Already mid-March

It is amazing how time is passing by since I started this new job in Port-au-Prince. Meetings after meetings, reports after reports, the day is just flying. Working 7 days a week, makes me loose the sense of time; is it Friday, Monday or even Wednesday...a single day off per week would at least break this hypnotic routine. On March 19th it will be 7 months already since we arrived in Haiti, just incredible.
Anyway, I like what I'm doing and I believe that is the most important.
But I have a certain work ethic and it is not always easy to have expectations on the way the work should be done, especially here; Haitian people, like many other people who live on an sunny island don't have the same approach on a workload. There is in the air, in their attitude a kind of "nonchalance" on which stress slips on. Whatever is not achieved today will be done (maybe) tomorrow. But for us, programmed the way we are to deliver on time, it is frustrating to have to wait on something that could be done in hours instead of days or sometimes even weeks. On the other hand, when I think about it, I think we should copy them a little. After all, we work so hard to meet the deadlines and then what...other deadlines? We are running all our life after deadlines until we reach retirement but so tired physically and mentally at the end that we barely can enjoy any of it. Definitely something to keep in mind to alleviate the level of stress we are creating ourselves in our daily "developed countries" life.

Since I'm in Port-Au-Prince, I don't have much interaction with the local population but with the recent change of time, we can enjoy an extra hour of sunlight which allows me to get back to running. A 30 minutes run every night allows me to meet people in the neighborhood and salute them in which they usually reply with a huge smile and a waving hand; and to date, not a single incident to report ;-)

MINUSTAH KOLERA satute

At the entrance of Port Salut a very controverted statute can be seen which depict a Haitian holding Haiti's flag with his foot on a blue helmet representing the UN. On the helmet MINUSTAH KOLERA can be read and under the helmet a mountain of skulls. This symbolic statute is a response to cholera epidemic started in 2010 which is still on-going nowadays. Some scientists said that the epidemic has the same strain found in Nepal; in the vicinity where the outbreak occurred, a Nepalese peacekeepers were stationed, therefore the MINUSTAH was directly pointed out. The UN is now being sued for the outbreak which killed over eight thousands people so far and sent hundreds of thousands in hospital. For the time being, let's hope the outbreak will be stopped before more people die from it.

Few more pictures

Few more pictures to show you the beauty of Haiti.
It would be nice for Hati to develop tourism but once tourism will flourish here, it will be very difficult to enjoy this island the way we do it today. Big hotels, waves of noisy tourists and vendors harassing us on the beach like in the Dominican Republic will probably take over the serenity of the place. Let's hope at least that sex tourism will be avoided with strict laws; unfortunately poverty often leads to exploitation of all kind.

Vacation time in Haiti

As I say in the previous post, it is a shame that the security in Haiti is so unstable otherwise they could develop tourism on most of the island. Beautiful beaches, nice people to meet and good local food such as fresh fish, lobster, delicious fruits and vegetables. But Haiti has also mountains which would offer very nice trek opportunities for those like me who prefer the mountain to the sea.
Now, let's talk about my first few days of vacation in Haiti.
A morning walk along the beach in Port Salut (at 7 am), allowed me to meet some fishermen coming back from fishing on board of their hand made boats with some of their catches. They were happy to show me what they got and even told me to take pictures which is quite unusual for Haitian. Life here is fairly relax and people seem to live at the rhythm of the sea, one wave at the time. The sand is golden, the sea is turquoise and the palm trees are omnipresent, the perfect background for an exotic picture album from paradise.
After my little walk, I went to a French restaurant for breakfast. This place is right on the beach and the food is good. Veggie omelette, fresh fruits, nice dark coffee and freshly squeezed orange juice was my choice of menu for this morning. This nice meal and the early hour I got up to come here made me a little tired so I went to the beach under a huge tree and had a very pleasant nap for over an hour. Few locals are around listening "Kompa" music which is Haitian native music in Creole. Kompa music on one side and the sound of the waves on the other was the perfect way to deeply relax. I wish I could share that with my family other than pictures and stories but maybe one day when Haiti will be secure enough, we will be able to come together here and I'll be able to show them the beauty of this island and its people.
Voilà, that's all for now, my lobster has arrived and I really don't like to eat cold so bye for now.
Warm regards to all from Haiti chérie.

Spiny lobster on the beach

Fisherman just returning with his catch

New functions in the mission

After a busy month of January, I come to the end of it on vacation. I use these days off to visit some of my contingent mates at Les Cayes (South of Haiti). I took the opportunity to also visit Port Salut, a village right on the beach located approximately at 35 kms from Les Cayes).

