Tales from Rohan

Someone from the Petionville Mairie (roughly, the office of the mayor) shot and killed a merchant on Rue Geffrard about 3 blocks from my apartment this morning. This section of street is usually completely blocked with small merchants (mostly women) who come every morning and sell their stuff in the middle of the street. This is technically illegal, but most of the merchants have been coming to the same square of pavement in this informal market for years, and the Mairie comes at most every few months to make them move for a few days and then normalcy resumes.

This morning, apparently a stubborn merchant held her ground, got into an argument with whoever was working for the Mairie and was shot dead. This is exactly the kind of arbitrary violence that human-rights activists are worried about. Haiti could use a bit more order, but not at the expense of rule-of-law.

About an hour later, some merchants came back and started a small fire and started protesting her death. The UDMO (Departmental Unit for the Maintenance of Order) came and shot off some tear gas canisters and then left. The photos don’t really do it justice. I was trying to get the police shooting off some canisters, but I also wanted to stay safely away from them too.

The rule of law is fresh in my mind this week. Only a few days ago Martelly (the president) ordered a député (comparable to a member of the House of Representatives in the US) arrested. According to Article 115 of the constitution, it is illegal to arrest a sitting député or sénateur. They have to be censured by a majority of the senate first. The story gets even more bizarre. The député was arrested for breaking out of jail immediately after the earthquake. The guy then went about his business for several months and ran for député of Delmas and Tabarre (a huge district that makes up the bulk of the population of Port-au-Prince arrondissement) and won. Apparently the député was in jail while waiting for a verdict. He was cleared of whatever he was originally charged with. So, his arrest is for being out of prison for a crime he was found innocent of committing. The prison itself was destroyed in the earthquake, so it is hard to imagine him standing around outside the prison asking to be taken to another prison. He was eventually released after a resolution from the senate condemning the arrest and protests outside the (same, now rebuilt) prison by loyal constituents.

Alex, Mom and I went whale watching in the San Juan Islands. I think the pictures speak for themselves. While we saw members of all three resident pods (J, K, and L), I got the best pictures of K-pod.

This is K21 “Cappucino”. He was born in 1986.

Below is K40 “Raggedy” (check out her dorsal fin) with her calf. She was born sometime around 1963. Calves aren’t named until they are a year old because so many of them die due to all the accumulated toxins passed in utero and via breast milk. It’s hard being at the top of the food chain in the chemical age.

Some “head shots”.

Today is the first anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti. A lot of organizations are going to use this opportunity to talk about their projects and what progress they made over the last year. I think this is at best insensitive and inappropriate.

Today is a national day of memorial. Today should be a day to reflect, to remember those who died, and to be thankful for what we still have. I admire the courage and perseverance of the Haitian people. Please think about them today with honor, empathy, and dignity.

Yesterday (January 11, 2011), I was very fortunate to be invited to the opening of the Iron Market in downtown Port-au-Prince. Over half the structure was destroyed during the quake and a fire in 2008. It was meticulously restored to its original glory and design. The owner of Digicel (the biggest cell provider here) donated $12 million of his own money to rebuild it. I guess money doesn’t stop you doing the right thing when you are worth $3.5 billion.

The center portion of the Iron Market (Marché Hyppolite) in all her glory.

Decorations for the event. Note the use of cane sugar, chadeque (similar to grapefruit), carrot, and eggplant in the decorations.

The inside of the market (there are two sides).

There are high powered fans, potable water, and even recycling and composting in the market

The market looking so fine, temporarily makes you forget what still needs to be done in the immediate neighborhood.

People gathered all over, even on roofs, to see the event.

some of the speakers were more photogenic than others.

This was during an especially emotional part of the opening speech. The mayor of Port-au-Prince was talking about the memory of those who died in the earthquake. I didn’t even frame this shot, I just got really lucky shooting at waist height.

cutting the ribbon

Leaving the market as the sun starts to set.

Photos from election results protests outside my house:

Housemates watching protesters burn a Jude Célestin sign about 100m from the house between Pelerin 4 and Pelerin 5

Burning the sign:

Further down the road almost to Pelerin 2, two cars are in the road. Police are slowly moving them off the road.

The crowd is mostly calm. They are playing football or talking or just watching. They seem to be fine with people walking. They get upset with people driving motos by. They would definitely not be OK with driving a car through.

In Europe, the US, Canada and probably several other places, there is plenty of infrastructure, and we often disrupt some of our commerce and leisure travel for both “fun” purposes (fairs, parades, festivals, and sporting events) as well as to allow for peaceful protests. Peaceful protests and demonstrations there “work” in that they strike a balance. They draw enough attention to be worth the time of the demonstrators but their overall negative impact on productivity is fairly minor.

