I have had the warmest welcome back home- it's really touching! And while I'm happy to be here, and have enjoyed seeing friends (family to come soon, I hope!), my heart and head are still partially in Haiti. The longer I'm away, and the more I read and think about Haiti, the bigger the problems seem to be. Since I've been back, people have asked all kinds of questions, such as, 'Are you in culture shock'? 'Will straw bale work in Haiti?' 'Can you really make a difference in Haiti'?. When I was in Haiti, I was being asked questions more like: When will you come back?
The poverty level in Haiti was already at an extremely high level prior to the earthquake. One of the most impoverished countries in the world, the majority of Haitians have had to make do with very little for a long time. The question of where to begin, in the rebuilding of a nation that was already crumbling behind the scenes before the physical signs of the earthquake, is a difficult one. Haiti is now faced with even more poverty, a lack of adequate, safe housing, a large number of people who have been displaced (internally displaced persons), even more orphans, and still, the continuing problem of safe drinking water, and food security. As people move from the urban tent communities to the country, life in the rural settings becomes more challenging with more people to feed, more competition in terms of selling wares, and more crowded living conditions as rural families become hosts to displaced persons.
As an outsider, who spent a mere three weeks in Haiti, and for many other outside volunteers in Haiti, it is difficult to fully understand the best way to help; if you don't understand the culture, if you aren't immersed, it's difficult to know what Haitians want in terms of rebuilding the country. In my short jaunts outside of Port au Prince, as I looked at some of the reconstruction efforts, I remember poo-pooing the idea of plywood houses & vinyl clad shelters, but if you talk to someone who has been living in a tent for 10 months, I would guess that moving into a solid buiding that is more spacious (not in North American terms, by any stretch of the imagination) and private in comparison. So, is straw bale construction viable in Haiti? Honestly, I'm not sure. Given that there is such a long rainy season in Haiti, which coincides with the hurricane season, harvesting straw is more limited, so perhaps straw bale building is a seasonal method of building, as it is here in Canada. More important is the question of how straw bales will fare in a tropical climate. There are a lot of moisture meters in the walls of the Ti Kay Pay that I worked on in Haiti, which will be important to monitor. Certainly, plaster is another question. We waited 6 weeks, without seeing lime plaster (we had chosen lime for the exterior plaster, for more protection on the walls), but if it's imported, it's not sustainable. If they reopen lime kilns in Haiti, there is the fear that people will harvest wood to fire the kilns, wood of which there is not much in Haiti. So, if straw bale is viable, it will have to be with more natural plasters, and possibly natural protective additives to add water repellency to the plaster. I would like to spend more time exploring the countryside speaking to the elders of communities to see what might have been done in the past for earthen plasters, as wattle & daub are quite common.
I was excited to see this fellow cycling along with his accordion; I didn't
have the pleasure of seeing any live music while in Haiti.
Mere shelter is a bit of an issue in Haiti, as many of the tent communites have cropped up on privately owned land, land which some owners are now reclaiming, yet again bumping the displaced people to yet another new temporary shelter. Some NGOs are working with government agencies to purchase land for IDP's, and when housing is built on these plots of land, the new inhabitants receive ownership papers for the home. This could indeed be a step forward; it is the first time some people have ever owned a house!
To answer the question of whether or not you can make a difference in Haiti, you can easily make a difference in the short term to small numbers of people as an individual, depending on what services/skills you have to offer, and this can never be underplayed. Until the rubble piles are completely cleared away, and food security is given back to people, in addition to safer shelter, not much will change in the grand scheme of things, but if you can make a difference merely by sponsoring one family to have enough to eat for a year, or to allow their children to go to school, then of course you are making a difference. You can't go into a country like Haiti and expect everything to change overnight. It will be decades (if they get the right political leadership and direction, both within the country and from the international community) before Haiti ever recovers from the earthquake.
And so, here I sit in my rocker by the woodstove, ignoring the dead mouse in the trap over by the stove (sorry, can't co-habitate with them when they leave messes on my counters!), look out at the snow softly falling outside the window, and contemplate my next steps. While my trip to Haiti may not have been as life altering as some might have expected, I can't help but think about water each and every time I turn on the tap; despite having a (wee) cold and not feeling like cooking, and despite having been away for about a month from home, my pantry still holds enough food to make many many meals. I own a warm, spacious, comfortable home in a safe, quiet hamlet on a small, clean river, close to good friends. I have a lot to be thankful for!
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