The President had spoken and said ... well, not much really. Commiserated with the protestors, appealed for stability and calm, announced some subsidies against the cost of living, and refused to lower taxes against imported goods. Basically, nothing that would actually help the immediate situation - and the fact that it took a week (plus an attack on the palace) to come up with this is ridiculous.
It’s now evening and things seem pretty calm – haven’t seen any smoke or heard any gunfire for most of the afternoon so I’m hoping things have stabilised. However, we’re still under curfew until further notice. And even if things are calm, given that there are barricades and debris on the major roads and that most of the staff use public transport (which is not currently running) to get to work – I can’t see that things will return to normal for at least the rest of the week.
Today’s been a complete write-off – have managed to do very little work. The motivation just isn’t there despite the huge amounts to do. In some ways, I hope that I am stuck at home tomorrow again to really get to grips with all the stuff that I don’t actually need the server. Of which there are plenty. But then I’ll probably end up doing nothing then as well.
Anyway, sounds like the international media has finally caught up with the news in Haiti although most of them seem to file it along with the various other food riots that have been happening all over the world recently. This, however, is a vid that I found on the BBC website:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7330000/newsid_7337900/7337920.stm?bw=nb&mp=rm&asb=1&news=1&bbcws=1
Thursday, 10 April 2008
Wednesday, 9 April 2008
Still waiting...
Have both the radio and the TV on waiting for Preval to speak. Nothing - just retro Bob Marley music with the message that the President will give a special message "En quelques instants...". It's been there for at least the last hour...
Mary made a comment that it's a bit like when there's a coup in a country - all local TV stations just play music while the population waits. The smoke that we can see from our balcony along with sporadic gun shots and helicopters aren't making us feel any less nervous. It's most probably harmless - more tires burning, some idiots waving their guns around, and VIPs travelling around in helos for security reasons - but defnitely not helping.
A couple of articles on the global rise in food prices:
http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/international/2008/04/08/002-denree-alimentaire-prix.shtml
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1684910,00.html
What both, not to mention other articles all agree on is that this food crisis is not going away anytime soon and that it's very much linked to the energy crisis, not to mention climate change and population growth.
In terms of the price of rice, apparently the catalyst of the current crisis is due to a virtual doubling of the price over the last few weeks.
Mary made a comment that it's a bit like when there's a coup in a country - all local TV stations just play music while the population waits. The smoke that we can see from our balcony along with sporadic gun shots and helicopters aren't making us feel any less nervous. It's most probably harmless - more tires burning, some idiots waving their guns around, and VIPs travelling around in helos for security reasons - but defnitely not helping.
A couple of articles on the global rise in food prices:
http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/international/2008/04/08/002-denree-alimentaire-prix.shtml
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1684910,00.html
What both, not to mention other articles all agree on is that this food crisis is not going away anytime soon and that it's very much linked to the energy crisis, not to mention climate change and population growth.
In terms of the price of rice, apparently the catalyst of the current crisis is due to a virtual doubling of the price over the last few weeks.
Waiting for the President to speak
The morning after (courtesy of Al Jazeera here: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/2F14DC83-B602-4FC4-9452-3A49886B0AC1.htm)
It's deceptively calm this morning - actually too calm: no sounds of cars, revving of motorbikes, shouting, loud dance music and other assorted ambient street noise. I can actually even hear the birds chirping, and can see the "houseboy" [how colonial] downstairs trimming the flowers.
However, I heard that they're still burning tyres and holding rallies downtown. What's more worrying for us cosseted expats is that there's a huge amount of anger against the UN and, by extension, other international workers. Digicel, the largest mobile phone company here who is raking it in, is Irish and were apparently blockaded yesterday by angry protestors telling them to "go home". I can certainly understand the anger - I'm an NGO expat myself and even I get pissed off by the UN ridiculous pay, their arrogance and their utter ineffectiveness and bureaucracy. However, I'm hoping this doens't turn into another Ivory Coast.
Anyway, we're all on tenterhooks waiting for the President Rene Preval to speak as everything hinges on what he says and how it's received. Unfortunately, the government doesn't have a great deal of credibility and Preval himself is not a charismatic figure so it's unclear which way it will go. As a colleague mentioned though, there are only three options: it will stay the same, worsen or get better. Well, putting it that way...
Meanwhile, might spend today writing new finance procedures. Hmmnn.
8th April - Under curfew...
Today's been rather eventful to say the least. Let's have a compare and contrast (courtesy of the BBC website) to the my Champs de Mars pic in a previous post:
Street scenes of downtown PAP (courtesy of the Guardian):
Haiti is just one in a pretty large list of countries currently experience food demonstrations/riots due to the explosion in prices of basic food commodities such as rice, beans, maize etc. Others on the news include Egypt, El Savaldor, Indonesia, Vietnam, Ivory Coast, Senegal... From the National Commission of Food Security, over the last year in Haiti, prices for:
- imported rice has increased by 50%
- beans by 25%
- flour by a whopping 80%
What makes things even worse over here is that, for a developing nation, there is surprisingly little subsistence farming: depending on seasons and economic/geographic area, Haitians purchase 50 to 80% of their food needs, and more than 50% of that is imported - facts which really shocked me when I first heard them as it seems more in line with post-conflict/natural disaster. Increased prices for fuel, vigorous crackdowns by the government on contraband/informal markets, decline in remittances due to recessions in the US and DR, and poor local harvests due to flooding in 2007 are also blamed for exacerbating the situation.
