From Rex (EWB-SF Pro)

hey everyone,
 
i figured it'd be moer fun to get an email from me while i'm in haitirather than when i get back. i apologize that this will be ascatter-brained email, as i'm in a rush to get to bed....tomorrow i'llbe getting up at 4:30 to do some solar stuff, then take off on a longhike starting at 5.
 
I've been in Haiti snice last saturday. I'm part of an 8 personEngineers w/o Borders team, 6 students and 2 "professionals" if youcount me as one :p The 6 students are from wisconsin. Tomrorow we'reall going to hike up to an old fort. its really far away with a lot ofelevation gain, hence leaving so early in teh morning.
 
The trip has been absolutely great. I can't say its not what i
expected, since i came here with very few expectations. Everyone hasbeen extremely nice to us. The people in the village of Bayonnais,where I am staying and where the church for which we are providingassistance is located, are all familiar with EWB and generallythankful for the work that's been done here, so i think they're extranice. The kids are especially fun and adorable. There'll be plenty ofphotos of them. I've learned a tiny smidgen of Creole, not nearly asmuch as i normally learn of a foreign language before travelling, butbefore i left i was focused on reading up as much as possible on allthe solar-related stuff i'd be doing while i was here. On that note,it's gone very well. I was nervous about working on a lot of equipmentthat I'd never seen before and this system is far more complicatedthan anything i've dealt with before (PV-diesel hybrid, w/batterybank, autotransformer, charge controllers). But I made the repairs anddid the maintenance fine, so that i'm happy about and have learned alot..
 
Today I went into the nearest large town with a couple of the otherEWB guys.Had there been real roads, it probably would have been 20 or30 minutes, but it took us about an hour and 15 or 20 minutes. Asyou've probably heard at some point, Haiti is the poorest country inteh western hemisphere and its definitely not hard to see evidence,along with reasons for why. In addition to its long history ofpolitical instability, last year brought 4 hurricanes to Haiti, thedamage of which I saw today in full effect. The photos will tell abetter story, but on our way back to Bayonnais, we stopped at a largelake that just formed last year, as a result of the hurricanes. Theyflooded a vast plain and one of the EWB guys, Kyle A, pointed out theairport/landing strip where he landed last time, now completelysubmerged.
 
Despite these catastrophes, and living conditions, the Haitians I seein Bayonnais seem better off than most of those ni the cities, but ihavent been around long enough to say for sure. there' little polutionhere, in water/air, and its surprisingly lush, the area having beenspared of the crippling deforestation that has ravaged most of therest of the country. As a result, the area essentially remains ajungle, which is not what I really expected. Mango trees, exotic birdsand insects, humidity, extremely intense rainstorms, basically whatone would expect of a tropical jungle, but not quite rainforest, asits not raining ALL the time.
 
My average day has consisted of the following;waking up relatively early, between 7and 8, but i cant really say asmost people dont do things by the clock around here. eat breakfastwith the rest of the EWB people, then I've either split up to do myown electrical thing (the other people have worked on civilengineering projects) or I've joined them to help out and learn a bitabout C.E. We are staying at the church's multipurpose building, whichhas a few dorm style rooms, 7 dudes in one room, and the sole femaleengineer with a room to herself. All meals are prepared for us andthey have all been delicious. I'd say its about 50/50, alternatnigbetween Haitian and American food. American food has either meantspaghetti (they make some really good spaghetii sauce!) or mac andcheese with hotdogs. Nothing fancy but its definitely more expensivefood than what they ar eused to cooking, so its very much appreciated,even if most of us would prefer to have more Haitian food. Afterregrouping for lunch, some people tend to pass out in the mid-dayheat/post-work stupor, taking a quick siesta while others read orgenearllyhang around .We then split up again, work for a few morehours then head to one of the rivers to clean up. The first coupledays we were bathing in the showers in the dorms, but when we realizedwe could bathe in the rivesr, we basically all abandonded that boringproposition in favor of the more pleasant river expereinces. we'regenerally watched by groups of fascinated children, but whataver...thewater is warm, despite what the WI kids say....I'm used to Sierrasnow-melt, so the water is very pleasant in my opinion. today, of allthings, i saw a crab hiding under a rock while i was rinsing off inthe river. i pointed it out to a kid, who quickly ran over and grabbedit. you'll see in the photo that it was pretty big. i just cant forthe life of me figure out how the hell a crab found its way to afreshwater river in an inland valley of haiti. after the kids made abig scene of the discovery, the lucky finder kept his loot, runningoff to most likely give it to his parents for dinner.  ooo! and on myway over to the river i had 2 mangos, as they are quite a mess to eatso i figured why not get extra sticky and gross since i was about torinse off....mango trees are everywhere and you can constantly findpeople eating them. They are absolutely delicious, and the one i hadtoday is definitely hte best i've had. its a shame the villagers haveno means of canning or preserving teh mangos, as they would haveplentiful source of income.
 
well i have to hed back to teh solar shack and continue some finaltroubleshooting before heading to sleep...i hope you enjoy the emailand are looking forwad to a huge picasa photo album :)
 
take care everyone!
 
x,rex