We are back!

We got back from Colombia this week. Back from seeing both sets of parents, and a whole lot ( but not all!) of Tania's family. We slept, we ate, we sang... and we talked a lot about Haiti.
It's clear that this last year has changed us. We celebrated last new year's eve in Bologna's Piazza Maggiore with friends from Graham's masters program that will be forever part of our lives. In the spring, we made the decision to postpone the move to Washington DC in favour of a bit of an adventure in Haiti. Over the last few months we have learned important lessons about our work and life in general. We have also met some very amazing people and have witnessed some recovery from the earthquake. We then prepared for a hurricane that wasn't, worked to contain the Cholera epidemic that is still developing, and then watched as the election results were welcomed with burning tires and flying rocks.

We are both expecting to see a lot of changes at work, and also once again await the results of an election enquiry. Then there will be a second round of elections, a painful wait for the results, another potential revision, and "final" results. Some of our colleagues have been evacuated, some are just getting back to work, and then there are those who never left. To all of them, and to all of you, our best wishes for a peaceful, joyous, adventurous, productive and exciting new year.

Happy 2011!

Pictures from our rooftop

 

10pm last night: This fire was lit in a dumpster less than an hour after the election results were announced. 

11am this morning: Freelance photographers that live in our building prepare to get on their mototaxis to get closer to the action. We saw other media wearing vests and helmuts. They looked completely in their element - and high on adrenaline. They must live for this stuff.

1pm this afternoon: The crowds started getting more organized. This group was mainly interested in making noise, but others were more focused on throwing rocks at UN Peacekeepers that were stationed a couple of blocks away.

3pm this afternoon: By now, there was an ongoing game of cat-and-mouse between the UN Peacekeepers and the protesters. Here you see people looking up the street where rocks and tear gas are being exchanged.

The results are in, but many don't agree

Just want to let everybody know that we're safe amid the elections violence. The vote results that came out last night were viewed with great skepticism, to say the least. Martelly (alias "Sweet Mickey" with the support of Wyclef Jean) came in third place by less than 1% and will miss the second round. His supporters (mostly the youth) are furious, since they believe the current president's chosen successor bought his way into second place. First place has gone to Manigat, the former first lady front-runner.

We happen to live only a couple of blocks away from the Electoral Committee's headquarters, so quite a few protests have been in our area. For the last 24 hours there have been tires burning, rocks thrown and tear gas cans fired. As I write this however, things appear much quieter. We were told to stay indoors all day today, but we're hoping the restrictions will be lifted for tomorrow. I have several photos and videos to upload, but unfortunately the internet service is extremely week. Look for more soon.

Obviously everybody's hoping the violence will end as soon as possible. Haiti cannot afford the clean up, the economic disturbance, or the threats from the international community to halt aid.

This Globe and Mail article (click here) does a good job of telling the story. It quotes a University of Montreal expert commenting on the election results: "This is probably the worst-case scenario".

Dancing the dance – the Elections in Haiti

Election signs next to a camp just around the corner from our appartment

The elections dance is a complicated one with many steps and many partners. Like a good ol’ square dance, it requires a “caller” on the microphone giving specific instructions to make sure people don’t smash into each other or trip over their own feet. In Haiti, there has never been a caller which has created jousting on the dance floor and then a run for the microphone itself. If you can’t dance you might as well yell to try and make the others dance to your steps.

Counting ballots

Haiti’s elections “happened” last Sunday – and there has been debate ever since over how well they went. The candidates, international observers and the elections board have been issuing statements left, right and center to try to control public opinion.

For the candidates, the most important objective is to create a perception that they will make the final round (the top two will advance). In a country where everyone is skeptical of the vote counting, it is crucial to make the population believe you won  – that way, if the “official vote” comes out against you, you can rely on your followers to take to the streets and demand an annulment of the vote.

