January 2008

May 2008

Licia admitted this little girl in and doesn't expect her to live long.  Why? How?

Licia had this chart on her blog today and I wanted to share it with you.  I will probably go my entire life and never experience what these children experience.

HOW STARVATION AFFECT THE BODY

By Yifat Susskind
ICH
07/23/08
Real Women, Real Voices

Last week, leaders of the world’s richest countries, the Group of Eight (G8), met to chart the course of the global economy at the luxurious Windsor Hotel Toya Resort and Spa in Toyako, Japan. While President Bush and his colleagues discussed world hunger over a six-course lunch, women in Haiti were preparing cakes of dirt for their children’s dinner.

Eating dirt, mixed with salt and vegetable shortening, is the latest coping strategy of Haitian mothers trying to quiet hungry children in a year when the cost of rice (Haiti’s staple food) has risen nearly 150 percent.

Ironically, many of these women were once rice farmers themselves. But in the 1980s, U.S.-grown rice began pouring into Haiti. Thanks to federal subsidies, the imported rice was sold for less than what it cost to grow it. Haitian farmers just couldn’t compete.

Neither could millions of other farmers around the world, who have been bankrupted by the influx of rice, corn, and wheat from the U.S., Europe and Japan. These farmers have gone from growing their own food and feeding their countries to having to buy food that’s priced on a global market. Now that these commodity markets have spiked, millions of more families cannot afford to eat.

...continued

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

see

Let Them Eat Free Markets

FOOD CRISIS: The greatest demonstration of the historical failure of the capitalist model

FOOD CRISIS: Capitalism, Agribusiness & the Food Sovereignty Alternative (Part II)

Bill Moyers Journal: Hope in the Congo + 100 Years of Darkness + Bread for the World

Kicking Sand In Russia’s Face By Eric Margolis

G8 Summit + Politics of Fruit and the Secret History of the “Miracle Berry”

G8 summit marked by impotence and division

Food

Haiti

By David Moberg
www.inthesetimes.com
July 2 , 2008

How deregulation fuels the global food crisis

In April, crowds of angry Haitians — reduced to eating mud cakes to staunch hunger — erupted in deadly protests against high food prices, forcing the prime minister to resign. The price of rice, a staple of the Haitian diet, had risen 16 percent on the world market last year, then shot up 141 percent from January to April.

Around the world, similar riots — or fears of them — have pushed governments to restrict exports, reduce tariffs, attack hoarding and take other desperate measures as prices of virtually all major food commodities have spiked — and often fluctuated wildly.

...continued

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

see

FOOD CRISIS: The greatest demonstration of the historical failure of the capitalist model

FOOD CRISIS: Capitalism, Agribusiness & the Food Sovereignty Alternative (Part II)

Food

Haiti

Desde 2005 cuando se celebró en Kingston, Jamaica, un festival de cine cubano, se ha venido hablando y gestando la idea de una Muestra Itinerante de Cine del Caribe. Desde el año pasado se vienen concretizando los esfuerzos por parte de la UNESCO, la Asociacion de Estados del Caribe y las instituciones gubernamentales caribeñas, que patrocinan y auspician esta iniciativa.

El Caribe, todos lo sabemos, es una gran conglomerado de culturas, mezclas de todo tipo: sabores, colores, contradicciones, riquezas biológicas y miserias humanas, sociedades de diferentes tamaños y destinos, sistemas políticos numantinos o hiperglobalizados, todo lo que caracteriza al mundo de hoy, se encuentra allí, pero en dosis nunca moderadas.

Esa diversidad es también algo homogenea, como lo son los orígenes étnicos de estos pueblos: Íberos y eurocontinentales, sin olvidar los anglos. Africanos del Oeste, de la selva congolesa o de los lagos y las sabanas del Este. Chinos e Indios (de la India), Taínos, Caribes y Yucatecas, se distribuyen en mayores o menores concentraciones a lo largo de ese gran conjunto de islas pequeñas, medianas y grandes. Hasta rusos y mongoles han llegado para quedarse en el Caribe, en particular, en la más grande de sus islas, la más rica y la más pobre, jovial y huraña, avanzada y atrasada, todo según el prisma o el campo del análisis de que se trate.

Allí, entre tanto mestizaje, el cine fue y sigue siendo un espacio privilegiado de vida social para grandes sectores de la población. Las producciones del área, sin embargo, no han gozado del esplendor y apoyo que otras regiones, incluso de la misma América latina, han experimentado.

Los organizadores de estas muestras pretenden muchas cosas, con pocos recursos, como es de esperar de los grandes soñadores de los Trópicos, pero el mero hecho de que tengan lugar y de que abran un precario espacio entre la avalancha de cine comercial es ya un logro nada despreciable.

Realizadores de Haití, Cuba, Jamaica, Trinidad y Tobago, funcionarios de la Oficina regional de la UNESCO, constituyen el núcleo del proyecto. En los diferentes países donde se celebra la Muestra, la organización es descentralizada y son realizadores o gestores locales quienes se ocupan de llevar a buen término la iniciativa. Este es un elemento democratizador nada despreciable en este tipo de eventos. Además, como resultado tangible de las muestras, una Videoteca del Caribe, localizada en La Habana y en Kingston, será creada. Conferencias, encuentros con los realizadores y otras muchas actividades se irán incorporando a la itinerancia cinematográfica caribeña.

Finalmente, vale la pena destacar que “caribeño” hoy en día, es un concepto que desborda los límites geográficos del Caribe propiamente tal. Las diásporas caribeñas en el resto de las Américas ya están vinculandose a la Muestra, de hecho uno de sus fundadores: el realizador y escritor haitiano-canadiense Frantz Voltaire, es la voz de esa visión desplazada, pero no desenraizada.

