where is bob?

2012-02-17T20:44:00.002-03:00

I tried something a bit different on my return flight from Haiti this time. I routed my return through the Turks and Caicos islands. So I had myself a little 4 hour micro vacation. I got a cab to Grace Bay, one of the main resort areas with 12 miles of continuous beach. I went for walk, had a swim, and had lunch at one of the resorts. By the time I was done, I felt totally relaxed, just like a real vacation, then hopped on the next plane and headed back home. I couldn't seem to find a flag anywhere to take a picture with, and the woman in the airport gift shop refused to let me take a picture, so I was forced to take the shot below surreptitiously using my zoom lens. And I'm not in the shot, but it's the best I could do. I didn't actually see a flag anywhere in my 4 hours of wandering.

2012-02-15T19:59:00.002-03:00

Almost every time I visit Haiti, I try to see one farmer's plot which I've been following since 2005 when he planted it. Now, 7 years later it's becoming a small forest. This small grove of trees (Simarouba glauca for those who care) has survived goats, hurricanes, earthquakes, and vandalism, thanks to Jessner's perseverance--goats being the worst of all. He told me today when I shot this photo, that trees are life, when we're born, it's on a bed made of wood, and when we die it's in a box made of wood. And in between we survive on avocado, oranges, and mangos. The second photo is from 2007, just for reference. He may even be standing beside the exact same tree.

2012-02-14T10:58:00.001-03:00

Today's discussions will be about 2 topics, watersheds, and evaluations. The picture below shows a view of one of the watersheds in Haiti where we work, the Riviere Gauche watershed. The green dots show the communities where we are working and that we have pretty good coverage of the upper part of the watershed. This is more by good fortune than design, since we started working in this area before we started thinking strategically about watersheds, but it puts us in a good position for future work at a watershed level.

As far as evaluations go, this graph shows a sample of the results from our recent analysis in Haiti, showing the average number of trees planted by farmers. This data shows that farmers participating in our programme ('members') plant at least 3 times as many trees as farmers who do not participate in our programme.

Anyhow, just a sample of the discussion we'll be having today.

2012-02-13T21:39:00.001-03:00

Today was an all-day meeting with staff here to talk about our research programme. I know, not very exciting, but the idea is to take some of the best lessons from product development in the business world, and apply them so we can generate the best possible ideas to benefit farmers. Problem is not everyone agrees all the time, and so there was quite a bit of let's say lively debate. On the weekend I had a discussion with some other foreigners who were advising me that local folks here will feel obliged to agree with a foreigner while inside they feel humiliated. This is not the case with us. Sometimes I almost wish we had that problem. Such discussions like the one we had today require the ability to listen, and respect others viewpoints, while also being able to express one's own perhaps differing viewpoint with care. Not an easy thing at all in a language which is not one's own.

2012-02-12T15:10:00.001-03:00

We visited a farm on a hillside that looks down toward the Dominican border with Haiti. One of the visitors asked where exactly on the hillside the border was. The farmer responded, "Do you see that mango down there? There's a bunch of trees in front of it and then that one mango. That's where the border is." As he was giving this description, I realized that the border actually starts where the trees stop. But not what you're thinking. All the trees are on the Haitian side! Once you get across the border it is pretty much barren, with a few shrubs here and there. This is contrary to the common wisdom, as you likely know, everyone says that there are more trees in the DR and you can actually trace the border by the tree cover. It's true overall that there is more tree cover in the DR than Haiti by a long shot, but in this particular case you can trace the border by following the trees on the Haitian side. The reason for this is partly because the plain area in the DR in this particular region is drier compared to the higher altitude Haitian part, but also because of the share-cropping arrangement typical in this area. Dominican farmers will strike an agreement with a Haitian farmer allowing the Haitian to manage his land and split the profits. In this specific case, this means the Haitian farmer is cutting trees and making charcoal, something he doesn't do when he returns home in the evening to his own farm. Surprised? I am a little. The photos below show Haiti in the foreground, the DR in the background.

2012-02-12T14:41:00.001-03:00

I ran ahead of the visiting group so I could get a shot of them on a hillside trail. They in turn got a shot of me. Where is Bob?

2012-02-06T12:17:00.001-03:00

Maybe it's time for a quick Kreyol lesson:

"Ki jan ou ye?"--How are you?
(KEE JAWN OO YAY, except the N is nasal as in Jean Cretien)

"Pa pi mal"--Not bad
(PAH PEE MAL)

Today begins the first day of a donor visit. Several supporters of our organization will be arriving from the US to see the work that is being done, learn a bit about Haiti, and connect with our local staff and farmers. I am part of the team that is hosting the visit, and will be functioning as interpreter. I will probably lose internet capability for a few days, although connectivity here has been getting better and better since 2010, so who knows. Maybe you will hear from me this evening.

2012-02-05T21:28:00.000-03:00

Always happy when I arrive. The plane even landed in Port au Prince 10 minutes ahead of schedule. My ride was here to pick me up which I am also grateful for--that doesn't always happen either. Which, is another thing, I love it when porters and cab drivers in the airport try and pretend like they're your friend who's come to pick you up. It strikes me as hilarious somehow. Like they think I'm just that dumb. Or so egotistical that I would believe that random cab drivers recognize me.

2012-02-05T07:42:00.001-03:00

I just got the now almost predictable reaction from a customs officer:
"Where are you going?"
"Haiti"
"For how long?"
"2 weeks"
"THAT'S all the luggage your taking for 2 weeks?"
"Yes."

I'm always somewhat pleased by that response, but it also makes me a bit nervous, because it seems to make them suspicious. But then, what doesn't make the suspicious?

2012-02-05T02:50:00.000-03:00

So I have a small confession. When I travel, I like to plug into my mp3 player and listen to the song Extreme Ways by Moby--the theme song from the Bourne Identity--and sort of imagine like I'm Jason Bourne. Which by the way, the only resemblance between me and Jason Bourne is that we both have terrible memories. Oh, and we've both travelled on Canadian passports.

2012-02-05T02:40:00.001-03:00

Every year I bring a tomato plant or two in off my balcony in the fall, and try to keep them alive over winter. I have never done this successfully until this year. For some reason--the warm weather, I think--I've not only managed to keep the plants alive but have even got two tomatoes. The photo below is the only record, because that red one on the left, I ate today. If I can get them to last another couple months, I might be able to put them back outside, and get a second year out of these.

Anyhow, I had to eat the ripe one, because I'm going away and it would be overripe by the time I got back. This is my first trip in a while, after an almost solid 4 months at home.

2012-01-21T01:13:00.001-03:00

I have one word for you: 24 degrees Celsius. Ok, that's 3 words, or two words and one number. My point is that is the temperature here in Texas. Feels pretty good, coming from minus 6.

Today was a long but rewarding day hashing through some planning issues with the organization I mentioned this morning. This I think, puts a pretty heavy demand on my brain cells. Thinking takes energy for sure. And at the end of a day like this, I feel like my brain has had a work out. It's kind of similar in a way to the feeling you get in your legs when you've gone for a run. Tired but good. Tired but more alive somehow.

Tomorrow, I'll try to get a picture of what 24 degrees looks like. For those of you who might have forgotten.

2012-01-20T08:06:00.000-03:00

Maybe I should change the name of this blog to whereintheairportisbob, since that seems to be where I post my entries from these days. I just got through one of the longest security checks I've had in a while. Even the flight crew line was backed up. So I guess somewhere in the world some piece of information surfaces which requires everyone to be on high alert, and ultimately forces me to make a choice between a pat-down and a body scan.

