I'm about whateva man..

Hot ish

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 11:53:34 -0400

Been getting into a lot of electonica these days…wait for 3:20…

Nothing is going to be easy. Struggle is part of survival.

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 23:00:13 -0500

Nothing is going to be easy. Struggle is part of survival.:

I have met this guy on a number of occasions. Nothing but positive vibes from this dude. Makes me put the important things in perspective.

Article 7,000,037 about Django

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 15:47:08 -0500

Article 7,000,037 about Django:

One of the good things about this movie, it re-introduces the topic of slavery that many people tend to run from. Don’t run, don’t be scured..

Occupy Mirebalais

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 14:12:00 -0400

Occupy Mirebalais

Occupy Wall Street has taken over the news feeds of facebook, twitter and even bbm. A friend of mine made the front cover of the times because of it and all the people I talk to in NYC don’t understand what is going on. I have NO idea what is going on. The sad part is I don’t really care. When I go home I want to do all the things that make me happy in the short period of time I am there. The protests I’m aware of are the ones that have been going on in Mirebalais this week. People are taking over the streets, peacefully in regards to the NGOs in the community dominating the market, but not creating employment. I stood on the roof of my office and watched the protesters stand in front of another NGO’s door protesting. The signs they held read “jobs for all” or “injustice – as I read the signs I thought “I agree with all of you”.

Many NGOs come and serve as glorified soup kitchens. They give and give and give so much. It has created not only a dependency, but also entitlement. People feel that they deserve handouts and more handouts. It’s like giving a child whatever he/she wants all the time. As they get older, they expect the same from everybody. One the free service or donation ends, people go back to their same sad situation. This cause more poverty on top of the new poverty and leads to more disease. People need jobs so they can feel empowered, feed, house, clothe and educate their kids.

The French Language in Haiti

A few months ago this girl I met at “Fire Crotch” who works with kids in Haiti, posted this BBC article on French as the main language in Haitian schools. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-14534703 The article basically stated that Kreyol should be the main language used in schools. I enjoyed the article mainly because these kids/young adults were getting exposure about something NOT related to the earthquake and the program which was founded by a Haitian man is succeeding. However, I disagreed with the comment my friend had posted stating that “The entire school system should be in Kreyol instead of French.” I responded that I didn’t think Kreyol would give children an advantage once they were out of school. It would just allow them to function within certain class levels in Haiti. It also wouldn’t allow them to have one of the most used languages under their belt. She didn’t agree. After reflecting on my 8-10 months here, I now thing French in Haiti is the biggest waste of time. It doesn’t serve any purpose here but to separate people by class and talk to fancy rich people who speak French. I speak French. I grew up speaking it and I majored in it in college. It helped me a lot when I travelled and studied in West Africa, it’s always nice to put it down on my resume and chicks dig it. However, in Haiti Se Kreyol nou pale. That’s what people speak. A lot of it is due to education, some of it is preference and most of it is to separate classes. I’ve meet some brilliant people who don’t speak French. Se Kreyol yo pale. Ex-pats who speak French come here and try to communicate with people on the ground and get a lot of blank stares. Not a lot of people speak it here. It shows how poor the education system is. After talking to people about it also just being in rural Haiti I think primary school should be taught in Kreyol and once you get to the 5^th or 6^th grade you start teaching in French. Kreyol vocabulary is limiting. It’s a language with few words so teaching something like chemistry would be impossible. It would be easier to transition from Kreyol to French because there is much French-ish kind of words in it. However, people don’t need French here. They need English. Geographically, it makes sense for Haitians to speak English or Spanish. All of the countries with the exception of Guadeloupe, Martinique (and whatever other island) speak French. English is the language to know. For the past 5 weeks I have been teaching English to about 12 of my co-workers. I am using whatever skills I have left from when I used to teach ESL. When I ask them why they want to learn English, all of their answers have to do with work relationships, travel, business and higher learning.

White is right

The only place I have ever been where people of color actively talk about hating white people is in the United States. Other places, people love them some white people. Haiti is no different. “Blan” is what we call them here. “Blan” literally means white in Kreyol. However, “Blan” means foreigner more than anything. I get called “Blan” all the time. A lot of my colleagues call me Blan Joel to separate me from the other Joel’s. This one chick that is in charge of Admin stuff has me down as “Blan Joel” in her phone. I don’t mind it; I actually think it’s hilarious. Anyways, even though I get called “Blan” at times I get treated like the next black dude. I have come to notice that the white folks who I work with get whatever it is they want when they need it, especially rides. The ride system at my job is complicated and not very effective. You call the dispatch; tell him where you’re going and where you are. It’s not like a taxi service because that actually works. Here it’s like making dinner reservations. Anyways, sometimes I get a ride and all is good. The trick is to get cool with as many drivers as you can and cop their numbers. Sometimes cold calling them is the best. Sometimes you just catch rides with people headed in the direction you’re going in. Other times you just gotta wait and wait…..and wait. I’ve had times where I’ve waited hours for a ride. I’ve had times where I was told we have no cars and I’ve bummed rides from the ambulance driver. We’re not allowed to take public transportation for safety issues, so that’s out of the question.

Sometimes the best thing to do is have a white person call for a ride and just let the color barrier work its magic. Sometimes you can say that white person x needs a ride and boom the car falls from the sky and it’s there. A Haitian-American colleague of mine got shafted, HARD. He called and called for a ride and got nothing. He waited the entire day and did not have a car pick him up. The next day he spent the morning and early afternoon doing the same thing. He decided to just take a taptap (public car) back to our “base”. When he called to mention his displeasure, he used the race card after watching his white supervisor get a car in minutes and got the “oh gosh gee wilikers look.” I had a meeting today at 8:30 and called a day in advance to get a ride at 7:30. I did not get a ride until 9:30 an hour after the meeting starting. Meanwhile the white dude who came for the week with his 2 white guests had a car at the door waiting for them when they needed the ride. It took me all day to calm down let it ride off my back.

Maybe “Blan Joel” isn’t so blan after all.

“I thought I’d never see it but reality struck, better find out before your time is up what the f*#K “ -Nas

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 18:31:00 -0400

Last night my job had a small get together for one of the staff that was leaving to pursue a PhD. It was a small gathering and everyone went around in a circle saying feel good things. After that we all enjoyed cold Prestige beers and Barbancourt rum. I had a few and was enjoying myself and the cool Cange breeze. While talking to some of my coworkers I noticed a group of people almost carrying a woman who could barely stay on her feet. One of my coworkers ran to go help and we all followed her. Someone brought a stretcher and we ended up carrying her to the ER and then a doctor came and started taking her blood pressure. It turns out that this woman is in the VERY late stages of breast cancer. She came from St. Marc, which is about a 3 hour drive to Cange to get seen. Anyone who has family that has had any form of cancer knows the importance of catching it early. This woman will probably die because of lack of knowledge and access. Sometimes you see patients here that have illness or injuries that you know aren’t supposed to go unnoticed for long. Here, not the case at all.

