moving

Driving along the main road from Port-au-Prince out west, we reach perhaps 40km/h at the best of times. Every few minutes, we veer sharply to the other side of the road, avoiding the crack that has opened up on the tarmac. This remains one of the smoothest routes I know, however, by a long way.

On leaving the urban sprawl of PaP, heading west, you pass through the region of Carrefour. Its an overcrowded, poor community. Half of it is based on the side of a steep hill, access a real problem. the other half on the flatter ground towards the coast. Here, the streets are already flooding - rubble on the hills means water flows down the hill rather than drain away.

Carrefour is famous for its gang activity. Its also the place we are concentrating our programming in Port-au-Prince.

Our Leogane office is essentially a shaded rooftop. From here you can, however, sit and watch the recovery. To my right is an informal settlement, 50x50m covered with plastic sheeting. To my left, a small gathering of people sift through the rubble on a rooftop. The ground floor of that building is still standing, but it clearly had several other floors above that six weeks ago. 

It is easier to get things done here, but I'm quite glad I can work indoors. The heat is oppressive. The breeze helps, but sends papers flying. And the generator seems to cut out regularly. (Thankfully now, two weeks on from having written that, the middle floor of the office has been cleared for use - we still get the noise from the main streets outside, but not the breeze or the oppresive heat.)

South from Leogane takes you to Jacmel, to white sandy beaches. The proportion of houses damaged here is almost as much as Leogane, but the town itself is much smaller. Our team down there are operating on next to nothing, cramming four desks into an area roughly the size of my bedroom back home, variously used by 5, 10, or 20 people. Intermittent water supply, and even in the nice hotel which is the only place they currently have to sleep, any water even slightly warmer than cold is a premium. 

Lack of space also affects vehicles, so vital to almost all of our programming. I have also spent more time in the rural areas surrounding Jacmel than the other offices. Getting there requires some interesting drives. At one point, the road disappeared, but our driver didn't worry. He swung down the slope and into the river. After 200 metres along the opposite bank, at a point with no obvious distinguishing features, he forded the river again, up the bank, and lo and behold the road began again. (Road, here, is being generous. Path that is travelled by vehicles.) If it rains the day you want to travel to these remote communities, you're out of luck. That would frustrate me, if I had carefully planned vehicle movements only to discover many couldn't go anywhere anyway!

Each of the offices we have here have their own challenges. As I travel around the country, I learn to better appreciate creature comforts.