It’s hard to believe I have less than a month less in Haiti. It feels like the time has gone quickly yet at the same time it feels like I left a long time ago. I am starting to count down the time until I leave, but I am also trying to make the most of my remaining time. Last Sunday I went to the beach with my boss, my boss’s friend, and my roommate. Out of all the beaches I’ve been to, this one was the nicest and the most expensive. There were waiters and waitresses to bring you drinks on the beach, and a nice buffet lunch. It was nice to rest a little bit before going back to work on Monday. Below is a picture of me with my roommate Famil at the beach.

It is now more than five months since the earthquake. Lately I’ve been asked by some people stateside how things are here. Although I have seen some signs of progress such as road construction or dump trucks clearing rubble, the pace is painfully slow. Next to Fonkoze’s Port-au-Prince branch, a group of young men were out this week with hammers and pickaxes separating concrete from steel and removing blocks from a collapsed building. It was difficult to hear that they discovered bodies under the rubble.

Because the government refuses to remove rubble from people’s property, many dump their rubble in the streets, causing traffic jams. Most buildings remain in the damaged state they were moments after the earthquake. Hundreds of thousands of people still reside in tent cities. I am beginning to wonder if many choose to live this way to save money on paying rent. The government has selected a couple of places to relocate tent dwellers, and although the selected sites are not in flood zones, they are not close to Port-au-Prince and (as far as I can tell) have limited access to necessities like a fresh water source. It almost seems like the Haitian government is putting them in the middle of the desert so that people can forget about them.

Last week my boss sent me to Jeremi, a small port town on the southwest coast, to visit more clients. Although there were numerous construction crews out repairing the route, it still was a 7 hour drive from Port-au-Prince. My boss had assured me that the hotel had satellite television so that I might be able to watch game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals, but of course that hotel was booked and the one I stayed at did not. Luckily, I was able to rent an internet connection for a couple hours to listen to the game online, but was not able to hear the winner in overtime. I can assure you that when I return, I will watch a recording of the games.

We had some free time after finishing visiting the clients, so the driver and I went to explore the city. Jeremi is one of the greenest cities in Haiti and at some points I felt like I was in a jungle. I can’t imagine how pretty Haiti was when it all looked like this. There is a wharf that allows you to drive out a couple hundred yards from shore that I went out on to take some pictures of the city. Although the coastline is very pretty from afar, the beach consists of piles of garbage.

One of the hardest moments of my trip was when we were on our way back from exploring. As we drove by a group of 10 people or so walking along the side of the road, I looked back to see what was going on and saw people crowded around a girl whose face was coated in blood. I told the driver to see what happened and he had the girl come to his window to talk to her. She was getting water at a well when an older man waiting behind her hit her. After discussing with the driver, he did not think it was a good idea to bring her to the hospital as he claimed the cops would think we did it to her. I ended up giving her some money (although likely not enough) hoping she would use it to go to get some medical attention. However, I worried that one of the people she was with would steal it from her after we drove away. I wish I could have helped her more or would have thought to call my boss so he could talk to the driver to figure something out on how to get her to the hospital. Unfortunately, I feel like this kind of thing isn’t rare in Haiti.

On a more upbeat note, it is fun to be in Haiti during the world cup. I feel the country needs something to celebrate to get their minds off of things. The majority of Haitians are Brazil fans and the rest are Argentina fans. Parts of the city are saturated with Brazil and Argentina flags. I saw a man drive buy with a Brazil flag duck taped to the hood of his car.At first I was surprised because the unpopular UN peacekeeping troops here are Brazilian, but I have learned that Haitians merely cheer for these countries because of their soccer teams.

Whenever one of the two is playing, the city stops. Workers in the office circle around someone who smuggled in a little TV to work or has a TV on their cellphone. Whenever a team scores a goal in one of Brazil’s matches, either the Brazil fans are cheering for a Brazil goal or the Argentina fans are cheering for the opposing country’s goal. Suspiciously, we have never had electricity at our apartment go out during a world cup match.

