September 25 – October 5
My usual Wednesday
night post was stalled when my trip to the countryside was rushed upon me, then
dragged out. What I had anticipated to
take two days turned out to be over four.
As educational as the experience was, I was antsy to get back to
Christianville where my work waited for me.
Earlier in
the week, I had been tinkering with some trial techniques for the aquaculture
system, which are intended to supplement the purchased fish feed. My first test is with a semi-aquatic tuber (root vegetable) I
found next to the pond outlet. Having
sent a picture of it to American scientists, they seem to think that it is some kind of
arrowroot. I had been placing various
local plants in the ponds to see if the fish would eat any. This particular plant seems to catch their
fancy. If it is arrowroot, it has about
the same protein as the commercial fish feed we use. So I began using it as food in a small, cubic meter
basin. The five fish in there have been
consistently nibbling at it and seem healthy.
The arrowroot is thriving off of the nitrogen-rich effluent that exits
the ponds, potentially serving a dual purpose of water remediation and feed
supplement.
The other
trial was with something called periphyton.
Periphyton is the aquatic, largely autotrophic, microbial community that
grows attached to substrates. The
periphyton grow using nutrients floating in the water, making the water cleaner for the
fish and providing an additional food source.
Tilapia will eat just about any kind of organic matter that isn't
wiggling (and plenty that are). How do we foster periphyton
in the nutrient-rich water? Add
substrate! In our case, bamboo. The idea is, administer some bamboo, the
microorganism grow on it, and the tilapia graze on the microorganisms. In fact, the fish farmers had already done
this. Their method of application was
not optimal, however; they just threw in the bamboo. This is not really good because whole bamboo
floats, meaning (1) half of the bamboo is above the waterline and (2) the submerged
half isn't getting sunlight. To remedy
this, Josue and I quartered the bamboo and strung it together with some fishing
line. Unfortunately, the fishing line
was too weak and it broke as we put the bamboo back into the pond. Now I am trying to find some twine or wire to
tie it together.
These
trials (in every sense of the word) are an example of how work here is simple, yet
slow. Another hiccup came a few days
later while we were collecting eggs from the breeders. Most of the fish are treated with hormones to
become males, which prevents overpopulation of the ponds, but
the co-ed breeders are kept in a separate basin for (obviously) reproductive
purposes. Tilapia are especially easy to
farm sustainably because they are mouth brooders: they keep their eggs and
young safe in their mouth. Other fish,
like salmon, spawn in particular conditions, making collection more
difficult. With the tilapia, you just
extract them with a net and empty the contents of their mouth into a container. This container is then placed in a sterile
hatchery, where the baby fish, called fry, are born. Unfortunately, our aerator broke down once we
had collected some fry and they all died.
Hopefully the eggs will be able to hatch after the lack of oxygen.
Please don't film me.
While the
fish have been undesirably rustling at death’s door, some undesirable people
have been rustling at ours. Just before
midnight on one inauspicious nocturne, there struck three staccato reports that
silenced the chorus of frogs and insects.
As it turned out, there were some would-be thieves who were trying to
break into the one of the vacant houses on campus, upon whom the guards fired a
triad of warning shots. We in the guesthouse
kept alert over the next two hours as another six rounds were unloaded. Finally, one of the guards informed us that
they would be posted at our front door to deter any ne’er-do-wellers. I suppose the event had little effect on me,
as I promptly fell asleep.
It was
about this time I welcomed a change of scenery.
The opportunity to travel was provided when I learned that Oscar, one of
the Nicaraguan farm managers, would be going into the mountains as part of
another nonprofit’s extension program. Expecting
to be gone Thursday and Friday, I was surprised at lunch on Wednesday when
Oscar informed me that we were to depart immediately. I hastily packed a tote and we were soon
speeding to Port-au-Prince. We entered
the World Relief compound that Oscar does volunteer work for, and we spent the
night. Early the next morning we got
into the "ambulance" (a Land Cruiser) and began our voyage outwards and
upwards. It wasn’t long before we left
paved paths behind, bumping on rocky roads into the cool mountain clime. The escarpments we skirted were unguarded,
allowing for a full view of the dried riverbeds bellow. One particularly steep segment was known as “chen
jwenn okenn”; that is, ‘dogs get none’. The
ravine was so severe that only birds would be able to get at fallen bodies.
 |
| This Catholic priest prepares moringa leaves for organic fertilizer. |
 |
| Almost all of the old-growth forest has been chopped down for firewood. |
After
passing through one of the country’s two nature preserves, the ‘pine forest’,
we eventually ended our journey at the town of Thiotte (pronounced ‘chott’). This area was safer than any others we had
been to yet, allowing Oscar and I to walk around freely at night as we ordered a beer
and some fried street food. The next
day, we took an exciting moto ride into the jungle to speak to small farmers
about using moringa, a local leguminous tree, as an organic fertilizer. While in the sparse woodlands I saw how destitute
some of the Haitians were living. It was
barely a step removed from tribal conditions.
The people were all friendly and interested in the improved agronomic
methods that Oscar was teaching. The
lessons were long, and I did my best to stay my patience and take in the
landscape. Back at the hotel, I also met
people from two different nonprofits – talking to them helped clarify what
employment in community development is like. After two days of education, we prepared to
return home. Unexpectedly, our driver was
5 hours late in picking us up. During
the return, we stopped in the pine forest at an enormous market, where I tried
a few Haitian snacks. It was then becoming late, so we spent another night in Port-au-Prince before ultimately returning to
Christianville on Sunday.
 |
| Market in the Pine Forest. |
It is
almost a month since I arrived in Haiti.
A large part of me is chastising myself for not having achieved any
tangible results in that amount of time.
Another part of me, softly encouraging, is reminding myself that I have
been learning something entirely new and that I’ve been taking steady steps towards
making a change. There is no point in
rushing my work, but I need to keep in mind my December date of departure. While not a waste, it would be a shame if I
had not brought anything to fruition.
This next week I hope to begin germinating moringa seedlings. Turns out this plant is not only useful in
improving soil quality, but also the tilapia love it. The plan is to plant some alongside the
ponds, using the fish waste as a fertilizer.
Josue is also excited about developing a fish garden. He is an excellent friend and coworker. I think the two of us can accomplish something
to be proud of, even in this relatively small amount of time.
Edit: it turns out that moringa is not leguminous, just remarkably hardy
