Bucket Brigade

Almost all of the new construction in Haiti is block, stone, or cement. I came across these workers lifting up 5 gallon buckets one after another, filled with concrete, in order to pour a new concrete roof on top of a two story home in Cap Haitien. Am guessing that it was a very strong ladder!
This house at an orphanage near Cap-Haitien is waiting on its concrete roof. Bamboo poles hold-up the boards which will support the weight of the concrete until it cures. (Do check out Children of the Promise.)

Rival Beach and Fort Picolet

The street kids from Cap Haitien know all the best places to go, best prices too! Their favorite "in town" beach" is Rival Beach. It is not on the regular tourist route and very beautiful. As you can see, everyone was eager to get there.

As protection from the French, Fort Picolet was built over 200 years ago on a cliff-side just west of Cap Haitien, and around the corner from Rival Beach. These cannons were never fired, they sit untouched in a ruins that would be a national park almost anywhere else in the world.

The fort has many walls and staircases remaining. There is even a cistern which still catches rainwater. Some say that the fort is in such good shape because too many people are afraid to visit it. Haitians definitely do not like to "haunt" those locations were people died. Others say that most people stay away because "vodoun" is practiced in some of the empty chambers.

Here you can see some of the paintings left behind from "vodoun" ceremonies. The bamboo post in the corner were used to make a temporary "tonnelle."

You can see how steep the outside walls of the fort were! If you look carefully, you can just make out the container port in the distance. The rain clouds further south, are covering the mountains and The Citadel.

As we climbed the cliffs, returning back from Fort Picolet, this bateau cleared the headlands from where we had just come. It was not Napoleon finally returning to conquer the Haitians, but.....Can you imagine?

In Their Eyes

That's Using your Head.....

School has started and everyone is out shopping for school supplies. This women is displaying some back-packs while minding her school-book store. All the books are soft-bound and most often, photo-copied from an original.

These two girls are taking a break from carrying water from the public well to their home. You can tell how/where they carry the water by looking at their hair. (A five gallon bucket filled with water weighs approximately 40 pounds!) Transporting water is a huge task for most families. Many children can not go to school because their family can not afford it. In fact, many children do not go to school because their family needs their help to support the family.
These two boys are on their way home after shopping in-town for dinner. The boy on the right has an umbilical hernia - quite common , not painful and not caused by hunger - which happens at birth and often is left un-treated.

These guys are heading home from school. I have never worked in a school division where uniforms were required, but I can certainly understand why it is required in Haiti and ----- the kids look great! I asked these guys if they wanted their picture taken. They said yes, then proceeded to play pica boo! I like the kids captured in the rear-view mirror.

The Citadel

Today, October 8 is Henri Christophe's birthday. He was a "fearless" general during Haiti's war of independence from France. He was considered one of Haiti's three "founding fathers." Shortly, after Independence Day, January 1, 1804, the new republic was divided in-two when he declared himself Roi Christophe, Roi du Nord - King Christophe, King of the North.

From i'ts very beginning, Haiti has had difficulty with political stability and peaceful transition. Christophe fought for freedom and democracy, but instituted himself as a monarch! He defeated the French, but was never accepted by the English, the country and monarchy which he worshipped.

Christophe's declaration of Haiti being divided between north and south was the beginning of 200 years of geographical/political/racial struggles for Ayiti. With only a little exaggeration, you might imagine the north of Haiti as the weaker, poorer, African (blacker) half, while the south as the stronger, richer, mixed (mulatto) half of the country. This is an over-simplification, but it a story that has been repeated for two centuries.

Christophe was always afraid that the French, especially Napoleon, would return to Haiti to recapture its wealth. In preparation and defense of this attack, which never occurred, Christophe directed the construction of The Citadel. It is truly monumental - amazingly huge, built on top of 3000 ft peak with a 180 degree panorama of the northern coastline, taking over 10 years to complete with over over 20,000 workers dying on the project. 365 cannons were installed in the Citadel, but not one was fired. At their base, the walls are 30 feet thick, behind them there was a hospital, a dungeon, a foundry, many kitchens and storerooms, a chapel, an arsenal, and private quarters for the Roi Christophe and his queen. When completed in 1816 it could house, 15,000 soldiers and the entire population of Milot.

I took this picture from the window of the small 12-seater airplane which travels between Cap-Haitien and Port-au-Prince.

Ap nanje nan Eau du Kap

They could be Dolphins

Eau du Kap runs through Cap-Haitien. After leaving the mountains, the river meanders northward across fertile farm land, watering huge fields of sugar cane and thousands of smaller jadens - planted thick with bananas, plantains, beans, potatoes, cassava, carrots, onions, and many more legumes than I can identify.

At the river's mouth is the the port of Cap-Haitien. There is one large-ish container dock. Judging from the size of the ships, I suspect that the port of Cap-Haitien could use some major dredging.

Every day, when we leave town to head south to Milot, we walk across the one bridge over Eau du Kap to the large bus depot/market on the far side in order to catch a taptap home. Each time I cross the bridge, I see something new - thousands of shanties on either side of the river; pigs and goats foraging through the garbage in drainage ditches running down from town; small shops set up for welders,woodworkers, and mechanics; and the tens of thousands of folks who live along Eau du Kap.

Like kids anywhere in the world - whether it is pier-jumping in St. Croix or lake-swimming in St. Paul - they know how to take advantage of a river on a hot afternoon.