This weekend I'm involved in a workshop. Two days of what is likely to be a fairly intense planning session with folks from an organization working in Haiti. Yesterday the media specialist from the organization gave me a call to ask me how I wanted the meeting room set up and what kind of projection system I need. I thought this was very conscientious and a pleasant surprise. It was also a bit amusing to me when I think of all the times I've used a projector run by a gas generator roaring just outside the office window, or done workshops using index cards held down by small stones to keep them from blowing away in some farmer's front yard. Come to think of it, I haven't really run very many workshops at all under what I would call ideal conditions.

2012-01-09T23:03:00.001-03:00

My car numbers are in for those who find that interesting. Average fuel mileage for 2011 was 6.91 L/100km, almost exactly the same as last year. See the graph below for the week by week performance. Total cost per km, including vehicle depreciation was 36 cents/km, without considering depreciation, 25 cents per km. Only considering fuel, 8.4 cents per km.

2011-12-11T15:29:00.001-03:00

Two and a half months later, I finally get around to talking about my Mediterranean vacation. Italy, Croatia, Greece and Turkey. It was very nice. Mostly on the boat (cruise ship), and some stops to see pretty, and pretty interesting sites. My new thing is to try and take a photo with the flag of every new country I go to so here I've got Turkey and Greece. In total I added three new countries to my list. I have to now figure out a way to up those numbers somehow. If you're looking for a travel partner, let me know. Don't ask me to go to Haiti or the DR though. Going to a country 20 times does not add to my new country count.

I've also included a photo of the ship I was on. That in itself was fascinating to me. I mean they create an instant town, which runs flawlessly. Very impressive. It helps I guess that there were 750 crew on board (for 2000 guests).

2011-09-29T19:28:00.001-03:00

If you've been following, you know that I spent the summer working with all of our local partners collecting data of various stripes and colours in order to measure progress in our work. So I've now passed from the data collection phase to the data analysis phase. It kind of feels to me like the opening scene in the movie "The Matrix" where all that code is streaming down in Japanese. If you saw the movie you know what I'm talking about. If you didn't, I feel like there's these waves of numbers washing over me and I've got to figure out how to make sense of it all.

So that means statistics. Yup. And in order to generate those statistics, I've latched on to an open-source system known simply as "R', thanks to the recommendation of a former boss of mine. R is recognized as one of the top systems (languages) for statistical analysis, and is supported by a large community of statisticians, scientists, and nerds like myself. Besides being very powerful and flexible, it has the advantage of being free.

I'm just learning, and have barely scratched the surface of what this thing can do, and like much open-source software, figuring out what to do is not always that obvious. So today I was quite elated when I learned how to get R to read and process Thai script. This means I don't even need to understand Thai--which I don't--I can just ask the program to analyse it, and spit the numbers back to me. Once its in the condensed form after processing, I can then get key words translated (either by a human or by the internet), and voila, things make sense.

2011-09-21T21:26:00.001-03:00

My apologies to those you who are not from Ontario, because you're probably not going to know what I'm talking about. I try to keep this blog non-political, but I have to say that I'm totally against the idea of getting rid of smart metering. If only for personal, non-political reasons. Since the building I live in switched to smart metering, I've been saving about 30 dollars a month on hydro costs, through a combination of keeping my lights off except when necessary, not running air conditioning excessively, and other saving measures. So the removal of smart metering would be an economic loss for me. And it seems to me like it is better for us as a province. It is more accurate, cheaper to administer, encourages energy conservation, and personal responsibility. So what exactly is the logic for getting rid of it?

Please I urge who ever gets into power this fall in Ontario, keep smart metering!

2011-09-17T20:22:00.001-03:00

Home. Hot shower, three loads of laundry, microwaved take out. All the things I couldn't do when travelling. Now I will crawl under a rock for a day or two and decompress. As the song says, "I had to close down everything, I had to close down my mind." (Extreme Ways, Moby)

2011-09-15T21:07:00.002-03:00

The last picture for the summer of a bunch of farmers sitting around in a meeting. For a few months anyways. When I was younger, I used to think that meetings were a complete waste of time. I would rather be out doing--taking action. But I've come to realize that meetings are, let's say, a necessary evil.

It reminds me of a movie, Canadian Bacon, starring John Candy as sheriff Bud Boomer. In the movie, a rebel band of angry Americans decide they are going to invade Canada. As Sheriff Boomer rallys his troops at Niagara Falls, on the eve of their invasion, he says, "There is a time to think, and a time to act, and this my friends, is no time to think."

So it seems to me that there are occasions when ideas need to be shared, differences need to be resolved, plans need to be made, resources need to be accounted for. At this point in my life I would say that meetings are not inherently a waste of time, but it is still true that a lot of time is wasted in meetings. Meetings, just like anything else in life require certain skills and knowledge in order to do them right. That is one of the benefits of these participatory tools I keep talking about. They can turn a random shouting match into an exciting breeding ground for new ideas. They're just one small piece of a much bigger puzzle, but they help at least take some of that time wasting out of the equation.

2011-09-15T08:35:00.001-03:00

Today is the last of the participatory workshops in my summer of evaluation trips. I'm looking forward to it, and am sure it will be fun, interesting, and a profound learning experience, but I'm also just looking forward to it being done. I feel like I've been sprinting for a solid 2 months. The stack of boarding pass ticket stubs I've accumulated is looking like a deck of cards. But soon the summer will end, and my fall of data analysis will begin, followed by my winter of report writing. That will put me up to January, when I'll probably start getting cabin fever, and be ready to be back on the road again, or more accurately, in the air again.

2011-09-15T08:26:00.001-03:00

Yesterday I noticed this pot in the kitchen and wondered to myself a) why would anyone keep using a pot in this condition when there are dozens of others b) what happened to it--it's heavy aluminum so you would really have to work to put these kinds of dents in it. So this morning I asked my landlady, "What happened to this pot?" Her eyes lit up and she said, "Oh, it's 70 years old! It belonged to my grandmother! It's made of pure aluminum, and you can't find pots like that anymore. When I die, I'll leave it for someone else."

Which just goes to show, don't jump to conclusions about anything. It doesn't exactly tell me how it came to acquire that particular shape, but this pot must have cooked rice and beans all through World War II, the Trujillo years, the cold war, Balaguer...

2011-09-14T20:48:00.000-03:00

Waterfalls and sunsets, the two things no one can resist taking pictures of, no matter how much you know in your heart that you can never capture the moment with anything remotely resembling justice. But here it is, my waterfall shot from some river somewhere in the Dominican Republic. I'm not even going to tell you where, because, honestly, this spot is so beautiful, and mostly undisturbed, so I selfishly want to keep it that way. It has been so hot and humid here, and the water was so cool I had to go for a swim, despite my lack of preparedness. I will definitely come back here again. I should add that I was in this spot for work reasons, scoping out a potential project site. The swimming was more of an accident than anything else.

2011-09-12T21:53:00.002-03:00

I just want to address the question about the economic classification tool from a few days back (see Sept 9, 2011).

The short answer is `yes`, the voting can definitely be influenced. If that is a concern, there are a couple ways to address it which I will try to outline here as briefly as possible (not all that brief):

1) Closed ranking: as opposed to open ranking which is what you see in the photo. In closed ranking you would pass out pieces of paper for example, and each person would write down the proportions they think apply to each economic class by themselves, the submit the results, which the facilitator would then tally. This approach requires the majority of the group to be literate.
2) A comprehensive list of every family in the community is tabulated, and each family name written on a separate index card. A small group of trusted community members--selected by the larger group, are then given the responsibility to go through the entire `deck`of cards and distribute each family according to the appropriate class. I have never done this, and while it would give a definitive result, it seems like a lot of work as well as being somewhat intrusive of people`s privacy. Maybe if someone reading this has had experience with this variation, they could comment.

