Thursday, July 22, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
Kore Pwodiksyon Lokal: Reflections After Six Weeks in Haiti
by Jason Myers
The Fund for Theological Education
You learn the basics of any language when you’re going to a foreign country: “Hello,” “Thank you,” “Do you have wireless here?” Well, perhaps the last is not very useful in Haiti, where most things except the internet are wireless, and where my Kreyol (the local spelling of Creole) remained rudimentary to the last. I could tell when people were talking to or about me (“Blan, blan!) and I knew if I heard the word manje it meant we would be eating soon. I learned the generic words for bird and tree, but found most of the expressions people tried to teach me going in one ear and out the other. On one of my last days in Port-au-Prince I rode out to Delmas 75 and met with the good people at the Mennonite Central Committee. They were gracious enough to invite me into their lovely guest house/office, serve me deliciously strong Haitian coffee, and tell me about the work they do in the country. As Alexis Erkert Depp was showing me a video produced by local farmers, she handed me a button. In letters made up from bananas, beans, and other native produce were the words ‘kore pwodiksyon lokal,’ which translates as “support local production.”
This phrase took on a talismanic power for me. I pinned the button to my bag and have been showing it off at any chance I get. Kore pwodiksyon lokal, kore pwodiksyon lokal – the words slip around in my head, my mouth, they’ve become a rosary. I’m not a Catholic, but my first week in Haiti when I was riding on the back of a motorcycle on crater-pocked roads, convinced of my imminent death, I said “Hail Mary, full of grace” at least a thousand times. Prayer in this manner can be solipsistic – I was saying the words to protect my own life, to take my mind off the terrible condition of the road. But my new rosary, kore pwodiksyon lokal, has become my dream for the world, for Haiti.
One of the many dismaying things about the current state of Haiti is the lack of support for local agriculture. This is not because people don’t want to farm, or that the climate is inhospitable to local agriculture – though the extraordinary Dr. Paul Farmer has an acerbic joke, “Haiti is the only country where a farmer can die from falling out of his farm,” a reference to the mountainous terrain that many in the country inhabit. Part of the problem has to do with American policy – we’ve strong-armed Haiti into accepting trade agreements that will ensure its continuing poverty. Among the most heinous of these is the reduction of tariffs on imported goods to 3 % - most countries have 35 %! Rice from America is cheaper than rice from Haiti, which helps put Haitian farmers out of business. Kore pwodiksyon lokal! I can imagine Amos or Jeremiah exclaiming similar words.
I hope to learn more Kreyol when I return to Haiti, but I already have my three favorite words. When I think about supporting local agriculture, the words of Deuteronomy 11:11-12 come to mind, for Haiti “is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven. It is a land the Lord your God cares for, the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end.” So if you’re looking for words to write on the doorframes of your houses and your gates, might I suggest “Kore prodiksyon lokal.” And if you’re able, support these wonderful organizations:
The Fund for Theological Education
You learn the basics of any language when you’re going to a foreign country: “Hello,” “Thank you,” “Do you have wireless here?” Well, perhaps the last is not very useful in Haiti, where most things except the internet are wireless, and where my Kreyol (the local spelling of Creole) remained rudimentary to the last. I could tell when people were talking to or about me (“Blan, blan!) and I knew if I heard the word manje it meant we would be eating soon. I learned the generic words for bird and tree, but found most of the expressions people tried to teach me going in one ear and out the other. On one of my last days in Port-au-Prince I rode out to Delmas 75 and met with the good people at the Mennonite Central Committee. They were gracious enough to invite me into their lovely guest house/office, serve me deliciously strong Haitian coffee, and tell me about the work they do in the country. As Alexis Erkert Depp was showing me a video produced by local farmers, she handed me a button. In letters made up from bananas, beans, and other native produce were the words ‘kore pwodiksyon lokal,’ which translates as “support local production.”
