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  

revolution baby

painting the town of la reference

According to modern economic standards, Haiti can be perceived as the most helpless and dependent population of the Western hemisphere. There were 4,000 NGOs working here before the earthquake, which leaped to 10,000 on the ground after. $10 billion have been pledged to lift this country out of misery but 18 months have passed and it’s a mystery where all of that money has gone. …or is it (into the pockets of aid workers, perhaps?)?

Port-au-Prince residents, when questioned about the lack of traction on the entire movement, as well as at the individual level, bear the same explanation: “We don’t have money. We don’t have the means for change.” And that's the problem: The mentality is that money is the ultimate solution as well as the universal impediment.

However, despite these realities, a quiet revolution is taking place in Cité Soleil, which is probably the most disenfranchised community in all of Haiti. Sure, they are poor. They say so themselves. But poverty is a relative term. In their case, they are poor because they have always counted the things that they don’t have. But if they count up all that they do have, regarding resources, they will see that they are, in fact, rich. The most amazingly refreshing thing is that THEY GET IT. They finally understand that NGOs can’t and won’t save them. They understand that money is not ever going to come on its own. And they’re finally starting to understand the value of their own heads, hands and hearts. It’s so exciting to work alongside a motivated group of young Haitians without being viewed, personally, as a piggy bank.

new street sign for la reference

So we had initially named the little movement in our community of La Reference, “Pwojè Soley Leve [The Rising Sun Project]” but we now realize that we are not alone. This movement is so much bigger, extending far outside the limits of our street. There are other groups just like ours who have self mobilized to actively put forth a positive image of Cité Soleil.
   

mural at la difference

One is a group called La Difference, who has successfully transformed an area of 4 blocks into a beautiful oasis of cleanliness & security.
 

sunset near the wharf

Another is the Cité Soleil fishing cooperative (OPECS) who, in addition to fishing, organizes voluntary beach clean-ups and works together to maintain clean public toilets, etc.
  
 

CSA share

Then there is a farming cooperative (REMISOV)in the rural part of the Cité who has reclaimed the land once run by the Haitian American Sugar Company to grow organic food crops while creating their own micro financing system.


And the list of groups volunteering to make a difference for their community and rule their own destinies keeps growing. Yesssss….


So my mighty sidekick, Sabina, and I have been working to connect the dots between them so that they realize that the entirety of Cité Soleil can and will change, and soon, if they just combine their efforts and continue on this path. We’ve been having meetings and they are getting organized. This is now the movement we are calling “Rising Sun”. Could it be a revolution? I love this shit.

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!  :)