Some news of what is going on in good ol' Aceh

Just sharing with you guys the local news. Do know that in Meulaboh, where I am now working, this is a bit less strict than in Banda Aceh.

Nevertheless, my word to you is: don't come here unless you really have to.

Picture take from the local news agency : this is what a Canning is.

Source: Rakyat Aceh, Monday 7 August 2006
Rayket Aceh is a local Banda Aceh newspaper.

Raid to a house occupied by NGO

• Suspected of being used as place to do alcohol party.

Banda Aceh, it is suspected that some houses or even offices that are occupied by foreigners from different NGOs in Banda Aceh have become places to hold alcohol parties during the evening.

Not just that, the houses that are occupied by NGOs are also suspected of being places to conduct adultery/immorality.

The assumption of immoral action conducted in the houses that occupied by NGOs was expressed in the meeting of several students from Student Executive Board Faculty (BEM) Syiah Kuala University – the Chairman was Head of Banda Aceh Legislature, Muntasir Hamid and other members, Saturday (5/8).

Chairman Muntasir Hamid mentioned, to the Rakyat Aceh, Sunday (6/8) this assumption was based on information that was received by students from the communities that was addressed to the council office.

Muntasir said, if houses that were occupied by some NGOs are truly become the places for alcohol parties – it should not be allowed to happen as it will contaminate the capital of Verandah of Meccah. Muntasir also asks the ‘law upholders’ to investigate and if necessary take some action against them.

“We did not want the Veranda of Mecca to be contaminated by the presence of NGOs in Banda Aceh as this territory is under the enforcement of Syariah Law” Muntasir said.

So he asked the related Dinas to uphold the Syariah Law and not to gives any tolerance to NGOs that conduct adultery and or beverages party. We will ask in this case, the Dinas of Syariah to do search/raid on houses that are occupied by NGOs especially during the evening. Muntasir said.

He mentioned, if matters like these do not get attention, the students would do direct investigation during the night on the houses that are occupied by NGOs to look for the truth that alcohol parties and immoral actions are really happening.

Separately, Head of Banda Aceh Syariah Natsir Ilyas said, related to the indication of immoral/adultery action he did not receive any objective evidence. However, he really appreciated the input from the students and information given from the community for any violation to Syariah Law.

”We are investigating and if eventually get a strong indication of this violation, his side will mobilize Syariah Police (Waliyatul Hisbah/WH) to put them in order” Natsir said.

Natsir added, to search/raid into houses that are occupy by NGOs, his side must coordinate with police first, Syariah police could not move alone, because we have limitations, he explained.

Natsir also recommended that village heads and Geuchiks monitor, supervise, and inform current Achenese law to those NGOs that occupied houses in their areas. Some time before, public figures in Lambheu, Aceh Besar conducted a raid into an NGO office and found that there was a party, dancing, and alcohol as well, therefore the local community dispersed the party.

Source: Aceh World, July 26 – August 1, 2006
Italian National Arrested for Adultery in Bireuen

AN Italian national (30) who works with an international humanitarian organization in Aceh was arrested by the local shari'a police for committing adultery with his translator, an Acehnese woman, who used to work as his translator. The couple was arrested in a rented house in the village of Desa Pulo Kiton, Sub­district of Kota Juang in the District of Bireuen.

The local shari'a police received an anonymous report through text messaging about the whereabout of the pair. They were arrested at around midnight. According to local residents, they have been suspicious of the couple who fre­quently were seen to be together in public and spent long hours in the rented house.

Drs M. Daud Yusuf, the Commander of the Sharia' Police in Bireuen told reporters that his agency immediatelv sent his officers to arrest the couple as soon as he received the text messaging. The Sharia Police broke down the front door and caught them red-handed. They were then taken to the local police station. Both confessed to the offense and explained that they have been romantically involved since November 2005.

The Shari'a Police also confiscated dried ganja leaves, and alcoholic drinks. The Bireuen Police Chief stated that the Italian suspect will be charged with the crime of possession of narcotics under Law No. 22/1970 on narcotics with a maximum penalty of 10 years prison time. The Italian Embassy in Jakarta has been notified about the arrest. The woman suspect will be charged with a violation of the Shari’a law for committing adultery.

The Beaver

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

Aceh at last.....