Anyway, there's obvious widespread hunger: I've heard people here refer to hunger as "Klorox", a local bleach, to describe the feeling of pain in their stomachs - something that just moves you to tears. What's less clear is how much, if at all, opposing political factions are fuelling the crisis for their own ends. From what I gathered, simple food demonstrations are normally not sustainable as protestors simply cannot afford to keep protesting. Also, the violence - the attacks on the Presidential Palace, the burning of buildings and petrol stations, the attacks on MINUSTAH (the UN Protection force) could point to something potentially more destabilising for the government. On the other hand, they could just point to more or less spontaneous outbursts of frustration. It's difficult to really tell - especially for someone who doesn't really have a grip on the politics of this place.
In terms of how it's touched us - it was only really this afternoon that the situation really escalated for us in Petionville. We obviously knew of the rioting in the south (round les Cayes) over the last week and the demonstrations downtown in PAP today but didn't really realise how violent it had become. I spent the morning mostly struggling to go through the huge number of revisions to existing budgets while being plagued by power outages to the extent when I gave and decided to go home over lunch to grab my laptop. Once there, I had calls from a number of people to stay put as there were huge demonstrations going past the office. I later gathered that the demonstrations were close enough that the tear gas used by the police made its way through our office compound. If I'd left it slightly later, it's pretty certain that I would have been caught up in those protests - something to think about...
There's a part of me that is immensely relieved that I was not stuck in the office during what was, to all accounts, a very tense situation. However, it was immensely frustrating not being able to hear what was going on and not being able to support my team. From my flat, I could hear the rioting and see the clouds of smoke but felt very cut off. When the streets grew quieter, we managed to start sending all our staff home - it sounded pretty chaotic with the setting up of shared rides for those who rely on public transport and trying to figure out the best way to get past the worst affected areas - my Head Accountant had to walk home due to the amount of debris on the streets. But I know that all my team made it back so can sleep tonight. Anyway, the office is closed for at least tomorrow and we expats are under curfew until further notice.
With all this going on, not sure if the cashbooks got finalised today...
- imported rice has increased by 50%
- beans by 25%
- flour by a whopping 80%
What makes things even worse over here is that, for a developing nation, there is surprisingly little subsistence farming: depending on seasons and economic/geographic area, Haitians purchase 50 to 80% of their food needs, and more than 50% of that is imported - facts which really shocked me when I first heard them as it seems more in line with post-conflict/natural disaster. Increased prices for fuel, vigorous crackdowns by the government on contraband/informal markets, decline in remittances due to recessions in the US and DR, and poor local harvests due to flooding in 2007 are also blamed for exacerbating the situation.
Anyway, there's obvious widespread hunger: I've heard people here refer to hunger as "Klorox", a local bleach, to describe the feeling of pain in their stomachs - something that just moves you to tears. What's less clear is how much, if at all, opposing political factions are fuelling the crisis for their own ends. From what I gathered, simple food demonstrations are normally not sustainable as protestors simply cannot afford to keep protesting. Also, the violence - the attacks on the Presidential Palace, the burning of buildings and petrol stations, the attacks on MINUSTAH (the UN Protection force) could point to something potentially more destabilising for the government. On the other hand, they could just point to more or less spontaneous outbursts of frustration. It's difficult to really tell - especially for someone who doesn't really have a grip on the politics of this place.
In terms of how it's touched us - it was only really this afternoon that the situation really escalated for us in Petionville. We obviously knew of the rioting in the south (round les Cayes) over the last week and the demonstrations downtown in PAP today but didn't really realise how violent it had become. I spent the morning mostly struggling to go through the huge number of revisions to existing budgets while being plagued by power outages to the extent when I gave and decided to go home over lunch to grab my laptop. Once there, I had calls from a number of people to stay put as there were huge demonstrations going past the office. I later gathered that the demonstrations were close enough that the tear gas used by the police made its way through our office compound. If I'd left it slightly later, it's pretty certain that I would have been caught up in those protests - something to think about...
There's a part of me that is immensely relieved that I was not stuck in the office during what was, to all accounts, a very tense situation. However, it was immensely frustrating not being able to hear what was going on and not being able to support my team. From my flat, I could hear the rioting and see the clouds of smoke but felt very cut off. When the streets grew quieter, we managed to start sending all our staff home - it sounded pretty chaotic with the setting up of shared rides for those who rely on public transport and trying to figure out the best way to get past the worst affected areas - my Head Accountant had to walk home due to the amount of debris on the streets. But I know that all my team made it back so can sleep tonight. Anyway, the office is closed for at least tomorrow and we expats are under curfew until further notice.
With all this going on, not sure if the cashbooks got finalised today...
Friday, 4 April 2008
Slightly drunk after two rum sauers...
I'm such a lightweight...
After two small drinks, I had trouble getting my key into the keyhole [what can I say, it's much more difficult than people think]. Reason being a couple of drinks with an old colleague who used to be Head of Logistics at the first NGO I worked for who just turned up in PAP. He's working for one of the Federation Red Crosses as Country Director over here and has cut his hair, smartened up and settled down. And I remember him as a scruffy long-haired party animal of a loggie... Things change.
Anyway, have FINALLY finished February month end (delay being due to having to rework most of the budgets for the year before inputting them into the system) so very very happy. Trying not to think about the load of work I have yet to do... What the fuck - have Filing Day tomorrow so think I'll have another drink...
After two small drinks, I had trouble getting my key into the keyhole [what can I say, it's much more difficult than people think]. Reason being a couple of drinks with an old colleague who used to be Head of Logistics at the first NGO I worked for who just turned up in PAP. He's working for one of the Federation Red Crosses as Country Director over here and has cut his hair, smartened up and settled down. And I remember him as a scruffy long-haired party animal of a loggie... Things change.
Anyway, have FINALLY finished February month end (delay being due to having to rework most of the budgets for the year before inputting them into the system) so very very happy. Trying not to think about the load of work I have yet to do... What the fuck - have Filing Day tomorrow so think I'll have another drink...
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