We post so many posts about how many awesome things are happening at Jakmel Ekspresyon. At the same time there are so many frustrations that need to be acknowledged too. The potent title refers to one of the hardest dilemmas we face in Haiti, trash. We desperately want to be environmentally conscious people and actively promote recycling, composting and more. This issue is one of the hardest for our visitors and volunteers. There is no great way to get rid of your trash in Haiti. Most trash gets burned and the rest gets tossed down a sink hole that most likely goes to the ocean. Everything from bio-hazards to plastics. Even if everyone in town made awesome sculptures, toys, seed cups and more, some would still need to be burned.
I do not want to talk about the pre-existing trash problem in Haiti though. It is a reality that we continue to struggle with. What is just as hard or harder than our daily trash output is how we bring in equipment and how that feeds into the trash stream. As a grassroots we receive donations of used equipment from individuals and companies. They have been essential to providing the programming at JE that so many people are benefiting from. We appreciate every donation we get.
We have received a generator, projection equipment, a computer lab, tools, cameras and video cameras. Alot of these things still work beautifully today. Others seem to have a short life in the harsh environment of the moist tropics. All equipment is used and has a shorter life span to start. Than the dust and moisture work there magic on the equipment too. We have lost three projectors, multiple cameras, a flat monitor and one Mac computer. These items empower the workshop leaders to have the most impact on the members as possible. It also gives the members resources for them to create and propose projects. One of my favorite member created activities was Cine club. Two of the members showed a movie every Sunday night. Now we are using Aaron Funk’s projector he paid for. The use is limited as everyone knows how precious this resource is and we don’t want him to loose his projector too. So we need another donation.
Now what do we do with all of our dead donations? Alot of this equipment is not available in Haiti and therefor cannot be fixed there. I think the most people would be able to scavenge is the wiring. We cannot bring home some of the larger items in our luggage. Most of us do not pay for an extra bag on the way home. All of this electronic trash is sitting in our building taking up space because we can’t bear to throw it into a fire or the ocean. Soon we will have to do a house keeping. We are not at the point of throwing it away yet. Most of our electronic trash will probably go to the KOLAJ collective. Most of them are sculptors and use found objects. This still does not account for al of our broken equipment.
It is hard to bring used equipment to Haiti knowing it will die quicker here and make its way to the trash stream. On the other side of the sword, if we do not bring these things, the members would not have access to a computer lab to create resumes and portfolios. They would not be able to construct stages for Spare Change Theater. They would not be able to experience film on the big screen and lectures about art. We still need to bring in sound equipment and more cameras. We need more professional lighting. We just need more even if it is just for a short time. Otherwise we would not be able to support our membership and their motivation to learn.
Just a thought on one of the harder aspects of working as a grassroots organization in Haiti. Again, we appreciate every donation we get and need more.
Please help us to keep providing resources to the community of Jacmel by donating here.
