tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5256943604970366692024-03-13T15:05:54.504-04:00Ben and LexiUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger513125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-525694360497036669.post-30278022623250172732013-05-27T15:10:00.003-04:002013-05-28T15:04:32.944-04:00Jobs and Justice: Raising the Floor on Worker Rights and Wages in Haiti<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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(Cross-posted from Other Worlds) <br />
By Beverly Bell, Alexis Erkert, and Deepa Panchang<br />
May 23, 2013 </div>
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<i>Over the past few weeks in this article series, we’ve heard firsthand from Haitian garment workers about low wages, <a href="http://truth-out.org/news/item/16279-haitian-sweatshop-workers-speak-sub-poverty-wages-and-sexual-coercion">sexual abuse</a>, <a href="http://otherworldsarepossible.org/another-haiti-possible/mrs-clinton-can-have-her-factories-haitian-sweatshop-worker-speaks">labor rights violations</a>, and work-related injuries they suffered in <a href="http://otherworldsarepossible.org/another-haiti-possible/hard-day-s-labor-476-offshore-assembly-industry-haiti">sweatshops</a>. </i></div>
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<i>Meanwhile, the world has watched the death toll in last month’s factory collapse in Bangladesh creep to above <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/12/world/asia/death-toll-in-bangladesh-collapse.html?_r=0">1,100</a>. Global activists have joined the calls of protesting workers, <a href="http://www.avaaz.org/en/gap_enough_fashion_victims_global/?bBKILdb&v=25002">ramping up pressure</a> on clothing retailers against the regular mistreatment and deaths of workers. Slowly, the public is realizing that exploitation within the garment assembly industry is not the exception, it’s the rule. Today, we take a deep dive into the economics of this sector in Haiti to look at how it has come to be, and at what alternative pathways might look like.</i><br />
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In discussions among foreigners about working conditions and wages in the assembly industry, we often hear, “But Haitians need jobs. Wouldn’t things be worse without them?” </div>
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The question creates a false choice between no job and a grinding,
exploitative job. Looking at the factors that led to low factory wages
in the first place helps expose the myth. Western governments and their
international financial institution (IFI) partners have played an active
role in creating the dearth of options that exists for Haitian workers.
For example, <a href="http://www.developmentgap.org/foriegn_aid/Democracy_Undermined_Economic_Justice_Denied_Structural_Adjustment_%26_Aid_Juggernaut_in_Haiti.html">trade policies</a>
from the 1980s onward caused the decimation of the Haitian agricultural
sector. Out-of-work farmers fled on masse to cities, and many had no
better option but a factory job. Foreign policies imposed on the Haitian
government have also contributed to a near-complete lack of public
services and a weak, dependent domestic economy, which ramp up
desperation; desperation, in turn, forced workers to accept the <a href="http://otherworldsarepossible.org/another-haiti-possible/hard-day-s-labor-476-offshore-assembly-industry-haiti">low wages</a>.<br />
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The offshore assembly model creates a race to
the bottom. In it, businesses circle the globe seeking the lowest cost
of production – which involves the lowest health and safety standards
and suppressed union organizing. As factories move to the next country,
they <i>create</i> dirt-poor workers.<br />
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Despite this, governments, the UN, and the IFIs tout
the garment assembly industry as a path to development in global South
countries. The UN places the expansion of free trade zones (groupings of
export-producing factories that enjoy tax exemptions and fewer safety,
health, and environment regulations) toward the center of its
development road map for Haiti. <a href="http://www.focal.ca/pdf/haiticollier.pdf">A 2009 report</a>
it commissioned argued that Haiti’s duty-free, quota-free preferential
access to the American market, combined with low labor costs and a lack
of protectionist policies, makes the country “the world’s safest
production location for garments.” Weeks after the earthquake, that
paper’s author, Oxford University economics professor Paul Collier, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/opinion/29collier.html">likened the catastrophic moment</a> to 19<sup>th</sup>
Century development of the US West, with its “investment booms,
financed by enthusiastic outsiders. The earthquake could usher in such a
boom in Haiti.”<br />
<br />
Apparently sharing this view, four months after the
earthquake the US Congress extended US trade preferences for assembled
garments to Haiti in a <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDMQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffrwebgate.access.gpo.gov%2Fcgi-bin%2Fgetdoc.cgi%3Fdbname%3D111_cong_public_laws%26docid%3Df%3Apubl171.111.pdf&ei=DtucUaDvC5al4AOf5YH4BQ&usg=AFQjCNFlHX6GL1I4-5N4Oj_ncgXFOXWviQ&sig2=kScBMW_gOvrT_EWvykm4cg&bvm=bv.46751780,d.dmg">law</a>
that was portrayed as a relief measure. Also since the earthquake, the
US and other global players came up with $224 million to subsidize the
development of a new free trade zone in northern Haiti, <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/AppData/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/MIIMN5NS/haiti.usaid.gov/work/docs/haiti_book_3rd_draft_112411.pdf">Caracol</a>. Developers, who <span style="color: #b45f06;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/06/world/americas/earthquake-relief-where-haiti-wasnt-broken.html?pagewanted=all">displaced 366 farmers</a></span> from arable farmland for the project, promised <a href="http://www.state.gov/p/wha/rls/fs/2011/154278.htm">more than 20,000 jobs</a>. In actuality, <a href="http://www.ayitikaleje.org/haiti-grassroots-watch-engli/2013/3/7/the-caracol-industrial-park-worth-the-risk.html">fewer than 1,500</a>
people are employed in the park; and after paying for transportation
and meals, workers reportedly end each day with an average of <a href="http://www.ayitikaleje.org/haiti-grassroots-watch-engli/2013/3/7/the-caracol-industrial-park-worth-the-risk.html">US $1.36</a>. More <a href="http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-7733-haiti-economy-new-free-zone-in-thorland-65-carrefour.html">free-trade zones</a> are in the offing.
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For all the funding and attention the
sector has received, the 24 factories currently making garments for
export to the US employ very few people: <a href="http://betterwork.org/global/?p=2977">25,924</a>, or approximately 0.5% of the <a href="http://ihsi.ht/rgph_resultat_ensemble_population.htm.">working-age population</a>.
No matter the numbers, the industry’s contribution to the national
economy is false development, said economist Camille Chalmers with the
Platform to Advocate Alternative Development in Haiti. “Almost all of
the primary materials used in manufacturing come from outside. When they
say that Haiti exports hundreds of millions of dollars in products, a
lot of that goes to [foreign companies to] pay for the inputs like cloth
and equipment. Once assembled, the goods aren’t consumed in Haiti but
are shipped abroad. The government doesn’t even benefit from taxes or
tariffs. Haiti’s only role is as a stopover in the production process,
where cheap labor keeps profit margins high.”<br />
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Haiti does need work opportunities, as any
cash-desperate person there will tell you. But not at any price or under
any conditions. Former factory worker Ghislene Deloné said, “It can’t
be based on the exploitation of people. We need to be treated like human
beings.” And Camille Chalmers said, “When we speak of employment, we
have to talk about the quality of employment. [This sector] doesn’t
create work that can develop our human resources or reduce poverty.
These comparative advantages just reproduce misery.”</div>
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A better question than “Wouldn’t no job be worse?” is
how to ensure good, dignified jobs, based on the requirements outlined
by workers and as mandated by the <a href="http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/lang--en/index.htm">International Labour Organisation</a>.
Here is where we come in. We can support alternative sources of
employment that provide more power and economic advantage to workers,
their families, and the domestic economy, like worker-owned businesses,
cooperatives, fair trade enterprises, and smallholder agricultural
production.</div>
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We can also help stop the race to the bottom so that
all workers can support their families and live with dignity. There is
no reason to consent to a system wherein both the maker and the wearer
of a product are degraded. We can work to ensure that the current model
is more humane, by pressuring our governments and the IFIs to make
enforceable labor rights and living wages standard policy in all trade
agreements and so-called development programs.</div>
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We can, moreover, engage in the campaigns driven by
affected workers, like boycotts against corporations with bad records.
