2009 June 12-13

 

The flight from Nanaimo went well; each bag was just under the weight limit.  However, the ticket agent advised that I might have to collect my bags in Vancouver to clear customs.  In Vancouver I was told that I should proceed on to the US departures concourse where I would find my bags and then clear customs. When I arrived at the US flights ticket counter I was informed that I should have collected my bags with Air Canada and then proceeded to international departures.  When I got to international departures they said that I should go back to US departures.  Before I got all the way back (since these gates are at opposite ends of the terminal I asked an information agent who told me I should go through U.S. Customs clear my bags and I could then leave the concourse.  I went through U.S. Immigration (no one had mentioned that) only to be told that once entering that area I could not leave.  I spoke to an Air Canada representative who told me that I was in the wrong concourse (because my flight did not leave until after 8:00 when that concourse was closed and that I did indeed need to leave from the international concourse where I would find my bags-- except that as she was leading me out to try to convince the immigration duty officer to let me out I spotted my bags-- which the ticket agent thought must have wound up there by the same mistake that no one had looked to see what time my flight left-- but she said she would ensure the bags were sent along (and I saw them in Houston and again in Miami).  After a brief consultation with the immigration officer they let me out into the food court again.  Since I still had about five hours to kill I went into Richmond to a vegetarian buffet then walked along a park by the river that borders the airport. I got back to the airport with about an hour to spare. 

 

The flight from Vancouver to Houston was only noteworthy in that it emphasized for me how hard-wired we are to make allowances for the occasional excesses of children.  The two-year old in front of me cried pretty much non-stop for the duration of the "red eye" flight when most other passengers were attempting to sleep-- any other primates cooped up in such close quarters with such an annoyance would have made the young one part of the in-flight meal. 

 

I had to go through immigration in Houston and clear my bags through customs—which I had to do again in Miami . 

 

There were no banks in the Miami airport to cash a traveler's check and the currency exchangers were asking $6 to change the checks-- so I just bought some fries at Burger King and paid with one of the checks to get cash.  (I was not able to cash any traveler's checks in banks in Haiti — instead I obtained cash advances on my credit card.)

 

As usual, my bags did not arrive when I did upon reaching my destination in Port-Prince—but I was a  little more anxious about the driver leaving if I did not show up outside than about the loss of my bag so I tried to call him—but the numbers I was given were incorrect.  (Ronald's actual phone numbers are 509-3491-36-01 and 509-3874-01-15.)  Some young American interns working at a local ministry helped me to make a couple of phone calls to try to reach one of the Farmer-to-Farmer contacts and finally got in touch with Gerard Michel Joseph (Papy), FtF field officer, who indicated that he would call Ronald, the driver, to let confirm to him that I had arrived and would be needing a ride after I had concluded making my claim for the delayed baggage. 

 

At the Hotel I freshened up and wrote a couple of e-mails.  Then I called Brian Oakes 3770-9499, who worked with CHF International, now owns and operates a mango plantation and is interested in promoting beekeeping in the area.  He conveyed his perception that there has been a disconnection between those working the land and the managerial skills required for sustainable agriculture and development.  During the past fifty years, due to political and economic pressures, the upper classes "les notables" have moved from the rural areas into the cities and working of the land has been left to the laborers who often do not have the requisite skills to properly manage their farms.  A dearth of resources and a reluctance to take a long term perspective, on the part of the small farmers, has lead to their general disinclination to invest. 

 

We discussed how the Kenya Top Bar hive could be used in stages (both figuratively, as a stepping stone to developing apicultural skills, and literally, as the brood chamber for a super of movable frame boxes) as a transition from bee-having to beekeeping.  He and his wife are very interested in promoting beekeeping and have taken recent steps to import used beekeeping equipment to Canada I told him that I didn’t think that it would be a great idea to import used equipment to Haiti.  Given the run-of-the-mill problems of foul brood and nosema, which are common in North America , it is not a great idea to move used equipment outside of their immediate provenance.  Add to that the uncertainties around Colony Collapse Disorder and it really argues against such purchases.  Unless a provincial apiarist can certify the hives as disease free (and even that is not a guarantee) then purchasing a couple of bee box kits are a better investment.  I recommended that he take the packaged kit to a local carpenter so that the carpenter could see how the shouldered sides and top and bottom bars are cut en masse.  I recommended that an even better option would be see what kind of yields could be achieved with top bar hives.  Mr. Oakes indicated that candles were a common product in local boutiques and were, he thought, usually beeswax.  We discussed how beeswax and honey could be used as the raw materials for cosmetics at both the cottage industry and industrial levels and Mr. Oakes informed me that essential oil extraction is an established undertaking in Haiti .  I suggested that skin care products could be elaborated from coconut oil or other emollients as is commonly done using the shea butter produced in West Africa .  He offered that castor oil is an export product of Haiti and serves as the raw material for glycerin, another important component of cosmetics.

 

2009 June 14

 

Met with Brian Oakes who came to the hotel in the morning, we exchanged electronic resources and discussed developmental beekeeping.  Mr. Oakes also shared his enthusiasm for promoting ecotourism in the area of Port-au-Piment where he lives, particularly as relates to the cave resources in the area.  Mr. Oakes is willing and able to coordinate development efforts on several fronts (apiculture, general agronomy, micro-enterprise, eco-tourism, etc.) in the area of Port-au-Piment area and I believe would be a very valuable partner for Makouti and Partners of the Americas/FtF. 

 

Ronald and Michel took me to the airport where I was momentarily reunited with my bags (which were left behind again on the flight to Cap Haitien because of weight issues on the plane; I was charged an additional $36 for excess baggage—which perhaps included storage fees since the airline has had my bags longer than I have on this trip ;-).  The flight was uneventful other than to afford the opportunity to network with other development workers (specifically with a group of safety officers working with the local hospital to develop evacuation plans).  Ronald's assistance in regaining my luggage (at least temporarily) and purchasing a ticket to Cap Haitien was invaluable and greatly appreciated as a stress reliever.  Although it was rather unexpected it was certainly worth paying the $20 which Ronald indicated was his usual retainer—as was the case for the driver, Esiah, in Cap Haitien .  It would be worthwhile to make it explicit in the orientation materials that Ronald and Esiah are contractors with FtF rather than employees and that their fees are part of the normal expenses that a volunteer should expect.  (Although I later learned that Benito usually picks up volunteers at the airport—however, my arrival coincided with his weekly radio show in which he discusses development issues with callers.)

