- Inscription on clay tablet letter sent by King of Eble to King of Hamazi, late 3^rd millennium BC

Two brothers in Petit Bois, Haiti, return from foraging in the surrounding hills. The sticks and branches they gathered will be used for cooking the family's evening meal. No longer plentiful, wood is still the primary source of fuel in rural Haiti.

The town of Petit Bois is located in the upper reaches of a deforested valley, two and half miles long and a mile and a half wide. In the broader landscape, it’s but a wrinkle, part of a tangled mix of ridges and ravines – a small piece of the west-northwest trending mountains reaching from Port Au Prince to St. Marc.

Like most rural areas in Haiti, the 3,575 people of Petit Bois labor for survival as subsistence farmers.  Deforestation, dating back generations, has led to environmental damage: soil erosion, declining agricultural productivity, and degraded standards of living – a scenario all too common in the Haitian countryside.  Aid projects have come and gone to Petit Bois’ valley, yet inadequate funding, commitment, and lack of education about proper stewardship have doomed them all. Enter Mercy Corps.

Looking down the valley which holds the village of Peiti Bois, the extent of deforestation is evident as far as the eye can see.

Mercy Corps is a dedicated U.S. based relief organization with a track record of successful projects across the globe.  They work in the hardest, most needy areas around the world.  Their fundamental goals set the stage for long term development and prosperity, “to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities.”

As part of their growing presence in Haiti, Mercy Corps is launching a pilot project designed to reinvigorate the environment and the people of Petit Bios.  Elizabeth Sipple, a program manager for Mercy Corps Haiti, speaks of the program as a renewable resources and alternative energy environmental plan, employing agro forestry to revitalize the people and the land.

“In a micro watershed (Petit Bois), this is a pilot model project for reforestation, soil conservation, and improved agriculture techniques that are all driven by economics – natural resource management that is economically driven.  Agro Forestry means you’re mixing agriculture with forestry. It’s more than just reforestation.  People still need to plant annual crops for food and they need the short term economic income that comes from annual crops. This program will improve the environment by mending degradation, and improving livelihoods of families day to day.”

The Mercy Corps prescription is clear; employment of holistic medicine for the land and the people – inclusive revitalization of an entire ecosystem where the human population is integral part of the equation.  Healing the land and people together will bring security and livelihood to Petit Bois, allowing them to thrive in the present and future generations.

After a long day of work school children return home, parents carry heavy loads of harvested food for their families, and farmers come back from a day of labor intensive digging - creating a terraced parcel of land to be ready for spring planting.

A vital component to the success of this program is incentivization – structuring it to distribute incentives which are inclusive of all members of the recipient population.  This democratic distribution of outcome and inclusion allows people to balance short and long term goals to ensure the longevity and success of the program.  Joam Jean Francois, a teacher in the community and a member of CODEP, a local grass roots organization partnering with Mercy Corps on this project, states:

“The people will put their personal needs aside and look at the shared vision of what this community needs. While we’re working together (Mercy Corps and CODEP) we’re able to respect each other’s principles and work as a collective in the short and long term. Part of my job is to do consciousness building, and communicate with all of the members of the community so that people really feel and know that this program is for everyone.”

The Mercy Corps model builds on the idea that successful projects need strong local partners with an association which is neither a top down nor bottom up strategy, but an inclusive group endeavor.  Robust relationships between Mercy Corps, local organizations, and target populations are critical. Together we are stronger.

The success of this program will translate into a better standard of living for the children of Petit Bois. An abandoned tractor from a long past development project makes a fun play area for these local boys. Thanks to the Mercy Corps program a new playground, in the form of a football (soccer) field, is in the final stages of completion. Clearing and leveling a small piece of land along one of the valley ridges is all that’s needed.

Short and long term visions are employed concurrently to break the self-reinforcing cycle of poverty and environmental degradation.  Credit and agricultural components reduce the stress people feel day to day so as not to impede the longer term activities and investments needed in a reforestation project – a problem not addressed in past projects in the area.  Surplus food in the short term, and a sustainable forestry producing trees for lumber and fuel in the long term, will provide economic incentives which give the people of Petit Bois reason to be personally invested in the project.

Papaya trees will be one of many agricultural and forestry crops planted through this program.
The key is to find creative ways to meet both short and long term needs so the people can be patient enough to take care of the trees, protect them from animals, protect them from drought, and don’t cut them down prematurely.  By putting in incentive systems to arrive at the long term goal, which is productive forestry and fruit trees, everyone benefits (including the ecosystem).  Trees are chosen to have an economic importance to the community while the agricultural component meets short term needs.  Introduction of fuel efficient cook stoves to replace open fires, will also reduce consumption of wood for fuel.

In first year, 600 hectares of agro-forestry plots will be planted with forestry and fruit trees.  Additional soil conservation will be achieved by planting living hedge rows using forage crops that are good for animals and improved livestock production.  Living fences around the tree plots will protect the trees from the animals. Targeted seed selection, better farming techniques, soil conservation itself, and market analysis, will also improve the annual crop production in these agro forestry parcels.

The real fruits of this program will be felt in 5-6 years when full grown trees are producing fruit, and others can be harvested for poles.  Forestry trees used for planks and building will mature in 10-15 years.  That’s the long term commitment Mercy Corps has for this project.

 

Even in late November, temperatures regularly go into the 90’s, and a container of water offers a refreshing break from the hot afternoon sun. This boy spent the day helping the men digging terraces on the upper slopes of the valley.

 

Copyright 2012 Adam Bacher.  All rights reserved.  Absolutely NO usage without prior authorization.

Portraits of Haiti - Petit Bois, boy cools off after working in fields.

Copyright 2011 Adam Bacher, All rights reserved. Absolutely NO usage without prior authorization.

One of 23,000 Residents of the JP/HRO, Petionville Tent Camp.

January 12^th, 2010 was a typical day in Port Au Prince, Haiti.  The streets were busy, the skies were partly cloudy, the air was humid and the temperature was in the mid 80’s (Fahrenheit).  Life for two and a half million people in the surrounding area moved along like any other day.  Then, without warning, at 4:53 pm, the ground, buildings, roads, structures, people and animals shook violently for 30-40 seconds.  When the quake ended, over 200,000 people were dead, 300,000 injured and 1.3 million were displaced.  The sun set at 5:30 that evening, and the city was dark by 6:00.  It happened in about as much time as it would take you to read this paragraph out loud.

Tents Fill the Former Golf Course at J/P-HRO Petionvile Camp in Haiti

Governments, NGO’s, and citizens across the globe responded to the crisis. Among them,  J/P Haitian Relief Organization proved to be one of the most effective. Founded by American actor Sean Penn, J/P HRO has become one of the most respected players in the Haitian earthquake relief effort.

Path leading through JP/HRO, Petionville IDP tent camp.