Banda Aceh, Tuesday August 8^th, 2006. 5:17AM

I’ve been in Indonesia for 3 days and know already more of the local tongue and I could learn Creole in Haiti in 7 weeks. Sure helps that I was on leave and had the time to listen to a few tapes, study a bit the phrase book.

One thing is for sure. Knowing Bahasa Indonesia is paramount. Even in Jakarta, not all the shopkeepers know English, and those who do are grateful when one makes the effort to learn their language.

This has been a rollercoaster since I left home on Thursday. With the typhoon in Hong Kong, my original itinerary was cancelled, but I was nonetheless able to leave, thanks to my quick-thinking travel agent. During the check-in process, I forgot my Swiss knife in my luggage and was thus forced to donate it by the security officers. Silly me. I know not to pack such items in my hand luggage. That really was an oversight.

Unfortunately for me, that would not be my only demise throughout my trip. On the last leg to Jakarta, my Razr phone disappeared from my purse. I begged the personnel to let me go back on the plane to check, but when I found out I’d already cleared immigration and was not allowed back on the plane to check. What happened, I don’t know, but my beautiful and pricey phone in no longer in my custody. Life sucks.

Which reminds me: friends, please email me your phone numbers. They have been lost in the course of the Lost Razr disaster.

I arrived in Jakarta on the Saturday early afternoon *local time* and I must admit I was too busy trying to cancel my roaming service to really enjoy the culture shock. Once that was done, I crashed in my bedroom and enjoyed the luxuries of Ambhara Hotel: a large and comfortable bed, a warm shower, satellite television and room service. When my colleagues arrived later from Nairobi, we met up for some Japanese food. Unable to betray my only true sushi provider (Kaede’s in Montreal) I had some salty grilled salmon that was nonetheless excellent.

On Sunday I hung out at the nearby shopping center and looked at some local arts and crafts. If I had had the money and the luggage allowance for it, I would have very likely purchased the whole store. Beautiful batiks, kimonos, masks and sculptures, name them, they have them. Unfortunately, limited possibilities confine me to small items. But oh boy is their work beautiful….

Monday morning was the barbaric moment. Up at 3:30 AM to make a 7:AM flight to Banda Aceh. None of us looked prim that morning, aside from our resident gramps, who was ready to do jumping jacks in the vestibule of the hotel.

Amusingly, our team looks like the Fantastic Four pre-superpowers. The guy I will now refer to as Mr. Fantastic earns the title because he is the leader of the group and the one with the biggest brain. (As a bonus, nobody understands what the heck he’s saying at least half the time.) An other guy in the group is hot-tempered but gold-hearted, just as the Thing is, and we have our own resident Johnny Storm/Human Torch in our youngest team member. I guess that makes me Sue Storm, the Girl, the one who needs rescuing. Oh well. It’s not like I don’t need to be rescued anyways.

To make matters worse, 3 of us have blue eyes and light hair, which makes us look related. Strange but convenient I guess, in a pre-feministic society where lone women travelers are not a common sight.

How I mourn for Jakarta now. In Banda Aceh on an early Tuesday morning, the muezzin keeps me awake. Hords of mosquitoes are waiting for me to leave the safety of the mosquito net to suck the life out of me. Smoking is prohibited for women. It’s freaking hot and I have to wear a scarf.

To make matters interesting, next week I just got assigned to my own solo mission (as the Thing would say, I am being exiled). I am being sent on my own to Meulaboh, where I will be examining their operations on my own for 2 full weeks. I will miss the guys, but this is an occasion to prove myself, and I am not unhappy about that.

After I wrote the better part of this, I went on the terrasse and watched the sunrise.

Sometimes, the Big Dude has unexpected ways of soothing an aching heart. :o)

Anyway, more to come soon,

The Beaver

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

P.S. Friends, please email me your phone numbers. They have been lost in the course of the Lost Razr disaster.

On the road again...

I kissed my mother goodbye and walked mournfully to the gate. My heart is heavy with missing her, my boyfriend, and all the wonderful friends I re-discovered in Montreal.

So here I am, at Gate 79 of Trudeau Airport, waiting for my flight to Banda Aceh, in the Province of Aceh, on the Island of Sumatra, Republic of Indonesia.

