The Rising Sun Project

Quite a bit has happened this past month.  I spent the first two weeks of May translating for a permaculture design course, which was hosted by Grassroots United in Port-au-Prince.  I went into that gig expecting to fly home to Ohio right afterwards but it’s now June and I’m still here.  And for who knows how long.  So much came out of that course that I find it hard to even begin to explain but, in a nutshell: new lifelong friends & working partners, a new permaculture guru, a second permaculture certificate, a crash-course on super-adobe construction and, to top it off, a new life project [or two]. 

To make a long story short, I was inspired by one of the projects presented at the end of the course and I’ve kinda made myself a part of it.  The project is taking place in Cité Soleil, which is a part of Port-au-Prince that has a global reputation for its level of poverty and gang violence.  And although violence indeed exists in certain avoidable areas here, in actuality, it’s a beautiful place to be.  The people are at least as friendly and beautiful as in other parts of Haiti and the sense of community is unparalleled.  The big idea of the project is to transform one of the “worst places in the world” into a functional, autonomous ecosystem by working with leaders in the community to break the cycle of misery by applying the basic permaculture principles.  What that basically means is to start seeing the problems as solutions and to start valuing each and every thing, animal and person as a resource.  One underlying principal of the project is to do everything without money and just START SOMETHING POSITIVE with what you have.  The other pieces will fall into place. 

That said, it’s no simple task to change the mentality of a community.   However, it makes so much sense with the way it is presented that people are getting it.  We’ve got a solid group of guys that have taken it upon themselves to change the image and reputation of their neighborhood.  After all, it’s the people who make a community, not the other way around.  This group of guys is going out each and every morning to clean the street.  They’re cleaning up the market place.  They’re planting trees and gardens.  And they’re spreading the word.  The project is catching on like wildfire and has already created quite a buzz throughout the city and we’ve been approached by several folks/orgs that want to help.

So, needless to say, I’ve moved right into the zone; a section called Bwa Nèf.  I’m living in one of the temporary shelters with walls of shiny blue tarps, provided by Samaritan’s Purse.  I’ve set up my tent inside and, though I still need to work out a way to poop & shower, it’s not so bad.  I also bought a purple bicycle.  I must say, I’ve never lived quite like this before but I’m excited about where this is all going.  There are a lot of details that I fail to mention but the possibilities are limitless. 

As for a project name, it has been a challenge but we realize that we do need one.  We’re working in Cité Soleil, which means “Sun City”, so the name “Rising Sun Project” came up and we all agreed that it could work.  So, there it is:  Pwoje Soley Leve (in Creole), or “The Rising Sun Project”.  Give some feedback, please.   

Cité Soleil.  That’s where you’ll find me… I think at least until August.  Woohoo!  :)