Manigat and Sweet Micky sneaking out on  the other candidates (LeNouvelliste.com)

This tactic was wonderfully demonstrated by a circus act on the afternoon of the vote. One of the nineteen contenders, Michael Martelly (see my blog on “Sweet Micky” from a couple of months ago), managed to gather fourteen main candidates together to call for the cancellation of the elections due to fraud by the current President’s hand-picked follower, Jude Celestin. All of these dissidents gathered at a fancy hotel for a nice photo-op where they all denounced the ballot stuffing, premeditated violence and voter list rigging that had been reported at several stations. Together they could have perhaps stood strong. The problem, however, is that it often pays to defect. Of all people, this defection was precipitated by Wyclef Jean (the famous singer who had been banned to stand for president), who put his weight behind “Sweet Micky”, but added that the voting process should continue. Martelly conveniently agreed and quickly left the meeting to head downtown with a handful of supporters claiming that he was leading the polls. Realizing she had been duped, another top candidate (Mirlande Manigat) quickly distanced herself from the group of fourteen (now twelve) saying that she also thought the ballots should be counted. Basically, the three candidates who believe they are at the top are all out on their own, having left the pack of bitter discontents to dig up technical laws to try and overturn the counting.

 So that was exciting – but what about the international community who is supposed to certify the elections? Well, the international observers from the OAS have admitted that although there were substantial irregularities, the process was “good enough” to go ahead. But then the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon got even tougher, saying yesterday that the election irregularities “seem more serious than previously thought.”  Finally, the UN peacekeeping chief Edmond Mulet appeared to threaten an international withdrawal if “popular will isn’t respected by the electoral council” (Haitian columnists have been perplexed ever since about what he means by “popular will”). But all in all, the UN is calling for the elections to continue in the most peaceful manner possible.

March 2010 photo Mulet, Preval and Ban (zimbio.com)

Add more fun to the mix: It is now coming out that the UN might have pressured Martelly and Manigat to accept the election. The UN lecture undoubtedly was based on two points. First, that the elections were “good enough” without widespread violence. Second, the international community has no appetite to shell out another $30 million to finance a second try.

And so the microphone gets passed around and the partners dance to their own tune on the dance floor. The preliminary results of the first round should be announced mid week. Look for a fresh round of positioning from all the candidates. After all, democracy is only the best form of government if you win the vote.

The problem with dreaming

Haitians may suffer from a lack of basic services like clean water, food and shelter, but one thing they do not suffer from is a lack of ideas flooding into from foreign countries. In fact, the conference business here is booming, with all hotels (even large restaurants) constantly packed with NGO-backed seminars and symposiums to disseminate the future seeds of development. Yet the seeds are often ill-fitted to their environment and the sowing ceremonies in the form of lavish catered ceremonies become no more than excuses for fancy speeches claiming to have the key for improved development in Haiti.

NGOs bring prosthetic technology and expertise to
help many get back to a normal life

A recent (pre-cholera) conference focused on the rights of the disabled in Haiti. Those present included members of the special secretariat for the disabled, specialized NGOs and members of various embassies. The presenters took care to educate the audience on the extent of problems for the disabled in Haiti, and gave examples of work in progress to try to accommodate them. Photos of prosthetic limbs, ramp access, sign language classes all were proof of the good work going on around the country.

The conference was also designed to raise awareness for the rights of the disabled. The UN charter on the subject was referred to as proof of the responsibility of states to care for everyone, not just those considered mentally and physically fit. Everyone should be guaranteed access to education. Everyone should be able to get on a bus. Everyone should have the medical care they need. Who could disagree? The more the speakers painted pictures of special needs teachers and wheelchair access apartments, the more the expectations – and emotions – in the room were raised.

In development, the idea of implanting new ideas or technology is known as “leaping”. The theory is that you can speed up development by providing advanced ideas to developing countries rather than let them evolve towards them by themselves. For instance, by providing modern sewing machines to a Haitian garment factory, you will make them more competitive and successful. No need to force them go through the same trial and error methods that Western Europe went through during the industrial revolution. If this works for factories, there seems to be no reason why you cannot also provide enlightened ideas on human rights and achieve the same leaping effect. For instance, by promoting the rights of women, countries stand to gain quickly and widely. Empowered women are more likely to have smaller families, earn incomes and educate their children. But to what extent can you push the rights of other groups like the disabled?

According to the conference speakers, disabled rights should be extended as far as possible. After all, Haiti is a signatory to the UN convention on the rights of the disabled. To ratify this, a bill is before the Haitian senate to guarantee accessibility to all vulnerable peoples. After some research, I discovered that this bill contained the following sections:

II-2-10: The state guarantees all handicapped people access to health care, housing and all levels of education.

