocked. Of the aid money coming into Haiti, the Haitian government is seeing a very small amount – about $1 of every $100. The government of Haiti is standing up on its feet: staff are returning to the General Hospital, they are running vaccination camps, they are running registration drives for displaced people, they are maintaining and strengthening their presence at the airport. We need to make sure aid money is used to capacitate and hold accountable the government of Haiti – it’s the only real solution to these challenges over the long term.”

Ted Constan on the need for resources at the Ministry of Health: “The Minister of Health, himself, asked PIH for four laptops. He couldn’t get online. He couldn’t review and write documents…The Ministry of Health has no way of moving around, they have no vehicles. The notion that the Ministry of Health – which is our direct partner – can’t move around really makes us very sad.”

About PIH: PIH works in 12 countries around the world to provide quality health care to people and communities devastated by joint burdens of poverty and disease. PIH has been providing vital health care services in Haiti for more than 20 years and is the largest health care provider in the country, working with the Haitian Ministry of Health to deliver comprehensive health care services to a catchment area of 1.2 million across the Central Plateau and the Lower Artibonite Valley. PIH had 5,000 staff in Haiti before the January 12 earthquake. For more information visit www.pih.org
###

A month later

2010-02-11T16:55:00.000-08:00

See Avi Lewis' excellent piece on Haiti from AlJazeera:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuUt12usDVs

Georges Werleigh is alive

2010-01-27T22:29:00.000-08:00

I got indirect word that Georges Werleigh, the economist specializing in Haiti's rural economy, survived the earthquake. He and I talked on the phone on my last night in Port-au-Prince, sketching out a possible visit to Canada on a speaking tour.

The tour can't happen for a long time, but I hope to hear from him soon.

When you carry a hammer, everything looks like a nail...

2010-01-27T10:18:00.000-08:00

Meanwhile, DemocracyNow reports on the UN aid distribution efforts:

Tear Gas Fired at Haitians Seeking Food Aid

In Haiti, starving Haitians were tear-gassed Tuesday after crowding a relief center with scarce food aid. Desperate earthquake survivors had rushed to grab bags of dried grains after the center ran low on supplies for a second consecutive day. Brazilian forces with the UN mission to Haiti fired tear gas at the crowd. The UN says it will need enough food to feed some two million people for at least fifteen days. UN Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes said the aid effort is making incremental progress in meeting humanitarian needs.
UN Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes: “People have got some access to water, and we’re increasing the coverage that we are able to give. So that is less critical, although I don’t want to give the impression that it’s at all solved. Another related issue there we need to focus a lot on is sanitation, and of course sanitation and hygiene, because otherwise the risk of disease is there. And by the way, on the disease front, there’s no sign of any epidemics at the moment, although the surveillance of that is continuing very intensively.”

Report from the ground in Haiti

2010-01-26T19:27:00.000-08:00

This is part of a [now anonymous] email from a colleague whose partner is in Haiti, working near the Matthew 25 Guesthouse.

I finally heard from [him] today. I have been concerned because there has
been no word by email for the past few days. Apparently the lines are down
again after the last big aftershock... He said his biggest current
frustration is not being able to get much needed medical supplies out of the
airport.

A Canadian Forces Captain had put the word out that CIDA had lots
of supplies and NGO's should just come with their passports and documents
and pick up. On Sunday he went with [a] Marine [staying at the house] and [the Marine's] girlfriend to the base at the airport with our three ton truck hoping to get medical supplies for the clinic at Champs de Mars, which has totally run out of
everything.

He went to the CIDA location while [the Marine and his girlfriend] went to the
American side. At the CIDA site a lower level officer refused to release
anything to him even with the required documents. [He] wandered around the
airport for hours with no internet connections, no phone and couldn't get
anywhere. He said many of the soldiers there on the ground wonder what they
are doing there if they are not getting food and medicine out to the
Haitians.

The way I understand it, [the Marine and his girlfriend] couldn't get anything
either. In the midst of all this, on leaving the base in frustration, a
Haitian woman came up to him with a very sick baby whose eyes were running
and gummed up, begging for medicine.

The media on the other side of the
fence crowded around. He said he just lost it; started screaming at the
media, "What have you ever done for Haiti!" They seemed to understand his
rage, he said. [He] is usually a very mild mannered person, but I think all
this is overwhelming him at times.

Another update from Matthew 25

2010-01-25T13:52:00.000-08:00

Patrick, who works at Matthew 25, provides (an all-caps, sorry) update from the guesthouse:

CURRENT SITUATION AT MATTHEW 25 HOUSE

MATTHEW 25 HOUSE EXPERIENCED MODERATE DAMAGE DURING THE EARTHQUAKE. THE SECOND FLOOR IS UNUSABLE. THE FIRST FLOOR APPEARS PRETTY STABLE AND WE ARE TRYING TO GET IT AN ASSESSMENT BY AN ENGINEER. WE WERE ALL INSIDE AT THE TIME AND ALL ESCAPED INJURY

WE ARE ALL SLEEPING OUTSIDE DUE TO MANY AFTERSHOCKS, 54 OF WHICH WERE 5.0 OR HIGHER ; AND THE FEAR THAT THE TOP FLOOR COULD COLLAPSE. ALL STAFF ARE SLEEPING IN TENTS IN THE BACKYARD, AND WE ARE REQUIRING ALL VISITORS TO BRING TENTS AND SLEEPING BAGS, AND FOOD. WE ARE ABLE TO PURCHASE ENOUGH FOOD TO FEED OUR GUESTS AND STAFF. WATER IS NOT A PROBLEM AT THE HOUSE.

WE HAVE ADEQUATE MEDICAL SUPPLIES AS THEY HAVE STARTED TO COME THROUGH, FINALLY. IN FACT, WE ARE ABLE TO GIVE SOME TO OTHER FACILITIES THAT ARE LACKING.

WE ARE OPERATING A FIELD HOSPITAL IN THE ADJACENT SOCCER FIELD AS WELL AS A TENT CITY ORGANIZED BY THE NEIGHBORHOOD LEADERS. THERE ARE ABOUT 1300 SLEEPING IN THE FIELD AND ANOTHER FIELD TWO HOUSES AWAY.

