HAITI INDEPENDENCE DAY

While the world celebrates New Year's Day, Haitians add the celebration of their independence as a nation state on January 1 every year.  

Basic Facts

Two months after his defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte's colonial forces in 1803, Jean-Jacques Dessalines proclaims the independence of Saint-Domingue, renaming it Haiti after its original Arawak name. January 1, 1804 was declared Independence Day.  In 1791, a slave revolt erupted on the French colony, and Toussaint-Louverture, a former slave who was himself a slave owner, took control of the rebels.  It took 13 years of bloody warfare to secure the country from its former slave masters and from Napoleon's attempt to reconquer and reinstate slavery.  The victory not only delivered the country from French control, it also secured freedom from slavery for all Haitians.  

Celebrating Freedom and Independence

Soup Joumou (Freedom Soup) is the festive symbol of Haitian nationhood and freedom.  It was not allowed for slaves to eat this soup.  After slavery was ended and the nation was established, eating the forbidden soup became the essential act of remembrance for Haitians.  

• Haitians make Soup Joumou every New Year...
• Haitians eat Soup Joumou every New Year...
• They share Soup Joumou with friends every New Year...
• They do that in order to remember their past, their struggle for FREEDOM, and their ongoing fight to remain free.

What better way to celebrate the New Year than with the very soup that they were not allowed to have as slaves?

PAINTING THE WELL HOUSE

Monday's plan was to participate with a community finishing the work on its well house.  It was a day of hard hot work painting the well house in preparation for the inauguration celebration the next day -- a big event for this community of about 300 people.

First, though we had to get there and that was the hard part.  For all but a few old folks, including me, that meant a two hour drive on barely passable roads with huge washouts, bumps, puddles and two rivers to cross.  Those in the back of the pickup (third class, for sure) had to stand for two hours. It was even more exhausting coming back after five hours of painting in the mid-day sun.
But all who went returned, refreshed themselves with showers, went down the road for cold drinks before supper and now are in various states of collapse before an early bedtime.

We had an audience of school kids in their uniforms, teachers and mothers watching our work.  

Before

                             



                                                         During     

After




Some men and women pitched in a bit.  We worked together laughing and joking across language barriers.  The kids demanded attention and play, an accommodation most of us were happy to participate in.  Many pictures were taken.

A real highlight was eating our box lunch of peanut butter and banana sandwiches and cookies as guests of the family nearest the well.  Take a look.

Tomorrow we return to this same village for the celebration and ceremony where Haiti Outreach gives them the keys to the pump and the well house signifying that they now own their well and are responsible for managing it and the water distribution system their well committee has created.  It will be fun for sure!

--kjl

GABO: A LITTLE VILLAGE WITH LIVING WATER

Gabo is too little to appear on any map I could find.  It is in the commune of Maissade.  To get there from our guesthouse in Pignon, you head south on unpaved and untended Highway 3 a few miles, then turn west for the most challenging road we encountered in six days of travel.   There are no maps; no signs.  You just have to know which forks to take.  Gabo is about straight north of the town of Maissade.  No roads go straight in Haiti, though.

The road ends before reaching the village and the village had to cut a path for the drilling rig and water tank. The tanker, pictured below turned over.  That delayed the drilling.

To get there, we cross a river (link to video) and bounce through mud holes and ruts that are more like trenches. (link to video here)  But once we arrive, the vista from a hilltop is fabulous.  (video)

People appear to greet us and show us their well.  They pumped water.  Some of us did too.  (video 2)

We have a plaque to commemorate the well and to link our communities together in the accomplishment of a community managed water system at the center of the village.  Here is John Lentz making the presentation. (Presentation video)

We retreat from the sun to the church, a meeting hall that served the village for any gathering.  There, with help from our interpreter, questions are asked by a both the village leaders and us.  We here how much clean water close at hand for most of the village meant to families.  They were working to carry out the management responsibilities for the well and also to increase the households with latrines.  It was obvious that the "animators," those teachers and organizers who came to the village from Pignon many, many times, are village heroes.  Theirs is the transforming work in this process.

Seeing the children gathered for a picture in front of the well, inspires hope that these bright-eyed kids will have a better chance at growing up healthy and strong; that they will learn by their experience how to act together for the benefit of their whole community.  That, after all, is what community development for clean water is really about.