In the meantime that I have some of my own, I borrowed a new header (promise not to use it for too long!)

My mum heard on the radio yesterday from a representative of Care Canada that there are over 420,000 people that are still homeless in the aftermath of the 2004 Boxing day Tsunami.

Think about it.

Half a million people have been homeless since December 26th, 2004. It's been 18 months. Wow.

A few other quick facts:

Before the ocean broke loose, Aceh was the site of endless civil war, once again based on religion. Aceh is 2,500km away from Jakarta, the capital. While JKT remained unscathed despite the disasters, all the infrastructure in Aceh has been destroyed, making it very difficult for humanitarian organizations to effectively conduct relief efforts.

To the side, a picture found on the Musicianaries' website.

This time, I can't say I'm leaving home with much enthusiasm. But thinking of the work ahead is keeping me motivated. There is so much to be done... and so little means.

The Beaver

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

Horror and Shame

Below is my personal take in a discussion that has been going on here.

Steven Harper, our conservative prime minister, newly elected in December 05, has been brown nosing with Dubya ever since. With now confirmed rumors that the US are participating in the Israeli attack plan, more and more canadians feel that Harper has broken the image of neutrality and tolerance that Canada usually has across the world.

Moreoever, his evacuation plan moves at snail pace, and he has NOT taken action since some Lebenase-born Canadian citizens have been killed in the attacks.

There are rumors that we will go in election mode again in the fall to get rid of this useless politician, and Canadians are down in the street to express their discontent.

My word is this: if your government is supporting the Israeli attack, go in the street and support the protest efforts.

If you are an American citizen, consider your options. The Democrats are not disapproving the Republican support to Israel, which I guess means a third road is starting to be PARAMOUNT.

As far as I'm concerned, if Canada remains conservative, it's likely that I will join the soveignist cause in Quebec or move to France. I have no interest in being affiliated with Harper's support to the massacre of innocents.

The Beaver

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

Today is a black day

Mourning, by Wayne Forte

I don't have too much time to post, but I found that Wikipedia's entry about the Israeli-Lebanon crisis is pretty exhaustive.

Here's the link. Great if, like me, you've been slightly disconnected from international current events. This is a controversial subject, so do visit the discussion tab on the page as well.

Wikipedia's crisis article

I'm still trying to wrap my head around this, so I will reserve my opinion for now.

The Beaver

Ode to patriotism (or not)

Congratulations, my Italian friends. Be gracious in your victory. Sports are only a hobby, an athletic and noble one, at that. Be happy, spread the joy, and respect your defeated adversary.

I witnessed the festivities in Little Italy on Sunday. Pictures are here. I do want to stress that the celebration, was loud but safe, and the joy, contagious.



Let me put it this way. I am not patriotic. Nevertheless, this happy supporter made me smile. I was happy for the Azzuris, even though I am probably the most un-patriotic and biggest Fussball ignoramous.

But then there's this. Maybe it's me. Maybe it's them. But when I see this, my brain freezes. I just can't understand it.



I've been on all continents, visited endless countries. Thank GOD they ALL exist. Thank GOD they're all different.

I am happy to come from a society where one can retain and feed their roots, leaving exentricities and differences grow into a beautiful and unique patchwork.

At the same time, superiorism will always leave me icy and worried.

Thank God, most soccer fans are more like my happy gramps and less like our arrogant youths.

The Beaver

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

Beep beep !!!

By the way, this weekend was Canada Day, on July 1st. The Library Bitch wrote a wonderful blog entry about this obscure holiday which I don't really celebrate, as it is, in Quebec, the official moving day. Nevertheless, I am Canadian and want to wish a belated happy Canada day to all my compatriots.

Monday was also the 4th of July, so Happy independance day to any American visitors. My buddy Saur wrote good wishes which I will extend to you through this blog.

NOW, DOWN TO BUSINESS !

I have never been much of a soccer / fussball fan. But being in Montreal (of all places) where there are italian, portugese, french, brazilian, greek and german diasporas is making this otherwise uninteresting event very real to me, as CQFD's appartment is right at the heart of the italian/portugese neighboorhood, otherwise known as Little Italy.

So my quietness is periodically invaded by waves of honking and more important by face-painted, flag-bearing supporters who feel it necessary to scream their victory at the top of their lungs. And don't forget the whistles !

