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The Hexayurt project is an attempt to create an extremely efficient, easy-to-construct, versatile and sustainable dwelling that can be affordable for people who live on around $1/day... in addition to the obvious structure, the project deals with heating, water purification, and sewage treatment. This is combined with an "open source," no-intellectual-property, globally collaborative approach development. The results are pretty interesting.

Here's a fascinating interview with the project founder, wherein he explains the difficulties in getting institutions to support something so obviously compelling. Here's his basic ethos:

:My goal is pretty simple: by the time I die, everybody in the world has a place to sleep and a bowl of rice a day. No starvation, no poverty of the kind that forces men and women to live like beasts of the field. We can do it: we are well past the point that Buckminster Fuller said our technology had to pass before it was possible.

Most people envisage making the poor rich: this is a social and economic approach. The rich fight it like hell all over the world.

So instead, I decided to focus on cutting the price of essential goods and services to the point where the poor can afford them. Nobody seems to be against that, and if we all agree, then the work will go so much faster than if I had to waste effort arguing with people who don’t think what I’m doing is a good idea.

By:
Wadner Pierre

On Friday, December 28th, 2007, several hundred supporters of Fanmi Lavalas, the party of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, marched through several streets of Port-au-Prince protesting the rising the cost of living in Haiti. Slogans on placards reflected the denunciations of demonstrators of the Minister of Trade, Ms. Maggy Durce of the Democratic Alliance Party of Mr. Evans Paul, for having done nothing to improve the living conditions of the population. Some demanded the departure of the Minister and others a profound change in the government of Jacques Edouard Alexis.

As usual they did not hide their commitment to former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, demanding his physical return to the country, which many insisted could help the country, especially the poorest regions.

"Titid we love you and we hope you will return very soon," said Deshommes Presengloire, member of Base cell of Fanmi Lavalas. "This is the year of mobilizations for the return of our historic leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and this is one of the main demonstrations."

The march against the high cost of living would end in front of the Ministry of Commerce. Organizers insisted that the Minister takes her responsibilities seriously or withdraws from this post.

"We are here to ask for Madam Maggy Durcé to take control of her responsibilities, because women can no longer continue to be cope with the rising prices of basic necessities," added Mrs. Kermeline. "As a woman, she knows our pain very well."

This march was well secured by several units of the Haitian National Police (HNP), police of the United Nations mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) and a jeep contingent of Brazilian MINUSTAH soldiers.

By:
Wadner Pierre

Christmas is the celebration of love, sharing, solidarity and reconciliation, which is often conducted in the popular neighborhoods.

With this sentence we wonder too how can one celebrate Christmas in a country like Haiti, the poorest country in the American continent, which is going through a horrible and inhuman situation, despite the efforts of its people? A government able to fulfill the needs of its citizens, to relieve the misery of its people, renders street-level demands of respect for the principles voted for during elections unnecessary.

Today, members of Haiti's diaspora, despite their best efforts, are unable to meet the needs of their relatives in Haiti. Why not? The current blockade of the ports deprives much of the Haitian population, which depends directly upon the Haitian Diaspora for its livelihood. The Eleventh Department has recently made a gesture about removing the blockade, but we still hear sighs, grinding of teeth, continually climbing commodity prices. Is this is a conspiracy against the people? Where are the forces of nation, the Church, especially the Catholic church, which is the official religion of this country, the economic sector, the Haitian bourgeoisie?

Children from neighborhoods, people who are accustomed to receiving toys from the Haitian presidency during the years of the government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, complain today because of the backwardness of the Ministry of Social Affairs in this case. But this year, it seems, is the worst since 2004, despite statements by authorities. We see nothing new.

"On the wings of time the sadness flies and the time brings pleasure."

Lakota Freedom: "We are the freedom loving Lakota from the Sioux Indian reservations of Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana who have suffered from cultural and physical genocide in the colonial apartheid system we have been forced to live under. We are in Washington DC to withdraw from the constitutionally mandated treaties to become a free and independent country. We are alerting the Family of Nations we have now reassumed our freedom and independence with the backing of Natural, International, and United States law."

Wyclef and Akon visited Bel'Air, one of the poorest districts in Port-Au-Prince, during their recent visit in Haiti. The people were happy to receive them. Wyclef goes there sometimes when he comes in Haiti, but for Akon it was his first time. He ate at a "Yele Cuisine" (yele kitchen), a restaurant where people with little money can buy a plate of food. There are two of these kitchens in the capital, one in Bel'Air and the largest in Cite Soleil. "Yele Cuisine" is supported by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), which funds the UN's World Food Program (WFP).

By:
Wadner Pierre

1882-2007 marks 125 years of the miraculous healing of the Haitian people from the scourge of Verette which ravaged the country at that time. According to what we have learned, the bishops of that time gathered in prayer with the faithful in Bel'Air in the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Chapel, and asked for a blessing for the people who had perished from this epidemic. Grace was dropped from the sky and all the people who were infected with this disease were cured.

1942-2007 marks the 65th years of the official consecration of Haiti. Our Lady of Perpetual Help at that time existed under the term of President Elie Lescot, a mulatto. According to historical testimony, there had been a kind of hunt against Voodoo priests (who were called 'Defeated'), as if this faith prevented the country from continuing on the road of progress. So why do we celebrate this date, 65 years later?

At that time the sons and daughters of Haiti who practiced Voodoo had difficulty explaining their religion. Most of them were black, while the president of that time was a mulatto. Similarly, the current president of the Haitian Conference of Bishops, Mgr. Louis Kébreau, is also a mulatto. He has often harshly criticized the democratically elected governments but has never lifted a finger to condemn the abuses against the people of Haiti during the reign of defacto government (2004-2006).

By: Wadner Pierre

"I am not a visitor. It is my country. I come when I want, only I have a lot of things to do to the United States with the various Haitian communities, and I travel frequently. I am only here for an appointment with the honorable judges of the Court of Appeal in Port on Monday, November 26, 2007 at 10:00 AM. I respect the justice of my country” - so stated Father Gérard Jean-Juste to journalists shortly after stepping off a plane in Port-au-Prince.

Accompanied by his lawyer Mario Joseph, of the Bureau des Avocats Internaux (BAI), the priest arrived one half hour early for his court appointment. At 11:30 am the hearing began with the three judges of the Court of Appeal: Ms. Lise Pierre Pierre, Mr. Daran and Mr. Eddy Joseph Lebrun. Father Gérard Jean-Juste has been battling charges against him since July of 2005 despite international protests in which even Amnesty International participated.

Jean-Juste is charged with the notoriously vague allegation of "criminal association", as well as illegal possession of weapons. After questioning, the court asked Jean-Juste to summarize his defense.

In response to the charge of "criminal associations" he stated "As a priest my boss is Jesus, then the Bishops, and after them my people are my associates. I am not a member of an association of 'malefactors', but a member of an association of benefactors, and in this association Jesus is the boss."

This is probably the most inspiring bit of news I've heard in a long time. The deportation of Singh, who is paralysed, has only been stayed temporarily.

An attempt to deport a paralysed man back to India on International Human Rights Day fell apart after a grass-roots protest at Vancouver International Airport Monday literally halted traffic and prevented border and immigration agents from taking custody of him.

By mid-afternoon the Canada Border Services Agency halted its plan to deport Laibar Singh after it concluded that it would be too risky for its agents to walk out to a waiting taxi in which the elderly man was sitting. Between them and the curb were as many as 2,000 protesters, many of them members of an Abbotsford-area Sikh temple that had rallied in support.