Still not connected...

Hi there. It's a bit frustrating not to have reliable communication here. I miss my friends and family so much, but especially my dearest husband.

Right now, here in Fondwa, we are coming into the start of sweet potato season. The market day was today and the streets were packed with people selling everything a small village might need. Usually there are several vendors with the same wares for the same prices, so it is tough to choose. The one exception would be in the butcher's alley. To walk there is an experience. The faces of an older generation peer out from behind butcher's knives, raising and falling in a rythm to a song I haven't learned yet. They peer with hope at each passing person, slapping the occaisional leg of beef or goat, slicing the pickled beef rind, and tossing scraps and skin onto the ground where the area dogs come to fight over each piece. Hides are unceremoniously discarded on the ground, and covered over with banana leaf. The leather isn't much good here, without the proper chemiclas to process it. A little further down the same alley, nervous livestock linger, hoping that they won't be next, while uneasily grazing on the local vegetation. A line of donkeys that has brought goods to market is tied to a nearby fence relaxing. The red clay soil is stained with their passing, and around the corner a great white scar is carved into the hillside, where chalky limestone, also called white sand, is being excavated for building material. This sand is part of the reason so many buildings collapsed, but without education, the people don't know better. Desperation has led to repetition, as the need for dry housing sets in with the approaching hurricane season.

On other notes, Eugene Lim is arriving to teach with us for the month, and one of my fellow volunteers has rushed off to collect him in Port-au-Prince. It will be interesting to hear what advice he can provide the university. Hopefully he can handle the conditions. Its a bit rough out here, and a drastic transition from Columbia's gorgeous campus. After all, out here all we have is a slightly damaged cinderblock building with three classrooms, an office, and two dormer rooms for the students. The windows are 4x6 holes in the wall, and have no glass. Occaisionally we hang a USAID tarp over them when the wind is too strong or it is raining. In front, we have a schizophrenic old woman who paces back and forth, sits on the gravestones that border the front of the campus, chat with the dead, and sorts rubble into small piles organized by her fancy. Its as though she were trying to rebuild her world in a way that makes sense, following the earthquake. It's an interesting place, but a far cry from NYC.

Still not connected...

Hi there. It's a bit frustrating not to have reliable communication here. I miss my friends and family so much, but especially my dearest husband.

Right now, here in Fondwa, we are coming into the start of sweet potato season. The market day was today and the streets were packed with people selling everything a small village might need. Usually there are several vendors with the same wares for the same prices, so it is tough to choose. The one exception would be in the butcher's alley. To walk there is an experience. The faces of an older generation peer out from behind butcher's knives, raising and falling in a rythm to a song I haven't learned yet. They peer with hope at each passing person, slapping the occaisional leg of beef or goat, slicing the pickled beef rind, and tossing scraps and skin onto the ground where the area dogs come to fight over each piece. Hides are unceremoniously discarded on the ground, and covered over with banana leaf. The leather isn't much good here, without the proper chemiclas to process it. A little further down the same alley, nervous livestock linger, hoping that they won't be next, while uneasily grazing on the local vegetation. A line of donkeys that has brought goods to market is tied to a nearby fence relaxing. The red clay soil is stained with their passing, and around the corner a great white scar is carved into the hillside, where chalky limestone, also called white sand, is being excavated for building material. This sand is part of the reason so many buildings collapsed, but without education, the people don't know better. Desperation has led to repetition, as the need for dry housing sets in with the approaching hurricane season.

On other notes, Eugene Lim is arriving to teach with us for the month, and one of my fellow volunteers has rushed off to collect him in Port-au-Prince. It will be interesting to hear what advice he can provide the university. Hopefully he can handle the conditions. Its a bit rough out here, and a drastic transition from Columbia's gorgeous campus. After all, out here all we have is a slightly damaged cinderblock building with three classrooms, an office, and two dormer rooms for the students. The windows are 4x6 holes in the wall, and have no glass. Occaisionally we hang a USAID tarp over them when the wind is too strong or it is raining. In front, we have a schizophrenic old woman who paces back and forth, sits on the gravestones that border the front of the campus, chat with the dead, and sorts rubble into small piles organized by her fancy. Its as though she were trying to rebuild her world in a way that makes sense, following the earthquake. It's an interesting place, but a far cry from NYC.