University campuses around the country have succeeded with this tack on
apparel made by Nike, Russell Athletics, Reebok, and others.</div>
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It is often still the case that, when pressured,
companies just close their doors and relocate to another country. This
doesn’t mean that we should stop campaigning, but rather that we should
redouble our efforts to raise the floor everywhere. Instead of allowing
unlivable wages and violation of labor rights to be cast as a
comparative advantage, we should accept nothing less than jobs with
justice for all.</div>
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<i>To get involved, check out the websites of <a href="http://usas.org/">United Students against Sweatshops</a>, <a href="http://www.witnessforpeace.org/">Witness for Peace</a>, <a href="http://www.workersrights.org/">Worker Rights Consortium</a>, <a href="http://www.globallabourrights.org/">Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights</a>, and <a href="http://corporateactionnetwork.org/campaigns/end-death-traps-safe-workplaces-for-all-workers-tour">Corporate Action Network</a>.</i><br />
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Alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195722092133640281noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-525694360497036669.post-75241721832305574492013-05-20T16:30:00.000-04:002013-05-20T16:32:28.788-04:00Leaving Luna<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Luna was probably the only Haitian able to get the paperwork she needed to immigrate last week, and yet she took one look her little cat carrier next to our pile of luggage and said, 'You want me to go WHERE? Forget about it.'<br />
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Leave it to a cat to make an international move as stressful as possible. Though we anticipated that she might not go willingly and locked her in the house that morning, she slipped out at some point when I opened the door. And, from some excellent hiding place, she watched as the entire neighborhood mobilized to find her (probably as much to stem my hysterical flood of tears as for any other reason).<br />
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We had to leave without her, but neighbors and friends saved the day promising to feed her, check in on her, and bring to the US for us when they come in a few weeks. Someone sent this picture of her on our porch the next day, looking for all the world like she owns it.<br />
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Alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195722092133640281noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-525694360497036669.post-48569208808065616482013-05-18T16:55:00.004-04:002013-05-18T16:56:39.548-04:00The M Community: LGBT Courage in Haiti<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
An Interview with Charlot Jeudy<br />
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(Cross-posted from Other Worlds) <br />
By Alexis Erkert<br />
May 17, 2013<i> </i><br />
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<i>Jeudy is the president of the Haitian organization <a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fkouraj.org%2F">KOURAJ</a>, meaning “courage” in Creole. </i><br />
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May 17, <a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.homophobiaday.org%2Fdefault.aspx%3Fscheme%3D1207">International Day Against Homophobia</a>, is important because more than 60 countries around the world commemorate this day, which is to raise awareness about homophobia, transphobia, biphobia, and the possibilities for a world without discrimination. For Haitians engaged in the struggle, we are claiming the day, too, to remind people that we’re here, what we want, and that we’re suffering. <br />
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Homophobia affects our entire society. That’s why we have the slogan, “Homosexuality hurts no one; homophobia hurts everyone.” Homophobia is what stresses people out. Homophobia is what pushes people to violence. <br />
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In 1992, homosexuality was taken off the list of mental illnesses, which was critical. Now it is homophobia that must be considered as a mental illness. <br />
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A little boy who feels effeminate is more likely to drop out of school as a result of harassment. I know boys who were beaten by schoolmates because they were effeminate. I know boys who were expelled from school because they were effeminate. These children then become the bane of society. I know people who have been disowned by their families. There are violent rap artists whose song lyrics promote hatred towards us. Recently, in the town of Jacmel, two youth were viciously beaten, told they were ruining the area because they were <i>masisi</i> [meaning “gay” as both value-neutral and as hate speech].<br />
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When people are shunned because of their sexuality, KOURAJ exists as a support group. We can’t provide them with income or social housing; we aren’t the state. We can’t take them in. But we can put pressure on discriminators, we can start discussions, we can advocate for changes in public opinion. All of this is part of our fight for the rights of the M community, something new that we’re naming ourselves. The M community is comprised of <i>masisi</i> [gay], <i>madivin</i> [lesbian], makòmè [transgender], and <i>miks</i> [bisexual]. <br />
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Certain aspects of sexuality are taboo in Haiti, and they need to be discussed. It’s necessary for people to understand that we can have sexual differences, but that that doesn’t stop us from evolving together as a society. Only when people have changed their perceptions and preconceptions can we build solidarity. <br />
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We’re working with legal experts to draft an anti-homophobia, anti-discrimination law. We’re also petitioning the state to sign and ratify the <a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.yogyakartaprinciples.org%2F">Yogyakarta Principles</a> and the <a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.un.org%2Fapps%2Fnews%2Fstory.asp%3FNewsID%3D37026">UN declaration for the Universal Decriminalization of Homosexuality</a>. There are conventions to which Haiti is already signatory, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; and our own constitution says that the state is obligated to guarantee everyone’s protection without distinction. <br />
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We are also working with two institutions, the International Lawyers’ Office [BAI] and Defenders of the Oppressed [DOP], who can provide legal assistance in cases of homophobic violence. The challenge is that victims often don’t want to press charges or pursue a claim publicly. Victims worry that if they go to court, they’ll attract negative press. We need to change the system.<br />
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I am a man that will always be with another man, and I want to be able to do that in my own country. I knew that to do this in Haiti would be a challenge, but I threw myself into the struggle anyway. And it is a struggle. I could move to North America and live freely with a man. Sorry, but no. Haiti is my home. <br />
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If there is to be a movement for the rights of M persons in Haiti, Haitians must be behind it. We recognize that we cannot take on the identity of the international LGBT movement. We take note and are encouraged by the successes of this movement around the world, but from a sociological standpoint, Haitian culture is different and our movement must reflect that.<br />
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For example, the societal definition of <i>masisi</i> is ‘acting as the female partner in a homosexual relationship.’ You can have muscular, manly M persons, but for Haitians, they cannot be called <i>masisi</i>. <br />
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The word <i>masisi</i> has always been an insult. It makes people uncomfortable for us to use it, but in Haitian Creole, there is no other way for me to describe what I am. The upper class uses French and English terms, but Haiti has a large non-bourgeois population, and our message must be directed at those people who are actively discriminating against us. If we claim the word <i>masisi</i> to reflect who we are instead of how discriminators see us, they can’t go on verbally abusing the M community. <br />
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All seven of the KOURAJ executive committee members are out. We’re out on behalf of the organization’s 70 other members, so that they can see themselves in us. We can’t shy away from confronting homophobia, wrestling with it publicly, because somewhere someone might be struggling in silence. <br />
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We take every opportunity to sit with people and explain our mission, but we know it will take time. Haiti’s traditional human rights organizations are unwilling to defend us. Universities and institutions of higher learning don’t touch this question, although we encourage them to. Members of the press have historically been reticent to bring incidents of homophobia to light for fear of being associated with us. Politicians are the same, although we regularly invite them to participate in our activities. <br />
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Since 1986 and the return of so-called democracy in Haiti, the government has done little to advance human rights. President Martelly has contributed to the problem, financing groups with anti-M hate music to participate in Carnival, etc. When Madame [Michelle] Pierre-Louis was nominated for prime minister in 2009, other politicians stated that as a <i>madivin</i>, she wasn’t a citizen, was incompetent, and couldn’t serve her country. Being an M person is viewed as a political liability.<br />
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We’re beginning to see positive signs of change, though. When community members walk in the streets and someone calls them a <i>masisi</i> as an insult, others will often chime in to defend them. We’re also getting more calls for assistance, which proves that people do believe that we are able to help with their problems. In the past, M persons have sometimes been refused medical treatment, but that’s also changing. <br />
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The press is slowly beginning to seek KOURAJ out to offer comment, which means they recognize us as an authority on this subject. They’re beginning to realize that they can’t deal with it in ignorance as they have in the past. <br />
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I can’t measure the impact KOURAJ is having in terms of figures and numbers, but it still holds a world of importance. We’ve made all of our resources available to this group. We’ve taken our own money and lent it to <i>masisi</i> who needed it. We’ve invited them to eat together, had discussions, and enjoyed each other’s friendship. That’s community, solidarity. To no longer be alone isn’t something we can measure, and it feels good to know that we are providing a network for the M community.<br />
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We are not acting in the hopes of future recognition. We’re acting for change now, and I’m certain it’s happening. We’re Haitians through and through, and want society to see us as we see ourselves. <br />
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<i>Alexis Erkert is the Another Haiti is Possible Coordinator for <a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.otherworldsarepossible.org%2F">Other Worlds</a>. She has worked in advocacy and with Haitian social movements since 2008. You can access all of Other Worlds’ past articles regarding post-earthquake Haiti <a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.otherworldsarepossible.org%2Fhaiti">here</a>.<br /><br />Copyleft. You may reprint this article in whole or in part. Please credit any text or original research you use to Alexis Erkert, Other Worlds.</i></div>
Alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195722092133640281noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-525694360497036669.post-91082412872246766492013-05-13T22:39:00.000-04:002013-05-13T22:39:00.256-04:00Port-au-Prince Color<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195722092133640281noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-525694360497036669.post-40648082472468236832013-05-12T11:07:00.001-04:002013-05-13T07:10:36.462-04:00Road trip: Bassin Zim<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Getting out of Port-au-Prince is the very worst part of any road trip. In Croix-des-Bouquets, cars and motorcycles compete for limited road space with crowded tap-taps emblazoned with slogans like The Good Shepherd, <i>Mèsi Jezi</i> (Thank you, Jesus), <i>Dieu est avec nous</i> (God is with us), and <i>Bondye Konnen</i> (God knows) and <i>Jazz la </i>(Jazz). As part of an astute political analogy, Amy Willentz <a href="http://amywilentz.com/petit-pierres-ascent/?buffer_share=faed3&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer%253A%2520%2540tatewatkins%2520on%2520twitter"><span style="color: #b45f06;">recently wrote</span></a>, "These colorfully painted and meticulously decorated jitneys honk and
rattle and seem to promise a breezy world of Caribbean fun and speed.