At this party I attended, one of the bigger bosses of the org was there with his son. Young kid, in college doing his thing. He had on some shiny new puma kicks that I complimented him on. This guy who is a head honcho at the org is one of like 17 kids and he’s done pretty well for himself. His younger brother works at the house I live in as what we call in Haiti “guardian or gason lakou”. His job is to receive people that come, run errands, lift heavy anything and kind of maintain “order”. Anyways, this guy is very poor. When you first look at him your first inclination is to head for the hills. His eyes are always red; he is missing his 2 front teeth and has a staring problem. However, he a really nice dude and loves his wife and 4 kids very much. His kids are around the house sometimes and they are all cute and polite. He loves to talk about them, how smart they are and how he will do anything to make sure they finish school. For me it was just a shock to realize how differently these 2 brothers live.

Dos Bwa Rouge

Last Saturday I participated in mobile clinic with visiting residents from the US, DRC, Rwanda and Port au Prince in an area called Dos Bwa Rouge. “Dos Bwa Rouge” means the back of red trees or the back of red wood. Either way that shit was far. I was asked to go on Friday to help with translating and anything else I could do. The next morning I came down to breakfast with a button down shirt, khakis, shoes and my glasses. When I got to breakfast a co-worker of mine looks at me and whispers “Um, there’s a short hike to the area we’re going to”. “Short hike” I ask? The head doctor of the org I work for tells me it’s about a 2-3 hour hike both ways. WTF? So I went back and put on shorts, a tee shirt, sneakers and contacts. So there were about 30 of us so we all went in this huge bus that the org owns. Man, just like me this bus was not ready for all of this. Once we got past the paved road in Lascahobas, we were on all types of jacked up back roads. We got to this one stream and try to cross it, uh yeah no.

The driver tells us we have to get off the bus. So I get out and land straight in a stream of water. My feet were soaked and it pretty much set the precedent for the rest of my day. We all pushed the bus and we kept going. 10 min later this happens:

We all decided it would be best to just hike the rest of the way.

Man oh man. I’ve hiked before, but this was by far the hardest shit I’ve ever done. It’s not so much the distance, but the sun. The sun in Haiti is oppressive. Haiti is not the hottest place I’ve ever been to. The winner to that is Mali. But, let me tell you Haiti is like 1.b. Here it’s all about the sun. It will always find you. You could be chillin’ under the shade, but the sun knows you have to come over eventually. Someone brought up “You know these people have to make this hike everyday”. I did not see a single Haitian person hiking up that God damn hill when we were hiking it. We decided to start hiking at 10am which is when the sun is doing pushups. At one point one woman who has comfortably sitting under a tree saw my tall, pale and white coworker struggling up the mountain. She goes “the sun is going to kill that white man.” Finally we get up to Dos Bwa Rouge where the community was waiting for us. It seems that Haitians will always tell you “Doc, I have pain here” pointing under the center of their chest. Gas. Then you’ll have the occasional 87 year old women saying “My entire body hurts”. I’m 28 and my entire body hurts and you work 5 xs as hard as me. Then you have the very serious issues – an 8 year old boy with reoccurring malnutrition or a VERY pregnant woman who is about to pop and hasn’t seen a doctor once. Despite the varieties of issues that people in Haiti have, they all have a crazy sense of humor. Towards the end of the day the visiting residents asked for some water since they’d been working nonstop. Unfortunately, we ran out of water and ad to find an alternative. The doctor that was running the mobile clinic asked a man if the town had a store that sold water. Here’s how that conversation went down:

Doctor: Hey, do you guys sell water here?

Man: We do, but we’re out of bottle water. We only have treated water.

Doctor: (long pause) what about soft drinks?

Man: Yeah, I can get you soft drinks.

Doctor: Alright, bring me the soft drinks. Are they cold?

Man: Yeah, they’re room temperature.

Doctor: Alright great!

10 minutes alter this dude comes back with a case of HOT ASS soft drinks that ranged from strawberry soda to Malt beverages (Malta) all in dusty ass bottles. The doctor and I looked at each other. I had one bottle of water left in my back pack. I put my hand on the bag just feeling it there made the thirst go away. On the way down I turned to greet some women who carrying plantains on their head and rolled my ankle on a rock.

Since I finished “The Wire” I’ve now moved on to “24”. That’s like from drinking fresh squeezed orange juicy to drinking sunny delight because it’s on sale. I don’t want to say its bad show, but the craziness of it refuses me from calling it good. The wire was a total cerebral experience, 24 hurts my eyes once I’m done watching it. The best part about 24 is that my roommate is into it as well. He dubs it in French and actually finished season one last night. His reactions are the absolute best. Watching him spaz out in the corner because Jack’s stupid ass (but fly) daughter does some dumb ass shit that puts the entire family in danger is priceless. I think after season one I am going to take a time out from 24. Next show up, Boardwalk Empire.

Sak ki gen vi bay vi (what has life gives life)

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 13:43:35 -0400

South of Haiti –

Beautiful, clean, paved streets and beaches for days. This country is a gold mine and I hope that gets recognized. Being there made me realize that despite the hectic and stressful life in Haiti, Haitians have easier access to leisure than Americans. You’re always an hour or more drive away from a pristine beach or picturesque mountain top. Port Salut was so nice. A hidden gem in the Caribbean, which with a little more love can develop into tourist attraction.

Hurricane Emily is coming towards Haiti. As I write this we are in alert orange. People here are like (shrugs) when you tell them. When I was interviewing for my gig in Haiti someone asked me “What frustrates you the most about Haitian people?” I answered the complacency. We role with the punches too much. My first time here after the earthquake was in March 2010. I saw a lot of crazy things. However, the thing that bothered me the most wasn’t anything crazy. I was driving and we get to a curb and there is a house learning over. It hadn’t really feel yet, but it was just there. Looking at it automatically I knew that it was going to stay that way until it fell over. No one would come and demolish it. It made me so mad. It represents what I like the least about Haitians - Rolling with the punches. Last week I was getting a ride down to PaP by a friend of mine who works on water projects. He has lived in NYC in past, but came back to Haiti (as most Haitians do). He explained that a lot of people who come to Haiti, specifically the Diaspora are always shocked when they first leave the airport. When you first walk out the PaP airport you get a jolt of, I dunno, DAMN. It’s hot; people are looking at you, maybe asking you for something, it’s dusty and sometimes the smell over takes your nose. So people who aren’t used to coming here are in a sense shocked. So my friend was explaining that people always ask “My God, how can you deal with the smell, the tents, the distruction, etc.” He replied with “Picture yourself in a room with a toilet that can’t flush. At some point you’re gonna have to take a dump. When you take it it’s going to smell and that smell will take over the room. You’re going to hate that smell and probably cover your noise. However, after a while you will get used to it. Now when other people come into that room and start complaining, you’ll look at them and wonder ‘what the hell is wrong with these people”. Life goes on. People still have to get up in the morning and do whatever it is they do.

