Zwazo Yo - Science Education and Ecotourism

Navigating the airport - Part I - arrival

2012-02-12T15:07:00.004-06:00

Here’s a blog tour of the International airport in P-au-P. Fill your water bottle before you get on the plane in Miami - it's your last chance to find water until you arrive at your destination for the night in Haiti. Upon arrival at PAP, have your passport, green customs form, baggage claim ticket, and a bunch of $1 bills at hand. You debark on the second story and walk down a hallway from which you can see the old airport and cracked windows (I assume from the quake). Then you go down an escalator – have $1 ready if the little band is playing and you want a photo or just like the music. Then everyone gets on a bus to go to another building that was a warehouse or something.

When you get off the bus, go inside and get in line to show the customs guy your passport – save the detached part of the green card you filled out on the plane – you'll need it when you leave the country. The customs guy really wanted to know the address of where I was staying – all I knew was the neighborhood which of course he hadn’t heard of. Then you stand near the conveyor belt to wait for your bags. Workers remove the bags off of the far side of the belt, so look for yours there if you were way behind in the line. If you’re early wait near the front of the belt to grab your bags as they enter the building. Then you go by a guy at a little desk who may or may not look at your luggage claim ticket. If not, someone outside will look at it. Be prepared for the onslaught of people who want to help you! I’ve given in and let someone carry my big bag, since he knows if you need to show someone outside your claim ticket. If your ride is not waiting for you in the mob of people right there (see photo), the bag guy will lead you down an outdoor walk way to another waiting place. When you find your ride give the bag guy $2 – 3. He might ask for $10, and won’t have change. Your ride will take you to the MAF airport or other destination.

MAF – When you are dropped off at the little domestic airport, again a bunch of men will try to help you with your bags – let one help you put your bags through security and take them to the MAF window and give him $1 or $2. The security is right at the building entrance and you don’t have to take shoes off or anything out of your bag. Anyone can go in. Bathrooms are near this door (have toilet paper with you just in case). An old woman sits by the bathroom door and will expect $1 on the way out (not sure what she does).

Check in at the MAF window. You can pay in US cash or by check, and lately they’ve wanted payment for the return trip too. Keep your receipt for the return trip. All your bags and you will be weighed. Then your stuff is piled in the corner by the scale. One time a pipe or something was dripping water in the corner so I moved my stuff to a dry place. Keep your valuables on you because then you go and sit and wait (see photo). Kind of keep an eye on your stuff. The MAF guys are nice and will make sure you don’t miss the flight. There’s no food or drinks, but you can buy bottles of syrup.

When it’s time for the flight all your stuff gets loaded onto a cart, and you’re told to go stand by the departure door (to the left of the Tortuga booth). A man will come around from the outside and unlock the door and you walk out to the MAF plane. Have your camera and whatever else you want in hand because they put everything else under or in the back of the plane to distribute the weight. The flight to Pignon is about 20 minutes and might be a little bumpy, but gives a great view of Haiti. At the MAF airstrip your hosts will pick you up. Next post – departure.

It once was a rainforest

2012-01-29T15:32:00.003-06:00

These are largest trees I’ve seen in Haiti.

If you know what these are please leave a comment. The banyan tree (strangler fig) comes to mind for the one with all the roots hanging down, but I don't know what it is. The other was called a pistach tree, pistach is Creole for peanut. I assume trees like this grow in the national forests on the south peninsula. It’s sad to think they used to cover the country and now 99% of Haiti looks like this:

The book Collapse has a chapter about how the colonial history of Haiti lead to deforestation. According to it and other sources, the French brought slaves and left with timber, leaving Haiti largely deforested before it became independent.

Birding in November

2012-01-16T10:05:00.003-06:00

I saw 21 species of birds in November 2011. They are listed at this posting.

At least 8 of the species I saw in the Mompremiers front wooded yard. Even the giant plain pigeon (ramye) lives there. My 40-something year old host recalled this large dove in large flocks during his childhood. They were hunted to a threatened status, and previously I would see at most one each visit. But this trip I saw and heard them everywhere! My hosts commented that they are seeing more birds this year. Perhaps my message to protect the birds is working. Whatever the reason it is good to see so many birds here.

My guide took me on 2 birding hikes. I now can distinguish the calls of the ground dove and plain pigeon. We saw all three hummingbirds (which he can distinguish by sound). We saw 2 birds new for me: the Greater Antillean Bullfinch which is native to the island; and the Cape May Warbler which comes down from Canada – a perfect example to teach about migration.

Gardens Part II - Irrigated

2011-12-27T09:05:00.009-06:00

Saul the agriculture extension agent gave us a tour of his gardens. Huge beautiful fields of cabbages, with tomatoes and peppers along the edges. Even a small patch of rice. Banana trees and breadfruit trees. And a couple of huge trees that survived the deforestation. It was impressive.

Then we went to his garden that has irrigation canals. It was like a botanical garden. Different varieties of bananas. Coffee trees. Cocoa trees! - the orange things in the picture are the cocoa pods. I suggested that Saul open a restaurant overlooking the gardens, and give tours. It’d be a perfect place to relax and enjoy the beauty and food of Haiti.

This final photo shows corn being irrigated, right next to coconut tree. I don’t know if it is as productive as the same sized Kansas corn field, but they also aren’t trying to grow the corn just to feed cows like they do here in the US. That Saul can grow his own rice is a huge deal. The Haitian rice farmers are driven out of business by the importation of American rice (cheaper due to subsidies). Thus

people lose jobs and can’t feed themselves, and the money goes to the US.

Hillside gardens

2011-12-26T16:41:00.006-06:00

My last Saturday morning in Haiti my guide took me on a hike to the large cave that’s 2.5 miles from UCI, which isn’t that far, but the 730 ft rise in elevation in ½ mile is tough. We had made this arrangement before I got sick that week, and since I had been there last year, I knew what a steep hike it was, so the day of the hike I said I’d like to go to the smaller, closer cave instead. He said yes. Knowing that my guide says yes when he doesn’t always understand, I reiterated – The small cave. He said yes. I reiterated – The cave that is close. He said yes. Well, we ended up going to that far cave which turned into a 5.5 hour hike! The route didn’t seem like the way to the small cave. The stream crossing confirmed that we were indeed going to the farther cave. Oh well – that’s where I originally wanted to go and I was feeling a bit better. Only I didn’t have enough water for that long of a hike and ran out before we were heading back.

The way there seems very long because of the steep climb, it took us about 3 hours. My guide said he can make it in an hour. We were birding along the way, I was taking pictures, and I wasn’t used to this kind of climb. Last year he and his sister did the hike in flip flops. The same bottles of reddish Corona beer were there, along with the cat skull and chicken bones. We heard the bats fluttering around this time, didn’t hear them last year.

The gardens along the way were amazing. Not that they were large and productive, but that anyone could garden on a steep rocky hillside. There were small plots of corn. Gourds, pigeon peas, and banana trees were tucked away everywhere. On rocky terraces (mesiks, see picture) people planted manioc, potatoes, beans. We saw older men and women out there harvesting their vegetables. They must be in super shape! The hut in the photo is a little garden plot.

