seattlites.

it's our first real day in c-@-uhl. ever. but its our our new-to-us corner of the world. our new habitat. and i don't feel much like writing, as much as i feel like documenting this day before i forget the freshness.

it's a strange thing to be both a tourist and resident in a new city. it's strange to me because its new and unfamiliar and a little scary. and shares much likeness to the untraveled road ahead.

will i find meaningful and fulfilling work? will fin love his job? will we find a cozy place to make our first (or third) newlywed nest? will we find a family to call friends?  will we remain committed to our friends and family in Texas and Haiti in our use of time, travel, and thought? what will we learn of faithfulness? will we jump in or dip our toes in the newness of it all? will we find korean tacos in Seattle?

these things we shall see... atle.

new year. new dreams.

we're back stateside. what a difference an ocean can make. an absurd and mystifying and unsettling difference at times. settling back in and searching for jobs. it's a new year.

and... we're embarking on a shared life. we're engaged!

articles and a re-count.

+ Haiti Protests Erupt as Presidential Candidates Advance

+ Haitian Vote Results to Be Reviewed

So, there's a re-count in the works, though I'm not sure yet when we can expect the re-results to go public. 

Also, since being in PAP for the last several days, we've had the pleasure of meeting some folk at the Mennonite Central Committee's Haiti office. They have been most fun and sweet. Here's a blog entry from one such gal we've met. She and her husband live near the epicenter of the protests, up the hill in Petionville. She's said it better than I could.

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Not only do UN troops continue to rain teargas and rubber bullets on protesters in Petionville, but it's also literally raining. An off-season morning rain is unusual on both counts. I can't help but wonder if the rain is intentional - Creator and Creation trying to keep things calm. The sound of the rain mostly masks the noise of a protest taking place in the Petionville market, about 500 feet from where I sit, also protesting.

I may not be out in the streets, but as a foreigner that cares about this country and whose job it is to advocate for structural justice, I protest too. From my couch and on my laptop, I protest election results that maintain the status quo in direct opposition of the will of the Haitian people. I protest the morning's headlines that read, "Haiti protests blocking relief efforts" and "Demonstrations in Haiti Crimp Northwest Aid Efforts," as if this story is about us, unable to fix Haiti because the Haitians that we're here to save won't stop burning tires. I protest the headline that reads "Supporters of losing Haiti candidate take to the streets," as if Michel Martelly is a sore loser; whereas from my perspective, this isn't about Martelly at all. It's about the right to vote. I protest the narrative that insinuates that it's somehow Haitians' fault that they have no voice. To be fair, I also protest the narrative that insinuates that the situation in Haiti is entirely the fault of NGOs and donor countries and multilateral institutions (not that we don't have a lot to do with it). I protest the perception that all of the demonstrations taking place are violent. I also protest that many of themare - and not just when provoked by UN soldiers - and this makes me sad.

In the midst of all of this protesting, I feel pretty powerless. And yet, as a foreigner with a laptop that works for an NGO and has access to advocacy offices in DC, Ottawa and at the UN, I sadly have a hell of a lot more power than the thousands of people in the streets who are being disparaged by the international media while they face tear gas, rubber bullets and flash grenades in the rain to fight for their right to make their voices heard. And so do you.

We need to try hear beyond the news headlines and join in these protests by demanding that our governments (who funded 3/4 of these elections) assist in efforts to review election fraud and pressure the Haitian government to release legitimate final election results.

from here.

status update.

thanks so much for checking up on stephen and me; i'm assuming that's why you are reading this. be assured that stephen and i are doing just fine here in Port-au-Prince, despite having had our return flight home this morning cancelled.  you can chill, mom, we've got one for saturday :) (thank you Mr. J!)

last night, as you may have read, the preliminary results of the presidential elections were released here in Haiti. contrary to international observance, the results favored the outgoing president's hand-picked successor rather than the candidates for whom the Haitian people hand-voted. there is a long and deep backstory to what is happening today, and it reaches back far before this election. 

if you and your people had again been held under the hand of a ruling political class of 5% of the population for the better part of 200 years, what sort of reaction would you have? 

today, we feel removed from the actual events, holeing ourselves up in the home of one of stephen's classmates here (she is the most sweet and most gracious), making it impossible to feel any sense of solidarity with the protesters.  even if we weren't holed up, our nationalities and appearances would still make participation impossible.