The other aspect to consider is that extraction of information is not the primary purpose these types of participatory exercises. The ultimate goal is to get the community themselves thinking about their own situation, and to start to help them look at ways to address their own needs and goals, rather than having outsiders doing all the research, analysis, project design etc, etc. Nevertheless, if you look closely at the photo, you will see that the seed distribution shows that the `rich` class is smallest in proportion, and the mid and `poor`class are approximately equal, with a slight edge perhaps for the mid class. This I think is a reasonable, although not a perfectly precise reflection of reality, especially when one considers that in this particular exercise, the mid-class usually approximates the majority of those attending the meeting--the exercise is a reflection of self, so to speak.

I hope that answers the question. But let me know if it doesn`t.

2011-09-11T19:31:00.003-03:00

Here's the final result, although a) I'm not sure there were 400 people. My guess would be 200 to 250 and b) as is often the case, the people that ate, I don't think really realized how much work went into the preparation--I wouldn't have either if I didn't see it myself. The day started with Catholic mass and I would say maybe 50 people took part in communion. Then their were plaques handed out to some of the elders in the family ('the oaks'), then the meal, then merengue and swimming. Although with the heat, more people seemed interested in swimming. I did neither.

2011-09-11T10:50:00.002-03:00

This morning my landlady, and the organizer of this family event started her day at 6 am and has been running around ever since like a benevolent dictator of a tiny country, commanding her army of 4, "Get another pot!", "Don't put so much salt in!", "Go fetch me more onions!", "Make Bob some breakfast!", and so on. I've slipped away for a couple of hours to try and get some more data entry done. Just a little bit everyday.

2011-09-10T19:00:00.002-03:00

Yet another pile of surveys to plough through. The stack in the back I entered this afternoon (about 1/6th of the total) and the stack in the front is unentered (and about 1/3rd of the total). This survey looks much more intimidating because it is 7 pages, versus the Haiti survey which is printed on 2 pages but both surveys have approximately the same amount of questions and therefore represent the same amount of work more or less. I've got a week and with the help of the head agronomist here, I think we can get it done. (I'm in the Dominican Republic now, by the way)

On a completely different note, the family where I rent a room when I am here is having some kind of big family gathering tomorrow for a mere 400 people. The woman in the middle, with the black hat on has taken on the responsibility for preparing food for everyone. Crazy. But she owned a restaurant for many years. In the photo is one of 2 pigs they are cooking, and I don't know probably what seems like about 50 chickens. I'm invited, and actually it seems like I'm almost obliged to go. I'll let you know how it goes.

2011-09-09T20:56:00.000-03:00

Somehow in the process of answering the question in the comment to this blog, I managed to delete the entire Sept 9 entry. So here I am reconstructing it from memory (unfortunately I also deleted the comments):

I`ve probably talked before about participatory methods. Pictured below is an exercised called a wealth ranking (aka poverty ranking). The idea is that community members with the help of a facilitator identify the different economic classes in their own community and the associated characteristics that distinguish each class. For example one of the criteria this group used was number of animals owned, with the `rich`class being seen as owning 15-20 animals, the `middle`class 2-4 animals, and the `poor` class 0-2 animals. A number of other criteria are identified and outlined by the group until they are satisfied with their definitions, and then a ranking takes place. Each group member is given seeds as counters--in this case 10 seeds per person-- and the everyone places the sees in the three classes according to how they think those three groups are distributed in the community. In the end you get a pretty revealing picture of the economic structure of the community.

2011-09-06T12:52:00.002-03:00

A small victory. The survey data for Haiti is completely entered and now exists in digital form. This meant pretty much a solid week of sitting at my laptop as surveyors brought in the forms from the field, typing in the information and then double checking every single data point before finally sending to the online data base we set up for this purpose. I recently read a stats analysis book where the author claimed that he spends about 80% of his time getting data ready for analysis, and about 20% of his time actually doing the analysis. I was comforted to know that, because I thought maybe it was only my problem.

2011-09-05T22:59:00.000-03:00

Today was a rather uneventful day of meetings and data entry. Meetings to talk about research, meetings to talk about watershed management. Pouring through stacks of household surveys and typing numbers into boxes on my computer. Sorry I've got nothing more than that.

2011-09-04T22:55:00.003-03:00

Here's a Google Earth 3D view of one of the watersheds where our work is situated. I spent the better part of this afternoon working on this and related maps. Kind of pretty, huh?

Sunrise in Haiti

2011-09-03T23:15:00.001-03:00

2011-09-02T20:44:00.002-03:00

More pictures of little trees struggling for survival. One of my favourite things I guess.

A farmer plot fenced off to protect seedlings. You can see trees growing in the fenceline and hopefully the little blobs of green inside the plot which are trees too.

Same plot up close. Not sure if you can see but there are dozens of trees here, about 1.5 to 2 metres tall. This plot is probably about 18 months old.

Another plot about 5 years old. For those who know this is the Pere Albert Memorial plot. You can see outside the fence there is not many trees at all, and one of the culprits lurking for more food.

A tiny leucaena which has seeded naturally from the larger trees in the above picture. In a couple of years this little tree and a half a dozen others I saw scattered around will start to fill in the space in the bottom part of the plot in the picture above. Here's to you Pere Albert, where ever you are.

2011-09-01T08:53:00.001-03:00

It was so hot in my room last night I decided to grab one of the earthquake tents and sleep outside on the porch. This morning when I woke up, I got up and went to grab the stuff sack to start taking down the tent and this huge tarantula jumped out of the stuff sack and onto my hand. I jumped too and yelled. So lesson learned, keep the stuff sack inside the tent.

2011-08-30T20:45:00.002-03:00

At 4:40 pm someone from the community told me with absolutely no trace of irony that there was a soccer match between two local teams starting at 4pm and if I was interested I could watch since it would be starting soon.

This just cracks me up since starting at 4 means anytime but 4.

Haiti earthquake consequences

2011-08-29T19:49:00.004-03:00

Ever wondered what has happened in Haiti since the earthquake? Heard the news reports about how there's been no progress? Here's a couple of photos of a hillside where we did tree planting in the aftermath, between April and Oct 2010. In the first photo, you'll see there are a bunch of contour canals still in place, and the little green patches in the mid foreground are all trees. I skidded down the hill--about a 45 degree slope to give you a closer view of some of those green patches now 1 to 1.5 metres tall.

I'm not trying to say that Haiti is suddenly going to be reforested. Those little trees have a long way to go...

2011-08-28T22:11:00.002-03:00

Made it. Even landed about 10 minutes early. So no ill consequences of Hurricane Irene here. Apparently there was some flooding damage in the north of the country, but for the most part Haiti was lucky this time around. I was worried because when we did our evaluations in 2008, Haiti had just been hit by 4 hurricanes in a row, over about a one month period. So I was afraid we might have the same thing happen again.

2011-08-28T08:23:00.002-03:00

"On the road again, I just can't..."
Wait? I could wait really. However, duty calls or something. Flying just as hurricane Irene hits the east coast is probably not my greatest idea ever, but the airline seems to think it is ok, so here we go.

On a completely unrelated note, yesterday an important Canadian political figure, Jack Layton, leader of one of our parties here, the NDP was laid to rest and his life celebrated in a huge ceremony in Toronto. I learned that one of his favourite songs was "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen, and it was performed at the funeral. It's a beautiful song, and one of my favourites too, but it got me thinking about what songs I might want performed when that inevitable day comes. Morbid maybe, but for the record here's a list of possibles:

When I survey the wondrous cross, Isaac Watts

There is a redeemer, Keith Green

Be still my soul, Jean Sibelius

Redemption songs, Bob Marley

We shall be free, Garth Brooks

2011-08-26T11:27:00.001-03:00

Not to put too fine a point on it, but here are the ticket stubs from my recent trip, plus one receipt for a shower in the Narita airport!

