melindayiti's blog

Growing Up With Haiti

Thu, 10/01/2009 - 11:12 — melindayiti

Whenever I am given the opportunity to speak about Haiti and the work I do there, I follow a simple formula as I prepare my presentation. First, I share with you what it is that makes me a credible source of information about Haiti. As we launch our first serious online campaign to gain new support for Haiti KONPAY, I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself to you.

The Smell of Haiti: My Reunion Story

Tue, 09/29/2009 - 14:04 — melindayiti

Recently I was going through the contents of boxes from storage in the U.S. and I found this account of my trip to Haiti after finishing college in 1998. It had been five years since my first visit, and I had anticipated returning with such passion that it couldn’t have been anything less than extraordinary. Here is what I wrote:

JFK was a madhouse.There were these amazing lines – people with six or more huge suitcases, families of at least seven or ten. Spanish, French, Creole – so many black people. I was completely lost, just sort of following the person closest to me. I was caught up in the noise, the nervous anticipation these people were pouring into the air; the excitement was overwhelming.

Are you ready for the rain?

Sun, 08/09/2009 - 10:47 — melindayiti

After a tropical storm caused unprecedented damage and loss of life in the Haitian city of Gonaives in 2004, it was called the worst environmental disaster in Haiti’s history. That same year the village of Fonds-Verrettes was destroyed a second time and all that was left of the center of town was a glaring field of white rocks washed out from the mountains above.

Last year the storm season was so brutal, lashing Haiti with not one or two, but FOUR powerful storms. More than one million were affected by flooding, mudslides, loss of crops and livestock, loss of loved ones and hope for the future. Gonaives was hit again, the great city of Haiti’s independence was covered in mud and filthy water for months. Hunger became famine and the weak began to die in southeastern Haiti.

The Kids in Cyvadier

Tue, 06/30/2009 - 13:31 — melindayiti

When I first started visiting Cyvadier there were a number of things that I found alarming, especially around the treatment of children. Our closest neighbors had a small toddler with a distended stomach who never wore pants, and hence would squat anywhere at anytime. His mother would give him beer during carnival time and have him dance to entertain the rest of the family. When we would buy him a little can of milk, she would always steal it away from him to drink it herself. This family is maybe an extreme example, but it might also be more common than we like to admit. In Haiti, poor families send their children to live with slightly better off relatives who then use the children as domestic slave labor. This tradition, called restavek, was recently highlighted by the UN’s special representative against slavery.

probably not how you got engaged

Sat, 06/27/2009 - 23:31 — melindayiti

Yesterday I had the special privilege of participating in a meeting so that Guypson, who has been like a foster son to Joe and I for almost eight years now, could become engaged to Bernithe. Guypson asked us to go to Bernithe’s parents house and ask for permission to become engaged to her. Guypson’s parents are also alive and well, so they were invited to the meeting for the same reason, and we were given the additional job of making sure his parents said the right things.

The Dynamics of Giving and Receiving

Sun, 06/21/2009 - 14:49 — melindayiti

At the recent Haitian National Coalition for the Environment (KNAA) organizing meeting in the Central Plateau, one of the community representatives was reciting a list of the projects that had taken place in the region. One particular kind of program dominated his list: paranaj, or child sponsorship. I looked around the room at the capable, intelligent, experienced adults gathered there and I started to reflect on the phenomenon of child sponsorship in poor countries.

Aba eleksyon! Down with elections!

Sat, 06/20/2009 - 12:19 — melindayiti

On Wednesday we chased the rain into Port-au-Prince from the north, and it caught us as we passed by the edge of Cite Soleil, to start climbing Delmas from the bottom of the hill. It had been pouring in the city for a while it seemed; the rotary near Aristide's old church in La Saline, St. Jean Bosco, was under a foot of water. As we started up Delmas, all the traffic was forced into the oncoming lanes by a rushing river of water filling the road.

Off Balance Among the Hungry in Haiti

Wed, 02/04/2009 - 14:42 — melindayiti

This morning one of my favorite blogs made me stop and think. I like “No Impact Man” for a lot of reasons, and it’s the only blog that I get delivered to my email. The author is a father in New York City, and he is taking part in a great experiment to prove that anyone anywhere can reduce his or her impact on the environment. Today he suggested that “it might be fun if we all--the entire community on this blog--weighed in and told each other something they've seen or an experience they've had or someone they love that makes them feel like they don't want to change a thing.”

Planting the Miracle Tree with Haiti's Children

Tue, 12/30/2008 - 18:48 — melindayiti

Anne Kerns recently visited Haiti where she planted moringa trees (also known as the miracle tree) donated by Haiti KONPAY's Youth for the Development of Cyvadier tree nursery, and she shared this report with us: We have returned from a truly wonderful trip to Haiti and I have to say that the highlight for me was seeing that van full of Moringa trees at the airport!

Tout Nèf nan 2009! Starting New in 2009

Fri, 12/19/2008 - 15:11 — melindayiti

It is hard to believe another year is already coming to an end. I don’t know about you, but I feel a great relief to see 2008 finish and 2009 begin. Around the Haiti KONPAY office we’ve adopted a new slogan: Tout nèf nan 2009! translating to "All new in 2009!”

Konbit Pou Ayiti

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