Jorge's remarkable short video (2 minutes)

Okay, folks,

This is what Haiti really looks like. How did Jorge capture this in such HD that it almost appears to be 3-D? In the first scene of the family, look at the catastrophic deforestation. It's funny how when you're in the moment, you don't necessarily see what is right before you. I was focused on the day, the children, the view, the contrast between my comfortable life in the U.S. and what was before me in Haiti. I noticed the bare land--but these pictures make me see other things than before.  Then in the final scene, the sweet l ittle girl on the far right is the one who held my hand for an hour in the blog post called "A Haitian Celebration" and smoothed back my frizzy bangs so I looked more Haitian. Look at the tenderness with which the little girls hold each other. That, my friends, is Haiti. Just remarkable photos . . . Thank you, Jorge.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYG284VWyiw

The Girl Effect

Must watch:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIvmE4_KMNw&feature=relmfu

This reminds me of our beautiful Haitian girls at St. Etienne: so intelligent, so filled with promise. Look at this girl and the intensity of her eyes. St. Etienne is filling a vital gap in Haiti--it provides educational structure and food support for our girls. St. Etienne has existed as a school long enough now--about ten years--that young people are reaping the harvest of the fruits of this opportunity.

Hope for Haiti says this of Haitian education: "Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, has one of the worst education systems in the world. The current education system functioning in Haiti is doing so with virtually no Government involvement. Over 50% of school aged children, averaging well over 1.3 million, do not have access to an education. Less than half the population of Haiti can read and write, and Haiti has the lowest enrollment rate for primary education in the Western Hemisphere. How can a country be expected to get out of poverty and develop as a nation, if the majority of their population does not have access to even a basic education? The country needs the support of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and international organizations to provide support in mending the Haitian education gap."

Jim: Video on Haitian Deportees

This nine-minute report on Haitian-American deportees to Haiti brings up all kinds of thoughts, showing a few of the hard things we are somewhat shielded from on our trips.  If you decide to watch it, I'll be interested to hear your reflections.



[ http://video.nytimes.com/video/2011/03/20/world/americas/100000000733274/deportees.html ]

Mesi Anpil,Walin and Johnny

Our fascinating, fun, eye-opening trip would not have been possible without the passion and presence of two men:  Walin Decamps of Hinche, Haiti, and Johnny Wilson of Austin, Texas.

Walin is, simply put, one of the most remarkable men I have ever met. His dedication to his parishioners and the children of his far-flung parish is inspiring and humbling. In addition to fulfilling all of the responsibilities of a parish priest (preparing sermons, officiating at weddings, funerals, and church services, visiting the sick and the poor, and all of the other myriad responsibilities associated with church work), he has also created a vast network of small country schools. In addition to the school that is literally attached to his house, St. Andre, he has developed partnerships with faith-based groups and individual donors to keep thirteen country schools afloat. St. Stephen's is a partner of St. Etienne, for instance. Because donors vary in their willingness to follow through with their commitments, he is constantly scrambling for operating funds for these ventures. (In one of his schools, teachers haven't been paid for months because a donor did not make good on a commitment.) I am happy to say that St. Stephen's is a good partner to St. Etienne, and Walin treasures this particular association. He also values his association with John Moon and John's really meaningful and exciting music program based at St. Andres in Hinche, which is a separate program from the St. Etienne school program.
The importance of these Episcopal country schools cannot be overstated. They provide a community of faith; they provide food for hungry children; they provide education; in some cases they provide clean water for a region. We have now personally witnessed the value of the school as an anchor in the community in Salmadere.

In addition to these very time-consuming tasks which are fraught with uncertainty, Walin plays a dynamic role in shaping the next generation of Haitian leaders. He mentors young men of promise (our tour guide, James, for instance), giving them real responsibility and pushing them toward greater levels of education. He personally arranges for scholarships for strong students to go to college in the Dominican Republic, seeking donors to help these young men. He is at once:  college counselor, financial aid officer, non-political community organizer, social worker, priest for St. Andre and thirteen country churches, CFO for fourteen schools,  salami purchaser (see School Lunch post), food scrounger, tour guide for St. Stephen's students and faculty members, and man of the people. Taking a walk with mon pere is taking a walk in slow motion--he greets everyone on the street, pats every baby, speaks to everyone he knows and most people he doesn't. He greeted us generously as guest in the rectory--eleven of us!--and made us feel most welcome.

In addition, he is a family man. His wife is the generous and good-natured Kenite, a surgical nurse in the local hospital; his little children are daughter Kenora and son Fedde, both of whom have the charisma and intelligence to be important Haitian leaders someday.

And on to our own Johnny Wilson . . . his passion for helping the people of Haiti, and his joy in their presence, is something uplifting to see. We know him as gifted biology teacher, advisor, Science Department member, snake-radio-tagger, West Texas guru, colleague, and friend--but to the Haitians in Salmadere, he is a revered blanc who provides materially for their children. He is also inspirational to our own students. One of those students wrote in a keepsake book to him, "I hope someday to be a good man like you." What higher praise could there be?

From me personally, mesi anpil (abundant thanks) for an amazing adventure and experience, Walin and Johnny.

