Ellie's version of the arrival of Tamsin, Natt and Nathan

Iit was all so well planned. Our new trustworthy driver, Julma  had yesterday brought for me  to see his brand new minibus for same-same price to take me and Ali to the airport to  fetch them all-  including luggage, guitars, drums, amp etc. Julma arrives with his four-seater car with the pulldown seat at the back . "No bus this week. Bus reserve." We get to airport to find that only drivers can meet passengers in the building. Everyone else has to wait in 34degrees under a tin roof. So I send in Julma with a red Funforlife balloon while Ali sets up her tripod and we wait.After about half an hour we see the balloon bobbing in the distance as Tamsin, Natt and nathan  come into view. But no Julma. Instead, four or five 'helpers' all takingpices of  their luggage and promising very cheap taxi. Still no Julma as Darlene wades in. "Why you no like me driver anymore?" Nightmare. Finally get Julma on the phone. He says he is buying a bottle of water
But why did he give the all-important balloon to someone else?
Anyway - great to see them all.
the next stage begins...

Poverty, rum & orphans.

The latest blog from Ali here.  A photographer's view.

http://catseyeproductions.wordpress.com/2011/02/09/poverty-rum-orphans/

Friday 4. The orphanage

We have to find somewhere to stay that is nearer the orphanage  where we are going to work all next week. Today we were in a taxi one way and a truck returning for about 5hours altogether.The truck broke down going uphill but our driver finally got it going again in in a blast of hooting. Blazing heat, massive traffic jams,(bouteillage) cars, taptaps,dust clouds, lorries, indescribable things on wheels belching out fumes as they mount what might have been pavements, nearly knocking over little piles of goods-for-sale carefully laid out on piles of rubble.The biggest new buildings are American gas stations but don't get me started....

The orphanage where we are going to work doesn’t seem to have a name other than Croix de Bouquets which is the district it’s in just on the edge of Port au Prince. Our first meeting with the ‘chef’Gerald, was a bit sticky. I was struggling with my French and couldn’t understand his Creole. There were no water bottles to be found so I was drinking from a little clear plastic sachet  which once punctured, kept spilling all over my laptop.  Rachelle was manfully attempting to translate outcomes , sustainability, methodology, no-look-at-website-because-no-Wifi... It wasn’t going well. Luckily I had brought some FUNFORLIFE IN HAITI! balloons for the younger children who by this time were trying to clamber on our laps. So after  a bit of a session with the children finding a few ridiculous  things to do with balloons, I think Gerald began to get the idea of Fun. He finally smiled and it all got easier.  

The orphanage, housing 20 children from five to seventeen was built just after the earthquake There is an unfinished bathroom, a kitchen with no cooker, a boys dormitory with three beds and several mats on the floor and the same for the girls.There are three classrooms in one small tent to the side. Amazingly there is a large room with a clean tiled floor where we will be able to work.

Rachelle, our FRADES coordinator is beautiful. So many Haitians are. Probably early thirties. She announced that she was pregnant  but ‘No man good enough to marry.’

The struggle continues  to find somewhere near the orphanage to stay that is anything other than a sex hotel. Also to find a large car or small minibus under 150$ a day. This seems to be what European and American NGOs, journalists, politicians and medical organisations are paying.

we got hold of a Lonely Planet today . The opening sentence from memeory is 'Haiti will be a lot more expensive than you think.'

But we did manage to buy two oranges and some toothpaste with gourds today...

 

Link for photos

Good morning.  Alicat here, I'm the photographer/filmmaker of the team, along to document the work of 2Faced with FunForLife here in Haiti.
Rather than double-blog, you can go straight to this link to see all the images of our project, and of life on this amazing island nation.http://catseyeproductions.wordpress.com/category/haiti/

second one from Ellie P

Caught up in electiion fever as we moved to the extrordinary Hotel Oloffson - as featured in Graham G reen's Comedians.where we got an excelent deal for a room falling off the end of a terrace. The latest trip advisor review commended the fact that the hotel was still standing.It does have the most amazingly faded seedy glory as it towers out of the earthquake ruins round it.The new contender to the presidency, Sweet Micky,was having a press conference and brushed past us as we were eating our lunch.As this blogger puts it.
RE: Sweet Micky Candidat A La Presidence