instead we pray for justice and wonder where it is. for electoral integrity and find it hard to see. for responsible reporting that would side with the WHOLE story and not merely photos of inappropriate mobs and the UN peacekeeping heros (only furthering the justification of their unwanted presence here). 

for that is not the story!

if you're interested, check out this piece. i know i'm constantly citing HP articles, (sorry, dad), but they most align with what we're hearing, observing, and experiencing in-country. *can't link it now, as our internet connection is crawling.

and, yet we pray for our own well-being. God, help us to seek love for every human life. for those we find it easy to love and those we find it nearly impossible. 

in hopeful anticipation,

w 

ferrier fotos.

one of the funnest (that should be a word) things to do here is show someone a photo of themselves. there are photo studios here (think haitian glamour shots), but going to one is usually not a high priority and mostly done in necessity (for a name badge, id card, etc.).  the reactions at seeing one's photo on the camera usually come in the form of a shriek, hoot, or a mouth dropped open. before i left ferrier, some of my closest friends let me steel their photos. 

okay, she's not really one of my closest friends, but she looks like a fun one. caught her just after she saw her photo on the camera...

some of my 2 favorite timoun yo (kids). rose's sons. 

rose. rose. rose. she took SUCH phenomenal care of us. oh, and if you could only hear her laugh.

the sweetest girl friends. we ran together, laughed at my creole together, and sat around talking for more days than we didn't. boy, i miss them.

the facial expressions range pretty dramatically. love it.

stephen and our homeboys. there's too much to say about them. i have NO idea what we'd have done without them. our haiti time would have been lackluster for sure.

we had to say good-bye to ferrier and our most incredible friends saturday morning. until we get to see them again in person, these photos, phonecalls, and mail (by way of other ferrier travelers) will have to do. i still can't believe they let us be their friends. i feel so lucky.

today in history.

this morning i woke up early, not because i tried to or because i have the will of an olympic hopeful, but because the sunlight streaming through the window was holding my feet to the fire of another new day.  so i gave in and ventured outside. we're back in Leogone, where an inescapable relative silence filled the air. it was an eerie sort of calm that filled the streets with only the sound of an early morning church service faintly floating through the air. 


today is election day.


supposedly.


in recent weeks leading up to today, a handful of presidential candidates have made a stop in Ferrier as part of their campaigns. i've been both impressed and disgusted by this. 


i want to think this is brings power to the people, but it has also functioned in an opposite way for some of the candidates. for example, ont of the 'frontrunners' in the election, Jude Celestin, has led an elaborate campaign and made a showy display of himself. not forgein to any campaigh anywhere, right? but he's been taking advantage of the economic postion of many haitiens by paying them to wear t-shirts with his face plastered on them, paying for local bands to play in the streets to generate excitement right before he makes his arrival, and paying people to cover the streets with his campaign materials. i'm not sure that this sort of thing is the rule, but it sure makes the international community think he's got the honest support of the populus in a way that might make it less critical of the vote count if he 'wins'. 

campaign budget beneficiary. 

(also one of my favorite kids in ferrier. i miss him already.)

when i've asked friends in ferrier who they'd like to become their next president, most to all of them have answered with, 'none of them'.  i've come to better understand this with the help of more conversations with those friends and some revealing books about hait's history (this, this, and this one, inparticular). it's almost frightening to realize the strength with which the US has excercised its power in favor of its own geopolitical interests rather than in favor of 90-99% of the Haitian population.


this article sheds a some light on why today's elections are anything but 'free and fair'. some excerpts:


First, Haitian elections are supposed to choose their new President, the entire House of Deputies and one-third of the country's Senate. But election authorities have illegally excluded all the candidates from the country's most popular political party, Fanmi Lavalas -- and other progressive candidates. Lavalas, the party of former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, has won many elections in Haiti -- probably the reason it was excluded. If this were the US, this would be like holding elections just between the Tea Party and the GOP -- and excluding all others. Few Haitians will respect the outcome of these elections.


...Fifth, the United States has pushed and paid for these swift elections hoping to secure a stable government to preserve its investment in earthquake reconstruction. But, as Dan Beeton wrote in the LA Times, "If the Obama administration wants to stand on the side of democracy and human rights in Haiti, as it did in Burma, it should support the call to postpone the elections until all parties are allowed to run and all eligible voters are guaranteed a vote." By supporting elections that exclude legitimate political parties that are critical of the current government the international community is only assuring the very social and political unrest it hopes to avoid.


