J
anuary 2015 marks the fifth-year anniversary of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that devastated Haiti, killing more than 250,000 people and displacing 1.5 million more, and the country still faces challenges on the long path toward recovery. Haiti is hampered by the ongoing cholera epidemic introduced after the earthquake, killing more than 8,000 Haitians to date. The nation is faced with a lack of affordable, safe, permanent housing and soaring rent prices; rebuilding is compounded by weak enforcement of new building codes. Haiti is troubled by misallocations and a lack of adequate funding. Poor infrastructure and huge amounts of litter and waste, from plastic bottles and bags to polystyrene wrappings, are cause for ongoing health and environmental concerns. Deforestation and food insecurity are major problems, as well as the 2.5 million Haitians living on $2 or less a day, one economic shock or natural disaster away from falling back into poverty. Members of the LSU/Haiti Task Force hope to assist Haitians with these problems and more while providing educational exchange opportunities for students at LSU.
The LSU/Haiti Task Force is an interdisciplinary collaborative of the College of Art & Design, the AgCenter, the College of Humanities & Social Sciences (HSS), and the Office of International Programs Academic Programs Abroad (APA). Austin Allen, associate professor of landscape architecture, is a leading member of the task force. He has extensive experience in planning and design strategies through his recovery work in the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and through his work in post-earthquake Haiti, where he took LSU students on a service-learning project in the fall of 2010. Through his experiences in postdisaster environments and his research interests in resilience, recovery, and regeneration of landscapes and place, Allen has many “lessons learned” to share. His most valuable advice when working in post-disaster environments is to work with local partners on specific projects. “Therein lay opportunities for real exchanges in technology, learning, and understanding.” Since the summer of 2013, members of the LSU/Haiti Task Force have visited the country half a dozen times.
LSU/Haiti Task Force member Austin Allen, associate professor and graduate coordinator at the LSU Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture, teaches courses that integrate communication and film with planning, landscape, and urban design theory and practice.
Along with Allen, task force members include former Associate Professor David Weindorf and Professor Carl Motsenbocker of the School of Plant, Environmental & Soil Sciences; Associate Professor Wes Michaels of the Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture; Professor Hector Zapata of the Department of Agricultural Economics & Agribusiness; Dr. Joyce Jackson, professor of cultural anthropology and director of African and African American Studies within HSS; and Harald Leder, interim director of APA. These LSU faculty members and more have been working to establish collaborations with individual nonprofits and organizations in the U.S. and Haiti. Alkis Tsolakis, dean of the LSU College of Art & Design, accompanied the group on a visit to Haiti in October 2013, and the task force came back brimming with the idea of bringing the colleges together for a full-scale initiative to establish a semester-long experience for students. By integrating a variety of disciplines, the task force can provide the expertise to tackle several of Haiti’s most pressing issues. The task force’s first steps were to identify key organizations and establish partnerships. “Although we have several goals, I think the most important is focusing research and academic activities on solutions for resolving problems of mutual interest and benefit. The four main areas we are looking at are culture, agriculture, the built environment, and entrepreneurship,” explained Dr. Joyce Jackson. Last January, the group began working with Zanmi Agrikol, the agricultural arm of Zanmi Lasante, a nonprofit organization with strong ties to Partners
Photo by Matt Williams (MLA 2014)
HEALING HAITI
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