My time here is swiftly winding down. Two weeks ago I found out that I would be going home in mid-June. It seemed such a long ways off. I was in the middle of parent and child endline surveys and measurements – a seemingly never ending process that literally made May disappear in the blink of an eye. And now mid-June is here and I have less than one week left.
It is quite sad how time passes so quickly, whether I am here in Haiti, at school in St. Louis or home on Hidden Ln. I was just getting in to the swing of things; I had my routines, friends, activities, a to-do list, apartment decorating – all things that make you feel at home, comfortable and relaxed. A place that you know is yours. And now, just like that, this nomad packs up and is heading on to the next place.
Despite the short time here, there are plenty of things I will be taking back with me in one form or another. Some sentimental, some not so much and others pretty critical, I know these lessons will travel with me wherever I end up.
Smiling. Being polite even when others are not. It’s amazing thing, manners. You’re taught at an early age to say please and thank you, address adults with respect, etc. But living in a country where manners are not nearly as common, you learn to appreciate them. Greeting a market woman selling vegetables before buying them instantly gets me a smile, “wi cheri” and a “bon pri”. Smiling at a stranger in my line of walking will get me a smile in return. Greeting the hoard of children shouting “blan!” will get me a more polite line of questioning. Granted, it doesn’t always work. There will always be people who are rude, impolite and downright rotten. But I’ve found here that being openly friendly – dropping the standard guard most North Americans have can lead to a nicer and happier exchange and day. So smile.
History. Caribbean history is pretty much glazed over in North American history. Columbus ‘discovered’ it, there were pirates, and now there are golf courses and resorts. It leaves out so much – Haiti in particular has an amazing history. It is a country built on the only successful slave revolt. There is such a legacy of freedom and liberty here that stems from that. It was once the richest country in the world, building an empire on its exports of sugar, rum, coffee. The colonization of Hispaniola itself is remarkable. Here, history is everywhere. Cap-Haitien is right in line of sight to the Citadelle, a huge fortress built by Henri Christophe that contains some of the most impressive canons I’ve ever seen. Although things are not preserved here as they are in the states, there is something beautiful about the presence sites like the Citadelle have. They haven’t been turned into turned into a tourist trap or twisted into the ‘best’ fit history – they just are.
Control issues. There’s one thing to be organized, on time, and hard working. Then there’s another thing to be controlling, in charge, demanding. Like in Senegal, it is impossible to have control over how things operate here. Letting go of control and realizing that things happen when they do is how things get done. I don’t mean just becoming completely disinterested or invested in the work that is going on. But I mean recognizing the fact that in developing countries there are an infinite more numbers of obstacles inhibiting timely, organizing and efficient work. Yes, it’s partly the country’s fault for their crappy infrastructure and corruption, but issues go deeper and are much much complicated than that. Imagine a sequester that never actually ends, or driving over a fiscal cliff that is over a pool infested with everything that could possibly tear you to pieces. So there is another holiday in which schools are closed. Yes, it impacts our study in two major ways; kids don’t eat and we don’t get to complete some measurements that day. Instead of complaining to the school administration, the government, and the woman selling coconut water, you have to learn to deal, adjust and work within an environment that is always changing, and hardly ever going the way you want it to.
Accountability. This next one is a huge issue for me. And it’s a little soap boxy. Maybe a lot. Definitely a lot. But I’ve lived in several developing countries and I’ve seen organizations and governments working together, doing good things, making a change in the health and well-being of its people. And I’ve seen organizations and governments doing complete crap. Literally, creating shit for its people to live in. And there is much much more of this in Haiti. Yes, Haiti is poor. Yes there is hunger, extreme poverty, disease, death. But – and this is a big but – there are also hundreds of organizations here doing nothing that really is developing Haiti. Because the country is literally run on foreign aid, organizations such as UNICEF, World Bank, WFP, CARE, USAID determine the priorities and policies of the country. And these organizations are usually about making money, not developing a country. For example; food aid. Over the last fifty years, Haiti has been flooded with food aid, mostly rice grown in the States. The problem with this is that Haiti had a stable rice market; they were growing enough rice but the distribution and infrastructure of trade wasn’t there. So rather than fixing that, organizations flooded the market with imported rice, increasing its price and devastating the agriculture economy. This has resulting in a failed economy which Haiti has never – and perhaps – will never recover from because the same organizations are still here, doing the same work. There is no accountability from the government, people, and organizations themselves to take a step back, recognize what is going on, and demand change. Similarly, at a smaller level, organizations that run schools, orphanages, etc also take advantage of the system. I was shocked to learn that the ‘orphans’ from the earthquake in 2010 often have parents. They just don’t want to care for them, or the parents know that their children will be better provided if they send them away. Some children are even kids from influential and wealthy families and are used as a pawn in the political/organizational infrastructure that runs local municipalities. What culture of parenting and family is that creating? And these organizations know this and are doing nothing to address the issue because it makes them money.
Now not every organization is like this. And often, many organizations start out from good causes. There really want to make an impact, a difference. The problem is that there is no accountability to keep these organizations in line or create standards of operations, responsibility, etc. As a result, anyone can literally come down to Haiti, start and organization and make money. That’s not even touching on what this surge of organizations is doing to the capacity and empowerment of the people of Haiti. Why work when I can get everything donated and free from this organization? Why raise my children when this organization will take them? Why should I be interested in my government when they don’t actually run my country? Huge implications for the best intentions led way way way off the path. Like I said, a little soap boxy, but development work is a bit more complicated than just donating some old clothes.
I realize leaving this post like that seems that I’m jaded and that I didn’t enjoy my time here. Far from it. I really loved Haiti and spending time here and working here. There is beauty here that is often ignored. Humor that is often over-looked. Passion and drive that is turned away. And pride that runs deep. It is a place of strength and working with my team, I’ve seen that strength. Despite my best intentions I will always be an optimist at heart. And I see that there are good things happening to here – like in other places in the world, you just never hear about it. Development work is a tricky beast – and there is never ever one right answer or a cure-all solution. But the important thing is to have passion and commitment. To have an honest desire to create sustainable change so that every person has the opportunity to be happy, healthy, and live a good life. I’m still leaving Haiti a dreamer and still wanting to do my part.
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Friday, May 17, 2013
Part deux; Ayiti remix
Continuing on the theme of last post I will continue on the many things I love, find entertaining or just makes me smile about Haiti. Here goes!
Tap taps: not the most comfortable ride, but these vehicles are a country in themselves. Stick out your hand, one magically appears and you hop inside. Maximum capacity is 21 people, although I’ve seen some with much more. And that’s not including the goods and belongings packed on top. And I should mention that these vehicles are 1980s Toyotas… Tap taps are the cheap public (though privately owned) transportation. They’re everywhere and can get you anywhere. I love that each one is decorated differently. They’re all painted – usually bright red or yellow but you see blue and green too (my favorite). On the sides will be flowers, birds, trees as well. My personal favorite touch – without fail – is the prayers that are written all over the front. Most even have prayer stickers over the better part of the windshield so that the driver can barely see. These prayers, sayings, phrases and what have you vary greatly in their content and what they’re asking and it is always fun to read them while traveling around OCap. A few of my favorites; God help me, deliverance, grace of God, trust me, sexy love, sexy baby, psalms 90, Christ capable, thank you mother, good God good. Another bonus – music is always playing the tap taps so you get updated with the latest kompa hits. It’s basically a traveling top forty radio show.
Baby animals: Yes, my obsession with goats has continued from Haiti to Senegal, but seriously, if you looked out your window and saw baby goats jumping and kicking around, you’re cold cold heart would melt too. I love the baby animals here. I mean, everything from the people to the goats, dogs, chickens, horses are stunted here to begin with. Sometimes I feel like I’m in Lilliput. But that’s what happens when you are chronically malnourished for generations; you become shorter and never reach your genetic potential. Anyways, I digress.
Baby animals. So fun to watch. And there are so many here. Baby goats will always be my favorite. But the puppies here are also something to behold. And often, I get the two confused from far away. They look exactly the same; shaky legs, floppy ears, noncommittal directional walking. Baby cows are another favorite, mostly for the eyelashes and the over-developed sense of dependency to their mothers. Chickens are okay, but so many chickens live right next to the road and so watching a mother with sevens babies slowly lose them to road kill is kind of depressing. Baby pigs are a newfound favorite. These didn’t exist in Senegal, for obvious reasons, and they are everywhere here. Given Haiti’s history with pigs (I’m not explaining here – if you’re curious, look it up, it’s a great example of horrible development ideas) I’m even more fascinated. The little guys move in a pack and they move fast – who knew pigs were like the marathoners of the farm? Little ears flopping, curly tails wagging they are so fun to watch.
And watch them often I do. My office has windows that look right out to a beautiful field. There is a huge mango tree and lots of grass. Pigs, cows and goats roam free and there have been lots of baby animals prancing around to distract me.
Tropical fruit: When was the last time you bought fresh mangoes, pineapple, or coconut water? When was the last time you bought all that for less than a dollar? Now I am not a fruit person, I don’t like to eat it, and rarely do back home. Fruit is often just too acidic or sweet. I prefer to eat like a rabbit – the more veggies the better. But here I love the fruit and right now is one of my favorite times of the year – mango season! There are dozens of varieties here but I have a few favorites; Rosalie – perfect for juice making, Two Duc – super sweet and juicy, Fransique – Really big and kind of tart, Baptiste – Lots of fruit, sweet and hardly any strings. These days I can get six mangoes for 25 Gourd – about 70 cents. It’s great. Another favorite to buy off the street – coconut water. It being the Caribbean, there are coconuts everywhere. For 10 Gourd – about 26 cents and entire coconut is mine. Each coconut has between a half liter to three fourths of water. Super cheap, super refresher, and so much better than the expensive processed coconut water the health nuts buy in the states.
And finally, mountains; There is a famous Haitian proverb – dye mon, gen mon – beyond mountains there are mountains. It really means there is more to Haiti that meets the eye. And the mountains here are perfect examples of this. OCap is surrounded by them and each one brings its own little surprise. Climb one and bam! There’s the ocean. Climb another and you are at the Citadelle still standing guard to invaders after hundreds of years. Drive over another are there is a little village shaded by mango trees with vendors selling mangos and yams on the side of the road. Pass many more and the plateau opens up. The mountains here are beautiful. The rise literally right out of the ocean, the clouds always hang close. They’re protecting and silent, yet imposing and unforgiving. And they offer a wonderful view from my balcony.
So that’s just a sampling of a few tidbits I encounter in my daily life that make it so fun to be here. Hope you’ve enjoyed!
Tap taps: not the most comfortable ride, but these vehicles are a country in themselves. Stick out your hand, one magically appears and you hop inside. Maximum capacity is 21 people, although I’ve seen some with much more. And that’s not including the goods and belongings packed on top. And I should mention that these vehicles are 1980s Toyotas… Tap taps are the cheap public (though privately owned) transportation. They’re everywhere and can get you anywhere. I love that each one is decorated differently. They’re all painted – usually bright red or yellow but you see blue and green too (my favorite). On the sides will be flowers, birds, trees as well. My personal favorite touch – without fail – is the prayers that are written all over the front. Most even have prayer stickers over the better part of the windshield so that the driver can barely see. These prayers, sayings, phrases and what have you vary greatly in their content and what they’re asking and it is always fun to read them while traveling around OCap. A few of my favorites; God help me, deliverance, grace of God, trust me, sexy love, sexy baby, psalms 90, Christ capable, thank you mother, good God good. Another bonus – music is always playing the tap taps so you get updated with the latest kompa hits. It’s basically a traveling top forty radio show.
