Religious math?

These figures are scrawled on a wall near the MCC office. I'm mostly intrigued by the formulaic attempts to prove...something. Insight, anyone?

The great white wave.

You may have heard about the "second earthquake" that happened in Haiti after January 12, which is what some people call the great influx of foreigners that has appeared in Port-au-Prince. As foreigners here before that moment, I should confess that we feel a certain level of snobbery - so when some hapless white person greets us with a hearty English "hello!" or waves while standing in the back of a passing truck, we're not always apt to respond.

We realized that this is similar to the Jeep Salute or the Motorcycle Wave that happens in American traffic. But really: why settle for a wave?


Yes, that is the word blan finger-spelled out.

Advantage: Creativity. Toughness.
Disadvantage: it takes a bit of wrangling and more than a few seconds to pull this together.

But loads of toughness, right?

"Haiti appears well advanced on the track that the rest of the world seems hell-bent on following."

Yesterday we finally managed to download and listen to This American Life's episode on Haiti, "Island Time." Run, do not walk, your browser to this page, because you do not want to miss this. It points out the incredible complexities of life in Haiti, from the challenges of capacity-building to the difficulties inherent in small business development. This episode is such an interesting, accurate peek at this little country, although it also made me nearly unbearably sad. The longer we're here the steeper the road ahead seems to get.

[Six Degrees side note: the Gary mentioned at the beginning of Act Three is the Depps' sixty-something neighbor, a self-proclaimed curmudgeon who came to Haiti twenty years ago as a Peace Corps volunteer, married a Haitian woman, and stayed. Before his two kids went to the States, they would sometimes come through the broken wall between the yards to use the internet.]

Yesterday Alexis and I also interviewed a group of folks who lost their homes in the earthquake. MCC had been distributing food to the approximately forty families who have set up camp in an open space in their hillside neighborhood, but because MCC ended that phase of the disaster response on April 30, we wanted to see how that change has had an impact on people.

I was trepidatious about having these conversations because saying, "hey, we stopped giving you food and we're not here to give you anything else - does that work for you?" seemed so awkward. However, I was pleasantly surprised. They were not that upset about the end of food aid, since most of them can now afford to buy food nearly every day. They pointed out that free stuff is always nice, but if they had their druthers they'd like to choose their own things.

And how would they like to do this? They'd like jobs. Working for money, not food.

A job is actually the number-one thing the average Haitian wanted before the earthquake. Jobs mean salaries and security. Jobs mean being able to support a family.

It's a perfectly reasonably, perfectly dignified thing to want, but I've always been struck by the fact that even Haitians who run their own small businesses still want jobs. Many people don't seem to think of these enterprises as jobs - or perhaps they want other benefits that come along with being an employee at someone else's business?

Speaking unscientifically, I think there are more entrepreneurs per capita in Haiti than in the U.S. Most of that 70% counted as "unemployed" in Haiti actually work: they are street vendors, or operate one-pot tent restaurants, or build houses as day laborers.

So what is stopping these folks from a.) thinking of themselves as entrepreneurs/ small business owners, or b.) growing their businesses to the point at which they can hire others?* Why would so many prefer to work for an international company/NGO?

* Some are, some do. For example, we talked to 9 artisans in Jacmel a few weeks ago, and nearly all of them run workshops employing 5-15 others.

This situation is a mystery to me (okay, partially due to my ongoing incomprehension of economics and how you "build" an economy). Is there a tax structure that should be changed to make it easier for people to officially start new businesses? Should classes in management and accounting be made more available?

One of my dreams for Haiti is to see thousands of middle managers roaming the streets of every city and small town in the country. Having middle managers means having larger business owners and having workers to oversee. It means people with enough money to pay for things like a casual meal out with their families. It means service industries. It means a wide range of jobs, at all levels of income.

Oh, if it were only as easy as handing out briefcases...

The late-y doth protest too much.

This is the clock that came with our apartment. Look, it's...7:30? 8:03?

For someone like me who, shall we say, struggles with punctuality, perhaps this isn't the best timekeeper.

But whatever. I've got plenty of time to change it.

I think.

Remember when everyone was smuggling suitcases full of blue jeans into Russia?

Well, maybe it's time to sneak suitcases full of coolers into Haiti. A local grocery store has priced this model at 29,900 gourdes. For those Yanks out there, that's $747.50 U.S. That's SEVEN HUNDRED AND FORTY-SEVEN DOLLARS. And FIFTY CENTS.

Seriously. You could make a fortune selling coolers at even half that price.

Two week's notice.

Okay, time for some news.

Bryan and I will be leaving Haiti and MCC two weeks from today. The past few weeks have been a mixed time for us as we're sad to say goodbye to the folks we know and love on this little island, but in the end we feel like it is good to be moving on.

So where to from here?

We are moving back to Philadelphia to live with my brother and our sister-in-law for the summer. After a 10-week internship at Art-Reach through the Samuel Fels Fund, I will start a(nother) master's degree program at Vanderbilt Divinity School. I'll be studying Ethics in Society with the ultimate goal of continuing on to earn a PhD.

Bryan was accepted as this year's arboriculture intern at the Morris Arboretum. This program will allow him to study trees and urban areas, and after a year he'll be certified to risk his life 60 feet up in old trees with a chainsaw for pay. ( If you have a tree problem in 2011 and want to pay scads of cash to save your beloved tree, he'll take care of it for you.) To keep the adventurous spirit alive in the meantime, Bryan will be bike commuting and loving every minute of it.

In fact, we're trying to live sans car to keep our living costs low (graduate student and intern...aren't we too old for this?). We're also planning to keep our thumbs green this summer and plant greens and other yummy things. Depending on the good graces of our familial hosts, we would also like to keep composting worms because they are just crazy to watch. (Bryan doesn't even mind if they actually compost - it's like an ant farm or ant lion desktop Zen thing for him.)

In leaving Haiti, we're most sad about leaving amazing friends. We've had lots of great times here - but we're confident that our friendships and our adventures are not ending. Here's to the future, ya'll!

Bon Fet Drapo!

Happy Flag Day!

Yesterday was one of Haiti's national holidays, and lots of people spent the day off doing this:

(Forgive the last-minute drive-by photo of this much-better-in-real-life parade)

We instead headed with Alexis and our friend Megan to the lake at Tomasek:

After a little negotiation, we rented two (ridiculously rickety) boats with two pole-men each and set out against the wind.

Bryan, about to fearlessly risk life and limb in our little watercraft. (While he and I crushed to the left to keep the boat balanced and one man poled us along, the other bailed water. With his sandal. )

Ben is still laid up with a busted knee and couldn't come, but Alexis and Megan made a handsome duo in the second boat:

They had a third Haitian man in their boat, which caused no small amount of distress for the man poling our boat along. I'm not sure why he was complaining to us.

Despite my constant fear of capsizing, it was wholly pleasant to be out on the water with the breeze blowing and no one around:

Well, horses and...

Yes! Flamingos!

I've always thought that flamingos were a little cheesy, but it turns out they're much more impressive in real life. Despite their gangliness, and the outrageous pinkness of them, they were breathtaking.

By far one of the most beautiful things we've seen in Haiti. Wings down.

Addendum: click through to Alexis's blog post for more photos and details about the bird itself.