2011-08-25T19:27:00.002-03:00

Home at last, thank God I'm home at last. So the journey home began in Tanzania 2 days ago and ended in Canada this evening. I was figuring on the plane--lots of time to do so--that I spent about 55 hours travelling, either flying or in airports, and about 70 hours from the time I got up on the first travel day until my head hits the pillow after this blog post. This I believe is my personal record for longest single travel 'day'. Made longer of course by the fact that the return journey retraced steps back through Thailand instead of going through Europe--which would be shorter, but ironically not cheaper (I do not understand airfares).

2011-08-25T04:06:00.002-03:00

There's things about Japanese culture that fascinate me. Like the ultra-politness: bowing, handing things to people with two hands. I feel like one of the only things that remains with me after three generations is the not wearing shoes indoors. I don't like that at all, even in someone's house where they do wear their shoes.

The sad thing is I know so little really about the countries of my ancestral origin. And speak more of other languages and no Japanese, German or Gaelic. So I'm thinking maybe I might plan my next vacation trip with the ancestral origin theme. Start in Scotland, go to Germany, then Japan. I guess that would be 3 week trip at least.

2011-08-24T23:21:00.000-03:00

The final airport of the journey. Had a 14 dollar shower. Here's a photo which should be more than obvious as to where I am.

2011-08-24T04:37:00.002-03:00

In another airport and no way to upload a photo, sorry. The Africa trip is done, and I'm on the 2 day journey home to Canada. After a couple more days I'll be heading off to Haiti. As I think I may have mentioned it is a hectic schedule and I can feel it wearing me down. I need a vacation. And I know, I just had a vacation a couple weeks ago, but somehow I'm still tired.
Anyhow, yesterday, I found myself quite by accident (I think) in an informal discussion with a couple of staff who work for a local institution in Tanzania--which will remain nameless, although I will clarify that it is not the organization I work for. I was surprised at how candid these folks were about corruption and political problems within and without. It made me feel good in a way partly because it made me feel like part of the 'inner-circle', and partly because it was just good to hear folks talk frankly about problems in their own country. I don't know if that makes any sense to you.

2011-08-21T08:53:00.002-03:00

This photo was taken about 20 minutes ago and should give you a pretty good idea of where I am. Other hints include that I am using my laptop perched on the edge of the balcony of my room because it seems like a good spot to get internet connection, and someone on the road just called me 'Baba'. Which is a first for me by the way and a bit depressing.

2011-08-18T01:06:00.002-03:00

So I thought I might try making you guess where I am, in this case, based on a lousy photo snapped in a hurry. Still there should be plenty of clues to get this one. The most precise guess gets a free drink on me.

2011-08-17T17:52:00.002-03:00

The main reason for this visit to Thailand was for a training course in participatory methodologies. These are techniques that allow communities and organizations to engage in meaningful discussion and at the same time catalyze the process of change (hopefully for the better!)

The course lasted 2 days, the first in the classroom and the second in the field doing a practical exercise. These photos are of community members where one student group went to apply what they learned. The students of course cannot be seen since they were in the background facilitating the exercise.

Community members drawing a map of their village

Community members explaining the map the the student facilitators and the instructor (me!)

2011-08-15T11:49:00.002-03:00

So a little good news story for you: One of the villages that we partner with here in Thailand has qualified for a government pilot project for community forestry management. If you're patient with me I can try to explain as briefly as possible why this is good news at least to me. About 5 years, ago, we started working here (through our local partner organization, UHDP, Upland Holistic Development Project, www.uhdp.org) on assisting rural communities to develop forestry management plans. This was necessary because the government was establishing new national parks, and the park boundaries overlapped with the villages where people were already living. Like in many places around the world, this is controversial, because on one hand the park is protecting valuable nature and biodiversity, but on the other hand it threatens the livelihoods of people living in and around the park. Opinions vary on how to handle such a tricky situation, but we set out, with UHDP, and the communities to develop maps using GPS, and management plans that would demonstrate how communities could responsibly care for forest area, and sustainably exist within park boundaries. Did I mention that this started 5 years ago? It was a long and convoluted process involving many changes and uncertainties in forestry law, all the while training and encouraging communities to draft their own forest management plans. Finally this year, one of those communities was approved along with 18 others in the region to be part of the government pilot plan. There is still a lot of uncertainty ahead, but there have already been positive consequences, since we have seen an increase in tree planting and the establishment of agroforestry plots in the area. This positive change seems to be a result of the increased confidence farmers have about their land which gives them the freedom to make the long term investment in planting trees. Good news, and it feels good to have played even a small part in helping this community to get to this point. Who knew that the way to get more trees planted would have to do with teaching farmers how to use a GPS?

An agroforestry plot in Thailand, mixed trees and agriculture, mimicking a natural forest

2011-08-14T21:33:00.002-03:00

I'm in Thailand, and should be blogging about Thailand, but here's some catch up on the camping trip. I wasn't sure which picture of rocks and trees to show you so here's a random selection.

2011-08-09T18:18:00.001-03:00

Seriously, I think I should just drive around with a canoe tied to the roof of my car all the time. First of all, it just makes me happy to look up and see a canoe on the roof of my car. Second of all, it doesn't really change my fuel efficiency much (surprisingly). Third, it is a whole lot easier to find my car in parking lots.

Had a great canoe trip and hope to provide some photos and details tomorrow.

2011-07-18T17:26:00.002-03:00

I had a chance between breakfast and the morning sessions to get out and go for a quick hike. It was great to be outside the conference meeting walls for even a few minutes. This place is quite beautiful as I hope you'll agree

2011-07-18T00:54:00.003-03:00

There is a lot of information to absorb in a very short period of time at this conference. I'm thankful that I have at least some basic idea of what is going on so I am not completely blown out of the water, but people are using these tools, on a much higher level than I can cope with at the moment. But is is exciting to see the amount of enthusiasm and innovation that is going on. Almost too much innovation. How am I supposed to choose among so many options?

2011-07-17T11:54:00.002-03:00

Now I'm at this conference, which was a bit of an adventure to get to. My flight was late, so the car rental company I had a reservation with had closed, and I had to get a car on the spot from another company that was still, lucky for me, open. Then I had to drive up through the San Bernardino National Park at 1 in the morning. I realized at some point that this trip is actually stretching my comfort zone more than the Haiti trip. When I go to Haiti, I know who I'm meeting, and how I relate, where I will sleep, what the meal and bathroom protocol is, etc. The conference situation is totally new. Getting here itself was a stretch. One might even argue that the 'language' is unfamiliar, since there are numerous technical terms which I don't know or am just learning. This irony is underscored all the more by the fact that I just got back from Haiti the night before last, and then immediately turned around and came up here. In a few minutes I should go and register for this thing.

2011-07-16T23:00:00.004-03:00

I wanted to run to the Hyatt here in the airport in Dallas Fort Worth as soon as I got here and just rent a room and lie on a comfortable bed for a few hours. I almost wish I hadn't done it that one time because now it will become a huge temptation.

This current trip, just so you know, is to a conference on GIS in conservation. GIS stands for Geographical Information Systems which is, well, a group of technologies which help to represent information spatially. I'm just learning about it myself, and so going to this conference in order to learn. The greatest thing about it for me is that it means making maps, and if you know me you know I love maps. So getting to make maps is like a dream come true.

2011-07-16T14:11:00.002-03:00

Here's a post-trip selection of photos from Haiti:

Metal drums flattened out to be used in the making of metal craftwork. This 'Fe Forje' is very beautiful and a famous Haitian artform, used for wall hangings, frames, signs, wall dividers, and numerous other things. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos of the actual craftwork, which would have made the point much more nicely, but there is an entire village where in house after house metal worker artists are practicing their trade. Definitely worth seeing if you get to Haiti, and worth purchasing--I have none myself yet, but am always keeping my eye out for the right one.

