Reconstruction from Haiti Onward on Vimeo.

Our Program Manager, visiting Port-au-Prince, was able to spend time over the weekend exploring one of tent camps and getting some details on how school is being held. Here are observations, while wandering through a camp by the airport:

As we continue our initial phases of our reconstruction efforts in Haiti, it's encouraging to see some press covering life among Haitians on the ground resuming a sense of familiarity. Meanwhile, activity continues as well in the political sphere. Listed below are selections of the latest reports from Haiti, or regarding Haiti's refoundation.* (Compiled with help from our friend in Seattle Mr. Constantini.)

Adam Davidson. “The Economy of a Tent City” (online video). Port-au-Prince: Frontline/NPR Planet Money, March 2010. (an amazing window into day-to-day life in PAP displacement camps) http://to.pbs.org/d7rwfw

Frances Robles. “Bill Clinton, George W. Bush visit Haiti, vow to help”. Miami Herald, March 22, 2010. (reports that President Préval took a critical step toward boosting resettlement efforts in Haiti by signing an executive order declaring the right to seize land through eminent domain) http://bit.ly/ac81Jy

Our Regional program manager in Haiti, Eric Cesal, is doing his third 'tour of duty' with Architecture for Humanity. Having worked across the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina he understands the role we have to respond to immediate needs while focusing the long term rebuilding. Eric is our 'Phd McGuyver' - smart as a tack with a strong moral sense of urgency about him. He is a few weeks in and a few years from leaving. I thought I'd share his first letter with you to get a sense of life on the ground.

"Day to day in Port Au Prince is the knowledge that everything wants to be done today. Every piece of rubble could be picked up, and every tarp could be righted. It is also the knowledge that nothing (or at least very little) is going to happen today. You will look for small victories and some days you don’t even find that.

ISPAN has been working to save historic structures in and around Port-au-Prince. They are urgently working to save their culture, one brick at a time but concerned that they are losing for lack of support:

From one of their directors: "One more historical architectural treasure ISPAN could not save because of lack of means to intervene. It was bulldozed yesterday. We could have saved it. built in 1876. This is the fifth historical structure in Port-au-Prince which we lost simply for lack of funds. (and what funds...)

When we plead for the structures NOT to be destroyed and can do nothing to preserve them, this is what happens. This is how we lose our memory, this is, one church, one fort, one house at a time , how we loose our very identity..."

Monique Rocourt, ISPAN

What can you say in 140 characters?

Paul Scheer and Rob Huebel welcomed 140 Twitter-ers from the world of comedy, music, sports, and entertainment to the Upright Citizens Brigade stage to each perform a signature tweets in front of a live audience.

140 performers, one night only, one cause - build schools in Haiti

Now you can pre-order the DVD or watch the video instantly on Amazon.com or download the video on iTunes.

Yves, one of our architects on our Haiti team recently paid a visit to Cité Soleil–an extremely impoverished neighborhood of Port-au-Prince–to evaluate the conditions of schools affected by the quake. Of the three schools inspected, two have suffered some damage but can be restored, while a third was found to be extremely hazardous and must be demolished.

Let us remember that more than 4000 classrooms have been destroyed by this tragic earthquake. To allow the future leaders of Haiti the best opportunity to perform it is vital to build educational facilities safe, sustainable and efficient structures.