But is it really their victory? Is it something worth embarassing yourself publicly ? Supporters don't really ACHEIVE anything, do they? The team they cheer so avidly for is unaware of their existence. The World cup hasn't even been won, for heaven's sake !

This being said, if you are for Italy, congratulations. If you're not, my sympathies. Personnally, I couldn't care less. Just, please, be happy, or sad, without producing decibels under my window.

BUT ENOUGH RANTING !

So what have I been up to since I've been back on my feet ? Not much really. I still sleep 12 hours a night as a rule. I nevertheless have started going out and seeing friends, and have recently enjoyed a lot of sushi at Kaede's (2073, St-Denis), (hmmm sushi). Kaede is a new Japanese restaurant in downtown Montreal. The business is japanese owned, japanese-managed, cooked and served. This is possibly the best (and cheapest) sushi I have EVER eaten.

There is this particular sushi called Osaka, which involves smoked salmon, shrimp, avogado and in which the nori algae is replaced by soybean foil. When I eat it, I feel what I can only describe as a mouth orgasm. Even burping feels good after you eat this sushi. Hours after you leave the restaurant, your mouth suddenly remembers its taste, and you get a second sushi-gasm. Even the word Sushi itself carries the delicate nuances of the dish.

I think by the way that Sushi is now my favorite food. I could probably eat it every day and not tire of it. Maybe I should move to Japan or something.

Anyway, I also went to a few movies (including X3 and Superman returns) - which I have nothing interesting to say about - and more importantly, I've been reading a heck of a lot.

I read, for example, Life of Hunger (La biographie de la faim) and Acide Sulfurique by Amelie Nothomb. Did you know that she almost got the Goncourt? I'm also in the process of reading a brick written by a french canadian lady, La femme de la Fontaine. It's quite taking and will be worth a review when I've gone through its 450 pages. Unfortunately, nobody has yet had the courage to translate it....

I also spend ridiculous amounts of time at the Great Library and periodically clean up the appartment, a task CQFD would do only twice a year in my absence.

I see friends and attend the wonderful Montreal Jazz Festival.

I'm also learning Indonesian for my next mission which is now in less than 4 weeks. I'm happy to be home and to have an extended stay, but I already feel my heart, yearning for the adventure !

The Beaver

Thank you Der Hadji in Afdirtistan for posting on my guestmap ! My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!

Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

FIFA Craze gone over the top (LoL)

Man Pulls TV From House Fire to Watch Soccer

Reuters, BEIJING (June 29) - A Beijing soccer fan refused to let the small matter of his house burning down disturb his enjoyment of Tuesday's World Cup match between France and Spain.

A fire broke out in a hutong in the center of the Chinese capital at 3 a.m. local time Wednesday -- kickoff time in Hanover -- and gutted the traditional courtyard dwelling, the Beijing Daily Messenger reported.

"When the neighbors shouted 'fire!', I took my little baby and ran out in my nightclothes," the man's wife told the paper.

"My husband paid no attention to the danger, just grabbed the television and put it under his arm.

"After getting out of the house, he then set about finding an electric socket to plug in and continue watching his game."

The anti-social timing of the matches broadcast from Germany, which is six hours behind China, has forced some Chinese fans to go to great lengths to follow the action.

One man quit his job in Beijing to return to his hometown Chongqing so he could watch the whole tournament uninterrupted.

State news agency Xinhua reported that the 23-year-old's boss at the IT company had offered him a pay rise, but he turned it down flat, saying the World Cup was more important than his job.

The Guangzhou Daily reported that local police were forced to release a thief arrested for stealing a mobile phone when the victim refused to press charges because he did not want to miss the start of a match.

Although there are also many female World Cup fans in China, one man in the southeastern city had to sign a contract with his wife agreeing to do all the housework during the month of the finals so he could watch the matches at night.

Another from Putian, Fujian province, took a less diplomatic approach, Xinhua reported.

When his cheers during the Argentina-Ivory Coast match woke his wife and she switched off the television, he locked her in their bedroom and settled back down to watch the game ignoring her loud protests.

Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

The Beaver

Thank you Bananapouch in Baltimore for posting on my guestmap ! My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

Headers.... (As promised to Nyasha)

En passant :

Bonne Saint-Jean
a tous les Quebecois
et les Quebecoises!!!!

