07.13.11

Fare Thee Well

Posted in Personal at 2:40 AM by Administrator

As I have been home a little over two weeks now, I have a bit of insight into what everybody wants to know about my time in Haiti.  It always starts with what are you most proud of?  That happens to be easy…  My 11th Graders gave me this just before I left.

Some things just make everything worthwhile.

My biggest disappointment was missing the party Amel planned for me, I was in the hospital….

Will I go back to Haiti? — yes … when and why are TBD but going back is important.  Haiti has gotten under my skin.

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06.27.11

I got by with a little help from my friends

Posted in Personal at 7:34 PM by Administrator

The unsung heroes of my time in Haiti were the other teachers, especially the teachers I shared lodging with.  While I have not said much about them, without their help, encouragement and friendship this year would not have been possible.  We formed, what I can only describe as a gestalt.   We were far more than the sum of our individual skills and abilities.  Living in such a community is always rewarding.  I was blest to be part of this community.

Since by definition a gestalt is bigger than the sum of it’s components, I really can’t tell you why this was so.  The best I can do is try to describe the players, the roles they assumed but were not limited to.  There was never a “crisis” that arose that many hands were not called upon and many hands responded to.  The selflessness of this group was truly amazing.  When I say that doors were never locked and doors were never closed.  I mean that literally.  Yes, I did close the door to my bedroom but only when the air conditioning was on or I was asleep.   Even then the door to my apartment, was open.   We shared kitchen utensils, ovens, stove tops and condiments without reservations.  Printers, paper, pens, pencils, markers, post-its, ideas, clothes and jokes roamed freely about the complex.  I’m still not sure how I ended up with 2 pair of wigwam socks.  Nor, am I sure how I sometimes had 2 Holloween t-shirts and other times just 1.  In the end, I am sure it all worked out.  Having an extra person for dinner one night a week never seemed to be a problem, but rather a benefit.

Since I am incapable of really describing the gestalt  that developed, you will have to settle for a description of the main players.  And since I am a tease at heart you will have to decide what is accurate and what is caricature for yourselves.  I do promise to post uncensored their responses to these descriptions  or their descriptions of me.

I should start with Michele (not to be confused with Michelle) because she was the first to get in touch with me as I started on this adventure.  She has always been direct and accurate about what was going on.  To say that she has been very busy this year would be an extreme understatement.  She taught 3rd grade and worked in the HERO project.  The HERO project has two parts, and Michele was essential to both parts.  Part one was an after school education project for Haiti’s street kids.  The second part is an orphanage.  The focus is how to level the playing field so that street kids and orphans don’t begat another generation of street kids and orphans.  In Haiti this is essential, fundamental work that would have to have been done even if the earthquake hadn’t happened made even more essential since the earthquake.  As the year went on Michele became mostly absorbed by her HERO work.  Her joy in doing the work was palpable and we all wished we had that kind of dedication.  Since the orphans at HERO refer to Michele as “Mom”, I worry that none of them will ever want to be adopted.

Dan was from Chicago, just like myself.  There the similarity ends, he likes Coke, I like Pepsi, he’s a Cubs fan, I’m a White Sox fan, he’s an extrovert and I am not.  I envy Dan because he can immerse himself into other cultures.  I may have been the first to ride a mototaxi but Dan navigates on the Tap-Tap system.  He went from knowing no Creole to being as close to fluent in it as any of the import teachers (including those with an extra year of practice).   To watch him become part of the culture just stunned me.  Deep in my heart I would have loved to be able to do that but I am not a highly social person and this required that type of skill.   I don’t think I’d be out of place in saying that Dan is the best ambassador to Haiti that the US has ever had.  Michele captured Dan for the HERO project very early on.  The orphans at HERO refer to Dan as “uncle” just so you know how much impact he has.

Every group needs a Diva, and Sabo was our Diva.  If there was an activity that could be done with style and verve we could count on Sabo to supply it.  The all day in home beauty treatments and dance lessons were just the beginning.  Sabo could be counted on for keeping the party lively, being ready for a new dance challenge and making any experience just a little more exciting.  Sabo taught the pre-K and Kindergarten classes.  The image of her teaching that is forever etched in my mind is seeing these little ones walking in single file with hands clasped behind their backs reciting “You get what you get and you don’t get upset.”  A lesson a large number of my high school students have yet to master.