Immediately after the earthquake, displaced Haitians took refuge in open spaces throughout the city – parks, football fields, the grounds of the destroyed national palace, a golf course, anywhere they could feel safe from crumbling buildings. Open space morphed into makeshift tent settlements, some of which became sturdier Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps. In March 2010, J/P HRO took over management of the larger, Petionville IDP camp, on the site of a former nine hole golf course in a nearby suburb of Port Au Prince. Two years after the earthquake, the camp has gone from a peak of 45,00 – 60,000 residents, to its current level of 23,000.  J/P HRO is now a leader in helping displaced survivors of the earthquake. Along with providing shelter, they’re involved in community building, education, medical treatment, rubble removal, construction, home building and relocation.

This tent has served as a home for a family displaced by the Haitian earthquake in January, 2010.

After a month of photographing in Haiti, a chance meeting with Sean Penn led to spending my last afternoon in the country touring the J/P HRO, Petionville golf course IDP camp, on November 29th, 2011.

The land once devoted to a rich man’s game seemed more appropriately used dedicated to a poor man’s survival. It had the feel of a small city rather than a tent camp.

Market Area of J/P HRO Camp.

Among the facilities on site were medical and cholera treatment areas, a women’s health center, a police station, an accredited school, ‘Ecole de L’Espoir’ (School of Hope), booths to purchase clean water, salons for hair cutting, two of cafes, a large market area, and a church for prayer.

School Children Outside of Classroom at JP/HRO, Petionville Camp.

A three hour tour of the site, before going directly to the airport, made for a short introduction to this enormous effort. Enough time to leave an enduring impression, but not enough to earn the trust of many residents to allow me to photograph them. Filled with a cross section of young to old, it was mostly children who let me take their pictures.

These images are a fragment of a large and impressive undertaking.  For people displaced for two years, they were well taken care of by Haitian standards.  To call them homeless doesn’t properly describe their living conditions. Compared to the villages I first visited in the North with the HACAOT mobile medical clinic, these people were fortunate to have the extensive support structure J/P HRO provided. Observing the care and assistance afforded to the camp residents, I wondered if the earthquake was a blessing in disguise for some of them.

A woman is taken to the onsite hospital after collapsing from dehydration. Last week the hospital was moved to a nearby permanent facility in Delmas 32, allowing J/P HRO to provide expanded services for their Haitian residents.

I believe the only real difference between myself and any of the people I’ve photographed in Haiti or Rwanda, is that I was lucky enough to be born in the United States. Watching the people of the Petionville camp go about their daily lives reinforced my views. Children laughed and played. I saw two boys karate chopping the air and calling “Jackie Chan! Jackie Chan!”  A mother chided her daughter for getting poor marks on her last test. Men played cards and dominoes on overturned boxes.

Daughter Poses with Mother After Styling her Hair.

A middle aged daughter and her mother sat on the ground fixing each others hair. I saw adults and children working in the market area, and others napping in the shade. A young man tucked in his shirt and ran his fingers through his hair before passing a young woman. A group of teenagers hanging out by a café gave me a hard time then laughed and welcomed me into their conversation.

Over 500 babies have already been born in the camp medical facilities since the earthquake.

The Shady Side of a Tent Makes for a Good Lunch Spot.

At home, the same kids would have been withdrawn into their phones and video games. Will that day come for the Haitian children too? Could our children survive the conditions the Haitians face daily? What we take for necessities of life, these people have never had. The faces here and in my other blog entries are the faces of survival, pain, joy, anguish – humanity at its most basic. When asked who my heroes are, I think of the Haitians and Rwandans and others around the world who endure these hardships, far beyond what most of my countrymen will ever experience.

This Man in a New York Yankee Shirt was the Photo I Took Before Heading to the Airport.

J/P Haitian Relief Organization is currently involved in camp and relocations management, education, community and livelihood projects, medical treatment, engineering – demolition and ruble removal, redevelopment and home building, as well as emergency preparedness and response. For more information or to make a donation, please visit their website: http://jphro.org/

Copyright 2011 Adam Bacher.  All rights Reserved  –  Absolutely NO usage without prior authorization.

In the back of the Point Sande Market, along the Artibonite River in Haiti, a woman hangs cow intestines on a line to dry in the sun.  Citrus juice from sour oranges is commonly used to clean many types of meat, including this – inside and out.  Once dry the intestines are cut up and used to flavor different foods, rice dishes, and vegetable stews.  Used like a spice, they add a refined meaty flavor.  For people who can’t afford meat, adding bit to other dishes gives a mild taste of beef.

Drying and dehydrating lean meat under natural conditions has been practiced for centuries to keep meat from spoiling.  It’s also a popular method in developing countries, particularly where cold storage is unavailable. Exposure of fresh meat to the sun or open air reduces water content so rapidly that no bacterial spoilage can take place, even though the temperatures may remain high.  You don’t have to go back many generations in your own family to when they ate meat in a similar way.

If you look closely at this image, the colors, shapes, and interactions have an interesting appeal.

Copyright 2011 Adam Bacher.  ALL rights reserved.  Absolutely NO usage without prior authorization.

Cité Soleil is the poorest most dangerous area of Port Au Prince.  Twenty years ago Robert Duval went to Cité Soleil and established the Foundation L’ Athlitique d’ Haiti, teaching sports, and providing meals and schooling for many of the children.  Full story to come.

Copyright 2011 Adam Bacher, All rights reserved. Absolutely NO usage without prior authorization.

Her face pulled attention for a photograph.  Local vendors and their story drew wonderment.  The old woman often accompanied her daughter, a regular seller at the Pont Sondet market, along the Artibonite River in Haiti.  They arrived in mornings from the northern area of Haiti’s central plateau, worked the market all day, and left before dark.  Over time the daughter amassed debt, buying on credit and promising to pay later.  Her husband had financial troubles of his own.

One afternoon the daughter left the market without her mother, never to return.  Now the old woman lives at the market.  Other sellers give her handouts and make sure she’s taken care of, yet resent the burden of another mouth to feed. She’s wasn’t supposed to be their responsibility. The old woman is sick and can hardly stand.  She seemed ashamed of being abandoned and showed anger when speaking about it.

A man in a crowd of 15 vendors who care for the old woman made his own plea for help.  They are all poor and the woman is nearing the end of life. Funerals are expensive and she deserves a Christian burial.  Can we take her or give them money?  His breath smelled of rum.  If we made a contribution would it help the old woman, or buy the man rum?  There’s no way of telling.

The need in Haiti is endless and foreigners are looked to for answers.  We have none.  Elder abandonment is rare. Usually a family member is found to take a relative in need.

The market vignette happened so quickly we never got the old woman’s name.  This was my second experience with elder abandonment. The first happened a few years ago to Shirley, a neighbor across the street in Portland, Oregon.  She lived alone for two years after her husband passed away and needed assistance now and then.  We helped when we could.  Her son and daughter, who I never saw in the five years I knew Shirley, managed to get a power of attorney over their mother.  Before the rest of the neighbors knew what was happening, Shirley was moved against her will to a retirement home far from the familiar neighborhood she lived in for most of her life.  We could have helped but were never given the opportunity.  Jonah the cat, who followed Shirley everywhere, was left alone in the house.  He came and lived with us.  Soon after the house was emptied into a garbage bin, remodeled and sold for profit.  We visited Shirley when we could.  Her children were rarely heard from.  Last month Shirley passed away, five years after being abandoned to by two children interested in their mother’s money, but not their mother.