Use of water quality test kits in Haitian ecology conference

2011-12-08T11:22:00.011-06:00

At both ecology conferences I taught about bacteria using the portable microbiology labs that Dr. Bob Metcalf of California State University developed for use in Africa. The kits detect both the ecoli that usually occur in the environment, and the ecoli that come from human and livestock kaka (the universal term for poop). The ecoli itself doesn’t make us sick, it’s the other things in our kaka such as cholera and dysentery that makes us sick. Thus the fecal ecoli indicates that human or livestock kaka is in the water and possibly the bacteria that make us sick. Contaminated water needs to be boiled before drinking. It seems that people already treat their water, so I presented this as a way to track down sources of contamination. The bacteria in the water sample will grow on the petri plates and make the water in the tubes turn yellow. If the bacteria are from kaka, they will be blue on the plates and fluoresce when a black light is shone of the tubes. The tubes and plates need to be incubated for 12 hours the bacteria to grow. In lieu of an electric incubator one can incubate them against the body under the waistband.

I handed out 3 bags of 4 kits (plate + tube) to people at the first conference on the second day of the conference, then wizened up for the second conference at Riske de Cayahonde and handed them out the 1^st day so that people could bring them back and I could help them interpret the results. These observations are from the 2^nd conference (see pics). I showed three people how to use the kits (with the rest of the class watching), but didn’t have a spare plate to show for real how to put the water on the plates. That was a mistake – only one person got it right! I don’t know what the old man did – he had time to do only 2 of the tests and it looks like he just put a couple drops of water on the plates. The tubes were still clear which means he didn’t incubate anything. He also didn’t label anything. He later spoke up and commended the woman who did everything perfectly and said it’s a lesson in taking education seriously. The class gave her three rounds of applaud. Three people worked together on the third batch of kits. The water wasn’t distributed evenly on the plates so I don’t think they got enough water on it (1ml which is measured with the supplied pipette). But everything was labeled and incubated properly. Next time I need to color code the pairs of tubes and plates since I have difficulty reading the Haitian handwriting. Then at least I know how to pair up the tubes and plates even if I can’t figure out the writing.

Another thing that was difficult was seeing the fluorescence of the tubes with the black light. I didn’t realize that it needed to be very dark to see this. I put the tubes in a cardboard box and peeked in and could tell which tubes fluoresced, but it was too difficult to show this to the class. Next time I’ll use a black bag we can stick our heads in. (Also I didn’t try to explain fluorescence, I called it glowing).

The results are in the pictures of the white board. If the tube is clear and no bacteria grow on the plates, the water is sterile – none were like this of course. If the tube is yellow and the bacteria colonies on the plates are red, then there is ecoli but not the kaka kind. Four of the 8 water samples were like this. Two samples fluoresced but had no blue colonies, thus a moderate risk of getting sick from kaka carried diseases. Two samples did not fluoresce but did have a couple blue colonies, also a moderate risk of getting sick from kaka carried diseases.

I will translate some of the instructions and interpretation of results into Creole for next year. People need to record the dat (date), lokasyon (location), if the tube turned jòn (yellow), if the colonies were ble (blue), and if this means a risk of maladi (illness). Non = no, wi = yes. Locations included sous (spring), gwo rivye (big river), and a ravin (ravine). Locations in the 2^nd board are place names or descriptions: ti pye = little tree, not sure what the other two are. These kits are great tools for teaching about health and water quality, and I learned a lot about how to better structure the teaching to help people get better results.

Two more schools – one repeat and one new

2011-12-05T06:51:00.001-06:00

On Thursday I taught ecology at Maranatha school which I taught in an assembly last year. This time I went to each of the 7 classes which is more affective in finding out what the kids know and drilling into them “pa krasse ze yo!” – don’t crush the eggs! The kids all remembered me from June and when asked what they do when they see bird nests all but the youngest class said they protect them. The youngest class of preschoolers didn’t know what to do, and two boys in other classes said they catch the birds. I asked why and they said to eat, but admitted they have chickens to eat too. The kids put a rope in the nests to catch the birds. We reviewed the benefits of hawks and hummingbirds, and then talked about the bats. The youngest kids didn’t know where bats come from – it’s nice to have fresh minds to teach! The older ones thought they come from old mice. At each school the kids seem to know that the bats live in caves.

The final school I taught at was the Catholic school, Ekòl Mè, which is on Hwy 3 at the east intersection to Caiman Rd.* This was my first time at the school (green uniforms) so I only taught about birds. There are 6 classrooms, one room having 2 classes in it (not uncommon). This time it was the older kids in 3 classes of 3rd – 6th grade (12 – 18 yrs old) who said they protect the nests, plus the youngest preschool class. In the middle classes the girls said they protect the birds, while the boys said they catch the birds to eat. And when asked what hawks eat they all yelled chickens! I explained that yes they eat chickens, but eat more rats and chickens, and the rats eat the chickens too.

This month I taught at 4 schools and reached 530 kids. I look forward to my next visit and seeing what the kids remember. I’ll probably teach about snakes. There are no poisonous ones in Haiti, but kids kill them because they think snakes are Satan!

*I’m glad to find out the name of the road that UCI is on – Caiman Rd. The customs guy at the airport really wanted to know the address I was staying at while in Haiti. I know I’m in Caiman the village but really doubt UCI has an address since there is no mail service.

Second ecology conference

2011-11-30T13:29:00.003-06:00

The second ecology conference was held Tuesday and Wednesday at a church in Riske de Cayahonde, about a 20 minute drive from UCI. Louiders was in charge of handing out materials and getting everyones names. 47 people attended, along with 3 babies and a bunch of kids. It was a mix of young and old, men and women. The occupations that they listed were: farmer, gardener, commerce, mechanic, health, and student. The pastor also attended. Two kids helped me pass the life cycle models around to show each person. I was able to cover more material than the first conference at UCI last week. While people asked excellent questions and gave examples of the topics in their lives, they didn’t go on with their stories as the crowd at UCI did. So I was able to add in the hydrologic cycle and the insect life cycles and go over the ecoli tests in more detail. The pastor helped decide on 3 people who would take the ecoli kits and test different sources of water the 1^st afternoon, so that we could all look at results the next day. The old man who took a kit didn’t do a very good job with the culture plates, but one of the women did an excellent job and we could tell which water source had fecal material in it. I’ll write a post on this later.

Of course everyone thought that bats came from old mice that pop out wings. And I found out why people think that if a frog pees in your eye you’ll go blind. While working in the sugar cane fields people see frogs jump off of the cane, sometimes at eye level, and they see that the frog pees when it jumps. If it goes in your eye you’ll become blind. I asked if anyone ever witnessed this, and one old man said he did. An old lady clarified that it stings but you don’t really go blind. I’m still skeptical that it actually gets in anyone eyes.

This same old lady was very doubtful that hawks are good for anything. I went over the usual information about hawks keeping the rat population under control. It’s hard to convince people this is happening when the only way they would really know this is to get rid of the hawks and watch the rats take over. All the people see are the hawks eating their chickens. I’ll have to find the article that I read that quantified the numbers. We did discuss how there are fewer wild birds for the hawks to eat and that the chickens are easy to catch. I suggested that people might have to make an effort to protect their chickens.