Michelle (not to be confused with Michele) taught 1st grade last year and will be teaching 5th grade next year.  Michelle was our doer.  She jumped into everything with both feet and a huge smile.  She was the driving force behind getting game nights going, and Bananagram Sundays.  She was off to capoeira, dancing, pool parties (ok that required we have a functional pool), hikes and Haitian hot tubing.  If you really wanted something to happen within our group getting Michelle to drive it was the quickest route to success.  I expect that I will be doing Settlers via skype next year just because…

Meaghan was our group’s “Mom”, ironing out difficulties, keeping schedules, being the go-to person when we had complaints to the administration, powers that be and people who did not understand English, French or Creole at the moment.  Meaghan was the person who single handedly  put together the school’s outreach program.  Beyond that she put together a leadership education program at school that touched and impacted every student within it very profoundly.  Just being around her you felt touched by grace, caring and love.

Bruno was a contradiction unto himself, a rigorous drummer, a deft musician, a monkey during mango season and a dynamo all the time.  Meaghan and Michelle were devotes of capoeira while Bruno could not live without it.   Without frequent doses of capoeira he became near manic.  Bruno lead our hikes, not because he knew the way but because the rest of us were too slow.  His undying optimism would make sure that any miscues on the trail turned into triumphant victories when we did finally get to a waterfall or back to the car.

Fareed and Zara, it just does not feel right to speak of them individually, in part because they were our “newly” weds.  Yes we interacted with Fareed at school and there never was a Zara close by then but it always felt incomplete.  I never ceased to be amazed when I saw Fareed and Zara was not there or saw Zara without Fareed.   Yes, it happened all the time but it felt so unnatural.  Both were amazingly busy.  Zara worked to help create sustainable watershed development, Fareed to keep our school on the internet.

It would be wrong to call Kathleen our innocent but it would be right to call her our ingenue.  If that even makes sense.  She was the spark that made our group care more.  If we went out the local children immediately surrounded her.  Then they protected her from everything.  The most important part of her schedule was church on Sunday followed by a long afternoon at the HERO house.  A place she will spend even more time at next year.  Her biggest joy– taking the HERO children to the beach.  (can you imagine growing up on a small island and never having been to a beach?)  Kathleen was the purity of Joy and the selflessness of Youth.  I will often wish that I could have been that young and that good.

What was I to this group?  I can not begin to guess.  I had the privilege to be there to be accepted into the group, to observe and to share.  But I do know that this group has altered me and made me more conscious of my life and my connections with others.  I am far richer for having known each of them than they can imagine.  I look forward to being connected with them for a lifetime.

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06.25.11

Farewell to my students

Posted in Personal, School at 12:17 PM by Administrator

Since I was in the hospital last week (dehydrated due to a parasite) I did not get a chance to say a formal and official good bye to all my students.  What I had wanted to say would have gone something like this…

A while back I had the opportunity to partake in the ring ceremony.  The schools I attended were small but not small enough to have this kind of ceremony.  The essence of the ring ceremony was to have the senior class pass class rings on to the junior class.  A sort of symbol of the shifting of roles that would take place with the graduation of the senior class.  As part of the ceremony the “soon to be seniors” were asked to share a quote that has some meaning to the student with the audience before receiving their ring.  The quotes ranged from the ridiculous to the sublime.  Each marked something special about the student.

Now, as I contemplate leaving, what I’d like to do is share some of those quotes that have had the most meaning in my life.  I would hope that you find them useful in your life.  And since this is not the ring ceremony I reserve the right to share more than one.

The first quote that has always guided my life has never been quite buttoned down to a particular person, many have claimed the honor but none have proven they earned it.  ”The difficult we do immediately, the impossible takes a little longer.”  In life there are no easy tasks, no simple decisions, waiting for such things is not an option.  If the project was easy, someone else would have already done it.  Difficult decisions are around you every day.  Things like what to do with a billion tons of rubble.  How to rehouse a million people living in tents.  How to rebuild a society.  These are the kinds of questions you will be asked to solve every day of your working life.  Taking the attitude that they can be solved — even the impossible can be solved puts you well on the path to success.

Many of my favorite sayings come in pairs.  They are in pairs because that is the only way to get to the ultimate truth.  Lefty Gomez has been given credit for “I’d rather be lucky than good.”  The pair to this has been credited to Samuel Goldwyn “The harder I work the luckier I get.”  The fact is we are all capable of doing things that can surprise even us.  When asked about such events, we usually attribute it to being lucky, not because we don’t think we had skill but because we did not imagine we had that much skill.  Ultimately it will be true, the more work and preparation you put into something, the better you will be at taking advantage of unexpected situations that arise.

Lastly, I’d like to share with you the words to a song that have been part of my life since I was in college.  In deed, as I get older the words become truer.

So, as I leave you may your life be a joyful circle.  We will go around one more time.