But motionless in the endless traffic jams, inside all is darkness and
jumble, heat and noise, and suffocation."</div>
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We can keep moving on the motorcycle, threading in and out of lines of traffic, though I am almost clocked in the head by a pink floor fan. Its owner clutches the side of a tap-tap with one hand, and the fan and a 3-tiered corner shelf unit with the other.<br />
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At the desolate base of <i>Morne Cabrit</i>, Goat Mountain, we pass tidy rows of candy-colored houses. It looks like 3,000 toy blocks were plunked into the middle of the desert under a postcard-blue sky. There are no trees. There is no surrounding infrastructure. This <a href="http://haitigrassrootswatch.squarespace.com/haiti-grassroots-watch-engli/2012/7/9/the-morne-a-cabri-mystery-houses.html"><span style="color: #b45f06;">controversial </span></a>(because Haiti faces a <a href="http://www.undertentshaiti.com/"><span style="color: #b45f06;">housing crisis</span></a>, and no-one knows who will live in these houses...) project was financed by the Venezuelan Petro-Caribe Fund to the tune of $44 million. Across the highway, a backdrop of scrub and cacti frames a donkey nuzzling her foal.<br />
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Route National 3 winds up the mountain overlooking Lake Azuei and beyond, Lake Enriquillo in the Dominican Republic. Ignoring flashy new billboards warning of the dangers of overloaded motor vehicles, tap-taps hurtle towards Port-au-Prince piled impossibly high with plantains, breadfruit and mangoes. Trucks from the opposite direction carry red, mesh bags of garlic and plastic washtubs - imports from across the border. <br />
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The air cools as we continue to climb. There are more trees and, from
Morne Blanc, a stunning view of the Central Plateau. In Terre Rouge, we pass a restaurant called "Slave Bar Resto." Wooden stalls will overflow on market day to make the road nearly impassable, but for now they sit empty just past an empty military base. Formerly a UN base, it was also occupied last year by members of the former FAd'H (Haitian Armed Forces) when they were <a href="http://blexi.blogspot.com/2012/05/whats-going-on-with-haitian-army.html"><span style="color: #b45f06;">vying to get their jobs</span></a> back. Near Mirebalais we pass another base, this one used by Nepalese UN troops. It is here that cholera was introduced to Haiti in 2010, from sewage that the <a href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1439/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=10401"><span style="color: #b45f06;">UN dumped</span></a> into a tributary of the Artibonite river. In accidental irony an NGO sign across the road reminds passers-by, <i>Dlo se lavi</i>. Water is life. <br />
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Mirebalais is happening these days. There's a spiffy new park at the entrance to the city, with a welcome sign missing the "M" in "Mirebalais." The new <a href="http://www.pih.org/country/haiti"><span style="color: #b45f06;">Partners in Health</span></a> teaching hospital has been inaugurated three times, perhaps appropriate given the contribution it will make to healthcare provision in Haiti. For old times' sake (...Ben used to work in Mirebalais part-time), we stop at the Buena Bar-Resto for a meal under the raised eyebrows of <a href="http://www.haitisupportgroup.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=288:duvalier-francois-papa-doc&catid=85:famous-haitians&Itemid=30"><span style="color: #b45f06;">Papa Doc Duvalier</span></a>. <i>Si dye</i> and the Haitian justice system <i>vle</i>, Jean-Claude, son and heir to Papa's dictatorship, may face charges of crimes against humanity. The hearings are dragging out, though, and neither the government nor international community seem inclined to push for a trial. Across the country, victims' families have just commemorated a <a href="http://livewire.amnesty.org/2013/04/26/haiti-wont-forget-the-violations-of-the-past-2/"><span style="color: #b45f06;">particularly bloody day</span></a> for which justice has never been served. <br />
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Too close to the Buena Bar-Resto's dictator, a second hand ticks around the face of Jesus clock. Jesus is blond-haired, blue-eyed. A flat-screen on the opposite wall is televising <i>Au nom de l'honneur</i>, which as best as I can tell is a French-language Jordanian soap opera set in Switzerland. <br />
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We spend the night at a Mennonite retreat center nestled into a valley in Marouge, just outside of Mirebalais. New friends Jon, Samuel, Widner, Wadner and Gonzales knock mangoes out of trees with precision and play the latest rap music videos on an i-pod touch. <br />
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From Marouge, the highway (gloriously paved with funding from the European Union) winds along the Artibonite river and past the <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2010/11/21/a_dam_for_the_people_and_a_people_damned.html"><span style="color: #b45f06;">Peligre dam</span></a>, a tragedy of a project that flooded agricultural land and doesn't supply Haiti with as nearly as much <a href="http://haitirewired.wired.com/profiles/blogs/powering-lights-and-progress-in-haiti"><span style="color: #b45f06;">electricity</span></a> as it could. <br />
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Through Cange where <a href="http://www.tracykidder.com/books/mountains/"><span style="color: #b45f06;">Dr. Paul Farmer</span></a> built his first <span style="color: black;">hospital</span>, Thomonde, Savane Longue, Savanette Cabrale, Marmon... Fields of maize and beans stretch out beyond breadfruit, mango, and calabash trees. Bare mountaintops rise above. Brightly painted houses with the pitched roofs and tall shutters of traditional Haitian architecture are made of split palm logs. An elevated house for grain storage and one or two ancestral tombs, carefully maintained in deference to the dead, complete each <i>lakou</i>. We pass a cockfighting ring, a mechanic's shop, the signature red flag that rises above a <i>peristyle</i>, and three billboards advertising the cellular company Digicel, a <i><a href="http://myayiti.com/2010/04/haiti-puts-its-faith-in-the-lottery"><span style="color: #b45f06;">borlette</span></a></i> special, and an NGO hand-washing campaign. <br />
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In Hinche we order juice and a plate of spaghetti for a good Haitian breakfast. The Relais Bar-Resto also seems to be a favorite of local politicians, ostentatiously sporting revolvers in the back of their pants. <br />
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Hinche is the capital of the Central Plateau and the 1886 birthplace of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlemagne_P%C3%A9ralte"><span style="color: #b45f06;">Charlemagne Péralte</span></a>, who led the Caco guerrilla resistance against the <a href="http://www.ibiblio.org/uncpress/chapters/renda_taking.html"><span style="color: #b45f06;">US occupation</span></a>. A bust of Péralte stands at the center of the public plaza, and in fading pastoral mural of peasant farmers, Taino Indians and vodou practitioners, he wears a suit and holds a Haitian flag. <br />
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It's market day, and the dusty edge of town is a swarm of vendors, come in from the surrounding countryside by donkey or on foot. The road northeast of Hinche bumps through Papaye, the base of Haiti's largest organized peasant movement, the <a href="http://www.mpphaiti.org/"><span style="color: #b45f06;">Mouvman Peyizan Papay</span></a> (MPP). We realize how worn out the shocks are on Ben's motorcycle. It is hot, the landscape barren.<br />
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Suddenly, the road makes a sharp turn and ends in an oasis: a 65-foot cascade of white water surrounded by trees. UN soldiers are sunning themselves on rocks at the base. The pool here is usually a brilliant blue, but heavy rains before our visit have made it murky. <br />
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Above, smaller cascades tumble into three successive pools, Candelabra, Arc-en-ciel, and Wells. We sit overlooking the uppermost pool and our pint-sized guides, Midlove and Roslyn, regale us with stories of the hungry <i>loa</i>, spirits, that live in underwater caves. A <i>blan</i> came swimming here with a gold tooth, wearing a chain around his neck. He drowned. You can't swim wearing any jewelry, they say, lest you attract the unwanted attention of a <i>loa</i>. Fortunately, you can protect yourself by leaving money in a cave ("We can show you where!") as an offering. Then, after your swim the <i>loa</i> will come to you in a dream and tell you which <i>borlette</i> numbers to play. "You'll win enough money to buy a motorcycle." <br />
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When I point out that we already have a motorcyle, Midlove nudges Roslyn and whispers into her ear. "Our mother drowned in this pool," Roslyn says with a sneaky grin. "She left us orphaned with no money and no-one to care for us."<br />
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A small grotto closest to the base of the falls is studded with moss-covered stalactite and smells powerfully of the rum serviteur pour here in supplication. <br />
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Further up the trail, Midlove and Rosyln pick deftly over slippery river rock and lead us into a stunning cathedral of a cave. Shafts of sunlight shine in from an opening in the roof and bats whirl overhead. </div>
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Trying to soak in the majesty of the space, I ask the growing crowd of children with us to please be quiet, but they're excited to show us the mouth of an underground passageway that they say leads to the Dominican Republic. Nearby: a corona bottle of <i>kleren</i>, twine wound tightly around a stalactite, charred evidence of a small fire. <br />
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Caves were also ritual spaces for the island's first inhabitants and there are fading Taino petroglyphs on the walls of the cavern. They're hard to see among the modern-day graffiti, but as our eyes adjust we begin to pick out carvings of cartoonesque stick figures, a spider, and other images. </div>
