Flag Day in Cite Soleil, Haiti

"Another Haiti is possible"

Raising the Haitian flag at Place Fierte, where a flag hasn't flown since 2005

New, patriotic graffiti at Place Fierte.  Art by Snake

A prideful and festive day in Cite Soleil

Rasha  <3

miss ohio

i just spent a good couple of weeks visiting my sister in ohio... [good times] ... springtime should be warmer, though.  ;)  now i'm off to haiti for another couple of months.  just runnin' around w/ my rag top down.  ;)     

wheels at rest

cite soleil

Sunday Hike in Port-au-Prince

an old friend and i got out to stretch our bones and breathe in some fresh air today in Furcy.. right up the hill above Petionville... just past Kenscoff. aaaaah!   i should do this more often!

New Street Art in the Cite

thanks to the collaborative efforts of Michael Zuckerman, Samantha Yarock, Jerry Rosembert and Snake, cite soleil has some spiffy new street art (mixed media: wheat-paste & spray graffiti).  more to come!  :)

Education is the key to life

January 12th, many houses crumbled.  Cite Soleil is still standing.

THE EGG MYSTERY

this has been driving me CRAZY for a week now and i have to get to the bottom of it.  

ok, so, some chickens from the neighborhood are always hanging around in my yard (and i don't blame them because it's the only place around w/ any trees).  now, i like chickens and all but they're kind of a nuisance because 1) they completely destroyed everything i had planted in my garden, and 2) they leave piles of poo on the ground beneath wherever they decided to sleep that night (which is often the tree in my outdoor bathing area).  i've tried shoo-ing them away, but it's useless.  however, there is a good side to their constant presence…  they started to lay their eggs in my yard recently and i discovered their spot.  so i now have a steady supply of fresh eggs for breakfast!  but anyway, on to the mysterious part….

i usually check the nest every couple of days or so and get the eggs, always leaving one so that she keeps laying in that spot (chickens aren't the smartest, eh?).  one day, there was a surprise in the nest.  not only were there about 3 normal chicken eggs, there were also 3 miniature eggs (about 1/3 the size of a chicken egg).  "what the heck kind of eggs are these?", i thought.  is there some runt-of-a-chicken laying these pipsqueak eggs in the same nest?  is some different bird species altogether piggybacking off the nest?  or is the same hen popping out 2 different sizes of eggs?  i was stumped.  i asked my friend, gueldy, about it and he was just as baffled.  but then he said, "i bet it's a rooster's egg!".  HAHAHAHA (i laughed aloud)!  apparently, he had heard that it was rare, yet possible for a male chicken to lay an egg and that they are usually smaller.  HUH?   we boiled a couple of them, along w/ one regular one, to try 'em out.  gueldy was afraid to try one of the small ones (hehe) but he peeled it for me and i bit it in two.  no yolk!  all white.  what a dud!          

yesterday, while online, i remembered the conundrum and did a google search.  and, although i wasn't buying the "rooster's egg" theory, the first thing i googled was: "can rooster's lay eggs?".  most of the results of that search were something like, "of course not, you idiot!  have you ever heard of a man having a baby?"…   but there was one response saying that some roosters (or maybe it was one specific type) might lay one small egg when "coming of age".  are you kidding me?  i still wasn't buying it.    the next thing i searched was something like "two kinds of eggs in one nest" but the internet cut out before i could get any further.   

can somebody please explain what is going on here?  i might have to just stalk the nest 24/7 to monitor any activity.  i must know! aaaarrrgh!

Hope Art!

I was contacted a while back by a rad chick named Melissa Schilling, aka "Mimi".   Inspired to bring some joy and positive energy to the children of Port-au-Prince, She started up a project called Hope Art.  Her idea was to bring art supplies to the children living in tent cities and create a week of whimsy using art as a form of stress relief and self-expression.  AWEsome!    Last week she came to Cite Soleil to do some fun activities with the kids at one of the least-supported schools in my neighborhood.  The day consisted of, first, story time w/ "Where the Wild Things Are", in both French and Creole for full comprehension, followed by a fun art class.  With new art sets donated by Hope Art, the kids drew all sorts of monsters with colored pencils and markers and then brought their drawings to life with watercolor paints.  Mimi also distributed hand sanitizer and some adorable handmade sundresses that had been donated to Hope Art for little girls in Haiti.  The coolest thing is that the kids' artwork will be displayed in an exhibit in some swanky gallery in San Francisco!  Mimi plans to visit the school again in April.  :)    AND, now that the school has art supplies, I will be art classes [with a positive message] at the school every Friday!    Thank you Hope Art Project!  :)