Last Monday-Thursday, I went on a site visit to a city along the northern coast of Haiti named Port-de-Paix. As I mentioned in my last entry, I went alone rather than with my boss as in previous trips. Because the drive to Port-de-Paix from P-au-P can take anywhere from 6 hours to 8 hours or more depending on the conditions of the roads, I flew on a regional airline. It took the propeller plane (really wasn’t as scary as it seems, just loud) about 35 minutes to make the trip. The more interesting part of my journey is how the credit agent (Business Development’s people in charge of interacting with clients) and I visited clients.

Although several credit agents use public transportation (trucks and buses) to visit their clients, the majority of the agents are given motorcycles. Over the rocky roads common in Haiti (see picture below), often a motorcycle can get you to your destination twice as quickly as a truck.Although you are almost always going slower than 15 mph, trucks often are left behind crawling along at 5-10 mph.

I had ridden on a motorcycle a few times before for short journeys, but not for as long as I did on this trip. In addition to Port-de-Paix, we had to visit clients in Jean Rabel, a hour and a half motorcycle ride, and Gros Morne, a two and a half hour motorcycle ride. It did not help that the agent’s motorcycle was more of a dirt bike, and therefore was not as comfortable as other bikes I’ve ridden on.

The northern coast of the country was very green compared to the rest of the country, and grows lots of mangos and plantains. There are also many rivers, which complicate travel in the rainy season. The first river we crossed, the agent paid a couple guys a dollar to push his motorcycle through the river (about 3 feet deep but 150 feet wide) and had another couple guys give us piggy back rides across. At another shallower river, the agent drove his motorcycle through the river (I’m sure this is horrible for the engine) and had me ride with a more experienced driver in motorcycle river-crossing. The driver had me put my legs under his armpits and on the handlebars so that I did not get wet. I will only spare you all with one more example. On the second day in Port-de-Paix, we had to cross a river about 300 feet wide by boat. The agent paid a group of guys a couple dollars to put his motorcycle on the back of a boat and then push us across the river in the boat (see picture below). This brought to mind playing Oregon Trail as a kid and having to ford rivers. The river crossings were a welcoming respite to long and painful rides.Returning to the hotel each night aching made me appreciate the credit agent’s job.

The hotel I stayed at was a step up from what I’ve been used to here. My room had a fully bed, a television, a refrigerator, air conditioning, hot water, wireless internet, and a fan. I realize these sound normal for a American hotel, but in a city of 50,000 people in rural Haiti, it was pretty nice to have for a few nights. Although I was not able to understand everything the clients said, with the help of the agent, I surprised myself and was able to interview all of the clients about how the earthquake affected their businesses. As I have mentioned before, many businesses buy their stock in P-au-P and lost both their stock as well as kids in school, family members, etc. It is sad to hear many of these stories, but encouraging hearing from the clients whose businesses are starting to return. This next week, I will be continuing to interview clients in the central part of the country. Thankfully, transportation will be via car and not motorcycle.

I am now settled at my new place. It is a house close to Champ de Mars (the big public park in the center of P-au-P and is a 10 minute walk from work. It is not the nicest place I have ever stayed in (still showering by buckets), but the owner has internet and television (when we have electricity) so it has been nice getting the chance to listen to the Blackhawks games on internet radio. I no longer have people to cook for me but there are many places (gas station, restaurants, street vendors) to buy food from nearby. Since my stomach does not always handle Haitian food very well, I have been eating a lot of sub sandwiches, pizza, and spaghetti.

I tried to come into the trip with few expectations, but so far this trip has been a lot different than I thought. I realize one cannot know how such experiences will be like without trying them. I have enjoyed touring parts of the country and learning about Haitian culture, but I feel like something is missing. Everyday I walk by thousands of tents on my way to work, but I can’t say that I really know their stories or what they’re going through. It’s often hard to tell how sick a person is by seeing them. Sure, I hear through other people about their struggles or read about them on the internet, but I almost feel like I’m desensitized to what these people are going through, still living in damp tents almost 5 months after the earthquake. I realize I am working to help Haitians develop the country through growing small businesses, but I can’t say I’m getting a strong sense of satisfaction out of this. I can see that I’m contributing to Fonkoze, but it is more difficult to detect if I am helping Fonkoze clients. I wonder if I could be of better use here. I am not certain if this is just me never settling and always wanting more, a sign that this isn’t for me, or something else. I think that this experience has a lot to still teach me about who I am and what I want from life.

