Turns Out, I probably Won’t Die in Haiti

Well, I wasn’t bored on my first full day in Haiti.

During the night, I recognized that I’d come down with something. So quickly after I arrived, I concluded that it probably wasn’t serious and so continued with my plans.

The day took me to Cap Haitien on the northern coast of Haiti, where I connected with two great social entrepreneurs who are working to end the deforestation here. The country is about 2 percent forest today. In 1920, it was approximately 60 percent forest. All of it is gone as a result of charcoal. These guys make charcoal from ag waste–no trees are harmed.

Eco-friendly charcoal fresh off the machine. Photo by Devin Thorpe

As we visited, they shared horror stories with me. Eric Sorensen got cholera and Ryan Delaney got typhoid. Obviously, both survived. You can read their full story in Forbes here.

By the time we finished our visit, however, I was pretty convinced that I was going to die from whatever was ailing me. Twenty-four hours later and a good night sleep, I’m pretty confident that I’ll live to fly home on Saturday.

So, I woke this morning feeling much better and spent the day with mostly young, ambitious local entrepreneurs who are just trying to make a go of a business in Haiti. With support from the local Rotary Club and the Rotary Club of Wall Street, dozens of entrepreneurs have received training that we all hope will allow them to become successful.

Tomorrow, I’ll post a more complete report on the entrepreneurs I met today. One thing that is becoming clear to me here is that lighting that entrepreneurial flame will be critical to growing this economy. As I visit with people, it often feels as if the world has conspired against Haiti to bring it to ruin.

This evening, I attended the Rotary Club de Petion-Ville meeting where I met a great gastroenterology. I was very pleased to get his card. Just in case.

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