IV-2-24: All rented housing must be handicap accessible

IV-4-29: All national transport is to be handicap accessible. Those accompanying handicapped people are to travel free of charge.

Inter-city "Tap-Tap" Transport

Consider for a moment the context in which this law is being tabled. Haiti’s education system is mostly private with few curriculum standards. Over 1M people are homeless after the earthquake and many houses are weak structures of brittle bricks, corrugated iron and plastic tarps. There is no such thing as “national transport”, and private transport is mostly made up of “tap-taps”.

Yet the speakers went on and on. A government official dreamed about future designs of buildings to have ramps so that all Haitians can also enjoy theatres and cinemas. But there was no mention of the fact that the capital has no real sidewalks, let alone a working theatre or cinema. A member of a Latin American delegation spoke of the need of financial assistance for those who care for the disabled. This in a country with no social security system of any kind. Another mentioned the need to have quotas for businesses to employ mentally handicapped people. Hardly an option when unemployment is greater than 60%. The conference was closed with thunderous applause and flurries of colourful brochures.

Now, I’m hardly the person to condemn discourse on human rights. But I think this is a clear case of lack of consideration for the overall context. Haiti’s public sector is buckling from demands on it to change laws, approve projects and adjust resources. Additional expectations can put the government in a tough position where they have to appeal for more funds to spread over an increasingly wider, and less coherent, set of goals. A better approach would be to encourage the government to create a solid set of manageable objectives which can be prioritized and delivered upon.

Needless to say, identifying and implementing the proper objectives is full of difficulties. But understanding that there are trade-offs is a good start. We all recognize ethics and we all recognize justice. But we also recognize the reality of capacity and the need for compromise. Challenges need to be defined honestly and objectives made realistically.

So let’s start with the basics. Children need to get schools. Schools need to get teachers. Health clinics need doctors. Investors need to create jobs. In a country with the highest maternal mortality, illiteracy and unemployment in the hemisphere, these are already formidable challenges. No need to complicate things with kneeling buses for the moment.

Happy Haiti

Since all you're seeing in the media are pictures of cholera patients, hurricane flood damage and election protests, we thought it would be nice to share with you a different face of Haiti. Happy Haiti.

A few weeks ago we had the chance to visit a remote island off the south west coast. After a beautiful car ride through the lush countryside we arrived in the port city of Les Cayes. It was the first place we had been to outside of the earthquake zone which meant no rubble, no pancaked houses and no tents. From there, we hopped on a small motor boat with an outboard engine that used all of its might to push us slowly towards Ile la Vache.

We passed fishermen in dug-out canoes and crabtrabs bouyed by plastic bottles. We also passed young boys free diving for lobster far from shore. And then we arrived. The beautiful beaches and pristine water welcomed us to our weekend home. The pictures speak for themselves!

A glancing blow still stings

A man waits with his belongings in his flooded home during the passing of
Hurricane Tomas in Leogane, Haiti. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

All in all, Haiti was spared the worst of hurricane Tomas over the last 48 hours. The storm took its time in arriving and constantly flip-flopped from being considered a tropical storm or hurricane (though it finally settled on the latter). While the south-west and north were struck with heavy winds and rain, Port-au-Prince was just got rain - and less than expected. Even so, many areas have flooded and six people are reported dead. The country is now trying to coordinate a response to reach those who have been cut off. The UN and government estimate an initial response cost of $14M.

For Tania and I, it was an eerie feeling to experience the anticipation of a hurricane. We both stayed at a house where all of her colleagues live, which is adjacent to a large camp that the NGO serves. Not being able to sleep on Friday night, I spent an hour on the balcony looking up at a thick blanket of shadowy clouds sliding over the city. The rain was light. If my mind hadn't been picturing the internet satellite views that I'd been glued to all day, I would have thought the sky to be a familiar comfort of a Vancouver winter evening. But knowing this was likely just a teasing first view of the storm, I focused on every tree rustle, every rain burst, to try to detect "the real beginning" of the terrible Tomas.