 

Soon after arrival at the Hotel Roi Christophe, I met with Virginia and discussed our mutual interests and backgrounds and later Met with Benito and Papy from FtF and, Herve and Anderson on from Makouti for a general discussion of the logistics for the next couple of days.  Vehicle problems of the last couple of days indicate that we may have to get creative in arranging logistics to get out into the field. 

 

We discussed at some length how grapefruit leaves could be burned in a smoker as a treatment for varroa in combination with powdered sugar rolls and bottom screens.  Information on IPM for varroa is summarized on my website at:

 

http://www3.telus.net/conrad/bz1.htm and http://www3.telus.net/conrad/bz2.htm (also available with the electronic data provided to PoA)

 

The use of grapefruit leaves is discussed at: http://www.beesfordevelopment.org/info/info/disease/varroa.shtml

 

We also discussed the fact that mango leaves do not make an appropriate smoker fuel:

 

From http://www.findyourfate.com/astrology/Plants/Trees/mango-tree.html:

 

 "Burning of mango wood leaves and debris is not advised - toxic fumes can cause serious irritation to eyes and lungs. Mango leaves are considered toxic and can kill cattle or other grazing livestock."

 

From Introduction to Fruit Crops by Mark Rieger  at http://books.google.ca/books?id=vUXKIkjDtAQC&pg=RA1-PA268&lpg=RA1-PA268&dq=mango+leaves+smoker&source=bl&ots=FZA57x2KVB&sig=llYh0LJemMWazEBoN0tZnuNMHaU&hl=en&ei=PGM2StX3J6HKtgfQ8dD4Dg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2:

 

"Mango sap is toxic, causing a rash similar to poison ivy on the skin. The active principles causing sap toxicity are named for mango: mangiferin, mangiferic acid, and mangiferol. The allergenic principle is identified as 3-pentadecyl catechol which occurs throughout the Anacardiaceae. Livestock may be killed by excessive ingestion of mango leaves. Breathing the smoke from burning leaves or the wood of mango can cause severe irritation."

 

2009 June 15

 

In the morning I worked on translating a baseline survey for apiarists (while Benito attempted yet again, successfully this time, to free my bags from their captivity in the clutches of the airline).  The survey will probably be of greater utility in new client communities—but it will at least serve to remind me to ask about certain issues that might otherwise slip my mind.  In the afternoon (after a very emotional reunion with the clean underwear in my liberated luggage) Benito and went to the recently inaugurated PoA/FtF office where we transferred the instructional materials and information that I brought with me that included 2 printed copies of the French version of Small Scale Beekeeping (Apiculture a Petite Echelle), a set of newsprint posters on various management techniques, an extended set of laminated illustrations and photos for use in extension activities, electronic French and English beekeeping texts and equipment catalogs and technical information, as requested, on identifying African(ized) honeybees.  I gave Benito (and later Papy) a brief introduction to the materials.  Virginia , Chaly and Papy returned from their day in the field and Virginia gave us a debriefing about her activities. 

 

In the evening I had an interesting discussion in the evening with a Haitian Christian couple (Nate and Gina) who currently reside in the States) and their colleague Rob.  They are firefighters who are here to assist with developing evacuation plans for the local hospital.  In response to my inquiry she told me that Vaudou (voodoo) is not so much a separate religion as it is a set of concurrently held beliefs, similar to the folk beliefs in Ghana around dwarves (forest spirits) but even more similar to the santaria of rural Central America.  We began to discuss current Christian belief and my agnosticism and I pointed out that what is orthodoxy today in any particular Christian sect probably bears little resemblance to the beliefs held by the earliest Christians and might be significantly at odds with the message Jesus intended.  We did little to sway each other's position although she did agree with my proposition that if Jesus returned in human form he would very likely be denounced by the Christian religious establishment if not outright assassinated by a Christian fundamentalist of one stripe or another.

 

2009 June 16

 

Now that I have my running gear I decided to go for run this morning.  I ran along the beach until the path ended at a cliff face.  There was however a small path that led up a fairly steep cliff face that I decided to explore thinking that it would intersect with a road that I thought paralleled the beach.  It didn't.  After struggling uphill through thorny brush for about ten minutes I headed back downhill on a fairly well worn path that ended in someone's small apiary (!) bordering the beach—I called out but no one answered so I deeked through the yard and out onto the beach.  I was drenched in sweat fairly early into the run and by the time I returned to the hotel I was fairly exhausted from the heat.  After a long cool shower and a liter of water I was fairly certain that I would survive my first excursion and I prepared for the day's field work. 

 

Papy and Chaly picked me up after I had breakfasted (unfortunately, there was no spicy peanut butter on today's menu as had been the case on the previous day) and we headed out to Jacquesyl.  I was struck by the similarity of behavior and landscape in the context of town and village between Haiti and their counterparts in West Africa .  Except for differences in dress and language one could easily imagine that one was in West Africa . 

 

Elias, Guy and Wilguince met us when we arrived in Jacquesyl.  We inspected a number of hives in two apiaries.  All of the dozen or so hives we opened had frames but none could really be considered "movable frames", in the sense intended, because the frames were not arrayed to incorporate the concept of the "bee space", that is, to ensure that the midline of frames is maintained at the distance (approximately 34 mm) which bees will maintain naturally between honeycombs.  Virtually all of the frames had "cross-comb" across their midlines rather than the combs being built along the length of the frames or, if the combs did, in fact parallel the frames, there were two or sometimes three combs attached to the frame.  I demonstrated for the group and had them practice building a guideline of wax stuck to the midline of the top bar to encourage the bees to construct their comb along the bar's length.  Similarly, we discussed the concept of the bee space and how this is incorporated into the Kenya Top Bar Hive (KTBH) which I introduced using a small model and a video which we viewed on my laptop.  We found varroa in the two hives in which we looked for it using drone comb inspection.  In addition, I showed Chaly the proper way to put on a bee veil, practiced the proper manner in which to handle a queen (using drones), demonstrated how to remove a sting for the minimum level of envenomation and demonstrated the use of smoke on one's skin as an additional means of personal protection.

 

After working the bees Wilguince showed off the rabbit hutches he constructed and manages with inputs from Makouti and in which he takes obvious pride.  In the afternoon back at the FtF office Chaly assisted in repairing my smoker which had lost one of the bolts which secures the bellows. 