Overall, I found that people are very aware that more trees would be better for Haiti. I hope that education about some of the basic ecological details will encourage the younger people to seek education in this and return to their communities to take charge of restoring Haiti. Foreign aid groups can bring in all the money they want to, but if communities don’t take charge the effects won’t last long. There are many rusted foreign NGO signs (along with non-functioning pumps) and other evidence that aid organizations were here. My goal is to educate people so they can take charge and solve their problems. Thanks to everyone who subsidized the education of the conference attendees! Even $2 was too much to ask people to pay (to cover their lunch). Your funding provided lunches for the people, educational materials, books, and

notepads. Thanks to Dr. Huggins for sponsoring the ecoli kits, LeeAnn for the puppets and life cycles, my dad for the plane ticket, those who donated binoculars, those who made financial contributions, and one large donor (Tot & KT). It’s making a difference in the lives of many people.

Schools in Haiti - teaching ecology continued

2011-11-28T15:39:00.003-06:00

On Monday I returned to Fwa Kretyen where I taught last year. In all but the youngest class (preschool 3 – 4 year olds) the kids remembered me and that I taught about hawks (malfini) in June. When I asked ‘what do the hawks eat,’ their first response was chickens, but they also said rats. I reviewed that the hawks eat many more rats than chickens and that the rats also eat the chickens. When I asked what the kids do when they see a bird nest, they all said they protected the nests! Last year the response was that they always crush the nest. I taught 7 classes, 2 were in the same room (see pics of 1^st & 4^th graders). Class size ranged from 16 (preschool) to 47 (3^rd grade). The younger grades were the ages we would expect in the US: 1^st grade = 5 – 6 yr olds; 2^nd = 5 – 7. But kids in the older graders were a lot older: 5^th grade = 17 – 20 and 6^th grade = 16 – 18. 3^rd grade had 9 – 11 yr olds and 4^th grade had 10 – 14 yr olds. I heard it said that you only need a 3^rd grade education to be a teacher, and that many kids don’t go to school beyond 3^rd grade. I suspect the older kids had to leave school and return later when their families had more money, but I don’t know.

Teaching birds and bats in the schools – Day 1

2011-11-26T14:02:00.004-06:00

Friday I taught at the UCI school where I taught in June. The kids remembered that the hawks eat rats and they shouldn’t crush the eggs! After reviewing the birds, I taught about bats. The older Haitians were taught in school that bats come from rats. The 1^st and 2^nd graders thought this. Three of the preschool classes didn’t know where bats came from, but in another preschool class one kid said they come from a tummy, and the kids reasoned that baby bats drink milk. The bat puppet was great for showing how the bats fly and that they have 5 fingers in each wing. I had to warn the kids that I was bringing out the bat and that it’s a toy. They all wanted to touch it after they got used to it, but one little girl still freaked out and cried when I pushed the bat towards her.

Happy Thanksgiving from Haiti

2011-11-25T15:51:00.001-06:00

Thursday we all took the day off to celebrate Thanksgiving. We started off the day with papaya smoothies. I didn’t realize how huge they got (see photo), since I haven’t been here for papaya season. The smoothies were good, but I like mangos better (not the ones in the US, the ones fresh off the tree here). The Mompremiers celebrated Thanksgiving with an employee appreciation day. They spent hours praying and singing, and for the meal had the usual rice and beans with red onion sauce, but with beef and cokes. The beef caused quite a stir with the dogs – the cow must have been cut up behind the kitchen (I didn’t look) because 2 neighbor dogs came over and were causing some trouble hanging out in the back. There was much discussion about eating the various parts of the cow. JeanJean showed off his ground beef.

I helped the girls make sugar cookies. Wow, you need to add a lot more flour here to get the dough just right. In the evening we had mashed potatoes and green beans, with fried sweet potatoes and bread, and the girls got to watch a video until they went to bed, so it felt was a little more like Thanksgiving. We all went back to the usual school and work schedule the next day.

Two-day ecology conference

2011-11-24T08:52:00.007-06:00

This week I taught the first two-day ecology conference for adults at UCI in Caiman Haiti. There were about 40 men and 2 women. Most of the men were pastors, which here in Haiti are community leaders. One man came for the 1st day on the back of a motorcycle from Hinche, about 2 hours away. Each day started around 8:30am and ended around noon with lunch. I set the teaching materials on the walls around the worship center so people could try them out while we waited and during breaks. Diranot was the translator.

I followed the outline below. The participants were really into discussion and giving examples, sometimes rehashing the same concept (they need to plant more trees, how bad the land is without trees, rats are bad, etc.) without any conclusion. My goal was to convey the science behind the environmental degradation, and I often suggested that some Haitians need to step forward and begin making the changes they want to see in their environment. In lieu of the government stepping in and making laws, I think more education will motivate people to take action.

Day 1 – Water and the landscape
LOCAL SCALE
1. Turbidity – what causes it in the streams and how it kills fish.
2. pH – acidic car batteries and basic soap in the rivers will kill the fish.

LANDSCAPE SCALE
3. Deforestation
a. How does this affect water clarity?
b. In turn – how does it affect fish?
4. Watershed
a. Pointed to surrounding hills and ask where water goes.
b. How would it be different if trees were there?
c. What if neighbor upstream was dumping batteries in the water?
We had a discussion about livestock in the area getting sick and dying, while in another town the livestock are fenced in and water brought to them. I suggested they keep an eye out for pollution in the water that might be harming their livestock.

DRINKING WATER QUALITY - Microbiology and fecal coliform test kits. Using drinking water I demonstrated how to use the ecoli kit, and later tested the sink in the dorm bathroom and the cistern where the women do laundry. The cistern was the only one that showed a fecal coliform colony, which indicates contamination by ‘kaka,’ human or another mammal. This in turns means there’s a moderate risk of a disease like cholera or dysentery in the water. This raised a lot of questions about health and water treatment, most of which I could give only vague answers. There’s plenty of opportunity for someone to teach about this.

Day 2 – Zoology
BIRDS – Louiders talked about his job as bird guide. We talked about hawks killing the rats that kill the chickens. This caused a lot of discussion about the hawks killing chickens. I pointed out that the rats kill more chickens, we just don’t see it, and they would lose even more to rats if there were no hawks. They kept returning to this topic later when I was trying to move on about bats.

Discussion about humming birds led to a lesson in the pollinization of plants. I wanted to cover more topics about birds but time was running short since they kept bringing up the hawks and rats!

BATS – I finally managed to get through the lesson on bats. They thought that bats come from the metamorphosis of old mice – just like caterpillars, the mice go through a stage in which they grow wings. When I heard about this belief last year I thought it must be an old folktale so I asked how they learned it. They are taught it in school! So this will be my focus when I teach in the schools starting on Friday. There is also a fear of bats from their association with voodoo (not sure what their role is in voodoo, something about spirits taking the form of bats). And they thought bats are ugly so I went over the functions of the features on the bats’ faces.

Thanks to everyone who provided the materials I used for teaching – they were put to good use, and I’ll leave it here in a tub for others to use.