This last weekend I actually went back to the US for four days for my brother's college graduation. It was great to see family and get a little break from Haiti. I will admit I enjoyed the hot showers, good food, air conditioning, and especially getting to play golf. It was also nice not to have to think about how to communicate to people or where to get food. Colors in the US seemed more vibrant, especially the grass and trees. Not that there aren't green places in Haiti, but most of the country is not that way. I am roughly halfway through my internship so it was a good time to visit home.

Arriving at the P-au-P after the earthquake is an interesting experience. It is impressive that the airport has jetways for some of the planes (this wasn't the case when I came 1 1/2 years ago) so that you do not have to walk on the tarmac. However, some of the airport was damaged in the earthquake and is not usable. Immigration, baggage claim, and customs were relocated to an old empty airplane hanger.

As you leave the airport, you are mobbed by people asking if you need a taxi, if they can carry your bags (for a tip of course), or if you can give them a dollar. It is a little bit of an overwhelming experience, but luckily my boss was waiting outside customs and guided me to his friend's car.

Because my roomates are shortly moving out from our apartment, I was forced to find another place to stay. Luckily one of my boss's friends, who also works at Fonkoze, is letting me stay in one of his rooms. The best thing about the apartment is that it is only a 10 minute walk from work. It still does not have hot water, but he is working on getting the shower to work so that we do not need to bathe by bucket. We have more electricity than in the other neighborhood (usually from 8PM-8AM)and have both a television and an internet connection (although it's not wireless and is pretty slow). I am even able to watch the NBA playoffs at night (although sadly not the Blackhawks as Haitians don't follow Hockey) Having electricity at night has allowed me to power a fan which has helped make sleeping inside doable.

The day I got back and moved in to the new apartment was Tuesday, which is Flag Day in Haiti. Since Flag Day is a national holiday, we had the day off. At night I went with my boss and his friend to Champ de Mars (the main plaza in P-au-P which is right next to the Palace) to listen to a concert. The concert bore close resemblance to one in the US: a stage with a video screen (with lots of advertisements for cell phones and rice), huge speakers, a dancing mascot, lots of smoking and drinking, and lots of people in the crowd dancing. During the concert, many were waiving small Haitian flags. I heard the music continued until 2AM. One thing I was not happy to see was a group of drunk kids wondering around in the crowd. Without strong parental influences in their lives, just like in the US, many kids resort to drinking, smoking, and even drugs if they can get their hands on them. However, partaking in these activities in a place like Haiti robs them of their futures.

As we exited the concert through a mob of people, I had my first run in with attempted robbery. While some men were pushing and shoving their way through the crowd, I felt some hands trying to reach in my pockets. Luckily I had my hands in my pockets and was with my friends, who were able to guide me to safety. I'll make sure to stay away from crowds like this in the future.

Last week my boss and I went on another site visit, this time to an area named Bomon in the southwest corner of the country. It is quite isolated as it took 6.5 hours to get there by car. Humorously, the first 80 km took 3.5 hours and were on nice, paved roads, but the last 10 km took 3 hours and were on rocky, muddy roads up and down mountains. There were several places on the last 10 km where construction crews were working or trucks were stuck in the mud and we had to wait. Bomon is almost a different country compared to P-au-P. The way people live is much simpler as few people have access to electricity and a lot of people rely on subsistence farming. The change in temperature at higher elevations in Haiti is quite striking. While P-au-P is regularly in the 90s or low 100s during the day, it was only high 60s/low 70s in Bomon.