 

At dinner we had an interesting discussion about African bees and public safety issues.  It has been my experience that African bees, in both the Americas and the continent from which they originate, are manageable and can offer significant advantage to small scale apiarists given the social realities in the developing world.  African bees are, however, likely to be considered a less attractive alternative to European bees, in the relatively more affluent and industrialized portions of the New World .  It is to be remembered that apiarists, particularly queen breeders, have a vested interest in promoting European bee stock in order to delay the ingress of African bees into new territories or to create a greater market for their European queen stock.  It should also be kept in mind that Africans have coexisted with African bees for thousands of years and have successfully used those bees as a resource for as long a period.  Likewise, although beekeeping has changed significantly during transitions from bee management based on European-derived bees to African-derived bee stocks, the social landscape in the regions where this transition has been nearly total for the most part continue to operate in as functional a manner as they did prior to the arrival of African bees.  It is unlikely that the collapse of American civilization during the early part of the 21^st century and its decline into anarchy and barbarism can be attributed to a change in apicultural genetics as African-derived strains of bees moved into the U.S.   More likely this is due to the domination of WASPS during the Bush administration rather than bees.

 

2009 June 17

 

Papy and Chaly and I went to Dubout to revise the hives of M. Louis Zephyr.  He has been keeping bees for about forty years and is a very accomplished beekeeper.  He has his own extractor (which was apparently imported—initially I'd assumed that he'd made it so I neglected to ask him its provenance, but upon review of the photos I noticed that it is stamped with the logo of a U.S. equipment company.  M. Zephyr maintains a rustic honey house near his apiary where he stores his equipment and in which he extracts and stores his honey.  He uses a watering can to apply kerosene to the dirt floor of the shed and around the building in order to discourage ants.  He showed us the set-up that he uses for filtering residual wax from cell cappings and burr comb.  The waxy remainders to which much honey stills adheres is placed in a tightly woven basket supported above a collection tub over which is draped a cotton cloth which is cinched off to prevent the entry of rodents and insects.  M. Louis's apiary was well situated and well maintained.  He has considerable skills as a carpenter and has constructed all of his own equipment.  The hives that he has built appeared to be of a standard size-- which permits the interchange of boxes and frames.  It was apparent that M. Louis had a good understanding of the bee space and its utilization in hive management, as combs were drawn out parallel to the long axis of the frames with only one comb per frame. 
When he has insufficient frames to fill a brood box he maintains the frames he does have such that the midline of the combs is maintained at the appropriate spacing (about 35 mm in the brood nest, slightly wider in the honey supers).  We sampled drone comb for varroa but did not detect any.  Louis indicated that he had treated his hives by dusting the bees with powdered sugar but was disappointed that he had lost several colonies which he attributed to Varroa.  However, when questioned he said that he had not seen significant numbers of Varroa prior to applying the sugar.  I suggested that he should not apply Varroa treatments until he had detected the mites using a sugar roll or drone brood check in each hive.  Papy indicated that the threshold used in Haiti to initiate treatment is 5 mites in a roll of 200 bees, about a quarter cup.  This threshold is lower than the fifteen mite threshold that I have seen in some recommendations—however as sugar treatments only cause the mites to drop rather than killing them the lower threshold is probably appropriate.  Papy and I explained to Louis and his cousin (a retired beekeeper) that the sugar dusting method of varroa control is best used in conjunction with a screened bottom board and oil-paper trap.  We also indicated that recent research has indicated that smoking hives with the fumes from burning grapefruit leaves can induce a drop of up to 95% of the parasite load on adult bees (however, like sugar treatments, it will not impact mites that are attacking the brood as these are physically protected from such treatments as they are enclosed inside cells.  Papy also reviewed for M. Louis the use of Amivar, the use of which is contraindicated during nectar flows such as that currently underway.  Amivar is usually applied in late April and sometimes again in late September although for the second knock-down date organic controls are sometimes.  With the use of a model and some videos, I explained the design of the Kenya Top Bar Hive.  I asked M. Louis if he might be willing to assist in the construction of one of these intermediate technology hives as an example for new or less skilled apiarists.  He indicated that he was too busy with current chores but that he might be able to help in the future.  He also indicated that he would be willing to serve as a resource to other Haitians in a capacity as mentor or trainer.  I believe that M. Louis would be an excellent resource as both a carpenter and a co-facilitator in training sessions.  In addition, I believe he would be a good person to contract to construct and manage a demonstration KTBH. 

 

Unfortunately, the vehicle which had brought us to Dubout had lost too much transmission fluid during the ride out and we had to leave the car there and return by public transportation.  (Staff later returned to refill the transmission and to take the car to the mechanic's).  The bus was actually a recommissioned school bus which was only somewhat crowded by the standards of the developing world (only about half the seats were three abreast).  A saleswoman was conducting a pitch for various articles (pharmaceutical ointments to chewing gum) much like a QVC (shopping channel) presentation for most of the forty-five minute ride. 

 

As I had been up since two in the morning (I couldn't sleep so I worked on a PowerPoint presentation on bee defensiveness—see "stinging incident" graphic in the rotofolio) I begged off from further work at the office in the afternoon and napped at the hotel for a couple of hours.  Afterwards, Virginia and the firefighter group (Nate, Rob and Gina) walked along the seawall and later the men folk went up the hill to eat at the Hotel Mont Jolie which had been the rendezvous site for the leaders of the coup in which Aristade was ousted from office several years ago. 

 

2009 June 18

 

I went for a run up the hill overlooking town a little after 5 this morning hoping to beat the heat—a success to some degree.  I've had to truncate my usual exercise routine due to the high temperatures but I'm hoping my body will adapt as the visit progresses.  Quite a few Haitians have also been out pursuing similar routines and I take some comfort that most do not seem any more acclimated than I am. 

 

This morning we could not get out into the field because the mayor had shut down transport throughout the city on the basis of a vision had by a friend of his who predicted that a disastrous hurricane would hit the town unless a religious procession was held.  In addition he suggested that the public write down their worries on a piece of paper to be burnt on public bonfires.  Apparently the strategy worked since by 6:00 in the evening the island had not experienced any devastating hurricanes.  I used the shell of safety to get my notes up to date and to organize my photos.  In the afternoon we shopped for wood for the construction of a model KTBH and visited the nascent training centre and rabbit hutch. 

