Madame Dread

Postcard from Port-au-Prince

2010-07-29T15:27:00.000-04:00

2010-07-18T18:12:00.000-04:00

Postcard from Port-au-Prince
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2004105,00.html

(Appears in the July 26 print and iPad editions)

Time, July 17, 2010
Postcard from Port-au-Prince
On the ground with Haiti’s gingerbread houses
Six months after a devastating earthquake, many are looking to the past as a possible way forward.
By Kathie Klarreich

Port-au-Prince’s dominant landmarks these days are bundles of twisted rebar, chunks of concrete and other signs of ruin from Haiti’s massive Jan. 12 earthquake. Yet 200 colorful, run-down wooden houses stand remarkably intact above the city’s gray sea of rubble, in neighborhoods like Bois Verna.

They still sport their intricate fret- and latticework, shiplap siding and ornamental voodoo patterns. Known as Haiti’s gingerbread houses, they recall a more prosperous era (the late 1800s and early 1900s) in what is today the western hemisphere’s poorest country. “These houses tell us how the Haitian population once created a community,” says Haitian architect and former Culture Minister Olsen Jean Julien. “From a psychological point of view, they’re very important.”

That’s because the gingerbread houses may help guide Haiti to its postquake future. Even before the earthquake, preservationists like Jean Julien, backed by Haiti’s influential Foundation for Knowledge & Liberty (FOKAL), urged that the structures be renovated. But they say the project is especially urgent now since the gingerbreads are vivid examples of how Haiti should rebuild. “Almost all these houses are over 100 years old, yet very few actually collapsed” in the earthquake because they were so well built, says Randolph Langenbach, a U.S. architect who led a team co-sponsored by the New York City–based World Monuments Fund to inspect the gingerbreads in advance of renovation work.

Many of Haiti’s newer but shoddily built and shamefully unregulated concrete structures collapsed in the 7.0-magnitude temblor, which killed more than 200,000 people and left 1.5 million homeless.

The gingerbread-architecture movement adapted French and Victorian styles to Haiti’s Caribbean milieu. The buildings are “not colonial architecture,” says Stephen Kelley, one of Langenbach’s colleagues. “They’re physical embodiments of the lives of the Haitian people.”

And function shines as impressively as form: many of the houses feature higher ceilings for enhanced ventilation in the Haitian heat, four-sided roofs to better resist hurricane winds and expert carpentry that allows more flexibility in earthquakes. The gingerbread houses “are proof that if you build a wooden structure well, it’s a simpler way to make something that can withstand” nature’s wrath, says Eduardo Pardo Fernandez, a project manager for the Miami firm Duany Plater-Zyberk, which is designing postquake Haitian housing.

As a result, say architects like Pardo, wood and wood facsimiles look to be a big part of Haiti’s reconstruction—especially the more immediate task of providing sturdier temporary housing, before this summer’s hurricanes arrive, for the hundreds of thousands of Haitians living in rickety tents and jerry-built shacks. The Shelter Cluster, a group of more than 70 relief organizations that includes the U.N., has committed to erecting 130,000 transitional or semipermanent homes to ease Haitians out of squalid tent camps.

Many, like the up to 6,000 shelters that the Maryland-based Cooperative Housing Foundation International hopes to provide, use wood, plastic siding and steel as well as green components like solar lamps. The Duany firm’s Haitian Cabins employ a flexible fiber composite that has a high energy-saving-insulation rating and are designed to allow ample cross-ventilation. They can be modified, expanded or arranged in bunches to accommodate Haitian lakous, or extendedfamily communities.

Still, fewer than 6,000 new homes have been built in postquake Haiti. The core problems: a scarcity of available land to put them on—a situation made worse because the earthquake destroyed most Haitian property titles—and mounds of quake rubble choking land that could be used. Pressure is on for the Haitian government to begin to resolve those issues—as well as promote the gingerbread houses and the construction standards they exemplify. “If we don’t respect the values of the past,” Jean Julien insists, “we can’t build a better future.”

ESPN - World Cup/Joe Gaetjens

2010-07-12T12:17:00.000-04:00

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=5231841

ESPN - World Cup/Joe Gaetjens

2010-07-12T12:16:00.001-04:00

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=5231841

The NGO Conundrum: Is Haiti's Future a Republic of Aid?

2010-07-12T12:04:00.000-04:00

The NGO Conundrum: Is Haiti's Future a Republic of Aid?

Cover Preview: Inside Bill Clinton's New Plan to Fix Haiti

2010-07-12T11:55:00.000-04:00

Cover Preview: Inside Bill Clinton's New Plan to Fix Haiti

Knight International Journalism Fellowship

2010-06-16T18:03:00.001-04:00

http://www.knightfoundation.org/news/press_room/knight_press_releases/detail.dot?id=364281

Haiti relief: 'Cinema Under the Stars' helps Haitians move on - CSMonitor.com

2010-05-17T15:12:00.000-04:00

Haiti relief: 'Cinema Under the Stars' helps Haitians move on - CSMonitor.com

In Haiti, international relief targets rats and bugs - CSMonitor.com

2010-05-10T23:42:00.000-04:00

In Haiti, international relief targets rats and bugs - CSMonitor.com

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/09/1619452/two-different-moms-same-giving.html

2010-05-09T09:33:00.001-04:00

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.miamiherald.com%2F2010%2F05%2F09%2F1619452%2Ftwo-different-moms-same-giving.html&h=2b434

note the error -it's a 3-hour bus ride, not 30

CSMonitor: Lack of security in the camps

2010-05-05T14:37:00.001-04:00

www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2010/0505/Haiti-relief-workers-try-to-stem-rape-in-refugee-camps

Earth Day

2010-04-22T20:54:00.002-04:00

http://globaljournalist.org/rado/2010/04/22/

Haiti is less than five minutes of the entire broadcast but the topic, the impact of natural disasters with reporters from china, kenya, belgium, haiti and UK makes for an interesting listen......

