Haiti’s prime minister quits under pressure

 
 

 

               

       Anti-government protesters carry the body of a demonstrator who was shot to death during clashes with the National Police in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014. Haiti's capital has endured a growing number of violent demonstrations in which protesters are demanding long-delayed elections and the resignations of Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe as well as President Michel Martelly. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

 

Posted: Sunday, December 14, 2014 4:24 pm

Associated Press |

 

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti — Bowing to pressure, Haiti Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe resigned early Sunday, paving the way for a new government to lead the country into long overdue legislative and local elections.

 

Lamothe said he was making the sacrifice for Haiti because the country not only needs development but also political stability to advance.

 

The resignation came after yet another day of tense anti-government protests, which also spread to the cities of Cap-Haitien and Gonaives. In Port-au-Prince, protesters accused police of killing an unarmed demonstrator who had a bullet wound in his chest.

 

Police spokesman Gary Desrosiers said “no one died in (Saturday’s) protests. There were no great incidents.” He said an investigation has been launched into the death of the unidentified man, but it looked like people “put the body there.”

 

The protests took place despite President Michel Martelly announcing Friday that he would accept Lamothe’s offer to resign as part of a series of far-reaching “calming” measures recommended by a presidential commission to quell political tensions.

 

But with no timetable on Lamothe’s resignation, opponents believed Martelly would try to outsmart them and took to the streets Saturday demanding both his and Lamothe’s resignations. Opponents accuse Martelly of intentionally delaying the vote so that he could rule by decree on Jan. 12, making it easier for Lamothe to become a presidential contender in next year’s presidential elections.

 

Martelly is expected to name an interim prime minister from within his administration to address the country’s day-to-day affairs.

                                    

 

What is "Voluntourism"?

This new "controversial" term/issue has arisen recently and is being widely debated.
As a Haiti volunteer, what do you think?
Have you witnessed this phenomenon in Haiti?
Have you ever been a Voluntourist?
Do you feel this issue should be included in any sustainability discussion?
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#InstagrammingAfrica: The Narcissism of Global Voluntourism
The Society Pages
By Lauren Kascak & Sayantani DasGupta • June 19, 2014 • 2:00 PM

An article in The Onion mocks voluntourism, joking that a six-day visit to a rural African village can “completely change a woman’s Facebook profile picture.”  The article quotes “22-year-old Angela Fisher” who says:

    I don’t think my profile photo will ever be the same, not after the experience of taking such incredible pictures with my arms around those small African children’s shoulders.

It goes on to say that Fisher “has been encouraging every one of her friends to visit Africa, promising that it would change their Facebook profile photos as well.”

I was once Angela Fisher. But I’m not any more.

I HAVE PARTICIPATED IN not one but three separate, and increasingly disillusioning, international health brigades, short-term visits to developing countries that involve bringing health care to struggling populations.

Such trips—critically called voluntourism—are a booming business, even though they do very little advertising and charge people thousands of dollars to participate.

How do they attract so many paying volunteers?

Photography is a big part of the answer. Voluntourism organizations don’t have to advertise, because they can crowdsource. Photography—particularly the habit of taking and posting selfies with local children—is a central component of the voluntourism experience. Hashtags like #InstagrammingAfrica are popular with students on international health brigades, as are #medicalbrigades, #globalhealth, and of course the nostalgic-for-the-good-days hashtag #takemeback.

It was the photographs posted by other students that inspired me to go on my first overseas medical mission. When classmates uploaded the experience of themselves wearing scrubs beside adorable children in developing countries, I believed I was missing out on a pivotal pre-med experience. I took over 200 photos on my first international volunteer mission. I modeled those I had seen on Facebook and even pre-meditated photo opportunities to acquire the “perfect” image that would receive the most Likes.

Over time, I felt increasingly uncomfortable with the ethics of those photographs, and ultimately left my camera at home. Now, as an insider, I see three common types of photographs voluntourists share through social media: The Suffering Other, The Self-Directed Samaritan, and The Overseas Selfie.

THE SUFFERING OTHER

In a photograph taken by a fellow voluntourist in Ghana (not shown), a child stands isolated with her bare feet digging in the dirt. Her hands pull up her shirt to expose an umbilical hernia, distended belly, and a pair of too-big underwear. Her face is uncertain and her scalp shows evidence of dermatological pathology or a nutritional deficiency—maybe both. Behind her, only weeds grow.
Anthropologists Arthur and Joan Kleinman note that images of distant, suffering women and children suggest there are communities incapable of or uninterested in caring for its own people. These photographs justify colonialist, paternalistic attitudes and policies, suggesting that the individual in the photograph …

… must be protected, as well as represented, by others. The image of the subaltern conjures up an almost neocolonial ideology of failure, inadequacy, passivity, fatalism, and inevitability. Something must be done, and it must be done soon, but from outside the local setting. The authorization of action through an appeal for foreign aid, even foreign intervention, begins with an evocation of indigenous absence, an erasure of local voices and acts.

THE SELF-DIRECTED SAMARITAN

Here we have a smiling young white girl with a French braid, medical scrubs, and a well-intentioned smile. This young lady is the centerpiece of the photo; she is its protagonist. Her scrubs suggest that she is doing important work among those who are so poor, so vulnerable, and so Other.
The girl is me. And the photograph was taken on my first trip to Ghana during a 10-day medical brigade. I’m beaming in the photograph, half towering and half hovering over these children. I do not know their names, they do not know my name, but I directed a friend to capture this moment with my own camera. Why?
This photograph is less about doing actual work and more about retrospectively appearing to have had a positive impact overseas. Photographs like these represent the overseas experience in accordance with what writer Teju Cole calls the “White Savior Industrial Complex.”
Moreover, in directing, capturing, and performing in photos such as these, voluntourists prevent themselves from actually engaging with the others in the photo. In On Photography, Susan Sontag reminds us:

Photography has become almost as widely practiced an amusement as sex and dancing – which means that…it is mainly a social rite, a defense against anxiety, and a tool of power.

On these trips, we hide behind the lens, consuming the world around us with our powerful gazes and the clicking of camera shutters. When I directed this photo opportunity and starred in it, I used my privilege to capture a photograph that made me feel as though I was engaging with the community. Only now do I realize that what I was actually doing was making myself the hero/star in a story about “suffering Africa.”

THE OVERSEAS SELFIE

In his New York Times Op-Ed, that modern champion of the selfie James Franco wrote:

Selfies are avatars: Mini-Me’s that we send out to give others a sense of who we are…. In our age of social networking, the selfie is the new way to look someone right in the eye and say, “Hello, this is me.”

Although related to the Self-Directed Samaritan shot, there’s something extra-insidious about this type of super-close range photo. “Hello, this is me” takes on new meaning—there is only one subject in this photo, the white subject. Capturing this image and posting it on the Internet is to understand the Other not as a separate person who exists in the context of their own family or community. but rather as a prop, an extra, someone only intelligible in relation to the Western volunteer.