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06.23.11

Incomplete

Posted in Personal at 8:06 PM by Administrator

That was the first word that popped into my mind when asked to describe my stay in Haiti in one sentence. I don’t know if another year or even another 10 years would change that. There is so much that needs to be done here. Strangely, I don’t think any of that sentiment has anything to do with the earthquake. The things that must be done really need to be done by the Haitians but there is just so much that needs to be done.

Let me share an example, when I first arrived I was at the airport.  I was not surprised that there were primitive systems.  That immigration looked like it was slapped together out of an empty hanger, with second hand desks, not a computer to be seen.  When I left the country I was not surprised that the automated check in machine did not work, that I saw stacks of broken baggage containers, that windows were broken out or boarded over or even that walls were cracked and broken.  That 9  months later nothing has appreciably has changed.  Little things could make a big difference just replacing windows and painting walls could make the airport look like it was working.

Things most certainly have changed in December and January we were worried that a civil war might erupt.  Today the political process is much more sedate.  Just Tuesday the parliament rejected  President Martelly’s choice for Prime Minister.  Nothing really happened.  We’ve gone from extremism to political stalemate.  Is Haiti on the right track?  Nobody knows, this place is just so unique that I can not think of any path to a better life that really fits it.

In Sweden they tell their youth “if you know only Swedish you can talk to 14 million Swedes, learn English and be able to speak to 2 billion people.”  In Haiti languages other than Creole are denied to all but the elite.  In this way the masses in Haiti are limited to speaking to a very small number of local people.  Only the elite have unfettered access to the rest of the world.  It’s almost a linguistic slavery.  It informs everything.  Your social status, your educational opportunities and what positions you can aspire to.  A few escape but they are very few and far between.

I will go back to Haiti.  I am not sure why or what I will do but this is an adventure that deserves closure and until I can figure out what that means I really won’t  anything but questions.

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06.21.11

Education in Haiti

Posted in Haiti, School at 9:14 AM by Administrator

President Martelly

You have said that education is the most important objective of your administration.   While I am not a Haitian, I have a few concerns. I hope you will find that you have addressed these but if you have not be very wary. As an educator I applaud your choice of education as a routine to improve all of Haiti. The caveats I wish to warn you about have particular relevance to Haiti.

The US started in the 1960s to try and stem the problem with education in inner city neighborhoods.  In large part these schools were failing to educate the youth.  Illiteracy rates in these neighborhoods were rising. These areas share a lot in common with the social-economic development of Haiti. These are areas of extreme economic hardship, large numbers of youth and in many cases disintegrating family structures. Methods were tried to educate these children but more often then not they failed. They failed because education is not a primary human need. Food, water, shelter and family support are primary human needs. Until these primary needs are met education can not take place.

With this simple observation several things were done which were not the core focus of schools. Subsidized food programs were instituted. Early childhood centers were instituted. Never were these programs fully funded and while they helped educational progress they also unfocused the schools from being just about education. The problem faced in these schools was primarily food security. The problem in Haiti is far more extensive than that. Haiti faces food, water and shelter security issues. To me the most worrisome of these is the water security.

As I have fallen victim to parasites twice in the last nine months, I think you can understand why I might feel that way. With Cholera likely to be present for a very long time in this area, water security becomes even more important. For children to learn, for families to encourage children to be in school water security must be in place.

I learned long ago, that one should not warn of a problem without being able to propose the outlines of a solution. I promise I will do that. I must warn you that the solution I wish to propose is slightly radical. In part because there is a huge vested interest in this country in not providing water security. In part because I do not wish schools to be focused on providing anything but a quality education.

In many places the schools provide a center for community activity. They provide a source, a place, of local pride. Where I grew up you might identify yourself as a part of a neighborhood but more important was what school in the neighborhood you went to. The school was a meaningful status symbol in the neighborhood. It can not have that status if less than 50% of the people in the area are impacted by it.

What I propose is quite simple. Anyone who attends school is entitled to 3 gallons of drinking water per day. The school is open in the day to children. When they attend all their classes, at the end of the day they can take 3 gallons of safe water home. In the evening schools are open to youth and adults who wish to complete their education. When they attend they too may take 3 gallons of drinking water home.

Schools currently keep attendance records, these records can be used by another group to fairly distribute the water. The school gets the benefit of students better able to learn but does not get involved in distributing water. Parents will encourage their children to be in school because the water security of the family is increased by it. Students will be given first hand experience of the value of education.

Some will complain that this is an expensive undertaking. With the decreased pressure on families, the actual cost to society will be lowered. Fewer lost work days, fewer hospitalizations, more defenses against cholera and death. One of the old economic sayings is that “a rising tide floats all boats.” This is only true if all boats are seaworthy. This method of increasing water security is like offering pitch to those that can use it, that way the next time the tide rises more boats will be raised. And the schools will be the source of the rise in tide.  The schools will become a source, a place, of pride in the neighborhood.

