by Brian Jensen, Haiti Outreach Intern Since February, 2014
- Request to Pignon store owners: open a coffee shop, if you build it I will come. There are 2-3 places that I know in town that do coffee from 7-9am. I always seem to show up after it’s finished. It’s boiled in a few gallon pot over a charcoal stove. I have learned not to ask because last time it came as a semi-solid form the consistency of eggs. And I hate eggs.
- I guess that part of my motorcycle that I took off the other day had a purpose: prevent mud from constantly splashing your legs.
- Took my car to the wash today, and by car I mean motorcycle and by “to the wash” I mean across a river. Yes, decided to ford the river, and did not lose any meat or bullets. I also did not get dysentery. Thank you Oregon Trail for throwing off my perception of fording rivers.
- Oi, how can one eat this much! Contrary to my preconceptions, Haitian meal sizes are gigantic. And the size of meals that they feed Blancs is even bigger! With every meal I balance the double edged knife of over-eating and insulting the cook. Which is probably why I pay and scram before they can see I didn’t finish.
- Rum, while infrequently drunk by local Haitians, sustains the local economy. Pignon supplies the sugarcane and 1st fermentation for its production. This is the cash crop of the area. It finds its way back to Pignon in the form of Barbancourt, Bakara and several smaller brands of rum, to be drunk by the Blancs and the rich. Everyone wins – farmers and farm hands have a descent paying career, foreigners get a taste of Haiti and of high quality rum, and the manufacturers in Port-au-Prince make a killing. These are the most secure systems here, from which the poor benefit a little, the rich receive a service, and a few Haitians make a killing.
- Clicked 114,000 houses in the Central Department from a satellite image. I wonder to myself if the US government is doing this too?
- Little known fact: Haiti’s Central Department has 114,726 houses in it. Even lesser known fact: I have seen all of their rooftops and placed tiny virtual dots on them. And they don’t even know it! Watch out Rest-of-Haiti, your roofs are next!
- A week of revelations. This water survey is really helping us look at the bigger picture and focus on the areas of most need. Here’s to taking the time and resources to make our work more effective!