VOLUNTOURISM IS ULTIMATELY ABOUT the fulfillment of the volunteers themselves, not necessarily what they bring to the communities they visit. In fact, medical volunteerism often breaks down existing local health systems. In Ghana, I realized that local people weren’t purchasing health insurance, since they knew there would be free foreign health care and medications available every few months. This left them vulnerable in the intervening times, not to mention when the organization would leave the community.

In the end, the Africa we voluntourists photograph isn’t a real place at all. It is an imaginary geography whose landscapes are forged by colonialism, as well as a good deal of narcissism. I hope my fellow students think critically about what they are doing and why before they sign up for a short-term global volunteer experience. And if they do go, it is my hope that they might think with some degree of narrative humility about how to de-center themselves from the Western savior narrative. Most importantly, I hope they leave their iPhones at home.
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Lauren Kascak is a graduate of the Masters Program in Narrative Medicine at Columbia University, where Sayantani DasGupta is a faculty member. DasGupta is the editor of Stories of Illness and Healing and the author of The Demon Slayers and Other Stories and Her Own Medicine.                                         

India's campaign to build toilets is failing

Can Haiti learn from another country's experiences?
Do we take some things here in the U.S., our lives for granted?
Ineffective quick fixes?
Is clean water putting the cart before the horse?
____________________________________

BY KARTIKAY MEHROTRA
Bloomberg News
Saturday, September 6, 2014

Sunita's family in the north Indian village of Mukimpur were given their first toilet in February, one of millions being installed by the government to combat disease. She can't remember the last time anyone used it.

When nature calls, the 26-year-old single mother and her four children head toward the jungle next to their farm of red and pink roses, to a field of tall grass, flecked with petals, where the 7,000 people of her village go to defecate and exchange gossip.

Only dalits, the lowest Hindu caste, should be exposed to excrement in a closed space, "or city-dwellers who don't have space to go in the open," said Sunita, who uses one name. "Feces don't belong under the same roof as where we eat and sleep."

Sunita's view reveals one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's biggest challenges in combating the world's biggest sanitation problem, one that costs India 600,000 lives annually from diarrhea and exposes a third of the nation's women to the risk of rape or sexual assault.

"Targets for construction of toilets are somewhat irrelevant to resolving the sanitation problem," said Yamini Aiyar, director of policy research group Accountability Initiative in New Delhi. "Building toilets does not mean that people will use them, and there seems to be a host of cultural, social and caste-based reasons for that. People need to be taught the value of sanitation."

In most cases, that isn't happening. More than half of the country's sanitation education budget since 1999 hasn't been spent, according to the Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation. In at least five of India's poorest states, the majority of people in households with a government latrine don't use it.

The government has set Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birthday in 2019 as its target for achieving "total sanitation," including access to toilets for all 1.2 billion residents, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said. While Jaitley doubled spending on new toilets, the ratio of those funds that can be spent on information, education and communication remains at 15 percent.

Of the 18.3 billion rupees set aside for that purpose in the past 15 years, only 45 percent has been used, partly because local authorities can't get more funds until they prove how they spent the previous year's money and partly because the central government often simply ran out of cash, said Avani Kapur, an analyst with New Delhi-based Centre for Policy Research.

"While villagers remain ignorant of the dangers, about 100,000 tons of their excrement heads to markets every day on fruit and vegetables, according to Unicef, the United Nation's children's fund. Each gram of feces in an open field contains 10 million viruses, 1 million bacteria and 1,000 parasite cysts.

The excrement contaminates groundwater, causing illnesses such as diarrhea and cholera, and deters tourists whose immune systems are at the highest risk from the drug-resistant strains of fecal bacteria, according to the World Bank report.

For women, heading to the fields alone raises the risk of assault, a danger that gained international attention in May when two girls from the village of Badaun in Uttar Pradesh were raped and hanged from a mango tree after they went to defecate outdoors.

"This vicious, horrifying attack illustrates too vividly the risks that girls and women take when they don't have a safe, private place to relieve themselves," said Barbara Frost, the London-based chief executive of WaterAid, a charity that helps poor communities get access to sanitation. "Ending open defecation is an urgent priority."

India accounts for about 60 percent of the world's residents without toilets, according to a report released in May by the World Health Organization and Unicef. The country's 50 percent open defecation rate compares with 23 percent in Pakistan, 3 percent in Bangladesh and 1 percent in China, the report said.

India's previous government in 2012 created a five-year "Sanitation and Hygiene Advocacy and Communication Strategy Framework" to advise states on how to counter the culture of open defecation, including setting up local education committees.

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said more needs to be done by government and private agencies to build national awareness of the dangers of poor sanitation.

India spent 2.6 billion rupees in fiscal 2013 on a campaign to help eradicate polio after 44 cases were reported between 2010 and 2011, according to the World Health Organization. In the same year, the nation spent half that amount on education for toilets and sanitation.

Some rural residents are constructing their own latrines. In Saunda, a village of about 6,000 people, 30 miles northeast of New Delhi, 70-year-old Hemraj Kumar sits on a cot near his new porcelain toilet.

The rest of the family still prefer to head to the field, including Hemraj's 20-year-old grandson Sonu, a college engineering student.

"Locking us inside these booths with our own filth? I will never see how that is clean," Sunita says, pointing to the field. "Going out there is normal."

A Creole Solution for Haiti’s Woes

The discussion continues.  French or Creole?  And who should make this decision?  Is the decision a turning point one way or the other for Haiti?  If you volunteer in Haiti, is this an issue you can ignore?  Questions to ponder, then be part of the discussion and hopefully the solution?

Here is an article offering the perspective for Creole as Haiti's National language.

The Opinion Pages | Op-Ed Contributors
New York Times
A Creole Solution for Haiti’s Woes

By MICHEL DeGRAFF and MOLLY RUGGLES
AUG. 1, 2014

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — IN a classroom in Port-au-Prince, Chantou, 9, sits silently at her desk. Nervously watching the teacher, she hopes to be invisible. Like most of her 60 classmates, she understands little of the French from the lecture. But if her memorized lesson is not recited with perfect pronunciation and grammar, she may be ridiculed or punished by her teacher.

In a classroom on La Gonâve island, two 9-year-olds, Kelson and Dieuricame, hover over a computer, excitedly playing a math game. Chatting away in their native Haitian Creole (spelled Kreyòl in Haiti), they experiment together and solve problems. When the teacher announces the end of class, they ask, “May we come back later for more?”

The contrast between these two learning environments illustrates a fundamental challenge in Haitian education, one that implicates language and pedagogy, and has contributed to Haiti’s extreme poverty: The authoritarian French model, which makes children struggle to learn in a language they do not speak, still prevails over an alternative model, in which children build skills through active learning in their native Creole.