FOUR SURGERIES WERE DONE ON OUR KITCHEN TABLE WITH MINIMUM ANESTHESIA, INCLUDING AN AMPUTATION.

WE THOUGHT THINGS WERE SLOWING AND THAT WE WERE GOING TO BE DOING WOUND CARE, FOLLOW UP, AND POST OP, BUT THEY KEEP COMING, PROBABLY BECAUSE WORD HAS GOTTEN OUT THAT THERE IS GOOD CARE HERE.

MANY PHYSICIANS, NURSES, DISASTER RELIEF PERSONNEL, U.S. JOURNALISTS, COORDINATORS, ETC., ARE PASSING THROUGH OUR HOUSE, SOME STAYING TO HELP IN OUR FIELD HOSPITAL, SOME TO USE OUR INTERNET FACILITIES. WE ARE ONE OF THE FEW GUEST HOUSES FUNCTIONING, AND WE HAVE POWER (GENERATOR) AND A FUEL SUPPLY. WE SPENT MUCH OF OUR DAY FERRYING PATIENTS FROM OUR FIELD HOSPITAL TO LOCAL FIELD HOSPITALS SET UP BY THE FRENCH, ISRAELIS, BRAZILIANS, RUSSIANS, BELGIANS, ETC., AS SOME HAVE X RAY, SOME NEUROSURGEONS, SOME ORTHOPEDIC SURGEONS, ETC.

TO ALL THOSE THAT HAVE EMAILED AND CALLED WITH PRAYERS, FINANCIAL SUPPORT, SUPPLIES, OFFERS OF HELP, A GREAT BIG THANK YOU! OUR VOLUNTEER DOCTORS ALONG WITH OUR HAITIAN DOCTORS FROM THE COMMUNITY AND COMMUNITY LEADERS SUPERVISED BY OUR EMPLOYEE AND LOYAL FRIEND THEIL HAVE MADE A TREMENDOUS POSITIVE IMPACT ON THIS COMMUNITY. LIVES HAVE BEEN SAVED, AND IMMEASURABLE SUFFERING RELEIVED, IN A TIME WHEN ALL OF THE PEOPLE OF HAITI HAVE ENDURED SO MUCH ANGUISH AND PAIN. EVERYONE WE TALK TO HAVE LOST LOVED ONES AND FRIENDS. MAY YOU CONTINUE TO BE A GREAT FRIEND OF HAITI, DOING GOD'S WORK HOWEVER YOU SEE FIT TO DO IT.

THANK YOU,

PATRICK

MATTHEW 25 HOUSE STAFF

STAY TUNED

Brief history of Canada in Haiti

2010-01-24T00:43:00.000-08:00

I posted a brief history of Canada in Haiti here.

Buildings in Haiti

2010-01-23T17:34:00.001-08:00

I was just reviewing an Associated Press story I posted on the Canada Haiti Action website November 27th, 2008. The title is 'Poor oversight means many Haiti schools are unsafe'.

The article came out after a school in Petionville collapsed, killing 100 students, and injuring 162.

Port-au-Prince Mayor Jean-Yves Jason estimates 60 percent of buildings in his city are unsafe, built shoddily and now standing on ground weakened by a torrential hurricane season. Petionville lawmaker Steven Benoit said 2 million people need to be relocated nationwide.

“There are no studies for these buildings. They aren’t built by engineers,” said Claude Prepetit, an engineer and geologist with Haiti’s Bureau of Mines and Energy. “They just buy any materials they can find and have no respect for building rules.”

In a decade fraught with violent upheaval, little attention was paid to building codes as Haiti’s population grew from 6.8 million in 1998 to about 9 million today.

Families fleeing rural poverty and eroded fields have settled in slums in the hills that ring Port-au-Prince.

Pressed for space, they built upper stories onto homes, churches and schools out of chalky local cinderblock, held together with what little iron reinforcement and mortar they could afford.

This is another reminder of how disasters have political and social aspects. Read the entire story here.

Aid in Haiti

2010-01-22T13:23:00.000-08:00

Here's a list of organizations to donate to, brought to you by the Canada Haiti Action Network. I personally recommend Partners in Health. A few years ago, we (Haiti Solidarity BC along with Rotary) worked with them, and they were very helpful in distributing some of the medical goods we shipped to them to local, grassroots Haitian organizations:

The Haitian Red Cross

You can contribute to the Haitian Red Cross through its international partners in the International Red Cross. Contributions are tax deductible. The Canadian Red Cross is at: http://www.redcross.ca/article.asp?id=33900&tid=001.

Zanmi Lasante/ Partners in Health

The Zanmi Lasante medical center is located in the Central Plateau of Haiti and delivers health care through a network of clinics in that region of the country. It also trains Haitians as doctors and health professionals. Update: PIH is now managing Haiti’s university hospital in Port-au-Prince and has established more than a dozen satellite clinics in the earthquake zones. PIH is a co-signer to a statement calling for maximum respect for the human rights of Haitian people. (see here).

To donate, go to: http://www.pih.org/home.html Donations in the U.S. are tax deductible. IN CANADA: For tax deductions in Canada, Partners in Health is partnered with Free The Children. When donating on this website, select “Earthquake Relief” in the appropriate box, then in the “Leave a note” box, write “Partners in Health.” These are the instructions from both organizations.

By mail in Canada: Free the Children; 233 Carlton Street; Toronto, Ontario M5A 2L2

By mail in USA: Partners In Health; P.O. Box 845578; Boston, MA 02284-5578

Doctors Without Borders/ Medecins sans frontières

Doctors Without Borders operates clinics in Port au Prince and surrounding neighbourhoods. It has expertise in disaster relief. Donations in Canada and the U.S. are tax deductible. Go to:

http://www.msf.ca/news-media/news/2010/01/haiti-update/

By mail in Canada: Doctors Without Borders; 402 – 720 Spadina Avenue; Toronto, ON M5S 2T9

Sawatzky Family Foundation-SOPUDEP School

SOPUDEP is a pioneering school in Petionville with an enrolment of 600 students from elementary to senior high school grades. The school has survived the earthquake and we understand there were no casualties inside. Staff are transforming it into a disaster medical center and will urgently need funds. The Sawatzky Family Foundation is a registered charity in Canada and issues tax deductible receipts. Go to: http://www.sopudep.org/donate.