But it didn't come, and I soon went to bed convinced I would hear any significant activity before the worst arrived. When we all got up again at 6am, the rain continued - a bit stronger now - but the wind was silent. By late morning, the sattelite showed that the storm was as close as it would get, about 200km away. Morning turned to afternoon, and still the winds remained calm. By evening the rains picked up again, strengthening to a downpour at about 3am. This was the trailing blow of Tomas, who has since made a slow decline as it heads into open ocean tracking North East.

In the end, the camps in the capital area were spared the tent-shredding winds that were feared. But all that rain amounted to significant flooding in certain coastal areas. Many camps are now filled with mud which will takes days, if not weeks to dry out. And the stagnant water may prove to be an added boost to an already tenacious cholera outbreak that has killed more than 400 people.


It is now Sunday afternoon. The sun is out and music is blaring on the streets of our neighbourhood.
Life goes on. Thanks for all the concerned messages over the last few days!

(Photos from TheJournal.ie)

Red Alert for Tomas

Haiti has just notched up it's alert system to the highest level - red - for the oncoming hurricane which is expected to hit the south-west coast of the island on Friday. The earthquake affected area is closer to the capital, which may yet escape the worst of the winds, but it will certainly receive a lot of rain (min 50cm). Historically, this has caused mass flooding in the Port-au-Prince area. Of course, the area is particularly sensitive because of the cholera outbreak and the 1.3M people living in camps. For most camps there is no real damage prevention strategy (beyond extra tie-downs for tents, clean up of dangerous objects, etc) since the set-up is so vulnerable to begin with. Instead, NGOs and the government are already planning the response which will include food/water distribution, medical care and clean up. We'll post more information here as we get it.

Rumours and Cholera

A man holds his own IV bag outside of an overcrowded clinic
-Photo from CBC.ca

For a two days now, the death toll has been relatively stable at around 300 with well over 4,000 infections. It seems that Haiti has been given a little bit of time (or breathing space) to prepare for what the experts are predicting will be a large second wave. Actions on the ground have been frantic - NGOs have leapt into action setting up medical sites, the government has been pushing public messages out to radio, and the UN agencies have attempted to consolidate needs lists to appeal to international donors.

All the while Haitians are legitimately wondering where the cholera came from - after all, this is an island that hasn't had a case in over 200 years (or maybe ever). So eyes are turning to the foreigners. And who is easier to blame than those who are resented by many Haitians? The Peacekeepers. The current rumour spreading is that Nepalese troops must have brought the bacteria, based on the logic that they are stationed near the outbreak area.... and the fact that their country occasionally has cases of cholera. One of my drivers, who a few days ago surely had never heard of the country of Nepal, is now an expert on the country's previous cholera epidemics.

The worst part about the rumour is it can't be completely ruled out since there isn't a better (or more popular) theory right now. If it proves to be true, it will be another paragraph in multichapter tomb on foreign-caused problems in Haiti.

For now the country is coping with the outbreak. Though the cholera will almost certainly breach Port au Prince in the coming days, the health and sanitation (government and non-government) agencies are preparing quickly to lessen the effects. With a quick mobilization, the epidemic will hopefully end after a couple of months. But long after the NGO emergency tents are taken down, the bacteria will remain lurking on the island for generations.

Silence explained

Over the last few weeks, I finished my internship, interviewed with more organizations, and finally accepted a job offer. Then we went on R&R to NY and DC for a few days. Our flight back was delayed a day so on the morning we got back we pulled two clean shirts out of our suitcase at the airport, were picked up by our organizations and went straight to work. I started a new job, Graham went back to juggling three different projects, and then out of nowhere we received news of a cholera outbreak. Yes, Cholera, as in the Gabriel Garcia Marquez book. According to the last Ministry of Heath update, 200 people have died and more than 2600 cases have been reported.

You can read more here

at the New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/24/world/americas/24haiti.html?_r=1&ref=global-home

at Al Jazeera

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/10/201010238172616899.html

and at BBC News

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11614639

Thank you all for your messages. We are both fine. Our organizations have taken extra precautions as we try to help contain the outbreak so that it doesn't reach the 1.5 million IDPs living in tents since the earthquake. We are scared by how fast it is spreading but truly impressed by the NGOs response. Let's hope it can be contained.