v4#7

So many pictures to choose from this past trip, I don't know which one to send you. I'll post more on the blog. One of the main purposes of this most recent trip to Haiti was to initiate plans for a new project in a new region of the country. Suddenly, it seems the whole world is going 'green' and in the past 6 months several organizations have approached us for help with reforestation or agriculture projects. This is great news for us of course, but we're a) small, and b) not used to the attention, so we're hoping to be able to meet the new needs, but not over-extend ourselves. How this affects me personally is that I am travelling even more than before. As you may have gathered from last month's update, I find the reaction of the immigration officers to my passport somewhat amusing. It makes what is otherwise a mundane process into something slightly entertaining. When I hand my passport over the counter, the typical reaction is that the officer takes with an air of exceeding boredom, looks at my photo like they've seen a thousand today (probably have), and then starts to flip through pages looking for a place to put their stamp. This page flipping get's more and more anxious (if an immigration officer could ever be described as anxious), and by the time they get to page 20 or so, they're usually paying a lot more attention. On my most recent transit through Miami on Thursday, after finally getting to an open page, the officer said,"What's your occupation, man?"

View from my hotel during a Haitian national environmental conference.

A plot treated with soil conservation and tree planting for 7 years on the right, and untreated plot on the left. You can see how much soil has been lost on the left.

A vodou pilgrimage. Thousands of followers come to this pool looking for blessing and good luck from this potent water

The site of the last battle between Napoleon's troops and the victorious Haitian slaves.

In the DR, harvesting pineapple.