Respectfully submitted.

By a new teacher at the end of his school year in Haiti.

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On-line in the classroom

Posted in School at 8:35 AM by Administrator

Introduction

At the start of this school year, our school was faced with a number of significant problems. Uncertain low enrollment, minimal staff, untested infrastructure and an uncertain political environment. Many parents doubted the school would open at all this year, yet alone open on time. The school opened on time in part because the of the decision to supplement class offerings with on-line classes. The school had used some classes this way last year in order to complete the school year after the earthquake. That limited experiment had been very successful. This year’s effort was not nearly as successful.

In hindsight, we should have anticipated some of the issues that arose. When I talk with students they expressed significant confusion about how this course was structured and conducted. Their primary issues were:

1. Confusion over the role of the on-line teacher and the classroom teacher.
2. Confusion over the scheduling of the class.
3. Confusion over what the on-line class provided and efforts they should be making to take advantage of on-line support materials.
4. Frustration over bandwidth, internet and local connectivity.

I will discuss each of these issues in the next few sections. My basic take away was that this could have been done successfully if and only if the confusion issues had been recognized and dealt with in a timely manner. Unfortunately, the initial infrastructure issues we saw consumed, staff, administration and logistical support to the point that the confusion issues were not well addressed.

Roles of mentor and on-line teachers

Even the students who had taken on-line classes last year were confused about the role the mentor teacher was to play. The experience of most students is that if there is a teacher in the classroom that teacher is responsible for evaluating and instructing the class. Under the on-line model the classroom teacher is more of a tutor or a locally available adviser/mediator. This was explained but not accepted by the students, as most of them had experience with their mentor teachers as classroom teachers. That the on-line teacher had the evaluation responsibility, this weakened the ability of the mentor teacher to keep the students focused in class on their work and assignments. All in all, this role confusion causes major problem with classroom management and provides the student with a great tool to avoid their responsibilities. Clearly addressing this problem should be a primary part of the design of the classroom version of any on-line class.

Under ideal conditions, the role of the mentor teacher and the on-line teacher should be merged when an on-line class is brought into a classroom environment. That is, there should be a single local classroom teacher. While this would be an ideal solution, it is unlikely that a school with a qualified subject teacher would need to bring in an on-line course. They would simply have their teacher teach a traditional course.

The other solution is to clearly limit the mentor teacher to dealing with technology, administrative and classroom management issues. This means that the mentor teacher does need an assessment input into the student’s grades. The student that does not attend to on-line class during the assigned periods will suffer because of their behavior. The impact of such behavior is immediately visible in their grade book. The on-line teacher continues to control content assessment but the mentor teacher has the tools needed to keep their classroom a safe and sane learning environment.

Scheduling

Our school uses an alternating day schedule with an 80 minute class period. The on-line school assumes that students work on their classes every day. As a result our students had two schedules. They choose to ignore the on-line schedule. Students routinely, fell behind while insisting that they were on schedule. Students seemed quite happy to ignore both mentor teachers, on-line teachers and the grade book. Events like progress reports, quarter and semester grades did seem to cause them to focus on the work. But these events were not linked to the class schedule, nor was the local school holiday schedule. Mismatched holidays could cause the students to seem a head only to be behind a week later.

In the end our classroom schedule broke down completely, we had students running ahead of the class (some even ahead of the schedule), some keeping up with the schedule, and some falling far behind the schedule and the class. This ultimately made any group oriented direct instruction impossible. The mentor teachers tended to be working one-on-one during the class periods. In the end many students completed multiple units of materials in just a few days. The on-line teachers were flooded with work to be graded and very little time to do that.

The on-line school calender must synchronize exactly with the local calendar. The local school should furnish an accurate local calendar to the on-line teacher. That teacher should complete the class schedule within that framework. If necessary conflicts between the on-line calendar and the local school calendar (such as on line spring break not aligning should be discussed in advance). The students are presented with this calendar by the mentor teacher and seeing the same calendar on-line should eliminate the confusion. In the end it makes the schedule seem like the student’s other schedules and hence something that must be considered.

What does on-line in the classroom mean?

One of the most disturbing things that my on-line class students expressed to me was that they saw the on-line part of their class just to replace text book, quizzes and tests. They never seemed to investigate the support materials provided, unless the mentor teacher handed them out. Tools like outlines for note taking, vocabulary lists, or even key idea questions never seemed to be found by our students. In fact, in one class we handed out the note taking outlines. When we did not one day, I told the student “you can get this on-line it is the student guide to the lesson.” They could not find it even when I pointed out the lesson resources button on the screen. I do not believe any of our students made use of “study halls”, Skype or video lessons. This was a huge disappointment.

