Notes From Leogane No. 8: Good people doing good things for good people

Dear Family and Friends: 

In this note, I'd like to share with you some information about the contributions to the people of Leogane by diverse groups of volunteers.  Their work may be somewhat representative of the many religious, humanitarian and non-governmental organizations ("NGOs") that have come to Haiti since January 12, 2010.  While these individuals and their organizations have quite different missions, they share a deep and abiding commitment to their brothers and sisters in Haiti.

HAITI DOCUMENTARY
I first met David Barnhart and Scott Ippolito when they stayed for three days at the HSC Guesthouse in early April.  They were just beginning to film a new documentary about the impact of the January 12, 2010, earthquake on every aspects of life in Haiti.  David Barnhart is a documentary producer and director.  One of his award winning documentaries is "Coming Home: Hurricane Katrina 5 Years Later," which was broadcast on NBC in September 2010.  David also received film making awards for his documentary about the Indonesia tsunami, "Kepulihan: Stories from the Tsunami," shown on ABC in November 2010.  An ABC website for the Indonesia tsunami film states that David Barnhart "has developed story and documentary film initiatives with children living in the streets in Buenos Aires, Argentina; communities displaced by war and natural disasters in Latin America and the Democratic Republic of the Congo; with survivors in South Korea of systematic rape and torture by the Japanese military during WW II; and with survivors from the Hurricane Katrina and Ike disasters."

Scott Ippolito is the cameraman/videographer for the new Haiti earthquake documentary.  He was the Director of Photography for a documentary, "Coexist," about women who survived the genocide in Rwanda.  The film focuses on the survivors' feelings after confronting the killers of their family members, who the women have to interact with daily in Rwanda.  As observed at the film's website, "Coexist asks what can you learn from the experience of victims of horrific crimes trying to rehumanize their loved ones' killers?"   Scott also spent considerable time in Nepal filming the documentary, "Returned: Child Soldiers of Nepal's Maoist Army."

Over dinner, David and Scott explained the approach they were taking in the Haiti documentary, which is quite similar to that described at the website for the Katrina documentary:

"Barnhart's signature process - allowing the film's subjects to be actually engaged in the filming process - was employed with this film.  Barnhart interviewed his subjects on camera and allowed them to watch that footage, later asking them to further comment on their own reaction.  He also talked to them off camera at length to gain deeper perspective and allow them to build confidence and understanding about the documentary."

Because Leogane was only 10 miles from the epicenter of the earthquake, it makes sense that the interview process would start here. David and Scott have been interviewing people of diverse backgrounds, education and experiences before and after the earthquake; and people who were impacted in quite different ways after January 12, 2010.

David and Scott are returning to Leogane in late May to meet again with many of the people they spoke to in April.  But on this next trip they also will be filming in areas of Haiti where there was no physical impact from the earthquake. They plan on traveling to more rural areas away from Port-au-Prince to explore the impact on village inhabitants from the dramatic influx of extended family members after the earthquake.  This migration has been the topic of discussion in several publications.  A New York Times writer, Deborah Sontag, has written:

"Life has come full circle for many Haitians who originally migrated to escape the grinding poverty of the countryside.  Since the early 1980s, rural Haitians have moved at a steady clip to Port-au-Prince in search of schools, jobs and government services.  After the earthquake, more than 600,000 returned to the countryside, according to the government, putting a serious strain on the desperately poor communities that have received little emergency assistance.

'There has been a mass exodus to places like Fond-des-Blancs', said Briel Leveille, a former mayor and founder of the leading peasant cooperative in this region, which includes Nan Roc. 'But the misery of the countryside is compounding the effects of the disaster.  I've heard people say it would be better to risk another earthquake in Port-au-Prince than to stay in this rural poverty without any help from the government.' "

I had a few beers at Joe's with David and Scott the night before they flew back to Atlanta, where they both live.  I mentioned that in the rural areas they probably would see villagers making mud or sand cakes.  They both had heard about this "food".  I first saw this food of sorts being made in April 1991 when I traveled to Jean Rabel, which is in the northwest part of Haiti. During the drive in a Land Rover from Gonaives to Jean Rabel, I saw people making mud and sand cakes along rural streams.  Body was given to the cakes by adding straw.