Baby animals: Yes, my obsession with goats has continued from Haiti to Senegal, but seriously, if you looked out your window and saw baby goats jumping and kicking around, you’re cold cold heart would melt too. I love the baby animals here. I mean, everything from the people to the goats, dogs, chickens, horses are stunted here to begin with. Sometimes I feel like I’m in Lilliput. But that’s what happens when you are chronically malnourished for generations; you become shorter and never reach your genetic potential. Anyways, I digress.
Baby animals. So fun to watch. And there are so many here. Baby goats will always be my favorite. But the puppies here are also something to behold. And often, I get the two confused from far away. They look exactly the same; shaky legs, floppy ears, noncommittal directional walking. Baby cows are another favorite, mostly for the eyelashes and the over-developed sense of dependency to their mothers. Chickens are okay, but so many chickens live right next to the road and so watching a mother with sevens babies slowly lose them to road kill is kind of depressing. Baby pigs are a newfound favorite. These didn’t exist in Senegal, for obvious reasons, and they are everywhere here. Given Haiti’s history with pigs (I’m not explaining here – if you’re curious, look it up, it’s a great example of horrible development ideas) I’m even more fascinated. The little guys move in a pack and they move fast – who knew pigs were like the marathoners of the farm? Little ears flopping, curly tails wagging they are so fun to watch.
And watch them often I do. My office has windows that look right out to a beautiful field. There is a huge mango tree and lots of grass. Pigs, cows and goats roam free and there have been lots of baby animals prancing around to distract me.
Tropical fruit: When was the last time you bought fresh mangoes, pineapple, or coconut water? When was the last time you bought all that for less than a dollar? Now I am not a fruit person, I don’t like to eat it, and rarely do back home. Fruit is often just too acidic or sweet. I prefer to eat like a rabbit – the more veggies the better. But here I love the fruit and right now is one of my favorite times of the year – mango season! There are dozens of varieties here but I have a few favorites; Rosalie – perfect for juice making, Two Duc – super sweet and juicy, Fransique – Really big and kind of tart, Baptiste – Lots of fruit, sweet and hardly any strings. These days I can get six mangoes for 25 Gourd – about 70 cents. It’s great. Another favorite to buy off the street – coconut water. It being the Caribbean, there are coconuts everywhere. For 10 Gourd – about 26 cents and entire coconut is mine. Each coconut has between a half liter to three fourths of water. Super cheap, super refresher, and so much better than the expensive processed coconut water the health nuts buy in the states.
And finally, mountains; There is a famous Haitian proverb – dye mon, gen mon – beyond mountains there are mountains. It really means there is more to Haiti that meets the eye. And the mountains here are perfect examples of this. OCap is surrounded by them and each one brings its own little surprise. Climb one and bam! There’s the ocean. Climb another and you are at the Citadelle still standing guard to invaders after hundreds of years. Drive over another are there is a little village shaded by mango trees with vendors selling mangos and yams on the side of the road. Pass many more and the plateau opens up. The mountains here are beautiful. The rise literally right out of the ocean, the clouds always hang close. They’re protecting and silent, yet imposing and unforgiving. And they offer a wonderful view from my balcony.
So that’s just a sampling of a few tidbits I encounter in my daily life that make it so fun to be here. Hope you’ve enjoyed!
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
What I like about Ayiti
I can’t believe how quickly time is passing here. It’s been a while since I’ve posted last time – and an even longer time since I’ve posted something that isn’t related to my work here. So here goes; a post about a few of the things that I’ve come to really love and appreciate about Haiti.
Fast food; I don’t mean mc d’s or arby’s or kfc or anything just as explosive – ahem – taco bell. I’m talking straight up can’t get it anywhere else Haitian street food. It comes in all types – always hot and fresh, very cheap and my favorite part; every vendor has a different recipe so you always get something different. A few of my favorites; plantains. These are addictive. Seriously, I go through withdrawal almost daily. And I justify the amounts that I eat because I know that I can’t get plantains on the mainland and seriously – where would Wisconsin get plantains? These guys come in all shapes and versions; chips, pressed, cooked and all are delicious. Another goodie; pate. Not pate as in ground up questionable meat you eat with a cracker at the hideaway. Pate like a stuffed with goodness fried hot pocket. There are all types; pate with cabbage and tomato, onion and chicken, mushrooms, hot pepper – each one is a little surprise. And finally; piklis. The wonder topping that goes on anything. It’s made from cabbage, carrots, hot pepper, vinegar, garlic and sour orange. Again, everyone makes their own version so some are pretty mild in hotness while others can be very spicy. It’s a great topping that goes on literally everything. I love it and eat so much of it my lips usually go numb.
I have my favorite vendors of course. There are two sisters who have arguably the busiest stand in all of Cap-Haitien. And yes, I am a VIP client. Their pate is so delicious and it is mystery meat free – a rare feat here. Plus, if they are out of something they will rush to make some more of it just for me. And I always get a little extra piklis.
Music: There are tons of different types of music here and the influences abound; there’s the rhythms and drumming styles of West Africa (holla back Senegal!) the percussion of the Caribbean, North American a la hip hop, classic folk via blues and blue grass. Yet, it is specifically Haitian. There’s the romance of kompa, the crazy Karnaval tunes of rahrah, and my favorite – Haitian folk. Yes, it’s traditional but there’s always a modern spin to it. Each of these songs tells a story whether it is happy, sad, funny – so if you got time check them out. A project that a few friends are working on; Lakou Mizik. There are some wonderful videos online by some wonderfully talented musicians. Just a warning, the videos are beautifully done but pretty damned catchy. They will be in your head for days.
Beaches: I’ve said it before how surprisingly amazing the beaches here are. And they still are. Breathtakingly beautiful, clear blue water that is every shade of blue to green you can think and then ten more. White sand, quiet, wind rustling through coconut trees, hidden coves. It’s beyond fantastic. My particular favorite is a beach called plage paradis – it’s only accessible by boat but once you get there fishermen greet you with crab, fish and lobster they just caught. (and the lobster is the size of my dog. Not. Joking.) the water is shallow so you can walk out almost 100 yards before you can’t touch. Flowing into the sea is a freshwater natural spring so the water is always cool. It’s idyllic and I get to go there every weekend. Oh, and there are waterfalls too.
Everyday people: You know that feeling when you move to a new place and you start venturing out to eat, drink, be merry and finally – finally! – you become a regular and everyone knows your name? I got that status immediately in Senegal, mostly because there were only two toubaks for literally miles and one was small and blond and the other was big and brunette. Easy to keep track off. In Haiti, for many reasons good and bad (which I will not get into otherwise this will turn into a very long post) it’s different. There are foreigners everywhere. We’re called blan – white – and are shouted such wherever we go. It’s annoying, but again, I’m used to it and my ability to tune it out is still one of my eight superpowers.
However, there are a few people who have come to know me more than just another blan. These are people I see and interact with on a regular basis. They usually provide me food in way or another (pate, plantains, coconut water, veggies, mangos…) but still, being able to walk up to them, greet them and talk with them and known as just another customer is a great feeling. I’m not singled out, charged twice as much, hassled – nothing. I am someone looking for a mid-day snack. A few of my favorites; Ivrose who is my snack vendor. See the paragraph above about fast food. Enough said why I love this woman. A few additional snack vendors at my schools – these women are great. Always friendly and happy to see me. And they’ve both been pregnant while I’ve been working so being who I am, make sure they are a) going to their prenatal visits b) taking their prenatal vitamins c) having birth assisted by a trained midwife. There’s also my drink family who I stop and grab a limeade about three times a week, the two young bucks who fill my drinking water for me, the happiest money changer in the world, my phone credit guy who always asks about my family back home since he knows he provides the credit which allows me to talk to them. I love interacting with these people and they always make me happy and put me in a good mood.
And finally… my apartment: Not just the palace that is where I live. No mud, no termites, but rather a balcony, kitchen, working bathroom, living room and bedroom (WHAT?!) My apartment is just one of about eight buildings in a larger compound. Each building has about four to six apartments and most are filled by UN workers, development workers, or other foreigners. We even have a small restaurant that serves some of the best food I’ve had in country. What I really love about this place is the sense of community it provokes. There are Americans to be sure, Canadians, Africans, Europeans, and more. Everyone is friendly to everyone else and it’s not uncommon to be impromptu invited to have tea or dinner someplace. It’s peaceful and quiet and beautiful. I have an exquisite view of the Citadelle – the most famous site in all of Haiti from my rooftop. I can see parrots play in the trees from my balcony and I can hear gatherings going on as I fall asleep at night. Spoiled really, but I am so thankful for this little oasis.
That’s all for now, I’m off to the schools to begin our last month of the study. It’s crunch time! More things I love to come next post as well as a project update!
Cheers!
Fast food; I don’t mean mc d’s or arby’s or kfc or anything just as explosive – ahem – taco bell. I’m talking straight up can’t get it anywhere else Haitian street food. It comes in all types – always hot and fresh, very cheap and my favorite part; every vendor has a different recipe so you always get something different. A few of my favorites; plantains. These are addictive. Seriously, I go through withdrawal almost daily. And I justify the amounts that I eat because I know that I can’t get plantains on the mainland and seriously – where would Wisconsin get plantains? These guys come in all shapes and versions; chips, pressed, cooked and all are delicious. Another goodie; pate. Not pate as in ground up questionable meat you eat with a cracker at the hideaway. Pate like a stuffed with goodness fried hot pocket. There are all types; pate with cabbage and tomato, onion and chicken, mushrooms, hot pepper – each one is a little surprise. And finally; piklis. The wonder topping that goes on anything. It’s made from cabbage, carrots, hot pepper, vinegar, garlic and sour orange. Again, everyone makes their own version so some are pretty mild in hotness while others can be very spicy. It’s a great topping that goes on literally everything. I love it and eat so much of it my lips usually go numb.
I have my favorite vendors of course. There are two sisters who have arguably the busiest stand in all of Cap-Haitien. And yes, I am a VIP client. Their pate is so delicious and it is mystery meat free – a rare feat here. Plus, if they are out of something they will rush to make some more of it just for me. And I always get a little extra piklis.
Music: There are tons of different types of music here and the influences abound; there’s the rhythms and drumming styles of West Africa (holla back Senegal!) the percussion of the Caribbean, North American a la hip hop, classic folk via blues and blue grass. Yet, it is specifically Haitian. There’s the romance of kompa, the crazy Karnaval tunes of rahrah, and my favorite – Haitian folk. Yes, it’s traditional but there’s always a modern spin to it. Each of these songs tells a story whether it is happy, sad, funny – so if you got time check them out. A project that a few friends are working on; Lakou Mizik. There are some wonderful videos online by some wonderfully talented musicians. Just a warning, the videos are beautifully done but pretty damned catchy. They will be in your head for days.
Beaches: I’ve said it before how surprisingly amazing the beaches here are. And they still are. Breathtakingly beautiful, clear blue water that is every shade of blue to green you can think and then ten more. White sand, quiet, wind rustling through coconut trees, hidden coves. It’s beyond fantastic. My particular favorite is a beach called plage paradis – it’s only accessible by boat but once you get there fishermen greet you with crab, fish and lobster they just caught. (and the lobster is the size of my dog. Not. Joking.) the water is shallow so you can walk out almost 100 yards before you can’t touch. Flowing into the sea is a freshwater natural spring so the water is always cool. It’s idyllic and I get to go there every weekend. Oh, and there are waterfalls too.