In some of our classes the on-line lessons were supplemented with a printed text book. A number of students used this as if it were a real text book, a major mistake. Items that were covered in the on-line lessons were not covered in the supplement. Students who prepared for quizzes with just the supplement routinely did worse but could not seem to give up the idea that this supplement was the text book. (Hey, it was much quicker to read 2 pages than a lesson.)

Students who sign up for a classroom offered on-line course need detailed training in that course. Students need to know what supplemental materials are available, they need to understand where learning aids are likely to be found. With the classes we had there were multiple places that materials might be, there was no consistency from class to class. So, students who took one class and liked the note taking aids might find their second class did not have note taking aids. One class offered a formula sheet but none of the others did. They need to be assessed on their ability to find and use those tools during the entire course. That is, the on-line materials must be actively used in consistent ways.

On-line classes are much more than text book replacements or test generators. They can only be used that way if the students taking those classes are given the skills and knowledge that they can use them as interactive learning tools. When a classroom of students are all taking the same on-line class, time should be taken to explore the richness of the learning environment. The student should be as interested in the learning environment as they are in the subject they will be studying. If they don’t understand how a tool might be used they need to be encouraged to work with it to see if it benefits their learning.

Infrastructure

I believe we were surprised at how much bandwidth was required for 20-30 students to take an on-line course simultaneously required. Response times tend to be inconsistent because load is generated on both ends of the system can be quite inconsistent. Some lessons are just text and pictures, others include animations and interactive gadgets. As a result, it is hard to make sure that the on-line class will have all the resources needed. In a place like Haiti where power failures occur everyday, internet connectivity is as solid as a will-o-wisp, not to expect infrastructure issues is just not realistic. In the end, this will always crop up as a problem. The best fix is to keep the school infrastructure as robust as possible. When problems occur outside the school, detect and react to them as quickly as possible. In no way is this ideal but if over 20 students are taking a single on-line class realize that resource limitations will be exposed. Local hosting of the on-line class could mitigate some of these issues but the cost is more internal infrastructure.

Conclusion

Using on-line classes makes sense, to fill holes in a school’s high end course offerings. Using on-line classes makes sense, to give students experience with topics that would require expensive investments. Using on-line classes to replace core classes for large parts of your student population, does not make sense. Using on-line classes as a means of credit recovery makes good sense.

In the first two cases you have highly motivated students, self selecting to take these courses. The role of mentor teacher as an advocate and technical helper is clear. If course time is allocated to this class, the schedule should map to the local school. The student should be required to participate in on-line forums, discussions, on-line teacher study halls and on-line teacher presentations. Course and content questions should be directed to the on-line teacher.

Use of on-line classes to replace core classes, results in a classroom that has a high percentage of unmotivated students. The mentor teacher role is likely to become muddled as the mentor teacher may have some subject knowledge and field an inconsistent number of content questions, as a matter of expedience. In the end the class will fragment into those working ahead, those on schedule and those who have fallen behind. Meaning that it will become quite impossible to do group instruction to supplement the class. Laboratories will have to be left set up for long periods of time to accommodate this spread in pace.

In the final case the student may find it is easier to take the on-line class, than either to break the graduating class schedule or to use an elective slot to recover credits. While student motivation in this case is possible, it might be more of a resignation to what the fates have decreed. The single student should not pose infrastructure problems beyond normal class loads. The mentor teacher will have a very clearly defined role, outside of the content instruction. Without scheduled class time the on-line school schedule should require minimal adaption to match the physical school grading or holiday needs.

In the end, to abandon all use of on-line education would be wrong. Using it to extend class offerings for particular students, or creating a method of credit recovery without disrupting the student’s integration into their graduating class are two of the best reasons for keeping on-line education.

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06.13.11

Last Week!

Posted in Personal at 10:41 PM by Administrator

It seems incredible but today, June 13, 2011 was the first day of the last week of school.  We have two days of classes and then three days of semester exams.  Next week we’ll be grading and closing up shop for the summer.  I’ll leave for home on June 23rd.  It is all coming just to fast.

The little rainy season is over, we are into hurricane season.  Part of the little rainy season was, in fact, a storm system that had a 30% chance of becoming a hurricane.  With the end of the rain the temperature has shot up.  I haven’t been tracking high temperatures but it has certainly been as hot as I’ve experienced in Haiti.  My surgery continues to heal nicely.  But between my recovery, the heat and the student’s panic over the end of the school year I have been completely exhausted every night when I get home.