I see so much and I don’t know how to express it at times. It can be people sitting on the road chillin as cars speed by. It can be me dropping someone off so they can take a canoe taxi to a motor taxi to get home. It can the sunset in Cange or the trash in Mirebalais – sometimes I just don’t have words for what I see. I am a lot more comfortable with the people in my job. I crack jokes on the people I live and work with. I understand it when my roommate’s talks fast as hell and don’t have to ask for him to repeat. The experience is getting better and I am getting in deep. I’ve been taking more pictures, but uploading them with this sorry excuse for internet service is tough.

The Wire is the best show ever

One thing that has been HOLDING ME DOWN has been The Wire. That right there is the best television series I have ever watched. I can already tell I am going to miss the characters when it’s over. What is unfortunate is that I have seen the last episode already. I watched it at a friend’s house when we used to study together. I don’t even want to get to deep into it because I don’t want to ruin it for anyone. Regardless, that is a dope show. Any suggestions on what other television series I should start watching? Next in line, 24.

R.I.P. to the majority of my clothing

I am very lucky and almost spoiled by how the cooking and cleaning staff treats me at our sites. I get delicious food daily, my room cleaned, my bed made and my clothes washed. With that said my clothes can’t hang with the sweet laundry woman. My clothes are suffering a slow and painful death. T-shirts are starting to look like night gowns, boxers are expanding in size like whoa and my pants get these red stains that I can’t describe. I guess it’s the hand washing or the soap that they use. My v-necks can’t hang. My wife beaters are coming to my knees and just look sad. At least they’re clean though.

Everything is Politics

Politically, things are not that great. The parliament has rejected the new presidents 2^nd prime minister candidate. So it’s been over 3 months and nothing positive has happened since Martelly was inaugurated. People are frustrated and just want forward progress. I read an article on the famine in Somalia that was very sad. It was a reminder to me that there are other dire situations out there, some just as bad as or worse than Haiti. One line that struck me from the article was from a representative from the American Refugee Committee “If this were Haiti, we would have dozens of people on the ground by now,” Right on the money. There are ton of groups in Haiti doing all kinds of different projects. Many are here for spring break and the loot. However, many are here to help. Regardless of all the different actors in Haiti, it’s up to the Haitian people who I believe are very capable, to change what is going on.

First haircut in rural Haiti

I was looking like who shot ya and needed a haircut badly. I went to this barbershop that is made from plywood across the street from the main campus which in the middle of no where. For about 2 us bucks I got a pretty solid haircut. My only complaint was the job they did on mustache and beard. I came out look like someone named Jean Marie Joseph Francoise Leroy.

This cage right here??!?!?!?!

Mon, 30 May 2011 18:25:35 -0400

This cage right here??!?!?!?!

Citadel - Cap Haitien, Haiti

Mon, 30 May 2011 18:10:00 -0400

Citadel - Cap Haitien, Haiti

Mud Cookies for Everyone

Mon, 30 May 2011 18:05:27 -0400

Back in Haiti - It’s officially rainy season now, but according to many people here it’s been the driest rainy season ever. When it rains, it feels like the sky is falling. While I was gone for my mandatory week off, it rarely rained in Haiti. My last mandatory week off was in the Dominican Republic. This time I took Diaspora self back to NYC. I needed it so bad. The month of April was very tough. Work wise it was hectic as always, but the ORG was going through some turmoil.

I got to spend Saturday and Sunday in PaP for mother’s day. Getting down to PaP from Cange was the hardest thing to do. I now know that when I am allowed to spend weekends in the capital to ask to leave on Fridays. Saturdays are impossible. When I was in the parking lot begging for a ride, this one girl who speaks English goes to me “You’re not a real blan”. “Blan” in kreyol means white person. A lot of people call me blan here because I am an American. Back in the day it used to upset me, but it doesn’t anymore. I am a blan. I’m a gringo. However, I don’t think I fall in the same category as the other “blans”. The reason this girl said that is because she feels that the white Americans who work for the org get whatever they ask for. If they need a ride to the moon, a NASA rocket ship will probably land in the parking lot. I guess she felt that the same rules don’t apply to me. You know a lot of the places I’ve worked for have had major issues in dealing with race. It’s always the same thing, not enough people of color on staff. Besides the Haitians that we work with, I am the only Black person. Not just Haitian American, but the only Black dude. It was brought to my attention lately and I’ve been thinking about it a lot. I think the person who brought it to my attention wanted me be just as concerned about this as they were. I am and I noticed it the minute I walked through the door. However, I guess I am just used to it. Everywhere I have been professionally (school, work), I am usually one of the very few black people let alone person of color. What concerns me the most about this is that right here in Haiti, where my family, my people are from, this doesn’t enrage me. It bothers me. I bring it up to my friends and family all the time. But, I am not raising hell because of it. I wonder why? I personally think it’s because I am the rookie here. Despite my background, the majority of the ex-pat staff I work with has been here for at least 2 yrs.

Mud Cookies for Everyone

So in 2008 the global prices of food went through the roof and many people across the world were hit hard by this. Those from the poorest countries were hit the hardest. The news focuses these hardships primarily through the lens of Haitians. I wrote an article on this in Jan. 2009 for my last job. I mentioned how these mud cookies were the wave of US news. Anyway, the region I currently work in is where these mud cookies are produced. You can see them being made when driving down Route Nationale #3. In 2008 these cookies made front page of everything from the NYTimes to MSNBC. The common theme was “Haitians eat mud cookies to survive”. Let’s not kid ourselves; Haiti is an extremely poor country. When I visit certain parts of Haiti for work I ask myself, “how do these people survive?” Haitians are used to hardship and suffering. However, Haitians aren’t animals. Haitians don’t eat dirt cookies JUST because there is nothing else to eat. They way these cookies are sold are the same way anything else in the market place is sold. You can buy $2 worth of cookies the same way you can buy $2 worth of bread. The other day I was translating a document from Kreyol to English and one of the phrase said something like “Such and such makes me crave dirt”. So I didn’t understand the written word “dirt” in kreyol which is “te” (pronounced teh). So I ask one of the cooks at one of the sites she broke it down for me. So I asked:

Me: “People crave mud cookies?”