El pequeño bote, ó quizás mejor, en “terminología naval caribeña”: la frágil balsa ha sido lanzada al agua. El brindis no fue con champaña, quizás ni siquiera con los mejores rones de sus fundadores: El Appleton State jamaicano y el Havana Club cubano, (generalmente ambos para la exportación), pero aún si fue acompañado con un simple aguardiente de caña, esta iniciativa merece apoyo y seguimiento, pues todos los esfuerzos por intercambiar entre caribeños, (pueblos cercanos, pero cada vez menos vinculados), será positivo, necesario, vital, para la sobrevivencia de una cultura común o quizás de una civilización mediterranea (nuestro Mediterraneo americano), en crisis.

"WE MU ST CANONIZE OUR OWN SAINTS, CREATE OUR OWN MARTYRS AND ELEVATE TO POSITIONS OF FAME AND GLORY BLACK WOMEN AND MEN WHO HAVE MADE THEIR DISTINCT CONTRIBUTION TO OUR HISTORY."  AFRICAN FUNDAMENTALISM BY MARCUS GARVEY

The Honorable Lady Henrietta Vinton Davis was a Shakespearean actor, elocutionist, dramatic reader, and public speaker. She was proclaimed by Marcus Garvey to be “the greatest woman of the [African] race”. She is currently lying in an unmarked grave in National Harmony Memorial Park in Largo, Maryland. The Henrietta Vinton Davis Memorial Foundation is committed to increasing the general public’s awareness and erecting a memorial to the life and legacy of the Honorable Henrietta Vinton Davis, Lady Commander Order of the Nile. In addition to raising funds for a fitting memorial to her life, we also intend to sponsor performances of a play entitled “Shero: The Livication of Henrietta Vinton Davis” written by Actor Clayton Lebouef, produce a biopic on her life and publish her biography.  Hopefully, after reading this brief synopsis of her life you too will be inspired to add your name to the list of those who consolidated their resources in order to bestow a fitting memorial upon her. Nothing less is due a woman of her stature.  You may make donations via our website at WWW.LadyDavis.org --The Henrietta Vinton Davis Memorial Foundation.

On August 15, 1860, Henrietta Vinton Davis was freeborn in Baltimore, Maryland to Mansfield Vinton and Mary Ann (Johnson) Davis. Her father, who was a pianist, died shortly thereafter.  Six months later in 1861, her mother married George A. Hackett. A coal yard operator and former livery stable owner, Hackett is one of the most prominent Africans in Baltimore at that time. His lobbying efforts are credited with swaying public opinion among the citizens of Maryland to defeat the 1859 Jacobs Bill. The intention of that bill was to deport from Maryland all adults of African ancestry and enslave all free African children. It was considered a response to the raid on Harper’s Ferry by John Brown. He was also a member of the Board of Directors of The Chesapeake Marine Railway and Dry Dock Company of Baltimore City, the only African American Shipbuilding company in the United States which was co founded by  Hackett's friend Isaac Myers.  Captain Hackett died in April of 1870 after voting despite warnings to the African community in Baltimore against doing so. He was given an elaborate funeral at Bethel AME Church with Senator Hiram Revels of Mississippi among the distinguished list of attendees and an eulogy conducted by Bishop Daniel Alexander Payne. The ceremony was followed by a mile long procession of carriages and marchers across the city of Baltimore from west to east. Hackett was interred in what was then Laurel Cemetery (bulldozed in the 1950s for a shopping mall, some graves including Hackett's were moved to Johnsville, Maryland).

A year later Henrietta moved with her mother south to Washington, DC.  In 1875, at the early age of fifteen, Miss Davis passed the necessary examination and was awarded the position of a teacher in the public schools of Maryland. Subsequently, she went to teach in the state of Louisiana.  Upon returning to Maryland to care for her ailing mother Miss Davis bore the certificate of the Board of Education. In 1878, she became the first African woman employed by the Office of the Recorder of Deeds in Washington, DC under General George A. Sheridan as a copyist. Within a year of Frederick Douglass’ 1881 appointment as Recorder of Deeds, Henrietta began her dramatic education under the tutelage of Miss Marguerite E. Saxton of Washington.  The Honorable Frederick Douglass introduced Miss Davis in her first appearance as an actress April 25, 1883, before a distinguished integrated audience at Marini’s Hall 714 E Street, NW in Washington, DC (ironically, a site now occupied by the FBI Building).  In September of 1883 she traveled to Louisville with Frederick Douglass and others to appear at the National Negro Convention.  She performed “The Battle” by Schiller and responded to encores with a selection from the Merchant of Venice. That year she appeared in New London, Connecticut, New York State, Boston and “more than a dozen of the larger cities of the Eastern and Middle States.” During the summer of 1883 Miss Davis, under the management
of James Monroe Trotter (Father of William Monroe Trotter the first black member of Phi Beta Kappa) and William H. Dupree, made a tour of Boston, Worcester, and New Bedford, Massachusetts; Providence and Newport, Rhode Island; Hartford and New Haven Connecticut; and New York City, Albany and Saratoga, New York. On January 17th, 1884 she appeared before a crowded house in Melodeon Hall, Cincinnati, Ohio. During this time she married T. Thomas Symmons, who became her manager.  During 1885 Henrietta formed the Davis Miller
Concert and Dramatic company.  In 1893, African Americans were prevented from taking part in the Chicago World's Fair.  Undaunted, she started her own company in Chicago and produced William Edgar Easton’s play “Dessalines”.  She subsequently traveled to the Caribbean on a tour of that region.  During that same time she collaborated on writing a play entitled “Our Old Kentucky Home” with distinguished journalist and future Garveyite John Edward Bruce.  She and Symmons divorced sometime in 1899.

