Over the past month I’ve been trying to spend as much time as possible in Meno. Splitting my time between the city, Jacmel, and Meno has worked out nicely as Tim’s schedule has slown down considerably and he’s had time to journey up the mountain for a few visits.

About 2 weeks ago as I was walking along a dirt path, returning to my host family’s house, a trail of young children came tearing out of my neighbor’s house, pleading for me to take their picture. I had no idea why today of all days they were set on posing in front of the camera. Since I was sweaty and tired, I politely made an excuse and said I would take their picture another day. As a final plea, the mother of the house came out and asked if I wanted to see the new baby. My friend Nadj, whom I would ask almost every day, when she was going to fè piti la, make the little child, had given birth just the day before. Now it all made sense. I went to get my camera and we took pictures, not only of beaming mother and child, but all members of the household performing their respective activities.

Nadj, overjoyed, gazing at her day old son. Nadj lost her first baby just a few minutes after it was born, an ocurance all too common in Haiti. The infant mortality rate here is 71.65 deaths per 1,000 live births, the highest in the Western Hemisphere. Even when women know they are experiencing complications in child birth, they often wait 2-3 days before going to the doctor (usually too long to save the child or the mother) because they do not have money to pay for the medical services. I’m so glad Nadj, with the help of the local midwife, was able to deliver her son without any complications.

Most of the rest of Nadj’s family, her father is standing back center, and the rest are sisters, nieces, and nephews.

Here you can see Nadj’s father, Jan, making charcoal, a common practice in the countryside. As one of the very few options to make a little money, rural peasants cut down precious trees, stack the wood under soil and leaves, light it on fire, and let it smolder for a few days. They take the end product, charcoal, to sell as cooking fuel in the city. Haiti is over 98% deforested, which has lead to soil erosion, desertification, and dangerous flooding during tropical storms. While most people are aware of the environmental problems associated with cutting down trees, they precede simply to survive. People live in absolute poverty and cook with the most affordable resource, wood-they don’t have to pay a monetary fee to cut down their own trees. In the cities, the majority of people cook with charcoal (made from wood) unless they are able to afford a gas burning stove and the cost of refilling the gas tank.

Odet, Nadj’s mother, and sisters were busy making akansann, a corn derivative, that I wrote about in a former post entitled Living on Less that a Dollar a Day. Here you can see the yellow corn gum and the way they package it inside of plantain leaves. They sell three of those for 5 gouds, or 13 cents.