permaculture

[Marimike6@cs.com]

Restoring Haiti will be a tall order. At least this Brazilian group 
understands that the foundation lies in educating the public. I hope they 
have 
volunteers who can easily learn to speak Krio.

Haiti's big problem is that the organic fraction of the soil has long since 
gone out to sea. The only part that remains on the land is raw sewage that 
hasn't drained off. The only things that grow are growing on bare yellow 
dirt. 
Rebuilding will be slow. 

Haiti a mere eighty years ago had forests so thick (in the southeast) that a 
tribe of very large red horses were native in the wild.  Unfortunately before 
anyone could capture any to see whether they were mustangs (runaway domestic 
horses) or remnants of the original wild horse native to North America, they 
became extinct. The forests were stripped and used to cook porridge.

So any direction they can go in now will be a forward step. They're already 
at the bottom. And like strongly politicised people everywhere, the Haitians 
are their own worst enemies. Let's wish them well. And let's anyone who is 
currently at liberty at least consider volunteering for the task of community 
teaching.

M. Elvin

PS  If you do volunteer, for god's sake don't go on in front of the locals 
about the rights of man and social justice and such. It's a great way to get 
a 
bullet in the face one morning.