Arrival in Haiti

After a long trip, we arrived in Puerto Principe on Thursday 17 th July. The driver of GVC was waiting for us at the airport. We were really exhausted!
At our arrival we could see a small piece of the reality of Haiti: lots of cars- the newest and most expensive ones sharing the road with the carriages pulled by horses or donkeys- lots of people in the street…my first impression: a Caribbean country with an African heart.
I had already been told that prices here are so high, but I really confirmed it when we got to the supermarket the first day. It is really shocking: how can a pack of milk cost the same amount of money than an agricultural worker can earn in 2 days of work?
Haiti, an easy and difficult country at the same time. Paradox is everywhere.
The time has passed so fast that I have even not realized that it’s been more than one month here!We are 5 volunteers here, Irina and Sylvia, the team based on Jacmel, and the GVC team: Federico, Carmen and me (Cristina) in Puerto Principe/ Hinche.
The house office in Puerto Principe is a really nice place, but because of its location and the security situation, it is hardly compulsory to move by car. This is one of the main reasons that I prefer much more to stay in a smaller village, as Hinche, where you just can go for a walk by yourself. Hinche is in the inland of Haiti, around 50 km far from the frontier with Republica Dominicana. Although now the landscape seems to have vegetation it is just a kind of temporary “mask”, due to the rainy season. The drought here is a very important problem and moreover because it is directly linked with the environmental situation (high deforestation that has really hard consequences). I am not really aware of how people will cope with that change of green “colour” into yellow when the rainy season ends.

I am involved in a proyect based on Food Security, Agriculture and Environment, due to their strong linkage. It seems to be very interesting and I really think that I will learn a lot from this experience. I will let you know soon!