The early part of the 1900s was the beginning of a change in the career of Henrietta Vinton Davis.  Although still in demand after over twenty years as a performer, she had to contend with younger competition.  Additionally, audiences were willing to accept less "distinguished" entertainment in the form of minstrel shows.  As a result, she was no longer as unique a drawing card as in her early career.  She came to involve herself more with community service work in the form of performing in fundraisers for churches and schools, as well as, returning to teaching.  During 1912-13 she toured the Caribbean with singer Nonie Bailey Hardy and managed the Covent Garden Theater in Kingston, Jamaica.  She learned of the work of Marcus Garvey during that time.

In 1919 she accepted Garvey’s invitation to speak at the Palace Casino in Harlem, NYC.  At first it may seem that she was boldly giving up her career to work with Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League.  But closer analysis reveals that she may actually have stepped into the role for which she had been preparing her whole life.  Her stepfather George Hackett was a member of every African American fraternal organization in Baltimore.  Furthermore, she headed her own fraternal organization in the early 1900s, The Knights and Ladies of Malachite with influential African American attorney Laudros Melendez King of Washington.  In time Davis became the UNIA-ACL’s first International Organizer, a director of the Black Star Line and the corporation's Vice-President.  On the 1920 maiden voyage of BSL flagship, S.S. Yarmouth (later renamed the S.S. Frederick Douglas) she was the ranking member of the UNIA and member of the board of the Black Star Line.  As such she was essentially in command of the vessel carrying a cargo valued in excess of $5,000,000.  At stops in Cuba, Jamaica, Panama and other ports throughout the Caribbean and Central America they were greeted with cheers and fanfare.  On April 20, 1920 a meeting of the Black Star Line was held in New York anticipating the return of the SS Frederick Douglas.  Garvey invoked the crowd to cheer rapturously when he proclaimed Davis to be "the greatest woman of the Negro race today" in his remarks.  At the UNIA ACL August 1920 convention she was a signatory of the Declaration of Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World.  Among its 54 declarations are resolutions designating Red, Black and Green the symbolic colors of African people, condemnng the word “nigger” to henceforth cease being used and insisting the word “Negro” be thereafter written with a capital “N”.  Davis rose in rank to become Fourth Assistant President-General of the UNIA-ACL in 1921.  On August 27, 1921, during that year's UNIA convention, the Potentate Honorable Gabriel Johnson bestowed upon her a Knighthood with the title "Lady Commander Order of the Nile" for her distinguished success as leader and organizer of the UNIA.  Lady Davis established UNIA divisions in Cuba; Guadeloupe; Saint Thomas, Virgin Islands; Port au Prince, Haiti; Trinidad, Jamaica and throughout the United States.  Although in June 1923 she was unseated by Garvey in an attempt to quell dissent in the UNIA’s New York Headquarters, she was reelected during the August 1924 convention.  As the only woman in the UNIA delegation seeking consent to establish a UNIA colony, Lady Davis traveled to Liberia, West Africa in December of 1923.  In 1924 she was part of a committee which delivered petitions to U.S. President Calvin Coolidge seeking commutation of Marcus Garvey’s sentence for mail fraud.  She chaired the August 25th, 1924 convention meeting as Fourth-Assistant President-General of the UNIA.  When the Holy Piby was published that year, she, Robert Lincoln Poston and Garvey are cited as the "Apostles" working as a delegation for the redemption of Africa.  At the 1929 International Convention of the UNIA she was elected UNIA Secretary General.  By 1932 she broke with the UNIA-ACL and became first Assistant President-General of the rival UNIA, Inc. under Lionel Francis.  In the 1934 convention Lady Davis was elected President of the rival organization.

On November 23, 1941 Henrietta Vinton Davis ascended to join the ancestors in Saint Elizabeth's Hospital, Washington, DC at eighty-one years of age.  She was buried on November 26 in Columbia Harmony Cemetery after a service at the A.S. Pope Funeral Home.

Unmarried, childless and at an advanced age for the time, no marker was placed at her grave site.  The cemetery was subsequently relocated to Landover, Maryland and renamed National Harmony Memorial Park.  She remained relatively unrecognized until July 1983 when an article entitled "Henrietta Vinton Davis and the Garvey Movement" by Professor William Seraile was published in the journal Afro-Americans in New York Life and History.  Nearly a year later, acknowledgment of her contributions increased with the publication of the book "Shakespeare in Sable" written by Professor Errol Hill.  In 1994, actor Clayton LeBouef received a commission to write a play on her life entitled "Shero: The Liviciation of Henrietta Vinton Davis."  Initial planning for the UNIA website in 1998 included a "Hall of Heroes" recognizing unsung UNIA Heroes and Sheroes.  Reserach resulted in the realization Lady Davis lay in an unmarked grave.  Initial thoughts of placing a marker there were supplanted by the query "if a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound?"  What point would there have been in marking a grave when few people know the significance thereof?

We know at least 100 people with 100 dollars each will read this article.  Among them, who will have the force of will to consolidate their energy and place a plaque marking the grave of "the greatest woman of the African race?"  This is a chance to make history.  Accomplish what you will!!!

Donations can be made via Paypal at www.ladydavis.org

O último post me lembrou de um livro haitiano que li há algum tempo. Chama-se "Pays sans chapeau", de Dany Laferrière, escritor haitiano que deixou o país durante a ditadura de Papa Doc. Li, na verdade, a tradução do livro, que, se não me engano, sequer foi publicada. A tradução está na tese de mestrado de Heloísa Caldeira Alves Moreira, pela Universidade de São Paulo.

Aqui o rosto do Dany, autor do livro, retratado pelo jornal Le Monde.

Reproduzo abaixo um trecho em que o narrador está numa viagem pelo reino dos deuses do vodu. Encontra Ogum, deus da guerra, e sua esposa Erzulie, deusa do amor... e lá vai ele:

(...)

Ogum, o deus do fogo.