Everyday people: You know that feeling when you move to a new place and you start venturing out to eat, drink, be merry and finally – finally! – you become a regular and everyone knows your name? I got that status immediately in Senegal, mostly because there were only two toubaks for literally miles and one was small and blond and the other was big and brunette. Easy to keep track off. In Haiti, for many reasons good and bad (which I will not get into otherwise this will turn into a very long post) it’s different. There are foreigners everywhere. We’re called blan – white – and are shouted such wherever we go. It’s annoying, but again, I’m used to it and my ability to tune it out is still one of my eight superpowers.
However, there are a few people who have come to know me more than just another blan. These are people I see and interact with on a regular basis. They usually provide me food in way or another (pate, plantains, coconut water, veggies, mangos…) but still, being able to walk up to them, greet them and talk with them and known as just another customer is a great feeling. I’m not singled out, charged twice as much, hassled – nothing. I am someone looking for a mid-day snack. A few of my favorites; Ivrose who is my snack vendor. See the paragraph above about fast food. Enough said why I love this woman. A few additional snack vendors at my schools – these women are great. Always friendly and happy to see me. And they’ve both been pregnant while I’ve been working so being who I am, make sure they are a) going to their prenatal visits b) taking their prenatal vitamins c) having birth assisted by a trained midwife. There’s also my drink family who I stop and grab a limeade about three times a week, the two young bucks who fill my drinking water for me, the happiest money changer in the world, my phone credit guy who always asks about my family back home since he knows he provides the credit which allows me to talk to them. I love interacting with these people and they always make me happy and put me in a good mood.
And finally… my apartment: Not just the palace that is where I live. No mud, no termites, but rather a balcony, kitchen, working bathroom, living room and bedroom (WHAT?!) My apartment is just one of about eight buildings in a larger compound. Each building has about four to six apartments and most are filled by UN workers, development workers, or other foreigners. We even have a small restaurant that serves some of the best food I’ve had in country. What I really love about this place is the sense of community it provokes. There are Americans to be sure, Canadians, Africans, Europeans, and more. Everyone is friendly to everyone else and it’s not uncommon to be impromptu invited to have tea or dinner someplace. It’s peaceful and quiet and beautiful. I have an exquisite view of the Citadelle – the most famous site in all of Haiti from my rooftop. I can see parrots play in the trees from my balcony and I can hear gatherings going on as I fall asleep at night. Spoiled really, but I am so thankful for this little oasis.
That’s all for now, I’m off to the schools to begin our last month of the study. It’s crunch time! More things I love to come next post as well as a project update!
Cheers!
Friday, April 12, 2013
Differing Environments
Being the social scientist that I am, I am fascinated and always amazed at the environments the kids in my student learn in. Like most developing countries – there are the standard crowding, lighting and circulation issues, but each school has these issues in so many different ways. To illustrate, I’ll compare our two mamba schools; Henri Christophe (HC) and Oasis.
First, what these schools have in common. Every student in every school wears a uniform. Each school in Cap-Haitien has a different one in order to tell which kid goes where. The uniforms for HC are blue checked shirts with blue pants. Oasis has orange pants and beige shirts. The school day starts at 8 am and goes until 12 pm. There is one recess. Subjects taught include geography, science, math, French, Creole and history. Three times a year students take week long tests. The grades they receive on these tests dictate whether or not they pass and move onto the next grade. This is for all schools. Now onto the differences.
Oasis is one of our largest schools in terms of enrollment. There are roughly 600 students in the school with just over 300 participating in the study. Each grade has two classes and there are also the preschool and kindergarten versions. Every class has between one and two teachers, plus there is two administrators and two groundskeepers.
The school is private, part of Baptist church in the area. This means that families pay a larger tuition for kids to attend. While almost all schools will have a tuition, private schools are more expensive but often offer better teachers or other perks like sports, school lunch, English classes, etc.
The school is located just on the outskirts of downtown Cap-Haitien. It’s on a busy road that leads to the market so there is always traffic. Just outside of the school are vendors selling snacks, food and other household items. There are three buildings which make up the school. Two are within the school’s gates and one is on the other side of the road. There is electricity, a water pump, and three flush latrines for the students to use. The classrooms are decorated with paintings and posters.
HC on the other hand is a public school located in Petit-Anse, a low-income neighborhood on the outside of town. There is no tuition for students at this school because it qualifies for a new government program in an effort to start free education nationwide. There are just 140 kids in the school – 110 are in the study. There are five teachers and one administrators for six grades. There is also a groundskeeper who will help out with repairs around the school.
Here’s the kicker. HC is a modern-day one room school house. The entire school is open to each other so there are no barriers between the classes. There is no water source and there is a hole in the back corner for kids to use for their latrine. The front of the school is a bridge over an open sewer. And there isn’t much in front of the school and only one lady selling any sort of snack or food for the kids.
So there’s some huge differences. Oasis is adequately staffed and HC isn’t. Oasis has separate rooms for classes while HC has every class hearing every other class, causing huge distractions. One of schools has water – for drinking (especially when schools get hot) and washing their hands and one doesn’t. There are latrines at Oasis so students are able to go to the bathroom cleanly while HC basically uses a spot in the back of the school. Not sanitary. One school benefits from being in a high-income area while the other is in the middle of one of the poorest areas within the metro area. Big differences.
While all of the schools in my study are lacking many things that ‘we’ (North Americans) think are vital to have in order to have a positive, effective, nurturing school environment they don’t have them here and still kids learn. And they love learning and they love being in school. I guess I am just amazed at the resilience of these kids and that they will sit in a hot, crowded, noisy room every day without eating or drinking anything just to learn some grammar.
First, what these schools have in common. Every student in every school wears a uniform. Each school in Cap-Haitien has a different one in order to tell which kid goes where. The uniforms for HC are blue checked shirts with blue pants. Oasis has orange pants and beige shirts. The school day starts at 8 am and goes until 12 pm. There is one recess. Subjects taught include geography, science, math, French, Creole and history. Three times a year students take week long tests. The grades they receive on these tests dictate whether or not they pass and move onto the next grade. This is for all schools. Now onto the differences.
Oasis is one of our largest schools in terms of enrollment. There are roughly 600 students in the school with just over 300 participating in the study. Each grade has two classes and there are also the preschool and kindergarten versions. Every class has between one and two teachers, plus there is two administrators and two groundskeepers.
The school is private, part of Baptist church in the area. This means that families pay a larger tuition for kids to attend. While almost all schools will have a tuition, private schools are more expensive but often offer better teachers or other perks like sports, school lunch, English classes, etc.
The school is located just on the outskirts of downtown Cap-Haitien. It’s on a busy road that leads to the market so there is always traffic. Just outside of the school are vendors selling snacks, food and other household items. There are three buildings which make up the school. Two are within the school’s gates and one is on the other side of the road. There is electricity, a water pump, and three flush latrines for the students to use. The classrooms are decorated with paintings and posters.
HC on the other hand is a public school located in Petit-Anse, a low-income neighborhood on the outside of town. There is no tuition for students at this school because it qualifies for a new government program in an effort to start free education nationwide. There are just 140 kids in the school – 110 are in the study. There are five teachers and one administrators for six grades. There is also a groundskeeper who will help out with repairs around the school.
Here’s the kicker. HC is a modern-day one room school house. The entire school is open to each other so there are no barriers between the classes. There is no water source and there is a hole in the back corner for kids to use for their latrine. The front of the school is a bridge over an open sewer. And there isn’t much in front of the school and only one lady selling any sort of snack or food for the kids.
So there’s some huge differences. Oasis is adequately staffed and HC isn’t. Oasis has separate rooms for classes while HC has every class hearing every other class, causing huge distractions. One of schools has water – for drinking (especially when schools get hot) and washing their hands and one doesn’t. There are latrines at Oasis so students are able to go to the bathroom cleanly while HC basically uses a spot in the back of the school. Not sanitary. One school benefits from being in a high-income area while the other is in the middle of one of the poorest areas within the metro area. Big differences.
While all of the schools in my study are lacking many things that ‘we’ (North Americans) think are vital to have in order to have a positive, effective, nurturing school environment they don’t have them here and still kids learn. And they love learning and they love being in school. I guess I am just amazed at the resilience of these kids and that they will sit in a hot, crowded, noisy room every day without eating or drinking anything just to learn some grammar.
Out of Our Control
There are many barriers to implementing and research project. In studies such as the one I am working on, you want to be able to control for as many things as possible. Control basically means keeping things as equal between the groups as possible. This includes factors inside and outside the school; number of students at the school, economic position of the students’ families, number of boys vs. girls, ages of the students. But in real life, there is very very little you have control over in your own life and even less in a study such as this. Take a little thing like Mother Nature…
Snow days. Every child’s fantasy once that temperature goes down and the days get shorter. For kids up north, hardly ever realized because as much it may snow, there exists plows, salt, and the infamous two hour delay. But every once and a while, out of sheer volume of blizzard-like proportions there’s a snow day. Here in Haiti, it’s rain.
And not just your lazy Sunday morning rain, sip a pot of coffee all day long rain, read a few chapters, knit a few scarves rain. No. More like monsoon rain. I’m talking rain that pours and pours and pours for hours on end. Rain that creates flash floods, mud slides, gorges down the mountains. Lots of rain. And what happens the next day? Cap-Haitien literally becomes an island in itself. There’s nowhere for the water to go except downstream. But what happens when that stream gets back-up or cut off from the ocean because of construction, trash and debris? It floods roads and more importantly, people’s homes. They can’t go anywhere or do anything until the water eventually recedes. This can take days.
And schools close. If teachers don’t want to brave the flooded roads – or can’t find transportation to take them through the flooded roads, they can’t teach. If parents can’t – or won’t send their children out into the flooded street to go to school, they can’t learn. If the school itself is under water, creating a breeding haven for mosquitos (which carry malaria, dengue and other horrible shit) it can’t be open.
This doesn’t just happen once or twice a year, but drastically affects the amount of school days that are actually open. Haiti has two rainy seasons. The big one is in October/November and comes with hurricanes. This school year, for nearly two months the kids had maybe a week or two of school because there was just that much rain. Which seriously hindered our ability to begin our project and in fact, delayed the start of the distribution until after Christmas break. This shortened the project from the original length of the school year (none months) to just five. Ugh. Now, April and May – the second rainy season. Although smaller, the rain is now unpredictable. It can come at any time and no one knows for how long it will rain. It could be for twenty minutes like two nights ago. Not a big deal. Or, it could be for four hours like this past Saturday, flooding everything. A big deal.
Again, it’s unpredictable so some schools on Monday could still be flooded and others not at all. And rather than a school district deciding whether to close all schools in an area, it’s up to the school director to decide. So if you happen to go to a school with a not so passionate, actually kinda lazy director you won’t have school and you won’t get mamba and you won’t be learning the same amount as other kids.
As you can imagine, this is a much larger problem than just for this study. But for us, it’s frustrating. We want the kids to be eating the mamba as much as possible – but in order for that to happen, they have to be in school. And we want every kid to be eating the same amount as any other kid, aka we want ALL the schools to be open when ALL the other schools are. When they’re not, the kids aren’t benefiting from getting an extra food source and it makes the data we collect harder to show an impact. We could have a great product here; it could be an amazing program that can seriously impact child micronutrient deficiencies. But we may also never know that because there are so many things out of our control that keep the kids from getting those benefits. A big hurdle that we have no control over what-so-ever. So while you have to accept Mother Nature’s wrath or blessing, you also have to realize what you’re giving up.