By mail: The Sawatzky Family Foundation; PO Box 626, 25 Peter Street North; Orillia, Ontario, Canada L3V 6K5

Haiti Emergency Relief Fund

In association with the Haiti Action Committee in San Francisco/Bay Area, this fund delivers resources directly to grassroots organizations in Haiti. It was founded 04 following the 2004 coup d’etat that forced the elected president of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, from office and imposed a two-year regime of human rights violations whose consequence continues today.

http://www.haitiaction.net/About/HERF/HERF.html

By mail: Haiti Emergency Relief Fund/EBSC; East Bay Sanctuary Covenant; 2362 Bancroft Way; Berkeley, CA 94704

Cuban Medical Brigades

Donations to Cuban Medical Brigades, which were already active in Haiti before the earthquake, and which train Haitian doctors to work in Haiti, can be made through:

Make cheques out to “The Mackenzie-Papineau Memorial Fund” and mail to: Attention: S. Skup; 56 Riverwood Terrace; Bolton, ON L7E 1S4

Sister Mary Finnick speaks on Democracy Now

2010-01-22T11:41:00.001-08:00

Sister Mary Finnick, of the Matthew 25 guesthouse, is interviewed on DemocracyNow! today.
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/22/security_red_zones_in_haiti_preventing

Interview on Vancouver Coop Radio

2010-01-19T10:06:00.000-08:00

Here's a link to an interview I did on Vancouver Coop Radio on Saturday January 16th, reporting on our delegation's findings and about the January 12th earthquake.

http://rabble.ca/podcasts/shows/redeye/2010/01/report-haiti

Democracy Now's Amy Goodman at Matthew 25

2010-01-19T09:12:00.000-08:00

Amy Goodman of DemocracyNow! is reporting from Port-au-Prince on the aftermath of the earthquake from the Matthew 25 guesthouse where our delegation stayed.

Amy visited Carrefour and Leogane, the epicenter of the quake. She talks about the 'security issues' - reporting that although traveling on the ground is safe, the U.N. and U.S. are refusing to distribute aid claiming security issues. People are desperate for aid, beckoning any non-Haitians to their houses, asking for food, for water, for search and rescue equipment.

Listen here: http://www.democracynow.org/
Tuesday January 19th 2010

The vocabulary of the media

2010-01-18T13:07:00.001-08:00

There are reports in the mainstream media about Haitians 'looting' Port-au-Prince grocery stores and U.N. depots. At the same time, the media is reporting (in its curiously disjointed way) that aid is not reaching people on the ground.

Remember what happened during reporting on Hurricane Katrina. This photo shows a picture of blacks 'looting' food and whites 'finding' food in local grocery stores. Apply this logic to what you read and hear about Haiti.

Updates from Matthew 25

2010-01-18T10:52:00.000-08:00

The Konbit Pou Ayiti (konpay.org), the organization that Joe works for in Jacmel, has an update from a partner at the Matthew 25 guesthouse in Port-au-Prince.

Here we have set up a triage hospital with more than 1,300 refugees on a soccer field. The people at Matthew 25 have been traveling all over the city trying to figure out what clinics and hospitls are operational, what services they can provide and what the needs are.

There is no visible coordination effort from international agencies on the ground. There were no planes coming in yesterday. One of my coordinating partners, AMURT-Haiti, worked to find a plane of 30-40 doctors and supplies that could come, but the plane was not allowed to land in the PAP airport. We have teams in the Dominican Republic with truckloads of supplies, but they were stopped at the border and were not allowed entry. The situation here is desperate and getting restless. The John Hopkins Students who were visiting Rights based Haiti and AMURT when the earthquake hit, have been doing surveys and assessments of the clinics and refuggee camps in the nearby zones. The surveys that they conducted two days ago show that none of the people in the camps had food or water to last them more than a day.

Here at Matthew 25, we have been doing amputations, and other painful surgeries, with no painkillers, no anesthesia, nothing to work with. There are no tools for our doctors. We have numerous Haitian doctors and nurses here but no supplies! We have run out of antibiotics twice but then found them by searching at nearby clinics run by missions and NGOs.

We have heard nothing from MINUSTAH. I have not seen any of the international agencies on the ground. I have seen belgian doctors and cuban doctors all doing amazing work - but we have not seen or received any contact or assistance from higher agencies ourselves. The city has run out of water and food - but the biggest problem is gas and diesel.

Daniel is safe

2010-01-17T10:03:00.000-08:00

Daniel Tillias, our translator, and organizer in Cité Soleil for Pax Christi, is safe - no word on his family.

SOPUDEP update

2010-01-16T09:31:00.000-08:00

I received an update about SOPUDEP. Rea Dol and her family are fine. Also, the school building and her home are basically intact. Both are being used as makeshift hospitals. However, many SOPUDEP teachers and students are dead.

When our delegation visited SOPUDEP with Rea, we heard from Rea, and from others, that NGOs were unwilling or unable to help their grassroots efforts. As it was before the earthquake, so it seems now. Rea reports that no aid is getting up the hill. It seems very little has gotten much farther than the airport.

Her report is backed up by other reports I am getting that aid workers are staying in the safer, walled areas of Port-au-Prince, and there are no aid workers in poor neighborhoods (see reports here and here).

Report from Ansel Herz

2010-01-14T12:50:00.000-08:00

DemocracyNow! features an interview with Ansel Herz, an independent journalist who joined us on our first visit to Cité Soleil on December 29th, 2009.