Creole evolved in the 17th century out of contact among varieties of French and West African languages. Most Creole words have their origins in French, but the languages have distinct grammatical structures and sound patterns; even when their words sound alike, they often have different meanings. Using French to teach Creole speakers, in short, is like using Latin to teach French speakers.

Under the 1987 Constitution, adopted after the overthrow of Jean-Claude Duvalier’s dictatorship, Creole and French have been the two official languages. But at least 95 percent of the population speaks only Creole. For the past two centuries, most communications in government, white-collar business, media and education have been in French. The preference for French has been internalized even by those who have no opportunity to learn the language. Such attitudes have started to change, but too slowly.

When children start school, they are forced to study in French, although there is no pedagogical support for this abrupt transition. As documented in a 2012 government report, most students resort to memorizing letters and sounds without understanding, and end up with low levels of literacy.

Happily, the government of President Michel Martelly, who ran on a platform of universal, free, compulsory education and took office in 2011, has increased access to primary education to 88 percent — up from 47 percent in 1993 and ahead of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. The next hurdle is language. Study after study highlights the importance of using native language to establish the foundations of literacy, numeracy and basic scientific knowledge, with which other academic domains, including the study of French, can be pursued.

A collaborative initiative between M.I.T. and Haiti has produced a collection of Creole resources for science and math. In teacher-training workshops, one teacher told us, “When we teach in Creole, the students ask more questions.” And from a student, “The advantage of learning in Creole is that it is more explicit; it allows us to see more clearly.” At a June 2014 workshop, Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe, other officials and M.I.T. faculty members explored the challenges and opportunities facing Haiti with the sophistication and nuance that such a meeting demands: All of the materials were written in Creole.

Creole’s exile from Haitian education is tied to Haiti’s colonial past. Haiti won its independence from France in 1803 after a historic revolution, becoming the first republic governed by formerly enslaved people of African descent. Yet its European legacy is still valued more highly than the African and Creole ingredients of its culture. “What influence can Haiti ever have with its Creole?” the poet Carl Brouard once warned. “Parents, never speak Creole to your children.” The bias toward French keeps the elite’s interests well protected from the needs of the masses. Creole holds the potential to democratize knowledge, and thus liberate the masses from extreme poverty.

This proposed use of Creole in Haiti is akin to René Descartes’s elevation of French as a language for science in 17th-century France. Descartes switched from Latin to make science accessible to the French-speaking populace. French was considered vernacular and inferior, but he legitimized it as an academic language and thus cemented the establishment of the modern French nation. The “Francophonie” movement continues to be a mighty vehicle of French political and economic influence in the world.

A similar story happened in 17th-century Italy, where Galileo was among the first scientists to write in the vernacular instead of Latin. Creole in Haiti can similarly become an academic language, a tool for nation building and an instrument of political and economic progress.

Haiti’s government and civil society have started to come around, by supporting an expansion of the formal, written use of Creole in education and public administration and by legislating the creation of an academy for the promotion of Creole. They recognize that the language is a tool for economic empowerment.

Haitian elites need to catch up, and international aid agencies should support the process, so that Creole can acquire the cultural capital it needs to propel Haiti further along the path toward opportunity for all.

Michel DeGraff is a professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and directs its initiative to promote education in Creole in Haiti. Molly Ruggles is a senior educational technology consultant at M.I.T. 

Let Them Eat Cash

New York Times
The Opinion Pages | Op-Ed Contributor
By Christopher Blattman
June 29, 2014

A CHINESE millionaire tried to give $300 (and lunch) to homeless men and women in New York last week. This didn’t sit well with the nonprofit New York City Rescue Mission. The Rescue Mission offered to help with lunch, but wouldn’t cooperate in handing out cash. So midway through a meal of sesame-crusted tuna and filet of beef, some 200 homeless people discovered that they would not be getting money. Instead, the Rescue Mission would accept $90,000 on their behalf. You can imagine the anger and humiliation.

The millionaire, a recycling tycoon named Chen Guangbiao, wanted to set an example of generosity in the world’s financial capital. To announce the $300 giveaway, he’d taken out a full-page advertisement in The New York Times.

The executive director of Rescue Mission said he was worried that people might spend the handout on drugs or alcohol. This pessimism (and paternalism) is common and understandable. But evidence from other countries suggests we should be more optimistic.

Globally, cash is a major tool to fight extreme poverty. The United Nations is handing out ATM cards to Syrian refugees alongside sacks of grain. The evidence suggests these cash programs work. There have been randomized trials of cash grants to poor Mexican families, Kenyan villagers, Malawian schoolgirls and many others. The results show that sometimes people just eat better or live in better homes. Often, though, they start businesses and earn more.

In Uganda, my colleagues and I worked with a nonprofit that offered $150 and five days of business planning to 900 of the poorest women in the world. After 18 months, the women had twice the incomes of a random control group.

I also worked with the Ugandan government to study what happened when it gave groups of 20 poor people $8,000 in return for a business proposal. My colleagues and I followed hundreds of groups that did and did not get grants. Those who did mostly invested in trades like carpentry. Four years later, their earnings were about 40 percent higher than those of a random control group.

The poor do not waste grants. Recently, two World Bank economists looked at 19 cash transfer studies in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Almost all showed alcohol and tobacco spending fell or stayed the same. Only two showed any significant increase, and even there the evidence was mixed.

You might worry handouts encourage idleness. But in most experiments, people worked more after they received grants.

You might also worry that the poorest of New York are different. The average person in Uganda is impoverished; it’s easy to believe he would make good decisions with cash. But a homeless person in New York is not average. Substance abuse is pervasive. Maybe panhandlers here are different from the global poor.

I used to believe this. Now I’m not sure. A few years ago, I started working in Liberia’s urban slums. My colleagues and I sought out men who were homeless or made their living dealing drugs or stealing. Many abused alcohol and drugs. We tested different programs in a randomized trial of a thousand men. One thing we tried was giving out $200 in cash.

Almost no men wasted it. In the months after they got the cash, most dressed, ate and lived better. Unlike the Ugandans, however, whose new businesses kept growing, the Liberian men were back where they started a year later. Two hundred dollars was not enough to turn them into businessmen. But it brought them a better life for a while, which is the fundamental goal of any welfare program. We also tested a counseling program to reduce crime and violence. It worked a little on its own, but had the largest impact when combined with cash.

I haven’t spent any time with the homeless in the United States. Maybe I’d see that the differences are profound. But I ask myself: If homeless people and drug users in Liberia don’t misuse cash, why would we expect the homeless in New York to waste it?

In 2010, Jim Rankin, a reporter for The Toronto Star, asked himself the same question. So he handed out five $50 prepaid Visa and MasterCard gift cards to panhandlers. What did they buy? Mostly food. Some phone minutes and clothes. A couple bought liquor as well.

