still in o'kap

so, just as my gig w/ nouvelle vie in cap haitien was up, and just as i was about to jet and start a new job w/ an org in port-au-prince, i was asked to replace the country director & stick around through march and maybe beyond.  hmmmmm.  i figured, why not?  i already have a feel for the program and i love the youth corps, so what the heck.  and now, here i am.

i'm not sure what my job title or description is, exactly, but i help out w/ a number of things.  i do the budgeting (blah), translate when needed, teach various classes here and there and i help w/ logistical planning.  however, the bulk of my work (and the main attraction for me) is helping to launch a commercial composting project (funded by US AID) in the local marketplace.  we're setting up a composting site right in the market & we're gonna take all the organic waste from the market and the surrounding households, run it through the thermal composting process for 2 weeks, then put it through a second round of worm compost (if we can get the worms).  the final product will be the best fertilizer you can get, so we're gonna bag it up and sell it.  we're also doing a lot of urban/container gardening, so we're going to do a veggie nursery on the market site as well, to exhibit how to grow healthy new veggies in the city using old food waste.  composting is a relatively new phenomenon here in haiti, so we'll be doing a lot of sensitization in the community.  the plan, for now, is for me to be here (in cap haitien) through march and with nouvelle vie possibly through may.  whether i'm getting paid or not is still unknown, though, and is one determining factor.

anyhow, i'm keeping myself happy and healthy.  check out this link to the nouvelle vie blog .  they gave me a nice shout out.  ;)    

yoga training

my second gig in haiti was to translate for a yoga teacher training for the same group of youths in cap haitien. 

the visiting yogi was a bright, shiny spirit named Andrei Ram Om, hailing from colombia and new york city.  i feel like i really lucked out on this one because, although i was working as andrei's translator, i pretty much received the training for free (actually, i got paid to do it!).  i learned a lot that week about yoga in all aspects:  origin, asanas (postures), meditation, etc.  i feel quite fortunate to have shared such an intimate space and experience w/ one such as andrei.  om.

http://innerparadise.org/  (andrei's website)

permaculture training

greetings from haiti!

i'm still in cap haitien (the north) and, as i mentioned in the last post, i got a gig translating and assisting for a permaculture training for a group of 19 impressive youths from different regions.

the training, which wrapped up on january 25th, was a success and a lot of fun, too. it was a nice opportunity to work w/ friends, hunter and sabina, glean some of their know-how and escape at night for a drink or two.

we made sure to get the class out of the classroom as much as possible (site visits & field trips are the best). we toured a diversified organic garden, a rice farm, and a cassava cooperative. then we had a couple days of fun (mixed w/ learning, of course) hiking up to the citadelle (a historic mountaintop fortress) and spending our last day at the beach.

these guys love permaculture [!] and at the house where we're all staying, they have set up a sweet container garden; read: old tires, cans, rice sacks and gallon jugs ... all chock full 'o veggies.  love this stuff.  :)

[photos to come]