I didn't realize until recently that mud cakes have not just been part of the diet of some Haitians in rural areas.  When I was in Haiti in April 1991, I visited Cite Soleil.   Back then, I was told that
150,000 people were crammed into a 15 square miles area.  To my knowledge, there were no sanitary sewers in most of this slum.  This is a place of extreme poverty.  I didn't notice anyone eating mud cakes when I was there.  But seventeen years later, a British newspaper, The Guardian, reported on the making of mud cakes in Cite Soleil:

"At first sight the business resembles a thriving pottery.  In a dusty courtyard women mould clay and water into hundreds of little platters and lay them out to harden under the Caribbean sun. The craftsmanship is rough and the finished products are uneven.  But customers do not object.  This is Cite Soleil, Haiti's most notorious slum, and these platters are not to hold food.  They are food. It is not for the taste and nutrition - smidgens of salt and margarine do not disguise what is essentially dirt, and The Guardian can testify that the aftertaste lingers - but because they are the cheapest and increasingly only way to fill bellies."

("Haiti: Mud cakes become staple diet as cost of food soars beyond a family's reach," by Rory Carroll, The Guardian, 29 July 2008.) (The caption for the attached photograph from this article states:  "In Cite Soleil, one of Port-au-Prince's worst slums, making the clay-based food is a major income earner.  Mud cakes are the only inflation proof food available to Haiti's poor.")

It is obvious from their film making experiences that David and Scott have witnessed the after effects of many natural disasters.  During our last visit, they both allowed that time and time again they walked away from an interview in Leogane with great admiration for the determination and perseverance of those who had lost so much but sixteen months ago.

David and Scott are not helping to build a new shelter or school, or sink a new water well.  But for me, they are serving an important role for Haitians and those of us not living in Haiti.  For the Haitians they have interviewed, and will later be interviewing, David and Scott are letting it be known that people care what happened here and care how the good people of Haiti are putting the past behind them and toughening it out to build for the future.  For those of us outside of Haiti, the new documentary will remind us that great loss and grief comes with a major natural disaster, but also that for many good people the human spirit endures and love for family, friends and neighbors, and complete strangers, knows no boundaries.

As with some of his previous documentaries, David's production of the current Haiti documentary is being sponsored by an affiliate of the Presbyterian Church USA, Presbyterian Disaster Relief ("PDR").  PDR provides disaster relief throughout the world.  Those relief efforts include the building of temporary and permanent shelters and the delivery of medical services.

CRWRC
I met Willys Geffrard for the first time in early April when he and his wife, Suzette, came to the HSC Guesthouse to visit with Pix Wexler, a Presbyterian Church Relief coordinator, who accompanied David and Scott on their first visit to Leogane.  Willys' and Suzette's permanent residence is in an Atlanta suburb, but they have been living in Leogane for quite some time since the earthquake. Willys currently is Manager in Haiti for the Disaster Response Program of the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee ("CRWRC"), which is a ministry of the Christian Reformed Church.  As with most church related relief organizations in Haiti, CRWRC serves the needs of all Haitians regardless of whether they are members of the organization's church.

Willys has been involved in CRWRC relief efforts in other parts of the world, including Mali and Sudan.  Haiti is his place of birth. In the Leogane Region, CRWRC has made important strides in putting people into permanent housing after the earthquake.  As reported on its website, by February 2011, "CRWRC ha[d] reached its initial target of providing 1,200 homes for survivors of the 12 January 2010 earthquake that killed more than 220,000 and displaced 1.5 million.  .  .  CRWRC is one of the few organizations in the Leogane area providing more permanent, wooden structures as opposed to traditional wooden and tarp transitional shelters.  These core houses provide the initial structure upon which families are adding additional rooms and verandas as, according to their means and needs, they make their houses homes.  Many have already begun adding additions to their homes to customize their homes and add rooms for other purposes."