Um homem de grande estatura, sem camisa, trabalhando diante de uma forja. Ele atiça o fogo com um sopro. Paro, um momento, para olhá-lo. Ele se vira na minha direção, lançando-me um terrível olhar antes de voltar a seu ferro vermelho.

– O senhor viu minha filha?
– Não sei dizer, senhor. (Seria eu a única pessoa a ter chamado um deus de senhor?). Vi muitas mocinhas perto da fonte.

Ele explode de rir.

– É Marinette. Aquela que chamamos de Marinette das pernas finas. Ela o fez acreditar que havia várias meninas na fonte, continua. É sua brincadeira preferida. Ela estava, com certeza, lavando seu vestido branco para a cerimônia de hoje à noite.
– Ela é muito bonita, sua filha...
– É filha da mãe que tem. Ela não tem nada meu, exceto o nariz. Fora isso, é a mãe escarrada. Tal mãe, tal filha também. Duas sacanas... E agora, meu jovem, tenho coisas a fazer. Se quer conversar, continue reto até a figueira, depois vire à direita e encontrará minha mulher. Você não pode errar. Aliás, ela vai se apresentar a você.

Os deuses classe média

Decididamente, não é o inferno de Dante. Eu que pensava cair no meio de uma chuva de formas estranhas em um mundo bizarro, um universo tão poderoso, tão lotado de símbolos, tão complexo, que teria me ajudado, nutrindo minha prosa de detalhes suculentos que ultrapassam a compreensão humana, a ponto de enfrentar as revelações de São João ou o inferno de Dante. No lugar disso, tenho que engolir as gozações de uma deusa adolescente, e as lamentações de um pai, supostamente o terrível Ogum Ferreiro, que para mim mais parece um pobre operário afundado até o pescoço nas frustrações matrimoniais. Estaria eu aqui para ouvir um deus me contar suas dificuldades com a mulher? E principalmente, é com esse monte de besteiras pequeno-burguesas que o vodu pretende enfrentar os mistérios do catolicismo? Não quero acreditar.

O caminho sem fim

Quando um deus ou simplesmente um camponês lhe disser que não é muito longe, desconfie. A concepção que eles têm da distância difere da nossa. Não sei se andei dias ou horas, ou mesmo anos, já que estamos na escala da eternidade aqui. Em todo caso, fiquei mais de uma vez desesperado no caminho para alcançar aquela maldita figueira. E quando a vi, à medida que avançava em sua direção, ela recuava. Finalmente a alcancei. Logo em seguida, achei a trilha a minha direita da qual Ogum tinha falado. Há tantos calangos que correm para todo lado em torno de mim que poderíamos batizar esse lugar de jardim dos calangos. E ao longe, na encosta da montanha, aquela charmosa casinha de cores tão brilhantes que parecia ter saído diretamente de um quadro de pintura primitiva. Aproximo-me, no entanto, temeroso. De repente, pegam-me pelo pescoço.

– O que o senhor faz na minha casa?

Tão logo me viro, reconheço-a.

– Sou Erzulie Fréda Dahomey ou Erzulie Dantor, depende se quero branca ou preta. O amor ou a morte.

Tremo levemente.

– Então, continua, meu excelente marido enviou você para me dizer bom dia...

Ela agarra um calango e lhe dá uma abocanhada.

– Estou de regime, explica, só me alimento de calangos atualmente... Então, você acabou de ver Ogum e ele te enviou. Ele tem esses delicados cuidados com sua cara esposa.

Ela larga enfim meu pescoço e começa a dançar em volta de mim. Ela não é alta, mas cheia de energia, principalmente muito sensual. Uma esposa amante, como dizem aqui.

– Devo dizer-lhe que, desde que meu caro Ogum não dá mais no couro, sou obrigada a encontrar parceiros dentre os mortais, e eles não estão à altura, naturalmente. Posso trepar facilmente um mês inteiro sem parar.
– Para fazer amor um mês inteiro, é preciso...
– Escute, meu jovem, os humanos fazem amor, mas os deuses trepam.
– Certo, mas para trepar um mês sem parar...

Ela tem o riso num crescente, levemente histérico.

– Digo um mês, assim, mas no fundo nem sei, talvez seja um ano ou mais, não sei contar na medida de vocês. Sou uma analfabeta. A única coisa que posso te dizer é que, tirando Ogum, meu marido, nenhum outro deus pode acompanhar meu ritmo.

Senti um novo arrepio percorrer minha espinha.

– Quando estou no cio, continuou, posso consumir uma quantidades astronômica de humanos... Homens ou mulheres, tanto faz. Ela me pega pelo pescoço, dessa vez com ternura, e quando alguém te pega assim pelo pescoço, deus ou mortal, é que ele quer te pedir algum favor.

– O que ele estava fazendo?
– Quem? pergunto, um pouco desconcertado.
– Meu marido...
– Estava trabalhando.
– Ah... (Um tempo...) Ele estava trabalhando... E onde estava a pequena atrevidinha?
– Quem?
– Pare de se fazer de bobo... Onde estava minha filha?
– Eu a encontrei perto da fonte.
– O que ela estava fazendo lá?

Seus olhos se tornavam cada vez mais vermelhos.

– Estava lavando.
– Eu sei que estava lavando. Lavava o quê?
– Acho que lavava um vestido branco para uma cerimônia.

Um longo silêncio.

– Era tudo o que eu queria saber. De qualquer forma, se aquele velho avarento te mandou aqui é porque ele queria que eu soubesse... Bom... Então, ele está pensando em casar com sua filha... Há! há! háháháháháhá! faz entrando em sua casinha.

Um riso estranho, um pouco artificial, que me gela o sangue. Eu a olho andando de um lado para o outro em sua pequena sala abarrotada de bugigangas. Na parede, sobre uma grande toalha de banho vermelha: uma foto de Martin Luther King apertando a mão de John Kennedy.