wednesday is the new sunday

The perfect break from busy, hot, noisy, dusty, mosquito-ridden Port-au-Prince is a jaunt to the beach just a couple of hours north. Last Wednesday, the girls of Future Generations-Haiti (minus little Sabina) went to catch up and recharge at Wahoo Bay. The best thing about taking your weekend on a Wednesday is that you have the whole place to yourself. :)
Gade kijan Ayiti bel.

12 Janvye

it was 2 years ago today when a ruthless 7.0 earthquake struck haiti.  i was not here at the time, but i remember that day, and the sorrow that filled my chest as i read the awful news and saw the horrendous images that appeared on my computer screen.  today we commemorate those who perished during that catastrophic event… all 300,000 of them.  

In cite soleil, soley leve organized a silent morning march from the wharf to norway, where we then filled a bus that took about 100 people to the mass grave in titanyen.  there, they planted a cross made of bamboo, placed a wreath of flowers on it and sang.  meanwhile, back in central cite soleil, a bunch of us were busy blowing up hundreds of balloons with helium for the balloon launch that took place at the public plaza in the afternoon.  some 400 people gathered there, balloons in hand, to reflect, to observe a moment of silence and to release their balloons into the air at the exact time the earthquake had hit 2 years earlier.  

letting go and moving forward.  full of purpose. 

A New Year for Cite Soleil!

Well, i missed out on a lot of community action in Cite Soleil in December (but Sabina was here and they really rocked it!).  Now i'm back and the place is looking pretty spruced up!  …and the people are now in chill-mode.  2011 was an epic year, marking the beginning of new hope and new life in the Cite w/ Konbit Soley Leve.  The new year brings both a lot to reflect upon and a lot to envision for the months ahead.  This year, there remains a ton to be accomplished.. but we've all decided to kick it into lower gear and to move forward both slowly and thoroughly.  A big priority for 2012 is to really drive home what Cite Soleil does well and to polish up the shiniest spots.  

One thing that really rises to the surface here is ART.  Cite Soleil has truly brought up some pretty amazing talent… the passion is there, for sure.  …so how can we give them a boost?  Let's get more studio time for inspirational singers/songwriters like Rene Gueldy and Emmanuel Celestine from Bois Neuf!  let's promote breakdancing w/ a cause by getting more gigs for Cyborg Dance outside of the Cite!  let's create an artisan cooperative that features up-cycled goods!  and let's find a steady market for these artisans!  let's get business training for these artisans!  Let's push forward with an edgy, yet positive, street-art campaign.  let's, each Soleyan community, make a unique mark for itself (i.e.: an eiffel tower in Paris)!  

glass bottle artists

Rene Gueldy

cyborg dance rehearsal

on another note.. we're planning to green up this year by starting up neighborhood gardens and tree nurseries.  plus we're moving forward with our civic education plan to cultivate healthier relationships between individuals, communities and the environment.

BRING it, 2012!  we're ready  

love my down-time

check out this sweet fabric that my friend, delphine, gave me! just enough to make a nice little sleeve for my laptop. 















sewing is therapeutic… people who knit are really onto something!

holidaze

i know, i know… i've been a very bad blogger.  

what can i say?… got caught up in life!      

anyway… i had an amazing winter holiday in the states… hitting up ohio, san diego, utah and montana! highlights:  canyons, hot springs, cabins, snow, home cooking', family, bison burger and deep love.  

Happy 2012!  

we're still alive (so make the most)!  

one rad little camp stove :)

check this out... so, i discovered this more than a year ago and i've been meaning to post about it ever since but... better late than never, ey?

it's a little camp stove made out of an aluminum soda/beer/whatever can. it burns methyl alcohol (you can pick up a bottle of HEET at any auto parts store or gas station). it's super efficient (about a capful can boil a liter of water). and there is essentially no cost for materials. here's a video on how to make one.