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While not exactly the idyllic day picnicking at a waterfall that I had imagined, we manage to pay off our guides and hide in the woods to eat lunch before we climb back on our bike. In the end, we've only driven 140 miles round-trip, but it feels like 500. <br />
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Alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195722092133640281noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-525694360497036669.post-73170015735382089222013-05-06T08:29:00.000-04:002013-05-13T07:11:29.537-04:00Sacred Sunday<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We woke up in a cabin that we've been building for five months, and that we finally finished this weekend. Sunrise was spectacular. So, too, was a big pot of pumpkin soup cooked over a fire and, as the afternoon fog rolled in, a communion of beer and beets shared with dear friends also facing transition.<br />
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Our convocation and benediction came from Wendell Berry's <a href="http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/go-local/poetry-by-wendell-berry"><span style="color: #b45f06;"><i>The Wild Geese</i></span></a>,<br />
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And we pray, not<br />
for new earth or heaven,<br />
but to be quiet in heart, and in eye<br />
clear. What we need is here.<br />
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And a reading from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. There is a time for everything. <br />
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Of course, the sacred is always punctuated by a hammer hitting a thumb, a screaming baby (not ours) with a dirty diaper, rain, and a neighboring farmer angry about a goat. So there was some of all of that, too. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cjYGp84L0aU/UYetV8WE0OI/AAAAAAAAB8g/iIv6x1zCb8o/s1600/IMG_9150.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cjYGp84L0aU/UYetV8WE0OI/AAAAAAAAB8g/iIv6x1zCb8o/s400/IMG_9150.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
As we hiked out, leaving Kenscoff for perhaps for the last time, Joseph's parting words to us were "<i>degaje w</i>." [Do what it takes to get by]. A perfectly fitting Haitian send-off. </div>
Alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195722092133640281noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-525694360497036669.post-81872191820428132482013-04-28T13:18:00.000-04:002013-04-28T15:54:10.317-04:00Ben's Hot Sauce (the making of)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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You'll need, roughly:</div>
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</div>
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2 1/2 cups of very hot peppers</div>
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2 heads of garlic</div>
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A few tomatoes or a small can of tomato paste</div>
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A few mangoes </div>
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Vinegar</div>
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<br /></div>
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1. Pick your peppers (these are <i>piman zwazo</i>, which grow quite productively in a tire on our driveway):</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r5WsIGm3B1Y/UX1Rxs99HQI/AAAAAAAAB1c/PILOpeaJ9tk/s1600/IMG_8616.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r5WsIGm3B1Y/UX1Rxs99HQI/AAAAAAAAB1c/PILOpeaJ9tk/s400/IMG_8616.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
2. De-stem and clean peppers, then blend to taste with garlic, tomato, and vinegar (Ben uses homemade vinegar, usually <a href="http://thenourishingcook.com/how-to-make-fruit-scrap-vinegar/"><span style="color: #b45f06;">pineapple vinegar</span></a>, which is easier to make than hot sauce): <br />
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</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ter_ZxkgTXE/UX1RyexPUCI/AAAAAAAAB1k/DNa4rB-5wz8/s1600/IMG_8617.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ter_ZxkgTXE/UX1RyexPUCI/AAAAAAAAB1k/DNa4rB-5wz8/s400/IMG_8617.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
3. Add anything else to the blender that seems delicious (like mangoes if you're in Haiti and they're in season, which we are and they are):<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tVQ5IL5Ftxo/UX1LYvHqsvI/AAAAAAAAB1E/rYZCbMQg6pU/s1600/IMG_8959.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tVQ5IL5Ftxo/UX1LYvHqsvI/AAAAAAAAB1E/rYZCbMQg6pU/s400/IMG_8959.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
4. Enjoy and/or share one gallon of hot sauce:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j0JH2fXUBc8/UX1Lkk6Jx5I/AAAAAAAAB1M/6sImdAqi8Vo/s1600/IMG_8951.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j0JH2fXUBc8/UX1Lkk6Jx5I/AAAAAAAAB1M/6sImdAqi8Vo/s400/IMG_8951.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Tips:<br />
<br />
- Wear gloves or plastic bags over your hands if you chop the peppers instead of blending them.<br />
- Don't rub your eyes.<br />
- Some online recipes call for sautéeing the peppers... this is a bad idea.<br />
- Refrigerate.</div>
Alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195722092133640281noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-525694360497036669.post-70504090093147806692013-04-25T12:51:00.001-04:002013-04-25T12:51:27.423-04:00A Hard Day's Labor for $4.76: the Offshore Assembly Industry in Haiti<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div align="center" class="Tx1TextFirstParagraph">
<img alt="" height="359" src="http://www.otherworldsarepossible.org/sites/default/files/resize/Sweatshops-1-541x359.JPG" style="vertical-align: top;" width="541" /> </div>
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<em>Garment assembly workers in Caracol, Haiti's newest free trade zone. <br />Photo credit: Joris Willems, <a href="http://www.avec-papiers.be/" target="_blank">www.avec-papiers.be</a></em></div>
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<em><br /></em></div>
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<em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></em></div>
<div style="display: inline !important; text-align: left;">
By Beverly Bell and Alexis Erkert</div>
<em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></em><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">(Cross-posted from <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;"><a href="http://www.otherworldsarepossible.org/another-haiti-possible/hard-day-s-labor-476-offshore-assembly-industry-haiti">Other Worlds</a></span>)</span></em></div>
<em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">
</span></em><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><div style="text-align: left;">
April 25, 2013</div>
</span></em><br />
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<em><br /></em>
<em>As we mourn the deaths of nearly <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/death-toll-bangladesh-building-collapse-161#overlay-context=article/las-storied-gibson-amphitheatre-closing-sept">200 people</a>
in yesterday’s garment factory collapse outside of Dhaka, Bangladesh,
we publish this article about the very issue of garment labor
exploitation on the other side of the world. Economist Paul Collier's
2009 report <a href="http://www.focal.ca/pdf/haiticollier.pdf">"Haiti: From Natural Catastrophe to Economic Security"</a>
recommends for Haiti the same model that in Bangladesh has resulted in a
race towards lower pay, disastrous working conditions, and the deaths
of more than <a href="http://corporateactionnetwork.org/campaigns/end-death-traps-safe-workplaces-for-all-workers-tour">800 garment workers</a> since 2006. This article begins to explore the implications of sweatshop labor as a model for development.</em></div>
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<br />
“Haiti
offers a marvelous opportunity for American investment. The
run-of-the-mill Haitian is handy, easily directed, and gives a hard
day’s labor for 20 cents, while in Panama the same day’s work costs $3,”
wrote <em>Financial America</em> in 1926.[i] That may be the most
honest portrayal of the offshore industry in Haiti to date. Today, the
US, the UN, multilateral lending institutions, corporate investors, and
others are more creative in their characterizations. They spin Haiti’s
high-profit labor as being in the interest of the laborer, and as a
major vehicle for what they call “development.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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In the export assembly sector, the minimum wage is 200 gourdes, or US$4.76, a day. According to the <a href="http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2010/feb/22/can-garment-industry-save-haiti/">Associated Press</a>,
the minimum wage in February 2010 was “approximately the same as the
minimum wage in 1984 and worth less than half its previous purchasing
power.” Three years later, the wage has only been raised by 75 gourdes
(US$1.79).</div>
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<br /></div>
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A 2011 study done by the <a href="http://www.solidaritycenter.org/Files/haiti_livingwagesnapshot030311.pdf">Solidarity Center of the AFL-CIO</a>
put the living wage (what would be required for workers to cover basic
expenses) at US$29 a day, at least, in Port-au-Prince, while a 2008 <a href="http://www.workersrights.org/">Worker’s Rights Consortium</a>
report placed it at US$12.50 a day in the border town of Ouanaminthe,
home to a large free-trade zone. Even a study commissioned by a World
Bank-sponsored pro-garment assembly group, <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/3168">Nathan Associates Inc</a>.,
acknowledged that for factory workers, “the costs of transportation to
and from work and food purchased away from home eat up a substantial
share of that minimum wage.” For the typical worker, who is a single
mother with three to four children, this leaves less than nothing with
which to keep her family healthy, fed, housed, and schooled.[ii]<br />
<br />
“They’re always struggling to see how they’re going to make ends meet.