Back to the millionaire and the mission. The Rescue Mission has every right to be cautious. Perhaps our first duty is to do no harm, but I say that’s our second duty. Our first is to be skeptical of stereotypes of those we purport to help.

These stereotypes have consequences: The Family Independence Initiative tried paying poor American families in return for setting and meeting goals. Its demonstration project showed promising results. But the No. 1 obstacle the organization said it faced? Mistrust by donors and other nonprofits who held hard to the view that poor people can’t make good decisions.

Here in New York, the Opportunity NYC Family Rewards program has experimented with cash transfers to poor families. It sent $8,700 over three years to thousands of families. A randomized evaluation showed that self-employment went up and hunger and extreme hardship went down, at least while the cash transfers lasted.

These programs didn’t target the hard-core homeless. Are they so different? I don’t know. Even if handing out cash works, it’s surely only part of a larger solution. But why not try?

Christopher Blattman is an associate professor in the political science department and at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia.

Handout or a handup?

Richmond Times Dispatch
Faith & Values
Posted: Saturday, July 26, 2014
By Stephen Sowulewski

"It's always best to give a hand up, not a handout"

Values are something that we possess that help to anchor us, and more important, our value system gives us a discerning lens with which we live our lives. One of the core values that I embrace is hard work. I am grateful to my parents for instilling that value in me, and I marvel at their generation (the baby boomers) for the amazing work ethic that they espouse. It has been said that one does not get anywhere without hard work - I totally agree.

Learning the value of hard work begins early: the chores we do as kids, the part-time jobs we hold as teenagers and the vocations we seek in our quest to earn an honest day's living. Unfortunately, we live in an age that some like to call the "now generation." I have heard this phrase uttered by some who might think that my generation (X) or generation Y would do well by hearing this assertion.

I do not take offense to this phrase as I think it has a lot of truth to it. My father worked 36.3 years in a General Motors factory in less-than-comfortable conditions so that he could provide for his family. On his last day of work, I accompanied him and quickly learned just how loud and uncomfortable it must have been to work in that plant on a summer day - hotter than the hottest day outside in Michigan. I would say that qualifies as hard work.

My mother stayed at home to raise my sister and me, and what a testament to hard work that is. My mother did a fantastic job raising us even through the challenges of my sister's illness, not to mention her daily duties in keeping our household running smoothly. This was no easy task as she also was a caregiver to my grandparents, as was my father after he finished work for the day. Hard work, you bet!

Wanting things now and expecting that we get them, or that we deserve them just because, is a line of thinking that I simply cannot comprehend. For example, when I volunteered to build houses in Durban, South Africa, in an area ravaged by apartheid, I soon learned that the recipients of these houses would be putting their own "sweat equity" into the construction of the house along with a team of others - a stellar example of a hand up and definitely not a handout.

Take another example: throwing money at a situation instead of teaching people how to reap the fruits of their labor. Still another example might point to those who try to keep pace with others and find themselves in financial turmoil in the desire to acquire items that they otherwise would not be able to afford.

So whether it was the sage advice of a teacher or unconditional support of a loved one or friend, knowing that help came with hard work on the receiving end makes the experience even more rewarding. No matter what age you happen to be, I am confident that you can recall a time when someone gave you that helping hand during the course of your lifetime.

Stephen Sowulewski is an associate professor of health at Reynolds Community College and a parishioner at St. Michael's Catholic Church.

World Bank Praises Haiti

Caribbean News Now!
Published on July 11, 2014















"World Bank praises Haiti's recovery progress and calls for opportunities for all"

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- At the end of a three-day trip, World Bank managing director and chief operating officer, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, commended the government of Haiti for the progress in the country’s recovery and called for broadening economic and social opportunities for all Haitians especially in rural areas.

"The Haiti I saw over the last days is very different from the country I saw during my visit in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake. I am encouraged by the visible progress. More than 1.3 million people moved from camps to neighborhoods. Many now live in safer homes,” she said. “Extreme poverty has declined and access to some basic services has improved over the last twelve years. This is good news, but rural Haitians have yet to benefit from these gains.”

According to the 2012 household survey, which was developed by the National Observatory on Poverty and Social Exclusion (ONPES) and with support from the World Bank, extreme poverty declined from 31 to 24 percent between 2000 and 2012. Most of these gains have been in urban areas with little progress in rural areas, where 4 out of 10 Haitians remain extremely poor.

Haitians have also benefited from better access to some services. The biggest success has been in education, where participation rates of school-age children rose from 78 to 90 percent. However, the quality of education remains low. Only one-third of all children aged 14 are in the appropriate grade for their age.

Vulnerability and income inequality remains very high in Haiti. According to the data, 2.5 million Haitians living on two dollars a day are in danger of falling back into poverty in case of an economic shock or natural disaster.

During her visit, Indrawati who was accompanied by Jorge Familiar, the recently appointed World Bank vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean, discussed with Haiti’s development cabinet about the country’s economic opportunities.

Indrawati travelled with the minister of economy and finance, Marie Carmelle Jean-Marie and minister of agriculture, Thomas Jacques, to the southern municipalities of Les Cayes to meet farmers and visit a World Bank supported project. The initiative, implemented by the ministry of agriculture, is part of the national agriculture strategy and aims to boost productivity by training farmers and helping them purchase seeds, fertilizers and pesticides through smart subsidies.

In nearby Simon, inhabitants explained how a water supply and sanitation project provides the nearly 60,000 people in this remote community with clean water and helps the population protect itself against cholera.

“Globally, rural poverty is often higher and more difficult to fight than in urban areas. But providing education, health services, and jobs to these communities is critical to promote equal access to a better life for all Haitians,” said Indrawati. “We support the Haitian government’s efforts to extend the successes they achieved in the cities to remote and underserved areas.”

Working with the National Poverty and Social Exclusion Observatory (ONPES) and Haitian Statistic and IT Institute (IHSI), the World Bank is conducting a full poverty assessment to be released later in the year. Detailed data and evidence from the survey will help identify priorities for public investments and improve service delivery to the poor.

New cardinal brings happiness & visibility to Haiti

Jim McManus  |  Jul. 4, 2014

In February, Bishop Chibly Langlois of Les Cayes, Haiti, became the 215-year-old island nation's first Roman Catholic cardinal. It was a move that surprised many because Langlois was not an archbishop, had not spent much time outside Haiti, and, at 55, is relatively young.

Langlois is well-known in Haiti, though, where his low-key, open and friendly demeanor seemingly absorb, and reflect, the Haitian experience. Haiti, with a population of 9.5 million, is 85 percent Catholic, and has endured a long history of political upheaval, poverty and intermittent natural disasters.