This phrase took on a talismanic power for me. I pinned the button to my bag and have been showing it off at any chance I get. Kore pwodiksyon lokal, kore pwodiksyon lokal – the words slip around in my head, my mouth, they’ve become a rosary. I’m not a Catholic, but my first week in Haiti when I was riding on the back of a motorcycle on crater-pocked roads, convinced of my imminent death, I said “Hail Mary, full of grace” at least a thousand times. Prayer in this manner can be solipsistic – I was saying the words to protect my own life, to take my mind off the terrible condition of the road. But my new rosary, kore pwodiksyon lokal, has become my dream for the world, for Haiti.
One of the many dismaying things about the current state of Haiti is the lack of support for local agriculture. This is not because people don’t want to farm, or that the climate is inhospitable to local agriculture – though the extraordinary Dr. Paul Farmer has an acerbic joke, “Haiti is the only country where a farmer can die from falling out of his farm,” a reference to the mountainous terrain that many in the country inhabit. Part of the problem has to do with American policy – we’ve strong-armed Haiti into accepting trade agreements that will ensure its continuing poverty. Among the most heinous of these is the reduction of tariffs on imported goods to 3 % - most countries have 35 %! Rice from America is cheaper than rice from Haiti, which helps put Haitian farmers out of business. Kore pwodiksyon lokal! I can imagine Amos or Jeremiah exclaiming similar words.
I hope to learn more Kreyol when I return to Haiti, but I already have my three favorite words. When I think about supporting local agriculture, the words of Deuteronomy 11:11-12 come to mind, for Haiti “is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven. It is a land the Lord your God cares for, the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end.” So if you’re looking for words to write on the doorframes of your houses and your gates, might I suggest “Kore prodiksyon lokal.” And if you’re able, support these wonderful organizations:
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Pilgrims seek miracles at Saut-d'Eau festival
Click on the picture to see more of my photos from the festival.
Haitian pilgrims gather at the waterfall at Saut d'Eau on July 16th, the anniversary of the 1983 sighting of the Virgin Mary, alternately identified as the Vodou loa, or spirit, of Erzulie Freda, the Goddess of Love. The waterfall at Saut d'Eau is the site of the largest Vodou and Catholic pilgrimage in Haiti. A second sighting of the Virgin was reported during the American occupation. Each year, thousands of Haitian pilgrims make their way to Saut d'Eau to bathe in the sacred water and revel in the presence of the loa, particularly Erzulie and Damballah the Serpent, father of all life and keeper of spiritual wisdom, who is said to live in the falls. The water is believed to be curative and many women come to Saut d'Eau seeking fertility.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Posts We Never Posted #1
Tour de l'Artibonite
A mere three days before the earthquake, the MCC ladies rode from Mirebalais to Desarmes on a variety of bicycles (most of which were provided by Ben from the fast-breeding brood in our storage room). For a 25-mile ride, it was totally epic. I can say this: the Artibonite Valley was definitely not prepared to be stormed by six blan women on mostly crappy bikes.
On January 12th, I started writing a blogpost about the ride, intending to upload the pictures after I got home. Before I got a chance, there was an earthquake.
Pancha is leaving Haiti next week, so now of all of the strong and amazing women that I rode to Desarmes with that day, only Margot is still here. Next year's Tour will either be very small (read: two) or will have to be composed of new friends and colleagues.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
What to Blog?
Today is the 6 month anniversary of the earthquake. I feel like I should have something insightful to write about the situation in Haiti, perhaps an advocacy piece that will provoke impassioned action on the part of all of you readers out there to change things for Haitians. My colleague at MCC's DC office wrote this article for the Third Way Cafe. It quotes me, from a letter I wrote to the LA Times last week (based somewhat loosely on this blogpost/tirade). My colleague at MCC's Ottawa Office took the same letter, improved upon it greatly and had me send it in to the Globe and Mail as an Op ed. So, I guess I feel like my words are out there. Sometimes I think there's only so much you can say and only so many times.
I'm not even sure if I'm going to read the articles that came up in my Haiti google alerts today. I opened the digest email, greeted by the following headlines: Six months after Haitian quake, many barriers to recovery; Half a year later, Haiti is still in need; Haiti Six Months After the Quake; Haiti recovery stalled by aid and land issues, etc.