We were able to visit 13 clients over our two days in Bomon. Many clients welcomed us into their homes and businesses and a few offered us coffee, oranges, or sodas. We are learning many clients were affected by the earthquake in the same manner. Many shop-owners buy/sell their merchandise in P-au-P and had their supplier's warehouses collapse. One client sent her sister with money to buy goods for her and has not heard from her since the earthquake. We met one client who had lost 4 children in the earthquake in addition to losing merchandise. The client pictured below narrowly escaped death as a masonry wall collapsed on the bed of his truck but missed the cab. The remainder of his merchandise is shown in the picture. He is having trouble selling the little cement he has as construction is slow, even in the aftermath of the earthquake. We decided that all the clients visited would be eligible for our earthquake program, in which we will cancel their debt, give them a sum of $125 to help them recover, and if they would like, provide them a new loan. Somewhat surprisingly, we are finding that almost half of our clients do not want new loans, reflecting how bad business still is in the country.

I have found out that I will be splitting up with my boss to visit all the clients in the business development group affected by the earthquake to determine if they are eligible for the program. Until now I have gone on visits, like the one mentioned above, with both my boss and the credit agents and have been trying to follow what the clients are saying during our meetings. However, so that we can visit the rest of the clients more quickly, I will be traveling in the north half of the country with only the credit agents (who do not speak a lot of English). I will say that I have been able to understand most of the details of what the clients are saying. I hope that clients will have patience with me as I am sure I will need to ask a lot of questions and have them speak slowly. As my Creole continues to improve, I am sure this task will not be as difficult as it seems. Hope everyone back home is doing well!

I haven't updated in awhile but have lots of stories so I apologize in advance for a longer than usual post. Two Saturdays ago I was able to go to the beach. We had been planning to go to Jakmel (a city along the southern coast) because they have a party for May 1st but we had to change our plans because my boss had a problem with his tire. Instead, we ended up going to a closer beach in Leogan. The beach was not as nice as the other I had been to as there was no sand; the beach consisted of a concrete patio with a couple cabannas. It was still nice to relax a little bit after a long week. Because the food was so expensive ($12-15 per plate), we decided to eat street food (fried plantains, goat, rice) outside for a couple dollars. One thing that is interesting about both the beaches I have been to is that you can go away from shore for a few hundred feet and not need to swim. My theory is that this is a result of Haiti's deforestation problem (lots of people cut down trees to make charcoal/sell wood) because with no vegetation to stabilize the soil, large amounts of soil wash out to sea. Infact, you can see this from Google Earth if you look at the port of P-au-P. You can differentiate the Dominican Republic and Haiti by Haiti's lack of vegetation. Being one of only 3 "blans" at the beach, I received a lot of comments on my tan. I'm sure my friends and family who have made fun of my farmers tans would appreciate one man's quote: "Blan! Ale peye ou! Ou twop blan!" (White! Go back to your country! You're too white!) Of course the man was joking (and he might have had a few too many beers) as he and his friends were laughing as he spoke.

Although my boss's tire held up for the trip to the beach, it went completely flat the next day after work. Instead of phoning the auto club, my boss had me wait by the car. I was a little nervous as it was already dark but tried to relax and prayed he would be back quickly. After waiting 15 minutes, my boss returned with a repairman carrying a jack and a wrench to remove the lugnuts. After he had removed the tire, the repairman departed sprinting down the street while rolling the tire in front of him. Little did I know it would be 2.5 hours before he returned. I guess it could have been worse, but it reminded me that in Haiti everything takes time.

The next day, we experienced a 4.0 aftershock at work. I can't say I felt it as it only lasted a second, but as soon as it happened, everyone sprinted out of the office. I did not join in their reaction, but remained seated as I did not think pulling a Geore Costanza (in one Seinfeld episode, George pushes kids out of the way as he rushes out of the room during a fire drill) was a great idea. We have had other small aftershocks, but I can not say I have felt any of them since most have been at night.

On Wednesday and Thursday, I was able to join my boss on a trip to visit clients in the Central Plateau. If you have read Mountains Beyond Mountains about the NGO Partners in Health, this is where their headquarters are located. It was neat to see the large hospital complex, if even from the outside. In the village of Cange, where Partners in Health is located, lies Haiti's only hydroelectric dam, which supplies a lot of P-au-P's electricity. As a result of the lake the dam creates, many people lost their crops and had to relocate their homes, causing a great deal of poverty in the area.