This approach is consistent with the goal of having Haiti rebuilt primarily by Haitians, of course with meaningful assistance from outside relief organizations.  Haiti cannot eventually get up and walk on its own if someone else is always carrying the load.  But that doesn't mean that we can't respond to the challenges of others that cry for a helping hand.

CRWRC's interest in Haitian self reliance is underscored in part by the organization's goal of developing local community leaders.  The CRWRC website has an inspiring story about one such community leader, in an article entitled, "Servant Leadership in Leogane."  It notes in part:

"Who would have thought owning a cow could be the catalyst for a life-changing experience.  The idea certainly did not cross Marie Marthe Console's mind.

'One day I was in the field with one of my cows.  They asked me who the cow belonged to and I told them it was mine.  I thought people would make fun of me for being in a field taking care of a cow,' she said.

In Haiti, raising and breeding cows is considered a man's job, and watching over one for someone else a servant's job.  CRWRC immediately saw the innate and unique quality of a servant-leader in Console.

'When they heard that I had had the cow for a while, they said, "If you can raise a cow like this on your own, it means you are a strong woman.  People in your community must respect you."  And then they invited me to be part of their team,' recalls Console.  'I felt proud when they asked me to be part of the committee.  I felt respected and valued.'

 'Haiti needs more leaders, leaders who put their communities' needs above their own,' shared Willys Geffrard, CRWRC's Earthquake Response Program Manager about the value he's seen in the CACs [Community Advisory Committees].
Console is on the list to get a new home from CRWRC, yet she keeps putting off having the work started. 'When you are a leader in your community, you cannot be the first person to receive the benefits,' she explained.  'There are others in my community who are waiting for homes, so they need to get their homes first.  And then I should get mine.

 y dream is that my community will be beautiful and healthy,' she explained.  'I want for everyone to be healthy.  I like talking to people about health - not just physical but also psychological health.  For me, this is not extra work.  It is about collaboration, for the benefit of my community.  After a long day of working with the community, even if I am tired, I don't really feel it.  It is an honour for me to fill this role.'

And it is an honour for CRWRC to have her as a part of the larger Leogane team."

The CRWRC website has other interesting Haiti Earthquake Response stories, on video, about its post-Quake efforts in the Leogane Region.  My favorites are "Twenty Wells", about a CRWRC clean water delivery project, and "Making a CRWRC House a Home," about the initial construction and customizing of houses into homes.

 A SURGICAL TEAM FROM NEW ENGLAND
Locals have told me that the rainy season has started early in Leogane.  This past weekend, and again on Monday and Tuesday, floodwaters poured into the Leogane city centre and found their way into all of the operational parts of l'hopital Sainte Croix.  (More on flood waters and deforestation in Haiti in a later Note.)

Whether you were the hospital director, Dr. Gladys Memnon, another doctor, a nurse, non-medical staff, and some of us from the Guesthouse, the clean-up was truly a cooperative effort.  Even a gentlemen living across the street pitched in on Monday and Tuesday. On Monday, the consistency of the muddy water that covered all of the hallways, the inpatient clinic, the emergency room, and other offices was more like diluted chocolate syrup than clear liquid.

Brooms of various sizes were the main weapons of attack on the milk chocolate colored sludge.

No one worked harder on Monday and Tuesday than the indefatigable Madame Bellevue; the housekeeper of the Guesthouse who will always have a special place in my heart.  After others took an extended break (my polite way of saying they wandered off), the 5' 4'' 85 pound Madame Bellevue worked until the last remnant of flood water was cast out the front entrance of the hospital.