When they get paid each payday, they already owe all of it. Their
problems weigh them down so heavy they don’t know what to do,” said
Ghislene Deloné. Now a health care assistant in a clinic frequented by
many factory workers, Ghislene sewed in a plant herself for 11 years
until, she said, she just gave out. Like many other workers we have met,
she did not want her real name used or her photo published for fear of
retribution from management.</div>
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<br /></div>
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In dozens of interviews we have conducted over 25
years, workers have consistently stated the same outcome of trying to
support an entire family on this wage: they grow <em>poorer</em> over
the course of their employment. For the opportunity to keep stitching at
the plant, survival can involve desperation credit from the
neighborhood loan shark at interest rates as high as 25% per month.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="TxText">
Why would anyone take such a job? People in urgent
need of cash rarely have the luxury of performing cost-benefit analyses.
In interviews, women said they worked in factories simply because they
needed jobs. In a country with about <a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ha.html">40% unemployment</a>, any amount of money on payday might stave off starvation, even though the worker loses over the long term.</div>
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<br /></div>
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In 2009, thousands of workers joined students and
others in the streets to demand an increase in the minimum wage from 70
gourdes (US$1.67) a day. During the “200 gourdes movement,” protests
paralyzed Port-au-Prince’s industrial sector for more than a week.
According to one organizer, Nixon Boumba of the Democratic Popular
Movement, factory bosses cracked down, forbidding phone usage and
changing workers’ shifts to keep them away from fellow organizers and
demonstrations. Those they couldn’t stop, they laid off. Police lent
management a hand, arresting dozens of protestors, including a dean at
the State University.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Parliament responded to the popular pressure and
passed an across-the-board wage raise for workers in all sectors, to 200
gourdes (US$4.76) per day. However, when Haitian factory owners
complained to then-president, René Préval, he vetoed the law. According
to US Embassy cables later <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/161057/wikileaks-haiti-let-them-live-3-day">released by WikiLeaks</a>,
Washington became actively involved in keeping wages low at export
assembly factories. USAID funded studies to show that the demanded
increase in minimum wage would “make the sector economically unviable
and consequently force factories to shut down.” Subcontractors for Fruit
of the Loom, Hanes, and Levi’s held numerous meetings with Préval and
members of Parliament, using the USAID studies to argue for a lower
wage. Parliament gave in and worked out a compromise with Préval,
creating a special wage category for export assembly workers which would
increase periodically, beginning at 125 gourdes ($3.13 in the exchange
rate of the time) a day.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Subsequent wage jumps that the law demanded never
transpired. Last October, the wage finally increased to 300 gourdes
across all sectors except for factories, where it went up to 200
gourdes. Although factory workers are meant to have the opportunity to
receive up to 300 gourdes, to earn that money they must meet production
quotas (number of bra cups or pajama legs produced) that are set so high
that they sometimes have to put in extra hours—what should be paid as
overtime—and forgo their forty-five minutes of daily break to try to
meet them. Minimum wage laws are so habitually violated that even with
extra hours, a worker is likely to end her or his week well below 300
gourdes. </div>
<div class="Tx1TextFirstParagraph">
Women in the assembly plants report
that they are often coerced into sleeping with supervisors in order to
get or keep their jobs. Health and safety protections in the workplace
rarely exist, and those that do are habitually violated, with repetitive
motion injuries and failing eyesight only two of the more common
occupational hazards. Workers have no job security and paltry
opportunities for pay raises or professional advancement.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Though the right to association is
protected in the constitution, company management habitually prohibits
attempts to organize. Continuing a long tradition, in recent months
union members have been fired or harassed in at least three factories,
according to the Haitian labor rights organization Workers’ Struggle. In
one example in February of this year a union organizer in Gildan
Activewear T-shirt factory <a href="http://www.otherworldsarepossible.org/another-haiti-possible/stand-solidarity-and-tell-gildan-stop-beating-workers-who-make-your-t-shirts">was beaten</a>
“in the name of the factory's management” after organizing a protest to
draw attention to minimum wage violations. He was subsequently fired.</div>
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The <a href="http://betterwork.org/global/?p=2977">April 2013 report</a> of <a href="http://betterwork.org/global/?page_id=316">Better Work Haiti</a>,
a joint program of the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the
International Finance Cooperation (IFC) which monitors and enforces
factories’ compliance with national and international standards, found
that all 24 of the factories it monitors are “non-compliant” in various
sectors. All violate occupational safety and health standards, with none
providing adequate health and first aid services, and 22 violating
worker protection standards. All violate minimum wage laws, and 11
violate overtime standards.</div>
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<br /></div>
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In telling how they survive on factory jobs, workers use a standard refrain: <em>sou fòs kouray</em>, on the strength of my courage.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Whether in a whispered conversation under a pseudonym
or through unabashed declarations by organizations like Workers’
Struggle and Workers’ Antenna, laborers and their advocates all state
basically the same conditions needed for fair employment. They include:</div>
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* a living wage;</div>
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* overtime and severance pay;</div>
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* the right to organize;</div>
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* protection from sexual aggression by supervisors;</div>
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* physically safe working conditions;</div>
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* coverage of medical costs in the event of work-related injury or illness;</div>
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* at least one break a day, plus the time necessary to eat lunch and go to the bathroom;</div>
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* provision of drinking water and decent bathrooms; and</div>
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* protection from arbitrary or retaliatory firing.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="ExlExtractlast">
Factory worker Esther Pierre says, “We have
basic needs to meet, so we can’t sit at home doing nothing. As far as
I’m concerned, though, this minimum wage hike could be a fantasy – my
wages haven’t gone up. Everyone wants good work and good working
conditions, but most of all, we need to receive livable salaries so that
our lives can improve.”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="ExlExtractlast">
[i] Paul Farmer, <em>Aids and Accusation: Haiti and the Geography of Blame </em>(Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1992).</div>
<div class="ExlExtractlast">
[ii] Women make up <a href="http://betterwork.org/global/?p=2977">64 percent</a> of the garment industry. UNIFEM says that nearly <a href="http://www.unifem.org/materials/fact_sheets.html?">45 percent</a> of Haitian households are headed by women, while the UN Shelter Cluster uses an estimate of <a href="http://www.google.ht/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&ved=0CDMQFjAB&url=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.humanitarianresponse.info%252Fsystem%252Ffiles%252Fdocuments%252Ffiles%252FFacilitators%20Notes%20-%20Generic%20Presentation%20on%20the%20IASC%20Gender%20Marker%20for%20HQ%20and%20Regional%20Offices.docx&ei=k_B2Uf_DItDH0AGf6YBo&usg=AFQjCNEh6H4xk0q_SIsLZ0Sxu6QAnYFg2A&bvm=bv.45580626,d.dmQ">60 percent</a>. World Bank figures put the average number of children at <a href="http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.TFRT.IN">3.42</a>.</div>
<div class="ExlExtractlast">
<br /></div>
<em>See upcoming articles in the sweatshop series, one each Wednesday for four weeks, for </em><em>interviews with women workers and an analysis of what an alternative could look like.</em><br />
<em><br /></em>
<em><em>Copyleft Other Worlds. You may reprint this article in whole or in
part. Please credit any text or original research you use to Beverly
Bell and Alexis Erkert, Other Worlds.</em></em></div>
Alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195722092133640281noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-525694360497036669.post-62738697303367233972013-04-23T18:10:00.000-04:002013-04-23T18:15:15.691-04:00Luna has her very own flight reservation!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
But we know better than to think that getting this: <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Zhqd6FhAIQk/UXcFtIpKe6I/AAAAAAAAB0s/wbYgE4OHETA/s1600/20130422_131117_resized.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Zhqd6FhAIQk/UXcFtIpKe6I/AAAAAAAAB0s/wbYgE4OHETA/s400/20130422_131117_resized.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
into this:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eR0ENyfH6pM/UXcFyF9Pf8I/AAAAAAAAB00/Mm0F7y38lnM/s1600/20130422_131053_resized.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eR0ENyfH6pM/UXcFyF9Pf8I/AAAAAAAAB00/Mm0F7y38lnM/s400/20130422_131053_resized.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
will be easy.<br />
<br />
If it seems ridiculous that the <i>only</i> reason we booked afternoon flights was to give ourselves ample time to put her in a cat carrier, you've obviously not met Luna. </div>
Alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195722092133640281noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-525694360497036669.post-58985162673563772852013-04-20T11:02:00.001-04:002013-04-20T11:09:26.676-04:00Peacing out<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M5O5my1KP24/UWdrFXV-xUI/AAAAAAAAB0c/zh09EGjDzCs/s1600/IMG_7943.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M5O5my1KP24/UWdrFXV-xUI/AAAAAAAAB0c/zh09EGjDzCs/s400/IMG_7943.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Our paper mache chicken head is en route to New Orleans, and so are we.<br />
<br />
It's been hard to figure out how to explain in this awkwardly public space that we are leaving Haiti, and months have gone by since we decided it was "time."<br />
<br />
I haven't known what to write here ever since, and though we don't technically owe anyone an explanation, I have tried to sit down and type it out so many times that it feels forced and silly. I've begun more than ten drafts of this post, in various ways justifying and defending our decision, trumpeting my love for this place, declaring how devastated I am to leave, how terrified I am to move to a country whose citizenship I hold and not much else (imagine a regression to 18-year old me moving to the US for the first time... it's not that pretty). <br />
<br />
Delete, delete, delete. <br />
<br />
The facts:<br />
