Valentin Abe is spawning fish farmers in Haiti, lack of formal property rights be damned

“Everything here in Haiti,” says Dr. Valentin Abe, “takes time.” Which is a comment as insightful as it is tautological.

Abe (pronounced AH-bay), originally from Côte d’Ivoire, first came to Haiti in 1997 on a six month contract to assess potential aquaculture sites. He’d recently earned a PhD in aquaculture from Auburn University, and before he knew it the contract spiraled into two years. He’s been working with fish farmers in Haiti ever since.

In 2005, he started Caribbean Harvest, a program that turns terra farmers into aqua farmers using startup aquaculture kits and fingerlings from Abe’s hatchery in Croix-des-Bouquets, in the outskirts of the capital. Potential fish farmers rely mainly on donations to provide startup costs, but the idea is that once a farmer has a kit—two cages, 2,400 fingerlings for each cage, and feed—his operation will sustain itself once the first harvest goes to market. The 150 or so farmers Abe works with have had varying degrees of success so far.

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A meme that will not die: Haitians still don’t want your old shoes

Apparently Nashville, T.N.-based charity Soles4Souls still ascribes to the Jessica Simpson school of aid. A recent press release from the organization touts a trip that a “game show host and life coach” made to Haiti with the organization’s founder, complete with link to obligatory video dripping in self-righteousness.

Soles4Shoes accepts donations of new and used shoes as well as other necessities and distributes them to “those in need.” Wayne Elsey, the group’s founder, started the organization in 2004 after watching watching TV coverage of the tsunami that slammed Southeast Asia.

I’m sure Elsey started the charity in good intentions, but eight years on, gift-in-kind aid is still terribly inefficient and often not needed or wanted.

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Justice and impunity in Haiti, Baby Doc Duvalier et al.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti—Yesterday, Port-au-Prince daily Le Nouvelliste published an open letter to Haitian President Michel Martelly urging against the “banalisation” of the father-son Duvalier dictatorship that ruled the country for nearly two decades. Twenty-three organizations and individuals, including human rights groups, journalist Michèle Montas, and filmmaker Raoul Peck, signed the letter urging the current administration not to trivialize the accusations against the former government.

The Washington Post recently reported that the latter Duvalier, Jean-Claude “Baby Doc,” is “thriving”—staying at his residence in the hills about Port-au-Prince, dining in nice Petionville restaurants, appearing at the government’s recent earthquake memorial ceremony that President Martelly and former U.S. President Clinton also attended—even as he’s being investigated by authorities for crimes against humanity committed during his reign. The investigating judge recently announced that by the end of January, he will rule on whether the case goes to trial.

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‘This is Africa’

I recently profiled Oliberté Footwear for GOOD magazine. The company piqued my interest because, although it markets “Africa” in its tagline, it strives to present a nuanced narrative about the continent that doesn’t rely on stereotypes oft-cited in media reports. In doing so, it eschews portrayals of Africans as down-and-outs dependent upon Western aid.

“I’m proud our shoes are made in Africa,” Oliberté founder Tal Dehtiar told me when I interviewed him. “We don’t want pity purchases.”

Like mosquitos to uncovered ankles, Westerners have been drawn to Africa in efforts to help locals since at least the late 15th century, when Portuguese missionaries settled in Mbanza Kongo, near the mouth of the Congo River, in hopes of converting locals. Today, whether through shoe donations or shoe-manufacturing jobs or countless other endeavors, it’s evident that the mystique of “Africa” continues to captivate Westerners.

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Haitian emigrants look North, South

Yesterday the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced that Haiti would be added to the list of 53 countries whose citizens can apply for temporary work visas. Under the H-2A and H-2B temporary visa programs, immigrants are allowed to work in seasonal positions for up to 12 months, with the possibility of extending stays for up to three years.

The temporary visa programs are fraught with red tape and inflexible restrictions, but allowing more Haitians to work in the United States undeniably brings benefits, not only for emigrants but also for, say, farmers in southern states who have had trouble finding laborers after crackdowns on illegal immigration.

But in the two years since the January 12 earthquake, Haitians emigrants haven’t been looking only North.

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