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/14/haiti_desperate_for_aid_with_rescue

I have seen efforts of just a dozen or two dozen people centered around a building that’s collapsed, schools that collapsed downtown, hearing children cry out from beneath the rubble, hearing people—or seeing somebody and just trying to dig through with their hands or also with shovels and with pickaxes to try to get those people out. You know, the National Cathedral, for example, a huge part of that building just fell off, and there were a bunch of men trying to pull a woman out from a door. She was just squeezed in there, and she looked like she was nearly dead, but they were just trying to pull her out as hard as they could. And so, there’s a lot of that going on, just ordinary Haitians trying to help each other, because there’s nobody else that they can rely on.

I was quoted in local media saying that:

[P]eople living in poor areas like Cite Soleil, which is a slum in Port-au-Prince, might fare better than those in wealthier areas.

"Ironically, they may be the best off, because their houses are so flimsy there's really nothing to fall on them. Up in the hills, the casualties will probably be terrible," Hammond said.

Ansel confirms that impression may be true:

One thing I can say, for example, that’s a little bit striking is that the slum of Cité Soleil, that sprawling slum that’s on the ocean side—I was able to get down there yesterday and sort of survey the scene. And I was actually surprised that the damage was not as bad as I expected, that these are mostly one-room shacks and one-room just concrete buildings. And, you know, some of them had crumbled, certainly. I interviewed people whose houses are gone. But, you know, the majority of the shacks are standing. And so, Cité Soleil, I think, relative to some other parts of the city—Pétionville, that you mentioned, and other parts, Carrefour, certainly—I think Cité Soleil is actually not very hard hit. And that is the poorest part of Port-au-Prince. So I think—I don’t know if you can say that, you know, the poorest people in Port-au-Prince were hit the hardest. I just think that it’s spread out.

Sister Mary's report

2010-01-13T20:43:00.000-08:00

Sister Mary of the Matthew 25 Guesthouse where the delegation stayed in Port-au-Prince was able to get an email out to some co-workers. Here's a portion of it (the full email is here) that describes the wounds people have suffered:

A triage area was set up and we began to see some very horrible conditions caused primarily from the cement blocks, which most of the house are built with, poor and rich alike. There were many head wounds, some so serious it surprised us the person was still alive. Most were deep wounds that should have been sutured, but we had no material to do that.

I think we saw between 300 to 400 people since last night as there has been a steady stream of people coming to the field. We have had several MDs , nurses, EMT’s and we were all hampered by the lack of supplies. However, we managed as best we could to clean wounds, use antibiotic ointment, provide pain medication for adults and children. The wounds also included broken legs and arms, several deep wounds to ankles, heels, etc.

The courage of the Haitian people starts young. The children, though crying, did not have temper tantrums and cooperated as much as is possible for a 3 year old as you make a splint, clean out a head wound and debride backs and legs. In all of this, we also hear the Haitian voices raised is song, praising God for being alive.

Here is a picture I took during the delegation visit of the soccer field next to Matthew 25. This is where Sister Mary is currently doing triage.

More...

2010-01-13T20:11:00.000-08:00

Have heard that Rea Dol of SOPUDEP is alive, as is Mario Joseph of BAI, as well as Sister Mary, and the others at the Matthew 25 Guesthouse (see here). No word on their families.

NGO friend safe

2010-01-13T15:21:00.000-08:00

I just heard that my friend who works in Port-au-Prince was freed from building rubble alive and well.

DemocracyNow! reports on Haiti

2010-01-13T12:42:00.000-08:00

Listen to or watch this report on DemocracyNow! on the earthquake, with political and historical background:

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/13/haiti_devastated_by_largest_earthquake_in

More reports

2010-01-13T12:35:00.000-08:00

Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital, is devastated. Reports are coming in that Jacmel, the city in the south that our delegation visited, is also destroyed. Our guide in Jacmel, Joe, is alive, and we hope to have more information soon.

Early images of damage.

2010-01-12T21:01:00.001-08:00

Taken from the web, here is an early image of damage from the earthquake, this to the National Palace in Haiti.

Here's the Palace about a week earlier, during the delegation visit.

Major Earthquake in Port-au-Prince

2010-01-12T15:45:00.000-08:00

A major magnitude 7 earthquake has just hit Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Many of the people and places you see here may be wounded, dead, damaged, or destroyed. I will continue to post here with news about the earthquake as it comes.

Jacmel - Port-Au-Prince - Vancouver

2010-01-08T23:28:00.000-08:00

I'm writing from Vancouver, having arrived around 8PM Friday evening after a full day of flights from Port-au-Prince.

On the 7th, our delegation split in two. One group left early for the Toussaint Louverture Airport in Port-au-Prince. My group stayed later, as we were all leaving on the 8th.

My group drove back in the afternoon between Jacmel and Port-au-Prince, a road we had previously covered at night. It had some stunning views, but again, deforestation was always apparent.

We rolled (and bumped, depending on the road) back into Port-au-Prince mid-afternoon, passing by the Port.

We saw some Venezuela-Cuban developments, including an gas refinery plant (apologies for the lack of quality of the photo - at least the flags are visible!).

We also passed some of Port-au-Prince's large markets.

Our delegation members have generally refrained from photographing 'people on the street' out of respect. The people who spoke with us at Mario Joseph's place, and in Cité Soleil, were often dressed for the occasion, or, and more importantly, had agreed to meet with us on the understanding that we were gather information and photos to bring back home and present to our respective organizations.

Still, I think street photos are helpful in conveying what day-to-day life looks like in Port-au-Prince, particularly the huge informal economy. This one was snapped as we drove by a market in our car.

On the 8th, I woke up early and chatted with Sister Mary, who runs the Matthew 25 guesthouse. We (or at least I) had been woken up at about 5AM by a noisy street preacher preaching in French outside our gates. I'm not sure if this is a common occurrence!

And then I was off to the airport and to Miami, Dallas, and Vancouver. I had no problems during my trip at either the US or Canadian border - unfortunately I've heard that some American delegation members were detained and questioned for several hours, and then released at their respective arrival points. I'm sure we'll follow this up, as the delegation had received a letter of authorization from Congressperson Barbara Lee.

Thank you to everyone who has read my blog. Feel free to ask me any questions at vancouverhaiti(at) gmail.com

I will post any upcoming speaking events that I do on the blog (although I imagine these will all, or mostly, be in Vancouver).