Cook: “yeah they do especially pregnant women.

Me: Wait, Wait…So wait you just want to eat dirt sometimes?

Cook: Not anymore, but when I was pregnant I did all the time.

Cook 2: (chiming in) yeah me too.

Me: So people don’t just eat it because they are poor and having nothing else to eat?

Cooks: I don’t think so

This article that I found in online and remember reading years ago (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22902512/ns/world_news-americas/t/haitis-poor-resort-eating-mud-prices-rise/) mentions how some pregnant women “The mud has long been prized by pregnant women and children here as an antacid and source of calcium.” But then the rest is your typical poor ol’ Haitians rhetoric that everyone and their mama buy into.

This is idea of Haiti being nothing more than a poor and unsafe country I feel like is a theme that runs though certain NGOs. It offends the sh*t out of me. There are many NGOs here that go above and beyond in terms of helping. While Haiti is poor and at times not very safe it is not the border of the Israel and the West Bank. I think that certain NGOs view it this way and it runs down through the chain. But, then you have other NGOs that see Haiti as the Cancun of the humanitarian world. It seems as though all they take advantage of the night life in Port-au-Prince and the beaches of Jacmel. Absolute mess. The idea would be to strike a happy medium, but where you favor more to the side of good work.

KK Voye

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 18:29:00 -0400

I am currently writing from my desk in Mirebalais where I am based. It’s raining like CRAZY and the water is actually seeping into where I live. I think I have fully transitioned from the mountains of Cange to the more hustle and bustle of Mirebalais. Mirebalais has its own chaos where people are constantly moving from point A to point B. The block I live on is right next to HUGE Jehovah’s Witness house and down the block from the marketplace. All day long you hear people on moto taxi’s honking, goats’ baaahing and just people talking all types of shit. I like it here better than Cange because despite Cange’s beauty, it’s isolated and claustrophobic. Last night I spent the night in Cange because I had to see a patient. The patient was this 14 year old kid who broke his femur bone playing soccer in this joint program my org has with another one. We provide free health care for the kids in the program and day one this kid breaks his femur bone. I wanted to check in on him and his mom to make sure they were being seen and that they were in good spirits. I ended up spending the night because 2 of my friends live in Cange and they are leaving in May. As I have mentioned before they are my 2 ex-pat friends and are mad cool. It will be sad to see them go, but I think I’ve been preparing for it by not staying in Cange as much and trying to get used to being around Haitians 24/7. This has helped me really get used to working and living in Haiti full time. I have been here for about 10 weeks, which is already 2 weeks longer than I’ve ever been in Haiti. As a kid I would spend my summers here once school was out. School would be out June 21 and June 22 I’d be Haiti bound. I’d spend my 8 weeks with family and when it was time to leave I’d cry my ass off.

Working and living here is different ball game, but I’m enjoying it. However, for the last 3 weeks or so I have been on the move a lot. I was in the Dominican Republic for my week off and when I came back the amount of work to do was intense. The org works closely with a band Fire Crotch (not real name). They came for 4 days and while they were cool it was still exhausting to take them around. Their music is folksy rock? I had never heard of them before and I’m not into that type of music, but they were good. They were also pretty chill and didn’t act like superstars even though they apparently are popular in the states and Canada (even though I have no clue who they were). The first day they were here, I got to see them play live at one of the more posh hotels in Port au Prince called the Olofson. This is one of the oldest hotels in Port-Au-Prince and has an old colonial feel to it. The high up you go the doper the view of PaP gets. Anyways it was a weird scene because the majority of the people there were expats. It almost didn’t feel like I was in Haiti at that point, it felt more like Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Mad Ex-pat hipsters screaming to Fire Crotch’s music. It was really weird vibe and then after 2 rum punches, I pretty much pretended I was at a show in Williamsburg.

People go around and it’s basically “where you from, what org do you work for and what do they do?” It was really weird going around asking people that question all night long. It had the feeling of people just being here partying it up. Every Thursday the Oloffson has this Haitian band called Ram play. The music is dope, but the Oloffson is tailored to rich Haitians and Ex-Pats. They are the ones who can afford the cover and the price of the drinks, me included. Since I live in the Central Plateau, this type of lifestyle was new to me.

The next day I was up at 5am to catch a ride back to the Central Plateau. I basically got about 3 hours of sleep and had a ton of work to do and meetings to attend. Working on 3 hours sleep in NYC is not the same as working on 3 hours sleep in Haiti. I can’t function on 3 hours sleep in Haiti. I was a zombie. The rest of the week we took Fire Crotch around to play in random sights. Let me tell you, people in the US and Canada like folksy rock music. Haiti……yeah not so much. It was kind of cool to see this popular award winning band play in middle of nowhere Haiti and have people just staring at them. They were good sports about it found ways to get people like at least clap their hands. The last night they were in Haiti, they played at the main headquarters in Cange. I think that night has been the best night I’ve had in Haiti so far. They built a stage for Fire Crotch and Ram. First Fire Crotch played first and the Ram came on. Fire Crotch was cool, but when Ram came on people lost their minds in an orderly fashion for the most part. Ram plays kind of music called Rah Rah which has ties to Haitian roots music. Kind of like roots reggae but way more hyped up. The next morning reality hit in and I had to get back on my grind.

After Fire Crotch left, I had to get prepared for my trip to Miami for a Sustainable Haiti conference. Rural Haiti —-à South Beach, crazy transition. The convention was really good for 2 of the 3 days. I met a lot of dope groups that wish to do great work in Haiti. It’s a good thing and a bad thing. There are too many groups and people in Haiti who have some great idea they want to implement in Haiti. While many of the ideas are fantastic, Haiti doesn’t need a ton of people forcing their ideas on them. Many different groups had great ideas on sustainable agriculture that I really want my org to work with. But, to get real shit done you need to hit up the Minister of Agriculture and be like wassup killa? How about we make a plan and stick to it papi (or mami). Foreigners can’t be ones to come in and implement these ideas; the Haitian government needs to step their game up. Speaking of which Haiti has a new president, Michel Joseph Martelly aka “Sweet Micky”. He’s a former musician turned president. He called me on both of my phones today to thank me for voting for him. His campaigning was sick and people bought it. I hope he’s real.

What else was dope about South Beach? My king size bed in my hotel room. I have GOT to get one of those when the time comes.

