As part of our on-going efforts to build media connections in Haiti, two key members of the KozeAyiti team - Tod and Yanick Landess - are traveling to Haiti.

While there, they will be meeting with potential Haitian media partners with the goal of creating a long-term media consortium, helping to increase recognition of the organization and its goals in Haiti, as well as gathering content for Kozeayiti.org.

Tod and Yanick will be sending updates from their trip, so please check back in to learn about their experiences in Haiti!

Day 1 Hour 1

We arrived in Port-au-Prince at 8:30 a.m. to the sounds of the troubadours (Haitian Band) as we came down the escalator to get on the modern shuttle bus to take us to baggage claim. The rest of the main terminal was
damaged 1/12.

Leaving the airport I knew I had arrived in a large vibrant city. The sights and sounds of city life were everywhere and made a much more powerful first impression than the blue tarps and sporadic earthquake damage.

I was taken aback by the fact that I saw 6 working traffic lights in the first 15 minutes of driving through the city. I knew then that it was a myth that PaP had no traffic lights and no infrastructure.




Working traffic light in Port-au-Prince. Photo by Tod Landess

By 11 am our truck broke down but luckily only blocks from my father-in-law.

By 12:30 we were off to Tchiotte in rural Haiti. Unfortunately our truck broke down a second time on the hot streets of PaP. Shortly after that the sole of my boot came off and lay in the street next to the broken truck.




Tod's boot sole and the truck both give out at the same time. Photo by Tod Landess


Yanick walked back to her Dad’s and I stayed with the truck taking in the sights and sounds of a busy PaP street for nearly two hours. Welcomed with a seat in the shade by a street vendor selling avocados and peanut butter. I had transitioned quickly from tourist to city dweller in PaP.

We salvaged the day with an important meeting regarding our media outreach with Wilkair Fegond and he gave us several media contacts.

Left PaP for Grand Goave via Boulevard La Salin to the south on a national road going past the overwhelming poverty of Cite Soleil, Cite L’Eternel, and earthquake refugee camps.




'Boston' neighborhood, Cite Soleil, June, 2010. Photo by Moses Shumow

Left the city for rural provinces, breaking down two more times. Sunset over Leogone a nice distraction from the poverty that, combined with fatigue, left me speechless. Nearly dark, the next breakdown was in front of a rural police post - a bit of a relief. We arrived safely at our gracious hosts Jean and Erlie Beauplan with the truck giving up one last time at the gate - but we were home.

Day Two:

We left Grand Goave early to take Debra, a registered nurse visiting our hosts Jean and Erlie Beauplan, to the airport in PaP.

Typing my day one report on the bumpy National Highway distracted me from the scenes of poverty that so upset me the night before. Besides, it was a new day and I was well rested and we had a new mission. We would head out of PaP to rural Haiti, Thiotte to exact. We were supposed to be there for the 15th to celebrate the Notre Dame d’ Assumption and visit Benjamin Francois, Coordinator APRECIAB, (Association pour la Protection de l’Environnement et des Citoyens de l’Arrondissement de Belle-Anse).

However, the truck problem intervened but for a reason I believe, for as we arrived in Tchiotte on a Monday we were able to interview the Mayor of Tchiotte, The Honorable Labner Rabel. Then Benjamin hosted a meeting of APRECIAB at a local school, introducing KozeAyiti to the community. Yanick had an interview with Madame Julianie, Benjamin’s mom and I interviewed Benjamin and an agronomist Witzer Cyprien. The evening ended with Yanick playing street soccer with the kids and then she had a street Koze with the chiuldren as the populaiton surrounded us.




Yanick having a Koze with community members in Thiotte. Photo by Tod Landess





Soccer celebrations in Thiotte. Photo by Tod Landess.


But the long journey to Thiotte was the real adventure of the day and the stories of hope started shortly after leaving PaP. Less than 30 minutes out of PaP in Fonds Parisien, we came accross the first sign of permanent housing being built. We asked our driver Manno, to pull over so we can take a closer look. It was the first sound of hammers and saws that we encountered since our arrival. We were able to conduct an interview with the founders of “Love a Child, Inc” and some of their staff members both Americans and Haitians.

The rest of the trip to Thiotte through the mountains and the Pine Forests (Foret des Pins) of Haiti. Yes! Haiti myth # 2: Haiti is not completely deforested. The cool mountain brise and gentle rain had washed the despair of Port-au-Prince.


Tod Landess discusses the contrasts between rural and urban Haiti. Video by Yanick Landess.

Myth # 3: Haitian time really does exists. It took us around 6 hours to get to Thiotte while we expected to be there in 3 hours. In addition, from town to town, we stopped to ask how much longer. And every time, the answer was the same, in 10 minutes, very close (tou pre). In Thoman “tou pre”. In Fonds Verrettes, “tou pre”. In Foret des Pins, “Tou pre”. In Savane Zombi, “tou pre”. And finally, we saw signs ofThiotte, we asked for our host, Bnjamin Francois, they said: “Kay manmi li tou pre”. And we were there. More to come tomorrow.