Copyright 2011 Adam Bacher.  All rights reserved.  Absolutely NO usage without prior authorization.

Full story at: http://bachersblog.com/2011/11/23/haiti/portraits-of-haiti-battle-of-vertieres-day/

Copyright 2011 Adam Bacher

Copyright 2011 Adam Bacher.  All rights Reserved.  Absolutely NO usage without prior authorization.

A monument now marks the historic site of Haiti’s final battle of independence.  Now a national holiday, The Battle of Vertieres Day is celebrated each year on November 18th.

This year a crowd of over 200,000 Haitians gathered to celebrated The Battle of Vertieres, and to hear Haitian President Michel Martelly deliver a speech at the monument site.

The Battle of Vertières marked the first time in recorded history that slaves successfully led a revolution for their freedom.  Less than two months after the battle, Haiti became the first black independent republic.

The following photographs are from the holiday celebration last week.  President Martelly was a no show.

All writing and photographs copyright 2011 Adam Bacher.  All rights reserved.  Absolutely no usage without prior authorization.

The Citadel is a fortress built on a mountain top in northern Haiti after the revolution in 1804 to defend against any French attempt to retake the former colony.  Inside are cisterns built to retain enough drinking water to sustain Haitian troops for up to a year.  This photo was taken at the bottom of the main cistern.  Copyright 2011 Adam Bacher, All rights reserved. Absolutely NO usage without prior authorization.

Q: What’s your name and what do you do?

A:  They call me Bernadette Joseph.  When the women are pregnant I deliver the babies.

Q: How long have you been a midwife?

A: For a very long time.  More than 10 years.

Q: Why did you become a midwife?

A: When I was a young girl there was an old lady who used to do this, and I used to watch her.  That’s how I learned how to deliver babies.

Q: How many babies have you delivered?

A: All those babies over there (pointing to the closest row of people in the clinic – photo above), I delivered all of them.  In a month, on average, I have about 4 or 5 babies that I deliver.  I have babies that I have delivered that now are pregnant.  Everybody calls me because they know how well experienced I am.

Q: What kind of training did you do to become a midwife?

A: I learned from the old woman in the village when I was young, and by myself, and with the help of god.  Nobody (formally) taught me anything.  There are others who are beginners, but I am the most qualified in this area.

Q: Where are the babies delivered?

A: I deliver the babies at the patient’s house.  Then I have to give them a bath; the baby and the patient.

Q: What do you like most about being a midwife?

A: I’m the type of person who likes to do good for everybody and that satisfies me.  They don’t pay me to do this.  I like to do this so much that the whole community calls me Grandmother.

Later in the day after speaking with Bernadette, I past by her house and took this photo with her husband and three of their five children.

Copyright 2011 Adam Bacher, All rights reserved. Absolutely NO usage without prior authorization.

The  HACAOT.org mobile medical clinic members (less six interrupters and a Haitian doctor), pose for a photo after 5 days of clinics which treated 1,480 people.  I’m on the far left.

The team is now back in the United States.

Tomorrow is a national holiday. Haitian President, Michel Martelly, will be in Cap Haitian in honor of the last major battle of Haitian independence.

“The Battle of Vertières marked the first time in the history of mankind that a slave army led a successful revolution for their freedom. November 18 has been widely celebrated since then as a Day of Army and Victory in Haiti.” - wikepedia

After that I travel south to St Marc, then to Meribalais in Haiti’s central plateau.  For any readers who are new to this blog, the Portraits of Haiti Project is entirely self funded.  I’m donation a month of time photographing and another month editing and producing media materials for three non-profits working tirelessly in Haiti.  To pay for basic travel expenses I’ve been running an internet fundraising campaign.  To date 57 people have given money to support the Portraits of Haiti project.

CAN YOU HELP with a small DONATION to cover the basic travel expenses of this trip? There are ONLY 4 DAYS LEFT before this campaign ends.  Any amount donated goes a tremendous way to making this work happen, and helping the organizations who are doing the hard work on the ground in Haiti.

DONATE NOW

Copyright 2011 Adam Bacher, All rights reserved. Absolutely NO usage without prior authorization.

This boy arrived to the HACAOT mobile medical clinic in severe respiratory distress.  He was immediately taken from the waiting crowd, and given a nebulizer to open the airways in his lungs (photo below).  A doctor worked with him for two and half hours.  Each time the nebulizer was removed he went into respiratory failure.

To give him a chance after the clinic closed, a medical technician fashioned a take home treatment device from an inhaler and an empty water bottle (seen below).

The device was never used as the boy began to crash (an abrupt decompensation of a patient’s clinical status).  Arrangements were made and he was rushed to a hospital.  “If the doctors from HACAOT hadn’t been in Cap Haitain, there is no doubt in my mind this boy would have died,” said a staff member.   There are too few hospitals in Haiti, and all are severely overcrowded and under staffed.  Without HACAOT’s presence, this boy wouldn’t have been able to go to the hospital.

Copyright 2011 Adam Bacher, All rights reserved. Absolutely NO usage without prior authorization.

Copyright 2011 Adam Bacher, All rights reserved. Absolutely NO usage without prior authorization.

Copyright 2011 Adam Bacher, All rights reserved. Absolutely NO usage without prior authorization.

Portraits of Haiti – Man with Cows in Water

Copyright 2011 Adam Bacher, All rights reserved. Absolutely NO usage without prior authorization.

Copyright 2011 Adam Bacher, All rights reserved. Absolutely NO usage without prior authorization.

Copyright 2011 Adam Bacher, All rights reserved. Absolutely NO usage without prior authorization.

Copyright 2011 Adam Bacher, All rights reserved. Absolutely NO usage without prior authorization.

Man in street with bus

Copyright 2011 Adam Bacher, All rights reserved. Absolutely NO usage without prior authorization.

Do you need to go to the Discipline Bank?

Copyright 2011 Adam Bacher, All rights reserved. Absolutely NO usage without prior authorization.

“We play with little plates and little cooking pots and little cups.
We have little cooking utensils that go in the houses.
We pretend to eat.”

They have tea parties – just like our children.

(click this link for slides and video)

Copyright 2011 Adam Bacher, All rights reserved. Absolutely NO usage without prior authorization.

6 soccer balls were hand delivered this week thanks to the HACAOT mission, and a collaboration between Adam Bacher Photography and the Timbers Army, a fan based charity group for Portland Oregon’s professional soccer team, the Portland Timbers.  The Timbers Army donated 24 brand new professional grade soccer balls, and Adam Bacher Photography brought them to Haiti for distribution.  Game season for the Lorie team starts in two months, allowing time for the field to dry out (background of  group photo below).

When given the balls, team captain, Gary Louis, said:

“We are extremely happy.  We were not expecting such a wonderful gesture from the Portland team or from anybody else.  We thought that one day this day might come. This day was a like dream come true.  Before this day we had only one ball to take us to the championship.  Now we have six balls on top of that one ball we had.  We are extremely happy and say thank you to them. . . . .  we will pray for the team (Timbers) so they can become  more successful and be able to help others as well.”