I would also like to say that one of the most difficult parts of Haiti for people who are concerned with the country is the issues of NGOs. Overall, I believe there needs to be systematic review and reform of aid. But the temptation is simply to cut-off our money, especially during these difficult economic times, and that is difficult when some of the NGOs do some good.

As a first step, I would urge anyone who donates to an NGO with activity in Haiti to write to them, tell them you donate, and ask them to clarify what they do in Haiti, and what their stance is towards Haitian-led projects.

I think you will find many of them responsive (and if not, then you can consider giving elsewhere!).

First report from Jacmel

2010-01-06T12:33:00.000-08:00

A far different experience in Jacmel so far. This was the view my first morning:

Jacmel is much smaller than Port-au-Prince, without about 40 000 people, and much more rural. Things are quiet here - which is part of the problem. There's little money flowing in, and little change. Agriculture remains proceeds in the same conditions as decades ago. This drives a lot of young people up to Port-au-Prince or elsewhere. The main 'employer' in Jacmel is still remittances from overseas, as shown by the many Western Union's in town:

Of course, when the economy crashes in North America, money dries up in Haiti.

At first glance, the ecology of Jacmel seems far better than Port-au-Prince.

But these first impressions are deceiving. Jacmel suffers from deforestation and hurricanes, like the rest of Haiti.

Things change in the city of Jacmel during Carnival season, later this month, when people flow in.

The town has some art studios. There was a Day of the Dead focused room downstairs at the particular studio, FOSAJ, that we visited. FOSAJ seemed to receive some sort of Canadian funding.

Upstairs was a studio with paintings. The problem, as one artist explained, was there were few people visiting Jacmel. Paintings were collecting dust. Dale, our delegation leader, picked up this one, which was Voudon-inspired:

Just outside the studio was a MINUSTAH base. The locals call the UN mission here TOURISTAH, since they are right on the water and spend a lot of time on the beach.

Later in the day, we headed to see the beach. A lot of us were feeling so drained by our experience in Port-au-Prince we needed a little quiet time. This beach had dogs and pigs competing for scraps of food.

In the evening, we gathered on the roof to discuss our planned report on Haiti and enjoy some rum. In the distances, in the dark fields away from the roof, there was a Vodoun ceremony going on with drumming and singing. A very colonial experience.

Today, we drove up to Bassin Bleu. Many of the roads on the way were completely washed out, and we had only had a few days of rain.

We drove up hill, which had a beautiful view.

And we then hiked to a series of falls.

The hike ended in the falls, where James and I went swimming.

In the afternoon, we headed to a farming and agronomy research project headed by our guide in Jacmel, Joe called Konbit [community work group] Pou Ayiti: http://www.konpay.org/

Joe (at right), who is from Jacmel and spent years in the United States, was expressing his vision of returning to Haiti to rebuild and inspire examples here. I told him that he reminded me of our Port-au-Prince translator, Daniel and his vision for Cité Soleil. Sure enough, they know each other, and are working to have Daniel's soccer team come down to Jacmel to play.

Their farm is in its first year. They are experimenting with different plants, fast growing plants, fruit plants, etc, that will aid in reforesting the slopes near Jacmel.

These are oak seedlings grown in recycled water bags. Treated water in Haiti is sold in both plastic bottles and bags, both of which end up as trash on the streets.

One of the things that aggravates deforestation is that people cut trees to make charcoal for cooking. The farm is working on machines that can make charcoal from organic waste such as mango rinds, coconut husks, and so on. Here's Norman holding one of the charcoal pieces. One thing that the organization needs some capital for is building a prototype machine that can mass produce these charcoal pieces.

The farm seems like an excellent project and I hope it is a successful example to others in Haiti. The narrow property the farm is on runs right up to the water.

We then walked up to see some other projects in the hills, including an irrigation system.

Catching up from Jacmel

2010-01-05T03:47:00.000-08:00

Another long day yesterday, so I'm catching up today from the city of Jacmel, in the south of Haiti.

In the morning, we packed up our stuff from our guesthouse, Matthew 25. Half of the delegation will be returning to the airport direct from Jacmel - some of us will return to Matthew 25 for an extra night. I really enjoyed my time there, and look forward to my (one night) return visit.

After leaving the guesthouse, we made our way to Mario Joseph's office to give a press statement to the Haitian media about what we saw in Haiti, and what we will call on our respective governments to do when we return home.

We tried to emphasize the problems that we heard from the many different people we met here - the need for the UN to investigate and pay reparations to victims of attacks, of the Canadian and US governments need to stop paying for undemocratic elections, for example.

Myself, Diana, and Camilla (both pictured here) were the spokespeople at the press conference.

After that we, headed to lunch and the to central Port-Au-Prince to see a couple of sights. Here is the National Palace:

This is the Marron Inconnue, the Unknown Slave. The marron were slaves who escaped the plantations and headed to the hills of Haiti and played a pivotal role in fighting the Haitian War of Independence.

At the base of the statue is an example of the political graffiti that is everywhere in Haiti. This says 'Aba Demon, Viv Titid', which is 'Down with the demons, Vive Aristide'.

Here is probably the most tragic Haitian monument:

It was intended as an eternal flame, built for Haiti's 200th year of independence (2004). But, then the coup happened, and construction ceased.

After we had seen a few things, we drove to the Haitian National Penitentiary, where a subset of our group was allowed to enter visit Ronald Dauphin (read about his case here). This entailed bringing no cameras, so I have no pictures. Prison conditions in Haiti are bad, as the Canadian press has written about a fair bit recently.

A huge problem, among others, is that the majority of prisoners are detained without facing charges. At the prison the day we visited that was about 80% of the prisoners. Previous delegations have done interviews with many prisoners, and a lot of them were arrested for 'offenses' that don't exist in the Haitian Penal Code. They remain in jail without seeing judges.

We'll write more about Dauphin's condition later.

After the prison visit, we said our goodbyes to Kevin, our delegation leader and fixer extraordinaire, Rea (SOPUDEP), and our translator Daniel. All wonderful people. What a week!

