Barron Canyon, Algonquin Park

Just a sample of shots from my canoe trip in Algonquin Park, in the Barron Canyon, Aug 16-20.

Silent Lake

A few shots from Silent Lake Provincial Park the weekend of Aug 14-15

A final election update from Burundi:

Dear All,

After weeks of political tension around elections, situation is settling down!

All elections (Local, Presidential, Legislative and Senatorial) are complete. The new governement is likely to be formed in near future.

We thank God for His grace that took people through this difficult situation

We continue to pray that the nomination of the new governement be in peace.

Speaking about Haiti

For those of you who are interested, I will be speaking about Haiti beginning at 10 am on Sunday Aug. 22, at Wentworth Baptist Church. See link below for directions:

http://maps.google.ca/maps?ie=UTF8&q=wentworth+baptist+church+hamilton+on&fb=1&gl=ca&hq=wentworth+baptist+church&hnear=Hamilton,+ON&cid=0,0,2122105973732970253&ei=qqdZTNz_BYTfnAeG__ygCQ&ved=0CBoQnwIwAQ&t=h&z=16

On Saturday I discovered there was water on the floor of my car. Major amounts of it pooling under the floormats. It seems this may have been happening for the past 2 weeks or so. So today, I pulled the entire interior of my car out, seats, consoles, carpets, trim, to try and figure out where all this water was coming from. There was no sign of leakage from the roof, windows, or doors, so I was mystified as to the source. The water seemed clean, so it was also unlikely it was coming from underneath. Finally, I decided to pull some styrofoam insulation at the front, more just to dry it out than anything else, and that's when I noticed on the front passenger side that there was a hose coming out of the front console that appeared to have become disconnnected. A quick check of an on-line manual confirmed that it was, in fact, an airconditioning drain hose, and the tell-tale watermarks immediately under the hose confirmed the water source. This of course comes as a huge relief. I was imagining cracks in the frame, or defective gaskets, or other horrors, so being able to refit a disconnected hose is great. Now I'm just trying to get all the carpets and underpads dried out, and crossing my fingers that there is not some other leak somewhere. For those of you who may run into a similar problem, please see the photos below.

The passenger side showing the disconnected hose which would normally be hidden under the carpeting. Watermarks below the disconnection are visible.

Close up of the same hose, passenger side

The gutted interior, not really that difficult to take apart, 1 hour tops.

The insides of the car, drying outside

Food Traditions

I made what for me was an exciting discovery last night. For pretty much everyone else it probably will seem at best obscure. In a random conversation about food with some people who by coincidence happened to be from the very western end of the southern pennisula of Haiti, a place called Jeremie I learned that they eat a porridge made from breadfruit, corn, or cassava. I've known about the breadfruit porridge for some time, made by pounding the breadfruit into a flour (known as Tonm Tonm) with a pestel and mortar, and then putting the flour in hot water and stirring to make a thick porridge. I did not know about the corn flour porridge (known as zokran) or the cassava flour porridge (known as kafondi) until tonight. What's interesting to me is that they make exactly the same kind of porridge in East and Central Africa from both corn and cassava. Furthermore, the Haitians in this part of the island eat the porridge with their hands and dip it in various sauces prepared with meat. This is exactly how the Africans eat it. And the Jeremie area is the only part of the island where I am aware that they do this. It would make, I think, a very fascinating anthropological study to figure out if there is a connection between this Haitian food and the African food, and why only this furthest part of the island. I have always wanted to visit Jeremie, but even more so now, because I would like to try all three, and also see if the way they eat is the same as in Africa.

Getting ready for the next tree planting

This is one of 100 cistern/nurseries that have been established to produce tree seedlings in farmer's backyards. Depending on the size of the tank, these nurseries can produce between 400 and 2000 seedlings per season. The water in the tank is collected from the roof of the house, and when farmers are not producing seedlings they can use the water for laundry and bathing. This also reduces erosion, since the water collected is not pouring off onto the soil during heavy rains.

This is a larger tank under construction which will have the capacity to produce approximately 2000 seedlings per season

Some huge catepillars eating trees

They looked so beautiful, I couldn't kill them, which I should have to protect the trees.

Tropical Depression

Sorry, no internet last night. Seems to be due to the tropical depression which has been passing through. This is a good thing so far. It has been providing a light but consistent rain which is well timed to water the planted tree seedlings and crops (corn and beans). It is at the same time not so strong as to cause a lot of erosion. I had heard earlier in the season that there were 23 tropical depressions forming, an unusually large number, and that 6 or 7 of those were likely to become hurricanes. I don't know how many of those we have used up already, but having this one pass through gently is just one more that can't cause damage. Our director here in Haiti said to me jokingly yesterday that there will be no hurricanes in Haiti this year, it simply cannot happen. He has to be right, doesn't he?

