old mumblings, does anyone still care?

28 aug

I just watched Hotel Rwanda

Shit

What would I do if that happened here? I don’t think I could do anything. Would I be like all the whites that left, either scared or because I was told to? Would it help if I stayed?

Damn

I remember watching Schindler’s list. I felt guilt for my German ancestry.

Now I feel dread. That could happen again. Maybe over “race” - Although there are whites in Haiti, and people call out “blan” to me all the time, in conversation I’m usually described as “wouj.” (red) However, there are also “move blan” (Bad whites), that is, “White” Haitians. I’m not sure if that means people with the same colour skin as me, or just people that Haitians see as being white.

Yesterday while I was out working in another community I heard some kids yelling “blan” and I ignored them. I expected them to go away soon enough, but when they didn’t I asked what they wanted. I was sure surprised when they said they weren’t talking to me, and went out to see what another foreigner was doing there- had someone from work come to see how I was doing? No, turns out that one of the (Haitian) kids had been nicknamed “blan” by his friends. One of the children was slightly less black than the others, I have to admit… but then I realized that wasn’t the “blan”. The one I would have picked out as different was a ringleader in yelling at the boy they had nicknamed white!

So, there are three types of “whites” in Haiti, and all three are hated. There is also a proverb, “Mulat pov se nwa; neg rich se mulat” (A poor mulatto is black, a rich black man is mulatto.) Wealth is envied and hated here. My friend, Nicholas, tells me that the best thing you can do if you are poor and suddenly come into a lot of money is move far away where no one knows you and you can pretend you have always been rich. Otherwise people will think you are putting on airs, or that you took what should have been theirs, and they may hurt you.

So people are just as likely to get killed for how nice their house is as what colour they are. How likely is that? En masse, murder rates like in Kigali? Not very likely, I pray to God.

But individuals? I know a man that was shot through the neck, and I don’t know the story of why.

My host house was broken into and ransacked, and apparently my host mom would have been burned had she been there. They went to the house two hours past noon, and the whole neighborhood was out front- as many people as come to a football match- by the time I got there. The story of why, as much as I know, is that the hougan (voodou priest) told some people the reason their sister was sick was Yonese (my host mom) had put a curse on her.

There has been a warrant out for those vagabond’s arrest for two weeks now. Their address is known. The two families used to be friends, and when I heard that the other family had agreed to pay for reparation of the house, I was all ready to accept that and not send them to jail—A show of forgiveness, avoid furthering any enmity.

But, as Jack pointed out, what if Yonese had been there? Is an attempted murder less wrong than a successful one? No, its just that I’m squeamish at the thought of sending someone to jail. And I live here, and love Yonese, but I’m reluctant to fight to keep people who have tried to kill her off the streets of her neighborhood, her children’s neighborhood.

Which makes me think how unlikely it is that the UN’s mandate of non-interference will ever change…a society at peace does not have the stomach for mayhem..

Even, when they are in the middle of it.

So what will I do, if a time comes in Haiti when someone I love is in danger? What will I do if someone I have never met is in immediate danger?

CBC writes: Bad water in Canada

Water still a problem on 76 reserves

Seventy-six First Nations communities remain under an advisory to boil drinking water, according to new information from Health Canada.
...
"Often facilities are designed and put in place by people who don't have to operate them," he said. "They leave behind a manual and they leave town."
...
There are still no laws or regulatory standards similar to those in non-native communities, when it comes to drinking water for the about 325,000 residents of Canada's First Nations reserves.

rest of article: http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/02/20/aboriginal-water060220.html

RELATED: Aboriginal Waters: A Slow Boil

Kashechewan: Water crisis in Northern Ontario

Watchdog says Ottawa not protecting environment

One year anniversary!

The fourteenth of last February was my first day in Haiti, and I forgot to do the "One year ago today" thing. Oh no! I think it is because i haven't really gotten around to realizing that time has passed. The Calendar may say Feb 2006, but it feels like I've only been gone a little while. Nothing has really changed.

