What an interesting country and what great challenges and opportunities Rotary has.
Population 8.3 Million
Life Expectancy 53 years
Literacy Rate 52.9%
Infant Mortality 71.65 deaths/1,000 live births
Highest Infant Mortality rate in the world,
Highest Maternal Mortality rate in the world.
More than 2/3rds of the Labour Force do not have formal jobs
80% of the population lives below the poverty line and 54% in abject poverty.
We began with the usual travel challenges. Our flight from Miami to Port Au Prince was originally delayed for mechanical reasons. After sitting on board the plane for a half hour a man who had shown signs of mental illness while we were waiting on the flight at the gate flipped out. Clearly an anxiety attack of some kind. The police were called on to the plane and 5 of them after 1 hour were able to restrain him and take him off after climbing over seats and dragging him out to the isle. All the while, we were all on the plane and in true fashion a group of passengers had formed around the excitement and in the local “Caribbean Way” verbally and emotionally were getting involved. Needless to say the option of getting off and trying again later was being considered. We arrived in Haiti 2 hours late.
We were met by ADG’ Nessim Izmery in the customs area. Rotary has the respect to still be able to do this in the Caribbean. We went through the gauntlet of waiting locals who wanted to carry our bags and get some sort of contribution. We arrived at the Hotel Montana and were greeted by ADG Robert Leger, PDG Amos Derosier, Haitian Ambassador to the Bahamas Joseph, and PP of the Petion-Ville Club Claude Surena
Once Carla and I settled in we met the group in the lobby area to discuss PETS of the next day and briefly the plans for the meeting Sunday morning of the Haiti Task Force and the Water Symposium. ADG Caleb Lucien joined us for that meeting. From there we had dinner with Caleb and retired for the night.
PETS was held at Dr Guy Theadore’s medical facility. There were approximately 50 expected, but the final count was 13 Presidents, The same number of Secretaries, and a balance of 9 people who were Treasurers or other for a total of 35.
I did a theme and opening session in English using French slides and Caleb interpreted for me. It was great and we were OUI !, OUI !, OUI ! (Yes, Yes, Yes) through the whole thing.
The balance of the sessions were done in separate sessions, Presidents in one, Secretaries and Treasurers in another with a joint lunch and a joint closing. Super job done by the ADG’s. Clearly they are all very capable of Leading and Training their teams.
For the record, the ADG’s areas are as follows:
Nessim Izmery Central Haiti
Caleb Lucien North East
Robert Leger South
Yves Martial North West
A special Thank You again to the Haiti team of ADG’s for putting this on, Guy Theodore for hosting the event, Diana for helping set this up and to all who attended.
On Saturday night we attended a joint meeting of the clubs in Nessim’s area where they were doing the changeover. A wonderful event at a wonderful venue. They asked me to day a few words and since mostly everybody spoke French I said just a few. A Grook from Peit Hein says “If no thought your mind doth visit, make your speech not too explicit” I had the privilege of bestowing a Paul Harris on one of the hard working Rotarian ladies from the Rotary Club of Petion-Ville.
The next morning we had a breakfast at the picturesque Hotel restaurant and then went on to meet with the Haiti Task Force (4 ADG’s and Chaired by Guy Theodore) Charles Adams, Advisor to the Pure Water for the World, and Roman Cipus, the Haiti manager for the Pure Water for the World, and Dr. Claude Surena, the Chair of the Water Symposium to be held in Haiti in December 14th and 15th 2007.
The meeting achieved 2 great things. It was agreed among all present that any further advancement of any program involving Rotarians in Haiti would be channeled through the Task Force and their input and involvement would be integral to the planning of the projects. The Pure Water for the World project is one that demands thinking beyond the project by club thinking. The intension is to roll out the Pure Water program in the same way the Polio Eradication Program rolled out. In Haiti the specific resources are the Faith Based constituencies. Pure Water has done a study of the demand by each of those sectors. It was agreed by all that the plan forward was for Pure Water for the World to provide the Task Force and myself with a copy of the document which clearly defines the scope of the project, the resources they expect to be involved, the research data and the execution plan. We as a District should be very excited about this project for many reasons. Updates will follow.
We then went to lunch at the Petion-Ville Club with ADG Nessim. IT was a wonderful experience at a great private club. Off to the Airport. American Airlines, flight delayed 2 hours, arrived at the hotel 11:30 PM in Ft. Lauderdale.
The following are pictures from Haiti. A typical bus, a group picture of PETS, over-crowding in the hills of P. A. P., a typical street, vendors that sell everything and anything and the White House.