Cité Soleil and SOPUDEP

2010-01-03T18:41:00.000-08:00

Today we returned to Cité Soleil to meet with Florence and see her school.

Florence's school had two buildings. We were in the smaller building for younger children. The school's population was approximately 250 students. That number is shrinking as conditions grow worse. Some children can't go to school anymore because they don't have shoes or proper clothing. We saw several boys with no pants, and some children who were totally naked. Hunger is also a huge problem.

Florence picked a couple of kids out of the class, explaining that their parents had been killed. She had adopted three of them, and another women from the local church had adopted some others.

As Florence had told me, the structure of the school is terrible. There are holes in the walls and roof, and the roof is held up by tree branches nailed together. I hope to report some way to help Florence more in a follow-up post.

After visiting Florence's school, we went elsewhere in Cité Soleil to interview survivors of MINUSTAH assaults, primarily occurring July 6th 2005 and December 22nd 2006. This assaults are documented in Kevin Pina's movie 'Haiti: We must kill the bandits'. I will also publish follow-up details on how to get a copy for those interested.

This young woman, Lelene, was shot as she left her house to avoid the MINUSTAH assault in December 2006. She was pregnant at the time.

The bullet hit her in the stomach area, and her intestines began to protrude from the wound. She lost her baby; however, the doctor told her that the baby absorbed some of the impact of the bullet, saving Lelene's life. She also lost a finger.

The seated man, Duval, who is blind, and his son and daughter behind him, were hit when a UN shell came through the roof of their home. They suffered injuries in their legs and stomachs.

We left Cité Soleil after collecting testimony from 5 people.

Over lunch, Daniel, our translator, who grew up in Cité Soleil, explained to Camilla and me that people within the area tended to divide things into Upper Cité Soleil, where we were on Monday, and Lower Cité Soleil, where we went today. Lower Cité Soleil is closer to the water and poorer.

Daniel said that there is a lot of discrimination within Cité Soleil as people don't have the resources to get outside their neighborhoods, and to develop pan-Cité Soleil community spirit. He works with Pax Christi (paxchristi.net) to teach sports (soccer) to the kids, putting kids from all over Cité Soleil on the same teams, so they can work together.

We then made our way to Petionville, to the SOPUDEP school (sopudep.org). Unfortunately for us, the students are currently on their holiday. I would love to see the school in action.

As you can see, the conditions are far better at SOPUDEP than at Florence's school. The rooms are small and fairly bare, but there are separate classes for the different grades. The Sawatzky Foundation is helping SOPUDEP with a new school building.

We met with the teacher's of SOPUDEP who talked about some of the challenges they face. They lack resources and money. Yet all spoke with pride about their work with SOPUDEP. They were proud to have a dignified job.

We also met with a group from a hillside community trying to run their own school, with help from Rea at SOPUDEP.

Both SOPUDEP and the hillside group expressed total exasperation at the NGOs in Haiti. They have contacted many of them, and had no help. Rea even said that there was an NGO just across the street from her, and they still refused to help her. At first, I thought she was speaking about the distances metaphorically, but...

The wall in the foreground is SOPUDEP, across the street is Save the Children...

Eventually, after pressure, and a post on SOPUDEP's website, Save the Children offered some help. But the help they offered was to fix the roof (which, as Rea pointed out to us, was not leaking, even as we sat in the school during a heavy rainstorm), and clean the latrines. She said what the school needed was money for teachers' salaries. She refused their help as a point of principle.

The role of foreign NGOs in Haiti is one that urgently needs our attention.

Overtime work

2010-01-03T04:25:00.000-08:00

We had a long day of meetings yesterday, about 930AM until about 830PM, so I'm writing this in the morning.

We dropped by lawyer Mario Jospeh's in the morning to talk with him about his organization and work. Here's Marc Becker, a professor of Andean studies, in an office at Mario's place. He's blogging about the delegation here: http://www.yachana.org/reports/haiti/

Mario described his efforts to provide space for various groups to meet (the women's, prison rights, labour groups etc., we met at his place a few days earlier). He also talked about what kind of aid he felt Haiti needed right now.

This photo is of Mario next to delegation members Dale and George. Mario was quite clear that on the labour front what is needed is direct aid, not monetary aid. He spoke of an ideal situation being a unionist coming down from North America for a few months to intern, and also work with the workers here in organizing.

After Mario's, we made our way to the neighborhood of Bel Air. Although Bel Air seemed a little better off than parts of Cité Soleil, it is still a very impoverished neighborhood. Like Cité Soleil residents, Bel Air residents claim that they were victims of attacks by the UN military force MINUSTAH, largely in 2005-2006, during the Latortue coup regime.

What we heard today that is new is that the residents are still facing occasional attacks, as recently as the summer of 2009.

We met with three young men, all of whom were disabled by bullet fire. Two members of our delegation took down their names and information to share with all of us - for now, I write this without names.

One young man had a bullet enter his spine, and his legs were paralyzed. The bullet is still lodged in his body, somewhere near his stomach, and reported occasional bad cramps.

More seriously he cannot find work. Formal employment is rare in Haiti, but the informal sector (washing cars, shining shoes, selling things on the street) is enormous. This man is shut out even from the informal sector. He lives in a wooden shack lined with cardboard, which about 6 of us could cram into standing up. These houses offer no protecting from bullets, targeted or stray.

The second man, who is pictured here with his leg stretched out, held by the first man, had bullet wounds to his legs and was using a cane. He had a pin in his leg that he wanted remove because it became very painful when the weather was cold.

The third man, pictured above, was shot in the legs as well, and was on crutches. He has formed an association to organize disabled residents of Bel Air. There are organization, such as Doctors without Borders, that provide emergency surgery in Haiti, but these people were calling for 'restorative' surgery (getting bullets removed, for example). The sharp eyed will see that he is wearing a Jean Coutu hat, a drugstore chain in Quebec and francophone Ontario.

Some Bel Air residents spoke English. These were people who had deported from the United States.

We headed back to our guesthouse to meet with several human rights, political, and union groups.

