People United for a New Haiti

So, after the scary bus ride, we settled into our hotel and began to prepare for the weekend conference. Surprising to us, after witnessing the lack of organization or planning in Haiti, more than 200 people arrived from across the world for the conference. Jenna and I were assigned the jobs of having the people register as they arrive and receive name tags and folders for the conference. The speakers looked very prestigious, seated on stage in suits and ties. The English speaking people sat in the back with our translator. Unfortunately, the translator wasn't really able to understand the complexity of the speakers' words, and with his limited English, transform the true meaning of the speeches into relevant English. So the message was lost to us, and we were quickly bored. So instead, Jenna and I decided to enjoy our few days at the beach and swim and sunbathe to our hearts content. Each day, a bus of US Army came to the hotel and paid for a day pass to enjoy the luxurious beach and sparkling waters. We spoke with most and they expressed their surprise and elation and seeing other white people. They seemed like misfits in this country...when asked what exactly they were doing here, they answered "playing cards". It's an interesting notion to me that America would spend all this money to have so many US soldiers just sitting on base in Haiti playing cards all day. When I asked why they weren't undertaking projects to help rebuild the broken country, they simply stated that it was not their job. It seems amiss to me that America will send our soldiers over to "help" the people of Haiti in case their could be a military uprising, but we refuse to assist them in their state of deprivation, starvation, and homelessness.
The conference appeared to be a very good thing. Some important people spoke about the idea of "decentralizing" Haiti, of moving everyone out of the capital of Port-au-Prince, and rebuilding the country elsewhere. Some of this was explained to Jenna, who later passed on the knowledge to me. Port-au-Prince is built on a fault line, and the soil is such that it essentially melts when the earth shakes. This is not something that we can change, and even building earthquake-resistant houses would be futile under such circumstances. During the quake, only 30% of the fault line was shifted, thus there is another 70% of the land just waiting to break apart and reap further devastation upon the city. It is not a question of if, but when. If they re-build Port-au-Prince, the country is doomed. So the concept of 'decentralization' is the push to move the country out of that main city and begin re-building elsewhere. Of building up the existing, smaller cities, to accommodate the mass exodus out of Port-au-Prince. There was a big push for education, for committing our time to teach the youth and instruct them how to lift the country out of poverty. How change cannot come in a day, or a week, or a year. That it takes 2 generations of people to bring about change...
On the way back from the conference, we shared a bus with a new group of volunteers. They were from the US and Canada, architects, builders, financiers. All here to build a community of houses in Gonaives that could stand as an example of cheap, efficient way of how houses could be built across Haiti. Their houses would be built from cement, soil from the local river, and a melted plastic solution - all raw materials found in Haiti. They would pour this mixture into a form, let the house sit for 2 days, remove the form and there would be the house! It took 14 men to build, would employ Haitian people, would sleep a family of 10, and would only cost $8000 people per house! Oh yeah, and they are water resistant, and hurricane and earthquake proof. They are building a community of 50 houses on Pastor Michel's land to serve as an example of how successful these houses can be and then hopefully begin on rebuilding communities across Haiti. They were a very inspiring group of men, who had spent a lot of time in Haiti over the years, and were extremely knowledgeable of the needs and how to help.
We got back to the compound safely and let loose a sigh of relief....2 days left at the compound, a long trip to Cap Haitian, then we'd be off back to America. I could handle the tarantulas, mosquitoes, lack of food, no running water, and heat for 4 more days....