Except everything that has.

Anyway, notable things about my first day in Haiti:

• There were pink heart shaped balloons at the car dealership.
• I met mango madness, who has been full of Valentine's sentiment (love and encouragement)
• I met the boss and his buddy, who were full of beans and rice and stories about cars. and wonderfully innappropriate jokes.
  
• I was pleasantly surprised at how much better Pierre Payen smelled than "romantic" Paris
• I fell in love...

(Ok, it's cheesy, but that's kinda the point of the day, as far as I can see. Other than to distract from the birthdays of important people)

Val writes: Jean Franz misses me

but not as much as I miss him! I nearly cried when I opened an email from Jack with drawings he'd scanned from my friends. I don't think of myself as someone who cries all the time, but my memories of the past month don't support that idea. Except that I haven't actually had a good cry since I left Haiti, I just keep feeling like I'm going to. I started to cry in church today - They were singing a song about Africa- but then people came to comfort me.

I know I should have been grateful, but i was actually quite embitterred. I really need a good cry. I don't want to be comforted! There are things worth crying for, especially if the other option is joining the world of "Dead like Me". (and I don't just mean the one with Georgia and Rube)

val writes: Last day

I've been home for a while, and ready to return.

My last two days of work were quite busy with training the guys on staff and some ladies from the new project in Gonaives. It was a lot of fun and a good way to say goodbye to my job; Doing the thing I'd come to do, teach people how to help themselves, their friends, their neighbours. I was pretty proud of myself as I taught the class without an interpreter. I'd done short classes before, but this was my first time going solo for an advanced class.





I was panicking so bad I could see my heart throbbing in the mirror before we got started. Not because I was afraid I couldn't do it in kreyol, but because I felt like I couldn't teach at all. So it just goes to show you something, i'm not sure what. Anyway, I panicked that I couldn't teach, taught, and then learned more in one night than many previous nights. These businesslike women turned out to be about the same age and maturity as Leslie, Barb and I, and we had a most informative anatomy discussion which they then told me I couldn't repeat. I would pshaw that, except that since I've returned home I haven't used any creole and I've forgotten all my new words. Yet another (although lesser) reason to get back soon.

Val writes: exotic

Just incase anybody got here without being there before,

Before I was a blogger I livejournaled at http://www.livejournal.com/users/racinette/ and if you want to know antecedent thoughts and actions you can go there. You probably won't though, because if you haven't already been then you probably don't know me and don't care anyhow. But I like to feel important so I'm telling you anyway.

---
wow. sometimes I read my writing and am impressed; It seems plausible that I attend university.

Today I'm impressed that I graduated into highschool.

and I feel like telling you that, too. Oy. I really am becoming egoist, thinking that everyone cares what I think. I feared I would, because lots of people in Haiti pay far closer attention to me than most people in Canada, kind of like you pay more attention to someone's pet porcupine than you do their cat: I stick out.

That makes it sound like I'm exotic. Which probably conversely, makes it seem that Haitians are exotic. Neither is true.

I'm only exotic because of my skin. Nobody who's used to seeing me pays me any attention at all. Rather frustrating actually, as far as trying to make friends is concerned.

More important though, is something Jack and I discussed this evening, the exoticness of poverty. Or rather, how we like to think of the rest of the world as being exotic and other, but that at least in the case of Haiti, it's not really.

There is voudou, which is exotic , but really seems to not be terribly different from regular old Deism- the belief that there is a God who made everything, but that after that the creator went back to his day job. (veering off deism, but not terribly different from many a canadian: and now we createds are stuck doing are own thing, and sometimes you can get help with that from lesser spirits/angels whose schtick is winning the lottery or making your neighbour fall on the ice when he laughs at you, etcetera.

After that, Haitians don't have exotic clothes- mostly they wear goodwill rejects. By preference, the boys working here usually look like they come from inner city New York: Baggy shorts, "wife beater" (sorry Dom) tank top, ballcap, gold chain, you know the type.

