Gonayiv
We made it to gonayiv in one piece...considering the roads thats amazing! They remind me of the road we took to Sasabe in Mexico, for those of you who have heard about that. Essentially that means they are unpaved and very bumpy!
We have spent the last few days learning the computer system and inputting loans and accounts on the computers, and we seem to finally be catching on! We are hoping to be done with the Gonayiv branch by mid next week, but thats very tentative.
Last night Anne, the Director of Fonkoze, told us about the Hurricane that hit Gonayiv in September of 2004. She also showed us pictures of it- it was incredible. The roads were completely flooded, there were dead animals and dead bodies everywhere. The stench was outrageous she said. She also had pictures of the mass graves they had made to bury all of the bodies. I know that in recent times, between the Tsunami and Katrina we've seen so many floods and death, but this still touches me. It is almost worse than the other ones just because of the lack of global attention to their strife. Anne Said that there were a number of clients that had just recieved loans and all money or materials bought with that was lost. All of their money was literally blown away. That is intense.
We are staying in a hotel just outside of the "city." We've been lucky so far in that we've had electricity at night in the hotel and during the day at the office, even in Port Au Prince, until today. We had electricity problems this morning and couldn't work for a while- but at least we finally got a little bit of a break!
After Gonayiv, my group of 3 will head to Sen Michel, then onto Piyon. Then We'll get a few days off to head to the beach before hitting the central plateau. Then if we have time, we'll head south.
We've been working very hard entering the more than 6000 accounts and all of the June Loans. I'm trying to pick up some Creole too, hopefully I learn some essentials quickly- Its really hard not to know the language!! We've also spent some time learning about the people and the places we visit.
The internet is not always working, so I'll post when I can!!
We have spent the last few days learning the computer system and inputting loans and accounts on the computers, and we seem to finally be catching on! We are hoping to be done with the Gonayiv branch by mid next week, but thats very tentative.
Last night Anne, the Director of Fonkoze, told us about the Hurricane that hit Gonayiv in September of 2004. She also showed us pictures of it- it was incredible. The roads were completely flooded, there were dead animals and dead bodies everywhere. The stench was outrageous she said. She also had pictures of the mass graves they had made to bury all of the bodies. I know that in recent times, between the Tsunami and Katrina we've seen so many floods and death, but this still touches me. It is almost worse than the other ones just because of the lack of global attention to their strife. Anne Said that there were a number of clients that had just recieved loans and all money or materials bought with that was lost. All of their money was literally blown away. That is intense.
We are staying in a hotel just outside of the "city." We've been lucky so far in that we've had electricity at night in the hotel and during the day at the office, even in Port Au Prince, until today. We had electricity problems this morning and couldn't work for a while- but at least we finally got a little bit of a break!
After Gonayiv, my group of 3 will head to Sen Michel, then onto Piyon. Then We'll get a few days off to head to the beach before hitting the central plateau. Then if we have time, we'll head south.
We've been working very hard entering the more than 6000 accounts and all of the June Loans. I'm trying to pick up some Creole too, hopefully I learn some essentials quickly- Its really hard not to know the language!! We've also spent some time learning about the people and the places we visit.
The internet is not always working, so I'll post when I can!!
posted by Karol at 11:10 AM
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