Early morning coming down out of Gran Goave commune heading to the airport. The peak you see on the right is Pic de la Sel, the highest point in Haiti.

One of the newest hotels in Port au Prince, the Caribbean Lodge, which in the few months since it has opened has become an aid worker hangout. Building is constructed out of shipping containers which appear to have been modified especially for that purpose. Pricey at 125USD per night, a bit out of my range, but free and ubiquitous wifi, free breakfast and dinner, and more A/C than you could possibly handle. The concept itself is quite clever.

2011-07-16T13:11:00.002-03:00

This hotel bed was so comfortable, I didn't much want to get out of it this morning. I did have to get up, get breakfast, so some computer work, etc, and I started wondering what it would be like to actually live in the airport. If that were even possible. It would sure be convenient for me--no more rushing to the airport, and begging people for rides, or paying for expensive shuttles. My room get cleaned whenever I want, and I can have food delivered to my door at any time of day or night. Plus the room is really not a whole lot smaller than my apartment. I'm pretty sure I could make that work. Right now I'm going to head out of the lobby, and go print my tickets.

2011-07-16T01:33:00.002-03:00

Heard an interesting comment from someone today while talking about zombies (in Haiti). The comment was "I don't believe it, but I know they exist".

Let you think about that one...

Meanwhile, I'm back in Toronto, with a layover squashed between trips, trying to catch a few hours sleep in the airport hotel. After I log off here that is.

2011-07-14T17:56:00.003-03:00

Some photos of the new high school in the community where our office is located. Nice rooms with lots of space, ventilation, and supposedly earthquake resistant.

2011-07-13T21:41:00.000-03:00

Today was a day of mostly translating. "Interpreting" actually, as I learned recently, the difference being that translation is for the written word and interpretation for spoken word. I actually quite like interpretation. It's like you shut down entirely a major part of the brain and switch on another major part. I kind of wish I was a real, official interpreter. The challenge is to try and best represent the thoughts of the person balancing between a precise representation of their words and a true representation of the core thought. All the while on the fly with no time to look anything up. I just find it really fun and by the end of the day, feel like my brain has physically worked out. Maybe it's just my imagination, but I can actually feel my brain at times like this. If that makes any sense at all. Hard to describe if you've never experienced it yourself.

2011-07-12T20:04:00.002-03:00

So I may as well keep blogging while I can because who knows when I can again. Seems to have something to do with the rain or something. I saw houses like this scattered around both in the city and the country side. Apparently earthquake and hurricane resistance, and provided by some agency or other. I heard a rumour that in order to receive a house like this you had to sign some document promising not to try to emigrate to another country, but I have absolutely no idea if that is true. Seems like something that wouldn't be true, but one never knows. Regardless, besides the house building I have schools reconstructed in a couple of rural communities now, as well as some debris removal work on the National Palace. It's nice to see that some reconstruction is finally happening. I suppose the biggest sign that reconstruction is happening is that Haiti is totally out of the news now. Seems as if the press only likes to report when things are going badly here.

2011-07-12T18:56:00.002-03:00

Internet connection is a bit sketchy here in our office so I apologize for the failure to communicate. This week my main function is translator since we have a consultant here who is giving a training on a particular savings and loan system designed for people in poor communities. Since we've arrived it has pretty much rained every afternoon, and most farmers are out preparing land, planting beans etc. The following is one of those tropical afternoons when the sun is still shining down, but there's a dark cloud coming behind. After I took this photo it started to pour about 15 minutes later.

2011-07-10T05:49:00.003-03:00

And so begins a summer of journeys. I was describing to a friend recently how many trips I had coming up this summer, and his comment was, "Oh good, so there should be lots of grumpy entries from airports on your blog". I don't know, I'm just always happy to hear that someone is reading my blog at all, regardless.

Actually the journeying started a couple of weeks ago when I went out to the Kingston area to help friends of mine who are building a house this summer. They have designed it themselves and are doing most of the work as well. I've been describing it as my-friends-who-have-been-so-generous-over-the-years-and-now-they're-calling-in-their-favours-to-build-their-house. Which is not really true. They're building it themselves because they want to and are the creative types, and their friends are helping them because they want to, and quite frankly I learned a tonne about house-building in the couple days I was there. I hope to get out there again if I can, somewhere between grouchy blog entries (this entry is being made from an airport, by the way).

Here is a photo of my friend looking out the window of his house's first wall for the first time.

2011-06-07T18:41:00.003-03:00

There's a couple of moths who have been hanging out on my patio screen for the past few days. I was struck this morning by what seems to me to be the remarkable similarity between the moth silhouette and the shape of the B2 stealth bomber. I don't know, maybe you don't see it. But it is known that some moths are able to evade bat sonar (for real, look it up!). So is it possible that the military noticed that and copied moth 'technology'? Or is it a case where the military came up with the shape completely independently? Or is it just coincidence and has nothing to do with being stealthy at all? Or is it just my imagination?

Have a look at tell me what you think...

(the picture of the moths is mine, the B2 I downloaded from the web, just to be clear.)

2011-06-04T15:32:00.002-03:00

Another trip comes to an end. and with the exception of a 3 hour delay due to mechanical problems, the return home was uneventful.

To answer the question that appeared in the comments section, there has been in the past manufacturing in Haiti, with clothes being one of the major products. There was a sporting goods company that made baseballs in Haiti but they pulled out in the early 90's due to political instability. There is also a free trade zone (or maybe more than one) where foreign companies are being encouraged to open for business, but I am not sure who is there or what they are manufacturing. Also in the neighbouring DR, a significant amount of the labour in the farm, construction and hotel industry is Haitian. Not a very complete answer sorry, but yes there is manufacturing on a limited scale, and potential for more.

2011-06-03T00:40:00.003-03:00

So here's another travel tip which I don't think I've mentioned before:

When flushing with a bucket, be sure not to stand in the same plane as the direction of the bucket pour itself.

2011-06-02T09:24:00.002-03:00

This is one of the results of the study, a map drawn by community members indicating the rivers, roads, various communities, forested and deforested areas, schools, clinics, and churches. There's a lot of info here that really wouldn't be available anywhere else, and is also surprisingly geographically accurate.

2011-06-01T20:55:00.002-03:00

I spent some time trying to capture motorcycle images going by in front of my house. There was one that went by with 4 people, and I even saw one with 5 (two babies), but unfortunately couldn't get those on film. Here are the best of the ones on got:

2011-06-01T10:36:00.004-03:00

For some reason I was dreaming very vividly last night. Pretty much as soon as my head hit the pillow and I drifted off. But probably one of the strangest things was not even a dream. My landlady--who is a retired restaurant owner, and who has been renting me a room and providing my meals for the past 2 weeks--arrived home late and discovered that there were leftovers from my dinner. So she calls out to me from the kitchen--keep in mind that I am in my room, dreaming vividly and that she is speaking rapidly in Spanish--

"Hey Bob, do you want to save these leftovers for tomorrow, or can I give them to someone else?" Being only half awake, I wasn't entirely understanding, so I replied,

"I had plenty to eat thanks."

So then she says,

"I asked you, do you want to save these leftovers or can I give them away?"

Still not entirely sure I was understanding (either words or the situation), I said,

"Thanks, I had enough to eat."

I hear her sigh, and mutter to herself, "he doesn't understand"

Then I hear her shuffle out of the kitchen into the backyard, out onto the street and shout,

"Hey, Haitian, come here!"