I heard about it from a couch surfer that i hosted while living in Seoul, Korea.  He was living in a van part-time and he said he used it to heat water, to cook, for basically everything.  I was stoked to learn about it, cuz it's pretty much the same thing you get when you buy a fancy camp-stove at REI, only it's free!  I never got around to making one myself, but the nice couch surfer dropped one off at my apt his next time passing through Seoul.  Now that i live in haiti, where electricity is scarce &/or spotty, i've been using it regularly to make my morning coffee, boil some pasta, etc.  now i've just gotta spread the wealth... cuz such a thing shouldn't be kept a secret.  below are some pics of the one i use (made w/ a red bull can... extra compact).  this model is a bit different than the one in the video, but same concept.  

this simple little thing seriously makes my life better and i love it for that.  i hope you try it out.. let me know if you do!  :)

nifty little stand, ey?

morning coffee, gotta have it

late night ramen fix ;)

all aboard the CATALINA CHERIE!

in the words of my good friend, sabina, .... "Does your country have a boat on wheels that goes around selling snowcones only if you talk to a man in a helmet via the old payphones glued to its side? ... I didn't think so."


 well, we do!... and no, we don't live in NYC, San Fran or burning man (although would make a killer art car).  ;)

check him out...  he lives in Cite Soleil and goes around selling "FRESCO" (shave ice/snow cones) in the Catalina Cherie, a lovely boat rigged up w/ telephones to make your order (if you speak to him directly, he'll just ignore you).  he always sports a football helmet and big headphones, which are connected to the phone lines.  




classic!    zo bagay.  

Sun City Cribs

Welcome to my home in Bwa Nef, Cite Soleil, where i've been living now for the last  5 months.  :) 

I needed to upgrade from my initial temporary shelter, which was essentially 4 blue, plastic tarp walls, one door and a tin roof.  I had pitched my tent on the rubbly floor inside to sleep.  Needless to say, it was as hot as hell in there.  I had nowhere nice to chill during the day because it was too hot inside, and i had no yard or personal space outside.  Plus, there are so few trees in Cite Soleil that it's nearly impossible to escape the fierce, haitian sun.  

cozy, eh?

So, with all this heavy in my mind, one day, I spotted some trees [!] that were popping up over a small fenced in area.  On tippy-toes, I peeked over the fence to look inside and I saw a little shady yard w/ a little, rusty tin shack in it.  A woman and child were sitting in the yard.  I said hello and that I really liked her spot and then expressed to her that I wished I could live there.  She said, "Really?  Ok, then!".  So I replied, "But if I were to move in here, where would you then live?", to which she replied that she would just find another place and to come back tomorrow to talk.  And that is exactly what I did.  Within the week, I had my very own shanty house and shaded yard for the price of $250 for the year (and I was being generous)!  

cooking station

It was/is definitely an undertaking, but I'm one who loves these types of projects.  I painted over the rusty scrap metal walls, started replacing the dilapidated and dangerous scrap metal fencing with woven coconut palm fronds, had a new front door built, and got some free scrap wood to bang together some simple furnishings.  It sure has been a process, but I'm now living quite comfortably.  

composting bucket

There is electricity most of the time so I have a 2-burner electric stove for cooking and an oscillating fan for staying cool at night.  I now have 2 beds (a double for me and a single guest bed).  I use a simple bucket composting method for a toilet.  And I had a private water line run into my yard (it's all about who you know), so no more hauling water for me!  For bathing, i use the simple, yet refreshing, bucket bath method in an enclosed area outside.  I've also organized the rubble in the yard and hauled in some good soil to make a vegetable garden.  Life is shaping up for me in Sun City.  

Next upgrades will be a kiddie pool and a hammock!     :)  

i have a big bed!  :)

I've also recently placed my guest bed on Couchsurfing and hope to host some adventurous spirits in Cite Soleil soon and show them that it's nothing like what they've probably heard.  It has its days, for sure, but I like my life here.  Feel free to visit!

lakay se lakay [home is home]

ah!  bucket bath w/ peppermint bronners!

front gate