Water quality education

2011-10-01T12:41:00.007-05:00

This blog will serve as a place to keep track of water quality teaching and testing resources geared toward Haiti. I will teach adult ecology conferences this November. If you have any suggestions please leave a comment!

Watersheds

I would like a portable watershed model (can fit in my backpack) to demonstrate water running downhill, washing away soil if there is no ground cover, etc. Something like these large models: http://www.enviroscapes.com/. Let me know if you know of a place to purchase these, or if you are creative and want to make and donate one. A poster would also serve the purpose of illustrating what to consider in the watershed (riparian veg, cows in the stream, erosion, etc.)

I made this out of a foam modeling clay from the craft store. It’s not waterproof though, but metal beads get the point across about water flowing to the lowest points. One half is a forested watershed, and half is deforested.

Water quality

It was during a water quality lesson at my first conference in 2009 that I realized how much understanding science empowers people. As I was describing how the high pH of laundry soap changes the pH of the river water the women wash in which could kill the fish, a man announced he thought it was voodoo causing their environmental oppression, and he was excited to learn there is a reason that they can do something about. Here I’ll compile resources for teaching about water quality.

World Water Monitoring Day kits – very simple kits to teach and test temperature, DO, pH, and turbidity. http://www.worldwatermonitoringday.org/ See my previous post about this kit.

Portable Microbiology Laboratory (PML) – I’ll try this out for the first time in Nov. http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Portable_Microbiology_Laboratory

Related materials from the developer of the PML.

http://www.unhabitat.org/pmss/listItemDetails.aspx?publicationID=3056

http://imageevent.com/bobmetcalf

Water quality groups or resources in Haiti – I’ll keep adding to this list as I come across groups or resources

CARE - We place special focus on working alongside poor women because, equipped with the proper resources, women have the power to help whole families and entire communities escape poverty.

Haiti Outreach - Our work to date has been in the three major areas of clean water, education, and economic development.

Heifer International - also offers youth and adult workshops at their US ranches.

Living Water International - They also offer training in the US in hygiene and well drilling - http://www.water.cc/take-action/training/

Pure Water for the World - is a non-profit (501c3) that works to prevent children from suffering from water-borne diseases that cause pain as a result of improper hygiene habits and consuming contaminated water.

Samaritan's Purse - For over 40 years, Samaritan's Purse has done our utmost to follow Christ's command by going to the aid of the world's poor, sick, and suffering.

SOIL - Sanitation and latrines. Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL) is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting soil resources, empowering communities and transforming wastes into resources in Haiti.

Water Missions International - uses low-maintenance, appropriate water technologies for drinking water treatment and distribution, wastewater management, and storm water control.

water.org - Water.org is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization committed to providing safe drinking water and sanitation to people in developing countries.

Clorination options - Five options for household chlorination are available in Haiti: Gadyen Dlo, Dlo Lavi, Klorfasil, Aquatabs, and household bleach.

Potters for Peace - is not directly involved in relief efforts on the ground in Haiti because we have not been approached by any Haitian organizations. What we are doing is working on a project with a local organization (I.D.E.A.C.) in the Dominican Republic that is helping a local filter producer to re-tool and increase production. Through these efforts they will soon be able to expand their distribution to Haiti.

Bats of Haiti

2011-08-14T15:18:00.007-05:00

This fall 2011 in Haiti I will start teaching about bats in addition to birds. There are 15 extant and 2 extinct species of bats in Haiti. I’m not finding much information about them, so am using this post to keep track of what I do find. If you have any suggestions please post a comment! Wordless resources or those in French or Creole would be most useful. I would especially like to find inexpensive prints of this poster (or donations of them) - http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Bats-Posters_i8065545_.htm

Caribbean conservation groups
Bat Conservation International - http://www.batcon.org/
Cayman Wildlife Connection - http://www.caymanwildlife.org/index.html

Anecdotal information

The Haitians have many names for bats, all a variation of chovsourit which literally means old mouse. Many people believe that old mice metamorphose into bats. Variations – chòchòl, chovsourit, chatsouri, chatsourit, chichòt, chòdchòd, chòdchòt, chòfsourit, chòtchòt, chouchòl, chouchwòl, chòvsouri, chòvsourit, chwètchwèt, sovsouri, tchotchorit, tchòtchòt (Freeman Haitian-English Dictionary 2011). Baby bats would be called 'ti chòchòl' or 'pitit chòchòl' to emphasize that it is the offspring of the bats.
I think some of the Haitians thought the cave swallows (irondel) were bats.
Here’s a photo of man who collects and sells bat guano from a nearby cave that he owns.

Educational materials

Laminated illustrations I use in Haiti - http://zwazoyo.blogspot.com/2011/03/life-cycle-and-food-chains-nan-kreyol.html
Bat poster with French names (does anyone have this to donate?) - http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Bats-Posters_i8065545_.htm
From Bat Con. Int’l - https://www.batcatalog.com/scripts/default.asp
Scroll down to Bats Study Guide for Teachers and Students on http://www.caymanwildlife.org/index.html

Literature
Klingener, D.K., H.H. Genoways, and R.J. Baker. 1978. Bats from Southern Haiti. Annals of Carnegie Museum. 47:88–99.

Woods & Ottenwalder 1992. The Natural History of Southern Haiti. FL Museum of Nat. History., Univ. FL.

Cassava mill & bread

2011-06-18T14:57:00.005-05:00

UCI has a cassava mill to encourage local food production, to move away from reliance on the rice imported from the US. The women peel the manioc root with spoons, it’s soaked in water, ground in the mill, pressed to squeeze out water, then ground again. Salt and other things (sugar etc.) can be added to the flour before it is cooked on large metal plates over coals. The best is when coconut is layered in the middle.

Here’s a recipe for the closest I could get to making it at home. Experiment with small batches until you get a feel for how much water to add.

Heat cast iron skillet on high. To ½ c of cassava flour add 1T water, mix with fork until moist but crumbly. If it’s patsy it will be unpleasantly moist in the center. Sprinkle onto skillet in about a 3in diameter, scrape all the crumbles into the center or they will burn, & tap down with tip of spatula (not the flat side of spatula or it’ll stick). It will set up and when underside browns, flip it and tap down again with tip of spatula. It’s done when brown on both sides. Variation – make it thinner, add a pinch of coconut on top, then a second pinch of cassava mixture. By then it’ll be brown underneath so flip it and tap down with spatula.

It’s not nearly as good as when they make it. Post a comment if you have a better recipe!

Have motorcycle, will teach. Days 2 & 3

2011-06-16T10:13:00.009-05:00

Tuesday Derold the translator took me by motorcycle to Grand Latanier (private school) – farther away on hwy 3 towards Hinche. Gave the principle binocs and pages from the bird guide. Taught in 6 classes: 45 4^th graders; ~ 45 5^th graders; 25 kindergarteners in same room as 65 1^st graders; ~50 2^nd graders; Two adjoining rooms of 36 3^rd graders in front room and 25 older kids in back room (couldn’t see them all). Done around 9:45a.

Then to the Maranatha church school – about 100 kids meet in the old church (brown uniforms, some from UCI neighborhood). Followed by 45 women in the new church. They seemed to know less than the kids (one called the hawk clip art a bat). Got home around 11:30.