(Please do not confuse the most proper Madame Bellevue with Madame Carmen - who I have previously mentioned - who lives across the street.  Last week, there were three consecutive days when Madame Carmen - who I'm now advised is 80 years old - sat in front of her lime green house very naked - as if there is more than one way to be totally naked.)

On Monday mid-day, a volunteer surgical team from New England came to the hospital expecting to begin performing surgeries the next day. The surgeries had been scheduled with this visiting medical group through a Haitian community health administrator.  But no scalpels were used on Tuesday.  On that day, three surgical nurses, a surgeon, and an anesthesiologist all rolled up their sleeves, and hitched up their scrubs, and joined the syrupy sludge brigade.

Two surgeries were performed on Wednesday by two surgical teams, three on Thursday, and three more yesterday.  The New England group left Leogane on Saturday.  Even though they were only working at the hospital for four days - and one was not a surgery day - the medical volunteers from New England made an immediate impact on those who received the surgical interventions. The two patients who had their surgeries on Tuesday spent Tuesday night and most of Wednesday recovering in rooms up here in the Guesthouse.  They were monitored on the Guesthouse floor by an around the clock team of Haitian nurses. After discharge from the hospital, all of the surgery patients will be followed by a doctor in residence at the hospital.  All of the permanent medical and nursing staff at l'hopital Sainte Croix is Haitian.

The surgical group from New England is but one example of the collaborative effort fostered in Leogane by volunteer doctors and nurses, and dental professionals,  who spend a week or more in Haiti, working in concert with Haitian professionals; with the common goal of improving a patient's health and quality of life.



ALL HANDS AND RUBBLING
All Hands is a volunteer movement primarily for twenty and thirty year olds.  I cannot do justice here to the innovative things All Hands is doing in the Leogane Region; a visit to the group's website is necessary.

Here I will report on a new word I learned in early April - "rubbling".  (I can't remember the last time I even thought about that English grammar question: "What is a gerund?"  It probably was in Mr. Vance's class at Clarendon Grade School, located across the street from where I grew up in west Phoenix.)

Rubbling is best described on the All Hands website by Chris Turner, one of the Project Coordinators on Project Leogane, in a posting dated March 9, 2011:

"WHY IS REMOVING RUBBLE IMPORTANT IN LEOGANE?

The major problem with rubble is that it's an impediment to any rebuilding efforts.  Before you can even consider rebuilding on a family's property, whether it's a transitional shelter or something more permanent, you need to open up that space.  Soon after the earthquake, a lot of that space was filled with rubble.  So until that's out of the way, rubbling is basically the first step in the process.

WHAT IS THE PROCESS FOR CHOOSING HOMES TO RUBBLE?
When we first got to Leogane, people didn't know what we were up to yet, so we had to actively search for rubble jobs.  We started with the IDP [internal displacement] camp that was in our front yard, and we went from family to family to assess needs.  The camp was 90 families in total, so we started by clearing their rubble, so they could get back to their properties.  Of those 90, I don't know the exact number, in the fifties, were the ones that we could help with clearing rubble.  So those were the first ones we did.  Word quickly got out that we were clearing rubble and because there was such a need, we were flooded with requests.  Since then we've worked on a request basis.  A family will come and give us their information and tell us if they need rubble cleared.  And we will go through that list on a first come, first serve basis.  We also make our decision based on a technical assessment, to see if it's a job we can do.  And we also assess the need of the family.

WHAT'S OUR PROGRESS SO FAR WITH RUBBLE?
We've cleared 194 sites, which is in total 230 families or 1,260 people.  We contributed 57,000 hours of volunteer manpower.  The result has been an estimated 14,000 cubic meters (494,405 cubic feet) cleared."