They don't have exotic music- Celine Dion, and lots of Rap, especially Fifty Cent and Lucky Dube. There are some really good Haitian rappers, and I've developed enough of a taste for them that I'll probably force at home to listen to the songs Monsye Blan and San Fezi. There is also a style of music called compa that is unique to Haiti. I do not mean to say that Haiti has no culture and nothing good, certainly I would not want to come back if I believed that.

Americans have culture with good things and bad, Canadians have culture with good things and bad, English and Germans and Swiss have culture with good things and bad, and Haitians do too. They have a thriving music video industry, good (although somewhat repetitive) food, and a tolerable soap opera. I do not meant to say that Haiti has no culture of its own.

I do want to say that Haiti is not foreign, is not made up of noble savages. They eat the same food, watch the same movies, dream the same dreams, and fear the same death.

Haitians aren't ok with death. They're not ok with being sick, they're not ok with headaches. They complain of gas and mosquitoe bites. They're also dying of Thyphoid, Cholera, Tuberculosis, Aids, Malaria, but that doesn't mean they don't mind acid indigestion.

Little kids try to get out of doing their chores, and have temper tantrums when they are punished. They make fun of other little children, they cry to be picked up when they see their parent.

They don't even sing better than Canadians. (Although they do sing better than me, the same is true of a porcupine)

Haitians are people.

val writes: Christmas time

We are doing a little Christmas thing for our favourite Haitian kids, and it’s got me a little at odds with myself. I’m also getting ready to pack to go home, and thinking about how much stuff I have there, and how much I have here, I almost want to go home with a suitcase full of sea shells and leave everything else here.

I came to this mission because I don’t believe in just giving stuff away, didn’t I? so what has changed? Am I just trying to alleviate the guilt of leaving Haiti- buying redemption, no longer through service, but with trinkets and toiletries?

That would be silly because there’s no way even still that I could measure up- I didn’t spend my money on most of said trinkets, much of it comes from the oppression of other children in other countries. Anyway, I could never work as hard as many other aid workers, or have a good enough attitude, or enough knowledge… I will never be good enough all by myself. Mother Theresa said something like, “I only look after the drops of water I’m given, God looks after the oceans” so I don’t need to feel guilty. But I do still need to know what things to give away and what things to keep.

val writes an update

Hey Everyone,





I'm Going home really soon, and haven't sent out a letter in a long time.

Hopefully you've been able to read my blog, as I did start updating it reasonably regularly for a bit… and then the internet stopped working, so I felt absolved of that responsibility. If you don't read it, (which you should, even after you read this! www.racinette.blogspot.com/) here's the brief version: (with really bad paragraph divisions)



Filter sales went really well. We finally got Haitians to start selling them to their neighbours in a big way, and even had to hire some new staff to increase production. As soon as we got it sorted



Foreign volunteers went home (except me) and I stopped working on the project because



My mom came to visit me for Christmas! I was really happy to see her and get to form a new relationship with less childhood behavioural patterns in the way. (She didn't have to remind me to clean my room or do the dishes once!) We worked on base and visited Haiti a little, but there were lots of things we didn't get to do because I got distracted by feeling responsible for the mission, feeling overwhelmed by how many really cool things there are in Haiti that I wanted to show her and



Being robbed at gunpoint. That was scary and I didn't get much done after that- other than talking to police, which I should write about at some point (check the blog!), lots of differences there- and won't be able to get much done now on the project as



I fly home in eight days. This is pretty annoying as the time left after Christmas should have been sufficient to do a good wrap up on the project and tie everything up in a pretty bow (I was trying to decide on yellow or purple) to hand off to Jack and the Haitians we've hired and trained. I was considering changing my plane ticket if I needed a bit more time to do this, and also to do a little travelling to visit other aid groups and regions in Haiti, as my CWH project is finished with me (the next stages won't really benefit from my skills) but I'm not finished with Haiti and wanted to research returning. However, it started to become clear while mom was here that