On an unrelated note, this March my study had some great visitors from Edesia, the company that makes mamba. They were able to come and visit the schools, hang out with the kids and watch as we collected our midline data. If you're interested in seeing some of the great shots their photographer snagged, check out the link to their Picasa page. Also, check out their website to learn more about mamba and other products that they make. Great people, great work and a pleasure to have worked with them.
Pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/EdesiaGlobal/EdesiaVisitToHaitiMamba#5859271158546230594
Website: www.edesiaglobal.org
Snow days. Every child’s fantasy once that temperature goes down and the days get shorter. For kids up north, hardly ever realized because as much it may snow, there exists plows, salt, and the infamous two hour delay. But every once and a while, out of sheer volume of blizzard-like proportions there’s a snow day. Here in Haiti, it’s rain.
And not just your lazy Sunday morning rain, sip a pot of coffee all day long rain, read a few chapters, knit a few scarves rain. No. More like monsoon rain. I’m talking rain that pours and pours and pours for hours on end. Rain that creates flash floods, mud slides, gorges down the mountains. Lots of rain. And what happens the next day? Cap-Haitien literally becomes an island in itself. There’s nowhere for the water to go except downstream. But what happens when that stream gets back-up or cut off from the ocean because of construction, trash and debris? It floods roads and more importantly, people’s homes. They can’t go anywhere or do anything until the water eventually recedes. This can take days.
And schools close. If teachers don’t want to brave the flooded roads – or can’t find transportation to take them through the flooded roads, they can’t teach. If parents can’t – or won’t send their children out into the flooded street to go to school, they can’t learn. If the school itself is under water, creating a breeding haven for mosquitos (which carry malaria, dengue and other horrible shit) it can’t be open.
This doesn’t just happen once or twice a year, but drastically affects the amount of school days that are actually open. Haiti has two rainy seasons. The big one is in October/November and comes with hurricanes. This school year, for nearly two months the kids had maybe a week or two of school because there was just that much rain. Which seriously hindered our ability to begin our project and in fact, delayed the start of the distribution until after Christmas break. This shortened the project from the original length of the school year (none months) to just five. Ugh. Now, April and May – the second rainy season. Although smaller, the rain is now unpredictable. It can come at any time and no one knows for how long it will rain. It could be for twenty minutes like two nights ago. Not a big deal. Or, it could be for four hours like this past Saturday, flooding everything. A big deal.
Again, it’s unpredictable so some schools on Monday could still be flooded and others not at all. And rather than a school district deciding whether to close all schools in an area, it’s up to the school director to decide. So if you happen to go to a school with a not so passionate, actually kinda lazy director you won’t have school and you won’t get mamba and you won’t be learning the same amount as other kids.
As you can imagine, this is a much larger problem than just for this study. But for us, it’s frustrating. We want the kids to be eating the mamba as much as possible – but in order for that to happen, they have to be in school. And we want every kid to be eating the same amount as any other kid, aka we want ALL the schools to be open when ALL the other schools are. When they’re not, the kids aren’t benefiting from getting an extra food source and it makes the data we collect harder to show an impact. We could have a great product here; it could be an amazing program that can seriously impact child micronutrient deficiencies. But we may also never know that because there are so many things out of our control that keep the kids from getting those benefits. A big hurdle that we have no control over what-so-ever. So while you have to accept Mother Nature’s wrath or blessing, you also have to realize what you’re giving up.
On an unrelated note, this March my study had some great visitors from Edesia, the company that makes mamba. They were able to come and visit the schools, hang out with the kids and watch as we collected our midline data. If you're interested in seeing some of the great shots their photographer snagged, check out the link to their Picasa page. Also, check out their website to learn more about mamba and other products that they make. Great people, great work and a pleasure to have worked with them.
Pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/EdesiaGlobal/EdesiaVisitToHaitiMamba#5859271158546230594
Website: www.edesiaglobal.org
Thursday, March 21, 2013
A Coordinated Effort
These past two weeks have been more than busy for me and my team. We just finished with our midline data collection! In other words, we just measured, weighed, conducted BIA and hemoglobin tests for 1167 kids. Oh yea, and we did it in nine days. It may not sound like much of a feat but let me explain the events leading up to these whirlwind weeks.
Midline was originally scheduled for two weeks; the 11th through the 22nd. Then we found out from the schools that Easter break was actually starting March 15th, moving everything up a week. No problem, we thought. It’s still two weeks and it’ll give us plenty of time. Then we realized—the kids don’t go to school all day. The Haitian school system is set up so that most schools are actually two schools in one. There is a morning school from 8-12 that has students, staff and administrators. Then, from 1-5 a completely different set of students, staff and administrators come and have their classes. So we actually only had 4 hours everyday to measure our kids, not 8. Yikes.
Then, quelle surprise, we find out that the week before break is the testing week for schools. Again, a difference between Haitian and US schools- kids take a series of three exams during the school year. These tests determine if a child passes or fails. While students get homework, this isn’t graded and the culmination of grades isn’t from assignments, it’s these tests. Three times a year (December, March and June) students take a week long exam which compiles their grades. So this week was not only important for us because we were collecting our data – it was more important for the children as it decides whether or not they pass their grade. As a result, we realized that while testing was going on, we wouldn’t be able to measure the students. (It would be counterproductive in the grand scheme of things to pull a child out of the most important test of the year to get weighed and measured.) So our second week, 4 hour work days suddenly became 2 hour days. Needless to say I was beginning to get nervous.
So March 4th rolls around (oh yea- we only measure during school days; Monday through Friday) and we begin. To my absolute delight, we completely measure 175 kids. 175 out of 1167 done just like that. Things were looking up. And, to my absolute delight again, my team didn’t let up. The eleven of us were able to hunker down and get all of our kids done in nine days, giving us a day off. I was completely blown away by their ability to focus on the tasks at hand, find a rhythm and rock it. Everyday there was a team leader and that leader was in charge of organizing the kids, setting people’s tasks, and keeping the momentum going.
We had two teams so that we could do two schools at once. We started with the larger schools in order to cause the least amount of disruption during testing. We also tried to coordinate schools by area so that teams worked in schools closer together, allowing less travel and driving around. And it worked. While the teams worked, my counterpart Windy and I drove around making deliveries, bringing supplies, and making sure everything was going smoothly. It was one of the best coordinated efforts I have seen in my limited international work and I was truly impressed. Everyone knew they were part of a team, knew the mission, and worked to get it done.
That’s not to say we didn’t have our hiccups. In the developing world, there are always hiccups and usually these hiccups are chronically occurring. They’re always happening so you have to learn to adjust and work around them. And we eventually did. The biggest bump in the road, besides the crappy road to one of our schools was the testing. Because it was testing week, we started our measurements later, giving the students time to take their tests. However, tests were only an hour or so long. After that, teachers let the kids go home. This meant we had a precious window to catch kids that needed to be measured and quickly get them done. I mean, what kid is going to want to sit around and wait to get prodded and pricked while they have basically a day off of school? As a result, we were always searching for students and always missing some at the end of the day. How did we solve it? Classroom games.
To their credit, most of the teachers at these schools are very helpful. Most. After finishing exams, we were able to get teachers to play games with their students until we were ready for them. Hangman, guessing games, math games – whatever worked. And it did. Kids want to be in school, they like learning and they especially like learning in a way that’s fun and not the standard repetition. I loved it for many reasons; kids were engaged and enjoying themselves, they were staying at the school longer, we got our measurements done, and the schools were involved. A win for everyone.
Yep, our two weeks of measuring was a success. And to end it, we took a staff day to the beach. Granted, it happened to be on a day that was a complete downpour, but once we got over the mountain framing the city, the rains stopped and we were able to enjoy ourselves. The perfect ending to a hard-working week.
Midline was originally scheduled for two weeks; the 11th through the 22nd. Then we found out from the schools that Easter break was actually starting March 15th, moving everything up a week. No problem, we thought. It’s still two weeks and it’ll give us plenty of time. Then we realized—the kids don’t go to school all day. The Haitian school system is set up so that most schools are actually two schools in one. There is a morning school from 8-12 that has students, staff and administrators. Then, from 1-5 a completely different set of students, staff and administrators come and have their classes. So we actually only had 4 hours everyday to measure our kids, not 8. Yikes.
Then, quelle surprise, we find out that the week before break is the testing week for schools. Again, a difference between Haitian and US schools- kids take a series of three exams during the school year. These tests determine if a child passes or fails. While students get homework, this isn’t graded and the culmination of grades isn’t from assignments, it’s these tests. Three times a year (December, March and June) students take a week long exam which compiles their grades. So this week was not only important for us because we were collecting our data – it was more important for the children as it decides whether or not they pass their grade. As a result, we realized that while testing was going on, we wouldn’t be able to measure the students. (It would be counterproductive in the grand scheme of things to pull a child out of the most important test of the year to get weighed and measured.) So our second week, 4 hour work days suddenly became 2 hour days. Needless to say I was beginning to get nervous.
So March 4th rolls around (oh yea- we only measure during school days; Monday through Friday) and we begin. To my absolute delight, we completely measure 175 kids. 175 out of 1167 done just like that. Things were looking up. And, to my absolute delight again, my team didn’t let up. The eleven of us were able to hunker down and get all of our kids done in nine days, giving us a day off. I was completely blown away by their ability to focus on the tasks at hand, find a rhythm and rock it. Everyday there was a team leader and that leader was in charge of organizing the kids, setting people’s tasks, and keeping the momentum going.
We had two teams so that we could do two schools at once. We started with the larger schools in order to cause the least amount of disruption during testing. We also tried to coordinate schools by area so that teams worked in schools closer together, allowing less travel and driving around. And it worked. While the teams worked, my counterpart Windy and I drove around making deliveries, bringing supplies, and making sure everything was going smoothly. It was one of the best coordinated efforts I have seen in my limited international work and I was truly impressed. Everyone knew they were part of a team, knew the mission, and worked to get it done.
That’s not to say we didn’t have our hiccups. In the developing world, there are always hiccups and usually these hiccups are chronically occurring. They’re always happening so you have to learn to adjust and work around them. And we eventually did. The biggest bump in the road, besides the crappy road to one of our schools was the testing. Because it was testing week, we started our measurements later, giving the students time to take their tests. However, tests were only an hour or so long. After that, teachers let the kids go home. This meant we had a precious window to catch kids that needed to be measured and quickly get them done. I mean, what kid is going to want to sit around and wait to get prodded and pricked while they have basically a day off of school? As a result, we were always searching for students and always missing some at the end of the day. How did we solve it? Classroom games.
To their credit, most of the teachers at these schools are very helpful. Most. After finishing exams, we were able to get teachers to play games with their students until we were ready for them. Hangman, guessing games, math games – whatever worked. And it did. Kids want to be in school, they like learning and they especially like learning in a way that’s fun and not the standard repetition. I loved it for many reasons; kids were engaged and enjoying themselves, they were staying at the school longer, we got our measurements done, and the schools were involved. A win for everyone.
Yep, our two weeks of measuring was a success. And to end it, we took a staff day to the beach. Granted, it happened to be on a day that was a complete downpour, but once we got over the mountain framing the city, the rains stopped and we were able to enjoy ourselves. The perfect ending to a hard-working week.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
a little bit of my haiti
just a little snapshot into my first couple of months here. the mountains of cap-haitien, scome of the school kids i work with, and the beaches where i get to relax. life. is. good.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
When things work out
Today while visiting the schools in preparation for our mid-line measurements starting next week, my team got a great surprise. My first week in Haiti at one of the schools I spotted a severely malnourished boy. Not only was he extremely stunted (about the same height as a two year old child), his skin was loose and had a ashy color, his energy level was non-existent (what kid doesn’t at least get up for recess?) and he had a fever. All of these are signs of some sort of micronutrient/nutritional problem but put them together and they indicate a possible larger problem of severe micronutrient deficiency.