--kjl

FARM TO MARKET

Saturday, November 7

The day was separated by a hefty noon meal into two parts.  In the morning we journeyed up  "interstate 3" to San Raphael.  Loading up requires some athletic ability.  (See us loading.)Most of us stood in the back of a pick-up truck for the hour and fifteen minutes it took to get there.  In case you wonder, that is a severe test of endurance when you are in the blazing sun and on a road in Haiti.  For us veterans, it was a treat to encounter our favorite river crossing with the water level low.  See the video.

Our destination was a dam outside San Raphael that routed water from a river into an irrigation system.  The soil in that area is black and rich looking.    Crops of various types can be grown year-round when there is a constant source of water.  We saw rice, millet, and assorted vegetables growing in plots of 1 to 5 acres.  Of course, sugarcane is everywhere.  The irrigation system is more or less controlled by a committee.  It not only serves to irrigate fields but also it provides water for laundry and bathing.  This excursion enabled us to see what it was like to ride on what was a major highway and to look at what a constant water supply could do for farming more and  better crops.

In the afternoon we visited the weekly markets in Pignon.  There was a market for animals -- pigs, goats, donkeys, horses, chickens, cattle.  A separate market is for food ingredients, dry goods, clothing, furniture, books, and household equipment.  The market was packed with people and a group of "blan" (the name for whites) could barely stay in sight of each other.  Yes, it looked like one of those market streets in movies in third-world countries.  Multitudes of humans sounds -- greetings, negotiations, news -- filled the air.  The smells varied; some were more interesting and enticing than others.

We walked from the market area to  a hospital which some of us visited.  The we stopped at a large Catholic church on our way to refreshments at what we were told was the best bar in Pignon.  Cold soft drinks and Prestige were very welcome after trekking around in the sun for a couple of hours.  Finally, we made a stop at the rum distillery that was on the way back to our Guest House.  It was clearly not meant for tourists to visit and it certainly gave us second thoughts about drinking rum.

Monday, November 10

On Monday, we traveled to the village of Wo Losmamoun in order to paint a well house.  On the way we passed through a town on its market day.  In contrast to the market in the city of Pignon, this one was smaller.  But it still demonstrates what a big economic and social event market day is.  People streamed in with their wares and produce to sell from miles around.  They came on foot, donkeys and motorbikes.  No trucks.  No carts.  Here is a glimpse of the Bohoc market

Commerce in the countryside is simple.  There are little roadside stands selling gasoline, snacks and sundries.  Sometimes people set out grain, bananas, or other local products.  The reality is that there is no reliable system for people to get their farm products moved in significant quantities over a distance of more than a 3 hour donkey ride.  The organization of such a system has not reached the the rural countryside.  It is beyond the capability of the government at this point.  It is not just one factor; but it is a constellation of factors -- geographical, social, economic and cultural.  Roads, for instance, are nearly non-existent; but they cannot be built without the capacity to both build and maintain roads in a systematic way.  Collaboration and coalescing is not yet part of Haiti's culture. 

Our stay in Pignon is clearly giving us more direct contact with people.  The Haiti Outreach staff is doing a wonderful job of leading us into interesting experiences with Haitians they know here.

--kjl

"COME SUNDAY, THAT'S THE DAY"

Sunday, November 8

Pumpkin Soup For Starters

Sunday started out with a special breakfast celebration of pumpkin soup -- a traditional festive soup for Haitians that was forbidden to blacks until their liberation from white rule in the Revolution.  It is a rich hearty meat and vegetable stew.  A special feature is that a chicken foot is added for good luck to whoever finds in in their bowl.  We went into town for this meal especially prepared for us.
Pumpkin soup

Church In The Wildwood

We attended a Baptist church arriving just as the worship service was starting.  It was a fifteen minute drive to the small one-room structure.  There was abundant and hearty congregational singing.  Lots of volume and rhythm.  The order of service was hardly different from what we use.  The singing was followed by announcements, a special introduction of guests from Forest Hill Church and Haiti Outreach, then a sermon based on the text from Hebrew 10, prayer, song and benediction.  Church was a highlight for our whole group.  Even though the words were in different languages, there was a spirit of inclusion with the congregation.   The congregation numbered about 80 people.  It was a church familiar with Haiti Outreach, so they had some experience with visitors from the U.S.
Entering Church            Men's chorus

The Orphanage

Our plans to visit an orphanage were realized in the later part of the afternoon.  The orphanage is a mission established by an American congregation to care for children who were in danger of dying because their parents either died or could not care for them.  An American couple have been in charge for the past 12 years.  Many of the children have relatives who stay in contact with them and may adopt them; others will be raised in the orphanage until they can work and take care of themselves.  There are 42 children there now.  They attend schools in Pignon when they are old enough.  The children warmed to us quickly and there was an hour of happy play with the kids.  We left them with a large supply of Tylenol and toothbrushes.