Haitians are saying that no matter which candidates win on November 28, the political system that has failed them will not change unless there is an election that is fair and inclusive. They are also asking that the country undergo a reconciliation process that includes the voices of more than just the Haitian elite and international community.


is there hope for these elections? only, time and responsible reporting may tell. until then, let us find a way to be a part of what Dr. King called 'the arc of the moral universe's bend toward justice.' 

riots.

*FYI: i meant to post this last week, but time got away from me. i pulled it out of the trash and tweeked it a bit. it's a little soggy, but mostly still edible.
------------
the streets last week were abuzz with the news of the protests in Cap Haitian. you have probably seen or read the news stories yourselves about the riots. or maybe you haven't. interestingly as the events unfolded last week, we watched the mainstream news' version of them unfold as well, and after doing so i might just never trust the media machine again.  

from the start of the protests in Cap Haitian, the motivations were clear and consistent among the people we asked here, all of whom were Haitian. coincidentally, by and large, the press's coverage has not coincided with the answers our friends have given us. strange.

we've watched as the media has quoted twitter feeds and blog posts again and again. even if these sources are from the 'front lines,' which makes sense, 140 characters is a difficult, if not impossible way to extend full and robust coverage to the masses. we've watched as the same news story gets shuffled through all the big sources, oft with the same narrative i've mentioned before.

another twitter fumble occurred this week, mis-locating another outbreak of cholera and causing quite a ruckus. is this the kind of reporting upon which we're basing our perceptions of the rest the world?

as for the protests, or manifestations, it was really no surprise that they finally erupted. UN bases seem to be all over the place. the closest base to us is only about 5 miles away and it seems like we live in the middle of nowhere. since we've been here, we've seen the UN's MINISTUH in action only after the flood hit. they were seen hovering briefly over the delivery of aid to the displaced peoples at the school in town and shuttling groups of people to dry land by motor boat for an afternoon.  far more often than that we've seen tanks driving down peaceful, unpaved, torn-to-pieces roads, at other times driving through town in huge trucks filled with 20-something armed soldiers, and without fail guarding their compounds with armed villigance everytime we pass one.

How would the public feel toward MINISTUH had things have been different? if there had not been an alleged murder within the gates of a UN compound in Cap recently? if they had spent even half of their time building roads or hospitals, water distribution systems, or public schools? or what if they hadn't brought along cholera and then refused to acknowledge this even after having been proven? 

who is telling those stories? who is honoring those tragedies? who is holding MINISTUH accountable?

if you're interested in what's really going on here, watch this  Democracy Now piece. of course, it's not perfect, but it's one of only pieces that seems to align with the explanations our friends have shared with us here. 

it's also no surprise that many people are also upset at the exorbitant amount of money being drained into the campaign trails rather than addressing the cholera outbreak that has affected at least 23,377 lives (with the possibility of an additional 400% having never been officially reported). But the UN wants to pin this all on the count that the 'ungrateful hatian population they are so dutifully serving' is simply 'taking out their election frustrations on the innocent, benevolent, peace-keeping MINISTUH forces'. Come on.

as for the homefront, we're safe and sound. somehow. the technicians have been tirelessly giving cholera prevention sessions in all the schools and churches. we've been accompanying them and we're all hoping cholera will stay at bay.  

over and out. for now.

losing insulation.

this photo has nothing to do with this post. just wanted to post it of us with about half of the techs in the North.

might as well post 2 photos with no relevance. 

what the heck. here's a 3rd. i LOVE this plant. anyone know what it is?

somehow time got away from me. the last thing i remember was waking up last saturday. and somehow its been another week?

needless to say days this week left me feeling spent.

(which is what i'd like to say when i die one day. so, anytime i get to say that before that point, isn't a bad thing.)

ever since the rains last week, a group of displaced people have been living at the state school in town. we're talking 200 hundred people living in a very close-quartered, unsanitary, and uncomfortable place. living in a rural town is very different than the city; there aren't tent cities like you see on the news and i feel mostly insulated from a lot of the things that might come to mind when you think of a place like Haiti. or maybe i'm just so entrenched in them, i don't notice anymore. i'm not sure.

but this week everything seemed different. the thing with working with DSI, is that it's vision is very long-term, structural, and doesn't lean on short-term aid. in doing so its vision is to eventually prevent the vulnerability of Haiti to something like this cholora outbreak. so, reacting seems pretty foreign to me at this point. but we are.