For 45 min. met again with 3 UCI employees – went over basic water chemistry and that testing it will help them figure out what is wrong if there’s a fish kill. They asked about putting in fish ponds. Gave them the ekoloji, deforestation, and science dictionary books in Creole.

Then went to the nutrition center at the end of driveway. About 60 kids, Tana translated. They didn’t listen well. The teacher wasn’t there, it was just to eat.

Wednesday went to 2 schools before my flight. First was Lotbo Bohoc, near the market. I taught there 3 years ago when it was just a nutrition center in a gazebo and again last year. Now it is a school with 2 buildings. Met with ~40 kids (yellow uniforms).

Then stopped at another and went classroom by classroom (forgot to get the name). 8 classes: 13 preteens; 10 5^th graders; 9 6-7yr.; 13 3^rd graders (with teacher nursing baby); 8 6-yr; 12 8-yr; 8 6-yr who were singing the Ti Zwazo song; 4 cute 2-4-yr olds.

Then I went to the UCI board meeting, had lunch, and flew to Port-au-Prince.

Totals: 7 schools, 2 church groups, 1 nutrition center, 1 group of employees = 880 kids, 30 teens, 51 adults. This doesn’t include the teachers or people along the streets who saw me out birding. Next time bring more handouts!

Teaching Ecology in Haiti

2011-06-13T13:31:00.006-05:00

During my second week here in Haiti I am teaching in the schools. I’ll chronicle the experience here.

Curriculum – I'm using laminated visual aids (see post) that I put in one binder so that it’s portable whether I’m walking, on motorcycle, ATV, or truck. I teach that hawks (malfini) eat rats. Even though they also eat chickens, the benefit of eating the rats that eat chicken eggs, rice, and corn far outweighs the loss of chickens. I ask whether the children would rather have rats or malfini. Next I talk about hummingbirds (wanga). There are 4 in Haiti, one of which is in the US (ruby-throated). I come to Haiti to see the other 3 (Antillean mango, Hispaniolan emerald, and the world’s 2^nd smallest bird the vervain hummingbird). The wanga pollinate the flowers when they drink the nectar. Finally, we talk about parakeets (parriche) and parrots (jako) that eat fruit and spread the seeds (someone mentioned they also eat corn), thereby planting trees. I ask what the kids do when they see a nest. The usual answer is touch it, destroy it, etc. We talk about how there are fewer birds when they do that. And reiterate that malfini eat rats, wanga help make fruit, and parakeets/parrots help plant trees. I finish with what will they do next time they see a next. Answer – leave it alone! By the way, Kristie said she’s seeing more birds on their property and thinks kids are remembering this lesson.

A variation of this talk includes the life cycle of birds, frogs, and butterflies. I have the kids come up and help me put the visual aids in order from egg to adult. We talk about frogs (krapo) eating insects such as flies and mosquitoes, and butterflies pollinating flowers. I show them my frog necklace and reiterate that mwen renmen krapo (I like frogs). There is a myth that if a frog pees in your eye it will pop! Many people are afraid of frogs in the way that Americans are afraid of spiders or snakes. We finish with the Ti Zwazo song that everyone seems to know. The words are in the book Ti Zwazo Kote W A Prale that I bought at the Audubon office in Port au Prince last year.

I hand out to each kid either a bookmark with life cycles on one side and hydrologic cycle on the back, or a page of the bird guide by Florence Sergile. I give the principle either a binder of the teaching material, or binoculars with a bird guide.

Friday – UCI (United Christians International) Dironot translated. This is the school on UCI property in Caiman that was built and opened last year to school the children and employ the teachers who had to move here after the Jan. 2010 earthquake. I taught in 4 classrooms, two rooms of about 25 each 2-3 yr olds (they start them early), 25 4-5 yr olds, and 25 6-9 year olds.

Saturday – UCI youth group. JeanJean translated. The teens who go to Pastor JeanJean’s church meet in the worship center. We talked about the hydrologic cycle and the importance of trees for clean water both to drink and for fish habitat. I encouraged them to start now planting trees and in 10 years they’ll be glad they did. UCI has a nursery and the teens will start a tree project.

Monday – Fwa Kretyen de la Jeune (Pignon) – (down the highway from the cemetery, towards Pignon, turn at the sign in the photo). Derold translated. Dropped off by truck around 8a, finished around 9:30am. I spoke in 6 classrooms (ages are a guess): 15 preteens; 16 7^th graders; 37 ~10 yr olds; 20 3-4 yr olds; 30 teens in the same room as 22 4 – 5 yr olds who faced a different wall; ~40 5 – 6 yr olds.

We then walked to National Public School (green school with large trees that had red flowers and huge been pods). They weren’t expecting us, but graciously assembled all the kids (~150, blue checkered uniforms) outside under the trees. I gave the principle a pair of binoculars for the school, and laminated bird guides for the teachers. I spoke for about ½ hour. JeanJean mentioned they haven’t had any activities yet at this school. Principle said they don’t have people teaching what I teach.

Then walked home (turn at the new HAFF lodging), arrived around 10:30a. Hot & sunny day!

Monday afternoon – For about 1 hour I talked with 6 UCI employees who work in the nursery and tend gardens. Reviewed hydrologic cycle and what I teach kids. They thought bats came from old mice that metamorphed, so showed them the laminated illustrations of mother and baby bats, and babies drinking milk and staying warm. They would like a longer workshop, so I suggested they organize it and invite other communities, and give tours of UCI projects.

Three Pairs of Shoes*

2011-06-12T05:31:00.002-05:00

If you're going to Haiti bring three pairs of shoes. A sturdy walking pair that dries quickly, like Tevas or Keens, and two pairs of flipflops, one for walking around outside in the compound, and one for inside the dorm. My checked luggage didn't come in our our international flight, I didn't get it until 5 days later. The thing I missed most was my flipflops. I had my Keens on me, but they're not easy to slip on and off when I'm going in and out of the dorm or house. And my feet were getting dirty from the dorm floor (relatively clean but with a team of 23 people it gets dusty). So then I had my routine of wiping my feet on a towel before getting into bed each night. Fortunately, I always pack with the assumption that my check luggage will be delayed or lost, so I had all the basics with me carryon.

*I haven't yet read Three Cups of Tea, but it's on my list.

Trip #4 - lots of rain

2011-06-04T17:04:00.003-05:00

I'm back in Haiti, this is the latest in the year that I've been here. I'm used to the browness of the dry season in the winter. Now everything is green and there's lots of rain. The MAF pilot wasn't sure that we'd be able to make it from Port au Prince to Pignon, but we did and he made it back to PAP. The larger missionary planes couldn't land because the landing strip was so saturated, they had to land on the north coast and Kristie and JeanJean drove there (4 hrs) to pick them up. Here are some pictures from the 1st couple days. I am here with two women from my church.

T-shirts for ecotour guides and teachers

2011-04-13T17:55:00.003-05:00

I designed a t-shirt for the ecotour guide I teach in Haiti, both to help him brand himself so others can see how they can profit from the environment, and so he doesn’t get lost to his customers in the sea of people at the market. I’d like to give a shirt to the leader of each place I teach this summer, as a reminder that while the environment may be messed up, there are still beautiful birds and plants there, and *bats! The logo on the right with the bird says Birds across the top, and Ecotour Haiti. The one with the bats says Enjoy Haiti, Ecotour! (or literally, ecologically tour).

