Haitian Traditional Recipe for Disaster

• Take one freshly bankrupted French colony
• Remove all vegetation stalks through over farming
• Spinkle with a healthy serving of tryanical dictators
• Add 17 handfuls of Ton Ton Macoutes
• Shake well with a magnitude 7 earthquake until crumbling
• Mix in disease carrying UN troops
• Spread cholera throughout the mixture until golden brown
• Infuse with eau de Celestin and a drawn out corrupt election process
• Leave to bubble and simmer for months

This is the Haiti I experienced last year marinated with fear and frustation. Devastation hung heavy in the atmosphere. Lock downs were the plat du jour at the Architecture for Humanity maison and not everybody handled the pressure well.

Enter in, with trumpeting fanfare President Sweet Mickey, riding his bubble gum pink my little pony, defecating rainbows as he goes. Who cares if semi-naked is the new black, we have to rap to get money out of the ATM machine and new the new Haitian flag is cerise and white. We are ushering in a new era.

Already you can see the subtle manifestations of change with a new road all the way to work and a gleaming new sign at the end of our road. Hell by Irish standards he's just proven they've elected the right man for the job. Pot-hole politics at it's best.

In truth there is something different in the air though. It's small and almost intangible. Dare I call it hope. People have started to find a semblance of normality. The streets seem cleaner with less rubble. The animals seem to have found their way back to the garden. The stifling reigns of security have been loosened slightly. The man elected by the people for the ordinary people of Haiti has brought an element of contentedness with his big personality and left the bourgeoisie disgruntled. A favoured outcome of mine. Let's hope the shiny happy exterior puppet has the right people commanding the strings. Only time will tell...

And change is not just afoot on the broader scale. The Architecture for Humanity office has begun it's transition too with the aim to hand over as a fully Haitian operation in the next 18 months. The juxaposed condition of our work that if you have negotiated yourself out of this job you are doing it right. It's great to be working with local people who are flocking home to make their country a better place. If there were enough trees left post deforestation we just might be able to hear the winds of change rustling through them. Or maybe I am just being Optimist Prime today despite my stomach churning tropical disease - rum is tropical right?

In unrelated news. I nearly died - following a freak kamikazee dive-bomber hummingbird incident. Our clever feathered friend mistook the metal flower in my hair for the real deal and tried to pollinate my head. This is not a euphemism for anything. So if I can give you one piece of advice for the future it would be to not stand perfectly still EVER you are sitting duck for surprise natural attacks. And WEAR sunscreen.

If you still want to donate towards my time out here you can check out all my project details on www.lisainhaiti.com I will be working my sweet ass off (yes I still work out!) this week to get the bid package for my school out the door. Fingers, toes and eyes crossed.