I often feel guilty for writing blogposts about our cat, what we eat, hikes we take and weekend activities when six months ago today, it felt like the world had come to an end. For so many Haitians, the world is irrevocably changed. Basic, human rights are being violated on an unimaginable scale. So, when I get work emails on Friday night, I feel sorta guilty knowing that I will be spending the weekend making sauerkraut and watching soccer.
This is a line that we've had to draw. Knowing that we plan to live here for awhile yet, we have to nurture patience, creativity, emotional and spiritual well-being, friendships and love for this country, which we cannot do if we don't consciously set time aside to rest and to play. We're both blessed to have jobs that we are passionate about and that (usually) provide us with a sense of fulfillment. But, we also live here and for us, living is a choice that includes trying to experience Haiti on a level beyond what we can bring to or do for...
So, in order to work towards confronting the injustices faced by Haiti this week, the week of the 6 month anniversary of the earthquake, my weekend looked a lot like this:
I'm not even sure if I'm going to read the articles that came up in my Haiti google alerts today. I opened the digest email, greeted by the following headlines: Six months after Haitian quake, many barriers to recovery; Half a year later, Haiti is still in need; Haiti Six Months After the Quake; Haiti recovery stalled by aid and land issues, etc.
I often feel guilty for writing blogposts about our cat, what we eat, hikes we take and weekend activities when six months ago today, it felt like the world had come to an end. For so many Haitians, the world is irrevocably changed. Basic, human rights are being violated on an unimaginable scale. So, when I get work emails on Friday night, I feel sorta guilty knowing that I will be spending the weekend making sauerkraut and watching soccer.
This is a line that we've had to draw. Knowing that we plan to live here for awhile yet, we have to nurture patience, creativity, emotional and spiritual well-being, friendships and love for this country, which we cannot do if we don't consciously set time aside to rest and to play. We're both blessed to have jobs that we are passionate about and that (usually) provide us with a sense of fulfillment. But, we also live here and for us, living is a choice that includes trying to experience Haiti on a level beyond what we can bring to or do for...
So, in order to work towards confronting the injustices faced by Haiti this week, the week of the 6 month anniversary of the earthquake, my weekend looked a lot like this:
World Cup distraction
Shalanda Cesar, age 10, watches the final World Cup match. Shalanda and nine family members live in this one room shelter made from tin. Their home collapsed in the January earthquake and they lost all of their possessions. Shalanda's mother, Natasha Adrien, worked moving rubble to save up to buy their TV in order to watch the World Cup games. Adrien says, "having the TV to watch World Cup games takes our stress away."
I had fun today hanging out with people watching the World Cup. I had an assignment from a French magazine that had photographers shoot people watching the final match of the World Cup in twenty countries.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
A Week's Eats
While I was in Canada I spoke to a group of highschool students about the earthquake and about Haiti in general. They were super engaged and asked a lot of questions including, "What is Haitian food like and what do you eat?" Also, my mom mentioned recently that she worries we don't eat enough greens. So, this post is for you, Mom, and for anyone else that wonders what we, spoiled North Americans living in Haiti, eat on a day-to-day basis.
As a side note, we actually find it somewhat harder to eat according to our food values here. We love food and when we spend more time preparing our food, we can eat cheaper and better. Unfortunately we're usually very busy and we don't have consistent refrigeration. But, we do do lots of shopping in the market and try to eat as locally as possible (though after keeping track of what we've eaten for a week, I'm pretty shocked at the quantity of imported food that makes it into these here bellies!). Also, as a disclaimer I think I may have got some days mixed up 'cuz my "tracking" was on the back of an envelope.
Monday
As a side note, we actually find it somewhat harder to eat according to our food values here. We love food and when we spend more time preparing our food, we can eat cheaper and better. Unfortunately we're usually very busy and we don't have consistent refrigeration. But, we do do lots of shopping in the market and try to eat as locally as possible (though after keeping track of what we've eaten for a week, I'm pretty shocked at the quantity of imported food that makes it into these here bellies!). Also, as a disclaimer I think I may have got some days mixed up 'cuz my "tracking" was on the back of an envelope.