If the Lorie team makes it to the championship they’ll play a 30 game season.  One member said, “We are starting to have support.  With these balls we have a future.”

Yesterday and today a bright spot shone on a group that couldn’t need it more, with the biggest gift being the healthcare they received the day before.  In their best clothes today,  many of them were hard to recognize.  The need in Haiti is tremendous. I’m quite sure if they had shoes they’d have been wearing them.

Together with local interrupters and a Haitian doctor, the HACAOT mission was to treat as many people as possibly was a tremendous success.  For five days the HACAOT team set up and broke down a mobile health care clinic, at sites between a half hour and two hours away.  Add two full days of travel on each end, and you get a week which thousands of Haitians and a few Americans will never forget.

Copyright 2011 Adam Bacher, All rights reserved. Absolutely NO usage without prior authorization.

3 of 500 people in Dondon, Haiti, waiting for HACAOT mobile healthcare clinic.

The city of Dondon, with a population of roughly 50,000, is a one and a half hour drive from Cap Haitain, Haiti.  On Wednesday morning, at 5:30 am, the HATCAOT medical team traveled to Dondon to set up a one day mobile health clinic.  Their goal: Treat as many people in need as possible.

A convoy of 4 vehicles transported 25 HACAOT members, medical supplies, basic diagnostic equipment, water, and clothing donations.  Not everyone rides inside.  In the back of the truck is a Physician’s Assistant, 3 Nurses, a Clinical Lab Scientist, 2 Triage Evaluators and 2 Translators.  When the group arrived there were over 500 people waiting for a chance to be treated.  By late morning the crowd swelled to nearly 1000.

Woman in crowd waiting for treatment at Dondon clinic, Haiti.

One of 410 people treated by the HACAOT team on November 9th, 2011.

Over 500 people were waiting when the team arrived.

View of clinic from above. The HACAOT team was treating people within 15 minutes of arriving in Dondon.

A baby girl comes in with an abscessed wrist that needs to be cleaned and bandaged.

Bandaging the little girl’s wrist.

In the comfort of a mother’s loving arms.

Chronic dehydration is an underlying condition for most of the people in Dondon, and exacerbates all other illness.  Some residents are less dehydrated like the children pictured above.   And some are severely dehydrated like the woman seen in the next two images.

This woman was brought through the crowd on a stretcher.  Dr. Frank, (on the right), and his daughter (on the left), examine her to determine a diagnosis.  Ashley graduated from Nursing School this August, 2011.  When she returns home she’ll start her first full time job as an orthopedic and neuro nurse.

Once they determined it was a case of severe dehydration, she was lifted off the stretcher (partly to free it up), and sat down with a bag of intravenous fluids to rehydrate her. She stayed in the chair most of the day, then walked out without any help.

The woman above was having her eyes examined for cataracts.  The photographs that follow were portraits taken at the end of the day.  Five of the people made it in, four did not.  There was no more time.

The clinic has to shut down before dark.  There is no electricity.  Only the front 10 people on the landing at the top of the stairs were able to get in – no one else.  The man sitting on the concrete railing and staring at camera was one of the very last.  It’s the hardest part of the day for everyone on the team.

By the time the clinic was packed up it was dark.  410 people had been treated, given liquids to drink, vitamins,  all necessary medication except for the most serious cases,   a worm pill for almost everyone, and some clothes.   302 adults and 108 children were given a great gift by a team of 18 volunteers from the United States and 8 form Haiti, working for the HAitian Caribbean American Organization of Texas – HACAOT

ALL photography and writing copyright 2011 Adam Bacher.  Absolutely NO USAGE without prior authorization.  All rights reserved.

25 Team members including doctors, nurses, clinicians, interrupters, logistics and support staff, are based in a house in Cap Haitian. There are 3 bathrooms and 3 bedrooms: 7 men in one room, 6 women in a second room, 4 men in a third room.  Others sleep on air mattresses downstairs and on two large porches off the front and back of the second level.

At 6:00 am breakfast is served and at 6:30 am the team departs for Lorie, a half hour away.

People waiting when we arrived at 7 am

Empty church before set up

Pharmacy dispensing station at back of church. Medical stations on right and left going toward front.

At 7:00 am the team arrives at an open church and by 7:15 the first patients are in triage.  Inside, the following specialized stations are set up:

- 3 Intake and triage stations

- 3 Physician stations

- 1 Lab Station

- 1 Dental Fluoride Station

- 4 People running the pharmacy station (foreground above – center to right)

Waiting outside to be seen in the clinic

Elderly woman being escorted to Mary Fargen’s station

Floride and dental sealant being applied to a child’s teeth.  Out of 129 kids, Carolyn was only bit twice by scared toddlers

Triaged to the front for breathing problems, a nebulizer with a bronchodilator will clear her lungs.

Cell phones are a way of life no matter your economic status

By the end of the day 11 hours were spent treating patients.  271 were seen in total. 129 were under 16.

All photography and writing COPYRIGHT 2011 Adam Bacher.  Absolutely no usage with prior authorization.  All rights reserved.

At 6:00 am Monday morning a team of 18 doctors, nurses, clinicians, and founding members of the Haitian Caribbean American Organization of Texas  (HACAOT), will  leave for the first of five days to different regions of  Cap Haitian, the second largest city in Haiti.  Each day the group will set up and break down a health care clinic capable of treating hundreds of severely under served people a day.

Mary Fargen, the Medical Director for the non-profit  HACAOT, is here on her 14th trip to Haiti.  This year Mary received the 2011 Humanitarian Physician Assistant of the Year Award, presented by the American Academy of Physician Assistants.  The video linked to this post tells her story much better than I could. Tomorrow I’ll photograph her in action.  The time you take today to watch this video will be enriching.

Click here to WATCH a video about MARYS WORK

Students at Baker Prairie Middle School participating in Haiti trip.

This Monday I met with many of the students of Baker Prairie Middle School, in Canby, Oregon, to invite them to join me in Haiti for the month of November.  Over the internet we’ll video conference live for questions and answers, observations, feedback and student involvement in the trip.  Their ideas and insights will help guide aspects this Haitian journey, and generate a mutual learning experience for all of us.  When I return I’ll be working in the school throughout the academic year to help these young adults use their new knowledge to set up a Student Peace Center at the school.  Stay tuned for reports on our progress.

Baker Prairie Middle School, Canby, Oregon

Once in a while you find a place on earth that becomes your very own. A place undefined. Waiting for you to bring your color, your self. A place untouched, unspoiled, undeveloped. Raw, honest, and haunting. No one, nothing is telling you how to feel or who to be. Let the mountains have you for a day.

- Sundance

We sit down together, the mountain and me,

until only the mountain remains.