Haiti is our home, and it's heartbreaking to move. We've had amazing adventures, life-altering experiences and made precious friends here. Life in Haiti puts a lot of things into perspective. We've had a lot of traumatic shit go down and Port-au-Prince is not exactly one of the top ten most liveable cities in the world (quite <a href="http://www.mercer.com/press-releases/quality-of-living-report-2012"><span style="color: #b45f06;">the opposite</span></a>, in fact). I feel guilty leaving. I'm also scared, because I know how how things work in Haiti, but in the US I feel like an outsider. That's exactly how Ben feels here.<br />
<br />
We'll miss eating ripe juice-dripping mangoes, speaking Creole, our avocado tree, our friends and neighbors, motorcycle taxis, hiking in the mountains... We'll miss Haiti's chaos, artistry and intense spirituality, but not the speakers blaring <i>konpa</i> at night on the corner and definitely not the politics.<br />
<br />
We're moving to a place where you call strangers 'baby' when you smile and greet them on the street. New Orleans has spiritual, artistic and historical connections to Haiti and politics that may be almost as complicated. Ben has already purchased a new (and better, apparently) motorcycle in the US. The sun shines there, too. There will be sidewalks and bicycle lanes and I can get my sewing machine out of storage. <br />
<br />
As a dear and level-headed friend reminded me on skype recently: <br />
<br />
[4/5/13 3:58:16 PM] You will find good people in NOLA<br />
[4/5/13 3:58:22 PM] and you will stay connected to Haiti<br />
[4/5/13 3:58:28 PM] and you will have days you cry a lot<br />
[4/5/13 3:58:39 PM] and you will have days you laugh a lot<br />
[4/5/13 3:58:41 PM] and you will have even more days you both cry and laugh<br />
<br />
I am already laughing and crying most days. Keep an eye out for a <i>blan</i> sobbing over a pile of mangos in the market one minute, and laughing crazily as she almost gets hit by a <i>tap tap</i> the next.</div>
Alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195722092133640281noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-525694360497036669.post-34380877782580147042013-03-25T07:52:00.000-04:002013-03-25T07:52:00.056-04:00Great HSG News Round-up<div>
<b style="font-size: 13px;"><a href="http://www.haitisupportgroup.org/"><span style="color: #b45f06;">Haiti Support Group</span></a> News Round Up</b></div>
<div>
<b style="font-size: 13px;">21 March 2013</b></div>
<br />
<b style="font-size: 13px;">LEGAL/IMPUNITY/HUMAN RIGHTS</b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 13px;">The
'Baby Doc' Duvalier case continues to be heard, albeit in his absence
as he continues to claim ill health for a good roundup with background,
read this piece in <a href="http://www.otherworldsarepossible.org/another-haiti-possible/duvalier-trial-justice-or-joke" target="_blank">Other Worlds</a>. the most significant feature is that victims are being heard in <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/03/07/3272927/haiti-prisoners-testify-in-baby.html#storylink=cpy" target="_blank">court for the first time</a>,
a huge step forward in bringing the ex-dictator to trial for crimes
against humanity. The UN's independent expert on Human Rights in Haiti
also <a href="http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=44327&Cr=haiti&Cr1#.UUmj9KV1QUp" target="_blank">added his voice</a> to the call for the trial to go ahead, although Truth-Out points out that for justice to really be served, <a href="http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/15235-haitis-duvalier-needs-company-in-the-dock" target="_blank">Duvalier should not be alone in the dock</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 13px;">The UN, however, does not have much of a moral high ground to stand on after its disgraceful <a href="http://www.trinidadexpress.com/commentaries/Immunity-with--impunity-197908061.html" target="_blank">refusal to afford justice</a> to the victims of the cholera epidemic it has inflicted on Haiti, as pointed out by former Prime Minister of Jamaica, <a href="http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Patterson-blasts-UN-for--anti-Haiti--cholera-stand_13842151#ixzz2Nco5TbMi" target="_blank">PJ Patterson</a>, whose comments are in stark contrast to the deafening wall of silence on the issue from the Haitian administration.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13px;">While the UN has kicked the issue of
dealing with cholera into the long grass with an unfunded 10-year
$2.2billion project, the epidemic is taking off again and a scandalous
lack of resources for treatment means <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/18/opinion/a-worsening-haitian-tragedy.html?_r=1&" target="_blank">many more unnecessary deaths</a>, as explained in this <a href="http://www.msf.org.uk/articledetail.aspx?fId=Haiti_deplorable_conditions_for_cholera_patients_20130312" target="_blank">MSF report</a> and this excellent piece in <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/173456/what-un-owes-haiti" target="_blank">The Nation</a>.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 13px;">Illegal, often violent, <a href="http://ijdh.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Forced_Evictions_Press_release_Final.doc__March_2013-1.pdf" target="_blank">forced evictions of IDP camp dwellers continue</a>, with a new twist that those who dare to speak up are now <a href="http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR36/005/2013/en/9a63dd2d-de63-4918-b7c6-a8030fd0f9ac/amr360052013en.pdf" target="_blank">facing arrest</a> for their temerity.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 13px;">Meanwhile, the continued delays in
forming a constitutionally valid electoral council allow the Haitian
government carry on with <a href="http://www.caribjournal.com/2013/03/20/haiti-uns-nigel-fisher-continues-call-to-hold-elections-in-2013/" target="_blank">unelected agents of the President</a> in charge of local authorities and causing a crisis of democracy, which, along with deteriorating rule of law, is even drawing <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/03/20/186484/un-calls-on-haiti-to-set-long.html" target="_blank">condemnation from the UN security council</a>,
which has hitherto been supportive of the Martelly/Lamothe
administration. The US embassy, meanwhile, has not been able to resist
the temptation of <a href="http://www.haiti-liberte.com/archives/volume6-36/On%20Second%20Anniversary.asp" target="_blank">yet again throwing its weight around</a> in the electoral affairs of a sovereign nation.</span><br />
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<b style="font-size: 13px;">OTHER</b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 13px;">In more depressing news, the UNDP 2012 Human Development Index report shows that <a href="http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/HTI.html" target="_blank">Haiti dropped three places in the index</a> compared to the previous year, from 158th to 161 (out of 186). Even the UK's Daily Mail has been moved to publish a <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-2290251/Haitis-nightmare-Missing-billions-aid-rebuilding-left-women-president-protected-baton-wielding-thugs.html#ixzz2N8RFZsMt" target="_blank">lengthy article</a>
drawing attention to the lack of discernible improvements, which may be
in part explained by the workings of aid policies, which once again <a href="http://thewip.net/talk/2013/03/a_tale_of_two_ngos_in_haiti_di.html" target="_blank">fall under the spotlight</a>, in particular those of <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130306/canada-criticized-tying-foreign-aid-commerce" target="_blank">Canada</a> and the <a href="http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/relief-and-reconstruction-watch/is-usaid-mainly-serving-us-interests" target="_blank">USA</a>. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 13px;">Forbes magazine carried an interesting piece on a potential <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltobias/2013/03/09/how-a-single-national-park-might-help-transform-a-nation-haitis-pic-macaya-2/" target="_blank">alternative sustainable development project</a> for Haiti, so it is all the more of a shame that the 'international community' and donors continue to focus on the <a href="http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/14763/haitian_sweatshops_made_in_the_u.s.a/" target="_blank">assembly/sweatshop model</a>, the prime example being the 'Caracol Free Trade Zone', the impact of which is analysed by the excellent <a href="http://www.ayitikaleje.org/haiti-grassroots-watch-engli/2013/3/7/the-caracol-industrial-park-worth-the-risk.html" target="_blank">Grassroots Watch/Ayiti Kale Je</a>.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 13px;">The news is not all depressing, as Haitian grassroots peasant's associations <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130321/haitian-farmers-call-food-sovereignty" target="_blank">continue to resist</a>, seeing themselves as <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/03/20/caribbean-and-latin-america-integration/" target="_blank">part of a broader movement</a> across Latin America and the developing world, drawing not a little inspiration from the late Hugo Chavez, whose death has <a href="http://nacla.org/blog/2013/3/7/remembering-hugo-chavez-eternal-friend-caribbean" target="_blank">wide-ranging implications for Haiti</a>, not least because the <a href="http://www.haiti-liberte.com/archives/volume6-34/PetroCaribe.asp" target="_blank">PetroCaribe</a> deal represented a major source of funds for the Haitian government.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 13px;">In another piece of all too rare good news, the tireless work of organisations such as <a href="http://kofaviv.blogspot.co.uk/p/accueil.html" target="_blank">KOFAVIV</a> and the <a href="http://ijdh.org/who_we_are/bai" target="_blank">Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI)</a> has led to a <a href="http://www.otherworldsarepossible.org/another-haiti-possible/haiti-moves-tighten-laws-sexual-violence" target="_blank">tightening of the laws on sexual violence</a>, although much hard work still needs to be done to translate this into practice.</span>Alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195722092133640281noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-525694360497036669.post-19088682636036323242013-03-23T07:35:00.001-04:002013-03-23T09:58:53.472-04:00Things that happenedThis year began:<br />
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::We celebrated Christmas and rang in the new year with friends and family in North Carolina. It was as wonderful and exhausting as whirlwind visits to the U.S. always are. <br />
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These loquats grew: </div>
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::The loquat trees on the farm in Kenscoff, full of fruit by mid-January, have already been picked clean by kids and visitors. We used the fruit pictured here to make three gallons of vinegar.</div>
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This girl learned how to use a chainsaw:</div>
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::Up on the farm we've been milling downed trees that fell during last season's hurricanes. </div>
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This house was (nearly) built: </div>
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::A tiny treehouse-esque cabin on the farm, designed by our friend JM while he was here in January, and built from those milled trees.</div>
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This house got broken into:</div>
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::Our one-room home on the farm... the window was forced open and possessions were stolen, resulting in an as of yet unresolved entanglement with the Haitian justice system. </div>
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This house remains our refuge from it all:</div>
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::After the break-in on the farm, our <i>ti kay</i> in Pétionville feels ever more like a sanctuary. We have a new and lovely roommate, and for the past month have also had a slew of additional house guests and visitors.<br />
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This stuff [not pictured] stopped working:<br />
:: After he milled a tree that had a curse on it [a story for another day], everything of
value that Ben owns has either been stolen (his laptop) or stopped working.
