Christmas time?

So, as I am sure many of you can relate, it is really hard to believe it is almost Christmas time. This time of year always seems to creep up, but for me, this year it has happened in a very different way. First of all, this is the first time that I have been in a tropical place during the winter months. The weather here is beautiful…in the upper 70s every day. Therefore, it is weird to hear that we got snow at home or see pictures of all of you in sweaters, jackets and all bundled up for the winter .

However, what is also missing is the hustle and bustle of the holiday season at home, especially the lack of commercialism here. There are no Christmas trees, no Christmas decorations, no advertisements or sales, no talk about Santa Clause coming and no discussion about what gifts people are getting for others. I asked what Christmas is like in Haiti and everyone says, it is mostly about going to church and then eating a nice meal with your family, maybe with some extra items they can’t usually afford. I actually find this environment so refreshing.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas time at home, but I don’t love the added pressure of all the things that are supposed to be done at Christmas time from writing Christmas cards, to buying people gifts, to baking Christmas cookies, etc. I dislike how far away from the true meaning of Christmas this time of year has become in the states.

I have been finishing up a needs assessment conducted in the rural areas of the Leogane commune where households were asked what the biggest needs in their communities for women and children were. For women, the top responses were work, food, a house, education/literacy, hospital/health center and toilets. For children, it was school, food, health, hospital/health center, and clothes/shoes. For the children, a few people did mention the need for play, toys and camps, but only a handful of households identified these things as need. It reminds me how much the basic needs of people here are not met. They don’t have the luxury of thinking of the things they want because there are so many things that they need.

As we approach this holiday season, please take the time to remember the true meaning of this holiday season and think about how lucky we are in so many ways – myself included. I am so grateful for the many special people in my life, both in the states and in Haiti. I am so grateful to have been brought up in a home where more than just my needs were met, where I had the luxury of achieving an amazing education, where I grew up thinking that I could be anything I wanted to be and had the opportunities to achieve them. All of these things lead me to be able to live in Haiti. I am also so lucky to be able to come home for the holidays to spend time with the many friends and family members who have provided for me and supported me in all of my endeavors. Thank you all for being so wonderful!

Vacation

Life has been more than stressful over the past few months. CNP has undergone severe cutbacks due to a financial crisis. They scaled up rapidly post-earthquake, were forced to compete with the other larger NGOs that are now in Leogane, and were reliant on subgrant money from Save the Children to fund many of their programs. Now, they have learned they will not get any funding (compared to the $1 million they received post-quake) from Save the Children in 2011; therefore, they have to scale back rapidly in order to stay afloat. As a result, they made major cuts, both in programs and in employees, including myself. They terminated my contract early. Luckily for me, I was able to go full time for the month of December with the other organization I work for. However, the not knowing what was going to happen and the stress of seeing employees being cut back, etc. on top of dealing with the poor way it was all handled on the ground, was all very stressful. I ended up getting sick and getting shingles, so it was definitely time for a break.

My friend, Elisa, learned that her contract would not be renewed after November, so we decided to take some of our vacation days and travel in Haiti together before she returned home to Italy. We ended up going to the Southwestern part of Haiti, where the beaches were supposed to be beautiful. Let me just say, we were not disappointed.

We began our trip in Port Salut. All of the hotels around were very expensive for Haiti (at least $120 a night), so we decided to stay in a little hostel we found. It ended up being a perfect little place to stay. It was a nice change of pace to not have electricity all the time, to take bucket showers, etc.

Elisa inside our hostel

The view from upstairs

Our room

I fell in love with Port Salut! It was such a cute, quiet, clean city to live. The beach even had a sidewalk that was donated by the Taiwan government. It was refreshing to get away from the NGO infested beaches near Leogane. There were times where we were the only two people on the beach. We ended up spending 4 days there. We went to bed super early, I went for runs on the beach, read two books, watched the sunsets and best of all, we had no internet or computers with us, so we couldn’t do work at all. One of my favorite parts was the amazing dinners we had each night - grilled lobster. It was by far the best $10 dinner I had ever had!

