Teaching ecology - help!

Big news - I'm moving to Haiti for the fall to teach tropical ecology and bio labs at a small university.  Yikes!  I need help with what to teach - does anyone have a syllabus they can share?  Recommendations for text books?  The students can't afford books, but the dean said there are kindles for them to share and she'll buy me the text and kindle uploads.  Right now they copy the pertinent chapters from the books and share the copies.  I'll teach in exchange for room and board - no salary, so I'm trying to figure that part out.  Haiti's only botanical garden is there!  It's a coastal town!  They allow cats in the guest house!  I don't have to cook!  Check my facebook for the latest person I friended and you might be able to see her pics. I'll post more details on facebook when I get there (late Aug).

I join your ranks as anonymous poster of teaching conundrums.  All your posts will be a great resource as I figure this out!

Skorts are hot

Skorts are too hot to comfortably wear in a hot and humid climate.  Too much material in the nether-regions.  Just an FYI.

Off to Haiti! And a pie within a cake

Sunday I go to Haiti for two weeks to visit my friend Rhoda who does ag work though a veterinarian place near the capitol. Yay, a new adventure! The old place was getting too routine and safe so I wanted to shake it up a bit with a place with will probably be unbearably humid and hot and crowded and dirty and I could possibly be mugged (see her coworker's post about being mugged). I'm assuming Rhoda lives out in the country a couple miles from Port au Prince. She really hasn't given me any instructions other than she'll pick me up at the airport and she wants to go to bookstores. I'll teach ecology and I made 'save the bird' buttons to hand out - I'll post pictures on my blog when I get to it.

In the meantime, this might be my new favorite blog (other than Chuck of the day picture on dooce): see the blogger's adventure of baking a pie within a cake.

Haiti fun

Hi from Haiti. Having a good time here, and seeing what the rainy season is like. Just found out the capital is flooding. No flooding here, just impassible roads that occasionally change our plans. I've been helping with women's church conferences and start teaching ecology tomorrow. I'll post pictures and updates on my blog.

Haiti ecotourism gear

The logos are done! You can buy a shirt with one here: http://www.cafepress.com/zwazoyo. Let me know if you would like to buy a shirt or water bottle for an ecotour guide or ecology teacher I train in Haiti!

Ecotour logo opinion - round 2

-update - which of the color ones do you like better?-

Designing a bright yellow t-shirt for the ecotour guide in Haiti so his clients don't loose track of him inspired me to create a logo for his tours, and my educational program in Haiti. Though it's really about the ecotours. Which do you like better? Here's the parrot: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispaniolan_Amazon On the front will be the guides name

(PS SpSq will be in town - email me if you'll be around and can come to our gathering).

Bonjour!

I made it to my final destination in Haiti, and am having fun learning Creole by immersion. I posted my trip in the capital on my zwazoyo.blogspot blog. It was around 75 and overcast today, damp so it feels chiller than it is, probably 60 now, glad I brought a sweatshirt and fleece jacket. I saw that Lawrence has a low of -15 tomorrow, so I can't complain! Tomorrow I start working with the guy that I teach birding. Orevwa!

Small Haitian World

I attended a Heifer International Workshop in Arkansas 2 weeks ago and met a guy from Haiti who was volunteering at the Heifer Ranch*. Yesterday I met a woman at my church who has gone on many trips to Haiti and visits the couple I stay with. I mentioned the Heifer Haitian to her and told her his 1st name, and she said '1st name last name?' Lo and behold it's the same guy. Small world. My new church friend is going to teach me Kreyol! I've got my plane tickets for Jan 4 - 30 and am putting together 4 page bird guides that I'd like to give to each child I meet. Reality is that there are a gazzillion kids so I will just give one page of the guide to each kid, and they can share. I'm sure I'll run out of guides.

*I highly recommend the workshops. If you have a student showing promise in international work consider sending him to one - I can hook you up with the Heifer college liason.
**I've also discovered the secret of finding books written in French - searching by French words & titles. On Abebooks I found a bunch of children's bird books written in French.

Outstanding Employee

I'm happy to point out that somene we know is the KU unclassified employee of the month. This is exciting not only because someone at KU is finally recognizing the great work done by a member of the GBK, but also includes a monetary award which will allow her to extend her work in Haiti. Congrats!