In Benin, there are occasional demonstrations by locals or political rallys which might block the National Highway for most of a day, but frankly there is so little traffic and commerce to begin with that blocking the main North-South road for half a day has very little effect on the average Beninese and basically no impact on say annual GNP.

In Haiti, however, there is enough traffic and commerce and already such bad roads and so much traffic congestion that demonstrations can cripple commerce for weeks. As well, often they are so disorganized, the participants don’t even agree on the purpose or motivation of the demonstration.

The Haitian constitution allows peaceful demonstrations provided that the organizers inform the police of the starting time and route of the demonstration. It is hilarious for an anglophone to read one of these letters. “The organizers send their congratulation on your work and their sincere greetings, and would like to use this opportunity to inform you that we will have a demonstration at …. Warmest regards, etc..”.

In practice the organized protests are mostly pretty peaceful and can have an almost carnival atmosphere, but you get spontaneous groups of as few as 10 people who just barricade a road for some possibly imagined injustice. The big unorganized protests seem more like an outlet for anger and frustration and recently can result in throwing rocks, burning tires, or even setting cars on fire (empty). Well, I’d be angry and frustrated too if I had no job, no reasonable prospect of one, had people in my neighborhood dying of cholera, and was still living in a tent, earthquake damaged building, or other makeshift structure almost a year after the earthquake.

While there is very little progress for the average Haitian in PaP who doesn’t have a permanent house, it is also hard to imagine what any of the NGOs could have realistically done differently to make things much better. The UN, government donors like USAID and the EU, and all the largest NGOs (e.g. Red Cross, Save The Children, WorldVision) are bound by the Sphere guidelines. (A notable exception is MSF.) The short version of Sphere is that you can only implement a program if the government agrees. (The UN strongly believes in the principle of national sovereignty.) However the government in this case is usually a substantial part of the problem and is actively getting in the way of what needs to be done to clear rubble, build schools, build temporary or permanent shelters, fix hospitals, improve sanitation, have a reasonable election, or prevent cholera.

The protests themselves are often not in the direct interest of the people demonstrating. A very common complaint is that MINUSTAH should leave the country because they brought cholera to Haiti. These battalions have been shot at, had stones thrown at them, had their stuff set on fire, etc. While it is quite likely that cholera came to Haiti from someone in the Nepalese UN battalion, the UN hired a local company to pump their sewage and dispose of it properly. The local company dumped the sewage directly into the Artibonite River (it’s on video). Nobody is protesting against them. Second, the epidemic was an accident. The protestors are acting as if all of MINUSTAH (from 30+ different countries) brought cholera to Haiti intentionally, as if they were protesting the actions of some dictator. Finally, the protestors are directly preventing anyone from actually doing anything about the cholera. The UN alone is delivering tons of clean water, soap, etc. The government isn’t going to do anything. Even when the government gets grants for programs the money usually just disappears.

However, perhaps more important is the sense that the people are deeply unhappy. Unhappy with the slow progress, with the apparent excesses of the international community, with the elections, with cholera coming to Haiti. For right or wrong, saying that you are unhappy probably rates as more important than letting someone try to do something about it.

The election results are officially supposed to be released on Tuesday, but there is a rumor that they will be released today instead. MINUSTAH is preparing for an unpleasant couple of days.

Du courage Haïti!

Yesterday I got up early to go on a scouting trip to Hinche, in the Central Plateau. It is seriously beautiful up there.

We drove by this really nice lake.

Arrived in Hinche. This is the old cathedral.

The new cathedral. Sorry about the windshield glare.

“Destinée” Morgue Privé Infini (“Destiny” Private Morgue Infinite) in Hinche.

Our target: Morne Baycite, immediately South of Hinche with a clear view of Hinche and the mountaintops behind PaP

On the way up

This kid walked up with us and joined me for a sandwich at the summit. Note the bare feet.

My what a pretty new tower you are…

The guard and a friend. Just like in Benin he was smiling about 10 seconds before I took the picture. Wait, wait, I need to get serious first!

Xavier was a bit tired after the hike up:

Hi Horsey!

The rainy season makes everything green and gorgeous

The road down the mountain

This a grain storage house on stilts to keep out the critters.

Today I helped Inveneo bring decent Internet access to NGOs in Leogane by climbing up a 60m tower to adjust an antenna. Mark and I setup the matching antenna in Leogane at the Hands-On Disaster Response base there.

About to head up the tower. Nice view! I am happy that it is foggy because it is cooler. The bottom antennas are 2m terrestrial microwave antennas.

If you look carefully, you can see me up there…

Close up:

I am staying the night at Hands On tonight. Tomorrow I’ll be getting connections up to Save the Children and the Canadian Red Cross. A lot of very happy volunteers wanted to buy me a beer tonight, but I stopped at 3.

More than half the words in Creole are borrowed from French. However it is useful and kinda fun to understand how certain sounds shifted during the transition. It makes it easy to guess words if you know the word in French already.