Mr. Michel Martelly, better known as "Sweet Micky" does not have the academic background to become president of Haiti. Moreover, someone that pulled his pants down on stage is not fit to become president.
Haiti needs luminaries with intellectual capacity such as Jean Bertrand Aristide, Leslie Manigat, and the late Daniel Fignole to name a few.
Mr. Michel Martelly is a very good musician.
His music is typically Haitian.
I like his music.

We ventured out of the not-quite-so-extortionate taxi this afternoon to buy two oranges. Ridiculously I had only dollars and not gourdes  and it didn't go too well.Still haven't seen a single white face on the streets.Tomorrrow we go with Rachelle from FRADES  to visit the orphanage to meet the young people we will be working with, I am so looking forward to it.

So here we are at the end of day one.
Ali and I met up- luckily -courtesy of Darlene, a very very large  lady taxi hustler with great charm. We've gone off her now but that's the next story.
Habitation Hatt Hotel is a little sanctuary which we needed for a couple of nights while we sorted ourselves out, Ali sorted out all her film equipment and we found somewhere cheaper.( 6.30pm and no mosquitos. How wonderfully unexpected is that!)
As I took a cold-only shower early this morningI looked out onto  one of the smaller camps. What  struck me then and has all day is how incredibly clean and stylish absolutely everyone looks. It's obviously a point of honour. I saw one one  - only one admittedly  -young guy coming outof the unfenced tent area in an immaculate white shirt and pressed looking trousers on his moblile and carrying a briefcase.

Food and drink.
Ali has got this amazing gadget that her paramedic special friend has givern her. It's a STERIPEN.You plonk it in up to a litre of water, the light comes on and the tubes glow blue as they steralise-in seconds. Amazing. Then you a) drink it ( thank god as I haven't found any bottled water yet) or b) mix up your Tesco dried milk  and add it to a glass of muesli and eat it with the other end of your toothbrush. This is partly because I was  very happy to have goat for supper last night but didn't fancy it for lunch as well.

Darlen fleeced us today. so dissappointing. We needed to have the v. important meeting with Rachelle from FRADES, our partner organisation and find the cheap guest hous that we are moving to tomorrow.
What is the point of giving to a 'taxi'  driver  an address when so many of the roads have gone or are impassableand all the names of the roads have disappeared? We bumped up and down and drove down blocked alleys  for three hours.Luckily we found Rachelleand had a very good meeting setting up the work( more of this tomorrow) but Darlene totally  failed to find the Guest House and then tried to charge us $80  for the trip.  I'm going to have to adjust  to USA prices being charged for things you need knowing that 75% of the population earn under £3 a day.

Haiti Prep

So this is the first blog regarding our epic trip to Haiti with the amazing Fun for Life Charity.

So some time ago i was asked if i wanted to go to Haiti to teach dance to children who had lost everything due to the earthquake last year. Automatically and really without thinking about it my gut went YES and so here i am almost six months later trying to type my first blog with 2 arms that feel like they have been trampled on by a large cow.  Having had pretty much every vacaination you can possibly have, purchased a pink head torch, water purification tablets, a first aid kit and a fold away travel towel i am 3 weeks away from making that epic journey.  Amongst all of this i am in a dilema...i am currently trying to complete my arts council application as part of the NPP programme and getting incredibly and stupidly stressed about it.  Its an odd situation to be in and in some ways an amusing one.  As i think about how many targets we need to meet to try and become funded i think how refreshing it is to be travelling half way across the world to work with young people who have nothing and the outcome of our trip....just to see children having fun and smiling.  It's making me question whether i should bother applying for funding for the company.  Does it really have to challenge people and make them question themselves and life?  Cant it just put a smile on someone's face?

Anyway's on that note having failed my GCSE maths 3 times i must now try and figure out my 3 year budget!! Happy days