Emily has hit Hispaniola (Hispaniola is the name of the island that encompasses the The Dominican Republic and Haiti). It should be hitting Port au Prince shortly. Chris, Achille and Lee are heading back. The hotel we are in is a very solid structure with bullet proof glass. It is on high ground and we will be very safe here during the storm. A bigger concern is the tents on the sides of the mountains.

They may not fare as well. Pray that everyone will be evacuated from those locations before the storm hits. Most of the trees have been harvested from the mountains which has caused a lot of erosion.

Pete Morrissey

Yesterday we received our equipment and started installing. Monday and Tuesday, as the students mentioned, we surveyed some of the campuses. The Humanities Faculty (UEH calls their different colleges “Faculties”) was found to have no wireless at all. At the Sciences Faculty there was only one Router set up for the whole campus and students would bring in their own “wireless modems” from home and do connection sharing with their friends. There was also very little if any wireless at the Law Faculty. Much of our work has been also networking with people.

Every campus we go to we spend time talking to the different Deans, explaining our purpose and intended plans. We are then careful to get their permission and buy’in for any work we do. They have been extremely receptive.

This morning Achille Mesac, Chris Sedore and Lee Badman went to the campuses to work and for a scheduled meeting with President Martelly. I stayed behind with the students due to the hurricane warnings. Although Emily appeared to be moving west, just underneath Haiti, we decided not to chance it. The real concern is that the roads flood quickly when it rains due to all the water coming down from the mountains.

Peter Morrissey

Director of Networking

Syracuse University

Haiti is different. Really different. You see pictures online or videos in the news but nothing can fully prepare you for the real thing. This is my first time in a different country and it has really been an eye-opener for me because there is so much to take in. The roads in Haiti, for one, are very different from those in the U.S. There are no road signs to tell you which corner you are on, no stop signs to direct traffic, and for the most part, no rules. Drivers will use sidewalks to avoid potholes or drive into oncoming traffic to pass a slow car but the chaos remains organized all the same; I have yet to see a single accident.

This is Haiti in a nutshell. It’s not all the horror stories you read about in the news or the scary videos you see on T.V., it is a place where things get done just like anywhere else and everyone has a great time doing it. That said, there is still work to be done and any help is much appreciated. We have begun the installation of wireless networks on two of the three University campus’ we would like to cover by the end of our trip and the group is hoping that it will help to give students here what they want.

Hello there! My name is Nina Morrissey, I am an Industrial and Interaction Design major at Syracuse University. This summer I began working for Information and Technology Services (ITS) at SU. When I opened the email inviting me to apply for this trip I literally yelled out loud “Oh my gosh! What? We can go to Haiti!?” From that moment I knew I had to go. Ever since I started studying Industrial Design I have had it in my head that I want to somehow use my major to help people in underprivileged countries. When I was excepted to go on the trip I knew it was going to be the start of something great.

During my job this summer we have been working to upgrade the wireless network on our campus. Part of this includes switching out old wireless access points on campus and putting in new ones. These old access points are usually sold back to the company, however some of them instead made it onto a shipment to Haiti with our team to follow.

When we arrived at the airport in Port-Au-Prince it was my first live taste of what kind of life I was entering into. The majority of the original airport was destroyed in the January 2010 earthquake so we were shuffled into a packed airport, through customs and off the baggage area, with each station being only feet from each other. We waited about an hour for checked luggage to come through and then we hustled onto a bus where we were shipped off the hotel.

On Sunday we were able to tour PAP to get a taste of the place we were trying to help. Our tour guide Jackie was very knowledgeable about Haiti since she has been here since she came as a young missionary and later decided to spend her life working in the country. Her driver Jeffrard shuffled us around the city showing us the “gingerbread houses,” grafitti, and we were able to visit a metal working village where beautiful sculptures were made out of old metal oil barrels. What impressed me most was the way Haitians recycle. So many thing are given a second life, or a second use, instead of being thrown out after they seem out of date as is in the norm in America.