 

The evening before we had stopped to talk with a fellow sitting in front of a local cantina.  He had saluted us (the firefighter group, Virginia and I) in English.  We had chatted about beekeeping and he had expressed enthusiasm for our project and indicated how important he thought bees were and added that birds were also very necessary for the environment.  Tonight he was sitting with another fellow and two women.  He called me over and said he wanted to introduce me to one of the girls.  Something about the way he swayed when he stood up to shake hands made me think he was a little stoned.  He said that his friend Mailed was very interested in learning about beekeeping and making candles and such and he asked if she might attend the wax-working session I had mentioned earlier.  I said I couldn't be sure but that I didn't think there would be a problem.  He told his companion that she should accompany me to arrange things.  She asked me what time she should come to be there and I said 8:00 in the morning.  She asked me if it would be just the one day or every day and she started kind of leaning against me as we were walking towards the hotel.  I was beginning to think that maybe I had conveyed the wrong impression when I had related that on Friday I was going to a candle-dipping session with "Virgine"-- which is the name the Haitians use for Virginia-- but in French it also means "a virgin".  I told the young woman that maybe I would see her in the morning said good night and ran ahead to catch up with the folks with whom I had been walking.  Gina laughed and said that she was going to tell my wife so wasn't just me that thought there was something going on.  I asked Gina to come and save me if the girl showed up in the morning by coming over to tell Matilde that she was welcome to come to the class and that there would be no money involved (i.e. there wouldn't be any charge for the class but also that she wasn't going to get paid as my companion either).  Luckily she didn't show up in the morning so I avoided causing any kind of an international incident.

 

2009 June 19

 

I attended Virginia 's candle-making seminar and worked on my trip report.  We needed to wait for Benito before buying the wood

 

Papy picked Virginia and I up at the hotel and took us to the office where Virginia was to give her second candle-making session.  I picked up a pointer or two (such as using a water plunge as part of the candle-dipping process and the use of talcum to prevent wax from adhering to molds).  I asked Virginia during a lull in the session if there might be time at the end of her session for me to show the women how to make cold cream and she assented so I went out to find supplies.  I wasn't able to find any cocoanut oil or borax as I had hoped so picked up some vegetable oil and petroleum jelly and an egg.  I demonstrated making moisturizing skin cream using 1 part wax, 2 parts water and 3 parts petroleum jelly (in this case the parts being the caps of 5-gallon water bottles-- a great number of which were readily at hand as the office shares space with a purveyor of treated water).  We mixed the melted wax with the petroleum jelly until the latter was completely dissolved.  Then we added hot water of approximately the same temperature and stirred vigorously.  Then we added the yolk of the egg, which acts as an emulsifier, and some cologne which Asnel happened to have.  The session seemed to be well received.

 

After a delicious (and filling) lunch for which FtF had arranged for the wax-working participants, Benito called and indicated that he had been delayed and that we should go ahead and buy the wood for making a KTBH.  We were able to get the wood and bamboo for a reasonable price after we had explained that we were part of a development project.  Because we were somewhat pressed for time now I decided that we should have the top bars cut with a power saw.  I was so focused on the task at hand that I neglected to work out the price of the job prior to getting the order under way.  When I asked the price I was shocked when the price was quoted as 3,000 gourds-- the equivalent of $75 US! I told Papy that as a munificent gesture of training the trainer I was going to let him try to get the fellow down to a more reasonable price.  Papy got the proprietor to reduce the price to 2,800 gourds-- which I thought was still way too high so I tried to appeal to the fellow's better nature by telling him that God would bless him if he would call it even at $40 U.S., but that if he stuck with the figure he'd quoted I told him that God would probably only tell him "good afternoon".  He was unconvinced so we calculated out what 2,800 gourds worked out to in U.S. dollars so I could pay him.  The price came out to $66.6 U.S.   ”Ah-ha!" I said, "you see?!  The 'number of the Beast'"!  The fellow, apparently but slightly convinced that the Hand of God was at work, only lowered the price to an even $60.00.  Divine intervention just isn't what it used to be.

 

I had a late snack with "white Nate" (Nate Nickerson of Konbit Sante) who had invited the firefighter group to Haiti and a notable, Dr. Andre Vulcain, of the University of Florida Miami who acts as a medical technical consultant.  We had a conversation about the myriad difficulties faced by Haitians in trying to improve their lot.

 

2009 June 20

 

Benito and I went out to Jaquesyl and met with Wilguince, Guy, Elias, James, Jean-Baptiste and a number of other community members who became interested in our activities.  I presented some videos of the Kenya top-bar hive, distributed hand-outs of its dimensions and explained its basic design including the bee space, handling of comb, proper smoking technique, the use of smaller hive-boxes as swarm traps, supering KTBH's with movable comb hives, hanging techniques, pest control and tips for transferring rustic hives and attracting swarms.  The group participated in building the hive from the pre-cut lumber and in applying wax to the top-bars.  Benito even got on the air with a local radio station and explained what we were doing.  After lunch we went out to the apiary and transferred bees from a fixed comb hive into the KTBH with apparent success.  The group seemed very satisfied with their work and interested in the KTBH as they perceived that it is considerably easier and cheaper to build than a movable frame hive. 

 

2009 June 21

 

