One Month Later

I have officially passed the one month mark since I moved to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. I celebrated Thanksgiving and was on lockdown due to political violence for over a week with 1 Spaniard, 1 Italian, 2 Scottish, 4 Irish, and nearly a dozen American architects. I have been unable to do any interviews with anyone here in Haiti, one thing among many that has not gone according to plan. However, I have met journalists, artists, and many other aid workers in fields such as family reunification, cholera treatment and prevention, women's safety, agriculture and poultry industry revitalization, as well as temporary housing and schools. The work is slowly becoming less chaotic, but it is rare to be able to say, "I solved that problem once and for all."

Trash

Out of sight, out of mind...

A city run by trash. A city overrun by trash. That's the difference between Kristianstad and Port-au-Prince. The city of Kristianstad was recently profiled in the New York Times for its comprehensive approach to trash management, particularly for using its waste supply to produce biogas, used to fuel cars and warm homes. This centralized system was made possible by significant investment- $144 million- and high levels of political will and coordination. It all seems like quite a pipe dream from here in Port-au-Prince, where there is not even municipal or private trash service for the wealthy.

Rainy Day in Haiti

Security guards in the parking lot of Giant Supermarket, 5 PM on December 13.

Good news is hard work.

At the house earlier today, we were talking about how American news focuses on the negative and the sensational... earthquake, hurricane, cholera, election violence!! There is not a lot of positive energy being sent out about Haiti. There are not a lot of pictures of well-dressed Haitians walking to work or of mothers and fathers who walk their children to school every day (will post myself soon). Among a small group of us, we decided to tweet and facebook message only good news. For instance, today Chance, our guard puppy was finally able to return from the vet after being stranded there for a few days following her spaying.

Run down Kenscoff

Political Tightrope

The election results went out last night, 2 hours late after dark, and all of us expats were glued to our Twitter feeds. Journalists were joking about their states of inebriation from waiting for the CEP spokesman. They reported that he was dripping with sweat and shaking as he nervously read the results. He was right to be scared. The only way I speculate we could have avoided uproar was if Manigat and Martelly were the run-off candidates. Unfortunately Martelly lost to Celestin for 2nd place by less than a percentage point. Not enough of a difference for an election considered corrupt and incomplete. I think people wanted to protest anyways... the streets have been made pedestrian-only.

Eau (Water)

There are some things about living in Haiti that are a bummer when compared to American standards of living, but are positively opulent compared to many Haitians' current state. I say this not only because it is obvious, but because we were all very grumpy recently when the truck delivery of our water was delayed. Water supply is a private industry here.

This isn't our potable water, the water we drink, but the water we use to wash things (hands, bodies, clothes, and dishes) and to flush our toilets. We were without running water for 3 days. We have 2 cisterns, where our water is stored. One is hooked up to our plumbing system and the other is a reserve. We had water remaining in our reserve that Tibob, our man about the house, lugs up in big buckets to the bathrooms. It takes a whole bucket to flush the toilet, and when you have to transfer it with a tupperware cup by cup, you really appreciate how wasteful of water older toilets are! In comparison, it took me 2 cups of water to wash my hair. We ran out of water unexpectedly early because 19+ people spent 5 days confined to the house for the recent elections. Additional delays in our water delivery came from police blockades forcing the water truck to turn around. It finally arrived at 10:30 PM of Day 3.

In comparison, I regularly see people lug around potable water jugs balanced on their heads, fill buckets or bottles from broken water pipes in the gutter, or take sponge baths in the street. The tent city in one of Petionville's public squares has 3-6 port-a-pots for hundreds upon hundreds of people. Their doors are jerry-rigged out of wood scraps and people hold fabric to their faces way before and after they pass them. They are certainly dark and miserable places. I have heard there has been only one cholera case in this small camp, but no one really can be sure. The largest camp is run by JPHRO (Jenkins Penn Haitian Relief Organization) on the grounds of the Petionville golf club with 55,000 people. I believe the number of bathrooms they have is 1 per 1000 people, and this is one of the very best run camps. Various relief organizations deliver drinking water to the people in the camps. There have been two studies on access to water and toilets in the camps and the numbers were not good. 40 to 45 percent drink untreated water and 27 to 30 percent have no toilet.

Rural Haitians are even lower on the totem pole of clean water access. They often do not have latrines and drink water from unprotected, unchlorinated sources such as rivers or wells.

In 2008, over 50 percent of all Haitians, rural and urban, did not have regular access to safe water. I'm sure that number is much lower today. Unfortunately, this is not a problem to be solved by donating to any NGO, or to be completely clear, by any aspect of the privatized aid system. Drinking water and sanitation are the responsibility of the government and the need can only be met by an tremendous investment into infrastructure. No matter who wins the election, it is important that the international community provide support to the new government in this endeavor. Could the possibility of corruption ever be more important than this basic human right?

UPDATE Feb 14, 2011: Beatrice Lindstrom, a human rights lawyer who works with the IDP camp population has written a great article on water rights.