My routine has been get up at 5, get ready for work, work from 7 until 4-5pm, go home sleep for 2-3 hours have dinner, go to bed and do it all over again.  Weekends go by way to fast — lots of sleeping.

I’ve got about 5 blogs that I need to get out yet this week(all things I have promised myself I would write over the past month and a half.)  Then about 3 farewell to Haiti blogs which I will publish next week.

In all this has been a very eventful, at time exciting, memorable and enriching experience.  I am glad I came here.  I am glad to have meet this place, these people and experienced this culture.  In the end I would recommend the experience, this is not an easy place.  So, it requires a lot to become part of it.  I have not gone native — a couple of the teachers here have gone native and I envy them.  They have transcended their culture.  I seem to be doomed to standing outside and looking in.  But then again I often feel that way when I am at home.

Well, it’s past my bed time and tomorrow promises to be even more hectic than today.   It’s sad that I love this so much and still am happy to go home.

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06.05.11

A Walk in the Mountains

Posted in Haiti at 9:47 PM by Administrator

It seems like forever ago that I took a Sunday to go hiking (read as gently stroll) in the mountains north of PaP (The trip took place 5/1/11). The objective was to visit the ruins of a couple of coffee plantations and an early 1800s fort.  The group I went with was from the Colony Club (Yes, I need to write an entire entry on the Colony Club). The area is called Chaine des Mathieux (Chain of Mountains?).  It marks the start of northern Haiti from the central plateau.

We started out early Sunday morning.  About half of our travel time was taken up getting out of PaP.  Both because of bad roads and heavy market traffic.  At one point the road we wanted to take was blocked by a downed power pole.  So, we started on an alternate path but that was blocked by a car that had become disabled on a pile of construction materials in the middle of the road.  The end result was to go back to where we had started and then take yet another road.

Once out of PaP the national 1 route seemed like a very nice road.  We made good time up that road and then we turned off on an upgraded hunting trail to get into the mountains.  All in all it was about 45 miles from the main road to our hiking site.  The road was mainly crushed rock with pavement in areas where the crushed rock would not be stable.  While the road is relatively new, it has areas with pretty hard wear.  In a few years this is likely to be an extremely difficult route to take.  The road was built to make access to these historical sites much easier and encourage tourism.  The side benefit is that the communities along the road have a much easier way to get to the main road and transport between these towns is much easier.

View from the road in the mountains

In the lower right of this picture you can see a bit of the winding mountain road we were traveling on.  Mainly what you see is the mountain vista and the entire trip would have been worth it just for these views.

Mountain Views

Again and a gain the amount of deforestation in Haiti just amazes me.  None of these mountains even approaches a natural tree line.  The steep drop offs make it all the harder to re-establish a normal ecosystem.  Still, it looks amazing.

The first site we went to was just off the road.  It was a slave based coffee plantation.  There is no real parking for this site — just pull off on the side of the road at the sign.  Hike by a couple of houses and there you are.  The ruin has a basic shape of what I think of as a southern plantation.  The great house, close by are the quarters for the domestic slaves, stables and warehouse.  Since this is a coffee plantation there is a large flat work area for drying the beans and beyond that the field workers quarters.

Approaching the coffee plantation ruin from the road

When we got to the first site a young man introduced himself as the official site guide.  He only spoke creole but our party had enough people who could understand and translate the information.  He explained most of the structures.  He also informed us that one of the local coffee companies was working to re-establish the coffee trees that used to surround the site.  Who knows, someday we might be able to go here and see a re-enactment village.  When we finished at this site we hiked about a mile to a second ruined coffee plantation.  The layout and construction materials were very much the same as at the first site.

View of the Artibonite Valley as we hiked between coffee plantations.

Hiking between the two plantations gave us a great view of the Artibonite River Valley.  About midway up the left hand side of the photo you can just make out some of the river that gives the valley it’s name.  I am not sure what the ruined wall in the foreground is.

Returning to the first ruin

The return to the first coffee plantation gave rise to this view of the field slave compound.  There were three blocks of 7 chambers each.  Each chamber was about 15ft by 15ft.  Our guide did not know how many slaves were kept in each chamber.  The tall walls toward the right edge of the picture were the end blocks for the cisterns that provided water to the estate.

Snack where the mountain is falling apart

It was not possible to walk from the plantation ruins to the fort, in the time we had alloted so we drove to the fort stopping on the way to enjoy a snack and the view.  The place we stopped had this part of the mountain that just seemed to have fallen away.