Where are all the books written in French? In the countries that speak French of course!

Does anyone know where I can order inexpensive (~$10) books that are written in French? I'm looking for specific websites. I wanted to buy some reference books and novels to take to Haiti, but am having difficulty. I found some on Amazon, but SpSq's favorite book The Eight (Le Huit) is $40! And I found a site that imports novels from France, and they are expensive. I'll try the used books sites again, but seems like they are all >$20. PS - I'm reading The Fire and it is great! And I'm home sick so it's a good day to look up things on-line. HA - followup - there's a bookstore in Haiti's capital!

Haiti ecotour site up!

The Haiti ecotour business is officially launched! If you're visiting Haiti, you can book your tour here http://zwazoyo.blogspot.com/2009/02/book-your-ecotour-here.html Let me know if anything is confusing or you see typos!

Zwazo yo

That means birds in Creole. I started a blog to keep track of my work there, because I plan on returning for a month! There's so much to do. I taught about the importance of birds to the ecosystem and ecotourism to 2 primary/secondary schools, to the teens that live near the missionaries (and they came back for 2 birding excursions), and to men who were visiting for leadership conferences (some walked 9 - 11 hours to attend the conferences). I even worked water quality into the mix and want to delve into that more on the next trip. Check the blog for more photos, and let me know if you come across appropriate information that I could link on it. I bought the coffee that you see being roasted, and the other picture is of my star pupil Louisders took me on two bird tours and met with me for 3 hours to learn English in the context of birding. He picked it up pretty quickly! http://zwazoyo.blogspot.com/

10 days since a blog & Haiti update

Since it's been 10 days & Maddy is better, I thought I'd post. I'm going back to Haiti in February! And bringing 3 - 6 people with me! I'll focus on teaching some residents about birding and get them started on a ecotourism business, and the other people may help with improving the rain collection setup that waters a garden that feeds kids in the town. I am selling cards with my Haiti pictures on them to raise money for bird books and binoculars (see former post, let me know if you want any!). Also I am going to take Heifer International workshop at their ranch near Little Rock. And Nadine my scooter has surpassed 300 miles, with only 2 people inappropriately passing me, and one person pulling out in front of me (I was able to stop in time since I expect people to not see me, though the 2 passers sure surprised me).

Happy Birthday Squirrel of the Sparkles!

To celebrate, here are some tropical mammals. And I loved the shrew pictures! Hey Abby - I've gotten a couple spam-like emails from you about an online electronics store. Is that really you?

Konferons Agrikol en Haiti

I just attended the 1st agriculture conference in Pignon, Haiti! A man named Saul taught about 50 men about how trees a important in the watercycle, how Haitians need to stop cutting them down for no reason, crop rotation, etc. I was the guest attendee - they introduced me and I piped up about how in the US they plant crops right up to the streams and that's bad, and that people travel to see birds and they could get jobs as guides if they had trees and birds. The I left before it was over and took a 3 hour nap. I have a horrible cold which came on the day before, I was up last night coughing - didn't get into the miami hotel until 1am on Mon. and got up at 5:15am to catch the plane to Haiti. But other than that this is really a cool place, and the couple live in a cool house and I'll post pictures when I get back. Everyone here is so pleasant, and the language creole is like french spelled pheonetically - easy to figure out main topics. Sound this out: Anviwonman (environment). la grann vizyon = vizyon + aksyon + avalyasyon (the grand vision = vision + action + evaluation). The men were really into the discussions. And the mayor of Pignon (a woman) was ther to give them a pep talk. Tomorrow we go to Hencle so the Mompremiers can register their truck (with Iowa plates) - a get local food! Don't miss Jennifer's blog below!

Grafting trees, goats and pigs.

This super cracks me up. I'm going to Haiti, and some of the activities I can help with include "ministries in agriculture--church gardens, grafting trees, goats and pigs. " HAHAHA I'm so excited. I'll be there in May, stay over night in Miami to fly into Port au Prince early enough to catch the private plane for a 1/2 hr. ride to Pignon in the central plateau. There are a ton of youtube videos on Pignon - seems to be a mecca of medical and missionary help. I'll work with 2 missionaries and help with some database stuff, teaching computers (from scratch, in French), and apparently grafting various livestock. I'll post an update from there if I can!