the Grand Surprise!: Haiti~part 1

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Haiti~part 1

I promised to share a little about Ron's trip to Haiti and will do my best to give you an abbreviated version of what they experienced there along with a few of the many pictures they took.

Ron and our friend Frank have recently become involved as volunteers with Forward Edge International http://www.forwardedge.org/ in an effort to help with a sustainable business venture in Haiti. The goal is to start a profitable venture such as a chicken farm, tilapia farm, cement brick production, alternative charcoal for cooking, etc. that would provide food and jobs for the Haitian people. FEI is working with Grace International http://giinc.org/Home.asp who is well established in Haiti. The purpose of this trip was to meet the parties involved, survey the property and surrounding area and get an understanding of the size and scope of the project so they can develop a plan.

Before they left for Haiti they spent two days in New Orleans to attend a Tilapia Conference on raising Tilapia in Haiti. The conference was very informative and worthwhile. This was the first time Ron had been back to New Orleans since hurricane Katrina.

Jackson Square, aka Place d'Armes, in the French quarter

Bourbon Street

They spent their first day in Haiti at YWAM (Youth With A Mission) http://www.ywamhaiti.org/ while they waited for the team from FEI to arrive. The YWAM campus is located in Saint Marc. The staff at YWAM took them on a tour of their projects and also the surrounding area, all of which was very interesting and helpful.

YWAM~Haiti
The building in the distance is an old vacant school on the campus that they use for storage now.

YWAM~Haiti
campus dining area, church and multi purpose building

These are students from YWAM making bricks by hand using molds as seen here. These bricks will be used to build houses. They do this to supplement the support they need to raise for DTS school.

The Grace International hospital dorms in Carrefour, just outside of Port au Prince, is where they stayed while in Haiti. Doctors without borders used part of the facility when they were there assisting the victims of the earthquake but the medical team was gone by the time Ron and Frank arrived.

Grace International Hospital
Construction on the hospital is not complete although portions of the building are in use.

Grace International Hospital

Grace International Hospital dorm
This is the room they stayed in along with the others that arrived later.

View of Grace Village from their window in hospital dorm room

View of Grace Village from their window in hospital dorm room. The building behind the tent village was damaged in the earthquake.

The pick-up trucks below are called "Tap~Tap's" which are similar to taxi's in that they are a private, pay-to-ride form of transportation. They are called tap~tap's because you tap the driver's assistant on the shoulder to signal you need a ride. He then collects the money and hops in the back until the next stop where he jumps out and waits for more taps on the shoulder. There are several benches in the bed of the truck to sit on and most of the trucks have covers over the top for shade. Everyone piles in back and travels at their own risk. Apparently they like to drive fast and are a bit heavy on the brakes. They also do a lot of honking but there is such gridlock in some areas that all it seems to do is relieve tension and make lots of noise rather than get traffic moving.