Blogs from Haiti, Central America Caribbean - page 9

On 27th December the Director General of the mayor's office approached All Hands to help with a project for the city. The 1st anniversary of the earthquake in which 250,000 people died (in a country of only 6 million) is 12th January. Between the Cemetery in Leogane and the highway is a mass grave where 2000 people were buried in the weeks following the earthquake. The site is marked only with a peeling sign and a small cross. There is nothing else to distinguish the site from any other road verge. When I went to site buses were using it to drop off passengers and two people stopped to take a pee against the cemetery wall. Could we, the Mayor's office asked, do something to enclose the site and tidy it up before the 12th January? ... read more

“Pass me the foie gras” are words I would never expect to hear in Haiti! But as is often the case here, unpredictability has its way… This time, it’s for the better, which helps to paint a broader picture of where Haiti currently sits and where it’s going – towards a BETTER PLACE! With a couple of days until the press came down to cover Merlin’s work in light of the one year anniversary of the Earthquake, I spontaneously decided to head down to Petit Goave, a charming coastal town about 2 hours South West of Port au Prince, where Merlin has been operating mobile clinics, serving many nearby rural communities, providing primary health care since March. I figured, this would be a good opportunity to meet our team there and give them as much notice ... read more

There is something uncontrived, something pure and meaningful about reconnecting with people who have made an impact on one’s life. For me, this is often manifested in the notion of “coming back” somewhere – not just to see someone, but to experience some place again and appreciate the changes. The modern Dictionary defines “evolution” as a “process of gradual, peaceful, progressive change or development, as in social or economic structure or institutions.” Given the overwhelming (negative) amount of press that has come out lately with respect to the progress (or in this case, lack thereof) in Haiti, it would seem somewhat illogical to qualify the situation as evolutionary. Well, allow me to humbly demystify this fallacy: THINGS ARE IMPROVING IN HAITI! Of course, I can only confidently speak on behalf of Merlin and, more generally speaking, ... read more

Well we may have travelled across the oceans but Christmas was still all about cooking. You can take the boy and girl out of Hackney but you can't keep 'em out of the kitchen! A 6am start (it's too hot to stay in your tent long after dawn) saw us making mincemeat for mince pies with Gilla and Kate much to the bemusement of all the Americans....."so it's a pie, for dessert, full of ground beef?". Then there was all the veg peeling, chicken seasoning, cookie making, stuffing preparing, salad slicing, frittatta mixing and cranberry sauce stirring to be done. There was quite a mean team of us in the very basic kitchen, whipped into shape by Max from Alabama (insert dodgy accent here). Everything went into the oven at midday so a few beers in ... read more

So on Sunday we made a christmas tree. It was our day off and it was raining so it seemed like a bit of creativity was in order. The base is newly bristling with the fruits of the 3 days last week that everyone was on lockdown which unleashed pent up creativity into building armchairs and sofas, a step up from lying on piles of lumber. It started off as a pile of cardboard but soon morphed via the comments and suggestions chipped in by everyone passing by. Soon the cardboard was long gone as a timber and wire and tube base was adorned with 8ft palm leaves cut off the trees on the track next door. Cayla lent us her machete and Helen cut quite a figure with it slung over her shoulder in its ... read more