I've learned that a sledge hammer is one of the primary tools of rubbling.  It is an equal opportunity tool.  If you want to see some buff women pounding away at rubble with a sledge hammer, do a "Leogane rubbling" search on You Tube. All Hands in Leogane also is in the school building volunteer business.  As of a April 15, 2011 posting on their website, All Hands had almost completed their 9th school building in the Leogane Region.  Twenty-three schools is their realistic target.

The All Hands website also has a report on the "Biosand Filter Program", which involves the placement of filters in water systems to promote the use of clean drinking water, which serves to prevent various water borne illnesses, including cholera.

All Hands volunteers pay their own way to Haiti.  Their compensation in Haiti is a place to pitch a tent and meals.  Having a Prestige after a day of rubbling also comes out of your own pocket.

Anyone who has any doubts about whether a devotion to giving, not taking, is in good stead in the United States will be heartened by the 20 - 30 years old living in tents at the All Hands base camp in Leogane.  So great has been the volunteer applications for the Leogane Project, All Hands will not be sending new volunteers to Leogane until after June of this year.

JOE'S, JACKSON'S AND VENICE
When David, Scott, Willys, Suzette and I were talking over beers at Joe's on Monday, April 11, a number of All Hands rubblers rolled into Joe's after dark.  They looked beat.  Joe's is a convenient place for All Hands folks to wind down a bit, because their tents are no more than 200 yards away.  Joe's is not as I described it to you in Note #4.  There I said: "I hear that now that a table (a piece of plywood supported by two building blocks) has joined the eight chairs for patrons, there has been a noticeable increase in clientele."

I wasn't describing Joe's, but Jackson's, except that I'm now informed that Jackson's has two tables.  Joe's on the other hand is quite spacious.  There are at least five tables; two of which will seat 6 - 8 patrons.   When I was at Joe's, we did have to prop up one side of our four person table with a chair, because it was missing one of its three legs.  Most of the seating is on a large open air patio.  David mentioned that he and Scott had been at Joe's when there was a three piece band playing.  When I was there, one of the songs playing was "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson.  (I can't ever hear that song without seeing Michael Jackson moon walking in the video that was played over and over again on MTV when it first was released.)

Carleigh, who came to Leogane as an All Hands volunteer, and who now works in the hospital as an assistant to Dr. Memnon the Director, told me last night that as soon as the tables were added at Jackson's people stuck around to play cards, and that Jackson's is a new "hot spot" bar. Carleigh also told me that another bar is called "Venice", because it is next to a canal.  No gondolas here though, and Creole not Italian is spoken by most of the customers.

Filmmakers, an International Relief organization, a U. S. surgical team, and a lot of 20-30 year olds.  Diverse groups of people who care about Haiti, as confirmed by their having come here.

But to my way of thinking, in the end the most important group of good people doing good things for good people will be here long after any group returns to their daily lives in the United States, Canada or another "first world country" - people like Dr. Memnon, Hilda Alcindor, the Dean of the Nursing College in Leogane, Pere Delicat at the Episcopal church next door, Marie Marthe Console, the newly elected President of Haiti, and, to my way of thinking, Madame Bellevue.

Haitians of course need our help in so many ways. This was true when I was here twenty years ago, and it is even more so after the devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010.  But the Haitian leaders I heard speak last November at a two day convention in Miami, devoted to Haiti reconstruction efforts by the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti, emphasized the importance of Haitians not just being partners with churches, NGOs, charitable and humanitarian organizations coming to Haiti, but the core adhesive for long term change in this country.  In the end, there is only so much non-Haitians can do to turn the devastation of the earthquake into a springboard for profound change in Haiti.

Before I left for Haiti, a number of people back in Arizona told me that they thought that the situation in Haiti before the earthquake was dire, and that after January 12, 2010 it was hopeless.  I think that I have been here long enough to now express my belief that there are too many here that feel otherwise, and are committed to making sure that such a sentiment doesn't take hold in Haiti without a serious fight.

I hope this Note finds you and your loved ones in good health and spirits.

David

May 7, 2011