The first of these was the September 30th Foundation (the 1991 date when of the first coup against Aristide). We met with, from left to right, Vaudré Abellard, flanked by our translator Daniel, Sony Abellard, Sultane Cadet (unfortunately hidden in this picture), Wilson Mesilien, and Pierre Hector. The organization was established to help victims of the 1991 and 2004 coups. This includes speaking out against the UN occupying forces. They did much to publicize the rape and sexual assault against women and children by UN troops from Sri Lanka (see more here).

Shortly after this announcement, and shortly after declaring his intention to run for Senate, the organization founder, Lovinsky Pierre Antoine, was kidnapped (read more here). This has seriously curtailed to Foundation's work and the members have faced threats.

Today we head off to Cité Soleil, to visit Florence's school, and then to visit SOPUDEP school.

P.S. To those asking about my New Year's Eve adventures, the two rum punches were representatives, but probably important representatives, of other drinks consumed.

Petionville, pumpkins, protests, punch

2010-01-01T15:43:00.000-08:00

Last night, New Year's Eve, I met with an old friend from Ottawa who is working for an NGO in Port-au-Prince. For reasons of security, especially for people who will spend long periods in Port-au-Prince, many NGOs are up in the hills of Petionville. Parts of Petionville are wealthier, and then some incredibly more so, than Port-au-Prince. Almost all of the Petionville villas are walled, some have pools. My friend's shared apartment was modest compared to the surrounding villas.

My friend graciously took me around and showed me some of the life of the 'other half' - only this is maybe the 'other 10%', if that. I had a rum punch at one Petionville, and then another one, which was probably one too many judging by how I felt in the morning (I was pretty much unable to eat any of this meal she set out for me - I nibbled on some dry toast).

When I returned to my guesthouse, I arrived in time for a traditional New Year's Day meal of pumpkin soup. Good, and good for my stomach.

At the party were some of the activists we had met elsewhere, including Cité Soleil. I sat with Florence and her daughter. Our delegation met Florence on Tuesday, when she talked about her women's group. On Sunday, we return to see her school.

She has some formal education, and so speaks some French. We talked about the school, and its needs. Basically, it needs everything. I hope to leave with a list of materials that can accompany a subsequent delegation. The teachers need to be paid. Florence was particularly worried about the actual structural integrity of the school, which is not housed in an actual school building.

Kevin Pina, one of our delegation leaders, then presented an old friend with a new guitar to replace his old one that is broken.

This man, who is blind, was shot several times by MINUSTAH, the UN force, while he was outside his house. He wrote a song about it, which he sang for us today. You can see a brief clip of his song here (worth watching, but the song cuts out abruptly to a hip-hop song, so be forewarned if your speakers are turned up). He also played a few other songs, including one lamenting the activists killed in struggles for democracy in Haiti.

We then headed to a protest in front of the OAS (Organization of American States), who have agreed to monitor (and so, arguably legitimize) the upcoming February elections that will exclude Lavalas.

In addition to demands to the OAS, there were demands to Canada and the US to not finance the elections.

This is Ghislaine, from the women's prison rights group we met with yesterday, holding a sign that says "United States - Canada Don't finance the 28 February election masquerade".

The UN forces were present. This young fellow is from the Philippines.

The UN and police were taking pictures of the protesters and us. This is standard protest practice. Vancouver police and RCMP do that at Olympic protests, for example. But this is far more sinister in a country where activists have been kidnapped.

We took photos of them too. Here's Kevin Pina, with camera.

The protest was very lively with singing and chants.

The protest petered out when some former workers began to talk about issues of unpaid wages, which wasn't in the interest of the majority present.

After the protest, we rode up to a viewpoint high up in Petionville. I had some binoculars that my Dad gave me a few years ago. I tend to bring them with me on trips, and then never use them. But I had them with me today. Florence and her daughter, from Cité Soleil, came with us. They had never been to this place before.

I let them have a go with the binoculars (thanks, Dad).

We then head to the famous Hotel Olaffson, which is the setting of Graham Greene book 'The Comedians'.

Some delegation members, like Chuck, had rum punch. I stuck with a Prestige.

A day at Mario Joseph's part 2

2009-12-31T15:55:00.001-08:00

We have busy days here, but the mornings are quiet (well, there are lots of roosters and dogs, so maybe leisurely is the better word). I'm glad I have time to collect my thoughts over a coffee on the roof terrace of our guesthouse on rue A. Martial.

We returned to Mario Joseph's office for more interviews with unionists, peasants, and women's groups. This time though, we started with a longer talk with a Haitian economist, George Werleigh. He traced Haiti's history through its colonial (1492-1804), national (1804-1915) and neo-colonial period (1915-present). 1915 is when U.S. Marines occupied Haiti, until the mid-1930s.

It was an amazing history, and clarified Haiti's current state for me. (I don't the time or the light to copy out my 8 pages of notes here. Imagine, though, what would happen in 1804 to a Republic of free slaves right next to a powerful Republic that held slaves. That is an important point to understand Haiti's relation with the United States.)

We then talked to other groups. We met with a women's group (known under the acronym FAVILEK) working to seek damages for their suffering in the 1991 coup against Aristide. Their husbands were killed, some of them were shot, raped, or otherwise injured. That's about 18 years of effort, with no results. Francoise opened by saying "We are so tired of talking. We don't want to talk anymore". No one is helping them.

My own Haiti work started slightly after the 2004 coup, in the midst of the 2004-2006 Latortue coup regime. That regime was the beneficiary of the first visit by a Canadian Prime Minister to Haiti, Paul Martin. That regime, as the Favilek women confirmed, was absolutely awful for women, with a Lancet report estimating 35 000 rapes during that period [Kolbe, A. R. & Hutson, R. A. (2006). Human rights violations and other criminal violence in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The Lancet, vol. 368 (issue 9538), September 2, 2006. ]

So, this was a reminder of the previous coup, and that its victims are still suffering, with no justice.