I got back from Miami and transitioned back into Rural Haiti again. Last weekend I was in PaP for a funeral. I ended up spending the weekend with family, but also got to go out a bit. While PaP is inundated with NGOs, it’s still a fun place. Haiti is a wild place man. Being here has made me realize how small this place actually is. Tuesday I was in Cange visiting a patient and while I was eating breakfast one of the doctors told me he saw me on Saturday in front of the church. I was like you sure it was me? He was like “oh yeah – you were look sharp and serious in your suit.” Seriously, there is no hiding here.

Things that I don’t like about the gig that have nothing to do with the actual work

Yo, for the most part the job is pretty solid. The work is challenging, I am meeting great people and I feel hopeful that positive things are happening in the central plateau of Haiti. I like the fact that I am working with Haitians who trying VERY HARD to make best of a difficult situation. I think the org I work for is gangster. We aren’t perfect, but lord knows what would happen if the org just decided to get up and bounce. While my time so far here has been good, there are certain things I wish I could like change that have nothing to do with the actual work. Being an ex-pat in a country that is considered unstable, my mobility is very limited. I can’t move around without rides. Getting a ride here is like pulling teeth. There is a hustle to it. You call the dispatch and then a car will pick you up and take you where you need to go. You become friends with the drivers and get their numbers so they can hook you up. Some are cool, some a dick heads. I am not allowed to be on road from Mirebalais to PaP after 8[m and I am on lockdown after 11pm, 7 days a week. I understand this is all for my safety, because if something were to happen to me it would be ugly. It can just be kind of annoying at times when I want to be somewhere and at times can’t because I am on lock down. I feel like bubble boy sometimes. When the weekend comes my Haitian colleagues break out for the weekend. They either go to where they are from or to PaP. I usually head to Cange to chill with the 2 dudes who are expats that I’ve become tight with. The problem is that they leave in May. Honestly, once they are gone I won’t really want to be in the Central Plateau every weekend with my thumb up my ass. My other coworkers are cool, but I don’t have much in common with all of them like the other 2 dudes. So an option would be to hit up PaP and chill with family and stuff. I also plan on taking driving lessons to learn to drive stick. My pops has a ride in PaP and I would WHIP the hell out of. But, again it’s not that easy to just be able to go away for the weekends. It would depend on work load and security all of which is very understandable.

My camera broke so yeah…about those pictures. I have some on my computer, but laziness works the same way in Haiti as it did in NYC

Carimi

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 22:40:11 -0400

Carimi

Fanm sa move

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 22:39:00 -0400

As usual it’s been a long time since I wrote something and a lot has happened since. Currently I am at my cousin’s apartment in Santiago, Dominican Republic where I’ve been having a chill time. Santiago is a much laid back town compared to the go go go pace of Santo Domingo. My other cousin lives in Santo Domingo and I will be leaving on Thursday to go spend the rest of my time in the DR with her. I am currently on my “R&R” from work. I had been going back and forth on what to do for my much needed week off. I was playing with the idea of going to Brazil with a friend of mine, but it was too rushed and ticket prices were like 8 billion dollars. I am happy I am here though spending time with family and really just turning my brain off.

Originally, I wanted to spend the weekend in Port-au-Prince to see the famo and then catch a flight or bus to the DR. However, due to the elections and more importantly the return of Jean-Bertrand Aristide I was not able to enter the capital. The org I work for felt it was not safe for me or anyone for the US staff to venture away from the main headquarters. I even had to leave my local residence. Was it necessary? I guess. Who knows? So far the elections have gone smoothly. Aristide came, gave his mumbo jumbo speech and the county, and thank god is not on fire yet. So since I was unable to head to the capital I had to get to the DR by other means. So at 7:30am last Friday I was driven to the border town of Elias Pina in the Dominican Republic. The road to Elias Pina starts off pretty smooth. If you are leaving from the central plateau, you cross through Lascahobas and into Belladaire. The roads in Belladaire are complete junk. It’s like driving on rocks and you basically pick which hole you want to fall into. The driver who took me who is also head of dispatch for the org had the local radio station going. The radio show was focusing on how local politicians never do much for residents of Belladaire. Once we get to the border of the DR you automatically know you are no longer in Haiti. The roads are paved, the people are speaking Spanish and there are trees. This is my 3^rd time in the DR and while I have had a great time so far with my cousins, I am mad EH on the DR. It’s a beautiful island with beautiful women. The government, private sector or whoever has done a good job of maintaining the roads and investing into the country. Haiti can learn a few things on this end. However, Dominicans are racist as all hell. Ask a Dominican in the DR if they think they’re black and see what they tell you.

The blatant acts of racism started when I got to customs. After I was done paying a 20 dollar fee for entering the country (it should have been $5) me and the driver had to talk to someone to see if he could drive me the bus station. This dude refused to let us do so because it was “market day” and he was “afraid we’d run over someone”. Now while this might sound like viable excuse, I didn’t buy it. Even people outside of the office who I told what was said to me and driver didn’t buy it. The driver who is maddd chill told me to let it slide and I took a mototaxi to the bus station. After I get to the bus station and dap up the driver and thank him for everything I get on the Guagua. Que es un guagua? A guagua is a bus that is used by the general public to get around cities and the country. It’s cheaper than a coach bus, but probably not as safe. They are usually packed to the brim and the drivers are a bit wild. I’d compare them to TapTaps in Haiti or imagine Fung Wah but like worse. Once we took off I just prepared myself for a long ride in the back of a GuaGua. Little did I know that the bus would be stopped over and over again for passport checks? Literally every 20 min for the first 2 hours of the trip, the bus was stopped. Border patrol, the police or whatever they were would come on the bus and point out the Haitians and dark skinned Dominicans who they think were Haitian to show passports. This happened at least 10 times and each time it was worse. What makes shit worse is that the people performing these searches were far from smart. Twice I was asked to get off the bus to explain what was in my passport. I have visas from different countries and they took it for me having a fake passport. One guy was starting at my Malian visa and asking me what it was. I literally took my passport from him and opened it to the first page and showed it to him. What was really sad is that some of the border cops were dark as all hell and they still feel the need to hand pick the Haitians and the Dominicans who were a little too Moreno for their liking. This experience has left a sour taste in my mouth. Despite the fact that Haitians and Dominicans share the same island, we have shit else in common. A lot of tight ass aeropostale t-shirts and tight jeans. Dominicans consider Haitians to be the lowest of the low. My cousin was getting her hair done and I waited for her after I got my haircut. The lady who does the pedicures was smiling at me a lot and I was like oh shit! (smile back licking lips). She asks my cousin if I’m her man and my cousin is like uh no that’s my cousin. So she starts to ask me where I’m from. I tell her I was born in NYC, but my family is Haitian. She tells me “You’re Haitian? But, you’re too cute to be Haitian.”. Annnnnd done.