I am getting really tired and ready to come home. I miss

hot showers
and
cold weather
and
spicy food
and
bland days where I'm not confused 18 hours at a time
and
good conversations with friends and family
and
bad political debates
and
…



When Lisa was getting ready to come back to Canada she wrote a beautiful list of all the culture shock she was expecting. I'm cutting my list short as I fear that trying to emulate her skill in writing will take all the time I have left in this country, as well as make me forget to value the tons of things I do love -- every time I leave the house I nearly come to tears thinking how much I'm going to miss it here.



For which reason, I really want to get out there and take pictures of everything, and then I will live in picture land when I get home. Hopefully you enjoy looking at pictures too and then I will share my experiences with you. (People here have even complimented me on some of them, so I think my photography has improved since February.)

I'm getting home in time for this thing called Missions fest in Vancouver, After that I have no set plans, and would love to see you, especially if I don't have to pay for the transportation.



Oh right, so money stuff:

As some of you know, I pay staff fees to Clean Water for Haiti to cover food and what-not so that all mission donations go directly to filters. I haven't paid very close attention to this, so it turns out I owe slightly less than 500 Canadian right now. I didn't understand that it was my responsibility to follow up with the accountant to make sure money given on my behalf was credited to me, so if you sent money and I never thanked you for it, please let me know as I probably did not receive it.



(Also, if you sent me a letter and I did not thank you for it, please let me know as I probably started writing you and then got distracted by a pretty hummingbird, but did not mean to be uncommunicative or ungrateful or waste the piece of paper. Getting letters is the most pleasant thing in the world. You can even write to me once I'm back in Canada, and I will be quite content and do my best to write you back a most scintillating epic…or maybe something less erudite but hopefully still enjoyable)


If you would like to support me financially or send me a letter, you can post a comment and I'll figure out a way to send you contact info.

(There Aunty, I did it! (thank you for reminding me) Now back to regularly scheduled programming)



…no set plans.



I am not sure how I'm feeling about this. Sometimes it feels exciting, like I'll be open to all sorts of Really Important Things, and sometimes it feels terrifying, like I'm going to have no Job and no House and no Reason For Being. Please send me ideas and suggestions and if you care to, pray for this.



Also, for you praying types, please pray that my last week here is focused and effective but still has room for play. I'd like for my efforts to have increased health and not to have simply taken eight months to learn a language spoken by eight million people.



Really, please pray for Haiti. The political situation here is kinda terrible, and I'd like to be able to offer you an insider's opinion, but I've not enough knowledge or time in country to qualify, and no three people I talk to seem to agree on what needs to happen, although sadly there is much discussion, amongst Haitians and foreigners, about twouble Ayiti. I've been reading a few books about it and they are mostly pretty terrifying, so I think right now I will just get back to living in Haiti and talk about it (or whatever) when I see you.



Which will be soon, I hope.

val writes: ok, really

Mom left a week ago today and I've maybe used the internet five times since. This is not because I've been especially busy, although I have, or that I've been in terrible shock, although I was, but just because this is Haiti and sometimes things here are difficult.

Right now, the internet is being difficult.

Really, usually something in Haiti is difficult, very few things are as easy as they are in Canada. When my mom was here we had the kitchen painted, but only after going to three stores looking for paint. We weren't haggling the price, the first two paint stores just didn't have the paint we wanted. (oil paint, in some colour of blue, we weren't terribly picky!)

Today, another volunteer and I tried to buy a radio, so we went to a store that had a sign advertising radios. Unfortunately, this seems to have been a sign advertising paints. Or something.

Despite the country being difficult, I am very much going to miss this place. I realized today that I have only ten days left, and I can't imagine being ready to go at the end of that. Some people, including my boss, offered to let me leave early, after the robbery and the trauma and what not.