Monday
- Breakfast: running late, egg sandwich at Epi Dor (basically a greasy omelet on baguette, with bacon if you swing that way, though I usually don't. Their eggs are almost certainly imported)
- Lunch at MCC: sandwiches (bread, sliced American, lettuce, tomato, mustard)
- Dinner: curried lentils with yogurt (before Haiti, we used to make our own yogurt. Now, I'm lucky if I remember to pick it up at the grocery store! Lentils do not grow here, nor do the various components of curry powder, but parsley came from our garden and tomatoes from the market)
- Breakfast: fried egg (local) on toast (locally made, but with imported wheat) with homemade mango jam
- Lunch at MCC: rice and goat sauce and salad, fresh passion fruit juice (all local I think)
- Dinner: eggplant coconut lime soup (local eggplant and lime, imported coconut milk - we do have a coconut tree in our yard, but making coconut milk is a laborious process, lemon grass from our garden)
- Breakfast: homemade granola (imported oats, flaxseed & cracked wheat, local honey, local almonds) with yogurt (local)
- Lunch at KPL: rice and beans, fish sauce, steamed carrots, fresh key lime juice (all local since that is KPL's - Support Local Production's - mantra and mission!)
- Dinner: homemade pizza (all ingredients for the dough imported, homemade tomato sauce with local tomatoes and oregano, thyme, basil and rosemary from our garden, imported mozzarella - before Haiti we used to make our own, but no time/source of fresh milk here, local green peppers, amaranth greens from our garden)
- Breakfast: french toast (bread made in the Dominican Republic - can't buy whole wheat bread that's locally made, sliced bananas, Ben's homemade syrup)
- Lunch: Ben's wonder pasta satay with garden greens (spaghetti made locally of imported ingredients, local peanut butter, greens and hot pepper from our garden, imported sesame oil)
- Dinner: potato and turnip soup (everything local except for imported milk powder)
- Breakfast: oatmeal (imported) with bananas and local almonds
- Lunch at MCC: tchaka (the most delicious Haitian soup of all made with red and black beans, pumpkin, scallions, cloves, garlic, green peppers, carrots, potatoes and corn)
- Dinner: homemade hummus (all imported ingredients except for onion), baba ghanoush (local eggplant, shallots and onion, parsley from our garden, imported tahini and olive oil), locally made pita bread (Haiti has a minority of folks of Lebanese descent)
- Breakfast: crepes with fruit salad of pineapple, papaya, mango, mint and banana (imported ingredients except for the eggs, local fruit, mint from garden)
- Lunch: crepes with arugula and parmesan (arugula from our garden, imported parmesan)
- Dinner: leftover hummus etc. This time Ben made the pita bread.
- Breakfast: dutch puff (local eggs, everything else imported), leftover fruit salad, local key lime, imported powdered sugar
- Lunch: tuna melts with watercress (bread imported from the DR, tuna imported,watercress and tomato from market, imported cheese)
- Dinner: Carrot ginger soup (local carrot and onion, imported ginger and garlic, imported milk powder)
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Starting Over
Sorry, the title of this post is lame, but I am starting over in Haiti. I've left my job at MCC and will be working as a freelance photographer from here on out.
Work has been slow for for a while and that's what prompted the change. Since I left MCC, though, I've been busy working for a few development organizations and shooting stories on my own. The photo agency that used to represent me, Polaris Images, has taken me back and has already contacted with an assignment. It's been good so far and I'll still volunteer some of my time to shoot for MCC.
I'm really excited to be freelancing again. A writer friend wrote me recently on the subject of being self employed - "Many congrats on busting out. It comes with all kinds of complications, as you and I both know, but for certain people (stubborn? willful? maladjusted?), working for other people is just a beatdown." I think I probably fit into the maladjusted category myself.