After spending a week there I definitely would live in the Santo Domingo over Santiago. While Santiago is nice, it’s a little too slow for me. This is coming from the guy who lives in rural Haiti. Santo Domingo is a lot like Miami. There is a specific part to it that is very well developed where they have malls with Gucci, Prada and all that other nonsense. While that’s cool and all, I was more impressed with their roads. Despite the blatant acts of racism that Dominicans use on Haitians, I can say that I wish Haitians invested in Haiti the way Dominicans invest in the DR. We don’t need malls, but roads, trees and decentralization would be nice.

Chicharron

So at the midway point of the trip, the oppression mobile stopped at a rest stop for bathroom and food. I was hungry as hell and decided to get some Chicharron (deep fried pork belly). Yo, I don’t know what I was thinking. The minute I bit into it I know I made a grave mistake. They gave me 4 and I hate 1.5. The next 3 days were epically horrible. I seriously thought I had cholera. Thank God I didn’t. Never again will I eat a Chicharron from the street. Minus 10 for Joel.

Bingo Night

So about 4 years ago in Haiti, this even called Bingo Night took the country by storm. So much that the host Kako Bourjolly travels to places where there are a lot of Haitians (NYC, Boston, Miami, Santiago). It’s more like a gong show. He makes people get on stage and either strut their shit or make complete fools of themselves. December 08 unfortunately I was one of the people who made a fool of himself. Anyways they give away prizes, crack jokes, play all types of new and old hits. The theme in Santiago was Karnaval because the one in Haiti this year was not very well welcomed due to people still living in tents. It was a lot of fun and I danced my ass off. I know more Haitian songs that I thought, I surprised myself. Speaking of which, I’m on a Konpa (genre of Haitian music) binge and can’t get enough of it.

Swedish House Mafia

One of the highlights of my trip to the DR was going to this House concert by this group called Swedish house Mafia. I don’t listen to house music, but my cousin, her man and her friends were all going so I tagged along. Incredible. I fist pumped for about 4 hours, but it was a wild wild time. I need to learn Spanish. I hate not being able to properly communicate with people. “Yo habla un poquito pero yo quero hablar much”. Fuck.

Anyways, despite having access to hot water, smoothly running internet and el krispy kreme donuts I missed the shit out of Haiti. What can I say, it’s home now. I came back and kissed the cook on the cheek and promptly ate my plate of rice beans and poule pays.

I promise for pics soon….

(FLEX BOMB)

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 17:59:00 -0500

It’s been a long time since I left you, without a blog post to step to (step to 6x).

It’s Sunday afternoon in peaceful Cange over looking mountains beyond mountains. I have been here just over 4 weeks and it feels like I’ve been here 6 months. So much goes on here every day it’s really hard to explain all of it. Things are picking up as I get used to work and life here. Now that I kind of have my feet on the ground I can say I am currently based in 2 cities. The first one is Cange which is very quiet and small. Within Cange I stay in the compound which kind of feels like a campus. It’s its own world and it is the Medical world. I like staying here because it reminds me of home in the sense that it’s very easy to adapt to. I made 2 good friends here both of which are American. I am cool with the main US staff, but these 2 dudes are the realest. So that’s one of the things that make Cange cool. What I don’t like though it’s a bubble and you get caught in it. While what goes on here is real, it doesn’t always feel like reality. I am sectioned off and only see a part of what goes on in the central plateau. That is why I have been staying more where I was originally supposed to be based in Mirebalais. Mirebalais is a small city that is very hustle bustle. There I have 2 roommates, one is a Psychologist and the other dude is kind of an office manager. Both are around my age and pretty chill. Even though the house in Mirebalais is not that homey, I like that I am living with Haitians and chillin with them as well. That’s what is missing in Cange. When I am in Cange I stand out as a foreigner more. It’s probably because I am with program staff or the volunteers all the time. People in Cange automatically know what the deal is and it makes it harder to be 100% comfortable and easier to retreat to the los blancitos. In Mirebalais I am just blending in like a chameleon which is how I like it. The majority of people outside of Cange are surprised when I tell them I am American and that I’ve been here for 4 weeks. I’m making more Haitian friends by being in Mirebalais which is kind of cool. I have never had Haitian friends in Haiti except for people in my family. While my family is amazing, I have always been introduced into their way of doing things which is different from the way I do it. Everywhere I’ve lived or studied included an independent component that I’ve never had in Haiti. NYC, Rio and Bamako I’ve been able to come and go how I please — In Haiti not so much. Even though I work here I am still limited into where I can go and where, but I hope to be able to change that soon. I hope at some point I learn to drive here. Not having your own car is like not having legs in Haiti. You basically have to wait for someone to carry you around from place to place.

Work

Work is good. Mad exhausting but good. I feel like I am all over the place. One day I’m in an all day meeting with doctors, the next day I’m doing site visits helping choose sites for youth programs. One thing I love about this gig is that I am seeing parts of the country I would never have seen otherwise. I went to a few spots this past week where I was like “wow, this country is beautiful”. One is called Seaux D’eau where there is this huge natural water fall. Another place which is a sleeper is called Marche Canard. It literally means Duck Market. We crossed this small river and then I was in this little city with Ducks waddling everywhere straight chillin. If there was some sort of leadership in Haiti, it could be a tourist hot spot. Unfortunately, that doesn’t currently exist but I’m hopeful that eventually it will. That’s another thing that has been new for me. Hope for Haiti. Watching the news about Haiti on CNN doesn’t make me hopefully. The media has a way on just showing us the worst of the worst. The Media has made it where when you mention Haiti people think starving babies, earthquake, cholera and political unrest. Do those exist? Clearly they do, but there is so much more that no one sees. I have been lucky enough to see these things and work to ameliorate those communities. Within these communities are people who are ready to work really hard to make change. Sometimes I wonder if those in power know about these people. Haiti’s 2^nd round elections are in about 2 weeks. The candidates are Mirlande Manigat and Michel Martelly. Manigat is well respected in Haiti and has experience in politics. Michel Martelly aka Sweet Micky is respected because of popularity. Whoever wins I hope has Haiti’s best interest at heart.

Appearance

I tried growing a beard. It was going well until I started looking like a hobo. Mission failed. I’ve also realized that dressed to impress Joel needs to make appearances once in a while. People here don’t play. Ladies got their toes and hair done all the time, dudes hair cuts are on point and OD on the cologne. So now I’m less inclined to look less like “who shot ya” and clean up a bit more.