If you would like to help with this endeavor, you could send me $20 per shirt, or buy them yourselves and have them shipped to me. I didn’t mark up the prices at cafepress, since I don’t want to make money off of the shirts (I’d rather you help me directly!). And I want them to be affordable to whomever wants one. http://www.cafepress.com/zwazoyo

* Bats are the only native mammal I’ve seen there. There are a couple other native mammals in the national forests.

Life cycles and food chains nan Kreyol

2011-03-23T18:05:00.014-05:00

This summer I return to Caiman to teach more ecology! I am expanding beyond birds to teach about other animals, so I put together wordless visual aids that depict life cycles of fish, bats, dragonflies, frogs, etc. Thanks to my friends Diana & Mark who donated their laminator (plus a huge financial donation), I am able to laminate them and make sets for other people in Haiti. The idea is that participants (mainly little kids) can put each life cycle in order, then create food chains from all the animals. On the back of each I’ll put a label with speaking points in Kreyol (then if I get something wrong, I can change it). I’ll also print out each life cycle as a laminated strip (like a book marker) that I can pass out to the kids. Thanks to everyone who gave donations for this project! I wouldn't be able to do as much without your help.

Friend Kristie steered me in the right direction for words like juvenile, and adult. Please comment about what terms you hear in Haiti. And let me know if you would like to use the visual aids.

Adult animal – 'Yon bet ki majè' for adult animal, or you could use more common terminology and say 'vye bet' or 'ansyen bet' (don't use granmoun).

Juvenile animal – Jenn, examples: 'yon jenn bourik' or ‘yon jenn bef.’

Chick of a bird – Pousen is a good word for young of chickens only. You can use 'ti poul' too. For other young of birds in general use 'ti bet' if you want to emphasize that it is the young of a particular species say 'pitit tako' or 'pitit grigri.'

Baby bats (which are pups in English) – Baby bats would just be 'ti chochol' or again 'pitit chochol' to emphasize that it is the offspring of the bats.

Trees – If you talk about trees in general use 'pyebwa yo.' For general fruit trees say 'pye fwi yo.' For a particular type of tree say 'pye mango' or 'pye zoranj.' The word for wood is 'bwa.'

Team information

2011-02-12T11:47:00.018-06:00

Here is a one-blog stop for information that teams need about visiting UCI in Haiti.

The missionaries: Kristie is a nurse & agriculture specialist, JeanJean a pastor.

Generic itinerary

What to pack

Food

Creole dictionaries & audio to download (also sold at KU union)

Books about Haiti

See Haitian American Friendship Foundation for more visitor info.

In Haiti we fly on MAF - It’s a 20 minute flight from the airport in Port Au Prince to the airstrip in Pignon where the Mompremiers will pick us up in their truck, and drive us the 8 miles to their house. The plane holds 5 passengers, so we’ll charter 2 flights if there’s more than 5 of us.

Hospital – there’s one in Pignon – 8 miles away, but around 30 minutes by truck on bumpy road.

Teaching venues:

Schools in Bohoc and Caiman

UCI school - built after the earthquake

UCI church and worship center

Nutrition centers – where kids are fed and taught Bible stories, etc. Video

Plumbing & electricity:

+++2 outdoor pit toilets like at state parks, and 2 newly installed flush toilets & sinks connected to the dorm. Since the Mompremiers rely on water being pumped up from a river and seem to not know when the pump will be turned on, I chose to use the pit toilets (and after the quake they asked people to not use the flush toilets so they can save water). Don’t drink or brush teeth from the sink water! Use filtered water from the house.

+++3 showers which use water caught in giant barrels – the water is cold until the afternoon sun heats it up!

+++ Solar electricity when sun is out and shining. They turn on the generator at night so teams have electricity in the dorm. They have internet in their house so we can let people know we’re ok. It gets dark around 6p so the day ends early.

The gate to their property is locked at night, and there’s a night guard (& three dogs). In the dorm we lock ourselves in at night (and the doors rattle reaaallly loud if you need to get up in the night to use the bathroom.).

Immunizations

**Check with your County Health Dept or Doctor, these are only my opinions, what I was told, or and what I found on-line as of 15-Feb-2011**

CDC site for Haiti - tells you what vaccinations you need. (I don't think you need the rabies unless you're working with animals. Don't pet any dogs unless they are missionary pets that you're told are ok to pet. Haitian dogs are more for guarding than for pets.)

Hepatitis A&B - I was told that if you received the TwinRix AB 3-series shots you only need them once in your life.

Typhoid - The live culture (4 pills you have to refrigerate) gives you 5 years of protection. The shot version protects you for fewer years. See CDC typhoid page for caveats.

Malaria - The malaria protozoan in Haiti is not resistant to the older medicine Chloroquine, so get that. You have to take the pills once a week, 1 - 2 weeks before you go, while you are in Haiti, and for 4 weeks after you return. Pharmacies in my town don't always have them in stock, so plan early so they can order the pills.

Tetanus - You should have this anyway! Get a booster every 10 years.

Earthquake recovery updates

2010-08-07T18:20:00.003-05:00

Here are updates and links to earthquake impacts and recovery in Haiti. The Mompremiers are pouring the roof on a school they built this summer! Kristie emailed me and reflected that when I was there in January, they had no idea they’d be building a school. They also have a water pump, and a volleyball and basketball court, and have 2 families living with them. I have tentative plans to go down next spring for a week or two to work with their youth group.

The Saturday July 31, 2010 posting on this blog by veterinarian Kelly talks about the tent cities in the capital. Kelly and I talked tentatively about me coming down this fall to help with litter cleanup and manure composting projects she wants to do with youth camps. I’d like to teach the basic science behind these activities. If anyone knows about the trash system in Haiti please let me know! My friend Rhoda who taught me Kreyol this past year moved to Haiti and worked with Kelly’s group CVM for a week before landing a job with Samaritan’s Purse. This is SP’s first time in Haiti.

Here’s an excerpt from Kelley’s blog;

It is raining very hard every afternoon. Ticant's wife just called and asked if they could have another tarp as the rain is pouring in their "tent". The strong sun here makes the tarps and even the tents wear out VERY quickly. There are some of the tarps that are heavier and holding up better but the blue ones like we buy to cover something in the States don't last long at all. It is very hard...

At the camps you have to pay to use the toilet - just imagine if you had diarrhea. The reason for paying is that way the camp committees can pay someone to keep them clean. It's only like 3 goudes but still when you have no job...This is the reality of life in the camps and it sucks! I think though that now some of those who have houses will start to go back. I have heard though that some people are living in the camps who have houses and then are renting their houses to others to make money. I guess I can't blame them. There aren't many free handouts anymore but just being in the mud and so close to so many makes life difficult.