- Li Po

On November 6th I fly into Port Au Prince, Haiti, volunteering a month of my time to create new photography, video and writing, for two non-profits working tirelessly in the country; a small organization, the Haitian and Caribbean Organization of Texas (http://www.hacaot.org/), and a much  larger one, Partners In Health (http://www.pih.org/). With HACAOT, I’ll be joining a Haitian run medical team traveling to remote villages in the northern part of the island, giving me intimate access to the people and their daily lives.  With PIH, I’ll be in the central interior of Haiti as well as Port Au Prince, documenting families whose lives have been changed (and saved) by PIH’s 25 year presence in the region.  In Port Au Prince, I’ll record the more immediate recovery from the earthquake in 2010. 

The visual record I plan to create tells the story of how a people are rebuilding their nation against overwhelming odds, where survival is an accomplishment in and of itself.  It portrays the faces of a people whose aspirations are similar to ours, reflecting the plurality of our common human identity.  It is essential, when the media forgets, turns its interest to the next story, that we do not look away.

Another aspect of my work will be to document and raise awareness of the cholera epidemic which continues to ravage the country.  Over 420,000 people have been affected by the cholera outbreak and 6,000 have died.  It’s the most catastrophic epidemic the hemisphere has seen in decades. 

The work I do in Haiti will be without compensation, along with an additional month at home editing photos and video.  All of the video and still photography will be donated to HACAOT and PIH.  In addition, I plan to create both a traveling print exhibit, and a multi-media educational presentation to build awareness and remind us of Haiti’s needs.

To pay for the trips expenses I’m running an internet funding campaign.  If you’re interested in making a donation, please click on the following link:

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Cassava, native to South America, is one of many food bearing shrubs and trees growing in Rwanda as part of this program.  Grown across the globe, cassava is one of the biggest sources of carbohydrates for meals in developing countries, and is especially well suited to sub-Saharan Africa’s poor soils.   With a starchy tuberous root similar to potato in texture and flavor, cassava can be boiled, fried, baked, or dried and ground into flour.  In his cassava fields, with roots in hand, this farmer is able to harvest without damaging the trees.

For Rwanda’s resource poor farmers, cassava is both a subsistence and a cash crop with a wide harvesting window that makes the root an excellent famine reserve.   Cassava farmers in Rwanda also benefit from substantially increased standards of living.  Once dried, the root can be broken up and ground with a mortar and pestle to make flour, as seen below.  Cassava flour has an added benefit of being a gluten free source for bread and other baked goods.

In a nearby area another farmer is growing maize, avocados, mangoes and other fruits as part of the Clinton Foundation’s carbon offset program.  The farmer in this field used to grow low yield beans.  He switched over to fruit and cassava  trees three years ago, with maize grown between them.

In Rwanda’s equatorial climate, trees such as these typically begin bearing fruit during their second growing season.  Below is a newly planted mango tree.

Last year this farmer was able to harvest three tons per hectare, with an annual profit exceeding the equivalent of $1300 US – substantially greater than the average Rwandan salary of just over one dollar per day.  With his extra money he was able to acquire additional lands for planting, and purchase a new home for his family.  Avocados, seen below, are a large component of his crop diversity.

All images (c) 2009 Adam Bacher. Absolutely no use permitted without prior authorization.

Quadruplets, Butaro Hospital - Partners in Health, Burera District, Rwanda.

From five to nine children. Butaro Rwanda, quadrouplets,

During the month of April 2009, at the Butaro Hospital in rural northern Rwanda,  an ultrasound of a 20th week pregnant woman showed she was carrying twins.  Three months later she returned to the hospital to be seen for a persistent cough.   The timing couldn’t have been better  as she went into full labor before leaving the facility.  Her large abdomen warranted a new ultrasound which revealed the presence of a third child.  All three were delivered successfully, followed by the unexpected delivery of a fourth.

The chances of naturally giving birth to quadruplets in this region is less than 1 in 800,000.  Even rarer, these babies shared a single placenta, the odds of which are around 1 in 10 million.

On December 1st I was invited to visit the four and a half month old quadruplet girls.  Beautiful, happy, and healthy, with two proud parents and 5 older siblings, the four babies are a joyous sight.  The former family of 7 has adjusted to becoming a household of 11, and the government of Rwanda has stepped up to provide extra services including two new cows to provide milk for family.

The summit Mount Muhavura volcano is 4127 meters.

The Rwandan village of  Nyamucucu is too small to be found on most maps. An extinct volcano,  Mount Muhavura, dominates the western sky.  The eastern border with Uganda is unmarked, somewhere between Nyamucucu’s high ridge top and the lush valley below.

Uganda is seen from behind the Nyamucucu village school at Rwanda's northern border.

At 9:30 am a team of doctors and clinicians from the Butaro Hospital, run by the Boston based Partners in Health, sets out in three vehicles for a one hour drive to Nyamucucu.  A mobile health clinic will be set up at the local primary school.  The road there, in places no more than a dirt path, winds slowly down a hillside, across a valley floor, and up a steep terraced ridge.

Rain falls lightly when the journey begins, turning parts of the red clay road bed ice slick.  One of the Land Cruisers slides into a ditch.  An audience of 30 rural children gather to watch while we push it free. Nyamucucu appears to be no more than a small collection of huts, along a short stretch of road at the top of brilliant green ridge.  But looks can be deceiving in rural areas.  Rwanda is the most densely populated country in Africa, and hundreds of people are waiting for treatment when the vehicles arrive.  The hospital team has a short meeting and assigns three classrooms for the doctors, and another for use as a pharmacy.

A doctor speaks with Nyamucucu villagers, directing them to the proper examination room at the school house.

Work begins in the absence of electricity and running water. Villagers are quickly triaged and form lines in front of the three patient rooms.  A young boy with a high fever is sent by ambulance back to the Butaro hospital for treatment.  In the next seven hours over 200 patients will be seen.  The mix is dominated by elderly women with age related symptoms and non specific aches and pains.  Older men are scarce in this part of Rwanda, a result of the 1994 genocide and the preceding war that further ravaged this area of the country.

Lines form quickly as Nyamucucu residents wait to see a doctor.

Waiting their turn to see one of the Partners in Health doctors.

Children play outside during the wait.

Doctor greeting patient in school house examination room.

Checking blood pressure of local resident.

Cardiologist listens to patient's heart.

Most of the patients are treated on site. Some are referred to the hospital clinic for cardio-vascular and other problems. One woman’s resting heart rate is 130 beats per minute. Others have high blood pressure and will need medication and follow up visits.

Medical worries are difficult no matter what country you live in.

Two of the children seen have distended bellies.  To an untrained eye the cases look similar to malnutrition, but the diagnosis is worms.  One pill and 4-6 months time will return them to good health. A man with vision problems is brought to a window where the light is better for examination.  His hearing is also weak and a loud voice is necessary to communicate.  Two  mental health patients are examined – one believes he’s the president of Rwanda,  the other claims she’s allergic to both hot and cold water.

Light from a window is needed to preform an eye examination.

The Pharmacy.

Counting out and dispensing medicine at Nyamucucu mobile clinic school house pharmacy.

By early evening the team is tired and hungry. Food arrives with one of the two vehicles sent to pick up the group.  The ride back is cramped but enthusiasm is high for the accomplishments of the day.  The mobile health clinic preformed well given the constraints of limited resources. One of the doctors revels in what he describes as an act of solidarity with the local population.