So I’ve gotten into a bootleg workout routine to stop myself from blowing up like the world trade. The dudes I live with in Mirebalais wake up at 5:30 to work out in the mornings. I’ve started to join them. At first waking up at 5:30 was pretty horrible. There is nothing worse than waking up when it’s dark out. But you know what? Just like cold showers, waking up early is sadly getting easier and easier. As a matter of fact, I feel guilty when I wake up at past 6:30. This also means crashing at like 9:34 pm every night, mad sad yo. Anyways the first day we worked out and it was kind of comedic. When a Haitian person tells me you “oh I work out”, you need to witness it to see if they really work out. Moving around and making breathing noises is not working out. That’s what goes down, until this one dude Jacquelyn rolls though. This guys works with us and is a monster. The other day we had a “séance abdomineux” aka abs work out. That shit was crazy. I’m still in pain now and even laughing hurts. I still need to work on increasing my cardio while I’m out here, because carbs are winning the battle. Lately gaining weight hasn’t been concerning me, but cholesterol level has. I never had cholesterol problems in my life, but um yeah. Another dope thing about Mirebalais is that the cook (LUCY) asked me what I liked and I was like VEGITABLES and FRUIT. So she hooks it up and yam them shits down not just because it’s good, but it because I need that roughage son.

Weekend in Port-au-Prince

Last weekend was my 28^th birthday. Shout out to everyone who showed me love. I really appreciated it. When I’m away from home it means even more to me. I got to spend a wonderful weekend with my family who spoiled me (as usual). Went to Pizza Garden (that’s right Pizza Garden), home of the best pizza in the western hemisphere. I chilled with my cousin and his wife (newlyweds) in their new home, saw many aunts, cousins and uncles, went to the beach and then finished it off by watching the new look New York Knicks (Stat and Melo 3x) beat the corny ass Miami Heat. What was also cool is that I got to see some New School peeps who are working in PaP. It was REAL dope seeing them because like I said before I am not used to having friends outside of my family in Haiti. However, as much as I hate to say it, Port Au Prince is done. I think PaP by far is the most depressing place in all of Haiti. We are more than a year since the earthquake and PaP is still a giant shit show. I know a year is really not that much time, but man oh man. Tent camps, NGOs, NGO SUVs and NGO workers a dominating the capital of Haiti. Haiti has become the Cancun of the humanitarian world and I guess I’m a part of it. What made me realize that I am a part of it was when I saw my friends from New School at this bar I went to with my cousin his wife and friends. I saw them and automatically wanted to chill with them. It turned out that I spent more time with them at the bar than I did with my cousin and his peeps. I couldn’t help it; I have more in common with them. But, when it was all done I took a step back and realized that I’m a part of this world. This makes me even happier that I don’t work in Port au Prince. The majority of NGO workers that working in Port au Prince, regardless of if they work hard or not are contributing to the ongoing problem. It’s similar to the gentrification that has been dominating NYC for years now. We (NGOs) are controlling the market. Everything is gear towards us and our salaries. When I bought my beer at the bar the total was given to me in US dollars. The dollar has been dominating Haiti for a while, but now it’s screwing everyone over. Also, there is nothing worse than going to a restaurant that is across the street from a tent camp. That’s rubbing it in and I wouldn’t be surprised if revolt were to take place. I’m just saying. Imagine you live in a tent with your kids and the people who are supposed to help you are at the expensive boogie restaurant across the street.

What I miss

Aside from family and friends, I miss basketball…like a lot. Knicks get Melo when Joel is in Rural Haiti. Great. I also miss going to bars and just chillin. NYC bar scene is like no other in the world. What I would do for a six point beer and a flat screen TV showing New York Knickerbockers basketball.

Next time I post, I promise for some pictures…..

Sak ap fet?

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 13:54:00 -0500

Disclaimers: these won’t all be accurate according to date. A ton of stuff has been going on, but I just don’t have time to post it all.

Also, I don’t use the names of the org I work for or orgs I’ve been collaborating with.

Post number two.

I am writing from the balcony of the guest houses at the main hospital in Cange. It’s dark out, but usually it overlooks some mountains further out. I’ve officially been here for over 2 weeks and I am a lot more settled than I was when I got here (duh). I just got back from spending the day with my family. My mom, dad, 2 aunts, uncle and family friend came up from Port-au-Prince and spent the day with me. They met me at the main hospital in Cange and then we went to Hinche (next town over) for late lunch/dinner. It was really good seeing them. I had not seen my parents since I arrived at the airport when I first got here, that was literally for 20 min. It was cool showing them around the facility and it was also cool knowing that they are at ease with where I am. My mom and one of my aunts had never been to the central plateau so it was a giant adventure for them. They packed a small care package for me with some essentials that I was missing (hair brush, sunscreen and hangers). It felt good to be able to contribute to a conversation about Haiti and have them respect me because I am now officially walking the walk and talking the talk playboy. Lunch was mad tasty and there were vegetables (peas, carrots and beats)!

Saturday I went to an area out of the city of Thomonde called Bay Tourib. This place is literally in the middle of nowhere. The road to this village was nightmarish. Once falls move and you’re done. Props to the driver Lesley, for handing that road like a G. It was a windy road that I think was meant only for donkeys, mountain goats and big foot. Somehow we make it and we get to this place. One of the doctors from the ONG who has worked there recently meets up with the community leaders to introduce us. Right away one of the leaders tells us their biggest concern is health. He explained to us that when someone gets very sick and needs to be taken to hospital, 4 of them carry the person on a make shirt stretcher to the nearest hospital. The nearest hospital is a 5 hour walk from where they are and many times the sick person dies on the way there. They were hit very hard by the Cholera epidemic and the ONG started sending the doctors to that community. Once doctors for the ONG started seeing the conditions of Bay Tourib, the 4 teams NGO social assistance program I’m working on decided to use it as the pilot. In 2007 the World Bank gave the ministry of health money to build a health center. The center was built and never utilized.

One thing that Bay Tourib made me realize, no matter how desolate and fucked a place is there are always a hand full of people who are beasts. One of the community leaders in Bay Tourib we couldn’t be any much older than me is a teacher, a mason and activist. He rounded up other members of the community to build a 3 room school that was mad of mud that holds 70 students. It was complete shit house, but he and 2 others teach kids primary school. Crazy. Stuff like that is what can make me try just a little bit harder at whatever it is I do.

Other ish

Guess who’s immune to cold water showers son? When I first started showering here I had it planned out:

1. Turn on the water and let it run for like 1 min and hope that it would miraculously get warm.

2. Jump in and spin around 3 times and then jump out

3. Soap up

4. Jump back in and spin around 3 times again. DONE

Now I take long ass cold showers.

I’m also trying to grow a beard. My dad can grow a diesel ass beard. I can’t. My dad snores really loud. I snore really loud. Thanks dad.

I’ve started to work out, but not much cardio yet. The main hospital has these stairs that are intense and I’ve run them a few times in the AM. The goal was to run them 5 times, but so far it’s only been 3. Don’t judge until you try it. They also have a gym with just machines, but I’ve been using those too. But, the most important thing has been portion control. Since rice is a staple here, there’s pretty much no use in cutting it out so I just don’t pile it in. When I would come to Haiti for vacation the goal would be eat as much as possible. It’s different when I get these types of delicious foods every day.

Anti-Malaria Meds

Mefloquine – I hate it. They give me jacked up dreams. They aren’t nightmares per say, but the dreams are VERY vivid. I wake up and I’m like damn, that shit felt a little too real. Last week I woke up after a wild ass dream eyes wide open telling myself, “I gotta get off this shit”. I took the same pills when I studied about in Mali in 04, but I did not have these dreams. It could be because I’m older? Who knows, but I might try to change meds.

Shout out to those of who sent me some music. Please keep them coming. I will try and start posting pictures. I felt uncomfortable taking pictures of people and things, but since my boss has been asking me to I’ll start posting some.

TQT preaches on a daily basis.

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 22:16:18 -0500

Tristan: seriously wield that moral authority like a mighty sword

First one in Haiti

Sat, 05 Feb 2011 13:19:00 -0500

What’s good everyone?

Gotta get this first email out because I got a lot on my mind. Week one in Haiti is almost over and I’ve been meeting a lot of people and attending many meetings. This past week we had the head of the Global Health and Psychiatric division at Harvard was here for the past week. He’s a real chill guy and gave me his headlamp thank god. He’s been training the doctors on how to prescribe medication to mental patients. So I have been in attendance of those meetings, helping with translation and just trying to learn as much as I can. So I am a part of the Mental Health and Psychosocial support team, but the main part of my job is working on Economic development /reform in the central plateau. On Wednesday I have a meeting with members of 2 microcredit groups. They assist the poorest of the poor achieve financial independence. This is done in a few ways – commerce or raising livestock (goats, chickens, and cows). I am really excited about this namely because I’ve always been interested in helping the poorest of the poor gain some sort of dependency (Thank you WHY Hunger). I know that as the job goes on, I will have a billion things to do. I am still not set up yet in terms of where I will be living. There really hasn’t been any time to do so, which I can’t like I’m annoyed about. I will be living out of a bag most of the time, but just to know that all my stuff will be in one central location will put me at ease. Right now I’ve been bouncing around between various little cities in the Central Plateau and last night spent the night the capital. So far my favorite places are Cange (where I’m at now and where the main hospital is) and Lascahobas. Lascahobas is where the majority of beans are produced in Haiti. Unfortunately, it has not reached its full potential because these farmers are being priced by the international market. Haiti has so much potential, but many things are impeding it from getting to where it should be.

Random thoughts

Yesterday, I spent the day/night in Port-au-Prince and already I see things way differently than I used to as a kid. As a kid it was all normal to me as weird as it sounds. By normal I mean it was ok that PaP was so crowded. It was normal that you had people working for you and you would just accept the master slave mentality. It was normal that PaP has everything (kind of) and that the rest of the country doesn’t. What kind of crack was I smoking? It’s bogus. I had a meeting with the Center for Disease and Control for getting buckers and water purifying stuff at the US Embassy in PaP. That shit is massive building near the airport that looks like it belongs in D.C. The minute we (me, my colleague and boss) walked into the door I felt oppressed. I felt that same feeling I get when I arrive at JFK. Even though the security guards were all Haitian, they looked at me the same way American security personal looks at visitors from other countries. It’s a completely different world in there. However, I give them props for serving some Haitian food at the cafeteria.

Food in Haiti

Uh, yeah if I don’t work out while I’m here I’m going to get fat. They feed us so much food here it’s kind of insane. Haitian diet consists of carbs, carbs and carbs. The food is delicious, but I have got to get a handle on finding a work out regiment. Monday I am going to start excursing (running, pushups, sit ups etc). I have got to, like my life depends on it. Any of y’all who have suggestions please send them this way. There is a gym by where I’ll be living and my Haitian-American ass will def be signing up for it.

My Coworkers

So far everyone is pretty chill. Everyone is really smart and I have to be on beast mode constantly. I feel like I am doing a lot more listening, which I don’t mind. I don’t want to get into the habit of saying something just for the sake of saying something. I will be working with a number of people expats, Boston based people and Haitians. Everyone is a monster. I am very, very impressed my many of the Haitian staff. This one girl who is a resident psychologist is a beast. My boss (not Haitian) she’s a monster. She’s the queen of multi-tasking and takes on a lot. I am looking forward to take some of her load (I say that shit now).

Cholera

In terms of the issues that Haiti is dealing with that’s always in the news (Earthquake, Cholera, Politics), the one I’m exposed to the most is Cholera. Being 2 hours away from the capital, I don’t see rubble or the aftermath of the earthquake. Maybe some displaced persons from PaP have relocated to the central plateau, but that is it. Cholera is still very much here and many people are suffering from it. I am constantly washing and hand sanitizing my hands. I’ve also had to stop biting my nails which is harder than I thought it would be. They have hand sanitizer at all the sites and I carry my own bottle as well. I also have 2 nalgene bottles that always have bottled water in them, so I’m straight.

MUSIC

Please email me music. I am using my work computer 90% of the time and I have ZERO music on it. Anything will do (JAZZ, HIP HOP, R&B, SALSA, rock, ELECTRONIC, BRAZILLAIN I DON’T CARE)

CONTACT INFO

SKYPE –JMALEBRANCHE

HAITI CELL – STILL WORKING ON THAT

GMAIL IS THE BEST WAY TO GET AT ME

I miss you all. Please keep in touch.

Joel

Boston, the mean streets of Boston.

Mon, 17 Jan 2011 19:35:42 -0500

On the bus to Boston for training with the new gig. I had a great weekend thanks to my wonderful friends who threw me a surprise party on Friday. I really had no clue what was going on and was even a little freakout. It turned out to be a great night, but also a late one. It started the rest of the weekend up and the theme of staying up real late was in full force. Saturday we went to a bar/lounge in the LES. I’m going to miss that. Either way I am excited for what the future holds. All I can think about now is what I’m going to eat at this rest stop…

Partners in Health in Rwanda

Thu, 30 Dec 2010 09:21:03 -0500

Partners in Health in Rwanda

Testing this out...

Wed, 29 Dec 2010 15:02:07 -0500

eventually this will get a lot more detailed….