Before I get to the vacation part I should quickly explain what my new functions are within the mission.
The MINUSTAH mission is scheduled to end up in 2016. To say that the UN will get out of the country completely would be a little presumptuous but at least the mission the way we know it know will end.
Since 2012 until 2016, the mission has a plan to fully professionalize the Haitian National Police (HNP) but to reach that goal a rather substantial amount of money is required from all donor countries such as Canada, USA, France to only name the largest contributing countries in Haiti. That's where I come into play. My role is to create the bridge between the HNP and all the contributing countries (11 so far) and to ensure these countries are still motivated to continue to help Haiti and specifically the HNP in order to secure the country and allow its development. Instability is the root of the problem here and the reasons why tourism is almost inexistent and why no companies are willing to invest here.
It's a very demanding job but I really like it; I feel that I'm contributing to the solution of the problem. Until my last day on the job, I was working on a big meeting (first of its kind in this mission) which will reunite the HNP and all contributing countries to exchange on what has been accomplished so far, what needs to be done still and try to get everyone committed to the realization on the plan including the Haitian government. It is nice to have the rest of the world involved to try to help Haiti, but Haiti has also the duty to show that she is actively participating into the solution. Hopefully, the outcome of the meeting will be positive and the realization of the plan will go on as scheduled. That will be discussed in an other post.

Happy New Year 2014

A quick little message to wish you all a wonderful new year 2014.
May this year be a source of inspiration to us all.
May this year be the year when we'll look inside ourselves and find the wisdom.
The wisdom to look at the world with the eyes of a child and to remember to appreciate these beautiful little moments that make life so special.

Best wishes to all.

Joyeux Noël

Merry Christmas to all.

It is interesting to see Christmas lights on some of the balconies or in some bushes surrounding houses with 25*C in the shade. I'm not use to it but I have to admit that I appreciate a little break from the Canadian winter. I spent Christmas eve with a Norwegian, an American and a Canadian sitting outside only wearing a t-shirt ;-) We had a nice little dinner but we didn't party too long. Working 7 days a week, we have to adopt a fairly sober living style in order to keep up with the pace or we get burn quickly.

Few pictures from the helico on my way back to PAP (Port-Au-Prince)

Back to work

After a good break home, here I am again.
It was nice to spend time with the family, however it was starting to be too cold for me. The Haitian weather is definitely much better in the winter time. I'll get a warm Christmas for a change ;-)
I returned to Haiti on the 26th of November and was expected to go to PAP (Port-Au-Prince) on the 29th, however, due to protest by the population, the UN Security issued a restriction of movement to all personnel which means that I could not take off. Same story occurred again on the 02nd of December but I finally made it on the 06th. Again, unpacking everything and starting from scratch. That certainly keeps me busy and away from what I should be doing. I hardly believe that almost 4 months went by already (on the 19th) but I feel I didn't accomplished much yet.
I started my new job 2 days ago so I'll need few weeks to get really into it and to be able to actively participate. I am located to one of the bases in PAP and for security reasons we are strongly encourage to stay within our compound after work. That is a drastic change from what I used to live in the region. It will basically be home to base and base to home 7 days a week. At least the job seems to be interesting so that's a plus. I'll miss the contact with the locals and the local police members but if I can participate to Haiti reconstruction and stabilization through my work I'll be happy with that.
My role will be to monitor quick projects that are on-going or completed and report to the donor countries how their monies were spent in order to get more participation from these donors in the future. I'll have to liaise on a regular basis with several embassies from different countries and have a meting time to time with the biggest players and show them concretely what was accomplished. Some much money has been spent for such a long time in Haiti, donors (either governments or enterprises) from all around the globe want to see hard evidences that the Haitian cause is not just a lost cause. And I agree with that, that should have been implemented long ago.
Anyway, in my next post I'll publish few pictures taken while on the helicopter flying over the Haitian mountains on my way to PAP.

Transfer to PAP (Port-Au-Prince)

I just found out at the end of last week that I am re-deployed to Port-Au-Prince. I didn't ask for it and it came like a cold shower. I was just getting accustomed to Ouanaminthe and got involved in several projects with schools and an orphanage and now I have to drop it all and go to work in PAP. Most of the people who are deployed in a region want to go back to PAP but personally I was really happy here and for an unknown reason I have to leave. That sucks. Anyway, the mission must go on, even in the pollution, the noise and probably in an office writing report of some sort.
My 3 weeks off to Canada will give me a nice break but also the opportunity to go back to the mission refreshed with a positive attitude despite the situation.
I'll publish more news after I arrive to my new posting in PAP.