I find myself in Haiti once again, sitting amidst the night heat and bustling sounds of Port-au-Prince. It is the first time I have been in the country since January 2010, when I witnessed the country's largest disaster first-hand. The return brings forth a blend of emotions, memories, and excitement for what is to come.
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| City Soliel |
For all who do not know, I am beginning a 47-day trip to perform research for my Master's thesis in anthropology at Colorado State University. Through the funding of the Center for Collaboration Conservation fellowship program, the generosity of Ed Warner, the guidance of faculty at CSU, and the help of numerous Haitians I have been blessed with the opportunity to learn from the people of Haiti.
More specifically, I am studying the relationship between Haitians and trees. Through interviews, participant observation, and community mapping, I plan to research how people utilize and think about trees in their daily life. Working closely with Fort Collins, CO non-profit Trees, Water, & People, I will then use what I learn with the people of Haiti to incorporate local knowledge and belief into reforestation/agroforestry initiatives in rural Haiti. I am traveling with three CSU graduate students through the Global Social and Sustainable Enterprises program, (Lincoln, Mary, and Jeannie), the international director for TWP (Sebastian), and a new friend and native Haitian (Jean-Marie, or Jean for short). We have quite the blend of experience and personality. I couldn't have asked for a better team to spend the next month and a half with... but we will see how I feel about that after 47 days of close proximity.
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| R to L: Lincoln, Mary, Jeannie, and myself |
You never know what exactly to expect in Haiti (perhaps that is part of what keeps drawing me back to this place). Past experiences of traveling to and from Haiti have included being accused of having explosives in Miami, being interrogated at the Port-au-Prince airport, trudging through flooded rivers, and bumming a ride in the storage compartment of an Air Force cargo plane. I am happy to report that this journey has been safe, sound, and more mundane than all of that.
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| Sebas spotted this gem. No sugar coating it around here. |
For brevity purposes, my day has been filled with the following:
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| Monster Mango. So good. |
- Arriving to DIA at 10 pm
- Flying out at 12:45 am
- 15 second layover with much sprinting in Ft Lauderdale
- Arriving in PAP at 9 am
- Renting a truck and driving around PAP
- Discussing project goals with the team
- Napping in a hammock with a 115 F heat index
- Waking up to the sound of roosters
- Eating some great local food, including the freshest, biggest, juicest, and cheapest mangos of my life
- Running over translations of research material and interview plans with Jean, the Best Translator Ever (BTE)
- And the highlight my day: Traveling to a local market with the crew, drinking a cold Prestige, and testing out my year of Creole preparation. How great it feels to finally use this knowledge. Thank you to Melissa for your tutoring and the many Haitians that have spoken with me along the way. I am still quite the beginner, but it is so rewarding to finally be able to talk with the people I have come to know and love over the past 5 years. Bondye Bon!!
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| Conversing with Jean-Marie and some solid Haitian Folks. |
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| Streets of PAP |
- There seems to be more successful rebuilding than I heard about in the states (while I have only seen a small portion of the city)
- There are exponentially more Americans here than I have ever seen in the country (I even saw an American family carrying an infant through the airport... oh how the times have changed).
- The Haitian people have remained quite a wonderful, welcoming, faithful, and joyful people
That is all for now, but check back for regular research updates, anecdotes, and photos.
Mesi anpil pou ap li e Bondye beni ou!
Thank you a lot for reading and God bless you!
John
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