We mount our attack on Fort Drouet

After Haitians won their independence there was a great fear that the French would try to retake the country.  Because of the size and power of the French navy it was felt that defending the coasts would be futile.  So a series of forts were built in the mountains.  These forts would command the passage ways to the interior of the country and prevent the re-imposition of French rule.  As a result of this and various attempts by different Haitian groups to control the country, Haiti is a good source of early 1800 military hardware.  In fact at this fort there were a number of muzzle loading smooth bore cannons (I’d guess 3 or 4 inch diameter) just laying about.  The gun carriages all seem to have gone but the barrels are still here.

The fort has an irregular shape.  This allows for the flanks of on coming troops to be attacked as they reach the cannon holding wall.  The inside of the fort was very stark.  There was just one structure, which I assume was the magazine.  There did not appear to be a place for troops to sleep, eat or in any other way live.   Below the fort was the ruins of a settlement with church and buildings.  I’m not sure how well this place would have withstood a siege.

All the information you could ever want...

All in all the trip was wonderful.  I wish I had gotten in on more of these.  Fresh air, good people and lots of interesting ruins.  There might be hope for a real Haitian tourist industry.

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06.04.11

Seattle in Haiti

Posted in Haiti at 6:12 PM by Administrator

One of the problems with being here for so short a period of time is that I don’t know if the weather I am experiencing is typical.  What i have been told is that Haiti has two rainy seasons.  The first is supposed to happen from October to December.  While we experienced some dramatic storms during that time, it seemed pretty dry to me and I don’t recall the locals complaining about the unusual weather.  Then again we had the elections and riots to worry about so weather may not have been an important topic.

The “little rainy season” is supposed to happen for 3 weeks in May.  This year it came late.  Almost the last week in May was the start.  So we are in the second week.  This has nicely fulfilled my idea of a rainy season.  During the first week we had rain everyday from sundown to early morning.  Not little drops but huge torrents.  I mean soaked to the skin if you are out in it for more than 30 seconds.

This Monday I woke up and couldn’t quite figure out what was wrong.  The morning was cool but not unusually.  Then I went to look at the sunrise, only to find the standard steel gray Seattle sky overhead.  Those of us from the pacific northwest –were surprised by this but we felt quite at home.  The Haitians were a bit put out.  My students insisted that I turn off the ceiling fans because “it is so cold.”  Never quite thought of mid seventies as cold before, comfortable and cool maybe.  At this point it really doesn’t seem strange to see students in layers of sweat shirts shivering mightily in seventy and eighty degree weather.

Seattle Sky over School

Tuesday was much the same as Monday, cloudy cool but the rain was mainly late afternoon or evening.  With Wednesday the changes were getting a little old, so it rained on and off all day.  Unfortunately, not the misty drizzle that Seattle enjoys but regular tropical downpours.

Then Thursday was a national holiday — so far I haven’t figured out what the holiday was.  It seems it was declared Wednesday late in the afternoon.  By 6:30am we had parents calling us asking if the holiday applied to our school. It did not.  So it rained constantly all day Thursday.

The weather continued wet all day on Friday but the intensity of the rain seemed less and less.  Today, Saturday, it has been raining on and off but the clouds have been consistently here.

So is this a typical “little rainy season?”  I don’t have a clue but I have reverted to my Seattle coping methods.  Stay inside, drink lots of coffee (my one cup in the morning routine that I’ve been using just hasn’t cut it this week).

So, for a whole week it has felt like being back home in Seattle.  It just seems strange to think about Haiti in Seattle and Seattle in Haiti.  Some things are just to gloriously strange to contemplate.  It has been a good week.

Seattle Sky over Petion-Ville

Seattle Sky over Port-au-Prince

I think you’ll have to agree that Haiti is still beautiful, even with Seattle colored skies.

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05.29.11

Haitian Medical “System”

Posted in Haiti at 7:21 PM by Administrator

The last three weeks have been a pretty wide ride.  As a result I’ve paved another mile on the road to hell, with all my good intentions of keeping this blog up to date.  So, I suppose I need to explain a bit.  I had a hernia,  It was asymptomatic until the end of March and the beginning of April.   I had hoped to ride it out until I got back to the states and have my long time MD take care of it.  No such luck.  By the start of May I was in pain every day for most of the day.  So, I was going to either have to deal with the Haitian medical system or cut my school year short.

I talked with the school nurse and she recommended a Haitian MD for the surgery.  Her son had some delicate work done by this man and she was very pleased with his work.  For his private patients he works out of a private hospital in downtown Petion-Ville.