In other words, this kid was stunted because he didn’t get enough calcium and vitamins a-c-d-k when he was an infant and young child. This could be because his mother stopped breastfeeding before six months or introduced food too early or didn’t watch him eat when he was old enough to eat without assistance or any combination. His skin – the most important barrier in preventing foreign objects like germs, parasites, infection into your body – was poor because he hasn’t had enough vitamin a & c as well as zinc over the years to the point where this barrier is easily broken. Dehydration also impacts the skin. His energy level was low because not only was he not getting enough food, he wasn’t getting enough of the right food such as fruits and vegatables. The Haitian diet is largely made up of rice, corn and beans. Vegetables like carrots, tomatoes, and pumpkin can be bought, but they can get expensive and are not always in the best condition. The fever that he had was most likely due to the fact that he had several infections that hadn’t been treated. These could have come from simple scrapes or mosquito bites or whatever. Your body needs vitamin a and others to fight of infections. When you have little to no vitamin a guess what – you get sick easily.
Besides all of these visible signs that I noticed right away he also likely had others. Diarrhea is common in undernourished children because they are dehydrated, have chronic infections and other illnesses and live in poor living conditions. The water quality in Haiti is also poor – it’s full of ecolli, giardia, amoebas, and other parasites besides dirt, shit and trash. If you drink it, you bet – diarrhea becomes pretty normal. Similarly, sanitation is also more than lacking. The neighborhood this boy lives in is one of the poorest in Cap-Haitien. Many families don’t have latrines (pit toilets you squat to use) and in fact share a common block toilet. (Imagine sharing two or three toilets with your fellow neighbors up and down the street. Now imagine you all have diarrhea and still can only use those latrines. Think they are adequate? They’re not.
So why the digression from nutrition to water and sanitation? Well, they’re intimately connected. You could be the most well-nourished person in the world but if you get diarrhea and don’t treat it, all those vitamins and minerals go out the um, well you know...back end. So while it’s important to be well-nourished, getting enough vitamin a,b’s, c, d,k and minerals like iron and zinc into your system, it’s just as important to be able to ensure they get used by your body and not flushed out.
An over-simplification of micronutrients, but hopefully you understand the complexity of this boy’s situation. He’s been chronically undernourished his whole life and his living conditions are setting him up for chronic illnesses that prevent him from absorbing the things he needs to get better. So he’s sick. And when I spotted him, the team realized that we needed to do something.
While part of the study is to monitor attendance and the health of the participants, there is also a line which we cross if a child is particularly in need of attention. For example, a child misses two days of school because he has a bad stomach ache. We make a note of it but we don’t call all hands on deck. However, a child has shown signs of malaria and has been absent for two weeks. That is more likely to get our attention and we’ll act by taking him to the hospital one way or another (either our nursing team will, school staff, parents, etc). This kid fell into the latter category – he needed to be seen by a doctor and treated right away. So the very next week, one of our fabulous and amazing nurses took him to the hospital where he was diagnosed as malnourished (he was in the 2% for children age 3. This child happened to be SIX YEARS OLD. That malnourished.) as well as having severe infections. He was given antibiotics and his parents were instructed to feed him a specific diet which included meat, dairy products, eggs, and vegetables.
Chances are, the whole family is undernourished. He has three older brothers at the same school as well as four younger siblings. It’s a lot of mouths to feed no matter what country you live in. In Haiti, getting adequate amounts and qualities of food is especially challenging. So, educating parents as well as kids is important. That’s what our nurse did. She talked with the parents and told them what the boy needed in order to get better. And although the parents have hardly any disposable income (really, none at all) they began sending 10 Gourd to school with the boys to buy snacks while at school.
Since these boys are already in the study and are receiving the fortified peanut butter (one of the experimental groups if you remember a previous post) this money can be spent on additional snack food. The nurse in charge of this school – being proactive and diligent noticed this and pulled the oldest brother aside to instruct him what to buy. 5 Gourd is to be spent on bread so that they can put the peanut butter on it (making it more filling) and the remaining 5 Gourd is spent on frozen milk or something similar which is mostly eaten by the youngest brother (the malnourished one). This happened within my first two weeks of being in Haiti.
Having been here for over a month now, I have gotten pretty busy and the little boy, though never completely out of mind has been pushed aside for other things. But today, as I was visiting the school early in the morning before it started I could see three boys running late. I yelled for them to hurry up and as they got to the school I noticed that it was the little boy and two of his brothers. Quelle surprise! The boy was running! A normal thing for a kid to do, but for a little boy who two weeks ago didn’t even get up for recess but preferred to sit this was a sight to see. His whole demeanor was different – he was smiling, talking and engaged.
It was so good to see and got me and my two colleagues pumped up for the rest of the day. Granted, we didn’t do much for him besides get him to the hospital, the fact that he has changed since going to the hospital is encouraging. The school staff, especially the director has been supportive of our project and has begun improvement to the school such as purchasing a water pump and filter for drinking and handwashing (with clean water!), the parents are sending extra money for a mid-day snack for their kids, the nurse is ensuring that he eats the whole peanut butter packet – all of these things are giving him a chance to get better. I can’t wait to see him again.
In other words, this kid was stunted because he didn’t get enough calcium and vitamins a-c-d-k when he was an infant and young child. This could be because his mother stopped breastfeeding before six months or introduced food too early or didn’t watch him eat when he was old enough to eat without assistance or any combination. His skin – the most important barrier in preventing foreign objects like germs, parasites, infection into your body – was poor because he hasn’t had enough vitamin a & c as well as zinc over the years to the point where this barrier is easily broken. Dehydration also impacts the skin. His energy level was low because not only was he not getting enough food, he wasn’t getting enough of the right food such as fruits and vegatables. The Haitian diet is largely made up of rice, corn and beans. Vegetables like carrots, tomatoes, and pumpkin can be bought, but they can get expensive and are not always in the best condition. The fever that he had was most likely due to the fact that he had several infections that hadn’t been treated. These could have come from simple scrapes or mosquito bites or whatever. Your body needs vitamin a and others to fight of infections. When you have little to no vitamin a guess what – you get sick easily.
Besides all of these visible signs that I noticed right away he also likely had others. Diarrhea is common in undernourished children because they are dehydrated, have chronic infections and other illnesses and live in poor living conditions. The water quality in Haiti is also poor – it’s full of ecolli, giardia, amoebas, and other parasites besides dirt, shit and trash. If you drink it, you bet – diarrhea becomes pretty normal. Similarly, sanitation is also more than lacking. The neighborhood this boy lives in is one of the poorest in Cap-Haitien. Many families don’t have latrines (pit toilets you squat to use) and in fact share a common block toilet. (Imagine sharing two or three toilets with your fellow neighbors up and down the street. Now imagine you all have diarrhea and still can only use those latrines. Think they are adequate? They’re not.
So why the digression from nutrition to water and sanitation? Well, they’re intimately connected. You could be the most well-nourished person in the world but if you get diarrhea and don’t treat it, all those vitamins and minerals go out the um, well you know...back end. So while it’s important to be well-nourished, getting enough vitamin a,b’s, c, d,k and minerals like iron and zinc into your system, it’s just as important to be able to ensure they get used by your body and not flushed out.
An over-simplification of micronutrients, but hopefully you understand the complexity of this boy’s situation. He’s been chronically undernourished his whole life and his living conditions are setting him up for chronic illnesses that prevent him from absorbing the things he needs to get better. So he’s sick. And when I spotted him, the team realized that we needed to do something.
While part of the study is to monitor attendance and the health of the participants, there is also a line which we cross if a child is particularly in need of attention. For example, a child misses two days of school because he has a bad stomach ache. We make a note of it but we don’t call all hands on deck. However, a child has shown signs of malaria and has been absent for two weeks. That is more likely to get our attention and we’ll act by taking him to the hospital one way or another (either our nursing team will, school staff, parents, etc). This kid fell into the latter category – he needed to be seen by a doctor and treated right away. So the very next week, one of our fabulous and amazing nurses took him to the hospital where he was diagnosed as malnourished (he was in the 2% for children age 3. This child happened to be SIX YEARS OLD. That malnourished.) as well as having severe infections. He was given antibiotics and his parents were instructed to feed him a specific diet which included meat, dairy products, eggs, and vegetables.
Chances are, the whole family is undernourished. He has three older brothers at the same school as well as four younger siblings. It’s a lot of mouths to feed no matter what country you live in. In Haiti, getting adequate amounts and qualities of food is especially challenging. So, educating parents as well as kids is important. That’s what our nurse did. She talked with the parents and told them what the boy needed in order to get better. And although the parents have hardly any disposable income (really, none at all) they began sending 10 Gourd to school with the boys to buy snacks while at school.
Since these boys are already in the study and are receiving the fortified peanut butter (one of the experimental groups if you remember a previous post) this money can be spent on additional snack food. The nurse in charge of this school – being proactive and diligent noticed this and pulled the oldest brother aside to instruct him what to buy. 5 Gourd is to be spent on bread so that they can put the peanut butter on it (making it more filling) and the remaining 5 Gourd is spent on frozen milk or something similar which is mostly eaten by the youngest brother (the malnourished one). This happened within my first two weeks of being in Haiti.
Having been here for over a month now, I have gotten pretty busy and the little boy, though never completely out of mind has been pushed aside for other things. But today, as I was visiting the school early in the morning before it started I could see three boys running late. I yelled for them to hurry up and as they got to the school I noticed that it was the little boy and two of his brothers. Quelle surprise! The boy was running! A normal thing for a kid to do, but for a little boy who two weeks ago didn’t even get up for recess but preferred to sit this was a sight to see. His whole demeanor was different – he was smiling, talking and engaged.
It was so good to see and got me and my two colleagues pumped up for the rest of the day. Granted, we didn’t do much for him besides get him to the hospital, the fact that he has changed since going to the hospital is encouraging. The school staff, especially the director has been supportive of our project and has begun improvement to the school such as purchasing a water pump and filter for drinking and handwashing (with clean water!), the parents are sending extra money for a mid-day snack for their kids, the nurse is ensuring that he eats the whole peanut butter packet – all of these things are giving him a chance to get better. I can’t wait to see him again.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Call me spiderwoman
I’m sharing this mostly because I just found out how incredibly stupid I was. Which really isn’t too much of a surprise but still. I have a brain, a pretty good one with rational thought and plenty of logical reasoning capabilities. Yet, I seemed to forget all that and acted like a fool. So I wake up last Saturday kinda late. By late I mean 6:30 as the sun literally shines in my faces too bright to sleep any longer. And yes, that is sleeping in. I usually get up at 4:45. So, sleeping in and taking full advantage of a lazy Saturday I go over to my kitchen to make a little French press coffee and an omelet. There, in my sink, clinging with all eight legs to my French press is a spider. A big spider. Like huge. Like Hobbit eating big.
Not being able to control the girlish shriek that came out of my mouth I then proceeded to do a special heevy-jeevy dance all around my apartment. Then, realizing that yes, I am all alone and yes, that big-ass spider is real- I, me, moi, mwen- I was the one that needed to take care of it. So I thought about my options:
1) Kill the spider
2) Catch the spider, and like the crickets that I capture, fling it from my balcony
3) Leave my apartment for the day in hopes that the spider was just passing through. Then proceed to lay awake for the remainder of my time here in pure fear of waking up face to face with one.