Poaching

So here I am in Tom Gato, poaching Moyiz's internet again on Rohan's computer. Luckily we have electricity this time, so the computer won't die during the middle of an email home. Today is market day, and I woke at 4 am to the sounds of merchant women bringing their wares to town, calls from my neighbors to friends on the road, a crowing rooster, and the sound of donkey, horse and mule hooves competing with the tap taps for space on the road. The tap taps honked noisily while the pack animals brayed, neighed, and left their manure along the path. Cheers to a beautiful day. :)

I miss home horribly, but the work here is worth it. Currently Moyiz and I are compiling a list of student activities, I'm conducting a study on local NGOs and cooperation with international NGOs and IGOs, and trying to run an entire university's administrative department...talk about a headache! It is fun, though, and I'm learning quite a bit.

Some of the places that I have passed in the past few days have been heartbreaking to witness, and the nonchalance with which the people here have learned to discuss the loss from the earthquake is both frightening and awe-inspiring. The Haitian people are truly amazing, and I am inspired every day to get up and work my hardest. Of course, when the heat of the day is so oppressive that you beg for rain, sometimes hard work is just walking the few kilometers across town needed to have a meeting...

I miss you all, and hope to talk with you soon!
Love,
me

Hell or paradise, your call...

Well, here I am. There is quite a bit of work to do, and I'm happy to help, but also exhausted. I'm not sure if this is heaven (fresh mangoes, beaches, gorgeous mountains, and way too much food) or hell (missing my husband horribly, very little electricity, no running water, and having an entire university to rebuild) but I'm here. Had dream about a hurricane yesterday. Here's hoping it doesn't come true.

Once things stabilize a little bit I should have steady electricity and internet. I'll be writing more then. In the meantime, sit tight.

Cheers!

Countdown....

Time flew by this month. I'm off to Haiti in just a few days, with a brief stop in Philly and NYC first (we leave tonight for the east coast). Talk about rough- three months away from the husband. At the same time, the sooner I get to Haiti, the sooner my thesis is finished and the less traveling I will have to do.

Preparations left to be made include: everything. Call me a procrastinator, but the giant suitcase upstairs is nearly empty, I haven't printed any of the necessary papers, prepared cameras, cleaned, done laundry, or anything else for that matter, unless you count painting three random scenes and working my final retail shift. So where am I off to now? Oh, perhaps a hike...why is procrastination so tempting immediately preceding long and stressful journeys?

Rotating breakfast...

So this morning my husband and I went to the Rotary club where I was invited to give a talk on Haiti. Hopefully I got through to a few people in the room. Either way, the experience was interesting, and the food was good. I left with a question in mind, though. Are organizations like the Rotary Club, Kiwanis, and the Lyons Club dying out? From this morning's meeting, my guess would be yes. There were almost no young people in the room, and the youngest member appeared to be near his early 50's. Then again, I've had no previous interaction with the Rotary club, so who knows... would be interesting to find out.

The sunrise was incredible, with a glow coming over the mesas in orange, gold, red, rose, and then finally sky blue. We live in an amazing place. :)

Keeping it Light

The aftermath of the earthquakes in Haiti has emotionally drained me, which in turn led to a Saturday full of less than thrilling fights with my dearest husband. Of course, the impending arrival of a certain time of month didn't really help much. As a result, I've decided to focus all my energy and effort on things other than Haiti, but still do the projects I've discussed previously. With that in mind, let's turn to recent adventures:

Today we found two amazing parks within 30 minutes drive of the house. Granted, the weather didn't encourage a long foray into the mountains, and our unruly puppy also made things difficult. We did, however, go on a short and incredible hike up the side of a mountain. The vista of the intercontinental divide was breathtaking, and jagged peaks were bordered by an ice-covered creek. In some places, the surface of the creek was as smooth as glass. We've agreed to go back frequently, and enjoy the beautiful land that surrounds us.