We met with women facing more recent injustices later in the afternoon, Ghyslaine (left) and Myriam (right). They were part of a women's association working for men (husbands, family) imprisoned in Haiti's National Penitentiary. A lot of these prisoners are held for months, or longer, without charges. Haitian law says you need to face charges after two days in prison. Besides that, prison conditions are terrible. Water is non-potable, food is badly cooked, and the water for bathing is dirty, and gives the men skin ailments.

Throughout, Myriam did all the talking, so when they were done, I asked Ghislaine a question. I asked what she would tell Canada, which has promised funds to build a new prison, but has said nothing about the status of prisoners, held against Haitian law.

Turns out that Ghyslaine hadn't spoken because she had laryngitis. But, in a whispered but passionate voice, she answered, "Haiti doesn't need prisons, Haiti needs houses. Aristide knew that."

A day at Mario Joseph's part 1

2009-12-30T18:14:00.000-08:00

The delegation I'm traveling with is taken out of the guesthouse we are staying at in a large van that we pack into. Trouble with this is, I haven't had a chance to get my bearings at all. This morning I at least recognized this art wall, where local artisans hang up their work, on our way out:

We made our way to Mario Joseph's office. Joseph is a lawyer for an international lawyers' association in Haiti, and affiliated with the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (http://www.ijdh.org/).

Once there we met with a cross-section of people, journalists, women's group leaders, political leaders, unionists, farmers, rural association leaders, who talked about conditions in Haiti.

In the morning we heard about problems that occurring with the UN military force in Haiti, known as MINUSTAH. They have attacked and killed several Haitians recently in various incidents, including a funeral procession for the Father Jean-Juste, whose parish we visited yesterday.

In the afternoon we heard about conditions here, and how disconnected the poor majority feel from the current government, lead by Rene Preval. We met with a few rural people who talked about the devastation that occurred with recent hurricanes. International donors pledged millions but these people have seen nothing. They say they never see politicians except during elections. But they are no longer allowed to elect politicians from their own movement, Lavalas. President Preval, who has control over the electoral council that allows in parties, has forbidden their inclusion (see here).

Lavalas was excluded from an April Senate election and from elections coming up in February. This is the party that represents the poor, and people are here are really despairing and angry about the exclusion. Many people said "We want elections, but we don't want selections. We want an election where we can vote for Lavalas".

A visit to Cite Soleil, and to Jean-Juste's parish

2009-12-29T15:53:00.000-08:00

The delegation visited Cité Soleil today, a slum in Port-au-Prince with over 200,000 people. There is no infrastructure. A few weeks ago, the lab where I work was flooded with raw sewage from a nearby sewer drain that blocked. That same smell, amplified, was all over Cité Soleil. The difference is, our lab was cleaned up within 2 days, Cité Soleil has been getting worse and worse since the 2004 coup.

We met with various popular movements (women's groups, social justice groups, etc.). All expressed their support for the Lavalas political movement, which is now, and was in the past, excluded from Haiti's election, despite it being the most popular political party in the country. Read an article on the April elections here.

On the wall above you see a picture of former President Jean Bertrand Aristide (centre), forced into exile in South Africa by the US (actually they first renditioned him to the Central African Republic), a picture of the priest Father Gerard Jean Juste (left), who was thrown in jail twice by the coup government on phony charges, and died of cancer last year, and... Obama.

People here really hoped that Obama, the first black President, would do a great deal to help Haiti, the first black Republic. His support of the April, and now upcoming February, elections that exclude the Lavalas movement were a huge bitter disappointment. People in Cité Soleil are really angry at him. They say that "we might as well have Bush".

The Haitians we spoke to today were also quite aware that Canada had supported the elections in April.

They all wanted Aristide to come back. In the past, I had thought that this was because they wanted Aristide to run for President again. I'm not so sure that this is the case anymore. I think that Aristide's physical return would be of symbolic importance. It would represent a respect and willingness of the Haitian elite, and of Canada, France, and the US to listen to poor people in Haiti. His continued exile, which is against Haiti's laws, is a sign that the elite and the international backers are not interested in social justice or the participation of Haiti's poor majority.

After all this, and some lunch, we went to the late-Father Jean-Juste's parish to visit the food program. The program feeds 800 kids today - no pictures, but there were kids everywhere, on every possible thing you could sit on (to Simpsons' fans, imagine the episode where Homer goes to pick up Maggie from the Rand nursery, only with older kids rather than babies). Then, with the left over food, they feed women, and then men. For many, this is their only meal of the day. The parish does this 5 days a week, and people walk from all over town to get fed. They want to expand the program to 7 days a week. (read about donating here).

Finally, on a less serious note, I wish to disavow my previous comments that Haiti's traffic is anarchic but slow-moving. This was based on a particular route at a particular time of day. Actually, it is (or can be) fast-moving and anarchic, and over some very bumpy and erratic surfaces.

Arrived in Haiti

2009-12-28T16:33:00.000-08:00

I arrived in Haiti at about noon from Miami. New securities regulations have made the whole process of flying into the US a lot more tortuous, and our flight from LA to Miami was stopped in the middle of the night in Phoenix to expel a 'suspicious person', who I believe to be a nervous, non-English speaking Italian man. Some people on the plane were pumped up about 'getting him'. Yuck.

I was delayed, but happily rescheduled to a flight with 4 other members of my delegation. Boarding the flight I also met some young Americans heading to 'VBS' - Vacation Bible School - in Jacmel, in southern Haiti.

We rode through the anarchic, though fairly slow moving, traffic from the airport to our residence. I snapped a few photos but decided against taking photos of people without permission. So here is an (empty) street, a dog, and Haiti's national beer, Prestige. Hope to show more interesting sights soon.

Tomorrow we head to Cité Soleil, the poorest neighborhood in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, with over 200,000 people packed into a small strip of land. Cité Soleil was the site of organized resistance against the UN occupation of Haiti (see here).

Delegation to Haiti

2009-12-20T21:22:00.000-08:00

This blog is intended for reports on a delegation to Haiti December 28th to January 7th. I hope to post writings on, and pictures of, what I see in Haiti during that time.

For more about Haiti, and Canada's involvement in Haiti, please see the Canada Haiti Action Network website.