Leaving Port-au-Prince

Parting scenes:

• The giant tent city south of Blvd. Toissant Louverture in the eastern outskirts of Port-au-Prince, with an Oxfam feeding station, bright blue tents that say "PR China" on them, enormous watercoolers,  acres of makeshift housing, and portable toilets every few rows
• A sign posted by the Presbyterian Church of Korea:  "Happy Now NGO," and signs for dozens of other charitable organizations from MercyCorps, to World Vision, to dozens of faith-based organizations
• The huge UN compound, razor wire on top, with uniformed and armed guards in a streetside tower
• Street vendors everywhere selling food, art, wares of all kinds (the Hinche market on steroids)
• Lots of new construction and repairs
• Jesus Merci Bazar
• Small schools everywhere, one in particular in a  UNICEF tent
• A guy walking by with a red cooler on his head with the word "Texas" in giant letters of white paint
• The modest P-a-P airport, with a few kiosks selling goods, one small gift shop, a coffee shop, and a grill (in contrast to the opulence of the Miami airport just two hours away)
• Our parting glance at P-a-P's wonderful tap-taps (public transportation), called that because people tap-tap on the doors to get a ride

Our Thoughtful Students

On our trip are two St. Stephen's students who are entrepreneurs; their company has helped provide financial support to St. Etienne. When they were just sixteen years old, Lydia and Adam created a small internet-based business in the aftermath of the destructive Port-au-Prince earthquake to benefit a medical relief organization, but they have also supported our school project with substantial contributions. For more information, see:  http://soarforhaiti.com

Young people do mobilize to support initiatives of genuine social value and importance, despite the criticism of cynics, who probably don't know kids that well. Both Lydia and Adam have been dynamic contributors on the trip, with energy for our work and interest in the people, culture, language, and customs of Haiti. This is Lydia's first trip to Haiti and Adam's second; he took part in  John Moon's summer music program based at St. Andre Episcopal School in Hinche two years ago.

I can't say enough good things about our students on our trip:  Lydia, Adam, Julian, Philip, Ursula, and Kelly. They have been open to new experiences, courteous, collaborative, flexible, reflective, generous, observant, and hard-working. What fine representatives of St. Stephen's they have been! All hope to return to Haiti soon.

Adventures in Art

Haiti is known for its vibrant art, some of it very elegant and bold. Metalwork, wood crafts, needle crafts, and paintings are respected art forms on the island, and our kids are eager to take examples back to the United States.

As we walk down a side road in Hinche one day, a Haitian artist is on the street with bright paintings. They catch our kids' eyes, and off we go to become art buyers.

Philip begins with a bold negotiating strategy, which he uses several times on the trip and which works every time. The artist names a price, and Philip pays him more. "Fifteen dollars?  Cool!  I'll give you twenty." When I ask Philip about it, he shrugs. "The guy has a family to feed," he says.

Several of our kids buy pieces. The artist then obligingly poses for pictures with kids, as a large crowd of Hinche citizens gather round to watch the blancs. But James, our trusty guide, gets irritated with the artist. He thinks he's ripping off our kids by only accepting American dollars and by pricing his pieces too high ($10 to $20, say). Our kids think they're getting great deals by U.S. standards, but James argues with the artist, until we finally leave--but not before taking with us at least six paintings.

Later Pere Walin will fuss at several artisans he has allowed to place their wares inside the gates of the rectory compound because he, too, thinks they're taking advantage of the kids.

After we leave St. Etienne and later Hinche on the way to the airport in Port-au-Prince, we stop at the well-respected Sant Art (Centre d'Arte) in Cange. Cange is the home of Zanmi Lasante, the very well-regarded miracle of modern health care in Haiti's central plateau. (Again, read Tracy Kidders' Mountains beyond Mountains for the inspirational story of Paul Farmer, Partners in Health, and Zanmi Lasante.)  The gift shop is inside the gates of the medical compound and is run by Miss Jackie, a woman in her mid-seventies originally from South Carolina and now a full-time resident of Haiti. Sant Art is a fair trade shop that gives employment opportunities to Haitian women. The gift shop is on the bottom store; the room where the women create the beautiful goods is on the second floor.

We find much to appreciate and buy in our short stop--and make use of what Miss Jackie calls "the best toilet in all of Cange." Philip again employs his bargaining technique to purchase a beautiful, subtle small $10 painting for $15.

Then we're off to Port-au-Prince and the Real Deal in art buying--the street vendors. Two carloads of blancs with dollars get out on the street and the place goes wild. We are chum; they are sharks.

In short order, we are surrounded by maybe a dozen vendors, jostling to show us what they have, flipping through paintings, all talking at once. I make the mistake of bargaining for and buying a few pieces of metalwork right after arriving--all of the vendors are now on me like white on rice. The girls hide out in a little enclosed niche of a streetside shop to get away from the aartists begging and pleading for our business.

I am feeling overwhelmed and claustrophobic enough to brave the scary Port-au-Prince street and dart through traffic to get away, two merchants close at my heels. "Julian!" I call. He gallantly swaps places with me to give me at least a few feet of protection from the vendors, who ignore him because he clearly isn't buying. I finally resort to shutting the car door in the faces of a gaggle of vendors, who continue to plead and gesticulate through the window.

Our crew contributes mightily to the Haitian economy and to individual artists throughout our stay. Johnny has bought at least a dozen pieces to sell at Haiti on the Hill, and all of us come home with a few paintings, boxes, dresses, or crafts of some kind--and memories of the wheeling and dealing.