Chita Pa Bay - Spring Semester Update
Sitting doesn’t yield.
This January, I returned to Haiti with a refreshed since of excitement after spending Christmas and New Years with my friends and family. It was a whole new semester with a new partner in Haiti, Mary Evelyn Melton, a history major who focused on working with the hospital’s system of managing their medical equipment here in Cange. It also marked a new beginning for the students back in Clemson, some of which were seasoned veterans who had participated in Clemson Engineers for Developing Countries for numerous semesters and some of which were brand new. As they began working on their respective projects, this new beginning also marked the first full semester that the program has had students working full time in Haiti in about two years. The internship program in Haiti adds a whole extra layer to what is capable of happening in the classroom as students working on all different kinds of projects are able to have the interns collect data, make observations, or meet with potential connections virtually any time they need. Along with working on things for students in Clemson, we had our hands busy working on many other things and I wanted to take a second to mention a couple of them.
People who live in places close to Cange or people who have visited are always impressed by the water system that we have here and so often, Clemson’s name is passed around to come look at other village’s situations and see where we can advise. This is both a great opportunity to see other areas in the Central Plateau and get ideas for new projects students can work on in Clemson. We also often get the chance to learn about the work other organizations are doing in the area such as providing housing or maternal care to those in need. One of my favorite places we began working with this semester is called Boucan Carre and is located about 45 minutes from Cange. Boucan Carre is both its own small village and the name of the larger commune that Cange is a part of. A team of representatives from the local government first met with us in November and told us about many problems they were having around the commune. In January, we were able to visit the actual community and see firsthand some of the issues they were having. Since then, we have been continuing to work with them on creating a development plan for the community and I am very excited for this continued relationship.
Our team in front of the mayor's office in Boucan Carre.
We also had the opportunity to visit some smaller villages. In the village of Palmary, we were able to assist community members and a representative from DINEPA, the national water authority, brainstorm ways of improving their current system and adding treatment. A local engineer is still working with the community to implement the improvements. In the village of Clory, we worked with the administration of a primary school to assess their current water situation that had drastically changed after their well dried up. We were able to take water samples from different locations in the community back to our lab in Cange to test for contamination. One source was found to be much cleaner that others and so we encouraged the principal of the school to inform the community that they should use this source until a more permanent solution is made. Wherever we go, we are always advocating for clean water - one time we even got to be on the local radio to talk about it!
Community wide water meeting to discuss the formation of a water committee in Palmary.
Next time your in Haiti, catch us on Arcade FM 95.1 talking about water.
We completed a census in Rampsoda, the community just up the road from Cange that does not currently have access to clean water other than bringing their buckets and jerrycans by motorcycle to Cange to fill up and take back to their homes. In order to even begin thinking about an engineering solution, we needed more information about the community such as how many people are living there and where are their homes. With the help of a committee that has formed aiming to bring water to the people, we went to every house in the community writing down the names, ages, and jobs of each person who lived there. Total there were about 700 people living in the area and it was an awesome experience getting to see a small glimpse into some of their lives.
We hosted several visits in Cange with some large organizations like USAID and the UN and smaller groups passing through Cange. It’s always great to show off the work that CEDC has done, talk about what we are working on now, and discuss how we can play a part in improving the country’s infrastructure. Visitor always have their own amazing stories to share as well. We were encouraged when a representative from USAID told us how rare it is to see a place where a group of Americans is so well connected with the Haitian community. This is one of the most unique things about CEDC’s internship program and something that interns way before my time here began to build, but I am blessed to be a part of.
We love having visitors in Cange! Here we are with representatives from USAID and the UN!
When I first arrived in Cange, I thought most of my work would surround the water and sanitation sectors, however I’ve had the opportunity to have and hand in projects much broader than that. Because Mary Evelyn’s project was mainly focused on the systems surrounding medical equipment in the hospital here, I had the chance to learn a lot about healthcare in rural, developing communities. The Zamni Lasante hospital, L’opital Bon Sauveur in Cange is quite famous as it is where Paul Farmer first started his practice that now is an international medical NGO helping millions called Partners in Health. Through her project, I was able to see just how integral and important healthcare is to Cange and the communities surrounding it. One day we even saw someone coming to the hospital on a makeshift stretcher that had been carried on the shoulders of two men through the mountains for a couple of miles. You can read more about her project specifically in her blog.
We had the chance to work on projects for teams in Clemson as well such as doing a preliminary road study for an area near Cange, looking into and monitoring electricity usage in Cange for a team working on a hydroelectric project, working with biodigester technology that treats waste and produces methane as an energy source, assisting students looking into waste management (a.k.a. digging through and taking pictures of garbage which didn’t add anything to our coolness factor around Cange), and so much more that I never thought I would be doing.
Waste management is something that needs to be tackled all over Haiti, but students
in Clemson are looking into the possibilities for how we can help in Cange.
We hosted twelve Clemson students for Spring Break and celebrated the first World Water Day in Cange. We also worked to increase the connection between students in Clemson and Haiti by sending weekly updates and starting a feature called “People of Cange.” Each week we would interview one person in Cange asking them questions about their lives and some of their favorite things. We would take their picture and send it all back to Clemson to be presented during CEDC’s class time on Friday afternoons. We started with the members of the water team and also included Jackie Williams a resident of Cange from South Carolina. I think these were just as fun for us to do as they were for people in Clemson to hear. Everyone was excited for when it would be their time to be interviewed and they often would come early in the morning dressed in nice clothes or something Clemson to answer the questions and have their picture taken.
As I’m sitting here writing this and reflecting on all that has happened in just the past few months, it is hard to believe all that we’ve accomplished. While this is a pretty long list, there was so much more that we did this semester and I wish I could write about it all but I won’t bore you with that. You can read about a few other projects we worked on in my other blog posts.
While this work has been the most rewarding of my life, what makes it truly special is all of the relationships and friendships I have made along the way. This semester was also filled countless soccer games, spending Saturday afternoons playing with the kids in Cange, experiencing Haiti’s culture first hand by visiting important sites, participating in fetes, and celebrating Haitian holidays. I am continually reminded that it is not all about the work you do, but the people you do it with and I am thankful to have the people around me that I do.
I'd say we have some pretty cute friends.
Mary Evelyn has left as she had to make it back home for graduation and I will miss her dearly. She was an amazing partner to have on this journey and it is so strange that she is not here anymore. We’ve done everything from eating, walking, talking, working, sharing, learning, and growing together for the past four months. I’m excited to see all that her future will hold as she is off the Scotland to complete her master’s in international development and I know that she is going to make a big difference in people’s lives wherever she ends up after that.
I will be joined by four (that’s right, four) other interns in just a few weeks and will stay with them the rest of the summer helping them get a start on their project and get adjusted to Haitian life. Stay tuned!