Virginia , Chaly, Papy and I went to the Citadelle and the Palais Sans Soucie today.  The Citadelle is a stronghold built at the top of one of the tallest of the foothills that surround Cap Haitien .  It was constructed in the early 1800's by Roi Nicole Christophe—presumably as a refuge for the royal family and his military forces in the case of a prolonged French assault on the port as its location offered no military benefit for the protection of the surrounding plain or the port several kilometers away.  The Palace was built in 1806 along French architectural lines but was destroyed by an earthquake in 1842.  After checking in at the tourist office ($20 each!) near the Palais (which has served as the royal palace) we drove up the cobbled road.  After several kilometers of farms and woodlands we reached a parking area where entrepreneurs were waiting with horses to rent.  I had decided to run up the remainder of the way to the top so had arranged to pay for Papy's mount so he could accompany her.  Understandably the liverymen insisted that I wouldn't be able to make it to the top or that I would be too tired to come down so I should hire a horse for the decent—I assured them that I lived in a hilly area back home and that this was the kind of thing I did all the time.  Nonetheless one of the fellows paced me halfway up the hill (I steadfastly refused to engage in further negotiations) until he finally realized I wasn't about to drop dead and he turned around.  I did, nonetheless, once I was no longer being dogged by someone hoping for me to collapse, take advantage of the opportunity to stop a couple of times up the hill to catch my breath.  The Citadelle is a very impressive structure and a testament to the former wealth of the country and the tumultuous conflicts over their control.  We spent about an hour exploring the abandoned fortress and then I jogged down to the parking area.  I'd expected that the car would be waiting in the parking lot but Chaly had apparently gone to run errands back in Cap Haitien and upon his return the car had overheated.  (Eventually Benito came in another vehicle and we towed the damaged car back into town.)  So I decided to continue on the three kilometers or so down to the Palais.  I had been pretty much tapped out by the cost of entry (I had to promise Virginia that I would pay her back for Papy's ride since I didn't have the $10 to cover it myself) and when I arrived at the bottom I realized that I hadn't retrieved my water bottle after passing it around at the top.  I didn't have enough money to buy a soft drink or bottled water so I asked around for cocoanuts and was able to buy three for about half a dollar; the surplus of supplies now allowed me to share one with a fellow, Rafael, with whom I had been chatting and who had helped me make myself understood because the village folk seemed unable to understand my halting French.  After about an hour Papy, Virginia and the guide, Jean, made it to the palace and we took refuge from the downpour that started soon after their arrival at the rectory of the local priest. 

 

2009 June 22

 

Noe from Plaisance, Elias, Guy, Jean Baptiste and James from Jaquesyl, Nicodemus from Caracol attended Virginia's stamped wax session;  I assisted with filling in the lulls with a video on disease recognition and problem solving when the wax press didn't work (putting it out into the sun until it was hot lead to the desired result of imprinting the sheets of beeswax that the participants had made—the first sheet wound up getting wax all over the gridiron because the sheet was not fully covered with plastic as it should have been but this was easily cleaned off with boiling water).  I also demonstrated how thin strips of cardboard could be coated with beeswax and used as starter strips in movable frame and movable comb hives.  I provided hand-outs from Apiculture a Petite Echelle that covered the production of wax sheets, the construction of a solar wax melter, disease symptoms and the fabrication of an appropriate tech stamped wax maker (made from plaster of Paris). 

 

In the evening I was kidnapped by voodoo priests and turned into a zombie.  Luckily, because of all the exercise I get, the zombiferin wore off, I escaped and I was fine—except that I had pieces of brain stuck in my teeth (tastes like chicken but with the consistency of really dense cottage cheese).  OK, I made that up because not too much else happened today. 

 

2009 June 23

 

Chaly, Papy and I traveled to Jacquesyl where we met with Wilguince, Elias, Guy, James and Henri.  We checked on the KTBH into which we had transferred comb from a fixed comb hive.  There was no sign of eggs or the queen and I thought we might have killed her during the transfer.  I demonstrated how a comb with young larvae can be transferred into a queenless hive and the cells below those containing eggs can be opened up to encourage the workers to draw out queen cells from them.  All those in attendance practiced handling comb and we closed up the hive.  We were about to leave when Chaly noticed a ball of bees on a nearby tree which contained a queen (more than likely the one from the rustic hive which had flown away or been dropped during our somewhat frantic ministrations during the transfer a few days before).  I told the group that after a queen has been separated from the colony for a few days they may not recognize her scent and may attack her-- so it is better to protect her from the workers while they become reacquainted with her odor.  We quickly made a cage out of screen material from one of Wilguince's veils and suspended the cage in the center of the nest.  I explained that fruit candy can be used to make a stopper for such a cage; the bees will eat the candy and release the queen after they have been rehabituated to her.  Since we didn't have any candy we used a small piece of comb to seal one end of the hive (the other having been tied off with fishing line). We also made a spacing device for movable comb hives using nails driven into a top bar at intervals of 34 mm.

 

I asked Wilguince if we could get a couple of top bars.  When we got to his house he invited us to eat.  His wife is an excellent cook and the way she makes fish and fried plantain is very similar to the way my own wife makes it and I told him as much.  However, I asked his forbearance in that I could only eat a few small pieces since I had just eaten a few hours before.  And I forgot the top bars.

 

We finished up early and I worked on the computer and then went out to buy some souvenirs (from the French word "to remember"—so little things one buys on trips are "to remember" the voyage). 

 

Everybody else that I have met at the hotel since I got here has left.  All the U.N. police, a couple of whom with whom I'd struck up a friendship, are gone after the election on Sunday, the firefighters left on Friday and the other FtF volunteer, Virginia, left yesterday.  At the moment there aren't too many other guests at all.  I watched a movie while I ate dinner, organized the souvenirs and the stuff I'm going to leave behind and went to bed pretty early (about 8:30). 

 

2009 June 24

 

This morning I felt kind of crappy—I have a bit of diarrhea that I think might be from giardia since I had a little bit of sulphur burps.  My run was a little slow this morning because I was feeling a bit weak but I felt a lot better afterwards. 

 

Benito and I met at the hotel and discussed the applicability of different hives as well as the applicability of the contributions of different Farmer to Farmer volunteers.  Benito needed to arrange for the repair of the vehicle that had broken down on Sunday and this called to mind my comparison of the (Langstroth) movable frame hive to an expensive car and the (KTBH) movable comb hive to a motorcycle.  Everybody would love to be given a Mercedes but many people would choose to buy a motorcycle if they were going to spend their own money.  And for those that do have the Mercedes they may find that they are spending more money and effort on the vehicle than is worth the value they get out of it.  In the same manner as operating and maintaining an expensive car in Haiti, there are many complications to the use of movable comb hive that make its operation much less than optimal for apiarists with less skills or less money than the typical North American beekeeper. 