Population 8.3 Million
Life Expectancy 53 years
Literacy Rate 52.9%
Infant Mortality 71.65 deaths/1,000 live births
Highest Infant Mortality rate in the world,
Highest Maternal Mortality rate in the world.
More than 2/3rds of the Labour Force do not have formal jobs
80% of the population lives below the poverty line and 54% in abject poverty.
We began with the usual travel challenges. Our flight from Miami to Port Au Prince was originally delayed for mechanical reasons. After sitting on board the plane for a half hour a man who had shown signs of mental illness while we were waiting on the flight at the gate flipped out. Clearly an anxiety attack of some kind. The police were called on to the plane and 5 of them after 1 hour were able to restrain him and take him off after climbing over seats and dragging him out to the isle. All the while, we were all on the plane and in true fashion a group of passengers had formed around the excitement and in the local “Caribbean Way” verbally and emotionally were getting involved. Needless to say the option of getting off and trying again later was being considered. We arrived in Haiti 2 hours late.
We were met by ADG’ Nessim Izmery in the customs area. Rotary has the respect to still be able to do this in the Caribbean. We went through the gauntlet of waiting locals who wanted to carry our bags and get some sort of contribution. We arrived at the Hotel Montana and were greeted by ADG Robert Leger, PDG Amos Derosier, Haitian Ambassador to the Bahamas Joseph, and PP of the Petion-Ville Club Claude Surena
Once Carla and I settled in we met the group in the lobby area to discuss PETS of the next day and briefly the plans for the meeting Sunday morning of the Haiti Task Force and the Water Symposium. ADG Caleb Lucien joined us for that meeting. From there we had dinner with Caleb and retired for the night.
PETS was held at Dr Guy Theadore’s medical facility. There were approximately 50 expected, but the final count was 13 Presidents, The same number of Secretaries, and a balance of 9 people who were Treasurers or other for a total of 35.
I did a theme and opening session in English using French slides and Caleb interpreted for me. It was great and we were OUI !, OUI !, OUI ! (Yes, Yes, Yes) through the whole thing.
The balance of the sessions were done in separate sessions, Presidents in one, Secretaries and Treasurers in another with a joint lunch and a joint closing. Super job done by the ADG’s. Clearly they are all very capable of Leading and Training their teams.
For the record, the ADG’s areas are as follows:
Nessim Izmery Central Haiti
Caleb Lucien North East
Robert Leger South
Yves Martial North West
A special Thank You again to the Haiti team of ADG’s for putting this on, Guy Theodore for hosting the event, Diana for helping set this up and to all who attended.
On Saturday night we attended a joint meeting of the clubs in Nessim’s area where they were doing the changeover. A wonderful event at a wonderful venue. They asked me to day a few words and since mostly everybody spoke French I said just a few. A Grook from Peit Hein says “If no thought your mind doth visit, make your speech not too explicit” I had the privilege of bestowing a Paul Harris on one of the hard working Rotarian ladies from the Rotary Club of Petion-Ville.
The next morning we had a breakfast at the picturesque Hotel restaurant and then went on to meet with the Haiti Task Force (4 ADG’s and Chaired by Guy Theodore) Charles Adams, Advisor to the Pure Water for the World, and Roman Cipus, the Haiti manager for the Pure Water for the World, and Dr. Claude Surena, the Chair of the Water Symposium to be held in Haiti in December 14th and 15th 2007.
The meeting achieved 2 great things. It was agreed among all present that any further advancement of any program involving Rotarians in Haiti would be channeled through the Task Force and their input and involvement would be integral to the planning of the projects. The Pure Water for the World project is one that demands thinking beyond the project by club thinking. The intension is to roll out the Pure Water program in the same way the Polio Eradication Program rolled out. In Haiti the specific resources are the Faith Based constituencies. Pure Water has done a study of the demand by each of those sectors. It was agreed by all that the plan forward was for Pure Water for the World to provide the Task Force and myself with a copy of the document which clearly defines the scope of the project, the resources they expect to be involved, the research data and the execution plan. We as a District should be very excited about this project for many reasons. Updates will follow.
We then went to lunch at the Petion-Ville Club with ADG Nessim. IT was a wonderful experience at a great private club. Off to the Airport. American Airlines, flight delayed 2 hours, arrived at the hotel 11:30 PM in Ft. Lauderdale.
The following are pictures from Haiti. A typical bus, a group picture of PETS, over-crowding in the hills of P. A. P., a typical street, vendors that sell everything and anything and the White House.
