Sa ka rive koukouloulou a, ka rive kakalanga tou

What happens to the turkey can happen to the rooster too.

After a short, busy, and food-filled trip Stateside, I am now happily back in Haiti ready to keep pushing our projects forward. I really enjoyed seeing my family and the presentation I gave for the budding Grand Challenge Scholar program at Clemson went so much better than expected. Please read about it here in the Greenville News.

This is a photo from setting up the sand filters with the Clemson Spring Break crew last week. The installation went well but, as mentioned in the last post, the plastic valves could not handle the stress. We are working on getting metal valves now. Please appreciate the look on my face as I try to explain a concept I know almost nothing about in two languages at the same time.

We also had a meeting with DINEPA last week to talk about future partnerships. I got to show off our newly renovated water system and they were quite impressed. The three representatives took pictures of our new taps and said that they hope to make them standard throughout the country.

I really enjoyed everyone who came on the Spring Break trip last week. They did an amazing job assimilating themselves into the community and establishing connections despite their short visit. It makes my job a lot easier when we have motivated students working in the classroom.

Yesterday, I went to the Hotel Oloffson in Port-au-Prince, a historical mansion that a few Haitian presidents have lived in and that now serves as the venue for the ra-ra band RAM. It was an awesome hotel with a lot of interesting guests and a disgusting pool. The only people who would get near it were a few dogs and a German family.

RAM is a ra-ra band that has been around for decades now. Ra-ra is a distinctly Haitian music genre with a lot of ties to voodoo rituals. In fact, the concert started with a voodoo ceremony. They were a blast and everyone there was going crazy. The man in white on the right is the leader and founder of the band, Richard Morse. His cousin is Michel Martelly who is also a famous Haitian musician known as "Sweet Mickey." Currently Sweet Mickey is serving as Haiti's president.