 

In the days of feudal India , the white elephant was treated with near god-like reverence.  One encharged with the care of such a creature was obliged to provide for its care and feeding even at the expense of his own well-being.  The raj would sometimes make a gift of such an animal to an up-and-coming rival to force him to divert resources which might otherwise go to bolstering his economic or military position and hence threaten the raj.  High tech beekeeping equipment can, similarly, sometimes be detrimental to the goals of maximizing the income of small scale apiarists.  It is imperative to remember that unless apiarists properly use a honey extractor to remove honey and then replace frames back in the hive in their proper spacing, movable frame hives provide no advantage to the apiarist compared to movable comb hives.  North American beekeepers unfamiliar with the realities of life in the developing world can sometimes overlook this important point and make recommendations for practices with which they are familiar but which don't translate well into the context of developing world.  For instance, a recommendation that "improved" queens should be provided to apiarists would be of little practicality in areas where they cannot be disturbed to the door of the apiarist by a courier company as is the case in most of North America . Similarly, the use of movable frame hives may be contraindicated with apiarists who do not have access to a truck for hauling supers of frames to and from their extractor (assuming they have one), who do not have access to fine wood for making quality frames or who do not understand the concept of the bee space and thus do not use the movable frame hive correctly.

 

I organized the photos I have taken thus far and put together a couple of versions of a pamphlet in French (extracting the bulk of the text from Apiculture a Petite Echelle and using Google language tools http://www.google.ca/language_tools?hl=en for assistance in translating hive plans)

 

2009 June 25

 

I continued to work on the pamphlet for the transfer and cleaned up my daily log a bit.

 

Papy, Benito and I planned out the remainder of my trip: Friday we'll leave Cap Haitien on the 10:35 flight (go to airport about 9:00).  We'll arrive about 11:00 in Port-au-Prince and leave for Aquin.  We should arrive in Aquin around 15:00 and have time to meet with apiarists there one of whom, Antoinier, is a carpenter (ebenis).  We'll get him to start making the Kenya top bar hive.  We'll be in a hotel in Aquin Friday night (contact phone numbers there are 3757 2408 and 3824 736).  Saturday, we finish the hive and transfer a colony into it.  Sunday we go to Port-a-Piment if we can find someone with whom to make contact.  Monday, we go to Camp Perrin to meet with apiarists there and then return to Port-au-Prince .  I fly out on Tuesday. 

 

2009 June 26

 

Well I've had a really interesting cultural experience today. I had to go to the bank & they wouldn't take traveler's checks. I had I get a cash advance on my credit card  instead.  I've never heard of a bank not taking traveler's checks before.  It took about a half hour to complete the transaction & I was given  special ''white guy" service, I think, as I was out of the bank long before some other folks who were in the non-business queue. 

 

When we got to Port-au-Prince  Ronald met us at the airport  but he didn't have a car to go Aquin. He was trying to get a battery for one car but that didn't seem to work out so he started looking for a different vehicle altogether.  First we went to a rent-a-car place but they wanted $80 a day & $2,000 up front  as collateral.  We passed.  After waiting around in the airport parking lot for about an hour and a half we talked to Benito and he told Ronald that the price quoted was not unreasonable so we got a car and got underway.  The three hour trip to Aquin was uneventful.  I spent most of the time editing photos.  We arrived in Aquin just after dark and dined with Joseph and Bado representatives of the local beekeeping association.  I got the impression that Bado has some kind of business relationship with the "Love Bar" where we ate.  From the relatively provocative dress (hot pants and very short miniskirts) and number of waitresses (three women for a four table cantina) I got the distinct impression that the place  operated as a brothel as well  (which Papy later confirmed  was, in fact, the case.  The food was good and quite reasonably priced at any rate—I didn't inquire about additional services ;-)

 

2009 June 27

 

On Saturday, after my run I chatted with a fellow, Farrell, who works with a missionary aid orphanage, Project 127.  I gave him a DVD with information on beekeeping and encouraged him to talk to Bado or Joseph Antoinier if he was interested in starting any kind of beekeeping enterprise/training for the orphanage (they were going out that day to work on a garden at the orphanage and I suggested that this would be an ideal location for a demonstration apiary).  When I spoke with some of Farrell's colleagues later in the day they mentioned that Farrell had spoken to them about the FtF work—which indicated to me that Farrell, at least, had a real interest.  FtF should contact Farell (Farrell  Burton, farrell.burton@yellowcorp.com, http://www.project127-haiti.com/ourstaff.htm) or other staff at Project 127 to discuss further exploration/collaboration—specifically whether they might be willing to house apiarists and/or sponsor  representatives from their own client group as well as those from the FtF client group during a five-day short-course. 

 

Ronald, Papy Bado and I spent most of the morning in a carpentry workshop in Aquin supervising the cutting of the wood and top bars for a couple of KTBHs and swarm traps.  It is worth noting that even though the carpenters used the same top bar to mark the width the dimensions tended to expand and we wound up shaving down the majority of the top-bars to 3.4 cm.  In the afternoon we took the wood to the apiarists' carpentry workshop where I had expected that there would be a number of apiarists collected to participate in the session but Bado indicated that he had not had time to notify apiculturalists in the area.  I walked Joseph through the process of putting one of the hives together and put wax guides on all the bars.  After lunch we transferred one of Bado's fixed comb hives into the KTBH.  The apiary was pretty filthy since the bee-yard doubled as a pig-pen, so I stressed to Bado the importance of hygiene in harvesting operations—which only occurred to me after I had eaten some of the honeycomb that had been lying on the nylon bag we had laid down as a working surface—which I remembered, too late, that we had just picked up where it had lain discarded in the yard. Bado had declined on my suggestion that he smoke his skin and hair and did not wear or carry a veil while we worked on the transfer.  I also did not wear my veil but had it handy in case of emergency.  Bado got stung on the ear while we were working and left the apiary for a considerable time while Joseph, Papy and I continued working.  We completed the hive transfer without any major incidents (only five stings amongst the four of us—Bado taking the brunt of the injuries) for what was a fairly major operation. 

 

After cleaning up at the hotel we went back out to the "bar and girls".  As it was almost nine the dinner crowd (if there had been one) had gone and the predominantly male clientele were deep in their cups.  It was quite apparent that a trio of young bucks was staring at me and making comments to one another but I steadfastly refused to make eye contact and engage in any kind of primate dominance games.  They sent one of the girls over to find out my name and where I was from-- I didn't correct her when she thought I said "Henri" and I opted to fall back on my Canadian citizenship in case there were any anti-American sentiments at play.  We escaped the place without incident but when we arrived back at the hotel Bado was waiting for us and seemed a bit upset that we hadn't  waited for him.  I thought this would be the last time that we'd see Bado until we returned to Aquin (I later found out that he was coming with us to Port-a-Piment and destinations beyond).  I therefore asked Bado if he could give me the change ($7) that he owed me from lunch.  He seemed to take a bit of umbrage & said he'd give me the money if I took him to dinner. I thought he was joking but I saw from Papy's expression that this was likely not the case.  I asked if he was serious & Papy said he was.  I asked  him to sign  a  receipt & told him he could keep the money. I was nonetheless a little taken aback when  Papy told me that Bado was going to be accompanying us on the rest of the trip (I was wondering whether he was just coming along for the free food until Papy explained that he was the FtF community contact  for  the area).  D'uh.