ECHO - Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization

2010-05-04T19:31:00.011-05:00

I recently attended the ECHO Introduction to Tropical Agriculture week-long workshop in Ft. Myers FL. It's great for anyone wanting to learn more about poverty and agriculture methods to help people in developing countries. ECHO has a demo of just about everything that Dr. Randtke teaches in his Environmental Engineering & Science in Developing Countries class (CE495/895) at KU. It's a great place to network and meet missionaries and development workers. Pictures are of urban gardens for rooftops, the appropriate technologies (AT) intern showing a solar cooker (soy bean oil is used as a temperature indicator), a briquette press to make fuel pellets (the sign says Produce fuel from waste products: leaves, cornstalks, grass, sawdust, plant wastes, newspaper, junk mail, etc. Shred waste materials and soak in water; place desired quantity in perforated PVC and press; remove and air dry.) and a tilapia/duck pond in which the duck droppings feed algae which feed the tilapia fish. Thanks to the University of Kansas Professional Development Committee and my workplace for providing funds to attend this!

Charcoal (chabon)

2010-04-19T07:37:00.016-05:00

These pictures show charcoal being sold along the road or in the market. Trees are cut and burned in pits along the hillsides to make charcoal for cooking. The little fuel (propane, etc.) that is imported costs too much for most Haitians. Also shown are the Haitian kitchens which are built outside. The larger brick one is at my hosts' house, they have to prepare a lot of food for missions teams. The 30 family members they took in after the quake made it a busy place!

Books about Haiti and Kreyol

2010-04-11T08:37:00.013-05:00

These are the books and articles I've used as reference for talks I've given about Haiti, and others that are just good. These are linked to Amazon.com, but search Better World Books for used books and a good cause.

Jared Diamond Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive. See this commentary about Diamond's theories.
Paul Farmer Uses of Haiti (2005), After the Earthquake (2011)
Tracy Kidder Mountains Beyond Mountains (2003, about Paul Farmer)
Wade Davis Serpent and the Rainbow
Bob Shacochis The Immaculate Invasion (1994 US occupation)
Center for Applied Linguistics Haitians Their History and Culture
Steve Latta et al. Birds of the Dominican Republic and Haiti (Princeton Field Guide)
Brian Crother Caribbean Amphibians and Reptiles (thanks LeeAnn for buying this for UCI)
Zora Neale Hurston Tell My Horse About her time in Haiti in the 1930's - good history lesson for us today.
Alejo Carpentier - The Kingdom of This World Historical fiction about the 1804 revolution.

Kreyol Language

Roger Savain Haitian Kreyol in Ten Steps
Dictionaries and books by Bryant Freeman, available at the University of Kansas Bookstore and for download
Lots of Kreyol books through Educavision in Florida

The Price of Sugar movie

2010-04-07T15:20:00.005-05:00

The Price of Sugar
April 13 • 7pm • Liberty Hall, Lawrence, KS

Admission is free, with a suggested donation of $5. Doors open at 6:45 p.m.
A discussion following will focus on the U.S.’s roll in global trade, as well as alternative economies like Fair Trade, and local resources for these kinds of products.

In the Dominican Republic, a tropical island-nation, tourists flock to pristine beaches unaware that a few miles away thousands of dispossessed Haitians have toiled under armed-guard on plantations harvesting sugarcane, much of which ends up in U.S. kitchens. They work grueling hours and frequently lack decent housing, clean water, electricity, education or healthcare. "The Price of Sugar" follows Father Christopher Hartley, a charismatic Spanish priest, as he organizes some of this hemisphere's poorest people to fight for their basic human rights. This film raises key questions about where the products we consume originate and at what human cost they are produced. For more information and to see the film's trailer go to ThePriceofSugar.com.

Creole language group in Lawrence KS, Eske ou pale Kreyol?

2010-03-23T09:25:00.010-05:00

I meet with a friend once a week to practice and learn Haitian Kreyol (Creole). Are there other Kreyol speakers in the Lawrence, KS area who would like to meet with us? Both to learn from us and to help us speak better Kreyol. Leave a comment and we could arrange a meet-up at a coffee shop.

Zanmi mwen ansemble ak mwen e nou pale Kreyol. Nou vle renmen ede! Eske ou vle ansemble ak nou ekri yon 'comment' e nou ka pale nan kafe boutique nan Lawrence, KS. Mesi!

The University of Kansas bookstore has a great Kreyol book section, and some are available for download.

Birding in 2010

2010-03-02T21:07:00.001-06:00

Louiders took me on 5 bird hikes. He’s a great guide and knows the birds by sound. The best place to see birds was on the garata which have giant orange flowers (this one has a palm chat on it, the base is also shown) and grow on the side of the mountain. Had a great view of the plain pigeon (ramye), a very large dove that JeanJean remembers being numerous when he was younger. They are now threatened from hunting, I’ve only seen one per year. It made a distinct groaning noise like a frog. I also saw a couple flocks of parakeets (parich), one had 20 birds in it! These birds are threatened from people catching them to take to the Dominican Republic to sell as pets. JeanJean remembers large flocks of parakeets when he was young.

These are the birds I saw for the first time in Jan. 2010 (scientific names are in the master bird list): Green Heron (Ti Krabye Rivye) by the Gwap River in Pignon, Greater Antillean Grackle (Mèl Diab), Red-tailed Hawk (Malfini Ke Wouj), and Bananaquit (Kit). I also saw a burrowing owl (Koukou) that a man had in a basket and tried to sell me.

Louiders pointed out two birds that he knew but I couldn’t confirm for myself:

Yellow-faced Grassquit, (Kit) and Loggerhead Kingbird (Pipirit Chandèl) which was by the soccer field on Hwy 3. I might have seen a Flat-billed vireo (Ti Panach Bèk Plat) but the sun was at a bad angle.

Great food in Haiti

2010-02-11T18:00:00.009-06:00

The food in Haiti is great! Even when we switched to mainly rice and beans to make the food last with all the house guests, we were still having great meals thanks to the regular employees who cook meals for missions teams and JeanJean’s family who took over most of the cooking.

The yellow flower is pigeon pea which people grow in fields. We have it with rice, as seen in the photo with the okra and the fried manioc in the middle. The manioc is a small tree (shrub?) that has a large root that is also ground to a flour to make cassava bread (in photo) which JeanJean buys fresh from the market.

Corn is hung to dry (or to keep it from mice and rats). Not sure if the corn in the photo is for chickens or people. JeanJean made popcorn for us a couple nights. Cabbages are plentiful and the photo shows them stored in the kitchen, along with a couple breadfruit that is served fried. The cooks also make fried plantains (bannann preze), and we had boiled plantain served with a red sauce (see photo).

We had real milk one morning! Because most people have no refrigeration, milk is heated to sterilize it and then drank while it’s still hot. The rest of the time we use powdered milk. Real cheese is not available, so it makes a great gift for missionaries (freeze a couple cheese blocks and put in your luggage). The only cheese that can be found here is Laughing Cow or equivalent (again, doesn’t need refrigerated).

The little boy is holding a live crab. Don’t know where it came from. The cooks occasionally cooked chicken before the earthquake, but I don’t remember it being served afterwards, though beef was served once. It’s easy to be a vegetarian here. We have eggs for breakfast quite a bit. The chickens run free and scramble up the trees to roost in the evenings.

