clusterf#@k (Part I)

Clusterf#@k -- "A Chaotic Mess"

Why am I starting this blog with such a vulgar word? Well, because I want to provide a few snipets about my trip to Haiti and knew using such a word would get your attention.

Education

I juxtapose these two photos because they were taken on the same day. Thursday was exam day in Haiti. So, the photo I'm taking from the truck is school students coming back school. The other young boy, sleeping on the coconuts, obviously is working in lieu of school. I can hope that maybe, just maybe, he's on a different "track" than the other children. But the reality is that illiteracy in Haiti is nearly 60%. And part of that reason is because parents are unable to afford for their children to go to school. Instead, the kids need to work to earn their keep in the house.

A tennis playing man from Digicel

I don't want to call out the person's name on the Internet for the next story. I met a gentlemen who plays tennis with Saburah. He works for Digicel in Haiti, in their IT department. While waiting for Saburah to get ready we swapped stories of what brought us to Haiti and I explained I was helping Leah with a Social Performance Measurement software implementation. He then started to tell me about a Minitab training he had recently attended and what a wonderful tool he found it to be. He then asked me a question to which I responded, "Can you say that again in English?" Sure enough -- he had asked me if I were familiar with any hacks so he could get the software for free. Like with any question posed, my mind started trying to find an answer -- so, I immeadiately had to put up a red STOP SIGN in my mind. I smiled and said, "No. I don't program anymore, so I am no longer familiar with how to access cracked versions of applications." I share this story because of how "normal"/non-chalant he was about making this sort of request. There was no feeling of illegitimacy, nor feelings of theft. But, it's through problems like this that make innovation a problem in Haiti and other poorer countries. Who the heck wants to be innovative when they know that people will be hacking it. Granted, hacking happens ALL OF THE TIME in the US. The difference is that the US has the infrastructure to bring lawsuits against people for copyright infringement. Just ask my personal trainer about the music labels suing her for napster downloads....

This post will be continued at a later date in a part II.