Two weeks out.

Two weeks from my departure date and I have raised $1,280 for SOIL! Donations have arrived from Hartford, Connecticut, Napa, California, New Orleans, Louisiana, St. Simon's Island, Georgia, Orangeburg, South Carolina and Brooklyn, New York!

I am stunned at folks' generosity especially when I consider the economy and the time of year. Thank you to everyone, friends and family and friends of friends and family, who donated. This money should go far in helping with the urban tomato project and household garden installation. 

Thanks, too, to all of you who took the time to write to offer emotional/spiritual/political support. Your kind words are definitely appreciated. It started with my husband, Michael, who was the first person I spoke to about the trip. He said, "You should go". How many people want their partners to go to a dangerous, impoverished island country alone? If everyone thought this was a crazy idea, I might have decided against it but encouragement from near and far has made this trip happen.

I have all my plane tickets in order, my new passport arrived, I am on schedule with Typhoid and Malaria pills. I admit I am a little behind in my reading. I spent this past weekend wrapping gifts for Christmas. Michael and I made Meyer Lemon Marmalade and sent out six or so jars to points south and east. It felt really good to send homemade gifts. 

I am looking for seed donations for my garden projects in Haiti; I'd love to find seeds for tomatoes that don't mind heat. Garden for the Environment, an incredible organization here in San Francisco (www.gardenfortheenvironment.org) has offered some seeds but I won't pick them up until January 2nd.

Also, I have purchased a ton of crayons, markers, hi-bounce balls and hair bands (each for $1 or less). These items will be gifts for the children I meet in Haiti. If you would like to send small toys or school supplies to children in Haiti- let me know!

Peace. Merry Christmas. Happy Solstice. Happy Hanukah. Happy New Year.

Preparations & Vaccinations.

This morning I visited the San Francisco Department of Public Health's Travel Clinic. I have a fairly high tolerance for pain but I really hate getting shots. Needles freak me out. The clinic has a three-foot long plastic needle behind the reception desk, which didn't help my uneasiness, along with a sign that says, "Do something good for your country: LEAVE", which did.

The women at reception and the nurse who administered my shots were all very helpful, friendly and kind. I had heard good things about the clinic- and they are all true. The nurse talked me through all of the necessary and recommended vaccinations, inquired about the work I will be doing in Haiti and was altogether fantastically pleasant and smart. I promised to send her a link to this blog.

Tomorrow I start Typhoid pills and I need to pick up Malaria pills this week. My new passport should arrive early next week. I still need to purchase a ticket from San Francisco to Ft. Lauderdale and expect to do so this week. Otherwise, I think I'm on schedule.

Here's what I am reading right now:

The White Man's Burden: Why the West's efforts to aid the rest have done so much ill and so little good -William Easterly

The Uses of Haiti -Paul Farmer

The End of Poverty -Jeffrey D. Sachs

Creole Made Easy -Wally R. Turnbull

A Small Place (fiction) -Jamaica Kincaid (I read this 6+ years ago and am rereading it now)

Krik? Krak! (short stories) -Edwidge Danticat (I have read this book as well, but some time ago. If you haven't heard of Edwidge Danticat, I highly recommend her books especially The Farming of Bones. She is a brilliant Haitian-American writer).

The Black Diaspora: Five centuries of the Black experience outside Africa -Ronald Segal

I better get back to it! More soon.

Peace.

Three weeks out.

I leave San Francisco in exactly three weeks. I'll spend an evening in Florida before my 4:30am check-in at the Ft. Lauderdale airport. I bought my plane ticket to Haiti last Sunday and sent my first email about the trip on Monday. I have so far received phenomenal emotional support from friends and family near and far.

I have also raised $400 for S.O.I.L. and expect more donations in the coming days. I could say that I am floored by the generous donations I have received but, honestly, I'm not. The people whose names are on those checks are some of the kindest and most generous people I have the pleasure of knowing. I hope I am as grateful as they are giving.

I met a woman today who has twice traveled to Haiti and has made several short documentaries about Haiti and a short film about S.O.I.L. She is in the process of making another film and will visit Haiti again in March. Her name is Jennifer and I felt that we could have talked for hours and hours about Haiti and many, many things. Our meeting was serious and heartfelt but easy and certainly not our last.

I have a ton of preparation for my trip. So, until then.

I wish you peace and joy.

Cap-Haitien, Haiti

My letter.

Dear friends,

Recently, I read a short article in National Geographic about Haiti that stuck with me, and that has lead me to write this letter to you. The article was called, "Dirt Poor" and spoke of the heavy deforestation and erosion that has left the impoverished island nation without a way to feed its people. A modern staple in the typical Haitian diet consists of a cake made from clay, salt and shortening. The 2008 hurricane season left an already infrastructure-poor country utterly devastated; footage from Haiti in September left me speechless, unsettled, angry.

I am writing to ask for your help. I will be traveling to Haiti for eleven days in January 2009. I will be working as a volunteer with the organization S.O.I.L. (Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods). SOIL is a non-profit run entirely by volunteers dedicated to protecting soil resources, empowering communities and transforming waste into resources in Haiti. SOIL was co-founded by Sasha Kramer, ecologist and human rights advocate. Sasha received her Ph.D. in Ecology from Stanford University and is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Miami, though she spends most of her time in Haiti.

I will be traveling with a group of students from the University of Miami while in Haiti. The trip's focus is Sustainability Science and we will work on a number of projects including the construction of an ecological sanitation system. We will visit the rural town of Milot, Shada, an overcrowded slum in the city of Cap-Haitien and the Village of Labadi, where Royal Caribbean Cruiselines has a private beach but the people live, out of the view of tourists, in abject poverty.

Because of my particular skills and interests, Sasha has asked me to help with an urban tomato cultivation project in Shada and to work with individual families to construct household gardens. I am passionate about gardening and have been gardening for more than 12 years. To be able to use my knowledge to help families gain some small bit of independence through local food production is extraordinary and I am thankful that I have the skills and experience to do so.

I am paying for all of my own expenses relating to traveling to, from and within Haiti, with the generous support of my husband, Michael, and my family. However, SOIL operates entirely from individual donations and the organization's needs are many. I am hoping to raise $2,500 for materials for the urban tomato and household garden projects. I leave for Haiti on January 5th- less than a month away. A donation to S.O.I.L. in support of these projects would be appreciated more than words can express. Would you please consider making a gift of $50 to $100, if that is within your budget, or any amount that you are able to contribute? 80% of Haitians live on less than $1 a day.

Below are links to information about Haiti, SOIL and the University of Miami's Sustainable Science in Haiti Program.

Donations should be sent to me at the address below, but, please, make your check payable to SOIL.

I thank you and wish you and yours a peaceful and joyous holiday season!

Sincerely,

Corinne

True joy comes from knowing what you are doing, why you are doing it, and doing it wholeheartedly. -Sakyong Mipham

S.O.I.L. website:

http://www.oursoil.org 

Inside a Failed State - Haiti, 23 minute video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbbM8OM9Dqw&feature=rec-HM-r2

Short National Geographic article:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/09/soil/bourne-text

U. of Miami, Sustainable Science in Haiti Program:

http://www6.miami.edu/UMH/CDA/UMH_Main/0,1770,6371-1;56929-3,00.html

Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiti

Haiti Food Crisis, 8 minute video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSWJmq4XC2s

Strange Things, 3 minute video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQVe4PDf_Cg