Today is Quebec's national holiday, La Saint-Jean-Baptiste! Yesterday, just like last year, I spent the evening serving beer to party-goers. (Go figure, this year, St-Hyacinthe was partying 1 day ahead!) My comments remain essentially the same.

I wrote an extensive post about it last year which you can find here.

Bonne Saint-Jean to one and all !

============================================

So here we are again with some technical entries. I haven't done one in (oh) about a year, so I hope you will be forgiving and that I'll be able to answer you appropriately.

How to change the picture in the header

First, if you have a customized header you would like to use, you need to host it. Personnally, I like to use Flickr, but other services exist that will give you a URL for your header.

So:
1) Obtain a Flickr account.
2) Upload your picture. If you wish to, it can be set to "private" and still be used.
3) Go to your photo page. On it, click on the link "All sizes".



4) Grab your header's URL.



5) Then, go to www.blogger.com
6) Log in and select the template tab.



7) Make sure you are in the "edit current" option.



8) in the text box, look for a block of code that ressembles the code in RED: (It should be at the beginning of your template).



9) Then replace the URL in blue by your URL from Flickr.

I hope this helps !


The Beaver


My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

With Fear and Trembling

"Amelie, a Japanese-born Belgian, returns to the East after a decade and a half's absence, employed as a translator by an oriental mega-corporation. Her first job is in 'The noble art of making tea'. Her second, a brief stint in passing out post, is cut short since the mailman nearly has a breakdown, believing he's been fired. Amelie is repremanded for taking initiative. Her third task is keeping the calendars up to date. It only goes down (and down) from there."

The movie is an exact replica of the novel, an easy read of a few hours, at the longest, a few days.

With 90% of the text in Japanese, it's expected that this movie (from a french novel) will be subtitled in english and in other languages, as its theme, cultural gaps in working relationships (in this case between the East and the West) is a universal one.

This story, autobiographic as it may, makes you wonder whether Amelie Nothomb allowed herself to be treated this way in order to better write it later.... or if she wrote about it to overcome the trauma. An entertaining movie that will make you think.

Official Websites:
En francais
In English

The Beaver

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

1 + 1 = 2

The aftermath...

So I've been sick (royally, imperially sick) during my 2 weeks of vacation. Yes, I had dengue fever. Yes, I had it pretty bad, with a saddleback fever (going as high as 40C) and a saddleback rash that left me walking around my neighboorhood at 4AM, unable to sleep because of the *unbearable* scratching.

So my plans of spending a week of rest, love and romance at CQFD's family's cottage, on the shores of the beautiful and calm Lac Huard (Loon lake)..... were completely destroyed, and CQFD's only vacation week was used to nurse me back to health instead of snuggling in a canoe.

On the flip side, I've been declared unfit for travel for another 4 weeks. For a TRAVELLING BEAVER, it's almost a death sentence. But I will get to know again my friends and loved ones back home, and spending a month 1/2 with CQFD will bring me back on my feet.

In a way, this was unhoped for, but a god-send. I think I can really use the rest.... the stability... the love.....

(lots to come, soon, movie reviews and pics pics pics!)

The Beaver


Thank you Elizabeth in Afghanistan and Anthony in Taiwan for posting on my guestmap!

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

I've had it for 4 days now. Thank GOD I'm Home.

Dengue (DF) and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) are caused by one of four closely related, but antigenically distinct, virus serotypes (DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3, and DEN-4), of the genus Flavivirus. Infection with one of these serotypes provides immunity to only that serotype for life, so persons living in a dengue-endemic area can have more than one dengue infection during their lifetime. DF and DHF are primarily diseases of tropical and sub tropical areas, and the four different dengue serotypes are maintained in a cycle that involves humans and the Aedes mosquito. However, Aedes aegypti, a domestic, day-biting mosquito that prefers to feed on humans, is the most common Aedes species. Infections produce a spectrum of clinical illness ranging from a nonspecific viral syndrome to severe and fatal hemorrhagic disease. Important risk factors for DHF include the strain of the infecting virus, as well as the age, and especially the prior dengue infection history of the patient.