– Você quer tomar alguma coisa?

Ela não espera minha resposta e tira uma garrafa de coquetel de cerejas de um pequeno armário coberto de poeira que ela mantém fechado a chave.

– Não sei desde quando tenho este coquetel aqui. Temos visitas raramente. As pessoas daqui preferem ficar em casa. Só Zaka vem me ajudar às vezes....

Olho pela janela e vejo um velho homem capinando o jardim. É ele, Zaka, o deus dos camponeses.

– Sabe o que vai fazer?... Você vai voltar para ver Ogum e, falando com ele, vai dar um jeito para que ele pense que dormimos junto.
– Mas isso não terá nenhum efeito, uma vez que a senhora mesma me disse que...
– Sim, mas não aqui, não no leito conjugal...Trata-se talvez de um deus, mas também de um homem, você entende o que quero dizer...
– Se se tratar de um homem, sei o que vai acontecer.
– Bem, se ele atacar você, terá que se haver comigo...
– Sim, mas enquanto isso...
– Se você morrer por mim, poderá vir morar aqui comigo por toda eternidade, diz com os olhos de noite.

É preciso que eu pense rápido.

– Eu, se fosse a senhora, em vez disso, iria reconquistar Ogum, o que seria fácil pois a senhora é bem mais bonita, e principalmente bem mais experiente que sua filha.

– Sim, mas ela é mais jovem.
– Me disseram que o tempo não existia aqui.
– Não para essas coisas, diz com um jeito maroto.
– Oh! então é relativo?
– Tudo é relativo, meu bem, fala avançando em minha direção.

Eis que ela começa a rebolar. Que situação mais estranha estar sentado aqui, neste salão kitsch, olhando Erzulie Fréda Dahomey, a mais terrível deusa da cosmogonia vodu, tentando me seduzir para que eu vá ferir, com a arma do ciúme, o coração de seu marido, Ogum Badagris ou Ogum Ferreiro, o intratável deus do fogo e da guerra.

– A senhora talvez seja menos jovem, mas tem as pernas mais bonitas do que as de sua filha que apelidamos de Marinette das pernas finas.

Desta vez, acho que acertei na mosca e que não terá cerimônia nenhuma, mais tarde. Mas antes que tudo exploda, tem alguém que precisa dar no pé daqui bem rápido. (...)

Idag, när man flyger in över Hispaniola, kan man faktiskt se var gränsen mellan de två länderna går. På den ena sida är det brunt och på den andra grönt. Jorderosionen i Haiti är långt gången och ingen bryr sig. Den politiska erosionen tycks idag än värre och fortsätter det så här har vi ingen nationalstat längre, utan ett nytt Somalia.

Och flyktingarna strömmar in över gränsen i sitt sökande efter en utkomst. Och liksom för USA´s gräns mot Mexiko så läcker den påtagligt. Gränsövervakningen är minimal eller obefintlig.

Dominikanska Republiken är en ung demokrati. Låt vara en lovande demokrati, men mycket ung. 4 fria och demokratiska val har hållits sen diktaturens strupgrepp på nationen, under Trujillo och Balaguer, och det är väl nåt som man kan vara stolt över. Men inte räcker det särskilt långt när man förutom att man försöker stävja fattigdomen i det egna landet, översvämmas av samma plåga från grannlandet.

Vad skall man då göra? Ja inte vet jag. Men välgörenhet börjar hemma vid köksbordet. Leonel Fernandez sa i förra månaden på ett FAO möte i Rom att andra länder skulle söka hjälp och bistånd för Haiti. Dom är tydligen inte kapabla till det själva. Men det väckte bestörtning hos det politiska etablissemanget i Port-au-Prince. Så kunde man väl inte få göra. Man var givetvis tacksam för den hjälp man kunde få, men inte om den efterfrågades av andra å deras vägnar.

Vad gör då omvärlden? Ingenting, som det ser ut. USA tycks helst se att Dominikanska Republiken reder ut problemen? Med vilka resurser då? USA har föresten en del av ansvaret för att det ser ut som det gör på Haiti idag, men nu tvår man, likt Pontus Pilatus, sina händer.

Nä, Dominikanska Republiken har sina egna problem med fattigdom som man arbetar med. Och som man måste arbeta med. Men varje steg i rätt riktning riskeras att raderas ut i takt med att Haiti blir allt värre och flyktingarna allt fler.

Just nu pågår en fotoutställning om Dykarna här i Santo Domingo. Dykar pojkar. Pojkar i 10-års åldern som dyker ner i sophögarna efter saker att sälja eller tom att äta. Och dom är många. Sophögsbarnen och gatubarnen. Dom måste vi ta hand om i första hand. Men kanske vi måste bygga en mur mellan Haiti och Dominikanska Republiken först...

Só conhecendo um pouco mais da cultura do Haiti para entender que existem diferentes formas de olharmos o empobrecimento do país caribenho. Ele reside, sobretudo, na política partidária, nos serviços públicos e na garantia dos direitos. Mas não atinge a dimensão cultural de um povo que tem história, religião e uma riqueza plural. A celebração aconteceu na semana passada. Fiz uma coleta de fotos deste ano pela internet. Algumas são da página oficial da Minustah, registradas pelo fotógrafo Marco Dormino, e outras do pessoal do Haiti Innovation, no link do slideshow do Flickr.

Aí estão...

Haitians facing widespread unemployment or a minimum wage of less than US$2 a day are turning to the junk that litters the streets for survival.

Thousands of Haitians amass and haul scrap metal, plastic bottles, even abandoned cars to recycling plants such as GS Industries SA, one of the capital city's largest, where they are melted and exported to countries throughout the Americas and Asia.