Sunday night we had the privilege of meeting the students that received scholarships to come to Syracuse University for grad-school. It was great to hear their stories and excitement of coming to the United States for their schooling. Most of the students have never been outside of Port-Au-Prince before so coming to Syracuse will be a big change for them, just as coming to PAP was a big change for us. I was glad that we got to meet them ahead of time so that they will now know some students right away when they come to school at Syracuse in the fall.

Getting our shipment of supplies through customs has been rather frustrating. It seems that things in Haiti move on their own time. On Monday and Tuesday we went to 3 of the colleges of the University of Haiti and were able to survey the area and measure the buildings so that we could make maps to figure out how we were going to wire the campus so that they can have a better internet access.

Thankfully today we were able to get our materials through customs. We went to the college of Law and the college of Science and Economics to begin installing our equipment. With the help of our maps that we had made on Monday and Tuesday, we were able to work rather quickly to begin running cables through a few of the buildings to where we would be putting the wireless access points.

Although it was exciting to get some of the physical work done, it was even more interesting to talk to some of the students at the colleges to get their opinions on what we are trying to do. Basically the internet access that they have right now on their whole campus is less than you have in your own home. One of the students I talked to said it would be “like a dream” if they had quality internet access at school. All of the students I talked to were very kind to us and most spoke excellent English. Stephan and Ashuil have been especially helpful in translating for us with those who do not speak English.

Tomorrow we will be up bright and early to begin work again. We hope to not get set behind by hurricane Emily which is currently heading our way. The hotel has been boarding up the windows of the hotel lobby in preparation for the rain and wind. We are all eager to continue working without any further delays.
Bon Soir!

Nina

You may have ideas or visions of how life is lived in Haiti, but until you come experience it for yourself you must rely on the information provided by photos, films, or blog posts. My name is Brian Michaud, I am studying Mechanical Engineering at Syracuse and in order to bring the true eye of Haiti back to the states I have had my camera rolling since I stepped onto the plane to Port Au Prince, Haiti. Before I left, my friends and family would tell me, “Brian, this is going to be such an eye opener, you are going to be shocked!” I knew, just as they did, that parts of the world, and ways of life that I had never seen before were about to be revealed. I’ve seen photos, and I’ve watched documentaries, but nothing can describe the feeling you get when you step out of that plane, down the stairs, onto a landing strip that is over one thousand miles from the last point you touched the earth.

Haiti Clips 1

I immediately realized just how big this world is and how many different cultures can be created all at once. The Haitians are genius recyclers and I can see their joy in the simplest things, which I am so jealous of. Sometimes we get caught up in such a material world that we forget about enjoying the beauty of life itself. The college campus in Haiti is much smaller and there is nothing but a chalk board and desks to sit and learn from. I couldn’t believe my eyes, but after meeting a few students from the University it was clear to me that this did not matter to them. After struggling to speak french with one student in an attempt to explain to him our mission to install internet, I was blessed with a loving handshake and smile that I will never forget. The students are so nice! I pass by each student with a simple smile, or hello, and receive much more than anything I would in Syracuse. It baffled me at first to see that students who have so little can be so happy. But, I soon realized that his made perfect sense. There are no sororities, no fraternities, no in crowd, no out crowd. No distractions, everybody knows everybody and that is because, life is simple. The things to appreciate are right in front of your eyes, friends, family, knowledge, life.

Bon jou! Now you know how to say hello in Creole. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Dan Littlepage and I am a senior in the Information Management and Technology program at the iSchool. This is my first journey to Haiti and am excited to tell you about it. If you are interested, you can read a more in depth story at thenext6months.wordpress.com, a blog I created recounting this journey and many more as Haiti is the first stop on a long list of travel for me. Project Haiti was a pleasant surprise. Had you asked me a few weeks ago where I would be right now, my answer would be quite different. I knew that there was a trip planned because I work for Networking and Wiring Services but when they said “oh and by the way we’ll be taking students with us would you be interested?” I was convinced I had to go. My passions, interests, and current experiences had lead to this trip.