Clinical Diagnosis

Classic dengue fever or "break bone fever" is characterized by acute onset of high fever, 3-14 days after the bite of an infected mosquito. Patients develop frontal headache, retro-orbital pain, myalgias, arthralgias, nausea, vomiting, and often a maculopapular rash. Many patients notice a change in taste sensation. Acute symptoms, when present, usually last about 1 week, but weakness, malaise, and anorexia may persist for several weeks. A high proportion of infections produce no or minimal symptoms, especially in children. Treatment emphasizes relief of symptoms, avoiding aspirin and other non steroidal anti-inflamatory medications and encouraging oral fluid intake (see Treatment below).

Treatment

Even for outpatients, the need for maintaining adequate hydration should be stressed. In addition, monitoring for signs of hemorrhagic fever and early appropriate treatment are key to ensure survival if the patient progresses to a more severe form of dengue infection. DHF/DSS can be effectively managed by intravenous fluid replacement therapy, and if diagnosed early, fatality rates can be kept below 1%. It is very important that physicians and other health care providers learn to recognize this disease.

To manage the pain and fever, patients suspected of having a dengue infection should be given acetaminophen preparations. Aspirin and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications may aggravate the bleeding tendency associated with some dengue infections and in children can be associated with the development of Reyes syndrome.

For more info: visit the CDC

The Beaver


My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

New Pictures !

I had dinner at the upscale Montana in Port au Prince. It's worth the price... just for the sunset ! Check it out !

Click here


The Beaver


My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

Light-hearted... or at least trying...

With work closing in, and stress reaching a max, I'm letting my friend Coffee Addict inspire me to dream......

I'm taking this opportunity to apologize for any non-answered emails. I will try to get caught up this weekend.

So here goes, if I were a Billionaire, I'd maintain the following 13 cribs around the world:
1) A studio in Montmartre (Paris, France) ;
2) A cabin by a lake in the Laurentians (Quebec) ;
3) A sanctuary on a quiet Caribbean Island ;
4) A house in Cape Town (South Africa);
5) A villa in Tuscany (Italy);
6) A trendy appartment in Montreal (Quebec) ;
7) A palace on a remote Pacific Island ;
8) A town house in Barcelona (Spain) ;
9) A fully-equipped residential yacht ;
10) A mezannine in Tokyo ;
11) A suite in Rio de Janeiro ;
12) A skying lodge in Chamonix ;
13) A ranch in Camargue (France).

The Beaver

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

Conundrum

Recently, I've been faced with a moral dilemna. Out of personnal interest, I visited an orphanage.

If you're not familiar with humanitarian or charity action, here's a vital piece of information you need to know: money does not grow on trees. And institutions face that reality every day.

The moral dilemna I face is this one:

In Haiti, street kids are a common sight. These kids' life conditions on the streets are anything but safe. They starve, get beaten, raped and otherwise abused. In the process, these kids contract all sorts of STD, including (and particularly) HIV/AIDS. And, of course, they have nowhere safe to sleep at night.

These children are faced with a limited set of options:

1) Stay on the street. Endure. Survive the horror.

2) Go home. Some of these kids actually have a home to go to. It's just that their parents can't feed them, or abuse them.

3) Go to a kid shelter.

The kid shelter I visited had the advantage of offering a safe place to stay at night and access to education.

However, when I visited the orphanage, this is what I saw:

1) Hygiene conditions were *unbearable*, as I couldn't even inspect the toilets because of the *stench*;

2) Sleeping conditions for the children were uncertain. Although the kids claim they share a bed (at three in a child crib), and bed sheets were DIRTY apparently full of coodies;

3) The children are homeschooled. Cool! But they were sleeping on their desks - I think they hadn't eaten in 24 hours. I found out late that to make matters worse, a caregiver had been stealing food from the children.

4) A little boy, maybe 6 years of age and obviously sick since several days, had not received any care at all. He was feverish, so when I asked the care-giver what she would give him, she claimed she would give a 6 year old boy some medication for children aged 0 to 24 months!

Interestingly enough, the manager of the center was outraged of these observations, which makes me thinks she hadnt visited the place in a long, long time. She fired the theiving caregiver on the spot, and assured me that she would fix the other problems, but I'm sceptical. To me, the main problem was ignorance and lack of education that led to utter and complete child neglect. Given that these people have already been trained by a competent Haitian care-giver, I wonder WHAT ELSE CAN BE DONE ?