Initially, I had hoped to have surgery on May 13th, recover over the weekend and be back to school Monday (16th) or Tuesday (17th).  With Wednesday being a day off and then back to school for real Thursday and Friday.  Unfortunately, between insurance and driver mix ups that proved impossible.  My surgery was scheduled to take place instead on Tuesday May 17th,  From the time of my announcement until the day before my surgery I had students, faculty, friends and family all questioning my sanity.  The most dramatic was the student who heard I was having surgery and hugged me like it would be the last time she saw me alive. Not one person thought having surgery in Haiti was a good idea.

The doctor I meet was a very confident, straight forward person.  Quick exam.  Yes, I had a hernia.  Yes, there is only one cure.  When do you want it?   His office was at the hospital.  He had a receptionist and no other staff (I think he shared that receptionist).  Once all the pre-op hurtles were past.  I went to the hospital at 7:00am on Tuesday to get prepared.

The hospital seemed very informal to me.  I wandered into an area — a lady (turned out to be a nurse) asked me in French (I think) what my business was.  She was very disappointed that I could not communicate with her.  Ultimately, I showed her the MD’s instructions.  She ushered me into a room, large by American hospital standards.  It was sparsely furnished, hospital bed, a couple of chairs, a bed side table and a bedside tray,  I saw stands for hanging IV bags and gas (Oxygen) nozzles.  What I did not see was any electronic monitoring equipment.  And it was only much later that I found the nurse call buttons.

I was put in a hospital gown.  My stuff stowed.  Vitals taken.  And I waited.  About 8am a nurse (?) cam in and gave me a Brazilian.  I swear the razor was dull but I doubt that is true.  And I waited.  About 10:15 my MD popped his head in the room. “Sorry, I had emergency surgery — it will be a few more minutes…”.  A few minutes latter I meet my anesthesiologist.  A young woman with a no-nonsense attitude.  Quick look at my history.  Make sure I have no alergies.  “Do you want to walk to the operating room?”.  I walked.  The operating room seemed smaller than my room.  The operating table was crucifix shaped.  I really couldn’t tell what kind of equipment was there (no glasses folks) but the room seemed crowded.  I laid down. My anesthesiologist,  asked me to sit up so she could apply the spinal.   I felt the injection briefly, she asked me to lay back down and I don’t remember my head touching the table.  Damn she was good.

I woke up all at once.  I don’t know how long after the operation it was.  The hardest part of my time at the hospital was the language barrier.  I just could not communicate effectively with the nursing staff.  The worst occasion was about 2am.  I suddenly had felt like I needed to have a bowel movement.  It took what seemed like 15 minutes to explain to the nurse that I needed a bedpan.  That she did finally understand is more a testament to her compassion than to my abilities at pantomime.

The evening of the first night was the hardest part of my time at the hospital.  My pain killers had worn off.  I was uncomfortable and I hurt.  Only after the MD had determined that I had no lingering effects from the spinal block could I have more pain killer.  On the US 0-10 pain scale I was constantly at 5 with spikes going up to 7 and 8.  The spikes would last from 3 to 5 minutes.  5 felt really good after a spike to 8.   Once I was able to get to the pain shot everything went much better.  At least until 2am…

Wednesday morning I was reminded of one of the great truths of medicine.  “Nothing is as healing as a sponge bath from a pretty lady.”  Even if she double gloves when she sees you.  Just having someone care for you this way makes getting better even more important.  My catheter was removed and my IV bags removed.  Breakfast was cold coffee, and french bread with jam.  It was positively the best.

The discharge procedure was just as informal as admitting.  I got orders from the doctor.  He said I could go and left.  After a little while I got a bill  and I was then left alone.  I slowly got dressed.  Sat in a chair reading for a while.  Then I went looking for somebody to tell me what to do.  I paid for the hospital via credit card.  They combined the hospital bill, MD bill and anesthesiologist bills into one credit card charge.  I called a driver and went home.

I had wanted to go to school on Thursday but that wasn’t going to happen.  I might have able to do Friday but caution  and my boss’s email telling me not to show up.  Lead me to the right decision.  Monday, I went to school and made it.  Tuesday was rough, because I insisted on staying after classes to help students.  Wednesday was good, in part because it was a short day and it was not possible to see students after class.  Thursday and Friday were both long days.  All told this past week was an act of will.  I came.  I stayed.  I collapsed at night.

This weekend, I basically slept away.  My stitches are out.  I am ready for week of real work.

All in all the Haitian medical system that I saw in this experience is just fine.  The equipment is minimal in the patient rooms.  But it doesn’t have to be better than that.  The doctors are good.  If I had it to do again about the only thing I would want to do to add to my prep is find an english to french medical phrase book.

Having said that remember I was getting the best that Haitian medical can provide.  Having this surgery in one of the public hospitals?  I’m not sure I’m that crazy.

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