 

2009 June 28

 

The word I'd gotten from Benito and Ronald was that we'd be leaving Aquin at 6:00-- so I didn't go for my normal morning run and hence hadn't had my daily dose of endorphins-- which tends to make me a bit cranky under the best of circumstances, and tropical heat is not the best circumstance for me.  So I was a bit restless and anxious to hit the road since it had been my understanding that Jean-Robert was expecting us at 9:00 and although we were out of our rooms by 6:00 it took about half an hour to check out and then Ronald and Papy wandered over to the restaurant area and started eating breakfast.  By about 8:00, I was getting rather agitated and mentioned to Papy that we would already be two hours late for our appointment in Port-a-Piment and he told me that he had already called Jean-Robert to let him know we'd be leaving at about 9:00—so my fretting had been for naught—even if fretting served any good end in the first place.

 

When we got to Port-a-Piment we met with Jean-Robert and Joseph Seramieu, both agronomists working in the area, the latter with some beekeeping experience.  We discussed our hopes that FtF, Soul of Haiti and other interested parties in the area could work together in a coordinated manner to promote beekeeping in the area.  In previous discussions with Benito he had basically said that my proposal for putting on a five-day participants-live-at-the-training-centre-for-the-duration seminar was basically a non-starter.  I encouraged him to look for some kind of USAID grant for such but I mentioned to Jean-Robert and Joseph my idea that Soul of Haiti might be willing to put up the dough-- at least for training in the Port-a-Piment area.  FtF has already expressed interest in bringing me back and I'm sure I could work it out that I could do the training for Soul if they put up the dough for room and board and venue for the training.  I indicated that Soul of Haiti wouldn't have to pay for my airfare or time if they allow some Makouti members to attend.  I think this is a really good opportunity for NGO's (who, it's been my experience, rarely collaborate) to work together... FtF should contact Brian (Brian Oakes, 3770 9499, anbamango@gmail.com) and Jean-Robert (Jean-Robert Isidor 3782 3433) and Murphy Conor (of Soul Haiti) to discuss further exploration/collaboration—specifically whether they might be willing to house apiarists and/or sponsor  representatives from their own client group as well as those from the FtF client group during a five-day short-course. 

 

Jean-Robert introduced us to a apiarist, Milieu, who had about ten hives in a fairly confined apiary behind his house.  All were log hives which Milieu said were "new"—which I took to mean that they had been established from swarms this season.  The colonies were all fairly strong and seemed healthy—a good indication that local bee resources are plentiful in the area.  Milieu was somewhat reluctant to agree to allow us to transfer one of his fixed comb hives into a KTBH but after a little chatting Bado and Jean-Robert were able to convince him that the idea was worthwhile.  Bado did a fine job putting the KTBH together but lost points when he put on my bee jacket without asking me beforehand—I'd already promised one of my jackets to Jean-Robert and Bado had apparently not brought his protective equipment along on the journey. I lent Bado a pair of coveralls instead-- but we didn't have another veil so he did not join us in the transfer operation as he was reluctant to get stung again.   He did, however, come over to take and eat some of the honeycomb out of the hive as we were working.  Jean-Robert and Papy did a fine job of hammocking the combs to the top-bars and the colony remained manageable throughout the operation.  When we dropped Jean-Robert off in town we ran into the president of the local agricultural association and we gave him a quick run-down of our favorable assessment for apiculture in the area and of our hopes for coordinating related apiculture training and development. 

 

From Port-a-Piment we drove to Les Cayes where we stayed in the guesthouse of Pwoje Espwa (Project Hope)—a Catholic mission-orphanage that houses about 600 homeless children and educates about the same number from town.  Upon arrival I was ready for some solitary time, so after exchanging some short pleasantries with Peter and Linda who manage the daily operations I went for a run while Papy, Bado and Ronald went into town to get something to eat.  (Meals are usually provided by the guesthouse but since they had not been expecting us there was not much food on hand in the kitchens.)

 

After I cleared my head and been restored a modicum of civility by a long run conversations with Peter, Linda and, later, Father Mark, included: beekeeping (of course), management of the facility, the history of Haiti, the psychology of dependency that "hand-out" programs can instill, Ditropha cultivation, waste into resource streams (composting toilets, methane generation, etc.) bamboo construction methods.  I left a complete library, in digital format, of classic literature and technical information including the same beekeeping texts and documentaries as I had left with the Cap Haitien FtF crew.  This is another group with which FtF could achieve considerable success, I believe, in a coordinated approach to development.  FtF should contact Father Mark (Father Marc Boisvert, 1-888-684-3543, www.freethekids.org) and/or Peter and Linda Faford (Peter and Linda Faford, faford2@yahoo.com) to discuss further exploration/collaboration—specifically whether they might be willing to house apiarists and/or sponsor  representatives from their own client group as well as those from the FtF client group during a five-day short-course. 

 

There was another guest on hand, Wenka, who, I found in the course of things, had recently inherited a mango plantation because her husband had been murdered.  Her spouse, it seems, was of Haitian-Canadian decent and had spent much of his time in Canada and, therefore, may have had expectations of social norms that were at odds with the reality of Haiti .  At any rate, he had been having a dispute with a neighbor (over what I was not told) that resulted in the arrest of the latter and in death threats to the former.  The arrest led to the jailing of the neighbor and the threats terminated in Wenka's husband being shot in the head to die in her arms.  In the aftermath of this trauma Wenka is trying to decide whether she will attempt to run the mango plantation or not and she was interested in beekeeping as a potential part of that operation.  I invited her to join us on our trip the following day.

 

2009 June 29

 

Ronald, Papy, Bado, Wenka and I drove to Camp Perrin where we met with members of CORE and later ORU (as the discussions were principally concerned with administrative affairs rather than technical in nature I remained in the background).  In hindsight however, I realize I should have asked how they each might have contributed to the work of ensuring apiarists get ongoing technical training.  FtF should contact CORE and ORU to discuss further exploration/collaboration—specifically whether they might be willing to house apiarists and/or sponsor  representatives from their own client group as well as those from the FtF client group during a five-day short-course. 

