Tag Archives: Haiti

The Cost of Construction

Back in the days before the earthquake the rule of thumb for the cost of construction along Haiti’s Southern peninsula was $25 per square foot; the original number we used for the Forward in Heath Clinic.  After the earthquake the … Continue reading

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What does it mean to Be Like Brit?

This is the speech I gave last night at the BeLikeBrit gala. Someone told me that there is an NGO for every 750 people in Haiti.  I never verified that statistic but it feels about right.  NGO’s are everywhere.  Oxfam … Continue reading

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Death Comes to Grand Goave

Death comes to Haiti so arbitrary it shatters any illusion that we control our destiny.  Hurricane Sandy is on her third day of delivering heavy rain to Grand Goave.  Unlike Isaac, who quickly shuffled through his fierce gales and heavy … Continue reading

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The Magic Island

Eighty years ago an adventurer in a parallel epoch arrived in Haiti with the intent to document his impressions unbiased by the polarizing attitudes of his day.  W.B. Seabrook is a little known member of the lost generation. While Hemingway … Continue reading

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The Same Moon

Life’s most sublime moments occur when least expected.  It is Thursday night in the construction shanty, my last night this trip.  There is a cosmic electrical dysfunction occurring throughout Grand Goave; for the past twenty-four hours we have had power … Continue reading

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Finished…

Architectural design is a process that begins with grand concepts and evolves into tedious minutiae.  It is not always linear, we often circle back to ensure that the part and the whole work together, but in general architects work from … Continue reading

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Everybody is Here!

Haiti has nine million people. I often say that if you come here for a week you see half of them; everyone lives outside and people love to spend their time parading the streets.  Any activity brings hoards of onlookers … Continue reading

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Sri Lankan Delights

When Jean Bertrand Aristide fled to exile in 2004, Haiti fell into armed chaos.  The UN stepped in with emergency troops to restore order and later established permanent peace keeping forces, which are still here today.  Haiti is an insular … Continue reading

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Summertime, and the Living is Easy

George Gershwin’s ‘Summertime’ is the most covered song in recording history.  I would have never guessed that, but it is a factoid that makes sense.  We all love summer, though our reasons are as varied as the artists who have … Continue reading

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Driving into Dawn

Pastor Akim, one of MoHI’s regular drivers, must like to get up early. He tells me we will leave at 5 am for my ten o’clock flight out of PAP.  I ask him to knock on my door in the … Continue reading

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