I took down fixings for s’mores which made for a fun evening.

Haiti update

2010-02-02T09:11:00.010-06:00

Though I’m back safe in the US, I wanted to keep everyone updated on what my friends JeanJean and Kristie Mompremier are doing to help their community. Below is a portion of their latest newsletter. Click here to access the UCI website with all their newsletters.

Also, UCI has been coordinating relief efforts with Haitian American Friendship Foundation (HAFF) just down the road (my friend Rhoda worked there and is on the board, I was to teach there). Connie at HAFF has a blog that goes into more detail about the young men who died and their memorial service that I attended.

From the Mompremiers:
We will be building 2 houses for families that want to stay together as a family but who have no space. The houses are in 2 different communities very close to us. These are families that took in people from Port even though they didn't have any place for them. They are sleeping on the dirt and are just overloaded. They are willing to work hard and contribute labor, rocks, water, and what they can to build a better house. We praise God that we are able to help them.

We are also going to employ some of the teachers that left Port. They will be holding classes for the preschool and lower elementary classes. There are many children that have no where to go to school. The UCI board identified this as a major concern for parents. We are providing books and materials for kids in the upper grades to study. The worship center has 2 big rooms in the front that will be used for this purpose. These kids will also be added to the feeding center.

We also continue to send food and charcoal to people living under sheets in Port. We have listened to people that lived in Port for a while after the quake. They said that many times they were able to receive food but had no way to cook it. There is no electricity or gas in many parts of the city. Wood and charcoal are the only ways to cook, but there are few trees in the city. We are sending down another truck load of charcoal to the churches.

Continue to pray for the emotional/spiritual health of the refugees. A kind of sad/funny story happened Thursday. We have a lot of airplanes flying overhead since the quake. On Thursday, 2 Ospreys flew overhead at a very low altitude. I hope I'm naming this plane correctly. It is the plane that can take off and land like a helicopter but can cruise like a DC-3. It is big military plane that has a distinctive, loud sound. We had never heard it before. When it went over our house, all the Port-au-Prince people came running out of the house in a panic. One poor girl even peed in her pants! Everyone was scared that it was another earthquake. From what people tell me, the noise of the quakes and aftershocks, or at least the noise of the houses cracking, crumbling, disassembling, was almost as bad as the shaking. When the people heard the Ospreys, they thought another quake was coming. When I say all of the people, I mean every single one of them, at least at our house, ran out of the house and they looked down at the earth and didn't even think to look above. Everyone laughed afterwards, even the girl with the wet undies, but it is still sobering to know how affected they were.

Missionary Flights International

2010-01-30T10:18:00.008-06:00

Thanks to Missionary Flights International (MFI) I made it back to Ft. Pierce Florida, and thanks to pilot Ric even had a place to stay for the night before my Ft. Lauderdale to Kansas City flights. The 7 hr flight on a WWII DC3 took us from the airstrip in Pignon to Cap Hatien on the north coast where we went through customs, to the Caicos Isalnds where we refueled, to Ft. Pierce FL. Ric took me to his house in West Palm Beach to stay overnight (got to bed around midnight), then his wife Beth took me to the train station in the morning to catch a train to the airport. It was wonderful to be taken in like that. My friend Rick was waiting for me at the airport (glad to see a familiar face) and he took me home where my dogs and cats were waiting for me. Everyone was happy and healthy thanks to house/pet sitter Kim. The earthquake changed everyone's plans and made my visit much richer, as I was thrust into the daily lives of not just my host family but other familes facing this crises. And 19 people accompanied me to the Pignon airport on the UCI bus!

Photos show: The 554 lbs of supplies that UCI received (along with my friend Barb the art teacher! Barb & Jim had to leave Haiti last summer due to lack of funding, but now are back). The trip to the airport. The medical mission team on the DC3 with me.
Layover on Providenciales of the Caicos Island.

Click here for videos on youtube.

Nutrition centers

2010-01-25T11:01:00.004-06:00

UCI runs nutrition centers where kids get food and Bible stories. Each has about 40 – 60 kids, and some take their food back home to share with families. Kristie said most kids didn’t have clothing before the centers began. I visited 4 during this trip (LaPleids, Caiman, Lot bo Bohoc, and Laboc) and gave an hour long presentation about the importance of birds to Haiti. Many parents also attended. JeanJean took time out of his busy schedule to translate (I started with a hired translator until the quake hit). Lot bo Bohoc invited me back to teach the adults. It’s amazing how much basic ecology people didn’t know, and how excited they were to learn more. My general outline was:
1. Why I came to Haiti –
a. To see the birds, some of which are found nowhere else in the world.
b. To teach people about the birds so they can make a difference the natural resources of Haiti and in turn their lives.
2. Game – names the parts of a bird in Creole and English.
3. Where birds live (parakeets live in the holes of woodpeckers, etc.)
4. What birds eat (hawks eat rats, hummingbirds drink nectar and pollinate flowers which produces fruit, etc.).
5. All these things that birds do are good – they’ll help spread tree seeds and gardens will have more vegetables and fruit.
6. Gardens also need water to grow – review the water cycle with a Creole poster (evaporation, condensation, precipitation).
7. Trees will help prevent water from evaporating from the soil.
8. Back to birds help the trees and visa versa, and tourists pay to see both (Dominican Republic has ecotourism).
9. End with butterfly life cycle game using a poster written in Creole.

Families from Port-au-Prince

2010-01-23T16:01:00.005-06:00

My new friend, 7-yr old Myriam from Port au Prince (PAP), took these photos of the family and friends staying here at UCI (in the dorm and with the brother across the street). There were 34 people here the weekend after the quake. They all spent 3 nights sleeping in the streets of PAP before they made it here. Some of the 34 have moved on to families elsewhere. UCI has brought 837 out of PAP and reunited them with families in this region! Pastor JeanJean is the one hamming it up for the camera.

World Water Monitoring Day

2010-01-22T11:49:00.006-06:00

The World Water Monitoring Day organization sent me 4 water testing kits and 50 pamphlets written in French. Louiders, his sister Soyrina, and I have tested water at 4 sites, plus the tap water from the UCI cistern. (The plan was to distribute the kits among the schools that I visited, but schools and meetings are canceled due to the earthquake). We tested the tap water here at UCI where I could more thoroughly explain the kit to Louiders, and he in turn used the kit to teach 7-year old Myriam (in yellow) about water quality. Myriam is from one of the families displaced by the earthquake. She is very smart, can read English even if she doesn't know the meaning. I have been teaching her ecology using the worksheets that I intended to distribute at the schools. I have also been sharing my other teaching resources (books, binoculars, coloring activities) with the kids who are now living here.

The photos show the river crossing north of the Bohoc market, and a well from which people get their water.

Yep, felt the 6.1 quake

2010-01-20T13:23:00.004-06:00

Felt the quake this morning, and we're all still fine! Here's some pictures from this week. My friend Chimene in the yellow served as child control yesterday while I taught the kids and some adults how birds are good for their gardens and for spreading tree seeds. One of the UCI workers said he kept the kids away from a bird nest this year and enjoyed watching the chicks grow! It's typical for kids to destroy bird nests here.