Port Salut

Our nightly lobster dinner

The town of Port Salut

We ended up making some friends while we were there and took a day trip to Les Cayes and then to a waterfall. I found Les Cayes to also be a busy, but clean city without trash everywhere. Then, we left to find the waterfall. After driving for several hours through some very rocky roads in the mountains, we finally arrived at the waterfall. We had to find someone to open the gate and walked down to the waterfall. It was amazingly beautiful! I couldn’t help but go for a swim. The water was freezing, but it was totally worth it. I am so glad we were able to go. It was quite the hidden treasure!

Saut Mathurine

After leaving Port Salut, we went to the island off of Les Cayes called Ile-a-Vache for a night. We ended up taking a taxi boat over with a bunch of Haitians and an entire boat full of wooden boards. It was quite comical. There are two resorts on the islands and we stayed at one, Abaka Bay. As we pulled up, we were met on the dock with a drink. We could only afford to stay for one night and it turned out that Elisa and I were the only two people staying there. The place was built by a Haitian man and his wife who had lived in the states and returned to Haiti after years of working. It was amazingly done! We definitely got spoiled from the nice rooms to the amazing food to the hot shower. It felt like we were on our own private island. However, I felt guilty about being waited on hand and foot. Sadly, the time to leave came entirely too quickly. The weather was perfect on our whole trip and I definitely didn’t want to return to Leogane after such a relaxing 5 days.

Elisa and me at lunch

Our view from lunch

Our room

The view from our balcony

The dining room

Sunset at Abaka Bay

Elisa and me on the pier

I don’t think I realized how much I needed that vacation. Not only did I sleep for like 12 hours every night, but I also slept most of the day on the beach - I hadn’t realize how exhausted I was. With everything that had been going on combined with working for two organizations (where I clearly tried to work full time for both), I had done a horrible job at forcing myself to stop working. It was also so nice to be in a more laid back environment and to get away from what has become of Leogane. I don’t think I heard a single “hey you” or “blan” during my entire time there. It was a reminder of how beautiful Haiti is and what great potential it has. I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to travel and see other parts of the beautiful country that Haiti is.

Life in Léogâne

I realize that none of you can fully understand what it is about Léogâne that makes it so special to me, but I thought I would try my best to describe the rich history, culture and amazing people that I come in contact with every day.

Léogâne is a coastal town located about 20 miles outside of the capital city, Port-au-Prince. It is the center of an agricultural region with its mainstays of economy including fishery, growing sugarcane, fruit and other crops.

Léogâne was formerly known as Yaguana and is the birthplace of the Taíno queen Anacaona. The Tainos inhabited Haiti long before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492. Anacoana ruled the province in which Léogâne was located and it was the last holdout during the Spanish conquest of the island of Hispanola. After France gained control of Haiti in 1697, they built up the city of Léogâne and it became the administrative center of the French colony, Saint-Domingue. Léogâne was later destroyed in 1770 by an earthquake and rebuilt. In 1803, during Haiti’s fight for independence, one of the Haitian rebels, Jean-Jacques Dessalines ordered the city be burned to prevent it from falling into French hands.

When asked why people like Léogâne, they say they like it because it is not so busy and crowded like Port-au-Prince. It is a safe place where people look out and help each other and there is a sense of community here. Other favorite things about Léogâne include that it is close to the beach and centrally located between Port-au-Prince and Jacmel (a city in the Southeast with beautiful beaches). Everyone agrees that it is a good place to raise a family (it is more like a suburb).