I am sure they are right that I am in shock, and that I won't be able to deal with it til I get to familiar surroundings, but I find that even so I'm not yet ready to leave. Proverbs of getting back on the horse canter through my thoughts, but more than that, the robbery was one incident, and I have eight months of other, better incidents, which I would rather put my attentions on.

Jack and I went swimming and coloured pictures with our girls today, and I held a little baby while her mother was off doing laundry. Yesterday I heard some Haitian bluegrass on the radio. The day before I watched a brother and sister fighting over who was the better chess player- the one who'd escaped from losing by causing a stalemate or the one who'd nearly won.

I love normal things like that, things that are familiar, that do remind me of being in Canada, and I want to experience as many of them- and as many hugs from the dear little kids who run up to me everyday- as I can, so that I can always hold those memories in my heart.

Although I hope I aren't holding them only as memories for too long. I want to come back to Haiti. I just want a bit of a break- a hot shower, some curry, a snowball fight- first. And maybe some schooling, or a job, I suppose.

What I don't want is to go home scared and then never want to come back. Because even while I am here, scared, I am still glad I am here.

val writes: Done.

It has been decided that I am in shock following the robbery. By which is meant that I have no energy to face the world and just want to curl up with a blanket and crawl into bed. Familiar sounding, except I never would have believed myself capable of using a blanket in this attrocious heat. Or what I am told is attrocious; in addition to using blankets I've started shivering when I get out of the shower.

So, update on the robbery: i spent two days with police and tribunals and what not and achieved nada. I've moved to a friend's house til more volunteers get back and have left the house full of young men who work for us, as well as the old guardian.

Mom left yesterday morning and I hope she will be okay. I took her to the lighthouse on thursday afternoon and that seemed to be a really good thing, I am glad it worked out for that to be her last memory of Haiti.

I still love this country and its children. I'm just a little exhausted at the thought of the adult demographic right now. Definitely ready to come home- less than twenty days now!

Val writes: Robbed

I'm okay, no one is hurt, but we were robbed last night. He had a ski mask and a gun, and got about 70 or 80 USD. Spent the night at a neighbour's, today is spent trying to track down a truck to loan the police so they can make arrests and inquiries.

This is the second time my house has been broken into since I came to haiti eight months ago. The perpetrators from the last time are still at large, so I am mostly feeling worn out thinking that all the efforts I make today will be for nothing. But at least I will probably be able to track down a truck with one of my friends. And can afford security measures. If I were Haitian, I'd have an even smaller chance of justice.

... Got a truck, have to go back to the police station. Please pray for us and the police and the perpetrator and Haiti, for wisdom and courage, and stuff. Safety stuff too I guess.

val writes: gourd

I just made a kwi- a hollowed out calabas/gourd which is used as a bowl. I’ve made them before, but this time I think I may have done it almost right and almost by myself. I always thought that it was a matter of cutting it open, scooping out the gunk, and we! You’re serving salad ayitièn at your cousin’s wedding. Not so, it turns out. First one scores the gourd with a knife, then one goes along with the knife and a rock and hammers a crack along that line. Then one cuts through the crack, before finally tearing it open. Usually it’s not cut exactly straight, so one has to cut all the sharp or bumpy edges away. I couldn’t manage to get this part right- rather afraid of cutting off my hand or foot swinging at it like I was shown, so this little 8 year old girl did it for me.

The next step is removal of gunk, which goes pretty much as you’d expect. (Take spoon, scoop.) One must be very careful to scrape all of the “fruit” out, and the little girl had to help me finish this part of mine too. After that, one must rub the gourd with a lime to cure it, or something. I don’t understand exactly, but I guess the inside will turn black if you don’t. After that the gourd just needs rinsing with water and time to dry- two or three days- and then one has made a kwi.

