Policy and Development
Casually, not content to go back and forth between the Northwest and the Central Plateau, I almost forget that I also have a 3 rd stronghold, the plain of the Tree. Said like that, we imagine the landscapes of Avatar but really it is very Chlorox as Caesar said. Chrlorox chore is the brand that serves both housewives, laundresses for drinkable water. And so yes the Haut Artibonite and the Plain Tree is particular may be more deserts, drier and more lost as NO. What's better than a weekend to do anything in NW than to organize a field trip to the other side (oh yes it is fair to the other side of mosquitoes where I work). Appointment was so taken with the engineer Enock to come get me. And then, upon re-entry into the car, the scene is set: OK Upper Artibonite is Chlorox but with alcohol, a figure that sorely lacks enough Mosquito. Well if it helps the driver to cross the hills and avoid the holes on the track, why not ... Directorate, hot springs, the well named because of the different hot springs and sulfur. At the beginning of the century, cures were still organized and spring water was sold in bottles. Now we can enjoy an outdoor pool with hot water. Well it's not as significant a nice hot bath after a day on skis but it's relaxing anyway.
the clothes horse The first night was difficult between the disco-bar restaurant and hotel "in Manu 'where we slept, the trucks arrive to Gonaives to 2am Mast and evangelists who bellow at 4am with lots of drums.
the agenda of the visit:
- the rehabilitation of irrigation infrastructure after the devastation of the hurricanes of 2008 (and yes I was already there)
- visit other irrigated on which we may be worked from January next year (seems that the Belgian government is not dead anyway ...)
Good the rehabilitation work ... Obviously I am not a civil engineer but the structures seem already somewhat weakened after a few floods. "Sustainability, sustainability, ... do I have a face of sustainability? "Threshold Dam in North . I'm really tired of having to work 2or 3 times before getting to something sustainable. Why you can not get there the first time.
For the rest, we did not really budget for infrastructure in the next project. Fortunately, because what hangs above it was socialism, the committee of irrigators that bite from money but do not work, short of a joke in perspective (well, mostly for my successor, hehehe!). Okay, guys are always there to complain about the slightest glitch on the channel. Uh guys, you know we are in the arid region in a country with few resources and have concrete channels in fair condition after 20 years?? In Haiti, surface irrigation is indeed a lot of earth canals.
But most interesting about this visit was the multiple breaks / stops with committees of WUAs or other area residents to discuss development of course but also and above all political. And yes, you could almost forget that November elections are general elections and we also elects members (nearly one per municipality or a hundred for 8 million inhabitants) and one third of the Senate. And it just so happens that the engineer Enock is a child of the area and it stands to become a member. Needless to say, when he is fully confident in his election. So with his team, they have the minimum number of votes they need by locality. His team consists of his nephew and two of his cousins whom wants to become mayor in municipal elections postponed to early 2011. Leaders rallied to their cause even organize surveys in the villages!
So here distributes leaflets, T-shirts here promises 2-3 bags of cement here and there to gain votes (I am a practice to secure votes with money or other favors, I am, I am ...). And that is where development projects come into play, especially when they are worn by a white woman. What better argument that campaign to be proud of having participated in a project that has enabled the development of the sector shallot (and yes it is not much a win ...). From there to tell voters that it was through him that the project came here and it is through him a new project will emerge, it is only one step. Enock is not a bad person per se but I wonder about the risks of this political hijacking of our work.
4 configurations :
- OK + project Enock elected: Everything is going well but will remain Enock he handed in his work?
- OK + project Enock not elected: One option to secure political support than what is always an advantage ...
- Project + Enock refused elected: it can go wrong for Enock as he has promised people
- rejected proposal + Enock not elected: we are all losers
They told me Sunday morning brought an early age. We left Hot Springs at 4 o'clock, an hour after the Saturday night disco (which serves as a school within a week) closes.
And there to lull us in the midst of shaking of the track, the driver decided to abandon the kompa (ah yes the car had a speaker in each door) for us to spend the best of Michael Bolton. We must visualize the scene: desert landscape to the sound of crooner ballads that jumped slightly at each hole or bump, or all the time. For those who do not know too much Michael Bolton's "Missing You Now", "when a man loves a woman", "how am I Supposed to Live Without You", in short songs that give you potato! But I think the worst is that I realized I knew more than a song.
If some rain but not hurricanes (often by force 4) save most Caribbean islands. This does not prevent me from walking for nearly an hour in the mud and rain with my computer back on after the motorcycle taxi that knocked me over twice abandoned me loose on the track at the view of the sky gray.
I told you how much I loved my job?
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