Delicame Giles, 56, collects discarded plastic bottles that flow with the rain through an open canal, earning about US$8 a week. She has no other means of support. Her husband is dead, and her children are unemployed.

Click link for more

In March I traveled to Ethiopia for business, and I was honestly stunned by what I saw when I left the airport. For a nation that is over 2,000 years old--and often referred to as the cradle of humanity--nothing has really changed in two millenniums. I was not expecting the amount of poverty that I saw in Addis Ababa or when I traveled through rural Ethiopia. It made me think, why are some nations so far behind others in terms of development?

Many left-leaning people will talk about how colonialism destroyed Africa. Europeans stole from the continent--people and natural resources--and gave nothing back. The strife, disease, hunger and lack of infrastructure that we see today is often blamed on colonialism. But that theory doesn't hold in Ethiopia. Nothing was stolen and no nation crippled their economy, at least not during the time that it was happening everywhere else in Africa. So what has Ethiopia been doing for the past 2,000 years, that's left parts of the nation looking like it's still in the Middle Ages?

This weekend I had the random opportunity to talk with a friend of a friend who is Ethiopian. I asked him some of these questions, because I am absolutely baffled and appalled by the living standards of the majority of Ethiopians. He told me that Ethiopia went through a period of communism that destroyed the economy (but I'm sure Cuba is more developed than Ethiopia, as is Vietnam.) There's also the fact that Ethiopia has, and still is, fighting wars with her neighbors (according to the friend of a friend, Ethiopia is currently fighting in Somalia at the forceful request of the US government.)

So why are nations like Ethiopia, Laos, Afghanistan, and Haiti so far behind in development? Is it a lack of natural resources, colonialism, bad governance or a combination of all three? Is it simply bad luck or bad geography?

Development takes years, but civilization has been around for thousands, so these nations aren't starting from nowhere. Perhaps nations in the developing world have to start taking responsibility for their failures.

SUNGGUH miris menatap foto-foto karya fotografer Associated Press (AP) Ariana Cubillos ini. Anak-anak Haiti di daerah Deschapelles dalam dua foto tersebut menderita malnutrisi (kekurangan gizi) akut. Tubuh mereka memang tampak tidak terlalu kurus, namun perut mereka semua buncit-buncit.

Sejumlah pihak telah berusaha mengirimkan bantuan makanan ke negara yang terletak di wilayah Karibia, Pasifik Selatan itu. Namun bantuan sulit didistribusikan ke desa-desa karena buruknya sarana transportasi. Apalagi pemerintahan negara tersebut nyaris lumpuh total akibat kerusuhan massa seperti tak berujung.

Entah krisis pangan berkelanjutan yang menyebabkan pemerintah di negara berpenduduk sekitar 8 juta jiwa jatuh, atau sebaliknya, karena kekacauan politik yang menyebabkan krisis pangan. Yang pasti, Republik Haiti  kini benar-benar terpuruk dalam kemiskinan dan krisis pangan yang luar biasa. Menurut si fotografer, setiap satu dari tiga balita di negeri kecil itu mengalami malnutrisi sangat akut. Mereka bakal kehilangan masa depan. Atau mungkin sudah mati sebelum menggapai masa depan itu.

Saking miskinnya, konon warga setempat makan tanah. Ya, mereka membuat kue kering dari tanah kemudian dimakan. Kondisi ini persisnya dialami oleh warga di Cite Soleil, sebuah kawasan terkumuh di Port-au-Prince, ibukota negara tersebut.

Walah, bagaimana caranya tanah bisa dijadikan kue kering? Ternyata mereka memanfaatkan sejenis lumpur berwarna kuning dicampur garam dan sayuran. Mereka terpaksa makan tanah, kendati dipastikan mengandung berbagai jenis kuman penyakit. Bahkan akibat memakan kue kering dari tanah itu, membuat anak-anak semakin mengalami kurang gizi dan terserang beragam jenis penyakit.

Pelajaran sederhana yang bisa dipetik dari Haiti adalah, kita patut bersyukur karena masih bisa makan. Janganlah kita sia-siakan makanan. Makanlah secukupnya dan jangan membuang-buang berkat Tuhan. Ajarkan juga kepada anak-anak kita untuk menghargai makanan. Lihatlah, ternyata masih banyak orang di dunia ini yang sama sekali tidak memiliki makanan. (*)

Avi Lewis in conjunction with Naomi Klein of The Take  have put together an illustrative video series, this one on Haiti's rice-crisis,  that really sheds further light on the additional far-reaching impact of food riots/shortages/pricing/climate change/politics  -  all the "stuff" it seems we take for granted as we gripe about gas prices (and it's a gripe worth having, but also worth digging deeper into discussing vs digging into the protected zones of Alaska, but I digress...).

The vid is somewhere around 22+ minutes long, but worth the time to reflect on this topic and it's continued reverb worldwide (my food bill has shot up considerably, but I can still afford a bag of Basmati). 

Stay awake my friends-

Jag kan rekomendera alla filmer i denna klassiska zombiefest. Night of the living dead, Dawn of the dead, Day of the dead och Land of the dead. Dessutom har en annan italienare, Lucio Fulci, gjort en sevärd uppföljare till Dawn of the dead. Den heter Zombi 2 men är mer känd som Zombie flesh eaters.

Levande döda är en lika tacksam som tydlig symbol. Vi ser dom runt omkring oss, ibland kan vi identifiera oss med dom, dom kan vara det skoningslösa yttre hotet. Hos Romero, som har hjärtat till vänster, finns en sympati med dessa levande döda. Han ser, eller åtminstone hoppas på, en möjlighet till och med för dom levande döda att bli medvetna om sina slumrande krafter, och därmed överskrida sina egna gränser. Det är denna öppet politiska tendens som höjer Romeros filmer över mängden.

