NEWS ~ Avian Bird Flu in Haiti?

When countries like Haiti make the excruciatingly slow climb out of poverty and corruption, an apparently minor hitch could have disastrous implications on that plodding progress. Today, the Sun Sentinel ran an op-ed on the potentially devastating impact of Avian Flu, now making the rounds in the Caribbean, on Haiti.

While Puerto Rico, a U.S. protectorate, can probably easily weather any disruption in trade between itself and Dominican Republic, Caribbean countries - like Haiti - without the safety net of the U.S. economy, will suffer. The Sentinel writes, "egg prices in Port-au-Prince jumped 25 percent to more than $3 a carton, according to news reports." Little fluxes like these, with high gasoline prices effecting costs too, present terrible difficulties to the majority of Haitians, whose meager incomes place them well below the poverty line.

Though the strain found in the DR is less virulent than that recently found in Asia, the Sun Sentinel's editorial board rightly points out that

Haiti can't bear this now — not while making slow, but what appears to be steady progress under President René Préval. The country imports at least 1 million eggs and hundreds of thousands of chickens from the Dominican Republic daily, according to the country's agriculture minister. A bird flu epidemic and food shortage would further stress a population whose health is already compromised. It could also wipe out a means of livelihood for merchants who sell poultry products.

Some might remember the last animal-related food disaster to impact Haiti: the slaughter of the Creole Pigs. When the African Swine Fever virus spread to Haiti from the Dominican Republic, the U.S. government put enormous pressure on the Haitian government to slaughter all their pigs - offering a seemingly excellent eradication and re-population plan. Thus, Creole Pigs were slaughtered and U.S. shipped in pigs from the Midwest. But the American swine were higher maintenance, requiring imported feed, clean water and falling ill more often. The program failed disastrously and had lasting and continuing impacts on poor farmer.

I would like to under second the Sun Sentinels recommendation that: "The United Nations, USAID and other humanitarian organizations must do everything in their power to help address the problem before the situation worsens."

portiamills.com updates

For months, I completely shirked my blogging and website in lieu of other activities. Now that some of those obligations are behind me, I'm trying to make up for lost time. Please check out www.portiamills.com to see the latest updates. The newest sections are "families," "who's there," and "work and play."

In coming weeks, I hope to reorganize the site to post photographs from other locals and trips. Your feed back, thoughts and ideas are, as always, most welcome and appreciated!

NEWS ~ mobile phones take over

Digicel reaches nearly 2 million customers in Haiti after only one year of business there.

Read the full story.

the real technological revolution

In 200 years, little has changed in the dominantly pastoral Haitian landscape where ill clad workers stand under a relentless sun in grazing fields or rice paddies. In the last several years, though, with the introduction of cellular phones, one might see the almost surreal sight of a field worker chatting on a cell. The implications of technology and portable devices are enormous in countries with inadequate infrastructure. This phenomenon cries out for more effort focused on how to fully employ the potential for local businesses and development efforts.

Technology has only just started to impact all aspects of life and work in the developing world. As I witnessed in Haiti with cellular phones, newer technology fills in where older, infrastructure-heavy technology failed. Most Haitians, for example, do not have land phones and probably never will. Over decades, TELECO, the conventional phone company, formerly run by the Ministry of Public Works, Transport, and Communications, managed infrastructure that has served only thousands of over five million potential customers. In the last few years alone, Digicel and Voilá (Irish and Haitian cellular providers, respectively) started building towers, setting up “charging stands” in town centers (since most Haitians have no electricity), and offering free minute deals; now millions can have a phone.

Much more effort needs to be focused on how wireless communication devices have begun to change communication and, as the isolation for many people falls away, the nature of culture in Haiti and similar countries. Equally important for the developing world are the impacts on local government, businesses and non-profits. In just years, cellular phone towers did to a mountainous island what wired communication, in decades, never could.

Laptop computers could have similar potential, though perhaps on a smaller, or longer-term, scale. They are much easier to transport, re-sell, donate and, by virtue of the battery, use in areas with unreliable electricity. There is real potential, though with many challenges, for projects that employ the same ideas as America’s “Laptop for Every Student” and the global “One Laptop Per Child” project.

New, smaller satellite dishes or possibly emerging ultra-low-cost and small wireless portable TVs will offer yet more potential for technological innovation to bring information and opportunity to the developing world – and critically to perhaps help advance educational and economic efforts in remote regions. Indian farmers, for example, have been using satellite technology in recent years to emulate farmers in the developed world, to track product prices in the market, check the weather, and learn more about other farming techniques.

