two months on...

An enormous amount seems to be happening in my life as it relates to Haiti, much less as it relates to art, or at least my own art! I did finish a commission, a Himba girl bust, life-size, that I'm very pleased with... fired since returning from my month in Haiti.
The desert-like Gonaives area with it's dusty city, and river valley oases of millet and palms - and working for IOM - was fascinating, and seeing and feeling what is happening in Haiti since the earthquake was of course a very big experience... I was a little afraid I would be overwhelmed and in a way I was, but in the sense that it confirmed my desire to really jump in, to see what I can do there.
I had a brief chance at the end of my trip to visit another area (Lascahobas on the Central Plateau) with a smaller project, COSADH, and came across a small refugee camp that had been totally abandoned by any authorities or charities and was in a very bad way... and somehow started a little campaign to improve conditions there and give the 46 people left a chance at starting over in a few months... see website www.100percent4haiti, for the appeal for the Camp, and about the art show I ran here in St Croix last week with a great group of friends, we're hoping to keep on raising money for good causes in Haiti longterm. Both the art show and the camp appeal did really well, there's also a FaceBook page 100% for Haiti...

I'm hoping to go back to Haiti in July, to see progress in Lascahobas, and some other possibilities for longterm projects... sorry this blog has been so neglected!

Working in Gonaives

I'm setting off for Haiti again, with some trepidation - ten weeks since the earthquake, and right at the start of rainy season - to work in Gonaives, a dusty hot northern town that was the scene of terrible floods and mudslides in the hurricanes of 2008, more floods last year, and is in a badly deforested area. It's now also overrun by refugees from Port au Prince, some (thousands) of whom are being hired by the day to build terraces on the surrounding hills to control floodwater, provide flat agricultural land, and prevent mudslides - by the International Organisation on Migration, for whom I'll be a secretary/ publicity/ web person for a few weeks...

May14th Benefit Exhibition for Haitian relief! 100 artists participating!
Keep up to date on FaceBook, http://www.facebook.com/pages/100-for-Haiti/282674848036
or new website 
www.100percent4haiti.org

Now that the big basic aid is arriving in Haiti and unfortunately bottlenecked all over with uncleared roads, one damaged airport... all the unimaginable problems - the little aid agencies are starting to come into their own and getting organised - HCS founder Mathilde Aurielen Wilson only just reached Port au Prince but is already setting up a base with a second plane load of medical supplies tomorrow - follow this on FaceBook - Haiti Community Support page.

Poem for Port au Prince

I thought I knew before

How it is to feel heartsick and so far away and unable to help…

Now I see that I was only dreaming.

All the world sees

the few pictures are the same on every news-site,

the woman up to her waist in rubble, dust covering her like ash,

the naked dead piled on truck beds,

the crushed and bleeding limbs

the shock in every eye.

And no-one knows

there are no phones, no power, no internet connections.

The hospitals are fallen, missions full, no building safe to re-enter.

If you are there

and not buried yourself - what must your eyes accept?

Standing on the street corner or helping drag survivors from the rubble

Every way you turn your head there must be a thousand such images…

How long until you find your loved ones?

How many will be safe?

How many will be left amid the ruins?

Now I do know heartsickness and uselessness.

Earthquake Tuesday 12th Jan

Just this evening came the news of the 7.3 mag. earthquake right next to Haiti's capital and 3 million people who live mostly in illegal concrete block shacks with no seismic re-inforcing, even schools and hospitals are collapsing, houses falling in ravines... The phone services are out and there will probably be no word for a few days - we can only wait and hope for the best. Why does it seem Haiti has more bad luck than almost anywhere else on earth? And fewer resources or even time between emergencies to cope with them?