A Model Farm

This morning the staff were showing me a model farm they have established where they are planning to demonstrate farming techniques which will protect the soil while providing profit and food for a family. One of the steps they have taken is to carefully fence the property to keep animals out. Free-grazing of animals, especially goats is one of the big challenges for tree planting and reforestation projects here. So it was a little surprise (maybe), and some embarrassment when we passed by the same model farm this afternoon to catch a sheep randomly grazing on the property. No one around seemed to know who the owner was, so we transported the offender to the nearest CASEC office, or the equivalent of the mayor for this rural area. Rather than request a fine which we would be legally entitled to, our director has asked that the CASEC give the owner a short lesson on the importance of trees, and the effect grazing animals can have on trees.

Below find some photos of the farm with sheep, and the subsequent "arrest".

Tool Distribution

Today is distribution of tools courtesy of FAO, the agriculture branch of the UN. Floresta Haiti is the distributor on their behalf. As I type this I can hear the crowd outside the office waiting patiently, some since about 7 am to get a pick, a machete, and a hoe. I am guessing there are about 500 people. The distribution is being organized through the locally elected leadership, and these leaders met this morning early to coordinate with staff.

Hey! the organization I work for in the NY Times!

http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/07/12/12greenwire-devastated-haiti-braces-for-an-active-hurrican-11849.html?pagewanted=

Burundi update:

The situation here is calm and explosions have reduced, the president has been elected and communal officials are now being elected to their offices in the whole country. Legislatives are going to be held at the end of the week. The opposition is weakened and some of them are now coming back to participate in Legislatives. However, the situation is still volatile.

Have you ever wanted to spend a Saturday outdoors, but when you got up in the morning the signs were pointing to rain? You keep checking the forecast, and looking outside to see if you can figure out what's going to happen, but you just can't be sure. You really want to go but then you don't want to get soaked either.

One of Burundi's political leaders and a former guerilla has just disappeared and the rumour is that he has slipped quietly over the border into the Congo. This is a possible sign of rain. But Burundians have a big picnic planned and who wants to cancel?

It is just very discouraging when the people want to move forward, so much wanting peace and a better life while politicians only seem to want to play these deadly games with their citizens as the prize.

From Burundi:

This must remain an issue of prayer! It is quiet during the day but all nights there are grenades explosions in various parts of the country.

Yes one candidate for Presidential elections in on, but diplomatic efforts are multiplied for oppositions to join the parliamentary elections. If these fail to get a compromise, Burundi will be plunged in an very bad institutional crisis come August 2010. But we hope that they will manage to find a soluttion. Civil society and religious leaders have called for dialogue as well as the international community.

Differences so far are party based and not ethnic.

Keep us in your prayers and thoughts

Another Burundi update:

Political situation is getting sensitive every day as Presideential elections with one candidate come closer. Grenades explosions are frenquent in many parts of the country atleast 6 of them are exploded every night.

Update from Burundi:

Our work is doing on slowly, but security situation is getting worse. On Saturday evening 4 grenades were blown in Bujumbura city and On Sunday evening more 2 were blown leaving behind injuries. A journalist of a local radio was killed yesteday after coming from work by bandits stealing from a fuel station.

Movements and public places are being now avoided. We do not know how the situation will evolve as days of presidential elections draw closer!

Burundi election update:

As a matter of prayer, we would like to join us in prayer for electoral process in Burundi. As soon as the local elections held on 24th May were announced, the opposition rejected for fraud allegations and called for new pulls and the resignation of the electoral independent commision before they can go for presidential elections scheduled on 28 June. Yesterday 5 presidential candidates from the opposition officially withdrew from the race. Only 1 opposition candidate remains on the race and has also joined others in calling for the annulation of the local elections before Presidentials.

There is a climate of fear on which road this process is going to take. Pray for God's intervention at this early stage.

Burundi election update:

Situation here is calm although the theme of election rigging continue to grow high with many ballot boxes with votes not counted allegedly being discovered in many pulling stations. The electoral commission is trying to convince the public that they were still kept there for logistic problems! This may be very dangerous in future....

Another update from Burundi:

Bob,

I was able to go with [my wife] the day of voting. People were anthousiasts and voted in calm. Last night, the electral commission announced officially provisional results and the ruling party is coming ahead in all provinces expect in Bujumbura.

In general results are accepted although some irregularities were observed according to the commission and observers. But 8 opposition parties have contested the results that there were rigged. We do not know how it will evolve.

Keep us in prayer as Burundi prepares for the Presidential ahead.