These men are among the last patients seen.

When the final patient is checked out, the clinic is packed up for the trip home.

Copyright 2009 Adam Bacher.  All rights reserved. Absolutely no usage without prior authorization.

Walking up the ramp requires strength and balance.

Once up, workers walk on a planks to avoid damaging the reinforcing metal lattice set into the floor.

The same plank paths are used for coming and going.

At the final off load site, Buckets come down and are dumped into place.

Time to empty their load, go back down the ramp, and do it all over again.

In the final phase, the cement is smoothed out and left to dry.

The art of the cement pour at Kigali Parents Secondary School, Rwanda.

The building of Kigali Parents Secondary School is being helped by the Portland, Oregon, non-profit Itafari Foundation.  If you’re interested in helping this effort please visit,  http://www.itafari.org/

Copyright 2009 Adam Bacher.  All rights reserved.  Absolutely no usage without prior authorization.

Shelter and food are provided for orphans by the non-profit, OVC-Rwanda, in Kigali.

This post was entered on 11-19-2009.  Since then OVC-RWANDA has undergone a number of changes. For an update please visit their website at: www.ovc-rwanda.org/en

There are an estimated 860,000 orphans in Rwanda, as last reported by unicef.  The 1994 genocide, AIDS, and hard living conditions account for much of that number.   Forty-five of them, from the streets of Kigali, Rwanda, are fortunate to receive even minimal care, in an orphanage run by the nonprofit,  Orphans and Vulnerable Children of Rwanda,   www.ovc-rwanda.org/en

In the shadow of the downtown business center, overlooking a slum area of Kigali,  the orphanage is in a desperate state of disrepair.  It’s founders and community members are unable to raise appropriate funds to update the structure beyond four walls and a roof, supply needed school books, and at times provide enough food for the children.

At the top of the hill, Kigali city center is prominent.

Small rooms with mattresses that are no more than decaying pieces of old foam with ragged sheets, are the sleeping provisions for 5-6 children each.  The girls live on one side of the faded blue structure, and the boys on the other.

Three girls sleep together on the bottom of a small bunk bed.

Too few rooms mean some must sleep in hallways.   The dining area has no table or chairs.  The only furniture is a set of bunks in two of the girls’ rooms.

A nook at the end of a hallway is the sleeping space for two children.

Daytime provides the only chance for privacy.  When most of the kids are outside playing or doing choirs,  an empty bed can be enjoyed for reading or a nap.

A rare moment alone in bed affords time for a nap.

Almost all of rural Rwanda, and many of the households in the capital city of Kigali, have no running water or electricity.  At the orphanage, water must be carried up a steep hill from the valley floor, usually  in 5, or 20 liter jerry cans.   With one liter of water weighing one kilogram, or approximately 2.2 pounds,  it makes for a heavy haul.  No running water also means no plumbing.  The toilet is a small out house in the back of the facility.

If there’s any light at the night,  it comes from a kerosene lamp – a primary source of indoor pollution and respiratory problems in developing countries. Money for lantern fuel, however, is low on the priority list so the orphanage is dark most of the time.

Forty-four other children served by OVC-Rwanda, have been placed in foster homes, yet they  must come to the orphanage for food.  Their hosts cannot afford to feed them.

This is a case of the poor taking care of the poor;  a dedicated community of people with precious little who are determined to keep kids off the streets.

The orphanage and its children are a testament to the resilience, and strength of the human spirit.  In a country still recovering from the worst genocide since the holocaust, where money is scarce and resources limited, they are grateful to have a strong  honest government to ensure conditions of safety.  Rwanda has a motto that she lives up to:  “Investment yes.  Corruption no.”

OVC -Rwanda was founded in 1995  on the initiative of Emmanuel Uwamahoro, himself an orphan who was raised by nuns from the age of 9.  With his co-founder, help from the surrounding community, and a small amount of funds from other nonprofit foundations,  Emmanuel is doing all he can to keep children off the street, provide them with food, shelter, and access to health care and education, and give them the best chance possible to be able to provide for themselves, now and into the future.

Emmanuel Uwamahoro (yellow shirt) and co-founder, with children from the orphanage.

Emmanuel’s top priority is searching for emergency assistance to rehabilitate the orphanage.  He dreams of a larger more functional facility on a bigger site, and envisions strong economic, social, and cultural development for all the orphans and vulnerable children in Rwanda.  His goals are to reintegrate the children into everyday family life, and to know they will have the chance to live into old age with peace and dignity.

The "papa" of the orphange is one of two adults living on site.

If you have any means to help, or know someone who can, please contact me at:  info@adambacher.com.

Copyright 2009 Adam Bacher.  All rights reserved.  Absolutely no usage without prior authorization.

William Clinton - Rwanda, holding signed photo from President William Clinton - United States.

Last January while photographing a micro finance story for Rwanda’s Coojad cooperative bank,  I met a bartender named William Clinton.  Leaving with his email in hand, I planned to send him a photo of President William Clinton, when I returned to the United States.  If only I hadn’t lost the email.  Then I had an idea.

In October I made a 5×7 print with photos of the two Clintons side by side, and sent it to a good friend who works for the Clinton  Foundation, in New York city.  He passed it on to President Clinton.   How wonderful it would be, I wrote to the president, if I could bring to the Rwandan William Clinton a signed photograph from the U.S. William Clinton.  It never hurts to ask.  I believe my wife thought I was crazy, until the signed photo came in the mail shortly before I left for Rwanda.

Today I completed my mission.  Thank you President Clinton!  You scored big with your Rwandan namesake.

Copyright 2009 Adam Bacher.  Absolutely no usage without prior authorization.

Rusaro and her new soccer ball, Kigali, Rwanda.

Three and a half year old Rusaro, in Rwanda’s capital city of Kigali, is the recipient of the first of 65 soccer balls donated from Portland, Oregon’s, Running Cheetahs soccer team, the Lauralhurst soccer league, friends and family.  Thanks to all of you from Portland and beyond for your generosity.

Copyright 2009 Adam Bacher.  Absolutely no usage without prior authorization.

With an award from the World Bank’s Lighting Africa competition, Nuru spent the past year working directly with rural Rwandans, co-creating the first commercially viable pedal generator to bring renewable lighting to areas currently dependent on kerosene lamps.  The concept is an innovative, efficient, healthy, and environmentally friendly way to bring market based solutions to the one third of the global population living in poverty – a staggering 2 billion people.

Nuru power cycle charges 4 lights after 20 minutes of pedaling.

Kerosene lamps are the primary source of light when night falls in the underdeveloped regions of the world.  Light generated from kerosene is expensive, unhealthy, environmentally unfriendly, and dangerous.  The World Bank estimates that “women and children breathing kerosene fumes inhale the equivalent smoke from two packs of cigarettes per day.”  Scared hands and faces from burn accidents are testament to the dangers.  With Nuru’s pedal power lighting system, the dangers of kerosene are eliminated and the cost per unit of light is 20 time less.