Another unique aspect of Léogâne is that it is the center for Rara - a music festival during the week of Easter. People parade through the streets, playing an assortment of instruments made of repurposed objects and metal. Today, a lot of brass instruments from konpa bands are incorporated. The bands march through the town, creating the tempo from the stomping of their feet. (To listen to some songs and for more information on rara - http://rara.wesleyan.edu/music/analysis.php)

This unique blend of history and culture has cultivated amazing people who are determined and innovative. It is the Haitian people that keep me inspired every day. Despite the struggles of daily life here, the people are kind, generous, patient and resourceful. It is the kind acts of people that have no reason to be helping me, that motivate me and keep me grounded in what I am doing here. Of course some people yell out to me “blan”, white person, tell me how hungry they are, and ask me to give them money, some of whom really need it and others who don’t. However, there are also plenty of other amazing people who go out of their way to help foreigners such as myself and ask for nothing in return. For example, I met a woman in the market who took me around to find each of the things I needed (and this is not an easy place to navigate) and when I offered to buy her something for helping me, she declined. I am fortunate to have so many people looking after me and trying to take care of me from my former colleagues at the UND Filariasis Program to my friend, Kara’s husband, Guesly and his friends. It is not the place, but the people here that make Léogâne so amazing.

Me with some of Guesly's family

As for what my life is like here, it consists of working…a lot. I find it difficult to live and work in the same house with everyone. While I love the people I work and live with, it is just hard to not have time to myself. I also have a hard time making myself stop working and relax which is exacerbated by the lack of separation between work and living. I spend most of my days inside behind a computer which is definitely not ideal, but if that is where I am needed, I am happy to do it.

One of my favorite parts of my day is going on a run. If I don’t go on a run, there are some days where I don’t leave the house. Running is my little piece of freedom, the time I get to go out and enjoy Léogâne. Now, I no longer hear so many “Hey you!” as I run past, but instead I hear “Britt-a-nee”. Three of my favorite little kids (Marjory, Lovna and Stephenson) will chant my name as soon as they see me coming. I always stop and give them a hug and talk with them. Just seeing them, makes my day and makes my frustrations disappear.

Lovna

The big events of the week include Tuesday and Saturday night pratique (Latin dancing night) at Joe’s. From 7pm – 10pm, we go and practice dancing with everyone. This is usually quite an event that everyone gets dressed up for and is a special time to put everything else aside and just enjoy the music and dancing. Some of my friends have told me, that they don’t know how they could have gotten through life after the earthquake without dancing as an outlet.

On weekends, we try to get out of the house and go to the beach. It is nice to relax and enjoy the absolutely beautiful beaches that Haiti has. We are spoiled and have a cook during the week, but on weekends, we are on our own. As you all know, I love to cook! We improvise a lot to make things with what we can find here, but we eat everything for pizza to Indian food to enchiladas. The highlight of my time spent making food is using my Ice Cream/sorbet maker. So far we have made everything from chocolate sorbet to mango gelato to peanut butter ice cream with Reeses. I realize we are completely spoiled!

I do struggle with guilt knowing that I live in such a nice house, with electricity 24/7, and I have the pleasure of making food that I want to eat without worrying about how much it costs or when I will eat again. I also feel a bit isolated living here and disconnected from the community, so I am trying to find a homestay family to stay with. This way, I will be able to gain a better understanding of what their lives are like on a daily basis, be forced to practice Kreyol and gain a sense of connection here. I will keep you posted on when that works out. Léogâne truly is an amazing place and I know I am blessed to have the opportunity to be here and be surrounded by so many amazing individuals!

Cholera Outbreak

As most of you know, there has been a cholera outbreak here in Haiti with 4,700 cases and 330 fatalities thus far. The number of infected individuals is actually much higher because 90% of cases do not show symptoms, but still carry the disease. Cholera is a potentially fatal bacterial infection that causes severe diarrhea and dehydration. The spread of the disease is caused by ingesting contaminated food or drinking water which was contaminated by the feces of an infected person. Most cases can be treated by oral rehydration salts, but some people become severely dehydrated and require IV fluids. The problem is that after an incubation period of 5-7 days, it can become severe quickly with rapid loss of bodily fluids causing people to die from dehydration if they don’t get the proper treatment.