As well as making the kwi, I screwed up yesterday. Or maybe I didn’t as far as the rules of the mission go, but as far as the rules of Haitian culture goes, I did. A staff member came by to charge his cell phone early in the morning just as mom and I had prepared breakfast, and after I’d finished my business with him he sat down on the bench and sat. I now think he was waiting for me to to invite him to share our breakfast- simple oranges and coffee, nothing that would be too costly to intrude on. It just didn’t occur to me though, even though I know the culture is to share (especially food), I was with my mom and in my North American mindset and completely zoned, and eventually he just left. Ooops.

He came back later to pick up the cell phone and I was working at my gourd, and he told me to rub it with lime so I guess he forgave me and remembered that I’m just an ignorant blanc who doesn’t know any better.

Except I do. It’s a part of my culture to share food too. Our friend was visiting to use the computer this evening and dinner was ready just a bit after he arrived so we invited him to eat with us, and had a very enjoyable evening. I really enjoy sitting around food and talking, and that is why it is so sad that I missed the chance to visit with our technician on his day off.

val writes a sidenote

Two of our male workers just took a shower together. Men (or women)who are just friends are also free to hold hands when they walk down the road. I’ve heard that Haiti is intolerant of homosexuals, but I don’t know how anyone would notice… although I guess since everybody lives so close together, everybody knows everything.

val writes: Munsch before Moses

I think I may end up being a teacher.

I’ve been fighting being a teacher since I graduated from fighting with highschool teachers and since then I have been more or less sucking at everything else I try to do. I keep coming to this point where “there’s nothing for it, I’m going to be a teacher.” but then somehow jamming out again. I don’t remember the last time I did this, but I do it more often than I do my taxes. (Which, admittedly, isn’t very often because I never owe the government money, never having made any in the first place, because I more or less suck at making money, presumably cause I keep not being a teacher.

The problem is that I don’t want to be a regular schmuck teacher. I want to work on CBC radio, I want to work with disadvantaged folk, I want to work one on one, and now, I want to make books.

I don’t actually want to write books, I just want there to BE books, and I kinda get the impression it may be up to me to make that happen.

Obviously, I am not talking about just any books, as books do exist in the world. I read a book yesterday, in fact. (It wasn’t a very good book, so I won’t tell you its name in case you one day see it on a shelf and remember hearing about it and think that must mean it is good, but the day before I read a very good book called “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” which I don’t mind you thinking I’ve recommended.)

I am talking about children’s books in Creole. There are very few books in Haitian Creole, it is considered by some to not even be a real language (thus it being “Creole” and not simply “Haitian”. That used to include me, before I’d much interest in Haiti, when I’d only heard bits of the language and understood them and so decided it was just corrupted French. When I got here, I understood a lot less (although most words, when I finally do understand them have an obvious French root) so no longer had time to waste thinking about what quality of language it was.

The thing is, it doesn’t matter. There are 8 million Haitians, (possibly more, I’m not sure if that includes the Diaspora) and they should have some books to read besides the bible. Not that I don’t think the bible is worth reading, but I don’t think it’s the key to improving literacy, which in Haiti is less than half.

Adult literacy rates, UNDP "HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 1999

Haiti 46% Cuba 96% Dominican Republic 86% Nigeria 60% India 54%

Jack and I, and now my mom, are trying to help some kids learn to read. It’s very frustrating because I remember how hard it was for me to learn how to read. I’d like to believe I was precocious, but carefully preserved exercise books show otherwise. It was hard for me to learn how to read, and I had the help of Dr Seuss, Robert Munsch, Richard Scary, and two loving (of me and books) parents. Haitians have the bible, some school primers (with blue and white pictures) and a picture bible with one picture per story. I know these are better than was available throughout much of history, but Haiti isn’t “once upon a time”. Haiti is NOW.