Wanting to get it right, Nuru worked directly with the experts on poverty, the poor themselves. Over the last year they gave their pedal powered technology to the people who will be using it, solicited feedback, made design changes, and did over again for four rounds of testing and improvement. The finished units are now being brought to market.

A control panel on the front of the Nuru power cycle indicates when charging is complete.

The business model is multifaceted.  With help from microfinance, an economically disenfranchised villager is given a loan to buy 200 light pods (Portable On Demand light) and one power cycle (pedal generator).  He or she is now an entrepreneur.  The pods are sold individually to people of their village and nearby areas. Cost benefit savings over kerosene make for easy customers. Each sale creates a satisfied consumer and a new client for the entrepreneur. One charge from 20 minutes of pedaling last 30-40 hours depending on whether the light is used on the low or high setting (one or two led’s).  When the power is depleted, owners pay a small fee for recharging.

Formerly unemployed, Innocent is now an entrepreneur bringing sustainable light to his fellow villagers in Rwanda.

Copyright 2009 Adam Bacher.  Absolutely no usage without prior authorization.

Arthritis affects people worldwide - elders in Rwanda as well as the U.S.

Arthritis affects people worldwide – elders in Rwanda as well as the U.S.

For the next three weeks I’ll be staying with my good friend Emmanuel, in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda.  The oldest in his family, Emmanuel willingly cares for his younger brothers and sisters, some nieces and nephews, and two adopted children.  His friends joke that his home is really a youth hostel.

This week Emmanuel’s mother is in from Rwanda’s eastern province to receive treatment for her  arthritis.  Unlike the United States, Rwanda has universal health care coverage. Costs are minimal, but access to medicine is limited.  Unlike Rwanda, the United States has an abundance  of medicine, to treat aliments real and conjured (seen and pharmaceutical commercials recently?).  However, 25% of our population isn’t covered by health insurance and costs are skyrocketing.

Copyright 2009 Adam Bacher.  Absolutely no usage without prior authorization.

Maria suffers from autism. ASSIST-Rwanda administers a programs for her and other vulnerable youth.

Autism is on the rise globally, in Rwanda or the United States, vaccinated or not vaccinated.  Unable to make eye contact,  7 year old Maria dances through a room of 35 orphans, their schooling sponsored by members of a small community in Germany.  Each time she passes, a hand soft in youth reaches for mine. She runs it to my elbow and back, then settles for a few moments. A spit second eye to eye fills her comfort zone.  Touch is her preferred method of communication.

Copyright 2009 Adam Bacher.  Absolutely no usage without prior authorization.

View from Butaro Hospital, Burera District, Rwanda

 Two types of medicine are being practiced at the Butaro hospital in northern Rwanda; one treats diseases of infection, the other treats the disease of poverty.Using local building techniques, materials, and labor, construction of a new hospital building is now underway  in northern Rwanda’s Burera district, near the border with Uganda.Lush terraced hillsides, subsistence farming, and Lake Burera dominate the one hour drive from the nearest paved road – less than 15 kilometers as the crow flies.

Lake Burera, Rwanda

In a joint venture with the William J. Clinton Foundation, and Rwanda’s Ministry of Health, the Boston based Partners In Health (PIH) is overseeing the building of an innovative hospital designed to control infectious diseases like tuberculosis, as well as nosocomial (hospital-induced) infections common to hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa.”

Workers digging foundation, Butaro Hospital, Rwanda

 With a local contractor, and a construction crew hired from the local population, PIH is implementing their proven model of community-based care to serve a population of over 500,000, in a region reaching from northern Rwanda to southern Uganda.PIH fundamentally believes health care is a right not a privilege. Community-based care is based on five fundamental principles[i]:1. Access to primary health care, 2. Free health care and education for the poor, 3. Community partnerships, 4. Addressing basic social and economic needs, and 5. Serving the poor through the public sector.

Ambulance at Butaro Hospital, Rwanda

An existing facility, in the process of being updated, treats the three most common ailments – upper respiratory infections, malaria, and gastro-intestinal problems. It also includes maternity, pediatric, HIV/Aids, and other treatment wards.  Equipped for x-rays, minor surgeries, C-sections, and physical therapy, the present hospital can handle most medical issues.Conditions requiring major surgery are transferred to larger facilities.

Butaro Hospital ward, Rwanda

Butaro’s  new hospital building was conceived by a team of architects from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, working in conjunction with PIH.  Lead architect, Michael Murphy, began preparations after being contacted in 2007 by Paul Farmer, the founder of PIH.Farmer challenged Murphy to generate an architectural solution to the medical problem of infection transmission in sub-Saharan Africa.Of particular concern, halting the spread of recalcitrant airborne infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis, where a patient can come into the hospital for an easily treatable condition like a broken bone or the stomach flu, and leave with TB.

Michael Murphy - Architect, Butaro Hospital

  “The problem of airborne disease in developing countries is so huge and complex that a multidisciplinary approach is the only way to address these issues,” states Murphy. “We believe that architecture can save lives through effective healthcare design.”[ii]The Butaro project inspiredMurphy, along with ten other students, to  form the non-profit MASS (Model of Architecture Serving Society), in January 2008.

Transfering supplies between buildings, Butaro Hospital, Rwanda

Rather than depending on high cost and high energy intake methods like the negative pressure air evacuation systems more common in wealthier countries, the new Butaro hospital relies on simple design features to reduce the spread of airborne pathogens. Open wards with natural ventilation allow air exchange rates on par with western hospitals. A hill top cite provides the advantage of increased wind and air flow, and high permanently open windows amplify ventilation.Interior hallways, where close patient to patient contact is frequent, are eliminated.Exterior walkways and courtyards with wards built around the perimeter also reduce the risk of disease transmission.

Foundation construction, Butaro Hospital, Rwanda

 Eloquent solutions, appropriate technology, and determination are all in play, but the design and it’s structural endpoint are only the beginning.Construction techniques and applications are the unexpected story.In a country where 60% of the population earns less than one U.S. dollar per day (88% earns less than two dollars per day),[iii] the Butaro hospital project directly treats the disease of poverty.All labor comes from the local population where subsistence is a way of life, and a full stomach is never guaranteed.Typical of Rwanda, people living in this area have no electricity and no running water.

Woman hauling dirt from construction site, Butaro Hospital, Rwanda

The construction crew works in one week shifts, then a new group comes on.Work groups cycle once every six weeks, spreading employment to six times as many people than if only one crew were hired.Local building techniques are the rule; earth moving machinery is all but absent.Foundations are dug with pick and shovel. Dirt is removed on foot, in large bowls atop a woman’s head.

From cement to cinder blocks - mixing, molding, and drying, Butaro Hospital, Rwanda

Cement is mixed by hand, and cinder blocks molded and driedon location. Furniture and other finished wood products are constructed on site. Anything that can be dug, mixed, cut, formed or fashioned into shape is done by the local people with local means.

Woodworking at Butaro Hospital site, Rwanda

Meals are fed to all, clean drinking water is readily available, and health care and education are provided.Construction of the new hospital is as much about development and poverty reduction as it is about improved health care. Work is one of the treatments.

 “It’s a clear example of how you could rehabilitate an entire community by investing in one infrastructure.” Michael Murphy.