I don't know if she was just calling any random Haitian hanging out, of which there are often several, or if she was calling someone she knows (she knows a lot of people), but regardless, about a minute later she and some Haitian guy I have never seen approach my door and she repeats her question in Spanish and the Haitian asks me in Creole if I want to keep the leftovers or not. I say, no in Creole, he says no to my landlady in Spanish. She smiles, the Haitian wishes me a good night, then they both leave, and I close my bedroom door and go back to vivid dreaming, now confused as to when I am dreaming and when I am awake.

2011-05-30T21:38:00.002-03:00

Today was a day of getting ready for the focus groups which we are planning for tomorrow. Reviewing the discussion exercises we will use--known as participatory tools--training the staff in how to use them, and preparing in advance for various problems or logistical challenges which we might encounter.

In the late afternoon we made a quick visit to the communities in the watershed that were invited, to remind them of tomorrow's meeting. While waiting for one leader to show up at her house, I took the chance to walk around a bit. It is really quite a beautiful area, and although the folks living here are considered to be some of the poorest in the country, the setting itself I find quite stunning. (which isn't to imply in any way that the attached photo itself is stunning; it really isn't especially given what I was actually looking at)

2011-05-28T16:46:00.004-03:00

I have a theory (I have many theories if you've ever noticed). The history books tell us that the Taino, the people indigenous to this island were completely wiped out by enslavement or disease within 40 years of European arrival. However I think that is highly unlikely for several reasons:

1. This is a big mountainous place, with extremely difficult terrain, and there are still areas even today which are hard to get to and where few 'europeans' have ever been, even 500 years later. So I doubt that in 40 years, Columbus and his associates could have reliably confirmed the complete extinction of an entire nation

2. During slave revolts in the French colony, the rebels were able to successfully hide in the mountains for decades, and ultimately were able to successfully drive the French from the island. Even in the early 1900's, the Caco warriors hiding out in the Central Plateau of Haiti were able to wage a not insubstantial resistance against US marines for a number of years.

3. Island dwellers have been demonstrated to have much more significant open water navigation skills that has often been thought (see Guns, Germs, and Steel). I suspect there was likely considerable inter island and Central America coastal travel by the Taino, Arawaks, Caribs and others long before 1492.

This all leads, to the possibility that the Taino may have quietly cleared out of the coastal areas where the colonial towns and plantations were popping up, and headed for the hills, or even more likely out to sea. If anyone has knowledge of this subject, I'd love to hear from you.

2011-05-28T13:25:00.003-03:00

So now that the data has been collected, I've spent the better part of the last couple of days trying to get it entered on a spreadsheet. So far I've entered 90+ of 120 surveys total. This includes double checking of every single data point before moving on. A slow, and somewhat tedious process, but worth the trouble to preserve the truth so to speak. I recently read a book on statistical analysis, where the author said that he spends about 20% of his time actually doing the analysis and about 80% of his time getting the data in proper shape. This I don't think includes the actual collection of data, which would make the actual proportion of the time doing analysis even smaller.

So the page of the survey you see below, if you actually take a closer look, includes questions like, how old are you?, what kind of techniques do you apply on your farm?, and how much soil are you losing on your farm? Incidently I've been tracking the average number of persons per household as I've been entering the data. Up til now the average from our survey is 4.15 persons/household. The official 2002 government census reports 4.05 persons/hh for the same municipality. Just a small check, but makes me feel good about the data so far.

2011-05-27T21:58:00.002-03:00

Yesterday my neighbour was telling how salt fish is a Dominican product. I didn't bother to point out that historically a large portion of the salt fish sold in the Caribbean has come from the Grand Banks off the eastern coast of Canada, for centuries in fact. The strange thing is that it has come to be considered as a local food. Here in the DR thye eat bacalao, in Haiti aransol, in Jamaica saltfish--all very delicious and prepared slightly differently in each country. What makes this even stranger, is that in Newfoundland, they drink something called screech, which I thought for years was some sort of local newfie moonshine. Turns out that it is actually Jamaican rum which filled the holds of Canadian sailing ships after unloading the saltfish. Supposedly on the return voyage the mast rigging made a squealing noise, hence the name.

The thing about the Caribbean is that pretty much most of the things it is known for come from somewhere else--coffee, sugar (and the rum it makes), bananas, even the people were 'imported'. I wonder if the early colonialists really where thinking about the grand social experiment on which they were embarking. Maybe. I would love to get inside some 15th or 16th century mind and find out.

2011-05-26T21:07:00.003-03:00

So be careful what you wish for is what I've heard. It rained yesterday. A lot. The picture below is my attempt to capture the massive black wall of rain making it's way towards us in the afternoon. What followed was probably an hour or more of solid tropical downpour. The rivers blew up of course. The Ozama River which you see in the second picture is probably more than twice as wide in the photo as it normally is, and 4 times the depth. This meant that we were trapped between two parts of the river on a road with no bridges and ended up having to spend that night waiting for the river to subside. We (the agronomist and myself) stumbled upon an 86 year old farmer living next to (but well above) the river and he and his wife generously offered to host us for the night. He went on at length about respecting the river, and how someone had fallen in during a flash flood and had been found many kilometres downstream. I spent much of the evening thinking about how I had been just before praising farmers for their acceptance of the ways of nature, and how frustrated I was sitting there. Very poetic--the bitter irony that is.

The next morning we got up around 6 to check the crossing. The water had definitely gone down, but I decided it would be a good idea to wade across to make sure there were no unexpected deep spots where the truck might submerge below the air intake and completely strand us. This I did extremely carefully (don't worry), although the current was a bit sketchy in a couple of spots and each step took a while, but I got across no problem, and confirmed a safe path for the pickup. At this point, my co-worker had to go back up the hill to fetch the vehicle, leaving me on one side of the river, and my pants and shoes on the other. I spent that time thinking about how hilarious it would be if someone showed up and ran off with my pants (and wallet).

The rain coming straight at me and my camera

The Ozama river at the confluence with the Rio Verde--twice as wide and 4 times as deep as when we had crossed that morning

2011-05-25T08:56:00.002-03:00

Just to follow up on yesterday's post to try to explain why I enjoy days like that. Among several reasons, probably the main one is talking to farmers. They, I think are a unique breed apart from the rest of us. Probably because they literally live and die by the sunlight, rain, soil, plants and animals. This makes them by default, intimately aware of nature, and its cycles and whims. On average, I've found that, especially subsistence farmers, have an understanding of our dependence on the natural world from which the rest of us have disconnected. This does not make farmers innocent or exempt, but it does mean that meeting and working with them is always a privilege, and gives me a chance better understand the natural world.

To take this a step further--in my opinion--historically in the Christian faith, many have seen the priest as humanity's conduit to God. And in a lot of places farmer's have sought the assistance of the clergy to connect with God. Ironically, I think we may have had this all backwards.

2011-05-24T21:35:00.002-03:00

Today was one of my favourite kinds of days.

After the initial shock yesterday to everyone about how much work is going to be required in the next two weeks to complete this baseline study, we got down to the actual first steps today. I say first steps, although the chief agronomist here, and myself have been have been preparing the ground work for months. But today, the agronomist, and 4 other staff who will be going house to house in the target area conducting a survey, visited the community leaders to advise them of our intentions, and to plan community meetings to get local input. The other objective was to familiarize the other staff with the new region, and to introduce some of the concepts of watershed management on the fly.

My big regret is not being able to make small talk in Spanish. I mean I can barely do small talk in English. I can say technical stuff when I have to, mainly because a lot of the technical jargon transfers easily from one language to the other, but this leads people to mistakenly assume that I can also talk about the weather, sports, or the latest local news. Mostly I smile and nod and hope that no one thinks I'm being rude.

2011-05-24T09:09:00.002-03:00

Last night I dreamed I was (very gingerly) crossing a river barefoot on the backs of crocodiles lined up side by side. (Please don't let that be a metaphor for dangerous pathogens hidden in the water!)