Even in the poorest countries, like Haiti, there are seeds of hope and progress. A solar-powered clean water company opens in a rural town. A colonial-era dirt road gets paved with new blacktop. A new city marketplace opens next to a port being rebuilt for shipping and tourists. From the north comes news that an old shipwreck has been confirmed as La Santa Maria, one of the three ships first brought to the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1492.

Les Cayes is a remote southern coastal town of 70,000, a plodding four-hour bus trip from the capital of Port-au-Prince. The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption sits across the scrubby town square and the cardinal's office, where just a few staff members help operate the sprawling diocese. Outside, the streets and sidewalks are broken and potholed, and flood when it rains. Inside the cathedral, images of a blond, white Jesus and European saints adorn the altar and walls.


Haiti and Les Cayes provide fertile ground for Pope Francis' determination to focus the attention of the church, and the world, on addressing the problems of the poor.

NCR:
What does it mean for Haiti to have the pope recognize the church by naming its first cardinal?

Langlois:
I think ... this brings a lot of happiness to Haiti in general, the fact that the pope recognizes the church by naming a cardinal. At the same time, the church feels appreciated by Pope Francis, a pope who pays a lot of attention to those in need. Among all the countries in Latin America, in this hemisphere, Haiti is a country in need.

We also think that Pope Francis has given Haiti an opportunity to be more visible to the world, because there is a tendency to forget Haiti, especially after the [2010] earthquake. ... We can also say that this is an opportunity for the church to assume its responsibility even more in this society, which entails organizing the church in every aspect so it can fulfill its mission the way it must in this country, its responsibility to accompany the people in their faith so that we can have a society enlightened by the Gospel, a society which does all that is right to help this country advance.

As a cardinal of the church, what do you hope to do to build connections between Haiti and the church beyond Haiti?

Naturally, the church is connected to one another. But as cardinal, of course I have been involved in this type of work as conference president, the bishop's conference. We have always tried to build bridges between Haiti's churches and other churches, especially after the earthquake. We have been doing this work within the scope of getting closer to each other -- the churches especially -- so that other churches can help Haiti's churches come out of its setbacks, especially after the earthquake.

What does Haiti have to offer to the church?

It's certain that we have the experience of our faith in this country, the way we practice it. We can offer that as an experience to the church. We can offer the hope we carry. The Haitian people, in spite of its suffering, in spite of its troubles, in spite of its misery, all of our Christians have always continued to believe that tomorrow will be better. We think that this is a foundation.

A strong, unshakable faith is very common in our country, among the Haitian people. In spite of all that happened in this country, you will not find a group of people taking their own lives. You will not find a group of people who place themselves in situations where they would risk losing their lives, because they love life.

The church can also offer the universal church the services of many who are called upon to do God's work. In Haiti, we have many missionaries who travel to other countries to lead missions. We have priests who travel to other countries where there are not enough priests; some priests and nuns have gone to other countries, so we have that to offer. We have missionaries who go to other countries; this helps them believe in Jesus Christ, so that they too can be saved. We have all these types of wealth that the universal church is expecting from us. We too can take part in the construction of the church on this earth.

In 1983, Pope John Paul II visited Haiti and said, "Things must change here."
What do you think has changed and what challenges need to be addressed?

Well, there are many things that changed in this country. The church itself has tried to be more visible. It has become more transparent in the eyes of the people. Many parishes have been built, many dioceses have been built, and many people have been called upon to do God's work. ... At the time the pope uttered these words, it was a time when people, at a social level, were fighting for democracy in this country. We were fighting for freedom of the press, and to also be free in this society. We have achieved these benchmarks after Pope John Paul II made this statement. We now see that people can speak without fear. People can express their views in this country. We can also say that democracy has begun to sprout in this country.

But we still have a lot to change. ... We need to change the economic condition of this country. We also need political stability in this country. We need these things. We also need our followers to believe even more, to have a deeper faith and a more solid trust in God.

Pope Francis has spoken frequently about economic justice and the obligations of richer nations to help poorer nations. What does that message mean in the context of Haiti's efforts to build a fair and sustainable economy?

In regards to economic justice, we believe it is something that must be of interest to everyone on this earth. But in Haiti in particular, we know this is a country with so much need. The people have lots of needs. This is also a country where access to education is not available to everyone. This is also a country where those in the majority do not have access to the country's wealth. We believe this ... [is] the way this country was built since the beginning. Since its independence.

It is important that we insist on having economic justice in Haiti. This insistence must be guided through a dialogue with everyone, so that can be conscious of this reality, and to find a way to make some propositions and decide on helping the majority of the people find their share in this country's economy. ...

In reality, the wealth that one possesses, even when one is very intelligent or has the capacity to earn a lot, this wealth does not belong to one alone. One should not use it in a selfish manner. God has placed this wealth in your care so that you can use it in a way to benefit others. This is why justice must lead to love, love for charity, not the kind you hand over to people, but the kind of charity where you want others to share in the wealth that the earth has provided you because the earth's wealth belong to us all.

What are some of the opportunities in Haiti for the church today?

Even now, the Catholic church's membership in Haiti is the highest compared to all other religions. So the people represent our greatest opportunity. In fact, the church exists to also serve the people and at the same time encourage them to help each other. ...

Other opportunities we have: the fact that we are many dioceses, many bishops, many priests, many church members, people who are engaged in the services of the church. So this is a great opportunity, if we really pull together, we display this togetherness required by the church, live together while caring for one another as required by the church, we'll be able to accomplish great things.

Other opportunities we can identify inside the church is the fact that we have God's people, a very receptive crowd ... ready to listen to the message from God, to accept the word of God. This requires that the church is organized in a way to train people, to provide them with the kind of support they need inside the church. ...

The other opportunity is the fact that we have a lot of people inside the church in Haiti who are trained and who can help the church. ... The fact that our church is connected with other churches means that we can also include members of the Haitian diaspora who are Catholic who live abroad. So, this is a great opportunity that we can explore in order to help the church grow inside Haiti and outside of Haiti. ...

The other opportunity is to capitalize on the wealth we have inside the church and inside this country so that it bears great fruits. This would be an important step in assuring that we complete our mission, so we have a great opportunity that a lot of countries do not have. One of the opportunities that is beneficial to the church is that we can run our mission inside this country. There are no obstacles in our way, which means we have the freedom to practice our faith. We can teach religion in our schools, so it is a great opportunity that many others countries do not have.

What are plans for rebuilding the cathedral in Port-au-Prince that was destroyed by the earthquake?

I know there was a design contest organized to determine which of the designs to choose in order to build the cathedral, but we think that those in charge of the archdiocese of Port-au-Prince are still thinking about choosing a design that fits with the characteristics of the country itself. ...

Since this work will take some time, we understand their decision to prioritize a short-term solution by working on the old cathedral that is located next to the big cathedral. They are looking for funds to complete it. Then I think they will be able to concentrate on the big cathedral. This project will require a long time to conduct studies, to raise funds in order to build it; then it will take a long time to actually build it.