First of all you change the spelling to be phonetic (e sounds like pray, ou sounds like hoot, and ch sounds like ship)

papa -> papa
café -> kafe (coffee)
machine -> machin (machine, car)
radio -> radyo
police -> polis
plastique -> plastik
piscine -> pisin (pool)
fois -> fwa (time—as in one more time)

Then you just drop those barely pronounced R’s and L’s the French love so much

filme -> fim
bible -> bib
rancontre -> rankont (meeting)
tard -> ta (late/later)
fort -> fò (strong)
ferme -> fèm (farm)
professeur -> pwofesè (professor)
ingenieur -> enjenye (engineer)
rendre -> rann (to make, to render)
quelque -> kèk (some)

an, en, and on are nasals (except when accented)

pain -> pen (bread)
bon -> bon (good)
fin -> fen (end)
Haïtian -> ayisyen (Haitian man)
quinze -> kenz (fifteen)
employée -> anplwaye (employee)

ro becomes wo

problème -> pwoblem
fromage -> fwomaj (cheese)
erosion -> ewozyon
environnement -> anviwonman  

u becomes i

plus tard -> pli ta (later)
bureau -> biwo (office, desk)
pleasure -> plezi
université -> inivèsite
epui -> epi (and then, therefore)

A lot of words you normally hear with an article or with the preposition “de” just integrate the sound into the base noun:

l’église -> legliz (church)
l’école -> lekol (school)
l’est -> lès (east)
de l’eau -> dlo (water)

Likewise many nouns is French that begin with a vowel that are usually plural, integrated an initial z sound in the base noun (from the liaison that is usually present when speaking about them in French)

les amis -> zami (friend)
les étoiles -> zetwòl (star)
les épaules -> zepol (shoulder)
les armes -> zam (weapon, “arm(s)”)  

Generally if you need to guess a Creole verb from a French verb, use the most common form of the verb in everyday speech in French, which will often be the past participle or the infinitive

changer -> chanje (to change)
manger -> manje (to eat)
chercer -> chache (to look for)
couper -> koupe (to cut)
aider -> ede (to help)
batir (bati) -> bati (to build)
finir (fini) -> fini (to finish)
faire (fait) -> fè (to make, to do)
venir (venez) -> vini (to come)
travailler (travaille) -> travay (to work)
apprendre -> apprann (to learn)
dire (dit) -> di (to say)
lire (lu) -> li (to read)
ouvrir (ouvrit) -> ouvri (to open)
prendre (prends) -> pran (to take)

Sometimes a verb becomes nasal for no apparent reason

connaître (connais) -> konnen (to know, also use for savoir in Creole)
fermer -> fenmen (to close)
aimer -> renmen

Finally Haitians love contractions and simplifying long words. This is especially noticeable with some common verbs.

oublier -> bliye (to forget)
entender -> tande (to listen, also to hear in Creole)
attendre (attends) -> tann (to wait for)
regarder -> gade (to look at)
arriver -> rive (to arrive)
demander -> mande (to ask)
retourner -> tounen (to return, to go back)
vouloir (voudrai) -> vle (to want)
devoir (dois) -> dwe (should)

Hope you found this interesting.

Monday it was already six months since the earthquake. Still in Port-au-Prince, fewer than 5% of the condemned buildings have been demolished and cleared. Unfortunately there are some perverse incentives that help keep it that way. Most people in P-au-P rent their home. The convention for rentals here is that you pay in advance for a year or two. (Apparently is also very hard to evict someone squatting on your land, so the landowners counter by insisting on a year in advance). Even if your house is destroyed, you’ve already paid the rent and apparently the owner is under no obligation to fix the house you rented if it is destroyed. So now there are two perverse incentives. Owners don’t need to bother rebuilding because their renters have already paid anyway and if the renters get fed up and rebuild for them, they get someone to do their work for free. Renters don’t want to spend money to fix a house that isn’t theirs, and if they hold out, there is the chance that some NGO will show up and build them a new house.

To make matters worse land title is very unclear in Haiti. In some cases there are two different people with official deeds to the same land granted under different presidents. Meanwhile there are probably one or more families that actually live there.

Then there is the issue of ownership of the rubble. Rubble contains broken cement, wire, and metal which can have commercial value (at least theoretically). The rubble of a building is the property of the building owner, but rubble from a multi-unit building can also contain personal effects, appliances, and even human bodies from several different families. Often buildings in the hilly neighborhoods that were especially badly hit fall over into neighboring property. Any of these potential owners (any of the tenants, the owner of the building, and of the putative owners of the land where the rubble is sitting) can then object to removing the rubble (their property).

With this legal quagmire, you can imagine that even clearing rubble is taking forever. It looks like we will need another place to stay for people who lost their homes for a long time to come.

I promise to write more later about “temporary” housing…