with estimates that the outbreak has been underreported to the tune of 400%, and with more families being effected everyday, people in Ferrier at least, are taking every precaution and are hopeful that doing so will be enough. i'm trying to glean some of their hopefullness, but i also know that there's no way to guard the city gates, that produce, merchandise, and people are traveling through here everyday, coming from places where there have been many reported cases.

in the meantime, the water technicians here have been ballers. they've given short spiels in 3 schools in ferrier, at the camp in town, and are planning a much larger training on sunday for the community-at-large. we've accompanied them in all of this but i'm a little worried about how sunday will go over. hallettsville h.s. track used to have a shirt that said 'we're faster than small town gossip', but you'd have to be michael green to wear a shirt like that here. word traaaaaaavels. so, there could easily be hundreds of people in attendence. i hope there are, but i have no idea what that might look like.

other than that, we're fine and in mostly good spirits. it's not cholera that kills, but the dehydration and in extreme situations, lack of antibotics, so its still pretty unbelievable to me how this outbreak has taken hold.

on a completely other note, what's even more unbelievable is that we wrap up with DSI in about 10 days! (which means i've skimped on this blog, because i haven't written nearly as much as i've experienced/thought/felt/wanted. grrr.)

bon, yon lot jou. (well, another day)

p.s. as for the source of the outbreak, read this.

the things you see.

in the wake of the unpredictable storm that was Tomas, the river that runs through Ferrier is spilling over and creating islands between towns.

it's funny how much happens here that we have no clue about, and this would have been just another one of those things on a long invisible laundry list of such events, had i not been dared to go see 'dlo la anba nan grand rivye' (the water down in the Grand River area).

my thought process at first sight of the situation: whoa. no way. is that the UN? what are they doing? there's more? i'm not going in that. in these shoes? - 5 minute interlude - yeah, okay. let's go.

(besides thinking of course: man i hope everyone's alright... okay, maybe i was more worried about waterborne disease seeping through my shoes than other people. maybe.)

when we got through about 5 more minutes of walking through knee-deep water, we mounted the top of a little hill in what is on any other day, the market (see the market stalls on either side of the street), to get a better look at the situation. i didn't even realize that there had been a large road where there was now a large river until it disappeared. apparently, it cut off people who were stranded on the other side and the UN was boating people across. 

we heard that an elderly person got caught in the river and somehow didn't make it out alive. i'm not sure who it was or if anything else similair also happened.

in other news, this week was Ferrier's Fet, a week-long celebration of the town's Patron Saint, St. Charles. it was cray.zay. and beautiful. and crazy. i don't have any pictures, but perhaps i'll make a better attempt at describing it some other time.

today i went with friends to a food, soap, and chlorine distribution at the State School in town. the spread of cholora seems to be picking up again with fears of the post-Tomas conditions contributing to the spread. today, Haiti's Ministry of Public Health was driving through the streets airing all the standard health precautions to anyone within ear's reach.

in short, my eyes have seen more than i ever thought i would in only a week in a seemingly tucked-away town in the middle of an island in the middle of a great big sea. and i'm pretty sure i haven't seen any of the good stuff yet.

compliments of the house.

i'm pretty happy when we get complimentary sos pwa and rice with every meal we eat out (i mean, all 3 times).

and i don't know what i'd do without the complimentary alarm clock that helps us welcome the day. every day. consistently crowing between the hours of 03:00 and 06:00, without falter.

(yes, you read those numbers correctly. they were confirmed again this morning)

but i thought i'd seen it all, until we found complimentary halloween decorations adorning our walls last night.

i was brushing my teeth, thinking about flossing and celine dion's twins, when an explosion of tiny spiders drew my attention. i then preceded to play whack-a-mole armed with my flip flops, the reserve forces (read: stephen), and the resolve of an arcade-ticket-hungry 5th grader.  shortly after driving every tiny spider into the crevices of the wall, something else caught our eye.

the most generous of hallow's eve decor.

this guy. errr, lady.

okay, forgive me for not taking my own picture. (how could i have forgotten to document such a precious moment?) this isn't exactly what the scenario looked like, but the lady spider and her brood bore striking resemblances - minus half her size and half that many tiny spiders...

happy halloween from the land where giant spiders and their accessories are compliments of the house.