[Jim McManus is a former editor of NCR. He traveled to Haiti in May.]

St. Edwards in Haiti

A group from St. Edward is preparing for our second parish pilgrimage to our twin parish in Haiti.  

There are nine of us this time, including four teens. 

My name is Kathy Gross, and I am leading this trip.  I have been to Haiti a number of times.  Each time is a unique opportunity to participate in the grace of the Holy Spirit as we meet and connect with Haitians and with each other.  I am the chair of the St. Edward Haiti Committee, a widow, a mother of three and a grandmother of four, soon to be five.  

As I approach this trip, I am praying that all of us will be open to the workings of the Spirit during our trip.


Follow our daily blog while we are in Haiti, sharing our experiences with everyone first hand (don't forget to bookmark our blog site):

Follow St. Edward's Haiti Pilgrimage!

Kim Lamberty's New Book!

Hot of the press, our friend Kim, from Catholic Relief Services, has just published a new book!
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Eyes from the Outside: Christian Mission in Zones of Violent Conflict Paperback
– May 15, 2014
by Kim Marie Lamberty (Author)

Christian mission has often been a project allied with colonial powers and conquests. Contemporary theologies of Christian mission, however, call for a new approach.

In Eyes from the Outside, Kim Lamberty suggests using the metaphor of ''accompaniment'' to describe one such approach to Christian mission. She explores international protective accompaniment--eyes from the outside--as a constructive way to do Christian mission in conflict zones.

Christian missionaries today frequently find themselves in isolated and poverty-stricken parts of the globe, places where violence is common.

Based on a case study in Colombia, Eyes from the Outside argues that international protective accompaniment empowers communities, reduces the risk of violence, and corresponds with contemporary theologies of mission.

You can find Kim's book at:
Wipf and Stock Publishers
Amazon Books

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

Have a voice! Leave a comment below.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is the immensely engaging and inspiring true account of an enterprising African teenager who constructed a windmill from scraps to create electricity for his entire community. William Kamkwamba shares the remarkable story of his youth in Malawi, Africa—a nation crippled by intense poverty, famine, and the AIDS plague—and how, with tenacity and imagination, he built a better life for himself, his family, and his village. The poignant and uplifting story of Kamkwamba’s inspiration and personal triumph, co-written with Bryan Mealer.

Buy Book.

WORLD BANK to offer $45m to HAITI for Development of Tourism Industry

What do you think?
Questions to ponder:
Is this a good sustainable investment for Haiti?
Will this investment build Haiti's infrastructure?
How does tourism benefit Haitians?
Have a voice!  Comments are moderated and anonymous.  Leave your comment at the end of this blog.

HispanicBusiness.com
May 26th, 2014

The Board of Directors of the Washington-headquartered World Bank has given approval to the proposal of offering $45 million to Haiti in order to support the country in the development of its tourism sector.

The global donor will offer the funding to Haiti via the International Development Association (IDA) and the money is intended at enhancing access, preserving and managing the World Heritage Site of country s National History Park and the historic centre of the Cap-Haitien City.

The grant from the IDA will also be used for establishing new destinations for travelers, said the organization.

The Tourism Minister of Haiti - Stephanie Villedrouin revealed, Developing the North as a tourism destination in a sustainable way is part of the vision of the Ministry of Tourism.

The Minister added, Improving the conservation of our natural and cultural heritage is essential to achieve this objective. I would like to highlight that one of the strengths of the project is that it involves the communities to preserve their heritage and benefit from the economic returns of tourism.

Since past few years, Haiti has been giving more focus on the development of the country s tourism industry, mainly to enhance the infrastructure in and around the National History Park, which was visited by over 30,000 tourists in 2013.

The World Bank has stated that the Labadee port area, which is located close to the park, represents a real potential for further tourism development in the region.

The World Bank s Special Envoy to Haiti - Mary Barton-Dock stated, There is a growing demand to develop tourism in Haiti and the government is working effectively to promote the destination.

The official added, This is the opportunity to develop the tourism industry which is labor intensive and will attract the private sector.

The project, in due course, is intended at luring over 16,000 new tourists in the National History Park and establishing 370 small and medium entities providing cultural services and tourism.

The UNESCO will deliver technical support to the project, which is to be accomplished over a period of six years.

Moreover, in 2013 the Government of Haiti revealed its plans to rebuild the airport in Cap-Haitien. The redecorated airport will be named after the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Cite Article

Teen Inventor's Bright Idea May Light Up the World

Is it possible sometimes to become so focused on the trees, the forest is no longer seen? Ann was faced with her friend's problem and innovated a solution. Can a lesson be learned from this? Is it possible there are solutions for Haiti which have not yet even been realized? A new interjection of hope?

Have a voice! Join the discussion! Leave a comment below!

 Read Article

A Lesson in Farming, Classroom to Cafeteria.

What do you think?  Plausible in Haiti?  A good example of people taking their situation in hand and inventing a sustainable solution?

At the end of this article, share your comments for others to read.  Have a voice!

New York Times
By Steven Yaccino
May 11, 2014

HAGERSTOWN, Ind. — Beyond a stack of hay bales, past the site of Indiana’s first soil-judging contest, high school students in this tiny eastern town stroll down a grassy slope to reach their newest classroom: a fenced-in field of cud-chewing cattle.

Starting in the next academic year, the cattle, which arrived last month and have names like Ground Round and Honey Bear, will be fed by students enrolled in an agricultural science class. Then, when the animals are fat enough, they will be fed back to their caretakers — as beef patties on lunchroom trays.

Hagerstown, population 1,769, is like many rural communities confronting the cost of population decline and concerns that local agricultural ties are disappearing. Small-town schools across the country are turning to hands-on agricultural classes that also supply cheaper, healthier food for their cafeterias. A high school in Montague, Mich., has student-raised chicken on its menu. Another, in Willits, Calif., serves campus-bred pork. Pupils in other districts throughout the Midwest are growing crops or garden produce for a letter grade before eating the fruits of their labor when the lunch bell rings.

“As budgets keep getting cut, we keep looking to more creative ways,” said Stefonie Sebastian, education specialist at F.F.A., a national agriculture education group that was once known as Future Farmers of America and that has supported such projects. “Agriculture programs used to be on the chopping block. Now we’re seeing it as a way to get things done at the school.”

The postrecession struggle of rural towns is as common around here as rows of corn. Farming and manufacturing jobs are disappearing. Residents move away in a steady, debilitating trickle. Few return.

Sixty miles east of Indianapolis, schools in Hagerstown have lost enough students since 2010 to cause a significant drop in per-pupil funding from the state. Teachers have been laid off, and a pre-engineering program was axed. The high school pool was drained in spring and summer to save on the cost of heating and chemicals, a compromise alternative to closing it permanently.