The source of the outbreak in Haiti is the Artibonite river, but it is unknown how the river was contaminated. This is a very unusual event for Haiti since cholera is not endemic here. Some reports have indicated that the source of the outbreak was a sewage pipe from the Nepalese MINUSTAH base which could make sense because cholera is endemic in Nepal, but nothing has been confirmed yet (although CDC confirmed the strain matches one found in Southeast Asia). Whatever the source may be, many have feared an outbreak such as this because after the earthquake, so many people have been forced to live in extremely close proximity without access to proper water and sanitation facilities which makes the spread of disease very easy.

While the earthquake has affected the potential spread of cholera, it did originate in an area that was not highly affected by the earthquake, but it did experience an increase in population size after the earthquake and could be a huge problem should it spread to the tent camps in Port-au-Prince. On the other hand, following the earthquake, many other organizations have come to Haiti and are here with supplies, the ability to map and coordinate. However, let’s be honest, the coordination is all relative.

For example, here in Leogane, I attended the health cluster meeting and a representative from MSPP (the Ministry of Health) was there. He sat in the front of the room off to the side. When asked to stand, he said maybe next time. Instead of taking charge, he sat as the various organizations fought over who was going to do what. Finally, they decided to split all the NGOs working in the area into two groups, one for treatment and one for prevention. However, several days later, we learned the treatment group was planning prevention education. Clearly the coordination was effective! In my opinion, a lot of it boils down to the inability to coordinate without leadership. For example, if MSPP can’t step up and lead, it becomes impossible for the NGOs to coordinate.

However, there are some good things about the cluster meetings. I have been attending the Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) meetings. We have been able to map out the sections of the commune where each of the different organizations work, what each is doing and what supplies we have. This will be extremely helpful if the outbreak spreads to Leogane. Right now, the emphasis is really on education and prevention. One of the biggest concerns is how to properly dispose of the dead bodies. People need to be educated on this and how to clean up after a family member has been infected. For example, people in Artibonite were washing the clothes of the sick and dead in the river, which can lead to further contamination of the river. The bottom line is that people need to receive prevention education and understand what is going on. Here in Leogane, MSF has taken the lead in being the treatment center for potential cases. Additionally, the field hospital that has been sitting vacant since it closed in August, was offered as a place of isolation for patients. Volunteers went into the field hospital to clean it out in case it needed to be used and the people living close by starting protesting and burning tires. They thought sick patients from Artibonite were going to be brought to Leogane and they didn’t want people bringing cholera here to Leogane.

I realize for me, there couldn’t be a better time to be working for an organization that deals with providing safe water to families. Treating water, washing hands, and other basic hygiene practices are some of the biggest needs at a time like this in order to prevent transmission. Gadyen Dlo was able to quickly mobilize training and get the messages out to our health workers. We trained all 152 community health workers on details about cholera, how it is transmitted, how to prevent it and how to make oral rehydration salts at home. The health workers will share the information in their communities. In addition, we equipped them with more chlorine to sell at the users homes in order to treat their water. CNP also held a training session with their new community nutrition workers and distributed systems (a 5-gallon bucket with a lid and spigot and a bottle of chlorine) to each of their employees.

Below is one of the monitrices (CNP's community nutrition workers) at the cholera training.

Pictured below is Nancy and Madam Jacque, two of our supervisors with Gadyen Dlo.

Amidst all of the cholera and emphasis on safe water, there is a shortage of aquatabs in country, which are an affordable, easy way to treat one’s water by dropping the tablet in and waiting for 30 minutes. Therefore, DINEPA (The Ministry for Water & Sanitation) has been promoting the use of other products such as chlorine. As it turns out, Gadyen Dlo is the only organization in Haiti that produces the sodium hypochlorite solution in country. Therefore, we were contacted by UNICEF to help out in Artibonite and have already delivered 710 5-gallon buckets with a lid and spigot, 710 240mL bottles with the dosing cap, 710 1-gallon jugs, and 235 gallons of chlorine to St. Marc. Tomorrow, we have another 470 gallons of chlorine being shipped to St. Marc. They are putting the systems in 353 schools in St. Marc.