Worker at Butaro Hospital construction site, Rwanda

 All photography copyright 2009 Adam Bacher.  Absolutely no usage without prior authorization.

TIG prisoner giving thumbs up.

The program allows eligible prisoners to complete their sentences through participation in activities such as clearing ground, road building, construction of houses for genocide survivors, clay mining, and brick and tile manufacturing. Participants are referred to as tigistes and they engage in hard physical labor: breaking and hauling rocks, digging with picks and shovels, and manually moving earth by hand, sack, or wheel barrel. Many of the workers do not wear shoes.

This new road is being excavated and leveled by TIG members. It leads to an area where other participants are constructing homes for genocide survivors - Rwanda

The Rwandan government hails TIG as the best way to blend justice and reconciliation, helping to ease confessed killers back into Rwandan society. Reintegration, skill training, re-education and sensitization are part of the TIG design.

A million people were killed in the genocide; millions more were implicated, both directly and indirectly, as participants in the killings. Supporters of the program reason that all who participated cannot possibly be imprisoned, and TIG administers appropriate justice while serving to reconcile the Rwandan population. However, the program is not without its controversy. Some victims’ groups believe that consequences for the guilty are too lenient for the crimes they committed.

A day spent touring the TIG work sites was not about testimonials from the prisoners, evaluating philosophical approaches, punitive effectiveness, or rehabilitative results. It was centered around operational functions and the people carrying them out.

Row by row new homes are being built for genocide survivors by TIG prisoners - Rwanda

I toured three primary sites in eight hours, as well as a camp compound where large orange tents provide living quarters for the tigistes. By the end of the day I had seen every aspect of housing construction for genocide survivors. The tigistes mined raw materials – from dirt for bricks, to clay for molding roofing tiles, to earthen materials used to make the hard concrete pads that serve as foundations for the houses, and the smooth adobe that covers and seals the brick walls. Each process began with digging earth.

Homes are built from the ground up, starting with excavation – not of a basement, but a thirty meter rectangularpit – the toilet.

After clearing the land, TIG prisoners in Rwanda dig the toilet. The first step in construction of a new home.

Bricks that make the core walls of houses also begin with excavation. Red dirt, the hallmark of African soil, is dug from a hillside, sifted, sorted and carried off.

Raw materials for brick-making are excavated from hillside soil.

TIG members sifting dirt for making bricks

Sifted dirt is ready for brick-making.

A hundred meters uphill from the quarry are two hydraulic compressors designed for molding bricks. Each machine, the size of a refrigerator, is run by a small kerosene generator. Other than the car we drove in on, they are the only machinery on site

Forty minutes by car, nestled at the head of an open valley with terraced hills rising from three sides, is a tile and brick factory. Clay mined from a river bed is used for construction of rounded roof tiles and other types of brick and building materials.

TIG tile and brick factory

On the right, a large pile of mined clay awaits processing. On the left, a TIG member works the clay with his feet.

Again, the first step begins with excavation. Clay is carried and piled inside open buildings where it’s processed for tile and brick molding. Processing consists of stomping and beating the clay with Neanderthal sized wooden clubs.

TIG workers beat the clay until it reaches the proper consistancy for tile and brick making.

When ready, it’s taken to other areas for tile and brick fashioning.

Roofing tiles are shaped around a wooden form, then left for drying. Later they will be baked in an oven for hardening.

Later that afternoon we ate lunch with administrators at a camp where large orange tents had been erected for shelter and sleeping quarters while these tigistes finish their time in the program.

In the TIG program, members work 3 days on then 3 days off. A few are allowed to commute from their homes. Most live in the field where projects are under way. Each tent holds between fifty and eighty people.

Lunch is eaten outside and inside the tents.

All photography copyright 2009 Adam Bacher. Absolutely no use without prior authorization.

A baby billy goat.

All photographs copyright Adam Bacher.  Absolutely no usage without prior authorization.

Fifteen years ago the country was the scene of one of the humaniy’s worst genocides .One million people were killed in the course of one-hundred days.

Today Rwanda is an example of peace.The people have chosen not to allow themselves tobecome captive to decades of retributional killings.Distinctions between ethnic groups, political extremism, wide spread corruption, media manipulation, and other factors that led to the genocide have all but disappeared.Rwandan’s are working hard to reconcile their differences, and grow themselves out of poverty – toward peace and prosperity.They are an example to the world of what is possible.

Innovative means are empowering the people to empower themselves.During the month of January I’ll be in Rwanda reporting about and photographing the people and programs of the country.

ASSIST-Rwanda is a locally based non-profit, youth advocacy, organization.They work with orphans and at risk youth on education, skill development, micro-business projects,employment, and HIV/Aids prevention.One of their programs is setting up business cooperatives with orphans and child headed households across the country.I visited some of these cooperatives in the northern area of the country, out of the city of Ruhenguri.

Youth cooperative meeting in Ruhengeri, Rwanda

The day I arrived, members of six cooperatives were meeting to finalize charters, elect officers and formalize their businesses.A year ago these teenagers lived in abject poverty; clothes worn and tattered, not  attending school,  unemployed, hopeless.When asked whether one year ago they could have imagined where they would be today, the answer was a resounding “no.”Now they are business owners.They’ve been trainedin sewing, carpentry, and welding.

Youth sewing cooperative

Member of sewing cooperative

The cooperatives ASSIST-Rwanda has helped form are lifting them out of poverty.Today they have vocational skills and employment.Many of them are going to school.All of them have hope for the future.

Member of youth carpentry coperative

Member of youth welding cooperative

All photography copyright Adam Bacher.Absolutely no usage without prior authorization.

In Kamboo we visited a primary school.It has 7 teachers for almost 500 students.

Primary school class in Kamboo

After speaking with the head teacher I was given permission to photograph in the school.

Children are packed in tight, but get along well with one another.

Head teacher at Kamboo primary school

Before I left Iwas asked for two things.  First, could they please receive shoes for the children.Second,  he asked aboutsupport to fund an additional teacher.

All photographs copyright 2009 Adam Bacher.  Absolutely no usage without prior authorization.

Makindu Children’s Center also serves the needs of the outlying communities of Kamboo and Twaandu.

Wide dirt paths connect the sparse homesteads of Kamboo

I was taken to visit Kamboovia a 30 minute ride on a motorcycle over dirt roads, then paths.Other than visitors, Kamboo has a few motorcycles.Those who are fortunate have bicycles.

Kamboo homestead

Taking a break, Kamboo resident tells us about food shortages

There’s no electricity or piped water for miles.The village is a series of remotely separated homesteads, rather than a central community.It feels hundreds of years removed from present time.

Empty food storage hut on left - Frame waiting for mud walls on right

Drought has diminished food stocks to practically nothing.The storage hut (on left) is typical of those I saw – empty. On the right is the frame for a new room to ease crowding.  Four children will share the space.

Guardian with child

Men make up about twenty percent of the MCC guardians.  This man supports two orphans as well as his four biological children.

All photographs copyright 2009,  Adam Bacher.  Absolutely no usage without prior autorization.