A day in the life: Easter time Ra-ra bands!

Although most Haitians live in poverty, they do find ways to have fun. A popular happening around holidays is the ra-ra band. They're loosely organized bands that march around their respective towns, usually collecting other participants along the way. Oftentimes, the extras don't play an instrument (often simple PVC pipe), but they bring a flag and wave it around.

Here's one of the neighborhood kids, Richard, with his white flag:
Some members of this ra-ra band put on dresses as part of their act:
Some more of the boys and their costumes, as well as their PVC horns:
Some examples of the colorful costumes for the more "professional" ra-ra bands:


These two ra-ra bands donned their garb for the big ra-ra competition hosted by the City of Jeremie every Easter.

Tim White

A day in the life: road trip to Anse d'Hainault

With some of my colleagues, we hired a driver. Pascal drove us across the mountains of southwest Haiti to his hometown, Anse d'Hainault. In this pic, you can see my successor (Amy, left), Pascal (center) and a nurse (Conni, right):
After a three hour drive, we arrived in downtown Anse d'Hainault:

Though most are poor, Haitians are creative. Here are some kids playing a homemade board game:
When visiting Pascal's childhood home, we met one of his uncles:
Some girls playing jumprope in front of Pascal's family home:
Dried fish is a Haitian favorite:
My colleagues, Amy and Patti, snapping pix of Pascal's family: Tim White

The beaches of Anse d'Hainault

With some of my colleagues, I jumped in a truck and headed for the end of Haiti's southern peninsula. Our destination was Anse d'Hainault. After a three hour drive, we reached the small town, parked and hiked to the beach:

After swimming for a few minutes, we headed back to the truck and into town:
Along the way, we stopped to check out some very nice beachfront property:

Then reviewed some of the items on the menu for dinner that night:

And eventually headed back to Jeremie, snapping a few shots along the way:
Including one of this air plant: Tim White

A day in the life: Conni Landis to the rescue!

One of the nice things about working with a public health facility is working with nurses. In April, I jumped in a pickup with some colleagues and headed to the seaside town of Anse d'Hainault. On our return trip, we encountered someone who had gotten injured on their bike. So Nurse Conni jumped into action. She cleared out the flat bed, put on her gloves that she often carries with her and cleaned him up:



Despite her valiant effort, as we were leaving she said that she expected he'd still lose his toe. And on a lighter note, while we were stopped I snapped this shot of some locals transporting a bedframe:
And this was the view from where we stopped on the road: Tim White

A day in the life: an eco-friendly Haitian household

A few weeks ago I took the time to leave Jeremie proper and visit Jean Marie Pamphile. Jean Marie is a friend of a friend. Here's the view of his small town, Gomier:
Considering that the availability of electricity is sparse in Jeremie... and Jean Marie lives outside of Jeremie... Jean Marie is doing what he can to make things happen without the need for electricity... and without the need for deforesting Haiti and cooking with charcoal. So he created this contraption to heat / boil his water which is safe for drinking:
He uses this old steel drum to smoke his fish:

This greenhouse is the second and newest phase of his smoked-fish process:

This is the back of his newest latrine, including the cement cap to his runoff tank:
Here's an already full septic tank:
His piggery currently uses this run-off tank:
He's hoping to use all of these waste tanks for the creation of biogas. At the moment, he -- like many wealthier Haitians -- use propane for their energy needs. If he can begin capturing the gas from his waste tanks, he'll be able to use that gas as an alternative to propane. He keeps his goats in this enclosure:
And Jean Marie composts here:

He keeps his bees a fair distance from his house and up a hillside here:
And he can sell the bees wax either locally for voodoo candles or, perhaps someday, internationally for products such as natural cosmetics:
Here's the view directly across the street from his house:
And I took this pic in Gomier, soon after leaving his house:I'm not sure what is happening here. My *guess* is that the oceanside residents are harvesting the rocks and sand from the beach, then merchants come along in a truck and simply buy these piles for use as construction materials. Tim White

A day in the life: my barber

I imagine I'll soon be visiting my lifelong barber, Joe Mazzacane. But for the past 18 months, this was my barber: Tim White

Some random pix of Jeremie

There are paintings all over Haiti, particularly of celebrities. Here are a couple of American kids. I may not know who the kid is in the lower left, if not for Senatorial-hopeful Chris Murphy who tweeted about "Biebs" last year:This is the path that leads from my place to La Ville:A view of the neighborhood from the path that goes downtown. It's basically a neighborhood built upon the cliffs of a ravine that towers at least 75 feet from the base to the peak:Some quadraped transport:The local cemetary:A resident of the cemetary who wasn't too thrilled with my presence:Unfortunately, the cemetary doubles as a dump:One of my colleagues, Martha, with two kwash (malnourished) sweetie-pies at the Center of Hope:A view of the Jeremie beach:An abandoned ship at the Jeremie beach:The Education Ministry:Some of the rusted tin roofs of Jeremie:The ubiquitous "Digicel" sign. Digicel is one of the large cell phone service providers in Haiti:Some more random roofs:And one of the many churches:Tim White