It was totally crazy getting all of this together and we had to do it in less than a 24 hour turnaround time. Needless to say, we were running around like crazy trying to figure out all of the logistics and where we could make all of the chlorine, etc. We ended up rigging up something here at the house using the generator here It was quite a hectic few days, but totally worth it. All of our staff here at Gadyen Dlo have been working incredibly hard and I am very proud at what we have been able to accomplish.

Pictured below is Yvens and Jean Marcel, two of our amazingly dedicated Gadyen Dlo staff members.


Here is the production site for our chlorine in the back of our house. Notice the nice covering our security guards put up for us.

Is your help helpful?

Learning to ask this question was one of the most valuable lessons I learned in public health school. While it seems like a simple question, it is something that many organizations fail to do. So many organizations have good intentions and think that they know what communities need, but they fail to listen to the community and understand if what they want to do for the community is really helpful and needed. I have experienced this to a whole new level here in Haiti. Prior to the earthquake, there was never a problem with not having enough people wanting to help or a lack of organizations working in Haiti. Now, there are even more organizations that are here trying to help, but is what they are doing helpful?

This is something that I struggle with and is a common issue in development work. So much time, energy, and money is put into organizations believing they are doing good work and helping people, but sometimes that isn’t the reality. There are some fairly recent news articles that I have read that highlight many of the problems facing Haiti, the role of NGOs and how helpful they truly are. This news article describes how the cost of rent has skyrocketed in parts of Port-au-Prince because there are now fewer standing structures, but now there are NGOs present who are willing to pay exorbitant prices to house their expat staff in what buildings are left standing (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/cb_haiti_earthquake_housing). This article describes the bleak outlook with no end in sight for the many Haitians still living in tents (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-regan/haitis-13-million-displac_b_765620.html). Why do an estimated 40% of tent camps not have access to clean water? Despite many NGOs supposedly empowering local people through the formation of camp committees that select recipients and distribute aid, less than a third of people living in camps are aware of the strategy or even the name of the committees. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-schuller/unstable-foundations-huma_b_749924.html). These are just a few of the many issues with organizations working in Haiti.

Here in Leogane, you see organizations everywhere and many of them are doing positive work, but at the same time, many of them have barely begun to implement programs on the ground. An enormous amount of money was donated following the earthquake, but the people are not seeing the changes on the ground. The majority of the donated money seems to have gone into setting up structures, getting an expat staff here and arranging for their accommodations. Every day, I see nice, new cars driving around with expats inside with a different NGO sticker placed on the outside, but I have no idea what they are doing. For example, on the left is what was supposed to be the World Food Program base, with what looks like materials to build houses that have been sitting there for months, with nothing being constructed. Apparently, they were for hurricane relief, but then they decided not to do that, so another organization is going to take them. For now, they sit. I find the disparity in the picture on the right ironic: materials to build houses on one side of the wall with no one organizing their use and then the tent camp behind the walls, where people live who have no home. Furthermore, there are many organizations here that live in these amazingly beautiful houses throughout town. Save the Children’s residence comes with satellite television and everything, but yet they don’t have enough money to fund all of their programs. I know that every organization is trying to do great work, but it is hard when you see a lack of progress and the lives of people are not improving here. I know that some Haitians appreciate our willingness to come to their country and help, but others get angry because where is their help? They don’t see it. What makes us think we know what is best for them?