Literacy would make the job I have now- health education & water filter sales- so much easier I can’t describe. I have a friend who did her master’s on …rats, I forget the word. Alternate Participatory Learning? Shoot, sorry Kristin. I’d look it up but the internet is down right now… anyway, she knows a lot about not forcing paper and pencils in cultures that don’t use them, and I really respect that work, but I don’t know enough about it to be able to rely solely on it, and I have to admit that really I enjoy reading and want to share “The Paper Bag Princess” and “Leo the Lop” (and maybe eventually, Brothers Karamazov!) with my friends here.

I went to the Saint Marc library, hoping at least to get some French books. The library is pretty small, and the children’s section is mostly old books from various school libraries in Quebec and other parts of Canada. (Even some in English) The thing is that when you’re reading a book, you can look at the words or you can look at the pictures. But when the words are in a language you don’t speak, and the pictures are of things you’ve never seen, you don’t get much out of it.

I’m pretty sure it would be good to start with “Jidline Goes to Market” (One banana, two mangoes, three papayas…) and “Marie-Phila Fetches Water” (and on her way she sees Anana, Banann, Chen...) I went searching the internet and found some beautiful picture books about Haiti and Africa. It would be so lovely to get them published in the languages of the culture, instead of having them just be part of a cultural exchange program. (Which is also a really good thing- we only work on behalf of what we love, and we can’t love what we don’t know)

So, Dad says that Peter Gzowsky started a book foundation of some kind, and Mom said that perhaps one could have a book with both Creole and English in it. Not like a dictionary but like subtitles or something. Does anyone have any concrete information on this? Are there groups translating books that I can sign up with? Is there a grant which could apply?

val writes: fishing

I used to live with Haitians, but unfortunately now I live on the beach. It is nice though I can go swimming to cool off, which is much more pleasant than just having a shower (also cold, a hot water heater is a luxury I will never again take for granted!)

We also get to watch Haitian fishing, which comes in many styles.

BBC News writes on appropriate aid

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4514312.stm (11 dec 2005)

Dilemma over new quake shelters
By Aamer Ahmed Khan
BBC News, Karachi

Fakhre Alam is one of Pakistan's most celebrated showbiz icons.

Since 8 October, he has been in the earthquake zone as a relief worker at the Chatta Batta tent village in North-West Frontier Province.

"Only a few days ago, a man with three children came up from one of the tents and pleaded with me to allow him to light a bonfire in his tent," he says.

There had been a few fire incidents in tent villages by that time and Alam had no option but to say no.

He thinks setting up tent villages was a bad idea.

"He went back but I could hear him muttering, 'All my children will die'," Alam recalls.

(snip)

"Corrugated iron sheets, nails and hammer is all that we need," says Akhtar Abbassi, a resident of Bambian in the Neelam valley.

Like thousands of others, Akhtar was able to pull wooden planks out of the debris but does not have the iron sheets that can be used for a roof or tools to put the structure together.

(snip)

Relief commanders say they shifted their focus to shelter, especially in the high altitude areas, well over two weeks ago.

But they say their effort has been slowed down by the lack of response from private donors and NGOs.

One reason for this could be the private donors' obsession with prefabricated structures.

....Their prices range from about $1,200 (£680) for a single-room house ...However, none of the major prefab companies are manufacturing locally...Even if enough were available, it would be next to impossible to transport these 400kg structures to high-altitude areas - many still without roads passable even by jeep.

(snip)

Besides, before placing their orders most of them were forced to wait for the government to announce its policy on reconstruction, which came in the last week of November.

(snip)

Only time can now tell how much this desire to do more rather than the obvious is going to end up costing the affected people in high-altitude areas.

Pictures, photos, images, drawings...

All thanks to Google, my favourite brand name of the day. (Google earth is also really cool, and has helped us a little in finding our way around Haiti, although you can't zoom in outside Gonaives or Port au Prince, it does allow us to get a general idea of where we've been walking.