CSMonitor April 20: confusion in the camps

2010-04-20T13:59:00.001-04:00

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2010/0420/Haiti-relief-Anger-confusion-as-authorities-relocate-homeless

Relocation: Corail Cesselesse

2010-04-15T21:20:00.002-04:00

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2010/0415/Haiti-relief-Refugees-move-to-higher-drier-ground-as-rainy-season-begins

Michelle Obama coming to Haiti

2010-04-14T17:05:00.002-04:00

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/America/2010/0413/Why-Michelle-Obama-is-on-a-surprise-visit-to-Haiti

Michelle Obama in Haiti

2010-04-14T08:09:00.001-04:00

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2010/0413/Michelle-Obama-spotlights-Haiti-relief-efforts

CSMonitor April 12 Penn + Shakira in Camps

2010-04-12T20:33:00.002-04:00

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2014/4012/Shakira-visits-Sean-Penn-launches-effort-to-help-rebuild-Haiti

CSMonitor March 30 2010

2010-03-30T19:43:00.002-04:00

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2010/0330/Haiti-reconstruction-starts-at-home-groups-say-ahead-of-UN-donor-conference

CS Monitor March 29 2010

2010-03-29T20:49:00.001-04:00

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2010/0329/Beyond-Haiti-relief-UN-looks-at-building-outside-Port-au-Prince

Radio Interview New Hampshire Public Radio 3/29/10

2010-03-29T20:23:00.001-04:00

http://www.nhpr.org/node/31789

My "Debriefing" on NewsHour with Gwen Ifill

2010-03-23T10:30:00.003-04:00

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/weather/jan-june10/haiti_03-22.html

Haiti races to house post quake homeless in Monitor

2010-03-22T00:42:00.001-04:00

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2010/0321/Haiti-races-to-house-post-quake-homeless-before-the-rainy-season

The week after the quake

2010-03-20T10:00:00.002-04:00

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/worldview/100115/haiti-much-more-story

Baby Jenny

2010-03-20T09:53:00.001-04:00

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=9584273

Election Piece in the Monitor

2010-03-18T21:35:00.002-04:00

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2010/0318/After-Haiti-earthquake-council-prepares-for-elections-from-Gold's-gym

Election Piece on Time.com

2010-03-18T21:23:00.001-04:00

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1973228,00.html

Post Disaster Needs Assessment in CS Monitor

2010-03-18T11:15:00.004-04:00

Sorry, this is the page, somehow it seems difficult to get from here directly but it's posted on the csmonitor.com site

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/2010/0317/Haiti-says-it-needs-11.5-billion-rebuild-after-earthquake

My unexpected interview with President Preval

2010-03-18T11:09:00.003-04:00

This link is also not connecting properly, not sure why, but it's posted on the csmonitor.com site

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2010/0317/Interview-with-Haiti-President-Rene-Preval-I-don

Haitian Women's Soccer Team

2010-03-17T09:36:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I followed the return of the women’s soccer team, who had just come back from a month of traveling (Dominican Republic, Panama, Costa Rica) where they played the finals for the region against the U.S. I was filming for ESPN, who is doing a documentary on them, and has been following the whole time. No matter that they lost the final, they made it there!

In Haiti, however, there wasn’t a single radio station that broadcast any of their games, not even the final. FOrget about TV - soccer plays 24/7 but not for women's games.

The girls took a bus to get back here from Santo Domingo. At the bus stop, which is a gas station, there wasn't a single person there to receive them. Then they took another bus back to the old Duvalier ranch, where they practice, and where some of them live. More now than before, b/c some of them lost their homes in the quake. The girls on the field who were practicing were the only ones who seemed excited that they were back. That was a beautiful moment, these young girls running up to the bus, shouting and cheering. Otherwise there, again, no one was there to receive them, acknowledge this great accomplishment.

Then I followed the goalie back to her house. It was dark by then. She lives in Cite Soleil (largest urban slum in the western hemisphere, site of much of the gang violence that crippled Haiti for the last six years or so). I watched her as she rolled her suitcase over what can best be dignfied as a corridor of debris. Pieces of houses on all sides. Her own had no roof - she and her family are living under a tarp. Typical scene - candle, one bed, a small charcoal fire, one table that stores all their belongings. Her mom and neighbors were happy to see her, but a far cry from the 15,000 that were cheering for her in the stadiums in Central America.....

2010-03-15T10:25:00.001-04:00

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-Issues/2010/0314/International-adoption-A-big-fix-brings-dramatic-decline

After Shock Response in Miami Herald Feb 23

2010-03-11T18:13:00.002-05:00

www.miamiherald.com/2010/02/23/1494678/i-fear-for-its-future.html

Christian Science Monitor Blog January - February 2010

2010-03-11T18:08:00.006-05:00

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Haiti-Earthquake-Diary

As world watches Chile earthquake deadly floods hit quake rocked Haiti

2010-03-11T18:02:00.009-05:00

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2010/0302/As-world-watches-Chile-earthquake-deadly-floods-hit-quake-rocked-Haiti

As Obama Meets Preval US quietly pulls out of Haiti

2010-03-11T17:56:00.004-05:00

www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2010/0310/Haiti-earthquake-As-Obama-meets-Preval-US-quietly-pulls-out-of-Haiti

Kathie's New Blog

2010-03-11T07:50:00.000-05:00

Good Morning All!

This is my new blog.

I hope that I can keep you up to date from Haiti and elsewhere!