Hi everyone! Guess who moved back to Haiti? This girl. In late January. With three pets in tow. We made a detour en route from the Sahel to the Bay Area, where the dog and I got to enjoy the hospitality of Uncle Fred and Aunt Sandra and got to roam the hills of Sleepy Hollow in Marin, and the cats enjoyed the hospitality of Uncle Russ and gave us multiple anxiety attacks when they pulled Houdini acts in his in-law apartment, which I had previously thought too spartan to provide hiding places. But they found them. Like in the undercarriage of Russ’ pickup truck in the adjoining garage.

Haiti is much improved since I was here after the earthquake and during the cholera outbreak, in spite of devastating hurricane Matthew that came through in 2016 and from which the southern peninsula is still recovering. It offers a better quality of life than my most recent base of operations, and I’m glad to be in closer proximity and the same or fewer time zones away from loved ones stateside like many of you.

Haiti Takes Root thanks to F-O-S. I’m now working for an accidental relief organization that is essentially a foundation. I’m the Executive Director of a public-private partnership called Haiti Takes Root that seeks to promote reforestation and improve climate change resilience. Science tells us that the frequency and severity of storms is going to increase, and Haiti is definitely in the crosshairs. We’re co-funding a project with the World Bank and have a small portfolio of pilot projects with NGOs and social enterprises, and we are trying to convene stakeholders in regular coordination and knowledge management meetings with buy-in from the donor community, NGOs, private sector under the leadership of the GOH, but the GOH, which is mercurial in the best of times, is having a #MeToo moment after decades of misbehavior and bullying by NGOs, in some cases truly unforgivable, like the UN peacekeepers sexual abuse of vulnerable women and minors and similar shenanigans  and they’re not really having it right now. So in Godfather terms, w/r/t getting the GOH to take the lead on Haiti Takes Root, we are going to the mattresses until the situation calms down. Oh yeah there was a cabinet shakeup last night so that one of our key champions, the Minister of Ag, was replaced and we’ll have to start virtually from scratch with his replacement. All par for the course.

Cyrptocurrency for Haiti. The subject line is inspired by an era not that long ago. So do you remember that time in the late 90s when Greens

pan said there wasn’t anything indicative of “irrational exuberance” but when you went to the auto mechanic and he was talking about the P/E ratio of snap-on tools after their IPO you couldn’t help but wonder if the stock market bubble was about to burst? And then it did? I think cryptocurrencies are at that same cusp. On the basis of the fact that I have seen at least three banners like this one about cryptocurriencies in Haiti, including one that was an advertisement for English language classes that said “Bitcoin accepted”. I think it is time to run not walk for the exits in that market. It feels like shark jumping territory to me.

Visitors welcome. Have a nice apartment here with a very zen terrace and, once my shipment gets here (maybe this weekend!) I’ll have guest accoutrements that can comfortably accomodate five, so consider coming down for a visit. It is after all the Caribbean, and there’s great art, music, beaches and hiking.

xo

TK