The potential value of harnessing the new, portable information technologies deserves much greater attention. For this reason, more effort need be focused on what types of affordable technologies might be encouraged, and disseminated, and on low-cost services to support and expand the capabilities of these tools to help advance humane causes and economic development around the world. What has happened thus far is only a beginning, but has illuminated the potential of this profoundly important opportunity.

During Hurricane Dean this year, the Haitian government, refusing to acknowledge a potential natural disaster, would not put announcements out on state-run radio programs about evacuation opportunities for people in risk zones. Digicel, however, seized the marketing opportunity and sent out text messages to all its customers, offering updates on the tropical storm - for a fee. This last point, of course, drives home exactly the need to find creative, low-cost and perhaps subsidized ways to advance such technology.

Tofu in this American Paradise

What do a U.S. congressman, a weapon-designing chemical engineer, an American general and a Disney executive have in common? Aside from a slew of impressive accomplishments to their names, they all immigrated to the United States, eventually naturalized and, today, they received "Outstanding Americans by Choice" awards.

The event was held at the White House in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (formerly the Old Executive Office Building) - incidentally, a building designed by an immigrant - where 25 other immigrants from 18 different nations became American citizens. Among nationalities represented were Afghanis, French, Brits, Filipinos, Peruvians, Iraqis, Chinese and a large handful of Pakistanis. Men, some dressed in service uniforms, women, young and old stood to pledge their allegiance to the flag. In his remarks, the director of US Citizenship and Immigration services mentioned that 650,000 immigrants naturalized in 2007. In 2008, he expects the number to be much higher. Each one of these, he pointed out, has his/her own unique story. Some of these stories are breathtakingly remarkable.
Living in Washington, D.C. affords easy access to the random events that occur only in the capital at places like national monuments, government buildings, and association headquarters. Today, when I went to lunch with the woman under whom I served as a White House intern, I was asked if I would like to tag along for a naturalization ceremony at which some fairly impressive Americans would be receiving awards. Field trip to the EEOB? You bet I wanted to go!

There is just something so cool about being "cleared" into a government building and handing your ID to secret service agents before walking around enormous halls that have seen some major history. So that alone would have been enough to make my afternoon. But what I witnessed today in one of the rooms off the high-ceilinged corridors stirred renewed pride in my country.

A marine sang the anthem while the Color Guard stood in rigid attention. Everyone said the pledge of allegiance. Then, after America's 25 newest citizens promised to defend and uphold, etc. etc., the US Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services recognized four outstanding Americans. First, a Cuban-American U.S. congressman, who fled Castro with his parents in an early wave of refugees, told the room that they could accomplish anything they wished in this country. Next, a Vietnamese-American woman, with a series of accomplishments in science advising and weapons design that seemed incongruous with her slight frame, stood to dazzle the room with her eloquent and patriotic remarks. Following her, a Chinese-American general spoke of fleeing China in the 1950's and of rising ranks in the Army, in which he proudly served for a career. Finally, a English-American businessman thanked the director and Bureau for his award, saying that he and his Mexican wife had found the opportunity and diversity in America unique and necessary to realizing their dreams together.

Each one of the award recipients positively exuded pride in their citizenship and in the accomplishments that have served their adopted country. As the Vietnamese-American chemical engineer said, "America is a stir-fry. In a stir-fry, you want each ingredient to retain its flavor. You want the tofu to taste like tofu and the carrots like carrots. That's what makes it great. I will continue being tofu and doing all I can to help make this great American stir-fry the paradise - I repeat, paradise - it is."

"is it safe to travel to Haiti?"

"If you take a bus to Port-au-Prince, make sure your ride is there to pick you up right when you get off. Better yet, don't get out of the bus until you can actually see your ride, and make sure you have to walk no more than ten yards to get there. When I [finally] saw [my friend's] car through the traffic, it was as if the clouds had parted and a ray of sunshine directly from God was shining down upon me," a friend wrote to me the other day about his bus trip from Les Cayes to Port-au-Prince. Though overjoyed to hear he was unharmed, I must say I was not surprised at his tale. My word to the wise always is, "unless you are Haitian, don't get on the bus in the first place."

Despite the fact that things really are better in Haiti these days, my friend's bus trip confirms that safety still has a lot to do with circumstances. In late Spring of 2007, a boat of westerners sailed into the waters of southern Haiti - coming into Les Cayes to fuel and gear up. They found the island fascinating and, not having planned to do so and unfamiliar with the country, decided to spend a little time visiting around the coast. The next evening, while anchored off another coastal town in the southern department, they were attacked. A mob of Haitians had cut their line, and were walking and boating across the sandbars and shallow harbor with torches chanting for money. The small group of sailors, who were too far for any timely rescue, managed to escape - but only just.

