of Syrian nuns and serious electrical power issues

I've been meaning to write posts for the past couple of weeks. One I even have written, but no photos uploaded - and I have a lot of them to go with that entry.  The power here has been sketchy lately, especially with all the rainstorms we've been having (another entry).  It's been coming on late at night and leaving before dawn.  A few times I've gotten up and checked mail, but writing takes more than that.

We actually had power when I got home this afternoon following church and a graduation ceremony - such a luxury - and I checked mail before Evening Prayer.  "I'll iron after I do the dishes," I thought, "and then I will call Mom and Dad."   So the power went off during supper.  Hmph.  Right when it was getting dark. At this point, of course, I'm used to it.  I should acknowledge, though, that I've called these "serious power issues," but we still have much more power than we did the summer I was living in Darbonne. It's all relative.

After dishes and Compline, I headed to bed.  Then around 10PM, the power came back on - so I went straight to the phone to talk to my parents and then came downstairs to iron two scapulars before tomorrow. 

I still don't have the brain power to write or upload what I'd like to, but I've had this article on my "must post this" list for a week or two now, so it's time to share it with you.  Amazing woman.  She is smuggling medical supplies to help the wounded among the activists in Syria.  The beginning of the article is below with a photo of other Middle-Eastern nuns praying - the woman in question is on such a dangerous mission that she has to remain anonymous. She is clearly a woman of courage and faith.  I would love to be more like her.

Here is another excerpt:

Supplies quickly ran out due to the blockade. Some activists managed to enter the city to help supply ad-hoc clinics in the basements of residential buildings. Many died under sniper fire, according to reports by the Syrian Network for Human Rights.

"Sister Nanique decided to go to Baba Amr when it was under fire, which meant practical suicide," Fadi says, referring to one of the most devastated parts of Homs. "Getting to Homs was dangerous, let alone Baba Amr. It was the most violently bombarded region in Homs and was surrounded by the army."

Fadi says he tried to discourage Sister Nanique from going to Baba Amr.

"I could not get her to change her mind, although she was fully aware of the hazard of her mission. There was only one thing she could think of: the fact that more and more people will die if she did not get there and give them the right medication."

To read the whole article:

http://womensenews.org/story/war/120416/syrian-nun-plays-key-role-in-medical-underground

when the saints

sewage treatment



NPR story (link below)

A friend pointed me to a recent article on NPR on the sewer system - or, more accurately, the lack thereof - in Port-au-Prince.  I live here, and I had no idea there was none at all.  I don't suppose it surprises me, though.  I see the drainage ditches and canals every day.  They handle a lot more than runoff from the rain, as I mentioned in my last post.  Think of those whose daily job it is to clean them or to empty the septic tanks. 

You do need to know, however, that it isn't quite as obvious as the article would have it seem - and there are certainly plenty of homes which have septic systems in use apparently much like the ones at home.  Remember, the US has plenty of locations which rely on septic systems rather than piped sewage treatment.  Just not places the size of Port-au-Prince.

So, yes, it is bad. No, it is not as though you walked about surrounded by raw sewage wherever you went.

I wonder if much of it is also the built-up hillside around the edge of the city, homemade neighborhoods, unplanned, unwired, unwatered, so to speak.  I have been fortunate enough to live with nice facilities and to use them elsewhere; I am too much an American to do without decent ones.  I remember using a few rural outhouses as a child, and I can live without hot water, but I don't think I'd manage if all of Port-au-Prince was like the situation described in the article. I trust that God would give me the grace to do so if I were called to, actually, but so far, no.

Fortunately, the article describes not only the sewage situation in the city, but also what some people are doing to make a difference.  I was especially impressed with the description of the toilet facilities in a new school. (When did I start being impressed by toilet facilities? But I am, truly.)

[T]here are signs of hope. Only a hundred yards or so from the outhouse is a tidy-looking school for 170 students — with a brand-new, honest-to-god toilet.

The school's principal, Wilfred Elma, proudly shows it off. There are separate chambers, all spotlessly clean and odor-free. "This is for the boys, this is for the teacher, and this is for the girls," Elma says. "This is the first time they are using a toilet that smells so good."

"I think it's amazing!" Rouzier says. "These children have never had the experience of using a toilet! I don't think many ... in North America understand what that represents — that it's the first time they're using a proper toilet!"

And not only that, but this toilet is a biodigester. It recycles waste and turns it into methane gas. The principal says they'll use the gas for cooking.

It's a small step toward solving an overwhelming problem.

