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.

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. 

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.

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.