The village we visited clients in was named Hinche and is nearby Cange. My boss chose to visit Cange because we had been getting lots of reports that clients far from the epicenter of the January 12th earthquake were affected and we wanted to learn how. We were able to visit 12 clients over two days which I know sounds small, but considering how far apart the clients lived, was not so bad. I cannot imagine having to consistently make the hours long walks or bike rides these people have to get around. What we found was that although clients businesses and homes did not suffer damage, the supply chain had been disrupted. Unfortunately everything is centralized in P-au-P in Haiti: suppliers, universities, jobs, government offices. One of Fonkoze's goals is to foster decentralization by supporting economic activities outside of P-au-P, but it is a long road. A common theme we found is that clients had good waiting to be picked up in warehouses on January 12th that were lost when the warehouses collapsed/were looted. Most of the clients we visited operated small stores out of shipping containers or their homes selling food, cosmetics, second-hand clothes, or construction equipment.It has been especially hard for some of the clients selling food (especially) rice to pay back due to all the food aid being distributed throughout Haiti. Although a few clients had run out of other products, they all had bags of rice which I would not doubt have been sitting in stock for awhile.

This past weekend was fairly low key. I went to church with my boss, got to watch some soccer matches, and hung out for awhile at a makeshift bar near all the tents set up in one of the plaza's near the Palace. Since my boss has left his car at a garage so the mechanics can take care of some other problems, we have been using public transportation. On Saturday, we were able to take a modern bus that Haitians have humorously nicknamed "Obama" because they arrived in Haiti at the same time Obama was elected.This next week I will be going to visit more clients affected by the earthquake in Bomon, which is in the southwest corner of Haiti. I am looking forward to seeing another part of the country. I am also excited for next weekend because I will be visiting the states for 4 days for my brother's college graduation.

This last week our plans to travel fell through but we are still planning on visiting clients sometime in the next couple weeks. However, I was able to make two day trip Sunday-Tuesday to a city of about 125,000 people 120 miles north of Port-au-Prince called Gwomon (translates to "big mountain") to inspect several schools, a church, and a dispensary. The damage there was considerably less as they were much further from the epicenter, but there were still some major cracks in buildings I looked at.

My method of transportation to Gwomon was an old school bus. There is a bus station near a slum called Site Soley (Sun City) with old school buses waiting to embark to villages across the country. Luckily my boss gave me a ride to the station because even Haitians are scared about traveling to this area alone because of its proximity to Site Soley. The ride cost 300 gourdes (roughly $7.5 USD) which seems high for a country where 80% of the population lives on an average of $2 USD a day or less. I was expecting a rough ride as from previous experiences I had learned how few Haitian roads are paved outside of PAP. In addition, we sat three per seat in the bus which is not ideal on a long bus ride. I tried to get a good picture of how crowded the bus was but the below picture did capture the scene well. I didn't want to take too many pictures because many Haitians do not like their picture taken without asking them.Luckily, about half the route was paved and the whole route was flat (rare in Haiti). I know 4 hours still seems like a long time for a 120 mile trip, but considering it took us 6 hours to go 40 km to Baudin last year, it seemed to go by quite quickly. I was surprised to see construction crews out working on the road. On my trip back I could see and smell the freshly laid tar along the new stretch of pavement. It was nice to see some signs of improved infrastructure in a country where it doesn't seem like the government is doing much. Because one of the priests at the church I stayed at in Gwomon had to make an emergency trip to PAP, I had the luxury of traveling back in a private car (much more comfortable).

One thing I struggle with is people's requests for money or help. Because there are not many Americans in Haiti (at least I don't see many besides the ones at work) and Haitians know America is richer than Haiti, I am an easy target. Walking out of church reminds me of leaving Blackhawks/Bulls games at home because there is a line of older people, often physically impared, waiting for donations. When they see me exit, some of them yell "blan" ("white") with their hands out. In Gwomon, as I was inspecting a school, several school girls came up to me and asked me 1) how to say "give me 10 dollars" in English and 2) to give them 10 dollars! Up until now, I have not given in often because I do not want to send the message that begging is the right thing to do. I have come to the conclusion that to raise oneself out of poverty, charity is not the solution. Also, I am already working to help people raise themselves out of poverty through business loans. But at the same time, I know deep down that they would have better use for the money than me. How I can best help the people I meet is something I will continue to toy with throughout my stay.