One of my friends visited a similar orphanage, where the conditions were worsened by the fact that the center's manager was abusing the children.

"There are an estimated 1.2 million orphans and at-risk children in Haiti. That's approximately 15-20% of the country's total population! Over 200,000 children live in orphanages or institutionalized group settings that do not meet the minimum standards of child care." (Statistics from At Risk Children Foundation)

This makes me wonder. Are the kids still better off in a center, or on the streets?

The Beaver

Thanks, Michelino en France, for posting on my guestmap! My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

2004-2006 : Rest In Peace

Oh piece of technology,

Here is your ulogy,

At last thine end hast come.

Does it sound like a drum?

Far and wide thou travel'st, high and low, around the Earth.

But yet thine fate is sealed, with no hope of rebirth.

Thine owner well you served, with work and with hobbies,

And your user weeps the loss of her MP3's.

May you make with glory, your way out of this stance,

And may the warranty give you back radiance.

The Beaver

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

Random Test

I am 24% White Trash.

I, my friend, have class. I am so not white trash. . I am more than likely Democrat, and my place is neat, and there is a good chance I may never drink wine from a box.

Take the
White Trash Test
@ FualiDotCom

The Beaver

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

Wahoo Beach!

Wahoo Beach, a beautiful resort on the Caribbean, just 45 minutes from Port-au-Prince, greets all visitors with an arm-band to ensure the beach remains safe of loiterers and unauthorized visitors.

Although the image one has in mind of Haiti is that of poverty, violence, and political turmoil, none of them find their way to Wahoo Beach, as the only reminder that Haiti has been on the international map is the presence of UN peace keepers playing beach volley ball on their day off.

Should Haiti stabilize under the rule of Prezidan Preval, the country could enjoy an influx of foreign spenders, intent on enjoying the many pleasures of Wahoo Beach!

No amnesty for you!

Sunday, may 14th 2006. Rene Preval is sworn in as the President of the Republic of Haiti.

The stakes are high for President Preval, as expections are getting higher and higher within the population of the poor neighboudhoods of PAP, Cite Soleil and Bel-Air. While in the troubled region of Gonaive, the UN peace keepers did well in stabilizing the insecure environment, the blue helmets have been the target of much cynicism in Port-au-Prince, as the insecurity in the poorest zones has been hovering without a final solution.


Hence the high expectations put on the shoulders of Prezidan Preval and his newly elected flick of ministers and deputees who are left with a limping infrastructure, sky-rocketting unemployment rates and heightened insecurity to deal with.

It's well understood in PAP that these are all tied in together in a vicious circle of despair, and that Haiti will have a long way to go before it stops being the poorest country in the sub-region and one of the poorest in the world with a rank of 153 out of 177 on the UN's Human Development Index.

So it's with great interest and a good dose of scepticism that the world now looks at Rene Preval, the heir to a long tradition of despotism and terror reign in Haiti. His decision not declare amnesty this time around arouses intersting questions, as it is beleived that many prisonners who would have benefitted from the measure have been held without trial for years or may even be political prisonners.

Alas, we can only watch and wait...

The Beaver

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

Change of plans...

I was so tired, that yesterday my Team Leader decided to let me off the hook and to replace me for the second round of field visits. I'm very grateful, because I think I was on the brink of exhaustion. I need some ME time. I need to ALONE time. I need to sit back and take it all in, write it down, and incidently share it with you guys.

There is so much I need to share, to talk about. Since I've been in Haiti, I barely had the energy to sit down and write my impressions. I haven't really written any substance articles since Pakistan in January. I feel that my inner life is dwindling, fading away, eaten up by the insane work hours, the lack of sleep, the stress, the loneliness despite the team's presence and companionship.

I feel that I am disconnected from my family, my friends, my bloglife, so important to me in times like this. You may not realize it, but for me who is always on the road, my blogfriends are very important, because they are the only ones who are always around IN THE SAME WAY. Blogging brings some consistency to my life. When I don't blog, I feel empty.

Anyway, I'm not travelling until I leave PAP *for a few weeks* and I expect to have some "ME" time while the crew is out on the field. Hopefully, I'll have a chance to sit back and digest all this, and write some more...