School officials say the Hagerstown cattle program — informally known as “Where’s the Beef?” — is expected to save at least $2,000 in annual cafeteria costs and expand vocational training.

“We’ll have more meat than we’ll be able to consume,” said Mark Childs, the principal at Hagerstown Junior-Senior High School, which will sell its extra beef. “We supply our own.”

According to a United States Department of Agriculture report released this month, there was a slight uptick between 2007 and 2012 in the number of new farmers under the age of 35, but over all, the number of farmers shrank by nearly 20 percent. The total number of farms also fell, by more than 100,000, as large food producers expanded and land prices rose — putting more pressure on the small family farm.

Hagerstown has perhaps as good a chance as any place to buck the broader trend. Amish dairy farmers have arrived from Pennsylvania in recent years, with more on the way. Teachers at the high school, which has offered agricultural courses since 1934, tend crops and livestock on the side for extra income. Some students wear F.F.A. jackets as if they were sporting varsity letters; they speak with pride about the local chapter’s soil-judging team, which last year fell just shy of qualifying for nationals.

But even here, residents are losing touch with the land. According to federal data, Wayne County, which includes Hagerstown, lost 89 farms between 2007 and 2012, about a tenth of its operations.

“Most of our students come from in town,” said Macy Felton, a senior in high school. “They can point out that’s a cow, but they wouldn’t know what to do with them.”

In a district of roughly 1,000 students, the exodus of 66 students from Hagerstown since 2010 was a blow to the district’s budget. William Doering, the superintendent, set out to close a spending gap a couple of years ago, calling for $350,000 in cuts — five educators lost their jobs — and asking staff to come up with ideas to save more money.

It was Nathan Williamson, an agricultural mechanics teacher, who presented the idea of a cattle class to the school board last year. While instructing students on things like farming techniques and veterinary science, the course would supply enough meat to pay for itself and then some, Mr. Williamson told the board, replacing 5,000 pounds of hamburger patties that the district was purchasing at $3.30 per pound.

“Right now, beef prices are going through the roof,” he said in an interview recently. “We’re saving money each day those cows are out there.”

In lieu of a classroom, students built a fence around 10 acres of school land. The district is still looking to hire a new teacher to run the cattle course, which will be open to sophomores, juniors and seniors. If all goes as planned, the first herd of six Angus cross and one Hereford — bought with donations from local banks and members of the community — will be slaughtered this fall with the help of a butcher who volunteered to stock school freezers. Extra meat will be sold, and the money will go toward buying more livestock.

Garrett Blevins, a junior who is eager to take the class, said he was proof that students with close ties to their food supply were more likely to consider careers in agriculture. The son of a nurse and a carpenter, he had no farming background when he joined the local F.F.A. chapter last school year. “Now it’s my life,” said Garrett, who hopes to study animal science at Purdue University.

“There are kids out there who would never experience agriculture until they join these programs,” he added. “Once they do, it will open up a whole new world.”

But even supporters admit the plan could backfire. What if the cows get loose or die? What if the price of beef plummets? What if pupils grow attached to their assignment and cannot stomach the sight of Honey Bear between two hamburger buns?

Students in Hagerstown shrug when asked if the class might produce more vegetarians than potential ranchers. Mr. Williamson, who works 400 acres of crops at home when he is not teaching, said no lesson plan about farming would be complete without a little risk.

Article

Haiti leader names group to oversee elections

Washington Post
Associated Press, May 6
Write Evens Sanon

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — President Michel Martelly announced Tuesday he has appointed a new council to oversee Haitian legislative and local elections that are two years overdue, an important step to organizing a vote whose tardiness has frustrated many.

In a late-night address on national television, Martelly said he was striving to hold the elections “no matter what” while trying to meet the demands of opposition lawmakers with whom his government has been at odds.

“I fought for the change that today we’re beginning to make,” he said.

In his speech, which began two hours late, Martelly stressed concessions he made to opponents, including making changes to an earlier electoral council and forming a new Cabinet.

The electoral body’s newest member is Frizto Canton, a high-profile lawyer who is defending former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier against human rights abuse and embezzlement charges.

The council will include three representatives each from the executive, legislative and judicial branches.

Longtime opposition leader Sauveur Pierre-Etienne objected to the decree, alluding to members of parliament who had not submitted three candidates to be members of the electoral council.

“It’s not over yet,” Pierre-Etienne said on Radio Metropole.

Despite pressure from the United Nations, U.S. and others, efforts to hold the vote were snarled by political infighting between the executive and legislative branches. But representatives of the two sides signed an agreement to hold elections before year’s end.

The Chamber of Deputies recently approved the agreement, which proposes late October for the balloting. The Senate has yet to vote, its president saying the accord is not a legal-binding document.

Washington warned Haitian authorities last month that $300 million earmarked for the country’s coast guard, health ministry and other projects was at risk because of the tardy vote. But the U.S. is seen as unlikely to act on the threat because of its overall support for the Martelly administration.

The elections would fill 20 seats in the 30-member Senate, all 99 seats in the lower chamber and 140 municipal positions.

The terms of 10 senatorial seats are due to expire in January, which would leave the body with only 10 senators and unable to form a quorum. If the vote isn’t held by then, Martelly would rule by decree.

On-line Article

Hilton Worldwide Announces First Hotel in Haiti

Progress or Exploitation?

Shrinking or widening the gap between the poor and the wealthy?

Infrastructure vs. "Suface Structure"?

Be a part of the discussion.  Be a part of the solution. Have a voice. Discuss among yourselves. Leave a comment with your insight to discuss with others.

____________________________________

Hospitalitynet

April 11, 2014

New Hotel in Port-au-Prince Expected to Open in 2016

Hilton Worldwide today announced the signing of a management agreement with CAB, S.A. to operate the new build Hilton Garden Inn Port-au-Prince Louverture Airport. Scheduled to open in 2016, this new Hilton Garden Inn hotel in Haiti will introduce the Hilton Garden Inn brand to the Caribbean and debut the company's first hotel in Haiti.

"We are excited the Hilton Garden Inn brand continues to grow around the world and we are looking forward to opening in Port-au-Prince," said Adrian Kurre, global brand head, Hilton Garden Inn. "Value-conscious guests will enjoy their stay with an award-winning upscale and affordable hotel experience with superior amenities at an affordable price."

Forming part of the award-winning, mid-priced brandthat delivers high quality and value, Hilton Garden Inn Port-au-Prince Louverture Airport will be strategically located in the airport's industrial park area – acting as the only internationally branded hotel at the airport. The newest hotel to the airport complex will welcome travelers with on-site staff to arrange transportation from the airport to the property.