Not sure what to expect I wanted to come into with an open mind but of course you can’t help but be influenced by the media and what I found out to be many misconceptions about Haiti. I had over prepared myself for turmoil, delinquency, and terrible brokenness. Haitians are poor, but they are proud, hardworking, intelligent, willful people. I am embarrassed to say but I sense we are afraid to come here and be working along side Haitains because there are many unknowns. Even within our trip many things have not gone to plan and we have been flexible to work around them but even in the midst of that we have had a positive impact and I strongly believe with the right support Haitians can once again be the “Pearl of the Caribbean.” It took an earthquake for the world to care and when they struggled to help they gave up. Its been a year and a half since the earthquake and Haiti is still here and much progress has been made but its never time to stop caring and helping. That’s why I am proud of what the university has said they will do and in fact is doing.

It has been strange to stay in an elegant hotel (one of about two that are still in Port-Au-Prince) and see the poverty of the people but many unexpected and great things have come of it. Faculty have made connects with the President of Haiti and the group has met a famous celebrity, Won-G who shows interest in our project as he has been aiding Haiti since the quake. While visiting UEH’s campuses we have been able to make personal connections with students and ask them about their studies and describe our plans to provide them with Internet accessibility allowing better resources. It’s amazing to contrast their own campus from ours and the great things they have been able to do with the sparse materials they have.

Culturally, its exciting to see the lives and interactions of the Haitians, from the hustle and bustle of the interim street markets to the intricate work of Haitian artisans. The roads are quite the sight. It’s often a bumpy ride from here to there and there isn’t much concern for traffic laws but in the chaos that ensues somehow there is a very efficient system. Large multi-colored trucks, known as tap-taps brimming with people follow routes and when its time to get off “tap tap” the roof and you’re free. There is no capacity limit and its been asked how many people fit on tap-tap and the answer is always one more.

Today is an exciting day our equipment is finally out of customs which means all the site planning we have been doing the last two days while waiting for the equipment can now be acted upon and some physical evidence of our involvement will be in place.

That’s all for now. Babay.

Date: 30th July 2011

The Syracuse University Haiti Project Group had an early morning flight from Syracuse (Hancock Airport) to New York (JFK Airport) to one of the largest cities in the Caribbean region, Port Au Prince. Our project team consisted of the Syracuse University Networking & IT Gurus: Christopher Sedore, Lee Badman & Peter Morrissey along with our locally renowned Haitian, Achille Messac (Department Chair, Mech. & Aerospace Engineering, SU). With such bright minds, just add a dash of enthusiasm and creativity of the selected seven Syracuse University students and you get a perfect team for this project.  We came with a mission in our minds, a mission to provide better network and internet facility to the disrupted State University of Haiti.

Our arrival was on time, probably a little ahead of time as we landed on the Airport of Port Au Prince at after noon. As we stepped out of the airplane we soon realized that the heat was a little over the bearable limits. It was like a never seen before view at the airport; looking around we could see numerous people trying to get in the line for the immigration check. It took us more than the expected time reaching out to the baggage on the conveyor belt and struggled to get the bags through people to reach our much adored air-conditioned mini van. On the way to the hotel, sitting in the mini van we viewed different parts of Haiti which was surprisingly unlike from the much believed terror filled stories about Haiti. Though the place is devastated by the natural disasters and the political chaos, it was still running strong with people carrying out their daily routine.

We reach Hotel Karibe after a 45 minute journey around mid-afternoon  and quickly got settled in our lovely rooms. The first thing I checked in my room was for internet connectivity, and luckily we had an Ethernet jack to connect our laptops but with a cable of course. Later we got down and had a discussion on the next day’s plans for a tour around the city. We made plans to start working from Monday as our network equipment shipped from Syracuse to be installed at the University was supposed to be reaching Haiti on Monday. After the meals and a swim in the extra chlorinated waters of the hotel pool we finally called it a night.

– Shivesh Ganotra

See some pictures from SU’s last trip to Haiti!