In the last few days, the delayed gas shipment finally arrived at the port in PAP and gas is no longer as difficult to find. I appreciate days where I don't have to catch a taxi to work as I usually am drenched in sweat due to the long walk and the overcrowded ride in the taxi. Another bit of good news is the electricity poles to our neighborhood have finally been rebuilt. This does not mean we get consistent electricity, however. For example, in the last 24 hours my apartment only had electricity from maybe 3-5:30 in the morning. This is common with a few people that live in different areas than me. However, I have heard electricity is more stable in wealthier parts of PAP (no surprise). My boss shared with me that since "Baby Doc" Duvalier left power in the 80's, PAP has never had enough electricity for a whole day. I am hoping that this situation will be improved the funds are appropriated to rebuild Haiti. Also, I am waiting to see if, as many people claim, that electricity will all of a sudden be plentiful during the World Cup.

First Haitian Party

Transportation has been very difficult this past week because of a national gas shortage. Since last Wednesday, gas has been very difficult to come by. Traffic, although now a bit lighter as more cars are off the road, comes to a standstill near gas stations as cars pile sit waiting in hope that gas will be distributed shortly (see below - sorry the picture is sideways but I couldn't figure out how to fix that). From what I have heard, gas is still the same price at the stations (about $3 USD/gallon), but people are selling gas on the street for as much as $9 USD/gallon.


I didn't see any fights break out but I heard if any gas was distributed, it was rationed in small amounts and you needed to push your way to get any (from my experience Haitians don't seem to like waiting in lines). A few times in the last few days my boss and I have walked to several Port-au-Prince gas stations carrying empty gasoline cans in hope of finding gas. This has meant that instead of being driven to work, my boss and I have taken either taxis or tap-taps to get to work. Several of the tap-taps we have taken are now charging double because of the gas shortage. Below is a picture of where I catch taxis - an intersection a 1/2 mile from my apartment called Kafou Ayewopo (in English, airport crossing). There is constantly a swarm of people sifting in and out of rusted out tap-taps and taxis to and from several different locations around Port-au-Prince. Some of the vehicles I've ridden in are so old I'm impressed they're still on the road. I've even seen a number of 1992 Toyota Previas (the first car I drove).

Supposedly the next tanker will not arrive in Port-au-Prince for another week, but I understand gas is a little easier to come by since yesterday. When asked by Haitians when the last time something like this happened in the United States, I can only think of the gas crises in the 1970s. Until now, gas has always been something I have taken for granted.

Yesterday I had a surprise visitor. My roomates knocked on my door to tell me Obama wanted to see me. Curious who my roomates wanted to introduce me to, I crawled out of bed to find my friend Martin and his girlfriend. Martin has translated for two groups I have been on and lives nearby Port-au-Prince. He had just returned from a week-long dental trip he translated for in the town I visited my first time in Haiti. After chatting for a bit I agreed to take a glance at his girlfriend's home. A Haitian engineer had already inspected the building but she was still living in a tent because she did not trust his word (this has been a common trend from my experience). After I walked through the building and did not find any critical problems, I told her I agreed with the other engineer. I could tell she was relieved. Engineers have made good progress on marking buildings (my building was marked as safe last week, don't worry), but it seems like the inspections are just carried out from the street, which limits their quality.

Last week there was a disconcerting radio report that predicted a 6-8 magnitude earthquake in the next couple weeks and informed all Haitians to sleep in tents until then. This caused my roomates, who were previously confident about the safety of our apartment, to start to worry that they should heed the advice. The report did not make sense to me becuase I don't think someone can be that confident there is going to be an earthquake and tell people to live outside when it is raining almost every night. I also cannot comprehend why this report was issued now of all times, over 3 months after the earthquake, and why in two weeks time it is suddenly safe to move inside again. I hope that the report does not give Haitians too much additional stress.