I've set up a new website - so far only of Haiti stuff. Check it out: www.bendepp.com
Work has been slow for for a while and that's what prompted the change. Since I left MCC, though, I've been busy working for a few development organizations and shooting stories on my own. The photo agency that used to represent me, Polaris Images, has taken me back and has already contacted with an assignment. It's been good so far and I'll still volunteer some of my time to shoot for MCC.
I'm really excited to be freelancing again. A writer friend wrote me recently on the subject of being self employed - "Many congrats on busting out. It comes with all kinds of complications, as you and I both know, but for certain people (stubborn? willful? maladjusted?), working for other people is just a beatdown." I think I probably fit into the maladjusted category myself.
I've set up a new website - so far only of Haiti stuff. Check it out: www.bendepp.com
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
6 months old
Daphene Aristène, 6 months, was born in Santo on the outskirts of Port-Au-Prince during the earthquake on January 12th.
Wondering what YOU can do for Haiti?
Advocacy Guide for the United States
Advocacy Guide for Canada
The widespread devastation caused by the earthquake was only possible as a result of economic injustice. Haiti has long been subjected to external interventions such as unjust international trade policies, onerous debt payments on debt acquired by the Duvalier dictatorships, military interventions and paternalistic charity that have perpetuated the nation’s structural poverty. Beginning in the 1980’s, structural adjustment policies imposed on Haiti by international financial institutions like the World Bank and IMF and food dumping by the United States weakened national agricultural production and exacerbated the poverty in rural Haiti, resulting in mass urban migration that made Port-Au-Prince especially vulnerable to this earthquake.
The MCC Haiti advocacy program is seeking to address these issues both by engaging constituents and policymakers in the US and Canada and by working through local partner organizations that are committed to social and economic justice. Political advocacy is a form of public witness and a tangible way of loving our neighbor.
This guide is intended to be a tool to help you become an advocate for structural changes that help create the conditions for a more sovereign and dignified Haiti than the one that existed before January 12th, 2010.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Christmas in July
We got an AMAZING package from the Thompsonowaks today! How well they know us -- among other things they sent a ceramic salt shaker in the shape of a carrot, locally made strawberry jam and basil soap, dark chocolate, an "I heart my bike" button and a beautiful clay bird.
We also got PART of an amazing package from my mom and Karen, the rest of which we anticipate eagerly (as apparently it is still sitting in Akron, PA, waiting for someone from MCC to handcarry it to Haiti). My mom does the cutest thing. For as long as Ben and I have lived and/or been traveling overseas, she clips crossword puzzles, quirky or Haiti-related articles and funny comic strips from the Charlotte Observer to save up and send to us. Getting crosswords and Lio comics from her has become this ritual thing that we love. Also, espresso coffee. Mmmm. It's nice to treat our taste buds to some different kinds of coffee from time to time.
But mostly it's nice to feel so loved...
(Speaking of coffee, it took us about a year and 1/2 here to decide to fork out a little more for our coffee, at which time we discovered that Haitian coffee is really quite good. It turns out that the brand we had been buying (Li Pi Bon - literally, It's Better) was NOT in fact better. )
We also got PART of an amazing package from my mom and Karen, the rest of which we anticipate eagerly (as apparently it is still sitting in Akron, PA, waiting for someone from MCC to handcarry it to Haiti). My mom does the cutest thing. For as long as Ben and I have lived and/or been traveling overseas, she clips crossword puzzles, quirky or Haiti-related articles and funny comic strips from the Charlotte Observer to save up and send to us. Getting crosswords and Lio comics from her has become this ritual thing that we love. Also, espresso coffee. Mmmm. It's nice to treat our taste buds to some different kinds of coffee from time to time.
But mostly it's nice to feel so loved...
(Speaking of coffee, it took us about a year and 1/2 here to decide to fork out a little more for our coffee, at which time we discovered that Haitian coffee is really quite good. It turns out that the brand we had been buying (Li Pi Bon - literally, It's Better) was NOT in fact better. )
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