24 squared.

so, i hit the big 2-4 on the not so big 2-4 of this month.

seeing as i already had a family-wide pre-birthday-birthday-party before my haiti departure (thanks again, mom!), the only thing left to do was invite a few friends and waste away beachside.

we did what had to be done.

labadee. on the nicest portion of the beach. besides, of course, the gigantic compound owned by Royal Caribbean for the last several decades.

one of their megalithic ships was docked that day and tourists were spilling over and flooding into their private resort compound - think zipline, inflatable glaciers, and a roller coaster. yep. roller coaster. such stark disparity. 

jean claude, miguel, and stephen crab stalking

allow me to introduce you to Norm's Place. we heard about the legend that is Norm and his wife and their mysterious hideaway in Labadee. as legend holds, Norm sailed to Haiti about 30 years ago, fell in love with the place, and never left.  he then set about restoring some old French colonial ruins that were housing those manning a nearby fort. he uncovered an old indigo vat and restored a huge colonial lime kiln on the property. angelique, his lovely wife, showed us every inch of the place. 

sadly, norm died after 12 years fighting cancer only 7 months ago. what a magical legacy he left. among others, i'm sure.

the entrance. only accessible by tap tap boat.

cannonballs. the season's chicest garden accessory.

you probably wouldn't believe it, but 24's not feeling so bad. thanks norm, angelique, stephen, and friends and family both near and far. here's to hoping i get to drag you to Norm's Place some day and/or stumble upon more semi-secret mythic hideaways about this time next year.

news.

as the news disseminates from a few sources here to the rest of the world, i've noticed a few things that i would not have understood had i not been living here for a little while. i wanted to share them with you.

you've been hearing a lot about the artibonite region. though, the region has not been confirmed as the official source of the outbreak, the first cases were confirmed there, specifically, Saint-Marc. it is the pink region below, and as you can see pretty expansive. then the outbreak trickled into PAP in the yellow region and several cases have been reported in Cap Haitien and Limbe, both located in the orange. we are in the green region and we feel pretty removed from everything at the moment.

the artibonite river, below, as you can see by the elevation indication, lies in an expansive valley.  the area is home to the country's 'ricebasket'.  some reports attribute the outbreak to recent rains that caused the flooding of the riverbed and/or workers in the field. 

from here

people are taking this very seriously.  we heard talk of the outbreak even in the remote cove we were in this weekend, on every tap tap ride we've been on, and from our friends back here in ferrier who have been very clear to warn us themselves. i was reminded how so many people are experts in the study and understanding of death.

people are smart and doing what they can. the bacteria in itself isn't deadly. not getting re-hydrated with clean water or treated if necessary is. 

it's frustrating for us to be here working with an organization that's focused on employing Haitians to work towards the long-term goals of clean water access, employment, and economic sustainability and for so many news sources to latch onto the story and sensationalize it in favor of the traditional narrative the media paints of Haiti: that the average Haitian has little awareness albeit intelligence amidst their situation and that once again, where would we be without the godsend NGO's?

don't get me wrong, i have seen and heard and read about the incredible issues that NGO's are addressing here, but are we not asked by the media to forget and forsake the inherent, weathered, and incredible wisdom and capacity of the Haitian people themselves?

you can read for years about the roots of the current Haitian situation, but it seems important more so now than ever to maintain within perspective who knows what here.

i don't know anything about how to survive and thrive without clean running water, internet access, and a Target Super Center for more than a week. if anyone is an expert on the Haitian experience, perhaps it's the Haitian people themselves.

i'm not fixing anything, here.  in fact, i feel more helpless now than ever. 

the orange.

from here

The Orange

At lunchtime I bought a huge orange--

The size of it made us all laugh.

I peeled it and shared it with Robert and Dave--

They got quarters and I had a half.

And that orange, it made me so happy,

As ordinary things often do

Just lately. The shopping. A walk in the park.

This is peace and contentment. It's new.

The rest of the day was quite easy.

I did all the jobs on my list

And enjoyed them and had some time over.

I love you. I'm glad I exist.

