Bonjou from Haiti!

I have been in Cange, Haiti for three weeks now, settling in to what will be home for the next few months. I am a project management intern with Clemson Engineers for Developing Countries (CEDC), the organization which I have been involved with since my first semester at Clemson. Out of all the opportunities I have had at Clemson, my work with CEDC has been most meaningful, allowing me to develop professionally and discern my career path. Following my internship, my next step will be graduate school in international development. On my first visit to Haiti, I witnessed firsthand the effects of global inequality, and I knew I wanted to pursue a career in development to eradicate global inequality. I focused my undergraduate studies on the historically, culturally, and geopolitically complex issues of global inequality, and I cannot wait to continue my studies in graduate school.

My passion for this all started during my first week at Clemson, when I joined a new project at CEDC aimed at improving the quality of medical equipment in the hospital in Cange, which was in a state of severe disrepair. After my first visit to Cange, I realized solely repairing the medical equipment would be an inadequate solution to the underlying issues of the healthcare system. Our team began to focus on overall hospital operations, and how we could improve the hospital’s level of service through efficient use and management of the medical equipment. After serving as project manager of the medical equipment team for the past seven semesters, I am excited to be in Cange working every day on the project which has been my passion during my undergraduate years. In future posts, I will go into more detail about the project and what my daily work entails.

In addition to my work in the hospital, I am here with fellow intern Ashley Martin, an environmental engineering graduate student working on the Cange water system. I assist Ashley with her work, and I am learning more about hydraulics than I ever thought I would! Cange is the location of the first chlorinated municipal water system in the country of Haiti. A water system was initially installed in 1985 by engineers from South Carolina working for the Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina. After over twenty years of use, serving a population of over 5,000, the water system needed a revamp. CEDC was formed by Clemson graduate student Jeff Plumblee, and through CEDC the water system was overhauled and refurbished from 2009 to 2013. Due to this element of chlorination that was added to the system during the revamp, Cange was spared from the cholera epidemic which ravaged the country following the 2010 earthquake.

CEDC has since expanded to other community development projects in Cange and the surrounding villages, with research and design happening in Clemson and full-time interns responsible for project implementation in Haiti. I am so proud to be part of an organization which serves the population and has such a longstanding relationship with the community. On the two previous trips I have taken to Haiti, I made lasting friendships in Cange. Upon my arrival three weeks ago, I was reunited with a lot of my friends, all eager to help me settle in and learn Haitian Creole.

Now, three weeks later, I have settled into a routine. The language is getting a little bit easier, though it is still a humbling experience when people laugh as you inadvertently say something incorrectly or do not understand. Everyone has been really patient and helpful, and some people are even learning to talk really slowly and loudly, or mercifully speak with simple words. As I am writing this, I am trying to hold a conversation with someone. I don’t recommend writing in one language and speaking in another. Hopefully, in a few months I can look back at this post and admire all of my progress, while making a joke in Creole about my early attempts at speaking the language…

I have gotten used to the cold showers (quite invigorating!), and the wake up calls by roosters at six in the morning while the sun streams in are kind of pleasant. My circadian rhythms have never been more in sync. The food is good, lots of rice and beans and plantains. Sometimes we have chicken or goat. To my family’s horror, when asked what I had eaten for dinner, I replied, “goat balls.” I quickly had to explain that what I meant was a sort of meatball made out of goat meat.

The only thing that took a bit of adjusting was the weather. The high every day has been between 90 and 95 degrees. After spending three weeks in England at Christmas then returning to South Carolina and enjoying the snow in mid-January, I was in for quite a shock. I love cold weather, so the heat has been a challenge. However, it has done wonders for my natural “waves”/semblance of curls. Ladies, if you ever need to add volume to your hair, why waste money on expensive products? Come to Haiti! Yes, my hairstyle is voluminous and wavy until it is inadvertently ruined by frizz after I step outside.

For entertainment, Ashley and I hang out with our friends, especially Ambioli who is our Creole “pwofesè.” We have played some intense games of UNO, and I’ve read about 1,100 pages: two of the seven books I brought. I have had to stop reading every day so my books can last the next few months. Last Sunday, we watched the Super Bowl at Amicale, the local “club” in town. The sound was muted, so we enjoyed seeing Justin Timberlake’s lips move but hearing Haitian kompa music “an Kreyòl.” Being the enthusiastic sports spectators that we are, Ashley and I attend the weekend soccer matches held in Cange. The teams play until dark or until the ball is kicked on the roof and lost.

I hope to continue posting frequently, chronicling my time here, our work on the projects, and general information about the history and culture of Haiti, a proud country whose people have taken the cards they’ve been dealt and live with a resiliency that is breathtaking to behold.