4) Run away, run fast! Move into a new apartment, this one is definitely occupied
Then I weighed my options:
1) If I kill it, how would I do it…shoe? Bazooka? Mustard gas? What if it didn’t die and I made it angry and it came at me like a spider monkey? What if its guts exploded everywhere? And to kill it, I would have to get close. Very close.
2) Catching it, super easy. I have a cup that is reserved exclusively for this activity. Although I only use it for crickets. So getting a much bigger animal into it? Hmm… then how will it be transported without leaving said cup and crawling up my arm to my face?
3) This is not an option. I treasure my sleep and do not want to revisit the week after the mamba was killed behind my hut laying on my bed in pure terror. I had nightmares that a snake a la basilisk style would surround me in my sleep and slowly digest me over the hot season. I can only imagine similar nightmares as a monster spider gingerly weaves a web around me and turns my insides to jelly. Plus, what if the spider, misreading my lack of action in getting rid of it decides to become a permanent resident?
4) There is nowhere to run.
And what did I do with my options? I choose option 1. It. Must. Not. Live. But rather than pick up my one of my heavy shoes, or a brick, or anything that was heavy I choose… a knife. Yes, I picked up a knife and decided that stabbing it to death was my best option. Like I said before, rational thinking did not occur to me. It was a big spider. So with knife in hand I took a couple of deep breaths (somewhere off in the distance I’m pretty sure that Eye of the Tiger was playing) and made my attack. With one terrifying and expertly placed swiped I cut the thing in half. (Nevermind I could feel it struggling beneath me). But then… the front half ran away. Yes, that’s right. The front half of the spider aka the head and four legs ran away. Cutting it in half didn’t kill it. So what’s a girl gotta do to kill a damn spider? Stab it! And yes, that did kill the front half of the spider.
I figured that the spider was just a small baby tarantula. They’re relatively common in the area near my apartment so I figured, cool. A tarantula. I’ve never seen one in the wild. Granted the “wild” doesn’t really mean my kitchen sink, but hey – it’s exotic. I’m really in it now! No, just for fun this morning I looked up pictures of tarantulas and spiders in Haiti and guess what? It wasn’t one. Nope, I had decided to go head to head with a brown recluse. Yep. And not just any brown recluse. I mother-giant of one. Yea, super venomous and I should have probably chosen any other option other than option 1 because guess what – brown recluse spiders can still live even after they lose part of their body. Chopping it in half does not kill a brown recluse, rather, it pisses it off.
After reading up on my little dead friend, I learned the following; I have created a brown recluse haven in my apartment. It’s the right temperature, there are places to hide (under the cabinets, in the clothes piled on my bed, in my dresser, under my bed) and plenty of things to eat. Guess who’s super cleaning her place this weekend? That’s right, this girl. And I won’t be chopping things in half anymore – the shoe it is! And maybe a little bit more rational thinking.
Not being able to control the girlish shriek that came out of my mouth I then proceeded to do a special heevy-jeevy dance all around my apartment. Then, realizing that yes, I am all alone and yes, that big-ass spider is real- I, me, moi, mwen- I was the one that needed to take care of it. So I thought about my options:
1) Kill the spider
2) Catch the spider, and like the crickets that I capture, fling it from my balcony
3) Leave my apartment for the day in hopes that the spider was just passing through. Then proceed to lay awake for the remainder of my time here in pure fear of waking up face to face with one.
4) Run away, run fast! Move into a new apartment, this one is definitely occupied
Then I weighed my options:
1) If I kill it, how would I do it…shoe? Bazooka? Mustard gas? What if it didn’t die and I made it angry and it came at me like a spider monkey? What if its guts exploded everywhere? And to kill it, I would have to get close. Very close.
2) Catching it, super easy. I have a cup that is reserved exclusively for this activity. Although I only use it for crickets. So getting a much bigger animal into it? Hmm… then how will it be transported without leaving said cup and crawling up my arm to my face?
3) This is not an option. I treasure my sleep and do not want to revisit the week after the mamba was killed behind my hut laying on my bed in pure terror. I had nightmares that a snake a la basilisk style would surround me in my sleep and slowly digest me over the hot season. I can only imagine similar nightmares as a monster spider gingerly weaves a web around me and turns my insides to jelly. Plus, what if the spider, misreading my lack of action in getting rid of it decides to become a permanent resident?
4) There is nowhere to run.
And what did I do with my options? I choose option 1. It. Must. Not. Live. But rather than pick up my one of my heavy shoes, or a brick, or anything that was heavy I choose… a knife. Yes, I picked up a knife and decided that stabbing it to death was my best option. Like I said before, rational thinking did not occur to me. It was a big spider. So with knife in hand I took a couple of deep breaths (somewhere off in the distance I’m pretty sure that Eye of the Tiger was playing) and made my attack. With one terrifying and expertly placed swiped I cut the thing in half. (Nevermind I could feel it struggling beneath me). But then… the front half ran away. Yes, that’s right. The front half of the spider aka the head and four legs ran away. Cutting it in half didn’t kill it. So what’s a girl gotta do to kill a damn spider? Stab it! And yes, that did kill the front half of the spider.
I figured that the spider was just a small baby tarantula. They’re relatively common in the area near my apartment so I figured, cool. A tarantula. I’ve never seen one in the wild. Granted the “wild” doesn’t really mean my kitchen sink, but hey – it’s exotic. I’m really in it now! No, just for fun this morning I looked up pictures of tarantulas and spiders in Haiti and guess what? It wasn’t one. Nope, I had decided to go head to head with a brown recluse. Yep. And not just any brown recluse. I mother-giant of one. Yea, super venomous and I should have probably chosen any other option other than option 1 because guess what – brown recluse spiders can still live even after they lose part of their body. Chopping it in half does not kill a brown recluse, rather, it pisses it off.
After reading up on my little dead friend, I learned the following; I have created a brown recluse haven in my apartment. It’s the right temperature, there are places to hide (under the cabinets, in the clothes piled on my bed, in my dresser, under my bed) and plenty of things to eat. Guess who’s super cleaning her place this weekend? That’s right, this girl. And I won’t be chopping things in half anymore – the shoe it is! And maybe a little bit more rational thinking.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Enjoying the Market
There are two markets in Cap-Haitien, one that is smaller and closer to my apartment and the other that is in the center of town, offering everything you could ever need. (That’s not exactly quite true, but it’s huge). Both of these markets have their advantages; while the smaller market has fewer people and crowds, the selection is often limited. The big market has that selection but also has people everywhere all jostling for whatever it is they need. I’ve actually always enjoyed the market. In Senegal, I lived for Sundays—my village’s lumo or market days. I would be able to stock up on bananas for the kids, peanut butter or peanuts for an awesome dinner, and other fruits and veggies. Plus, there were fatayas to eat, frozen milk to gobble up and an over-stuffed car to ride. Even in Podor or Ndioum, the market was always bustling. Walking through the market and seeing the first tomatoes or lettuce of the season always brought a feeling of disbelief mixed with joy. And finding women to shop from over and over again, built up a nice report where I often got a cadeau or gift in return for my patronage.
Though not as easily, I still enjoy the markets here. Part of it is I have yet to master the art of Creole bargaining, although I have been improving each time. Part of it is that they are different enough where I still haven’t found that good ‘ole market rhythm. However, I do enjoy walking around the market, seeing all the oranges and limes and the bright splotches of tomatoes. It is mostly women who work at the market, selling produce or fish or dry goods like rice. So, I enjoy visiting with them as well. I call them Madame, they call me Cherie and I buy my week’s worth of eggs, rice, beans, etc. While there aren’t fatayas here to eat, I have been exploring my options for my go to market snack. There is something called pate pike which is a hot-pocket like item stuffed with a spicy sauce. Fried plantains are also plentiful and each vendor seems to have their own topping.
Exploring the markets, I have wandered upon the area the sells charcoal, mounds of them covering the ground while you walk in between them. The meat area will have pieces of chicken for sale-even a whole chicken if you get it early enough—as well as mutton and beef. The fish market is teeming with the mornings catches- various fish caught with nets, spears and poles. There are always ladies with large basins next to them full of live crab or shrimp. Besides fresh food, there are the dry good vendors who have large sacks full of rice, beans, corn, flour, pasta plus the other items needed to make a tasty meal. Then there are the other vendors who sell soap, powdered milk, paper towels and the like.
At times, the market can seem like a sensory overload. There, fish mixes with citrus, mixes with old vegetables, mixes with garbage. It’s not a pleasant smell and it can easily overwhelm you. Plus, there are always people around, pushing and shoving and working their way through the narrow paths. Plus the noise that comes from small spaces, people shouting and trying to get your attention. But, if you’re able to zone out and push all of the distractions and unpleasant things aside you just might be able to enjoy it.
Though not as easily, I still enjoy the markets here. Part of it is I have yet to master the art of Creole bargaining, although I have been improving each time. Part of it is that they are different enough where I still haven’t found that good ‘ole market rhythm. However, I do enjoy walking around the market, seeing all the oranges and limes and the bright splotches of tomatoes. It is mostly women who work at the market, selling produce or fish or dry goods like rice. So, I enjoy visiting with them as well. I call them Madame, they call me Cherie and I buy my week’s worth of eggs, rice, beans, etc. While there aren’t fatayas here to eat, I have been exploring my options for my go to market snack. There is something called pate pike which is a hot-pocket like item stuffed with a spicy sauce. Fried plantains are also plentiful and each vendor seems to have their own topping.
Exploring the markets, I have wandered upon the area the sells charcoal, mounds of them covering the ground while you walk in between them. The meat area will have pieces of chicken for sale-even a whole chicken if you get it early enough—as well as mutton and beef. The fish market is teeming with the mornings catches- various fish caught with nets, spears and poles. There are always ladies with large basins next to them full of live crab or shrimp. Besides fresh food, there are the dry good vendors who have large sacks full of rice, beans, corn, flour, pasta plus the other items needed to make a tasty meal. Then there are the other vendors who sell soap, powdered milk, paper towels and the like.
At times, the market can seem like a sensory overload. There, fish mixes with citrus, mixes with old vegetables, mixes with garbage. It’s not a pleasant smell and it can easily overwhelm you. Plus, there are always people around, pushing and shoving and working their way through the narrow paths. Plus the noise that comes from small spaces, people shouting and trying to get your attention. But, if you’re able to zone out and push all of the distractions and unpleasant things aside you just might be able to enjoy it.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Carnival!
What do vampires, donkey riding Jesus, and stilt walkers have in common? Why nothing, of course, but at Karnaval they all seem to find their own place in the festivities. This past week, while most of us celebrate Mardi Gras, a day of gluttonous indulging, the Caribbean and other pockets of Creole in the world (New Orleans, for example) celebrate Carinval (Karnaval if you’re of the Haitian persuasion). And this year, Karnaval just so happened to be in Cap-Haitien. And it was quite the week.
Preparations for Karnaval have been occurring for the last two months – roads have been improved, trash cleaned from the streets, buildings painted and spruced up, and decorations strung up everywhere. It is an exciting sight to see – mostly because the city will benefit from these improvements for far longer than just this week. Although Karnaval is traditionally held in Port-au-Prince, President Martelly has moved festivities to different regions throughout the country over the past few years. This provides these regions with infrastructure improvements and gives them recognition for their uniqueness.