I must say, I'm also impressed with the plans to use the methane gas. Maybe we need to start using some of these (or more of them, if we already are) in the US.  If you really can make use of it, why not take advantage of it?  Goodness knows we need more renewable energy sources in the US, but even more so here where there isn't enough to go around.  Not only am I impressed with toilets, I'm also really pleased when there is power. 

Now, revenons a nos moutons, as they say. Back to the Port-au-Prince sewage article.

The best news in all of this is that they are building a treatment plant.  There may be no pipes to bring it in, but it can be hauled by truck.  Once treated, it will be put to good use.

description of the new sewage treatment plant outside Port-au-Prince
see link to full NPR article below

Amazingly, this plant and another one 12 miles away that's about to open will handle the city's entire output. The sludge will be used for agricultural compost, and the detoxified effluent will irrigate a grove of trees to be planted around the treatment ponds. "Come back in two years, and this will look like a park," Etienne says.

Soon there will be treatment plants like this one in seven other Haitian cities. "We already have the funds," he says. The money comes from a post-earthquake donation by the Spanish government.

Things are definitely changing around here.  Awareness of health and sanitation issues has grown by leaps and bounds in the last couple of years.  It's heartbreaking that it was jump-started by a cholera epidemic, but at least there is the hope of something new and different coming into being.  I hope someday everyone will be able to afford a real bathroom. 

Go into yours, look around, and give thanks for it.  And if that feels strange to you, know that this is just another sign of how much we have and take for granted.

You can  read the full article or listen to the radio program here:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/04/13/150501695/port-au-prince-a-city-of-millions-with-no-sewer-system

following the rains

We went out of town Saturday for a funeral. Driving up the coast north of Port-au-Prince towards Arcahaie, we could see the effects of all the recent rainfall. It’s been pretty heavy recently and has started falling during the day rather than only at night. Flooding has been a real problem.

sandbags in front of the American Embassy in Haiti

As we were leaving town, we passed the American Embassy. I had heard that they had had some flooding problems. Honestly, that had surprised me; I expected them to have built it with better drainage. It’s a relatively new building, if I remember correctly. Sure enough, when we passed it, there were sandbags out front which they must have been using (Fort Wayne friends: flashbacks from sandbagging during the flood of 1982!).

a flooded stretch of the highway north of Port-au-Prince
note stalled taptap being pushed out of the way in the background, right

trying to avoid the deeper parts of the flooded highway

Traffic, too, was much slower and heavier because of the flooding, which slowed us all down. We came upon a few flooded stretches of highway – not a problem for us, as we have four-wheel drive, fortunately – but we did see one stalled-out taptap being pushed out of the way.


flooding affects traffic on foot, too - even cows



flooded tent north of Port-au-Prince

 On the way back, just north of this area, I saw an area with flooded tents. Living in a tent during a heavy rain is difficult at best; imagine being completely flooded out. I do hope they had built some shelves or something inside so they didn’t lose all their belongings.

the rain hasn't done much for the roads themselves



all green after the rain
meadows and mountains near Port-au-Prince

Further north, however, we saw the bright side of the rains. It turned out to be a lovely day for driving, and the greens were so bright. Last time I passed through this area, it was pretty brown; there was so little rainfall this winter. It was good to see the fields alive, both for the sake of the farmers and for the sake of the land itself and its beauty.



the hills are alive...

I pray that the rains bring much good to the land and to the farmers that count on it.

water in the time of cholera

NPR has just put up an article, including audio and video, about the difficulties in getting clean water (or any water, for that matter) here in Haiti.  I've written on this before (see below post), but it can't be discussed often enough.

Here is the link:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/04/12/150302830/water-in-the-time-of-cholera-haitis-most-urgent-health-problem?sc=fb&cc=fph-problem?sc=fb&cc=fp

Here are some excerpts.  The first is the beginning, part of the description of the situation:

In the teeming city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, millions of people have no reliable water supply.

Many of the underground pipes that did exist were ruptured by the 2010 earthquake. Many public water kiosks are dry.

So life for most people is a constant struggle for water. And now that cholera has invaded Haiti, safe drinking water has become Haiti's most urgent public health problem. Contaminated water is the main cause of cholera, which has sickened 530,000 Haitians since late 2010 and killed more than 7,000.

In Port-au-Prince, street vendors sell water in plastic baggies for a few pennies. Much of the city's water supply is trucked in by commercial vendors or a dwindling number of nongovernmental organizations that took on the task after the quake.

On one busy street corner, just outside one of the city's biggest slums, people with plastic buckets jostle to get to a length of garden hose that snakes out of a hole in the pavement — a source of free water.


The end of this part I find really exciting. I hope it works!