 

As usual, the highlight of the day for me was the actual bee work.  After the meeting with CORE and before that with ORU we met with a woman apiarist in Camp Perrin , Waline.  I thought it was an excellent stroke of luck for the two women, Wenka and Waline, to connect because I don't think there are many female apiarists in Haiti .  If they can work together Wenka will be more likely to read and adhere to the technical material which I provided to her and convey that to Waline while Waline will be able to support Wenka through the hands-on practices and assist her in getting over her reluctance to get stung.  If Waline and Wenka are able to team up on a regular basis I think they each have the potential to become much better apiarists than either would individually.  Bado, apparently in his desire to display his enthusiasm for beekeeping, came over after I had begun to open a hive and grabbed the smoker prior to brusquely trying to remove a comb from the hive.  The bees took umbrage with the rough treatment and began stinging Bado and he ran off with the smoker—a cardinal "no-no" in my book.  I recovered the smoker and proceeded without further mishap.  Waline's hives, like most of the others   I saw was an excellent example of what not to do with frame hives.  The number of frames in the hives was inadequate and they were haphazardly arranged.  If the two-body hives were ever fully outfitted with frames about half were missing.  I suspect that what happened was, and perhaps this is true of other apiarists as well, that Waline is treating (I am loathe to say managing) the hive as if it were a log I've that she was robbing.  Most likely she took all the honey comb during the harvest, cut the comb out and then burned the frames as kindling (at least she did not return them to the hives).  The boxes had much fixed comb in it and the most reasonable course of action seemed to be to rearrange the frames into the top box so that they would at least be correctly spaced and to put the combs we had cut from the lid into the bottom box in more-or-less the proper distance from one another.  We also conducted a sugar roll on the bees but were unable to find any mites using this technique.  (FtF may have gotten the wrong idea about how to perform a sugar roll for monitoring for varroa mites as they use about ¼ cup of powdered sugar—they may have gotten this mixed up with the measure of bees that is recommended for such a test.  It is easier to spot mites with a smaller amount of sugar, about a tablespoon being sufficient to coat ¼ cup of bees.  To conduct a sugar roll to monitor mite infestation, place a tablespoon of icing sugar and a ¼ cup of bees [150-300 young bees from a frame in the centre of a colony's brood nest] into a wide mouth 1 litre jar.  [Lightly stroking the backs of the bees with the forward lip of the jar will cause the bees to tumble backwards into the jar.] Roll and cover the bees with the sugar [if their frantic wingbeats doesn't do the job for you]. Generally if there are 15 or more mites per 100 bees, mite control should be employed, but this threshold has not been experimentally verified— Papy said that in Haiti they use a threshold of 5 mites to initiate treatment—usually of a dusting of the rest of the nest with powdered sugar).  We did, nonetheless, find a few mites when we tore open some of the brood comb.  We had enough time to more-or-less get back into order only one of Waline's hives—by rearranging frames so there was a full complement of them in the upper box—and even that may have been for naught because there was some indication that the colony was queenless-- it will be interesting to see whether Waline will follow through on fixing the other two hives. 

 

We dropped Wenka off back at the Espwa guesthouse and then drove on to Aquin where we checked on the transferred KTBH (everything looked fine-- but, as I had predicted the comb which had not been tied up with a cloth hammock had fallen into the bottom of the hive.  We reattached it using a hammock this time. 

 

Papy suggested that I leave $5 with Bado—but I didn't have any cash left other than what I had held back to pay our bill at the Love Bar (and I even had to borrow a couple of bucks from Papy to pay that) and, frankly, I was still a little miffed about Bado's  attitude about the dinner incident and would have felt a little put upon even if I'd had the money—although I would have acquiesced to Papy's suggestion.  On the other hand I'm pretty sure that Papy had a stash of cash (since I later had to borrow some money from him) and he apparently didn't think that Bado's participation was meritorious enough to put up his own money. 

 

It was a long bumpy ride back to Port-au-Prince and we didn't get to the hotel until about 9:30.  I had hoped to cash a traveler's check at the hotel so I could pay Ronald but they wouldn't do so.  I told Ronald that I'd go to the bank tomorrow and cash a check or, failing that, get a cash advance as we had done before embarking on the Port-au-Piment road trip.  He said that he needed an advance to placate his wife but I didn't have any cash to give him.  I didn't see what difference another twelve hours would make and I began to suspect that maybe Ronald wasn't planning on coming back in the morning so maybe it was a good thing that I didn't have any cash.  (Benito later told me when I recounted the incident that Haitians generally don't like to have to wait to get paid.)  At any rate, Papy went off to speak to Ronald for some time and maybe he leant him some money from his stash. 

 

2009 June 29

 

Ronald arrived a little before the 8:00 hour we had appointed and we drove to the bank (which didn't open until 9:00 contrary to our expectations).  It only took about 40 minutes to conduct the transaction and a similar amount of time to go to and pay off the car rental.  They gave me a copy of the receipt for the rental but they had also, for some undisclosed reason, made two impressions of my credit card before we had left on the road trip and the receipt only accounted for one of the five-part impression forms.  I asked for the other forms which they produced and which were blank; Papy also inspected them and I asked "They're all blank?" and he said "Yes" and I said "So I can tear them up."  And he said "Yes".  Then I asked the attendant for the first receipt he had produced which he had taken with him when he went to look for the other impression.  "It was attached to the other pack I just gave you that you just tore up."  Expletive deleted.  I retrieved most of the pieces of the goldenrod and got a photocopy of the merchant's copy of the five-part.  I hope that doesn't cause a problem for getting reimbursed…

 

I got to the airport about 11:00 for my 12:15 departure and checked in fairly quickly but the line for security moved very slowly and I didn't make it into the boarding area until the final boarding call—although we didn't wind up leaving until about 1:30.  Due to delays for my other flights I didn't have trouble making the connections on my other flights (although I didn't know that until I had raced across the airports for my connections).  Ultimately I didn't get to my hotel in Vancouver until 3:00 a.m. rather than the scheduled midnight arrival (because of a delayed flight and the fact that one of my bags didn't show up and I had to make a claim for it—it showed up a couple of days later).