Danny Hughes, senior vice president, Caribbean, Mexico and Latin America, Hilton Worldwide said, "As tourism continues to contribute significantly to Haiti's economic development, we are thrilled to work with Dominique Carvonis, President of CAB, S.A. and her team, and play a part in this growth. With the brand's value proposition and the hotel's strategic location, we are confident the Hilton Garden Inn Port-au-Prince Louverture Airport will be a successful partner in the nation's capital and commercial hub."

Welcoming guests to Haiti's capital city, the Hilton Garden Inn Port-au-Prince Louverture Airport will be designed in line with the Hilton Garden Inn Latin America prototype, featuring the brand's quality standards while incorporating local elements to give the hotel an authentic style. The hotel will feature 152 guest rooms including eight suites, all outfitted with comfortable bedding, LCD high-definition flat-screen television, easy-to-set alarm clock with MP3 connectivity, a spacious work desk, and a "hospitality center" that features a mini refrigerator and coffee maker.

Dining options will include a full service restaurant and lobby lounge offering freshly prepared full, cooked-to-order breakfast, lunch and dinner. The hotel will also feature the 24-hour Pavilion Pantry® shop with a selection of delicious readymade meals, beverages and snacks. Recreational facilities will boast an outdoor swimming pool, and a complimentary fitness center featuring cardio and strength training equipment by Precor.

Travelers to Hilton Garden Inn Port-au-Prince Louverture Airport will also have access to comfortable and efficient meeting space with a pre-function area, three flexible meeting rooms and one boardroom. Signature Hilton Garden Inn brand attributes such as complimentary Wi-Fi and a 24-hour business center complete the facilities.

Dominique Carvonis, President of CAB, S.A. said, "Our joint efforts with Hilton Worldwide will help boost the environment of this industrial zone, creating nearly 100 direct jobs and 300 indirect employment roles. With Hilton Worldwide's comprehensive hotel training programs, we will develop skilled human resources thus contributing to increase the standards and quality of service to our guests, and ultimately enhance the prestige of our beloved Haiti."

The hotel will participate in Hilton HHonors®, the only guest rewards program that allows members to earn Points & Miles® for the same stay and redeem points for free nights with No Blackout Dates at more than 4,000 hotels worldwide.

Hilton Worldwide currently has a portfolio of 15 hotels and resorts open and welcoming travelers in the Caribbean.

Made in Haiti!

Discussion Question:
What's the best way for Haitians to have tablets:  manufacture their own or receive donated tablets from other countries?

Have an opinion?   Share your thoughts in a comment (all comments are moderated) at the end of this article. Have a voice!
_____________________

Impoverished Haiti manufacturing its own Android tablet

By Amelie Baron

PORT-AU-PRINCE Sun Mar 16, 2014

(Reuters) - Better known for producing third-world poverty and political mayhem - as well as a world-class rum - the Western Hemisphere's least developed country has made a surprising entry into the high-tech world with its own Android tablet.

Sandwiched between textile factories in a Port-au-Prince industrial park next to a slum, a Haitian-founded company has begun manufacturing the low-cost tablet called Sûrtab, a made-up name using the French adjective "sûr," meaning "sure," to suggest reliability.

Unlike the factories next door where low-paid textile workers churn out cheap undergarments for the U.S. market, Sûrtab workers are equipped with soldering irons, not sewing machines.

Dressed in sterile white work clothes, and a hair net, Sergine Brice is proud of her job. "I never imagined I could, one day, make a tablet by myself," she said.

Unemployed for a year after losing her position in a phone company, Brice, 22, was not sure she had the skills when she took the job after Sûrtab opened last year.

"When I arrived and realized the job deals with electronic components, I was wondering if I would be able to do it. But when I finished my first tablet ... I felt an immense pleasure," she said.

Her family and friends were skeptical. "None of them believed me," she said. "Tablets made in Haiti? What are you talking about?" they told her.

"Haitians have in our minds the idea that nothing can be done in this country. I proved that yes, we Haitians have the capacity to do many things," she said. "It's not just Americans or Chinese. We've got what they've got, so we can do it too."

With $200,000 in start-up funds from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and using imported Asian components, the factory produces three models all with 7-inch (18-cm) screens that run on Google Inc's Android operation system. They range from a simple wifi tablet with 512 megabytes of RAM for about $100, to a 3G model with 2-gigabytes of memory for $285.

The small factory with 40 employees is a throwback to the 1970s and 1980s when Haiti had a thriving assembly industry, including computer boards, as well as baseballs for U.S. professional teams.

Political turmoil, and a U.S. economic embargo in the 1990s following a military coup, put them out of business.

"A product such as Sûrtab shows that Haitians are not just destined for low-wage, low-skilled jobs," said John Groarke, country director for USAID. "It's the sort of high-skilled job that the country needs to work its way out of poverty."

Brice, who works an eight-hour shift, would not disclose her salary. Sûrtab employees receive a bonus for each tablet that successfully passes the quality control and the company says it pays two to three times the Haitian minimum wage of $5 a day.

INDIVIDUALLY ASSEMBLED

With only a limited selection of expensive imported tablets available in Haiti, Sûrtab is the cheapest device on the market.

"It's easy to use and it takes really good quality photos, like any other tablet," said one happy customer, Lisbeth Plantin. "And it's great to see 'Made in Haiti' on the back," she added.

At the factory there is no production line, instead workers assemble each device from start to finish.

"We could have done like in Asia, one task per employee, which is faster, but we wanted to have a better quality product," said Diderot Musset, Sûrtab's production manager.

Depending on the model, it takes an employee between 35 minutes and an hour to make a tablet. The company produces between 4,000 to 5,000 tablets a month, but plans to double that in April.

"We want the parts of the market which are not taken by the big players, especially in developing countries. These people would like to have a tablet but cannot afford an iPad," he said, referring to the Apple Inc device that costs at least $300 in U.S. stores and is barely available in Haiti.

All the factory floor employees are women.

"It was not a choice we made but it happens that women have better results. I think women may be more open to learn something completely different from what they were doing before," Musset said with a smile.

The company is running into inevitable skepticism about the quality of a Haitian-made tablet. "Some people only believe in it when they come here and see the girls working," he said.

The company has a retail distribution deal in Haiti with Digicel, a global telecom company that dominates the local cellphone market, as well as sales to Haitian government ministries and local non-governmental organizations.

A university in Kenya also ordered 650 Sûrtab devices.

Sûrtab is hoping to diversify its product line beyond tablets, said Patrick Sagna, director of business development.

"We want to establish a presence in the software sector. We are in contact with people from San Francisco who are ready to work with Haitian developers," he said.

Sûrtab's investors are looking to build an applied science graduate school, as well as looping in Haiti's skilled arts and crafts industry to help with design.

"Rather than importing covers for our tablets, we will produce them locally," said Sagna. "We want our packaging, made with recycled and recyclable materials, to become a traveling cultural exhibition to highlight Haitian culture around the world," he added.

Save the Date!