T-shirts for ecotour guides and teachers

I designed a t-shirt for the ecotour guide I teach in Haiti, both to help him brand himself so others can see how they can profit from the environment, and so he doesn’t get lost to his customers in the sea of people at the market. I’d like to give a shirt to the leader of each place I teach this summer, as a reminder that while the environment may be messed up, there are still beautiful birds and plants there, and *bats! The logo on the right with the bird says Birds across the top, and Ecotour Haiti. The one with the bats says Enjoy Haiti, Ecotour! (or literally, ecologically tour).

If you would like to help with this endeavor, you could send me $20 per shirt, or buy them yourselves and have them shipped to me. I didn’t mark up the prices at cafepress, since I don’t want to make money off of the shirts (I’d rather you help me directly!). And I want them to be affordable to whomever wants one. http://www.cafepress.com/zwazoyo

* Bats are the only native mammal I’ve seen there. There are a couple other native mammals in the national forests.

Life cycles and food chains nan Kreyol

This summer I return to Caiman to teach more ecology! I am expanding beyond birds to teach about other animals, so I put together wordless visual aids that depict life cycles of fish, bats, dragonflies, frogs, etc. Thanks to my friends Diana & Mark who donated their laminator (plus a huge financial donation), I am able to laminate them and make sets for other people in Haiti. The idea is that participants (mainly little kids) can put each life cycle in order, then create food chains from all the animals. On the back of each I’ll put a label with speaking points in Kreyol (then if I get something wrong, I can change it). I’ll also print out each life cycle as a laminated strip (like a book marker) that I can pass out to the kids. Thanks to everyone who gave donations for this project! I wouldn't be able to do as much without your help.

Friend Kristie steered me in the right direction for words like juvenile, and adult. Please comment about what terms you hear in Haiti. And let me know if you would like to use the visual aids.

Adult animal – 'Yon bet ki majè' for adult animal, or you could use more common terminology and say 'vye bet' or 'ansyen bet' (don't use granmoun).

Juvenile animal – Jenn, examples: 'yon jenn bourik' or ‘yon jenn bef.’

Chick of a bird – Pousen is a good word for young of chickens only. You can use 'ti poul' too. For other young of birds in general use 'ti bet' if you want to emphasize that it is the young of a particular species say 'pitit tako' or 'pitit grigri.'

Baby bats (which are pups in English) – Baby bats would just be 'ti chochol' or again 'pitit chochol' to emphasize that it is the offspring of the bats.

Trees – If you talk about trees in general use 'pyebwa yo.' For general fruit trees say 'pye fwi yo.' For a particular type of tree say 'pye mango' or 'pye zoranj.' The word for wood is 'bwa.'

Team information

Here is a one-blog stop for information that teams need about visiting UCI in Haiti.

The missionaries: Kristie is a nurse & agriculture specialist, JeanJean a pastor.

Generic itinerary

What to pack

Food

Creole dictionaries & audio to download (also sold at KU union)

Books about Haiti

See Haitian American Friendship Foundation for more visitor info.

In Haiti we fly on MAF - It’s a 20 minute flight from the airport in Port Au Prince to the airstrip in Pignon where the Mompremiers will pick us up in their truck, and drive us the 8 miles to their house. The plane holds 5 passengers, so we’ll charter 2 flights if there’s more than 5 of us.

Hospital – there’s one in Pignon – 8 miles away, but around 30 minutes by truck on bumpy road.

Teaching venues:

Schools in Bohoc and Caiman

UCI school - built after the earthquake

UCI church and worship center

Nutrition centers – where kids are fed and taught Bible stories, etc. Video

Plumbing & electricity:

+++2 outdoor pit toilets like at state parks, and 2 newly installed flush toilets & sinks connected to the dorm. Since the Mompremiers rely on water being pumped up from a river and seem to not know when the pump will be turned on, I chose to use the pit toilets (and after the quake they asked people to not use the flush toilets so they can save water). Don’t drink or brush teeth from the sink water! Use filtered water from the house.

+++3 showers which use water caught in giant barrels – the water is cold until the afternoon sun heats it up!

+++ Solar electricity when sun is out and shining. They turn on the generator at night so teams have electricity in the dorm. They have internet in their house so we can let people know we’re ok. It gets dark around 6p so the day ends early.

The gate to their property is locked at night, and there’s a night guard (& three dogs). In the dorm we lock ourselves in at night (and the doors rattle reaaallly loud if you need to get up in the night to use the bathroom.).

Immunizations

**Check with your County Health Dept or Doctor, these are only my opinions, what I was told, or and what I found on-line as of 15-Feb-2011**

CDC site for Haiti - tells you what vaccinations you need. (I don't think you need the rabies unless you're working with animals. Don't pet any dogs unless they are missionary pets that you're told are ok to pet. Haitian dogs are more for guarding than for pets.)

Hepatitis A&B - I was told that if you received the TwinRix AB 3-series shots you only need them once in your life.

Typhoid - The live culture (4 pills you have to refrigerate) gives you 5 years of protection. The shot version protects you for fewer years. See CDC typhoid page for caveats.

Malaria - The malaria protozoan in Haiti is not resistant to the older medicine Chloroquine, so get that. You have to take the pills once a week, 1 - 2 weeks before you go, while you are in Haiti, and for 4 weeks after you return. Pharmacies in my town don't always have them in stock, so plan early so they can order the pills.

Tetanus - You should have this anyway! Get a booster every 10 years.

Earthquake recovery updates

Here are updates and links to earthquake impacts and recovery in Haiti. The Mompremiers are pouring the roof on a school they built this summer! Kristie emailed me and reflected that when I was there in January, they had no idea they’d be building a school. They also have a water pump, and a volleyball and basketball court, and have 2 families living with them. I have tentative plans to go down next spring for a week or two to work with their youth group.

The Saturday July 31, 2010 posting on this blog by veterinarian Kelly talks about the tent cities in the capital. Kelly and I talked tentatively about me coming down this fall to help with litter cleanup and manure composting projects she wants to do with youth camps. I’d like to teach the basic science behind these activities. If anyone knows about the trash system in Haiti please let me know! My friend Rhoda who taught me Kreyol this past year moved to Haiti and worked with Kelly’s group CVM for a week before landing a job with Samaritan’s Purse. This is SP’s first time in Haiti.

Here’s an excerpt from Kelley’s blog;

It is raining very hard every afternoon. Ticant's wife just called and asked if they could have another tarp as the rain is pouring in their "tent". The strong sun here makes the tarps and even the tents wear out VERY quickly. There are some of the tarps that are heavier and holding up better but the blue ones like we buy to cover something in the States don't last long at all. It is very hard...

At the camps you have to pay to use the toilet - just imagine if you had diarrhea. The reason for paying is that way the camp committees can pay someone to keep them clean. It's only like 3 goudes but still when you have no job...This is the reality of life in the camps and it sucks! I think though that now some of those who have houses will start to go back. I have heard though that some people are living in the camps who have houses and then are renting their houses to others to make money. I guess I can't blame them. There aren't many free handouts anymore but just being in the mud and so close to so many makes life difficult.