The near misses are not reported. That my Creole-speaking American friend got "scared for the first time" in Haiti will not be in a U.N. report. That a boat of westerners almost did not make it is certainly not evening news. But these anecdotes are important because they reveal a continued state of volatility in Haiti. Travelers should feel more comfortable about the kidnapping situation (or relative lack there of) and a safer capital city, but they should still heed travel warnings to stay away from potential mob scenes, avoid public transportation (or tap-taps, as they are called), etc. etc.

I have decided to take up blogging again (for several reasons) and begin with this topic because lately I have received several emails from people traveling to Haiti and their primary concern is usually security. These people are finding me through expat directories and Google searches for Haiti. Thus, let this entry show that 1) I still stay up on what's going on down there, 2) I am more than happy to share my opinions, 3) I am going to start sharing them more regularly here!

Homecoming Weekend 2007, Cornell University - A Story in Photographs

Excuse the indulgent post...

Friends as good as family.

Ithaca's Farmers Market

Cayuga's Waters

A rare win for Cornell football

A jolly reunion at Stella's

"The aim of life is to live, and to live is to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware."

a reminder....

that life is wildly, fantastically and amazingly beautiful. Even on a foggy, Maine day, there is beauty. Some times, we need reminding.

Espwa in Need

The difficulties of operating a 600-child orphanage that supports a Haitian staff of nearly 200 and also involves itself in far flung educational and housing projects, as well as some infrastructural and sustainable projects, cannot be underestimated. Pwoje Espwa operates on a yearly budget of about one million dollars (US) and certainly still has the infrastructure, capacity and need to spend a whole lot more. Operating funds contribute to everything from mattresses for the kids, animal feed, salaries, gasoline for vehicles, the occasional medical expense incurred from injury and disease, (600 kids in a tropical climate...), and so much more. Despite the farm, the project is unable to support itself (not even nearly). It relies heavily on charity and some key, larger NGO support.

Last week, I heard from the founder and director, Fr. Marc Boisvert. In response to my request for updates, he informed me that they are so desperately in need of help. They always need help but for him to mention it specifically... that really means it's dire.

At some point I had fantasized about helping create a more substantial or sustainable source of funds for Espwa. Though that project is always at the back of my mind, at this point it seems more realistic to just spread the word that help is needed. Miraculously, before I even had the chance to voice the plea, a friend contacted me and wanted to know where to send his money - out of the blue, just like that. If there are others of you out there who want to help out, go to the online donation site. You can also read about more specific projects at Free the Kids.

Thank you for all those who have helped, will help and who simply pray for and support this orphanage. Good things happen there.

the travel Bildungsroman

Eat Pray Love and The Sex Lives of Cannibals have three things in common: they are books, they are topsellers and they are about travel. The two are not, however, both good. In an effort to see what folks are buying, reading and liking travel-log-wise, I read both.

Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love, does a fantastic job of exploring her emotional progress in various exotic settings. I began to drool while reading her descriptions of Neapolitan pizza and had fleeting fantasies about visiting Bali but overall learned very little about the people and places she encountered on her travels -- especially in India where she spends 99% of her time in an Ashram. Gilbert's true journey is not through the physical locations that create the setting for the novel but through her psyche. While the latter is a somewhat interesting as an exercise in introspection, it falls a bit short of satisfactory for the readers looking to read about exotic places and their inhabitants. One has the impression that one is reading the author's most intimate journal entries (especially during the encounters with her Brazillian paramour) -- so if you're into that, pick up the book, read and enjoy.

In The Sex Lives of Cannibals, Mr. J. Maarten Troost uses his odd-ball perspective, daily mishaps and victories to create an interesting picture of the folk of the nation of Kiribati (pronounced KEER-I-BAS, he will remind you several times). His sense of humor leaks through every page such that I often found myself laughing out loud (in public) as I read. Thankfully, he saves any self-psychoanalysis about his behavior, decisions and love life from the pages of his novel. The reader is therefore able to enjoy his adventures and get a sense for what it might be like to actually live in an isolated, Pacific, nation. This novel is a travel bildungsroman: we learn in the end that the shiftless youth has, in fact, grown into a man but he allows the reader to infer this through action -- there is little telling and much showing. And, too, we get a sense of who the I-Kiribati (kind hosts to this young man during some years of maturation) really are.

After reading these works, I must conclude that Ms. Conlin and Mr. Zimmand, two teachers that shaped my writing through an insistence upon the use of active verbs rather than the passive voice, terse and pithy prose, and passages that "show" rather than "tell" (SORRY for this sentence), were absolutely correct! I also concluded that should this blog, my journal and daily emails ever coalesce to form a creative work suitable for publication and public consumption, it should be more Troostian than Gilbert-esque.

I do hope Troost writes again to reveal to readers more crazy things in this world that we may or may not ever have the chance to see ourselves. Good author.