Yesterday was also my first Haitian party. My roomates, about 25 guests, and I celebrated my roomate Gertrude's birthday on the roof adjacent to our apartment. My roomates spenthours preparing for the party - ironing dresses, doing their hair, getting manicures, cooking, etc (see the above picture of me, Gertrude, and my boss, Getro who forgot to dress up, haha). There was plenty of food and beverages. The party, scheduled from 4-6 (I was curious why it was scheduled for only two hours), began two hours late and ended at 10PM. Even though we did not have electricity and gas was hard to come by, somehow we got hold of a generator and the dj's were able to play music for the duration of the party. Most of the music played is a Haitian style of music called Konpa. Several girls at the party put up with me and tried to teach me how to dance to it. I found out that Konpa originated as a modified version of salsa introduced by Cuban visitors years ago. It is much slower than salsa, and therefore a little easier to learn. As soon as I took my camera out, everyone and their mother was grabbing at my arm to have their picture taken, litterally. Luckily I had a spare camera battery as I quickly used up the first. Overall it was a fun experience.

I hope to be going out into the field in the next week. I have an inspection trip planned for the sister parish of a church in Lafayette, Indiana and will also be visiting Fonkoze clients in the north part of the country. Work has been challenging lately because we are trying to figure out how to reduce our high rates of delinquency since the earthquake. Our goal in visiting clients is to find out what is going on and how we can get more clients to resume loan payments. Hope things are good with everyone back home and that you all had nice weekends!

A lot of humanitarian aid has made it into my neighborhood in the last few weeks. Two weeks ago my roomates came home on consecutive days with half-filled 50 lb bags of rice as wells as bags with beans and corn given to them by WorldVision. I have no idea how challenging it was for them to haul all that food across PAP - I would have had trouble! I was happy to see people getting food but a little annoyed that most of the food aid I've seen is from the US, the Dominican Republic, etc. Granted, Haitian agriculture is much less developed than the US and they can't feed all of their population, but I hope some of the aid agencies are purchasing food aid locally to stimulate the local economy. From what my roomates tell me, a representative walks around the neighborhood and hands out cards/tickets to different households that say where and when the food will be distributed. This seems like an ardous task because Haitians are living anywhere they can. It is hard to know where one household ends and another begins. How can you know for sure if someone is just following the aid distribution from neighborhood to neighborhood?

This last week Doctors Without Borders created a scene in the neighborhood. As they weaved their way through the neighborhood, their truck was completely surrounded by Haitians desiring any kind of help they were giving. Although I presumed they were distributing medicine, it turned out they distributed hundreds of tents (doesn't seem directly in the mission of Doctors Without Borders to me but I don't think my neighbors cared). Although my street had a few tents before, now the entire street is lined with tents (see picture). Some tents have additional tarps over them to protect them from rain, but I'm guessing the bottom of the tents become damp. As rain has become more common (we've had rain 3 out of the last 4 nights - but only for 30 minutes or so), I am concerned people will become sick.

As one can imagine, all the tents and rubble around Port-au-Prince create a lot of traffic. Occasionally, sections of roads will be closed for a few days to allow workers and dump trucks to clear rubble. Although my boss can make it to his home outside PAP in 30 minutes with no traffic, now it takes 3 hours some mornings! There is still an immense amount of rubble that needs to be cleared. One government official estimated it would take 1000 dump trucks 1000 days to clear all the rubble from PAP! Some good news is that we can see electricity getting nearer to our apartment at night. Now it is only two blocks away. I hope that in the next couple weeks, our electricity will be restored but I am trying to not be too optimistic. Ironically, my roomate told me our apartment only had electricity installed two days before the earthquake. What luck! So far, however, not having electricity has not bothered me too much. My smartest move was investing in a headlamp that I use nightly to read or frantically look up words in my creole-english dictionary. Ok - time to get back to work. Bon Weekend!