I den avslutande filmen i serien, Land of the dead, blir budskapet som tydligast. Vår tid avtecknad i en film lika vacker som skoningslös. Den rika världen har förskansat sig bakom ett elektrifierat och militärbevakat staket som ska hålla ute det anarkistiska och barbariska yttre hotet. Dom oregerliga och oräkneliga massorna av zombies som strövar omkring, och inte sällan som i längtande trans försöker närma sig det glittrande tornet där dom rika bor, Fiddlers Green.

Självklart finns en hierarki också innanför murarna. Dom fattiga bor i en slumstad ute på gatan. Inne i tornet finns ett gated community för den så kallade eliten. Deras hem är lyxlägenheter omgivna av en gigantisk sval shopping-galleria. Därinne går allt ut på att konsumera och glömma bort det yttre hot som blir allt starkare för var dag.

I toppen av hierarkin sitter den diaboliske Paul Kaufman, som med sitt hycklande tal om makthavarnas ansvar, att vägra förhandla med terrorister, med mera, är ett knivskarpt nidporträtt av George Bush. Men man kan också se gräddan av världens andra ledare i honom. I slutändan är hans plan att överge sin egen skapelse och rädda sig själv.

I slummen finns en traditionell kommunistisk arbetarledare som pratar om att ta över makten och göra något bättre av den stad som finns. När situationen spårat ur på allvar utrustar sig också kommunistgänget med vapen och förbereder ett övertagande, samtidigt som dom hungriga och hemlösa levande döda väller in i staden. Denne klassiske arbetarledare ställs i kontrast till filmens huvudperson Riley Dembo. Riley är en modern, mer autonom eller anarkistisk tendens. Han drömmer om en värld utan gränser, och att helt fly det rådande. Alltså den nomadistiska tendensen i autonom teori. Den tredje huvudfiguren från slummen är Cholo De Mora. Han är en hänsynslös gangstertyp så länge han fortfarande när drömmar om att ta sig upp i samhället och bli invald i Fiddlers Green. När hans illusioner krossas blir han en hatisk terrorist som hotar att spränga hela civilisationen i bitar. Med på den resan tar han bland annat en naiv tonårspojke som sätts ut som värnlöst bete åt zombies.

Den rika världens militär skickas ut på rena massakrer i zombieterritoriet. Symboliskt nog kan man pacifisera zombiesarna med att skicka upp enkel underhållning i form av fyrverkerier på himlen. Men långsamt vaknar ett visst medvetande bland zombiebefolkningen om både deras egen situation och hur fiendens vapen skulle kunna användas mot dem. Och det är just smärtan över massakrer och övervåld som väcker det mänskliga, vreden men i en scen till och med medlidandet, hos de levande döda. För er som gillar sådant utlovas en scen mot slutet av filmen, där man får se den ignoranta överklassen i tornet lustmördas av horder av zombies.

En del har kritiserat Land of the dead, just för att zombiesarna har ett vaknande medvetande i filmen. Riktiga zombies, menar man, är bara vandrande kroppar. Nu är ju mytens zombies något helt annat än verklighetens. Och mytologiska varelser har inte ett facit. Romero ser möjlgheten till medvetande till och med hos de levande döda, för att han är socialist. Just den bästa sorten som är optimist och tror på människan hur vidriga dom yttre omständigheterna än förefaller vara.

För den som är intresserad av verklighetens zombies, som givetvis är något helt annat än vandrande lik, vill jag rekomendera den spännande och innehållsrika boken Ormen och regnbågen av Wade Davis. Här får man veta saker om bland annat: Haitis historia där man som första slavö frigjorde sig från den vita världens kolonialism, långt före alla andra, med hjälp av sin överlägsna förgiftningsteknologi, dom andliga föreställningar och sociala strukturer som ligger till grund för vodoun-religionen på Haiti, hur zombiefierig går till kemiskt och socialt, lite om datura stramonium, lite om blåfisken och dess gift, inte minst hur det kommit till användning i Kina och Japan.

Som en kuriositet finns Land of the dead som ett arkadspel också. Men om det är roligt vet jag inte för det funkar inte på mac.

Avslutningsvis vill jag lyssna på en underbar låt med Cortex, som jag tycker passar in i sammanhanget.

The one good thing about that was that American is still checking in 2 bags per person into Haiti so we did not have to mail 6 of our 12 bags & have them go through customs. Currently Spirit is only allowing 1 checked bag per passenger. You cannot even pay for an extra bag...only one...so travelers to Haiti keep that in mind.

We are happy to be "home". It feels right & our kids are doing well. Haiti is hot & very humid now! We are re acclimating to the climate, noises & "way of living in Haiti".

We had a wonderful time in the states & were blessed by so many people. Family, friends, supporters & strangers.

We experienced reverse culture shock the first few days in the states as it all felt very foreign to us just being there. Kind of felt out of place. The pace of life with all of the choices & abundance of resources, stores & restaurants was overwhelming to us after living here for a year.

Seems like there is a Walgreens every mile or so no matter where you go :) The gas prices are outrageous just like here in Haiti. I still think the food prices are higher here in Haiti though.

We did enjoy brushing our teeth with faucet water; having showers with water pressure, fast food (wow, so fast & easy...really...it was amazing!), quiet nights, doing laundry the easy way, having electricity always, having a car to use when we needed it, driving on awesome, new, clean & repaired roads & having everybody know & following the traffic rules, reconnecting with our home church, being with friends & family, going to the movies, shopping & the many choices...many random things we used to take for granted...it was nice to be a part of all of that again :)

Oh yeah...less bugs was nice too! Although we were still concerned with Mosquito bites & West Nile. Remember Reagan contracted West Nile Virus when we lived in Idaho 3 summers ago & was very sick & was hospitalized & quarantined for 3 days ( the hospital & Dr.s didn't even know what it was that was causing her horrible symptoms for the first 2 days & then they suspected West Nile or Menengitis as we waited for results). She was not the same & was sick off & on & was extremely tired with headaches & stomach aches for 9 months after that. Scary time.