His welder exploded; his Blackberry, iPod, and Fuji rangefinder all
died; his Canon camera started acting up and his motorcycle gas tank
rusted out. <br />
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These feet went to the beach:<br />
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::We've managed to squeeze in three beach trips this year, including a snorkling jaunt off of the C<span style="color: black;">ô</span>te des Arcadins (after which we happily spent a morning drifting at sea when our boat engine died).</div>
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This garden grew: </div>
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::Our garden in Pétionville is thriving after Ben designed a timed self-watering system that feeds from the tank on our roof. Until rainy season begins in earnest, it's a perfect solution for our busy lives.
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This guy may go to trial:</div>
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::Murderer, torturer, embezzler and ex-dictator Jean Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier was court-ordered to testify in a series of hearings which will determine whether or not he faces charges of crimes against humanity. In these <a href="http://www.otherworldsarepossible.org/another-haiti-possible/duvalier-trial-justice-or-joke"><span style="color: #b45f06;">historic Thursday hearings</span></a>, victims' testimonies are being heard for the first time. </div>
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This camp was violently evicted*:<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LU_xdgfZceY/UU065yXSCVI/AAAAAAAABzc/MJ7oBT9n9jg/s1600/IMG_0447%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LU_xdgfZceY/UU065yXSCVI/AAAAAAAABzc/MJ7oBT9n9jg/s400/IMG_0447%5B1%5D.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
::The forced eviction of people from displacement camps continues, with escalating violence. The camp above was set on fire in the middle of the night, <i>finally</i> prompting the UN to <a href="http://ijdh.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Forced_Evictions_Press_release_Final.doc__March_2013-1.pdf"><span style="color: #b45f06;">speak up</span></a>. (*Thanks to housing rights activist Mark Synder and <a href="http://www.undertentshaiti.com/"><span style="color: #b45f06;">Under Tents</span></a> for this photo). <br />
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This disease continues to infect people: <br />
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::Claiming <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/un-hypocrisy-in-haiti/2013/03/21/1b3c9a10-8d87-11e2-9f54-f3fdd70acad2_story.html"><span style="color: #b45f06;">diplomatic immunity</span></a>, the UN has shamefully refused to take responsibility for introducing cholera to Haiti. Meanwhile, <a href="http://www.msf.org.uk/articledetail.aspx?fId=Haiti_deplorable_conditions_for_cholera_patients_20130312"><span style="color: #b45f06;">mortality rates rise</span></a> while <a href="http://www.unmultimedia.org/radio/english/2013/03/haiti-launches-national-plan-to-eliminate-cholera/"><span style="color: #b45f06;">much fanfare</span></a> is being made over an un-funded $ 2.2 billion elimination plan. </div>
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This cat is oblivious to it all:</div>
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Alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195722092133640281noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-525694360497036669.post-71230510405132084452013-03-08T19:11:00.000-05:002013-03-23T08:13:26.213-04:00Last Last Weekend<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195722092133640281noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-525694360497036669.post-24603972717729120842013-01-12T01:18:00.002-05:002013-01-12T09:48:14.354-05:00Jan 12. Read, Do, Watch.Because these statistics are so damning, and so troubling, and so real:<br />
<a href="http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/relief-and-reconstruction-watch/haiti-by-the-numbers-three-years-later/print"><span style="color: #b45f06;">Haiti by the Numbers, Three Years Later </span></a><br />
<br />
Because this explains why:<br />
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/24/world/americas/in-aiding-quake-battered-haiti-lofty-hopes-and-hard-truths.html?pagewanted=1&_r=3&hp&"><span style="color: #b45f06;">Rebuilding in Haiti Lags After Billions in Post-Quake Aid</span></a><br />
<br />
Because this is<i> </i>short and <i>almost</i> funny:<br />
<a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/cjlotz/8-reasons-the-earthquake-in-haiti-was-gravy-for-u"><span style="color: #b45f06;">8 Reasons The Earthquake In Haiti Was Gravy For U.S. Contractors</span></a><br />
<br />
Because this story is refreshingly different:<br />
<a href="http://www.thenewstribune.com/2013/01/10/2430337/a-view-of-post-quake-haiti-on.html"><span style="color: #b45f06;">A view of post-quake Haiti, on the run </span></a><br />
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<br />
Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2013/01/10/2430337/a-view-of-post-quake-haiti-on.html#storylink=cpy</div>
<br />
Because this is written by Haitian social activists, about trauma and death and a commitment to fight for lasting change: <br />
<a href="http://undertentshaiti.com/january-12-2013/"><span style="color: #b45f06;">January 12, 2013: What are the Memories? Where are the Lessons?</span></a><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="color: black;">Because this is one of the things they're fighting for (and one of the most glaring failures of Haiti's so-called 'reconstruction'):</span></span><br />
<a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/400-000-homeless-still-wait-for-a-plan-support-housing-rights-in-haiti?utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=url_share&utm_campaign=url_share_after_sign"><span style="color: #b45f06;">400,000 Homeless Still Wait For a Plan: Support Housing Rights in Haiti </span></a><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="color: black;">Because cholera kills, and the UN has yet to acknowledge responsibility for introducing it to Haiti:</span></span><br />
<a href="http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/End_Haitis_Cholera_Epidemic_with_UN_Action_Now_1/"><span style="color: #b45f06;">End Haiti's Killer Cholera Epidemic -- UN Action Now!</span></a><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="color: black;"> </span> </span><br />
Because Haiti is still oh so much more than an earthquake and ill-spent aid dollars:<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="365" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/55074938" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="650"></iframe> <br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/55074938">Ayiti se...</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user15123630">Kon'Beat Productions</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.Alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195722092133640281noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-525694360497036669.post-78305250350462255662012-12-24T07:08:00.004-05:002013-03-23T08:18:38.055-04:00Christmas 2012 Christmas trees are for sale at the grocery store we frequent in Pétion-ville for $536.00 and $699.00:<br />
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Because we frequent this grocery store so frequently, when we stopped in to pick up coffee yesterday we were <i>gifted</i> with this 10 lb frozen turkey. It's from North Carolina (which is where we are headed in a few short hours) and will provide our neighbors, to whom we re-gifted it, with a Christmas feast. <br />
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Unfortunately, not everyone in Haiti will wake up tomorrow to a $700 Christmas tree and free turkey dinner. In fact, not everyone will wake up in a bed tomorrow. Or even in a house with four walls and a roof... <br />
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We are exposed to extreme wealth juxtaposed by extreme poverty everyday, but still this <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/christmas-misery-in-haiti-camp-three-years-after-quake/story-fnd134gw-1226543006637"><span style="color: #b45f06;">article about poverty in Haiti's displacement camps this Christmas</span></a> broke my heart. May it break yours, too, and as we celebrate this holiday remind us all that our planet is brimming with injustice, inequality and oppression. The conquering and redemption of all of that is what the season is about, no? Alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195722092133640281noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-525694360497036669.post-19398804074986698092012-12-23T23:48:00.000-05:002013-03-23T08:19:32.667-04:00Solstice on the Farm<i>The winter solstice demonstrates the enduring cycle of the heavens by an event that has been directly observable, year in and year out, century after century, for millions of years. The new year begins with the turning point of the winter solstice, as it has down through eons-an unending cycle of dark and light, waning and waxing, ultimately representing nature's birth, death, and rebirth. The winter solstice is a time to affirm our spiritual ties to nature through celebrations and traditions that are thousands of years old. The season is a time to renew family ties, take joy in our natural environment, reflect on the events of the old year, and look forward in anticipation to the new. -- Lisa Hutchins</i><br />
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We spent our "new year" on the farm: making a solstice/Christmas wreath with found treasures, delighting in friends and nature, digging new garden beds and playing by a fire. The next day dawned just a little bit earlier.<br />
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<br />Alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195722092133640281noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-525694360497036669.post-87788014075852410422012-12-21T20:16:00.002-05:002013-03-23T08:19:02.894-04:00Loquat jam<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: left;">