There are many things I also struggle with in my work here such as living in such a nice house and having the comforts of home – a fan and AC at night, a cook to make my meals, someone to clean my room, but I try to keep myself grounded and truly believe in the work that I am doing and the organizations that I work for. Both organizations I work for employ a large number of Haitians and really follow their lead and rely on them to know how to get resources mobilized and in the hands of the people that need them.

I had a particularly hard weekend a while back when Courtney, Elisa and I decided to go to try out this amazingly beautiful beach that happens to be on the land that a French husband and wife own along with a restaurant. Don’t get me wrong, the beach was beautiful, one of the prettiest and cleanest beaches around, but as the day went on, I became disenchanted by the whole scene. There were so many blans who kept coming to the beach, eating the $30 meals at the restaurant and escaping the reality that is Haiti in order to live their lives the way they do at home. Why is it that we want to live our lives similar to the way we do in the states (or wherever we come from), but just in a developing country and think we are doing the population a wonderful service? Are we truly helping and do we really know what is best if we don’t take the time to understand what life is like here?

The owners of the French restaurant make so much money off of expats, but wouldn’t it be better to train Haitians how to make the food and run the business so that they can profit? The French couple could very easily do the same somewhere else in the world, but most Haitians don’t have that luxury. They cannot get visas to go elsewhere and don’t have the savings to invest in an initial start up business. Beyond all of that, I was enraged when the owner of the restaurant got mad at our Haitian driver for parking in the parking lot (We later found out that this is a common occurrence between the French man and Haitian drivers) and proceeded to yell at him, shove him and tell him he was a disgraceful Haitian and then told us an untrue story of what had happened. We immediately left, and our driver, who is about my age, started crying. I have never been so angry before and we all vowed to never return to that beach again.

However, there are some organizations whose work is actually helpful, especially the ones who have been here for a long time and will continue to stay long after the relief organizations have come and gone. Sadly, many of these organizations, usually smaller ones, are beginning to be run out by larger organizations that have enormous budgets. For example, the Children’s Nutrition Program (CNP) that I work for is having serious financial trouble. They have been working in Haiti since 2000. Prior to the earthquake, the organization was run by only 1 expat in Haiti and a Haitian staff of about 45 employees. Following the earthquake, they expanded rapidly to over 3 times its size pre-quake and could do so with subgrant money coming in from large organizations like Save the Children and some private donations. Initially, it made sense for these large organizations to partner with smaller organizations already at work in Haiti. CNP made sense because they already had the link to the community and ability to get supplies and medical care out through their existing systems, connections and employees. At the same time, CNP, who had never had a long term grant and relied on private donations, had to fight to compete with organizations that came to Haiti after the quake who paid employees more and even tried to take CNP’s employees. CNP grew and grew very quickly and stuck to what they knew how to do – nutrition work. However, the subgrant funding from Save the Children is now ending and so CNP has to drastically scale back because alone, they can’t maintain the growth. Therefore, the valuable services offered by CNP will be cut back and people like me, have had their positions eliminated. During this time, CNP has done a good job at trying to keep Haitian employees, but it is difficult to at a time like this. I am not worried for myself, but sad for the many children our programs served because where are they going to go now?

While many of this is heartbreaking and disappointing, it is the reality of life here. It is time for us to stop imposing on Haitians what we think should be done and time for us to stop and listen to them and for them to stand up and voice their opinions and be empowered to rebuild their country (http://leoganais.com/2010/10/leoganais-fed-up-with-ngo%E2%80%99-ideas-of-reconstruction/). They do need our help, but they must lead and we have to take the time to listen.

Meet the Fam

I wanted you all to meet the other expats that I live with here in Leogane, so you can put a face to the names I keep talking about.


First, meet the new CNP Country Director, Katherine Goulliart (we all call her Kat). She is a nurse midwife with years of experience here in Haiti. She worked at CNP as the maternal and newborn care coordinator before becoming the Country Director. She has a fascinating life story - from being a French Australian, to performing in the circus to living in refugee camps in Vietnam, there isn't much she has not done in her life. She has more energy than anyone I know. There isn't a day that goes by where we don't hear her laughing hysterically.