So officially, Karnaval began on Sunday, but the two weeks before were mini-vals in getting everyone super siked for the real deal. This amounted to people dressed in costumes walking down the middle of the street and congesting traffic blowing whistles and other things. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday night, things really kicked up with parades, music (live bands and the standard hot new single playing ear bleeding loud on repeat). Parades a plenty, each major musician in Haiti gets their own float and they basically battle of the bands it out until one is declared the winner. This happens at about midnight to dawn every night but especially on Tuesday night. During the day other parades happen and these are a hodge-podge of all things Haiti. One group will be voodoo vampires with little bats following them everywhere. While the next group might be dancers dressed up in bright green and yellow costumes. Other groups might dress up mock current politicains or the military, while others might cover themselves in sugar cane or other plants. Taken separately, each group of people seem to be its own parade but together they all make up what is good and bad about Haiti and it all fits together. (Think of it being a Fourth of July, Halloween, Arbor Day, Macy’s Day, and election campaign parade all in one…. aka what is both awesome and annoying about America).
So what is Karnaval? What is the purpose of dressing up in costumes, playing music, and having parades for days on end in the middle of the night? Well, Karnaval, like Mardi Gras occurs right before Lent ending on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. It’s celebrated all over the world, particularly in countries with strong Catholic leanings. The event is a huge block party, masquerade, parade, etc and meant to prepare everyone for a period of prayer, fasting, reflection…. While Karnaval in Europe mostly focuses on the celebration before Lent, Caribbean Karnaval and particularly Haiti uses the event for more than just a religious celebration. It is a time when the people can dress up in costume and mock politicians and the government, bring awareness to a social problem, organize people around an issue, and celebrate their country.
My time at Karnaval was spent in the day for a number of reasons; I didn’t feel like getting pick-pocketed, I wanted to actually be able to see the costumes and everything, and I wanted to be able to leave when it got loud, crowded, sensory overwhelming. At night, you pretty much get stuck there so I played it straight up Golden Girls style and was in early and out by dark. Still, I got to see so much and share the festivities with many. I watched one of the parades for a while, made friends with a Haiti Boy Scout who was volunteering for security. Learned way more about Karnaval and Haiti from him than I did via guys from work and my own research and he was delighted that he was basically our private tour guide for three hours. My favorite floats and groups of people were a social movement group who did military like exercises about Haiti “We fall down, We crawl through it, We get back up, We stand together, We move forward”. (Yes, it moved my olive clothed Che-loving heart close to revolutionary tears). I also loved all of the different dancing. Some troupes danced more traditional and had drummers with them while others made their area just one big party and invited everyone to dance with them. It was a great couple of hours to watch and see and experience. Plus, I got a Prestige shirt which pretty much the most awesome thing. I’m now one of the cool kids.
It might sound that Karnaval is all puppies and roses, and while it was a great party, it did have its controversy. Without being too political or one-sided – and fully acknowledging that it is pretty much impossible for me to do that I will try to explain. Martelly is a well-known Haitian singer, alias “Sweet Mickey”. He became famous for his anti-government songs and the theatrical way he mocked political leaders back in the day. Now as President, this year he banned nine bands from performing at Karnaval because of their own political leanings (aka – they don’t agree with how Martelly is running things). One of the band members was his own cousin. A bit hypocritical you might think? Well, yes. And many Haitians felt the same way. Though it was estimated that over three million people would be at Karnaval this year, maybe half showed up. And while I can’t speak to the night’s events or the days when I wasn’t there, the people I did talk to seemed a little nervous about speaking to openly and loudly against Martelly. Anyways, despite the controversy and despite the low-turnout (which still seemed like a lot of people to me) Karnaval was great fun and I’m more than happy I was in Cap to celebrate.
Preparations for Karnaval have been occurring for the last two months – roads have been improved, trash cleaned from the streets, buildings painted and spruced up, and decorations strung up everywhere. It is an exciting sight to see – mostly because the city will benefit from these improvements for far longer than just this week. Although Karnaval is traditionally held in Port-au-Prince, President Martelly has moved festivities to different regions throughout the country over the past few years. This provides these regions with infrastructure improvements and gives them recognition for their uniqueness.
So officially, Karnaval began on Sunday, but the two weeks before were mini-vals in getting everyone super siked for the real deal. This amounted to people dressed in costumes walking down the middle of the street and congesting traffic blowing whistles and other things. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday night, things really kicked up with parades, music (live bands and the standard hot new single playing ear bleeding loud on repeat). Parades a plenty, each major musician in Haiti gets their own float and they basically battle of the bands it out until one is declared the winner. This happens at about midnight to dawn every night but especially on Tuesday night. During the day other parades happen and these are a hodge-podge of all things Haiti. One group will be voodoo vampires with little bats following them everywhere. While the next group might be dancers dressed up in bright green and yellow costumes. Other groups might dress up mock current politicains or the military, while others might cover themselves in sugar cane or other plants. Taken separately, each group of people seem to be its own parade but together they all make up what is good and bad about Haiti and it all fits together. (Think of it being a Fourth of July, Halloween, Arbor Day, Macy’s Day, and election campaign parade all in one…. aka what is both awesome and annoying about America).
So what is Karnaval? What is the purpose of dressing up in costumes, playing music, and having parades for days on end in the middle of the night? Well, Karnaval, like Mardi Gras occurs right before Lent ending on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. It’s celebrated all over the world, particularly in countries with strong Catholic leanings. The event is a huge block party, masquerade, parade, etc and meant to prepare everyone for a period of prayer, fasting, reflection…. While Karnaval in Europe mostly focuses on the celebration before Lent, Caribbean Karnaval and particularly Haiti uses the event for more than just a religious celebration. It is a time when the people can dress up in costume and mock politicians and the government, bring awareness to a social problem, organize people around an issue, and celebrate their country.
My time at Karnaval was spent in the day for a number of reasons; I didn’t feel like getting pick-pocketed, I wanted to actually be able to see the costumes and everything, and I wanted to be able to leave when it got loud, crowded, sensory overwhelming. At night, you pretty much get stuck there so I played it straight up Golden Girls style and was in early and out by dark. Still, I got to see so much and share the festivities with many. I watched one of the parades for a while, made friends with a Haiti Boy Scout who was volunteering for security. Learned way more about Karnaval and Haiti from him than I did via guys from work and my own research and he was delighted that he was basically our private tour guide for three hours. My favorite floats and groups of people were a social movement group who did military like exercises about Haiti “We fall down, We crawl through it, We get back up, We stand together, We move forward”. (Yes, it moved my olive clothed Che-loving heart close to revolutionary tears). I also loved all of the different dancing. Some troupes danced more traditional and had drummers with them while others made their area just one big party and invited everyone to dance with them. It was a great couple of hours to watch and see and experience. Plus, I got a Prestige shirt which pretty much the most awesome thing. I’m now one of the cool kids.
It might sound that Karnaval is all puppies and roses, and while it was a great party, it did have its controversy. Without being too political or one-sided – and fully acknowledging that it is pretty much impossible for me to do that I will try to explain. Martelly is a well-known Haitian singer, alias “Sweet Mickey”. He became famous for his anti-government songs and the theatrical way he mocked political leaders back in the day. Now as President, this year he banned nine bands from performing at Karnaval because of their own political leanings (aka – they don’t agree with how Martelly is running things). One of the band members was his own cousin. A bit hypocritical you might think? Well, yes. And many Haitians felt the same way. Though it was estimated that over three million people would be at Karnaval this year, maybe half showed up. And while I can’t speak to the night’s events or the days when I wasn’t there, the people I did talk to seemed a little nervous about speaking to openly and loudly against Martelly. Anyways, despite the controversy and despite the low-turnout (which still seemed like a lot of people to me) Karnaval was great fun and I’m more than happy I was in Cap to celebrate.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
First Impressions
I figure as much as quasi-experimental designs and the nerd level discussions on the amazing profession of public health appeal to a small population, more writing on the country itself and my adventures in it would appeal to that wider range (you know, that 95% of you). So for every work-ish or nerdy post I write about peanut butter I will do my best to write one about Haiti itself. Although I have only been here a week I have gotten to explore and have a few adventures already and gotten right into the groove that is working in Haiti.
Language: Haiti has two official languages; French and Creole. While French is mostly spoken in Port-au-Prince (or so I’ve been told) I have been able to speak it to most anyone here which has helped me in work as much as getting moutard from the boutique. Haitian Creole does use a number of French words, and while they may not be spelled the same (for example, every letter you write in Creole you say which makes complete sense) the pronunciation is so similar. For example; l’ecole (school in French) becomes lekol in Creole. I have been able to understand a bit of Creole and I actually think my “dirty” French helps me because I don’t always use correct grammar and can pick up on Creole words easy. Anyways, the language is really interesting and I’m excited to be learning it.
Apartment: I have a place to live! And it is not full of termites or scorpions or toads or has a mamba that hangs out back! And a working toilet…indoors! Seriously, I knew that I would have an apartment when I got here and that it was considered “really nice” but Haitian standards. However, I was not expecting how truly nice it is and it feels like a little oasis. It’s breezy and cool; I have a little kitchen area complete with fridge, oven and sink and a balcony that has quickly become my favorite spot.
Market: I was expecting something similar to our lumo days up north or the market I frequented in NDioum where everyone is calling out to you and it is crowed and overwhelming. However, the small market that is nearest my apartment is quite lovely. Yes, it can be crowded at times, but I haven’t felt rushed or overwhelmed yet. Although I have yet to figure out the real prices for things.
Driving: The roads here are currently getting a huge makeover because Carnival will be in Cap this year instead of Port au Prince. This means that there are construction crews out constantly paving, rolling, hammering away and usually during the rush hour traffic. Though it isn’t anything I’m not used to (reminds me a lot of the Ponty in Dakar) there are always surprises. Like the recent installment of four traffic lights throughout the city, one on a street with no intersections. Traffic is more polite here though and I’m not in constant fear that we will either hit a goat, a cow, a child, another car, or the person sitting next to me in the back.
Beach: The beach, the beach, the glorious beach. Just a short drive away from the city is literally paradise. Just drive up a mountain and down the other side and bam- right there is a long beach with clear blue water, a waiter that serves you the beach rum drink you will ever have and a lounge chair that you won’t want to get up from. I never knew this about Haiti- it has great beaches and some beautiful landscapes and I can’t wait to find more!
Language: Haiti has two official languages; French and Creole. While French is mostly spoken in Port-au-Prince (or so I’ve been told) I have been able to speak it to most anyone here which has helped me in work as much as getting moutard from the boutique. Haitian Creole does use a number of French words, and while they may not be spelled the same (for example, every letter you write in Creole you say which makes complete sense) the pronunciation is so similar. For example; l’ecole (school in French) becomes lekol in Creole. I have been able to understand a bit of Creole and I actually think my “dirty” French helps me because I don’t always use correct grammar and can pick up on Creole words easy. Anyways, the language is really interesting and I’m excited to be learning it.
Apartment: I have a place to live! And it is not full of termites or scorpions or toads or has a mamba that hangs out back! And a working toilet…indoors! Seriously, I knew that I would have an apartment when I got here and that it was considered “really nice” but Haitian standards. However, I was not expecting how truly nice it is and it feels like a little oasis. It’s breezy and cool; I have a little kitchen area complete with fridge, oven and sink and a balcony that has quickly become my favorite spot.
Market: I was expecting something similar to our lumo days up north or the market I frequented in NDioum where everyone is calling out to you and it is crowed and overwhelming. However, the small market that is nearest my apartment is quite lovely. Yes, it can be crowded at times, but I haven’t felt rushed or overwhelmed yet. Although I have yet to figure out the real prices for things.