Wendy Cope 

guess who we found?

worlds colliding - alliance translating for janet

lucky for us, the janet dorrell and 8 brave lucky travelling companions made their way to ferrier last week. it was just so nice to have some waco in our midst.  if you know anything about janet, you know how fun it is to hang out with her; one minute she's dancing to her own tune an the next she's buying ice cream from the back of a bicycle for everyone ( it was so tasty!).

one day, she organized a little gathering that quickly morphed into a thank-goodness-there's-no-fire-marshal-here-sized gathering. she invited Gadyen Dlo to talk about our water treatment systems (that's one of the techs, giving the spiel). then janet demonstrated how to make oral re-hydration solution at home and everyone made their own at home-birthing-kits (complete with 2 pieces of string, a razor, soap, and an antibacterial pad in an empty matchbox). reminded me that i know nothing about childbirth and that none of that sounds like an ounce of fun.

it was strange but wonderful to get to peak at haiti through the eyes of this group of first-timers. i tried to remember what that was like for me when i was here 2 years ago with Janet on her 'exposure trip'.  everything looks so different to me now. the hazy glow is still largely intact but on top of that i've realized that everything is much more complex than i ever imagined it could be. and i have so much more to learn.  but, i'm still a blan; that much hasn't changed.

farm tour second stop : SOIL

it's overwhelming to think about the number of NGOs in Haiti. it was estimated that there were 3,000 NGOs here before the earthquake, so you can imagine how many there might be today.  and it's a painfully confusing concept to wrap my understanding around.  i find myself in a state of perpetual astonishment that millions of people do not have access to clean water, education, healthcare, waste removal, etc.  i have yet to get used to that as an outsider, and i hope i don't.

so, last sunday on our way to a few meetings with technicians, we had the pleasure of having a slumber party at the HQ of a pretty unique NGO who's a mile-deep in the world of waste sanitation here.  we visited the SOIL casa in Cap Haitian.  they have a house downtown, from where they host visitors and college groups, house their staff for their Cap Haitian projects, and (are you ready for this...) have the most amazing rooftop garden! so, why not call it part of the 'farm tour'?

a little more about SOIL (taken from their website):


Currently, only 16% of rural Haitians and 50% of those in cities have access to adequate sanitation facilities, by far the lowest coverage in the Western Hemisphere. People are forced to find other ways to dispose of their wastes, often in the ocean, rivers, ravines, plastic bags, or abandoned houses. At the same time, agricultural output is low due to poor soil fertility, soil erosion and lack of fertilizers.


Ecological sanitation is a low-cost approach to sanitation where human wastes are collected, composted and recycled for use in agriculture and reforestation. It simultaneously addresses many of Haiti’s most pressing issues: improving public health, increasing household income and agricultural productivity, mitigating environmental degradation, and providing low-cost sanitation for rural communities.


In response to the global food crisis, ecological sanitation is a resource for reestablishing the local food production economy that has been decimated by years of subsidized imports. 

so they build toilets, compost the materials (can we say that?) into soil, and reintroduce it via local reforestation and agricultural projects.

here's a pretty informative piece about them covered by Nicholas Kristof recently. it's worth the watch, even if for just a snippet of city-livin' Haitian style.

farm tour first stop : sterlin farm

lots of travel + maddeningly slow internet connection = a discouraging combination for a blogger in haiti. so, i'll try to catch up on a few of the most recent happenings you've missed i have yet to share. here's the first: a farm tour! 

rows and rows of bananas/plantains

coconuts

real avacados! on a tree? uh, i knew that...

approximate size: your head

a few weeks ago we had the pleasure of visiting a local farm in ferrier. i was in swoon city. our friend, jean claude, offered to organize a tour for us when i mentioned that i was interested in farming (which in my limited kreyol amounted to something like 'i like farm'... ahahaha). 

i wasn't expecting the farm to be as high-yielding as it was. with acres of bananas, coconuts, cherries, avocados, limes, and every sort of orange (sweet, not sweet, dancing), the place was serious. they had a reservoir and were utilizing some sort of irrigation that i didn't catch the translation of. 

it was refreshing to see such fertility here in ferrier, where it seems to be deforested and sand-in-your-eyes dry in most other places in the town. an interesting link between agriculture and conservation. 

and the farm tours continue (i hope!).

finally.

it seems next to impossible to come within a mile of paying appropriate homage to the feelings of giddy and thrill i have at the thought of this release. that may sound a bit extreme. granted. but not unwarranted.

guster has not only owned my ipod (i am forever indebted, aimee) since i was 16, but the three, and then 4, boys (some reports claim they've reached their 40's, but who's counting?) might as well have chipped in for gas for as many times as they accompanied gentry, robin, and i in our cars in high school. they gave us merit for album-long sing-a-longs and they made our summers seem endless.  throw in getting to spend quality time with the boys after a show at stubb's in austin (o.m.g.) and you've got unbreakable bonds... and/or a fan base faithfully feeding their families. did i mention it's been four years since the last album?

and as if you needed another reason to love. they give it to you.