A hundred miles southwest there's an even bigger failure, in a seaside area called Petite Riviere des Nippes on Haiti's long, westward-pointing peninsula.

Nine years ago, the Haitian government built an elaborate water system there. It was designed to pump water from a pristine, protected stream to a hilltop reservoir and distribute it through pipes to the area. It was a big project, costing several hundred thousand dollars. A red government sign called it "a public treasure."

But it hasn't functioned in more than two years. The pump failed. A truck reportedly drove over a pipe and crushed it. Local authorities couldn't scrape up the money to get it repaired. And it's unclear when the national government plans to fix it.

"It's a tragedy," says Kenny Rae of OxfamAmerica, "particularly in the middle of a cholera outbreak, when people have to now use water they take from the river. We've tested it. It's very, very contaminated."

So Oxfam is trying a simple, low-tech solution to provide clean water. The NGO is installing what they call "chlorine boxes" — green metal poles with dispensers on top. With a quick tap, it squirts just the right amount of chlorine to disinfect a 5-gallon bucket of water.

Soon there will be 90 chlorine boxes scattered around the surrounding villages, which get their water from sometimes-contaminated streams. "The cost of chlorine is very low," Rae says. "A $100 tub will cover all dispensers for six months."

More posts on this topic:
http://www.srsarah.blogspot.com/2012/02/toujou-bwe-dlo-trete.html
http://www.srsarah.blogspot.com/2012/01/buying-water.html
http://www.srsarah.blogspot.com/2009/07/chasing-down-truck.html

la bouillie farine France - hot cinnamon pudding

Now that everyone can eat dessert again, I'd like to share a recipe from Haiti.   It looks like pudding, it has the consistency of pudding, but it's served hot.  And it doesn't come in a box. 

Thanks go to SMT for making it for us and for showing me how it is done.

Bouillie Farine France

Ingredients – all quantities very approximate; adjust as needed.

Flour – a couple of handfuls, maybe ¾ cup
Water – at least 2 cups

Cinnamon bark – small handful

Star anise – optional (may be added with the cinnamon bark)

Sugar – a good scoop – between 2/3 and 1 cup

Salt – pinch

Condensed milk – 1-2 small cans (170g/160ml each)

Butter – 1 spoonful – optional

Process

Put flour in a pan and heat for a few minutes, stirring constantly. (Just dry flour. No butter or oil.)
When it begins to brown, pour it into a container and set aside to cool.

Put water into a pan with cinnamon bark and boil for a while till the water is getting brown, infused with cinnamon. Add more if a lot has boiled away.

Add sugar and salt; stir till dissolved.

Add a little water to the flour you set aside earlier, and stir until it’s no longer lumpy.

Add mixture to the cinnamon sugar water in the pan; stir in.

Turn flame/burner temperature down and simmer, stirring.

Pour one can of milk into the container where the flour mixture was and swish it around to get more of the mixture out; add it to the pan.

Simmer and stir, scraping sides and bottom. Add another can of milk unless it seems thin. (NB: At this point it is around the consistency of a good white sauce with cheese for mac and cheese; I would use the same sense of adding or not adding milk according to the thickness of the simmering concoction. It was good with two cans, though.)

Taste test. Add more sugar if need be.

At this point you may add a little butter if you like.

When it looks like the right consistency for pudding, pour into a bowl and serve very warm. If you finish it just before supper, it should be around the right temperature by the time you finish eating. No need to strain out the cinnamon bark – just pick it out as you eat. It won’t hurt you if you chew on it by accident. (-:

Yum!

serving up the Bouillie Farine France

Ideas for variations I’d like to try:

Add vanilla
Add chocolate chips (melt in at the end)
Replace cinnamon with lemon or orange zest or rind

Add chopped dried fruit with the cinnamon bark

Stir in raspberries, fresh or frozen (thawed!), probably at the end of the process

Try it cold.

I’m going to have fun playing with this when I visit my family this summer.

To the best niece in the world: I’m planning to try this with you when I visit. Consider yourself warned. (-:

the end is life

‎"The proclamation of Easter Day is that all is well. And as a Christian, I say this not with the easy optimism of one who has never known a time when all was not well but as one who has faced the Cross in all its obscenity as well as in all its glory, who has known one way or another what it is like to live separated from God. In the end, his will, not ours, is done. Love is the victor. Death is not the end. The end is life. His life and our lives, through him, in him. Existence has greater depths of beauty, mystery, and benediction than the wildest visionary ever dared to dream. Christ our Lord is risen."

-- F. Buechner, The Magnificent Defeat

(Thanks to JH)