I woke up this morning to the sound of horseshoes clattering by on the street. About a minute later a scooter puttered by--probably at about the same speed. That is a funny thing about, well, this entire island; you can be warped from the 18th century to the 21st century in an instant. One of my American co-workers once observed that in the border area between Haiti and the DR where we are working, it is so isolated --no electricity, no running water, no telephones--that it seems almost like you are stepping back into a previous century. The only give away are the world cup tee-shirts.

2011-05-23T21:14:00.002-03:00

So cases of cholera are jumping up now in the Dominican Republic. Which is making me think twice about things I might normally do, like drink water. I was invited to go swimming in a local river on Sunday. I am not sure how I can politely turn that down. Who wouldn't want to go swimming in this kind of weather. Well, I've got 6 days to figure out a strategy.

2011-05-23T14:17:00.002-03:00

This morning the staff here in the Dominican Republic and myself met to go over the plans for evaluation that we are doing this year. Every three years we try to answer the question, "Are we making a difference?" A tough one for sure, and a lot of work is required, but an important question to be asking ourselves as an organization. It is kind of easy to go on planting trees, and training farmers, and assume that what we are doing is all good. However, once in a while, it is good to take a step back and try to get a view from a slightly different perspective. So much like a company might hire a marketing firm to help them understand how customers perceive or use their products, we go out and do household surveys and hold focus groups to discuss our work. We ask questions like, what are your sources of income? and how much of your farm is protected by trees? and what material is the floor of your house made of? This last question may seem a bit strange, but the fact of the matter is that if you ask people directly about their income, or their financial situation, you rarely get a reliable answer. Either because people don't really track their finances themselves, or they are reluctant (understandably) to tell others. So the thinking is to ask some indirect questions, which can give you an idea of how someone is doing, like whether they have a dirt floor or not.

2011-05-22T22:25:00.000-03:00

I have arrived. After the standard airline gambit of gradual delays (I am sure there is an industry term for this) where they dispense a big delay in 15 to 30 minute increments so no one ever gets too bent out of shape. Turns out the total delay was 4 hours, but in the end I guess we are just happy to have arrived.

I do promise to explain more about what I am doing on this trip, but I'm tired, so I think I'll turn in, using my standard mosquito gambit of pointing the fan indirectly at my bed, creating just enough current to keep flying insects veering off course but not so much as to be uncomfortable.

2011-05-22T06:28:00.002-03:00

I used to think that early morning flights were the way to go. At some point my thinking on that changed.

This trip is to the Dominican Republic. The program there is growing, and adding new communities in a new region. So this trip is about collecting baseline information so we can make informed decisions about what to do, and also so we will have something by which we can measure our progress in the future. We also will be consulting with communities and developing plans that make sense to them as well as us. More on all that later in the week, assuming I have internet access.

This particular project expansion is the first time that we will be looking at things from a watershed level. Working in reforestation and soil conservation, our work has always been influenced by watersheds, but to actually tackle an entire watershed in an organized way requires a bit more strategy. I will elaborate more on this too if the opportunity presents itself.

I expect boarding any second now. Planning on breakfast at JFK.

2011-03-16T12:16:00.003-03:00

So I'm on my way home. I wonder what is was like for the early explorers, missionaries, traders, when the return journey meant 3 months on a creaky boat. I mean most of the time I spend less time in these countries than early travellers would have spent getting to the port where they would get their boat. Or wait for their boat.

My final shot from this trip is this beautiful drum I saw in a fancy resort (where I did not stay!). That and a shot of drummers in Bujumbura using somewhat more generic drums.

2011-03-14T17:56:00.001-03:00

One thing I'm always excited about when I come to Burundi is the fish. I think there is something about the water of Lake Tanganika which makes the fish delicious. Mind you it is not the season right now, and so the fish are smaller and not quite as good tasting as normal, but still quite good. Below is mukeke, don't know the scientific name, which is an endemic species, I believe, and is one of the most popular in the region.

2011-03-13T16:16:00.002-03:00

This I witnessed at a beach on Lake Tanganika. A restaurant where both locals and tourists go to relax and have a drink or a meal. Beautiful spot really, and therefore a good site apparently for a music video. This was a Catholic church choir, and although they are actually singing, they also had speakers hooked up to a generator for back up sound

2011-03-12T13:50:00.003-03:00

This farmers' association in the eastern part of Burundi has planted 5000 avocado seedlings which they are having grafted, and hope to sell for 1000 Francs each. If they sell all, this will give them a total gross income of about 400 US dollars. The group calls themselves Vyizigiro which means Hope. We spent the afternoon talking to them about their community and their work. It's really inspiring to me what they are doing, producing trees which can feed people, and protect the environment.

2011-03-08T16:33:00.003-03:00

Today's post probably best told in pictures so:

A disease resistant banana variety, and the sprouts it produces at the base which are the traditional way of replanting

A new low cost propagation method which allows multiple shoots to be produced from one regular sprout

Seedlings transplanted by farmers in the Gihanga association (see the map)

The disease resistant variety bearing fruit

2011-03-08T03:27:00.002-03:00

Finally made it. So now I've had about 16 hours sleep in 4 days, a lot of it in fits and starts on the plane. You people that get by regularly on 3-4 hours sleep a night, I don't know how you do it.

2011-03-07T04:41:00.002-03:00

So I guess this is the disadvantage of an early morning flight in the winter. The plane sat out at the gate all night in the rain, then snow, and this froze some stuff apparently, which caused the plane to not work. They had technicians on board doing a reset. (with all our technological power, the reset is still one of the best ways to fix stuff?) So long story short, my flight has changed, and I now arrive in Bujumbura at 2 am. Or at least I have a flight itinerary which tells me so.

Funny thing about Zurich though, that bank of clouds you see flying in that looks like a mountain range? It's actually a mountain range that looks like a bank of clouds.

2011-03-06T07:33:00.002-03:00

Got to take advantage of the free wifi while I can. Who knows when I'll have access again. Things are looking good for this flight: I've had about 6 hours sleep in the last 48 which is less than normal for me, and should render me unconscious for a good part of the Atlantic. That double espresso at the airport coffee shop probably wasn't such a good idea though...

2011-02-24T21:43:00.001-03:00

today's agenda, some combination of planning and more watershed visits. I have to admit that it doesn't feel much like work, tooling around the country side, looking at trees and stuff.

View DR trip in a larger map

2011-02-23T22:09:00.003-03:00

Today's journey was a meandering through a watershed to gather info, confirm some of the remote sensing analysis done in advance of the trip, and to generally familiarize ourselves with this potential new project area. It was satisfying to see that the satellite analysis matched up pretty closely with what we saw on the ground.

2011-02-21T21:56:00.002-03:00

Posting all these maps is probably slowing down my blog, so I'll remove some of the older ones since all the previous points are still in this current map.

Car stuff

2011-01-02T22:58:00.003-03:00

Every year I do some basic arithmetic on my car. Which for whatever reason interests me, but more than likely doesn't so much interest you. That isn't stopping me from sharing my findings:

-average fuel consumption for 2010 was 6.9 L/100km (which is exactly the advertised rating for my make and model)

-average cost per km is 25 cents but if you figure in depreciation it's closer to 37 cents

The chart below shows my average fuel consumption plotted throughout the year--again for the three of you out there that are interested:

Haiti election status

2010-12-10T18:52:00.002-03:00

It is so difficult here to get any kind of reliable info about the elections in Haiti. Some say that everything is going great (this is mostly the electoral committee saying this), and others say that the country is on the verge of civil war.