Tomorrow will be a day of working on the completion of a well house which will be inaugurated on Tuesday.  

WITNESSING TRANSFORMATION

The day started with finishing the last leg of our trip to Haiti Outreach in Pignon.  We made this trip in small, single engine airplanes over mountains into the elevated Central Plateau region.  It was our first trip at a low altitude in the country and provided new perspectives.  We took off in Port-au-Prince and landed in the well maintained landing strip right next to the Haiti Outreach Guest House at the edge of Pignon.

Video - Take Off To Pignon                                      Video - Landing in Pignon

It is amazing to see how, especially since the earthquake, the footprint of Port-au-Prince has spread further away from the central city.  This new sprawl is surely goin
g to make it more difficult to develop the services and amenities of urban life that require density -- things like a public transportation system, sewer and water delivery systems, police and fire.

Another striking view from the top down is mountains without trees.  Mountains that are washing soil away down gullies and draws exposing chalky soil on which nothing grows.  The mountains are a big divide separating the coastal region from the central regions.  They constitute two very different worlds in one country.

A Community Meeting On Establishing A Water System

After a very substantial country dinner at noon, we traveled about 30 minutes on utterly treacherous roads to a tiny village of about 125 people.   There we witnessed a demonstration of community transformation -- the very thing we need to know about Haiti Outreach and its community development work.  The community is in the process of fulfilling its preparation for managing the well being built there.  The well should be operational in two months.

Video -- Building a well house
                                                       


After formally asking Haiti Outreach for a community managed well to be built in the village, the community must undertake a process of learning how to operate a clean water well system.  The process starts with a census of all households and the selection by the community of 5 - 7 people to be the well management committee.  That group of leaders then go through several months of training on how to make rules to manage a system for maintaining the water system -- rules for financial matters, subscribers, billing, cleanliness and other details.  They adopt an operating budget based on monthly water bills.  In this meeting the community members were being tested by the community organizers (called animators) and the committee on how well they know the rules established by the committee for the community.

We were given the privilege of asking questions through an interpreter.  Among the things we learned was that already the new skills of the well management committee had led to an increase in the number of households with latrines.  Within two months, they told us, all households will have them. They said that was possible because the committee members were no able to organize community projects and without outside help.  They also declared that the money for a well was important, but that the development of the community's ability to act for itself with its own resources was the most lasting gift.  It will stay with the community forever, they asserted.

Everyone in our group was absolutely elated to witness this evidence of transformation of a people in this remote and isolated village who thirsted for safe water.  Water turned out to be the means to an empowerment they had not known, an ability to act for themselves for a better life.  One compelling image was a woman expecting her first child in a couple of weeks who was one of the leaders on the committee.  There is much more we all will want to share when we return.

This day was one of the best days ever in my entire experience in Haiti!  What an exciting day!!

TRAVELING DAY

We started moving at 3:00 a.m. this morning, making our way to Hopkins where we encountered the only real stress of the day.  The computers at the American Airlines International counter were barely working and lots of time burned just checking luggage and getting tickets.  We all made it to the plane, but the last three of our group were the last people getting on the plane.

Leisurely breakfast at the Miami airport before boarding the plane for the short leg of the trip ending with an on-time arrival in Port-au-Prince.  Dale Snyder, our leader from Haiti Outreach and a new staff member for marketing, Amanda Ottman, joined us just before we boarded.

The airport has been transformed since our first trip in 2012!  It was far easier to get through immigration, get our bags and get to the vans waiting for us.  Our hotel is near the airport and we enjoyed cooling off in the pool.  Dinner was very good and with tummies full, eyelids can barely budge.  My roommates are snug in their beds in our air conditioned room and I'm almost asleep already.

We had planned to meet some people here at the hotel, but the city is on a special security alert because the presidential election results were to be announced this evening.  That did happen, but roads were blocked and they were not able to get here.  However, we detect no evidence of any disorder where we are at.

It was a long but good traveling day.  All is well.

--kjl