Next, meet my friend Kara Telesmanick. Kara has worked for CNP for over 3 years. She is the Program Manager and has devoted so much time and effort to CNP, and has done tremendous work, especially following the earthquake. Before coming to CNP she did Peace Corps and lived in Bangladesh and also worked in South Africa. Kara is a vegan who is obsessed with dogs like me (her two Haitian dogs are now living with her parents in the states). She is an amazing dancer and is rarely found sitting down on our nights out dancing because all of the guys want to dance with her. Kara is laid back and easy to talk to, but also is totally fun to have around. I am going to miss her so much when she leaves to go to Medical School in December!!!






Meet Guesly Pierre. I have known Guesly since I started coming to Haiti in the summer of 2008 when he and Kara taught me dance lessons. You can always find Guesly singing and laughing. He just completed law school here in Haiti before the earthquake and has worked for Save the Children leading relief efforts after the earthquake.






Kara and Guesly are now married! They were married in June of this year here in Leogane. They are amazing together and it is so great to have them here in the house.





Courtney Latta is a graduate of Elon who has worked for CNP for a year and a half. She is amazing and volunteered her time working as an intern before the earthquake and came back the earthquake to complete her internship. As of October 1st, she is officially an employee of CNP! She conducted all of the training sessions for the new monitrices (community nutrition workers) this summer and is going to be writing a training manual for our PD Hearth program.






There is never a dull moment with Courtney around. She provides constant entertainment and is always telling the most ridiculous stories. She has had more near death experiences than anyone else I know . She has been struck by lightning, almost drowned when she went into SVT while playing drowning victim in her lifeguarding class, and had a showdown with a King Cobra in Zambia. We never know what will come out of her mouth next, especially when she starts a story, "This one time when I...."

Courtney also loves to laugh and she may or may not snort when she laughs. We are working on breaking her Haiti record of 8 snorts in a row....







I should also mention that Courtney is a very kind, understanding, and generous person. Courtney is also my roommate and has a lot of patience to be able to put up with me.


Next, meet my other boss, Michael Ritter. Michael and I both went to Emory for our MPH. He has been working here in Haiti for 2 1/2 years with household point of use water treatment programs. Gadyen Dlo was originally started by CNP, but Michael took over the program following the earthquake and has expanded it tremendously. Michael speaks amazing Kreyol and his Haitian staff loves working for him. He is always coming up with amazing and innovative ideas and is an extremely hard worker.
















Michael is also super laid back and has a lot of patience -. I don't know how he manages to live in this house of mostly girls. He is totally a trooper (but I think he secretly enjoys being surrounded by us girls, even when we give him a really hard time....).


Elisa Marino is the Program Coordinator. She came to Haiti as a volunteer and was able to take over for the former CNP employee who was running the Stabilization Center. Elisa is a registered dietitian and has an MPH. She is meticulously organized and does a fabulous job running the Stabilization Center. We are all hoping that she will stay and take over Kara's position when Kara has to leave us in December.






Elisa is from the Southern part of Italy. She and I both love to cook, but Elisa is amazing at making bread. While it is a bit challenging with the humidity here, she has made us everything from pizza dough to olive bread to focaccia bread and totally spoils us. Elisa and I are both very strong-willed, outspoken, opinionated people, but we get along great and enjoy spending time together. Elisa is also a great friend who is a wonderful listener and I know there isn't anything she wouldn't do for us. She is always there when we need her.










Last but not least, meet Pierre Chackal (pictured on the far right). He just joined the CNP team a few weeks ago as our much needed Finance and Operations Manager. He came to us from Montreal. He and Kat previously worked together in Haiti. We are happy to have him on the team.

For people who live and work in the same house, we all get along surprisingly well. I am very lucky to be surrounded by so many unique and amazing people!!! They all definitely make my time here even more special!