By the way, I posted some pics of the BEACH (taken 2 weeks ago) and of Gonaives (taken this week).

I love you all. Thank you for being around.

The Beaver

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

D.E.A.D.

Hey Guys, I just got back from the field, and am going again on Saturday....

Just wanted to say I'm alive. I'll do my best to post some pics (I'm SOOOOO Late).

Anyway, I probably won't be able to update until may 19th or so... (good news is - plenty of pics and stories to tell...)

Thanks to all who played the Tag games !

Love and stuff !

The Beaver

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

Addicted to Coffee (tag tag tag)

I was tagged by Coffee Addict in Denmark ... I always enjoy that stuff !

If you have been tagged, you are to come up with 4 of each of the below items. Then list down, and tag, four other bloggers on their pages. If you've been tagged, you need not do this again.


4 jobs i have had in my life

* Assistant VP business development for a Hassidim family business (Quebec)
* Law intern for a Senegalese business lawyer
* Internal auditor for an international organization on 4 continents
* Donor address verifier and envelope licker in Canada

4 films i would wtach over & over & over

* Moulin Rouge (ahhhh Ewaaaaan!!!!)
* Independance day (ahhhh Wiiiiiill!!!!!)
* La belle histoire (ahhhh CQFD!!!)
* Troy (ahhhh Braaaaad!!!!)

4 places where i have lived (as in not at the hotel)

* Montreal, Quebec
* Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
* Dakar, Senegal
* Argenteuil, France (surrogately - went on vacation at my aunt's for years and years)

4 TV shows i love to watch

* In Montreal: Angel (ahhhh David !!!!)
* In Johannesburg: Isindigo (love the triligual subtitled series)
* In Freetown (Sierra Leone): Children of Dune
* In Conakry: La vie devant soi

4 places i have been on vacation (among others)

* Paris, France
* North Truro (on Cape Cod)
* Madrid, España (I was 5, only remember being on an elephant's back!)
* Shanghai, China

4 websites i visit

* www.blogger.com
* www.google.com
* www.monster.com
* www.msn.ca

4 of my favourite foods

* New-York style cheesecake
* Pate Chinois 'sti!
* Salmon Sushi
* Imperial rolls

4 places i would rather be right now (so many places, no money and no time)

* Montreal, snuggling in bed with CQFD
* Dakar, dancing on Cool Graoul Night or singing Karaoke at the Papagayo
* Paris, exploring the Louvre (again and again and again)
* Tokyo (just because I've never been there)

4 people i have tagged

* 007 in Africa
* Salt Water
* Saurkraut
* Victoria

I am an Espresso

At my best, I am: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic. At my worst, I am: anxious and high strung I drink coffee anytime I'm not sleeping. My caffeine addiction level: high

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

The Beaver

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

Siti of Angels (tag tag tag)

Some while ago, I got tagged by Siti of Angels in Singapore. So here goes:

If you have been tagged, you are to come up with 7 qualities of your perfect lover. Do specify the gender. Then list down, and tag, seven other bloggers on their pages. If you've been tagged, you need not do this again.

Gender: Male (duh!).

So here we go: (in poetic form, if you please...)

1) Though for plastic beauty, I care not,
attractive to me, you shall be.

2) While your temperament may be hot,
please remain kind to all you see.

3) Since i have no 'nter'st in a robot,
a mind of your own is necessary.

4) There is no story without a plot,
please be at least as smart as me!

5) If your hometown is all you've got,
you need to be curious of the sea.

6) You may be mature and worth a shot,
But sometimes you make me laugh and pee.

7) Be healthy up there in your flower pot,
Don't tell me you're an alien abductee !

Needless to say, it's a theorical exercise, CQFD is all of the above and much more :o) If you're name shows below, you have been tagged and should post 7 things about your perfect lover on your blog. (if you're married or otherwise taken, see it as a opportunity to flatter Mr. or Mrs. Right online !)
1) Coffee Addict (he he)
2) Kingston Girl
3) Juliana
4) Cricketina
5) Anya
6) Xoloitzquintle
7) Gemma

?What Kind Of Angel R You?

You're A Friendly Angel
Take this quiz!

The Beaver

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !