Departing comments, thoughts & fears

It's the eve of my departure for Haiti...I can't believe I'm actually going. Hard to imagine I'll be going to a tropical climate, given the snowy day I'm looking out at here in Wakefield, Quebec. I've never packed for a trip abroad with camping gear, tools, toys to give away, snacks, an extensive first aid kit (and I mean extensive!), and oh yes, some work clothes. I did manage to squeeze one plastering frock into the luggage. Luckily the luggage restrictions for Haiti allow for several bags.

I'm excited about going, of course, but also a wee bit nervous, truth be told. In between the unrest after the elections, the cholera outbreak, and the great housing crisis, this will not be a touristy trip, yet I know it will be really rewarding. I look forward to hearing creole being spoken- while there are similarities to the french I know, I'm sure I'll have to attune my ear to new expressions, sentence structure, and vocabulary. I've been studying a Haitian Creole booklet that my friend Brian brought me back from Haiti, but I really want to hear it spoken.

CBC's the Current ran a really interesting show this morning on the housing situation in Haiti. David Gutnick has done several segments on the Current regarding Haiti. This one in particular included interviews with building groups across the country, all of whom, as you can imagine, are working independent of one another. Builders without Borders, the group I will be working with, was well represented by architect Martin Hammer (who I met at the 2006 International Straw Bale Building Conference that I helped organise in Ontario). While I am in Haiti, I am really hoping to meet up with a new acquaintance, Osprival, who has been building with earth blocks there for a couple of years. In between the hydraulic press that he is using in the work he is doing, and the press that Builders without Borders has to create straw bales, I feel like there may be room to collaborate. At the very least, I'm hoping for a field trip to see the work that Osprival has done.

I also had a conversation with a colleague who is a structural engineer, from Blackwell & Boswick Engineering in Toronto, who has been working with Finn ChurchAid, who, along with four other engineering firms from Canada, have been donating design & construction management time for 10 or 11 schools in Haiti. It's amazing to me how interconnected this all seems. Haiti is a small country, so I'm really hoping that I'll get a chance to meet up with some of these other contacts to brainstorm building techniques that are reasonable, cost-effective, and appropriate for Haiti.