Back to our trip to the states...

One example of our kids being "missionary kids" was when Banning walked into the room that Sean & I were sleeping in & asked to sleep with us that night.

Throughout that week he had seen several of the newer electronic advertising boards on the freeways that state the most recent & in area child abductions. (BTW Those are a great idea!) Every time we passed one, their was a new or different abduction & it's main identifying details.

He said he "was scared & did not feel safe because we didn't have a wall around the house & that their were not any guards outside watching us while we slept". Not sure if that is good or bad or if there is even a way to properly perceive that but it is just where he is at at his age & with his life.

Got me to thinking that although Haiti has it's risks, chaos, shooting & crimes, in Bannings eyes, we can't really just have anyone innocently walk in & start shooting at our school here, at least not without a fight.

Our kids have asked this past year as we have learned about the various & tragic school & public shootings in the states "why don't those schools (or stores) have armed guards like here in Haiti?"

Good question. Will it come to that? Actually with the metal type detectors at some schools & public places in the states, it already has.

They view the shootings here in Haiti usually (I know, not always) as a means of survival, like getting money or food in order to live, or perhaps because of a lack of no police in that area at the time, but the shootings in the states to them seem to be by young adults or even kids that want to harm many innocent people for no apparent reason, or by adults who want to just torment innocent kids.

I have to admit, it was kind of scary being there in the states for Sean & I as well as far as possible kidnappings or our kids getting possibly lost in large public places & what could happen to them if that were the case. The same fear we had about being here before we lived here...

A little off track there but again, things we thought about & realized on our trip...

Random things we realized we missed about Haiti; our "home", our animals, the atmosphere in general, our orphan girls that are living with us, visiting the orphans we work with, not being cold, the QCS campus, the armed guards, the simplicity of shopping & our friends here that are family to us by the bond we all share...

... it hit us that we are bonded by having a common mission in serving Christ here in Haiti. A bond which we personally realized has created a deep sense of connectedness we have not experienced before we became missionaries.... So... to our fellow missionary friends & co workers that we work & serve with here in Haiti...you are another type of special family to us...we share this life not by a natural birth but by a spiritual birth... we can't wait for you to return to Haiti! We miss you!

What's so amazing about this lesson we knew but have truly realized?!?!?!

Christians stand strong when they stand together. Period.

Plus, you don't have to be a missionary on the field to experience this! When believers live & serve under the lordship of Christ, they can see their lives intertwined in service, no matter who you are & no matter where you are! Plus, these special relationships will continue on into eternity! How awesome is THAT!?!?!?!

We are grateful for those who read this blog. We hope to encourage you & be used by God to teach the things He has planned for you. We are thankful for all who have faith & pray for those who do not.

We thank our family, supporters (known & unknown) & friends whom show us Christs love everyday by all that they do, give & say to help us be here & remain connected with them.

If you have not felt led to yet but have a heart for Haiti or an interest in what we are doing here, please prayerfully consider supporting us & our ministry here.

You can successfully support our mission by your faithful prayers, your encouraging comments or emails, your financial support...if you can commit to 10, 20 or more dollars a month, it would truly help us & those we serve here. Our purpose is to advance the Kingdom of God & to obey all that He asks of us.

We would be happy to answer your questions about our mission. We would also be happy to house & try to accommodate anyone who has felt called by God to visit Haiti & come help here. Our doors are open to you (even if you don't know God, you are welcome!) as God leads us.

Thank you friends, family & supporters for helping to make us feel so loved & welcome while we visited the states!

We are grateful to be here. Thank you & praise God for His faithfulness!

1. Mission (Anbiskad 64);
2. Mon Rêve (Emeline Michel);
3. Dangere (Azor);
4. Haiti (Elza Soares).

[audio http://www.podcast1.com.br/canais/canal3415/3415_20080720_103523.mp3]

A while back at Life Under the Blue Sky, I did a short post on a worthy project headed up by the band Audio Adrenaline. Sadly, my post didn't seem to generate much response. Well, I'm going to try again here at Advance Signs.  Here's a video clip from the band concerning the Hands and Feet Project in Haiti.

You can access the Hands and Feet Project online here. Here's what they say about the project:

The Hands and Feet Project , a 501c3 non-profit organization, is a children's village in Jacmel, Haiti that was started by the band Audio Adrenaline in 2004. Our mission is to care for orphans and to use pop culture to introduce the 1st world to the orphans of the world. The land was purchased in late 2004, and construction began in early 2005. Our first little girl arrived in the spring of 2005, and we now care for 34 children ranging in age from 2 months - 9 years old.

We are currently building more houses in order to be able to help more children who have been abandoned and will probably have 40 children by the end of this year. We are hoping to replicate the model that brings artists/bands and orphans together, with our next project starting soon in Nicaragua with T-Bone.

This mission will be accomplished under the leadership of Drex and Jo Stuart, parents of co-founder Mark Stuart, and lifetime missionaries who have previously served in Haiti. The outworking of the children's village will be to provide for the family nurturing of a loving home, a viable Christian witness, attention to the medical needs of the children, and the proper education of each child. Children accepted in the home will all be orphans.

You can also check out the Hands and Feet Projecton Myspace.

This is a group of people who are living the resurrection driven life to bring hope and salvation to the children of Haiti. What I see is that they are raising a generation of children who will some day be the movers and shakers of that land. As Mark Stuart says on his myspace page, the goal is that someday the orphanages will not need to exist.

God Bless this work!

jerry

Nadine, founder and executive director of Operation Green Leaves - OGLHaiti - has been a vocal champion of reforesting Haiti since 1991.