On Oct. 1, Guster embarks on month-long tour of clubs and theaters. The group travels in a biodiesel-fueled bus, caters its backstage meals with food procured from local farms, and urges      fans to carpool to concerts, using a service called Zimride that matches drivers with passengers. All this is an outgrowth of Mr. Gardner’s side job as a co-founder of Reverb, a company that helps music acts, including Red Hot Chili Peppers and Arcade Fire, counter the environmental impact of touring.                                                                                  - the wall street journal

i beseech you. enjoy the thrill for yourself. viva la guster.

the DL on the JOB

{Gadyen Dlo™, clean water for the Haitian family}

You might be wondering what exactly we are up to in Haiti.

Or you might be wondering just how Miss Lohan escaped The Law. Again.

Well, I can only offer a response to one of the two inquiries.

So, as you've read, we are currently interning with an organization responding to the water situation in Haiti, (which I'll be happy to address in a more focused sense some other time). This organization is unique in several ways and it has been really fascinating to work on another community-based-model of grassroots empowerment (BNEC shoutout!), only in a completely different context.

Many moons ago, DSI was born as the outgrowth of an undergraduate contest of some sort at a small liberal arts college in The States (it won!). Its vision was to holistically respond to the growing number of childhood deaths due to waterborne disease,  and in particular, the lack of clean water in Haiti.

3 years later, DSI is living, breathing, and growing rapidly.  It is sanitizing water through a small and committed group of employees (or 'water technicians') in a handful of communities in Haiti. Within each of these communities, these water technicians test the water in the family's household water system, and sell DSI's chlorine product (Gadyen Dlo™) to households at an affordable price when needed. The chlorine is then used to treat water (collected from whatever source available – water pump, spring, river) in their system (a 5-gallon bucket with a spicket). After allowing the chlorine 30 minutes in the bucket to do its thing, the water is safe to drink, to cook with, or to bathe in.

DSI's model is unique in that it is the only enterprise in Haiti producing its own chlorine in-country. It also seeks to be predominately run and operated by Haitians (except for us, but we're only short-term, and the founder/pres).  It gets better.  DSI's model is one that hopes to become financially sustainable, and thus thrive independent of foreign aid.  Wowzer.  And, perhaps most dramatically, it is providing an employment structure that benefits not only the technicians and their families, but their communities, into which much of that income will be retained and recycled into.

DSI is also heavily focused on increasing the health and sanitation literacy of communities and does so by responding to the requests of technicians for skills and educational trainings, the information of which is then passed along through word of mouth (HIGHLY effective here).


*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are personal opinions and do not reflect the opinions of DSI or any employee thereof. 


Don't I sound professional...

So, that's the DL from here. I'm learning a TON in the large and small.

Here's to hoping for the best... for you, for the people who have to work with us blans, and for Lindsey.

the 4 o'clock pick-me-up.

here's what our's looked like yesterday...

{notice the teenage girl, with little reserve, laughing at me}

{at least one of them is wearing a jetpack}

{boss man}

on our way home from meeting with several techs, the elements had their way with our plans. we had crossed a couple of ravines on the way to see them. they didn't look too threatening then. but on the way back, the sky was falling and the water was gushing.

we had no choice but to get across. i voted to do it on my own two. alliance said he had a Plan B.

i guess you can see what that was... would you believe that our motos had to be carried across these ravines behind us? and that we got piggy-back-rides, not once, but twice on the way home?

so, two piggy-back-rides, one hour on moto, 2 hours on a taptap school bus, one more hour on another taptap, and a ride from a kind stranger later, we made it home.

just another day in the life of Haitian travel. what did your 4 o'clock pick-me-up look like?

friday's storm.

you may have heard about this already.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The sudden, powerful storm that ripped through Haiti's battered capital destroyed thousands of tents in the homeless camps where more than 1.3 million people live eight months after the earthquake destroyed their homes, shelter officials said Saturday.

thousands of people won't sleep with a roof over their heads. and haven't had much of one for 8 months. it's ludicrous to imagine, really. we're fine, miles away from port au prince, and miles away from a reality like that. i. really. can. not. even. imagine.