:the imperfect result of combining five pounds of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loquat"><span style="color: #b45f06;">loquats</span></a> with three sticky hours in the kitchen. Ideas welcome for how we should use the copious amount of loquats that will be ready for harvest on the farm in January and February. </div>
Alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195722092133640281noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-525694360497036669.post-83485099446350186322012-12-14T11:06:00.002-05:002013-03-23T08:19:02.893-04:00Christmas branch<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Ben's leg has healed up just fine. Our spirits are taking a little longer to heal fully, but in ten days we board an American Airlines flight to spend Christmas with our families. It will be the first time in six years that I've eaten my mom's ritual caramel pecan sticky buns on Christmas morning. We're excited. When we come back, we move more permanently up to the farm. We're excited for that, too. <br />
<br />
Meanwhile, this lovely branch has been pulled out of our storage room to evoke the season. I do love the tradition of the Christmas tree. I love that it stems from an ancient practice of honoring life and anticipating spring during the winter solstice (the longest night of the year), now combined with elements that symbolize my own faith tradition - the lights that represent the birth of Christ. The side of me that rebels against the "institution" of church loves putting up my tree knowing that the Puritans banned them. I love that I bought this particular "tree" on the side of Avenue Pan-American, that it's painted white instead of green and that it's fixed into a recycled milk can with concrete. I love that my ornaments are all local and handmade. And I love the way it looks at night when all of the other lights in the house are turned off. Alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195722092133640281noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-525694360497036669.post-53106175174576259782012-11-29T09:21:00.001-05:002012-12-14T11:15:16.554-05:00Morning AfterIn case you've ever wondered, that quote from 'The Sugar Islands' on the top left corner of our blog is supposed to be tongue-in-cheek. We love being able to tell people that in four and a half years we've never had a security 'incident' here. Not one. Not even here in the "poorest country in the Western Hemisphere." Haiti is perceived by so many as a lawless, savage and dangerous place. That perception is fueled by the State Department, by the media (check <span style="color: #b45f06;"><a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/446419554/optimistic-chaos-0?ref=home_location">this</a></span> and <span style="color: #b45f06;"><a href="http://entertainment.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474981744941">this</a></span> out for two especially over-the-top examples), by NGO and UN security restrictions and red zones. In reality, where I grew up in West Africa and nearly every other country in Latin America have much higher rates of violent crime - especially crime that targets foreigners. <br />
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We don't have a car -- I walk or take public transport to get around and Ben drives a motorcycle. We don't have a security guard. We try not to take unnecessary risks but we don't feel unsafe. Aside from unknowingly having my pockets picked a time or two in a crowd, we have never had any untoward experiences. <br />
<br />
Unfortunately, that changed last night while Ben was driving a friend home. They passed a group of street kids
fighting at Place St Pierre, across from the cathedral. One threw another one in front of Ben's
moto and he wrecked on top of the kid. After they pulled the bike off of him (the kid was fine, more or less), five of them jumped Ben. His pockets were emptied and he gained a long razor blade slash in the leg while another one took off on Ben's moto. The moto came
back, thank god, and Ben went to the police (stationed one block away). They shrugged. <br />
<br />
(We've put a temporary block on Ben's phone number until he can replace his phone, so use email if you need to reach him). <br />
<br />
It feels pretty icky. Hopefully, it won't also feel like tetanus. <br />
<br />Alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195722092133640281noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-525694360497036669.post-15119912192782988412012-11-27T07:42:00.000-05:002012-12-14T11:16:03.192-05:00bits and pieces of a weekend on the farm<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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new rock pathway planted with mint and nasturiums // good morning // watercress // fog // fancy a wash? // honey and honeyhive orange // <i>seren</i> (dew) // pine firestarter // farm // horse shit makes great compost<br />
Alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195722092133640281noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-525694360497036669.post-29161899282650953062012-11-20T18:20:00.000-05:002012-12-14T11:15:34.257-05:00Moving Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195722092133640281noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-525694360497036669.post-88273772439373239002012-11-19T13:49:00.001-05:002012-11-20T08:47:28.349-05:00Changes II<i>“I like to live in the sound of water, in the feel of the mountain air. A sharp reminder hits me: this world still is alive; it stretches out there shivering toward its own creation, and I’m part of it. Even my breathing enters into this elaborate give-and-take, this bowing to sun and moon, day and night, winter, summer, storm, still—this tranquil chaos that seems to be going somewhere. This wilderness with a great peacefulness in it. This motionless turmoil, this everything dance.”</i> - William Stafford<br />
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Over the weekend, Ben and I began moving into a tranquil off-the-grid cottage in the mountains above Port-au-Prince. <br />
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We've been desperately in need of change that will ground us to the earth, to god, to more simplicity, intention and space. Our lives in Port-au-Prince have become too busy, too plugged in, too full of politics and constant reaction to crisis. We have become overly judgmental and cynicism has crept into our work and our relationships in unhealthy ways.<br />
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Thus, for at least the next six months we'll be living in Kenscoff on a farm and eco-preserve that is only accessible by foot. The land belongs to a dear friend, and we'll be helping her make plans for it, work it, grow in it and build on it.<br />
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We will be living in a lush, foggy, quiet, bio-diverse wonderland where there are birds and butterflies and frogs that sound like tinkling bells. We will have a pet horse. We will wake up to this view every single day:<br />
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Meanwhile, Ben will continue to work as a photographer and I will continue to work for Other Worlds, but part-time. We've found a roommate for our house in
Pétionville so
that we can still have a place to stay down the mountain when needed. <br />
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We don't feel tired anymore. Alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195722092133640281noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-525694360497036669.post-24058668312163982452012-11-08T08:16:00.002-05:002012-11-19T14:08:03.921-05:00Changes<div style="text-align: center;">
Thinking about changes we need to make </div>
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for more balance, space and spiritual grounding in our lives... </div>
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Alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195722092133640281noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-525694360497036669.post-35953956766657124972012-10-29T17:06:00.002-04:002012-11-19T14:05:43.712-05:00Lots of Avocados...that we didn't have to pick ourselves, because the storm did it for us!<br />
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In all seriousness, though, it's bad news 'round here. The storm had a devastating impact on displacement camps. See: <a href="http://undertentshaiti.com/reflection-on-hurricane-sandy/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">Reflections on Hurricane Sandy</span></a>. And on agriculture. See: <a href="http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL1E8LT5EX20121029?sp=true"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">Storm damages crops in Haiti, fueling food price woes</span></a>. As to be expected, four consecutive days of rain has also already caused a spike in the number of reported cholera cases.Alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195722092133640281noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-525694360497036669.post-60253921802546091672012-10-26T10:18:00.002-04:002012-10-26T11:38:20.473-04:00"Sandy, can't you see, [we're] in misery..." When John Travolta sang about Sandy, he was stranded at the drive-in. I'm stranded at home without Ben, who is in NYC, but with extra water, propane, gas for our little generator and the company of Luna and a houseguest. I am not, like so many, in a displacement camp, or on a precarious hillside, or living on the bank of a river.<br />
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Port-au-Prince is wet and cold. It's been raining for more than 72 hours, and forecasted to continue to rain for at least the next day. Schools, businesses and the embassy are closed. Many towns and villages in Haiti's south are flooded, as are low-laying parts of Port-au-Prince. Sandy has caused landslides, bridges to wash out, and power outages. Rivers are surging their banks. Homes have collapsed. Fields of crops have been wiped out. So far, 16 people have lost their lives.<br />
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I know it's frivolous to compare this storm to the 1978 soundtrack of a teen's breaking heart, but we are all sitting and wondering why-y-y the rain won't stop.<br />
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This is the River Grise in Croix-des-Missions, on the northern edge of Port-au-Prince:<br />
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Alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195722092133640281noreply@blogger.com1