Earth Feed» Caribbean

Sisters

Earth Feed — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 04:49:27 +0000

sisters

We acquire friends and we make enemies, but our sisters come with the territory.
- Evelyn Loeb

Christmas Mix

Earth Feed — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 15:19:04 +0000

Christmas in Guyana is a big deal, but also not. This morning the soca started blarring at about 7am. The garlic pork was put on the skillet to sizzle. Latter we will eat pepper pot and black cake and cheese straw. No gifts. Just music and food and drink. And sun. Lots of sun.

There are a number of Guyanese soca Christmas hits, which seem to play on repeat from every house on the block. Steel pan reditions of classics are popular, but there are also original carols with a flavor all their own.

When it’s not Christmas jams, Shakira or Rihanna, Jah Cure’s Unconditional Love plays on repeat. I am a little obsessed, but then I’ve always been the sentimental type.

What I know about Guyana

Earth Feed — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 02:00:01 +0000

Guyana, previously known as British Guiana, is a state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana is a former colony of the British, Dutch, French and for 200 years, the Spanish. It is the only state of the Commonwealth of Nations on mainland South America. Guyana achieved independence from the United Kingdom on 26 May 1966 and became a Republic on 23 February 1970.

Historically, the region known as “Guiana” or “Guayana” was the large shield of landmass north of the Amazon River and East of the Orinoco River, also known as the “Land of many waters”. It is bordered to the east by Suriname, to the south and southwest by Brazil, to the west by Venezuela, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean.

The present population of Guyana is racially and ethnically heterogeneous, composed chiefly of the descendants of immigrants who came to the country as either enslaved or indentured labourers from Africa and India. The population’s ethnicity includes India, Africa, Europe, China, and Aboriginal.

At 215,000 km, Guyana is the third-smallest independent state on the mainland of South America.

I am sitting in Pearson International, waiting to board Caribbean Airline flight 601 to Georgetown, Guyana. I am the only white person on this flight, a fact that strikes me as somewhat ironic, given that I am traveling on a British passport. This tells me two things:

1) Guyana is not a tourist destination.
2) Guyana is not an aid destination.

Otherwise, what I know about Guyana, is not much.

Caribana

Earth Feed — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 15:19:36 +0000

Truck Stop

Crazy weekend, crazy parties. Caribana, it turns out, is more of an afternoon dance party with moving trucks than a ‘parade.’

I need to party less. Or more. Maybe more.

Wyclef for prez?

Earth Feed — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 19:51:15 +0000

Ok, so it’s a great jam and all, but the idea of Wyclef as an actual president is perhaps, well, misguided.

CBC is reporting that Wyclef Jean has registered to run for office in Haiti’s fall election. Although he’s yet to officially decide whether or not he will run, he’s filled out the appropriate paper work and has been cleared as a potential candidate.

I just finished writing an op-ed column (to be published in September) about my own experience with disaster relief in Haiti. During the research I discovered this little report by the smoking gun. It suggests that Wyclef’s charity, the Yele Haiti Foundation, functions as much as a front to personally enrich the hip hop star, as it does to raise money for Haiti. The details are sketchy, perhaps even complex, and I’ll leave it to you to form your own opinion.

HT Mr. Myles Estey.

Cane cutters in the DR

Earth Feed — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 19:45:14 +0000

Haitian migrant workers make up the majority of the cane labour in the Dominican Republic. Men work 10 hours a day or more, cutting cane under hot sun. Skin is often cut by the tall grass of the cane, or worse, the machetes. Workers earn the equivalent of $2.50 a day, and receive one meal.

Communities of migrant workers, known as bateyes, spring up within the cane fields. They are far from the rest of civilization, and become home for those who venture across the border. Most will never return to Haiti.

stacked cane

cane cutter

long days in the field

25 years in the bateyes.

The big picture

Earth Feed — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 13:19:16 +0000

If a picture says a thousand words, what does a string of pictures say? Check out this innovative multimedia piece, Scenes from a Ruined Boulevard, produced by the New York Times, which documents the destruction of Boulevard Jean-Jacques Dessalines in Port au Prince.

Faces of Beladere

Earth Feed — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 03:40:15 +0000

Three generations, supported by cane.

Late night wisdom from my fixer

Earth Feed — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 01:23:44 +0000

Jonny

We are squatting in what remains of a mostly abandoned building in Port au Prince.

English is the language of business,

Spanish is the language of love,

And Creole, Creole is how I speak with God.

On the sugar trail

Earth Feed — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 02:29:35 +0000

Today I hit the trail in Port au Prince. Sugar is historically significant to Haiti – the nation was founded on the commodity, and it was a major player in the economy until the mid-eighties. Sugar Mills still dot the port area, and cane sellers can be seen on every corner.

Taking pictures has been tough. There are cues of people waiting for food aid and armed combat officers. Flattened buildings are ubiquitous. Added to this is a burgeoning foreign influence. Haitians are proud, strong, warm people. They don’t want to be pictured in these moments. Some moments should perhaps remain private. People deserve dignity. And really, I have nothing to add to this particular narrative. It’s been said.

munching on cane

shaving cane