I don't really know what's going on, but I do know that I spoke with a friend of mine this morning, an American living in Haiti who has been working in sustainable agriculture for many years. He told me that he saw people burning tires in the town where he lives and found himself kind of upset because they were burning the kinds of tires which turn inside out more easily and can be used to make small tire gardens. He said he found himself thinking that it would be ok if they were burning the tires that don't turn inside, out, but they could have used the others to grow vegetables. In fact my friend regularly goes to Port au Prince to pick up a truck load of used tires for vegetable containers, and this past week they were stopped by police since it was suspicious that anyone would be leaving the city with a load of tires. These days, tires are mostly being brought into Port au Prince for the burning and protest purposes.

Progress in Haiti

2010-11-30T09:10:00.007-03:00

Yesterday morning, I heard yet another news report about how so much money has been spent in Haiti, and how there is nothing to show for it. I think we all share the same frustration, but I also wish that journalists would come and visit our project and see the hundreds of kilometres of soil conservation barriers that have been built on hundreds of hectares of land, the thousands of trees that have been planted and are thriving, hear the stories of the thousands of families who have received crops seed, tools, and jobs. It's not nothing. Lives have (it may be going too far to say 'saved') been stabilized, vulnerable land protected, farms have been made productive. Yes of course I'm defensive, because I have been a part of the earthquake response effort, but I just feel that the press is looking at this thing the wrong way. I challenge any journalist who was there in the early days after the quake--and I know there were swarms of them, I saw them myself--to recall just how grim and overwhelming those days were. Personally, I think the relief response was pretty incredible. In those early days, the country was at a tipping point, and things could have easily been much worse. In fact there was no major starvation, no collapse of the transportation or communication system, no widespread violence, and no major disease outbreak (cholera came later and is non-earthquake related). All of these were predicted, and none happened. So in fact journalists claiming that nothing has happened in Haiti is in a sense, a good thing. Of course, it is hard to prove a negative, but I think the relief efforts contributed significantly to ensuring that nothing happened. Yes, we've still got a long long way to go, and I too am frustrated, but I invite any journalist or other skeptic to please come and visit our project and still go home and say that nothing has been done. We are small, granted, but there are hundreds of efforts just like ours all across the country, that are doing something, and at least set the stage for families to build a better future. (assuming there is not another Biblical-scale plague)

A work crew in Fonds Verrettes, Haiti, posing next to a soil erosion barrier they had just built.

2010-11-21T09:16:00.002-03:00

So here's the full story on the baboon in Tarangire:

There is a specified lunch spot where all the park visitors eat, and each tour typically provides box lunches. At this particular site there are picnic tables set up along the edge of an a beautiful outlook from where you can see a river below and a large section of the park. The guides were just beginning to set out the white cardboard lunch boxes when I noticed that there was a rather large baboon (like the one in the picture, but not that one), sort of slowly making his way up the incline at the edge of the outlook toward our table. At this point he was still on the other side of the chest-high fence at the edge of the outlook. So I then said to the guide, "There's a baboon coming." and by the time I had finished that sentence, the baboon had suddenly sprung from gradual mode, and was on the picnic table, a distance of about 4 metres, with a lunch box in his hands. The guide, out of reflex probably more than anything, made a grab for the lunch box, and the baboon bared his very scary and large teeth with much hissing. All of us, inculding the baboon took a leap back, but the baboon maintained hold of the lunch, and quickly retreated back over the fence and back down the incline beyond the edge of the lookout. The whole incident was over in probably less than 5 seconds. I was amazed at how quickly the baboon could move. Not only that, but also the cleverness of his approach. He moved as slowly as possible as he edged up the incline so as not to be noticed, but as soon as I started to speak, it was like he recognized he had been discovered and knew he had to strike quickly. It's a good think he wasn't intent on attacking people, because I don't think anyone would have much chance against something so fast and intelligent, armed with those sharp teeth. Everyone had a good laugh after about our 'Tarangire Experience', a story which I am certain will improve with age.

A different, but similarly large baboon eating pods of the sausage tree, a natural alternative to tourist lunch boxes.

2010-11-21T03:23:00.002-03:00

I regret not having been able to post more often on this trip. Been lots to share, but just no access. Probably my favourite story so far is the baboon that stole a lunch box from us in Tarangire National park. The details of this are worth expanding on, and I will share with you as per your interest, but suffice it to say that the staff here are now referring to it as the "Tarangire Experience"

Wheels off

2010-11-14T15:45:00.003-03:00

I thought we had dropped into the ditch, except that the landcruiser was still on the road. The driver managed to bring it to a stop without losing control as we watched the left rear wheel go rolling by into an open field. This is a first time for me. Not just a blow out, but all the bolts on the axle shearing off and the the entire rim and tire leaving the vehicle. None of us could really come

up with a totally satisfying explanation.

Wheels down (?)

2010-11-09T17:59:00.001-03:00

So is the opposite of wheels up, wheels down. It was an uneventful, (and therefore good) flight, where the highlight was trying to figure out how you pronounce the name of the airport in Amsterdam...

Wheels up

2010-11-08T17:58:00.003-03:00

I'm really liking the phrase 'wheels up', which seems to have migrated from the military to civilian life. Or at least you hear it in movies and on TV: "Wheels up at 0300 hours" etc. I like it so much I resolve to start using it in regular speech, beginning with this post, since I go wheels up this afternoon. Destination Africa. Or would that be the LZ?...

2010-10-26T23:32:00.002-03:00

Sunday afternoon I heard two loud "booms" outside my apartment which actually woke me from a pleasant nap. The power went off immediately, the smoke alarm started beeping, and then the general alarm started blaring. Shortly after that, the superintendent came on the PA system and said that there was a 'problem' with the transformer, and that there was no need to be alarmed. Now, in the 6 or 7 years I have lived here, no superintendent has ever come on to announce that there is no need to be alarmed, which actually tells me that there probably is. It turns out that we went without power for almost a full day and for a change I had to use candle power. It all seems so ironic somehow, having just come back from Haiti.

Where is Bob picture.

2010-10-10T13:10:00.002-03:00

Find me in the Chicago Conservatory. (visiting friends over the weekend on my way back to YYZ).

2010-10-08T00:00:00.006-03:00

My last night in Haiti and I am not sure what to end with. The month has gone quicker than I thought. Among other things I feel healthy which is a good thing, since people have been falling around me like tin soldiers. I still don't have a very good answer to the overwhelming nature of the earthquake and all that it has caused, and will continue to cause for a long time to come, but please at least accept this photo below of trees planted in our most recent project in the north of the country. These are less that 3 years old, and have been well cared for which is why they look so great.

On the way to the above site, as occasionally happens during field visits in hard to get to areas, one has times where one stumbles across women bathing in tropical mountain streams. Today was one such day, but my finely tuned cross cultural skills told me that it was not a good time to take a photo. Sorry.

Below find a photo of one of my favourite spots in Haiti, and where I am staying tonight, the Hotel Roi Christophe. Very historical, and where Henri Christophe one of the founding leaders of the country first worked as a baker. It was also a place where Napoleon's officers are supposed to have stayed. Very nice and oozing with history. If you ever visit, order the french toast for breakfast.

Finally, staying with this eclectic theme, I leave you with the lyrics of a song which have been running through my head the past few days, and seem at least marginally appropriate.

"Doctor, my eyes have seen the years

and the slow parade of fears without crying,

now I want to understand.

I have done all that I could

To see the evil and the good without hiding,

You must help me if you can.

Doctor: my eyes.

Tell me what is wrong,

Was I unwise to leave them open for so long?

As I have wandered through this world

And as each moment has unfurled

I've been waiting to awaken from this dream.

People go just where they will;

I never noticed them until I got this feeling

That it's later than it seems.

Doctor: my eyes.

Tell me what you see.

I hear their cries,

Just say if it's too late for me.

Doctor: my eyes.

I cannot see the sky.

Is this the price for having learned how not to cry?"