Driving: The roads here are currently getting a huge makeover because Carnival will be in Cap this year instead of Port au Prince. This means that there are construction crews out constantly paving, rolling, hammering away and usually during the rush hour traffic. Though it isn’t anything I’m not used to (reminds me a lot of the Ponty in Dakar) there are always surprises. Like the recent installment of four traffic lights throughout the city, one on a street with no intersections. Traffic is more polite here though and I’m not in constant fear that we will either hit a goat, a cow, a child, another car, or the person sitting next to me in the back.
Beach: The beach, the beach, the glorious beach. Just a short drive away from the city is literally paradise. Just drive up a mountain and down the other side and bam- right there is a long beach with clear blue water, a waiter that serves you the beach rum drink you will ever have and a lounge chair that you won’t want to get up from. I never knew this about Haiti- it has great beaches and some beautiful landscapes and I can’t wait to find more!
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
What's in a study?
Arrived in Cap-Haitien late Sunday afternoon and despite the seven hour delay I couldn't believe how incredibly beautiful my first glimpses of the country were. We flew in a small prop plane and so we were not as high up as we would have been had we been in a jet. Haiti is extremely mountainous but I was not expecting the mountains to greet me as we descended. The literally rose right out of the water and into the clouds and as we landed in Cap, flew between them. Of all my descents and flights, this is definitely in the top three for its sheer beauty.
Come Monday morning, I got right into the swing of things and visited the schools we are partnering with. These schools (six total) are throughout Cap and cover students from first grade through sixth, although a few schools also have the equivalent of kindergarten as well. Like Senegal, these schools operate with very little resources and I am always amazed at the teachers who are dedicated to work within these obstacles - many of whom have not been paid for several years. But the children love school and they love learning - it is so easy to see that on their faces and the pride they take in wearing their uniforms and caring for their textbooks. Each of the schools are very different, for many reasons; some are in the city center and are smack in the urban chaos while others are more on the outside of the city, able to enclose a larger area for the kids to play. Some have electricity (though very limited), some have separate rooms for classes while in others classes are all taught in one large space. Nonetheless, every school has been more than gracious and cooperative in letting us constantly disrupt classes in order to conduct this study.
The government of Haiti (Ministries of Health and Education), as part of their child nutrition initiative is looking to add a school snack component to schools. As several of the kids I've met do not get to eat breakfast and are maybe given enough money to buy a bonbon at school (think processed, sugar and no nutritional value) it is important that the school snack be up the upmost nutritional value while being low cost to produce and distribute. There are three groups for the study, two schools in each group. As the study is quasi-experimental, it is important that the schools get matched and paired as equally as possible so that any noticeable difference between the groups can be identified and should the study be effective, reduce bias and strengthen validity. One group is our control group where they carry on business as usual with no specific snack or snack time. Although this group is not getting one of the two snacks we are studying, I feel that these groups are the most important in getting a picture of the school lifestyle that these kids encounter as well as getting an accurate measure of the nutritional status of these kids. The second group is testing a granola bar made from peanuts, oats, sesame and honey. While it isn't fortified with any micronutrients, it does have a decent amount of nutritional value for the kids. It is currently being made in Haiti and is very affordable. The third group in the study is receiving Mamba, a fortified peanut butter and soy bean blend. It is jam-packed with micronutrients and while slightly more expensive to make, would cover a child's nutritional needs for the day. So that’s a basic overview of setting up the study and the different between the three groups.
So the study is currently in it's implementation phase. This means that all of the children have gone through baseline measurements; their height, weight and hemoglobin have been recorded before the start of the study. This gives us a base from which to compare our mid-line (to be conducted in March) and end-line (to be conducted in June) data with, highlighting any changes in growth and iron content. While we are taking anthropometry measurements (height and weight), changes to these are harder to contribute to our study as kids naturally grow over time and it is affected by lots of outside forces (ie, genetics). However, where we hope to make the biggest impact and record the biggest change is in iron content in the body. Iron is just one of several micronutrients that significantly impacts anemia rates. Improving micronutrient status like iron is important for fighting infections, addressing diarrhea and improving cognitive development. Should the Mamba product we are studying be significant in improving rates of anemia, there is potential further impact child nutrition throughout a child’s life. During implementation, the children in the granola bar and mamba groups receive their snack everyday during the school week that they are present. So if there are present everyday, they receive the snack five times a week. The control group does not receive any snack but as I said before, it is common that the children are given a little money (usually about one Haitian dollar) to buy something.
What I'm doing now is visiting the various schools during snack time and in the morning to help with and observe snack distributions. Are the kids eating the snack? Do they like it? Do they eat something afterwards? How do the teachers think the snack impacts the children? Do the teachers like the snack? These are all qualitative questions that I ask that will give me a deeper understanding of the snacks' impacts beyond just what the data says. I’m also assisting in getting all of the baseline data entered and organized so that we can conduct a descriptive report of the kids as a preview of things to come.
It has been a busy first week in Haiti, but a great one. The schools have been so much fun to visit and learn about and I have gained a wealth of insight from the teachers, our enumerators (who distribute the snacks) and the kids themselves and look forward to work every day as I know it brings something new for me to learn and experience. Stay tuned for more!
Peace,
Jaime
Also- if you are more interested in learning about fortified peanut butter projects in Haiti, check out a few old stories on NPR
Come Monday morning, I got right into the swing of things and visited the schools we are partnering with. These schools (six total) are throughout Cap and cover students from first grade through sixth, although a few schools also have the equivalent of kindergarten as well. Like Senegal, these schools operate with very little resources and I am always amazed at the teachers who are dedicated to work within these obstacles - many of whom have not been paid for several years. But the children love school and they love learning - it is so easy to see that on their faces and the pride they take in wearing their uniforms and caring for their textbooks. Each of the schools are very different, for many reasons; some are in the city center and are smack in the urban chaos while others are more on the outside of the city, able to enclose a larger area for the kids to play. Some have electricity (though very limited), some have separate rooms for classes while in others classes are all taught in one large space. Nonetheless, every school has been more than gracious and cooperative in letting us constantly disrupt classes in order to conduct this study.
The government of Haiti (Ministries of Health and Education), as part of their child nutrition initiative is looking to add a school snack component to schools. As several of the kids I've met do not get to eat breakfast and are maybe given enough money to buy a bonbon at school (think processed, sugar and no nutritional value) it is important that the school snack be up the upmost nutritional value while being low cost to produce and distribute. There are three groups for the study, two schools in each group. As the study is quasi-experimental, it is important that the schools get matched and paired as equally as possible so that any noticeable difference between the groups can be identified and should the study be effective, reduce bias and strengthen validity. One group is our control group where they carry on business as usual with no specific snack or snack time. Although this group is not getting one of the two snacks we are studying, I feel that these groups are the most important in getting a picture of the school lifestyle that these kids encounter as well as getting an accurate measure of the nutritional status of these kids. The second group is testing a granola bar made from peanuts, oats, sesame and honey. While it isn't fortified with any micronutrients, it does have a decent amount of nutritional value for the kids. It is currently being made in Haiti and is very affordable. The third group in the study is receiving Mamba, a fortified peanut butter and soy bean blend. It is jam-packed with micronutrients and while slightly more expensive to make, would cover a child's nutritional needs for the day. So that’s a basic overview of setting up the study and the different between the three groups.
So the study is currently in it's implementation phase. This means that all of the children have gone through baseline measurements; their height, weight and hemoglobin have been recorded before the start of the study. This gives us a base from which to compare our mid-line (to be conducted in March) and end-line (to be conducted in June) data with, highlighting any changes in growth and iron content. While we are taking anthropometry measurements (height and weight), changes to these are harder to contribute to our study as kids naturally grow over time and it is affected by lots of outside forces (ie, genetics). However, where we hope to make the biggest impact and record the biggest change is in iron content in the body. Iron is just one of several micronutrients that significantly impacts anemia rates. Improving micronutrient status like iron is important for fighting infections, addressing diarrhea and improving cognitive development. Should the Mamba product we are studying be significant in improving rates of anemia, there is potential further impact child nutrition throughout a child’s life. During implementation, the children in the granola bar and mamba groups receive their snack everyday during the school week that they are present. So if there are present everyday, they receive the snack five times a week. The control group does not receive any snack but as I said before, it is common that the children are given a little money (usually about one Haitian dollar) to buy something.
What I'm doing now is visiting the various schools during snack time and in the morning to help with and observe snack distributions. Are the kids eating the snack? Do they like it? Do they eat something afterwards? How do the teachers think the snack impacts the children? Do the teachers like the snack? These are all qualitative questions that I ask that will give me a deeper understanding of the snacks' impacts beyond just what the data says. I’m also assisting in getting all of the baseline data entered and organized so that we can conduct a descriptive report of the kids as a preview of things to come.
It has been a busy first week in Haiti, but a great one. The schools have been so much fun to visit and learn about and I have gained a wealth of insight from the teachers, our enumerators (who distribute the snacks) and the kids themselves and look forward to work every day as I know it brings something new for me to learn and experience. Stay tuned for more!
Peace,
Jaime
Also- if you are more interested in learning about fortified peanut butter projects in Haiti, check out a few old stories on NPR
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Peanut Butter Haiti Time!
The blog is back! Although, no longer a Peace Corps blog, I figured I would keep up to date on the latest gypsy adventure, Haiti. With any luck, this will be updated much more regularly and contain progress and highlights of my work and not the ramblings of a country girl suffering from constant heat rash and heat happies. With any luck, but no guarantees.
First off, I should explain what I am doing in Haiti. One of my dear professors at Wash U is a leading expert in undernutrition and has done work in Haiti and Kenya for several years. She’s currently heading several research projects in Haiti around fortified peanut butter (Nutributter, PlumpyNut are some of the more recognized names of this type of food). This pb has been shown to be effective in combating child malnutrition among young children under 24 months. The project that I will be working on is an expansion of sorts to school age children to see if similar fortified pb can impact growth and diet diversity (aka improve nutritional status).
So I am part of the Wash U branch of this project (research, data collection, analysis) which is just one branch of the project tree. Meds and Foods for Kids, a ngo based in St. Louis, acts as the organizers of the project (coordinating with other partners, managing project staff, distributes the pb). This is who I will mostly be working with, though I’ll also be working with the other partners from time to time. Edesia is a company that developed and designed the package design of the pb (aka branding the pb). The National Soybean Research Lab was responsible for early acceptability of the project. The Ministry of Education in implementing the school feeding programs which feeds into the the Ministry of Health’s role in implementing national scale nutrition initiatives. So, needless to say, there are a lot of players involved.
Like I said before, my roles is primarily research and working in the implementation of the program (assisting in trainings, data collection, analysis and reporting). We are working with six different schools across Cap-Haitien…
…allow me to take a slight tangent…
I won’t be living or working in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti but a slightly smaller city in the north called Cap-Haitien. It’s located right on the coast and I’m told has lovely beaches for what it’s worth. Google earth actually has a number of great photos of the city should you be of the satellite stalking kind.
…back on track. So we are working with six different elementary schools, three of which will act as the control group (not get the pb) and three will be the experimental (get the pb). Not all kids at the schools are enrolled in the program but we hope to maintain our 1200 participants (aka kids). Kids getting pb will get it every day for several months. Each kid is measured three times (before the project, midway and at the end).
So that’s the project and the reason I’m in Haiti in a nutshell- more to come as I get in country and started with my work!
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