Or, in this case, give you an idea of where I am in relation to you.

i want this in my profile

 

forestry as a good thing (news article)

An inconvenient fact
Despite the anti-forestry scare tactics of celebrity movies, trees are the
most powerful concentrators of carbon on Earth Dr. Patrick Moore is a
co-founder of Greenpeace and chairman and chief scientist of Greenspirit
Strategies Ltd. in Vancouver.
Patrick Moore, Special to the Sun
Published: Wednesday, August 29, 2007

It seems like there's a new doomsday documentary every month. But seldom
does one receive the coverage that Hollywood activist Leonardo DiCaprio's
latest climate-change rant, The 11th Hour, is getting.

When we're bombarded anew with theatrical images of our earth's ecosystems
when the film opens across B.C. this Friday, I'm concerned that we're losing
sight of some indisputable facts.

Here's a key piece of information DiCaprio, collaborator and long-time
activist Tzeporah Berman and the leadership of my old organization
Greenpeace are ignoring when it comes to forests and carbon: For British
Columbians, living among the largest area of temperate rainforest in the
world, managing our forests will be a key to reducing greenhouse gases.

As a lifelong environmentalist, I say trees can solve many of the world's
sustainability challenges. Forestry is the most sustainable of all the
primary industries that provide us with energy and materials. Rather than
cutting fewer trees and using less wood, DiCaprio and Berman ought to
promote the growth of more trees and the use of more wood.

Trees are the most powerful concentrators of carbon on Earth. Through
photosynthesis, they absorb CO2 from the atmosphere and store it in their
wood, which is nearly 50 per cent carbon by weight. Trees contain about 250
kilograms of carbon per cubic metre.

North Americans are the world's largest per-capita wood consumers and yet
our forests cover approximately the same area of land as they did 100 years
ago. According to the United Nations, our forests have expanded nearly 100
million acres over the past decade.

The relationship between trees and greenhouse gases is simple enough on the
surface. Trees grow by taking carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and,
through photosynthesis, converting it into sugars. The sugars are then used
as energy and materials to build cellulose and lignin, the main constituents
of wood.

There is a misconception that cutting down an old tree will result in a net
release of carbon. Yet wooden furniture made in the Elizabethan era still
holds the carbon fixed hundreds of years ago.

Berman, a veteran of the forestry protest movement, should by now have
learned that young forests outperform old growth in carbon sequestration.

Although old trees contain huge amounts of carbon, their rate of
sequestration has slowed to a near halt. A young tree, although it contains
little fixed carbon, pulls CO2 from the atmosphere at a much faster rate.

When a tree rots or burns, the carbon contained in the wood is released back
to the atmosphere. Since combustion releases carbon, active forest
management -- such as removing dead trees and clearing debris from the
forest floor -- will be imperative in reducing the number and intensity of
fires.

The role of forests in the global carbon cycle can be boiled down to these
key points:

n Deforestation, primarily in tropical forests, is responsible for about 20
per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions. This is occurring where forests
are permanently cleared and converted to agriculture and urban settlement.

In many countries with temperate forests, there has been an increase in
carbon stored in trees in recent years. This includes the United States,
Canada, New Zealand and Sweden.

The most important factors influencing the carbon cycle are deforestation on
the negative side, and the use of wood, from sustainably managed forests, as
a substitute for non-renewable materials and fuels, on the positive side.

To address climate change, we must use more wood, not less. Using wood sends
a signal to the marketplace to grow more trees and to produce more wood.
That means we can then use less concrete, steel and plastic -- heavy carbon
emitters through their production. Trees are the only abundant,
biodegradable and renewable global resource.

DiCaprio's movie, The 11th Hour, is another example of anti-forestry scare
tactics, this time said to be "brilliant and terrifying" by James
Christopher of the London Times.

Maybe so, but instead of surrendering to the terror, keep in mind that there
are solutions to the challenges of climate, and our forests are among them.

This film should be a good, clear reminder for us to put the science before
the Hollywood hype.

Dr. Patrick Moore is a co-founder of Greenpeace and chairman and chief
scientist of Greenspirit Strategies Ltd. in Vancouver.


© The Vancouver Sun 2007