I am all for PC back in Haiti, and I am ready today, however, not before serious administrative changes. I would like to see PC move its administrative center from PauP to Cap Haitian and to limit its programs to only the northern departments, i.e. those accessible by road from Cap without having to pass through Gonaives.

The need to have PC in place is not only for the good of the people, but also for the existence of the PC/Haiti program. Funding for PC from Congress has been less than adequate and my fear is that while PC is struggling to make ends meat, they will close Haiti and distribute those funds elsewhere, to an active program. If this were to happen, it would be next to impossible to re-open Haiti without support from Congress, because no program is going to give up funding to support another. That being said, PC needs to re-open Haiti because it is in everyone’s short-term and long-term best interest.

Beyond the humanitarian and the environmental, my reasons for Cap are as follows:

- One of Haiti’s two international airports with near daily flights to the USA

- Agricultural schools nearby in Limbe as well as in the city of Cap for estajè training.

- Labadee/ Coco Beach

- Numerous banks, small businesses, colleges, hotels, and restaurants

- The road to Ouanaminthe into the DR could provide an alternate point of egress during an evacuation.

- The Palace Sans Souci and the Citadel

- Limonade is famous for its mud pits during Fet Gede.

By moving the administrative center to Cap, PC would remove the security issues of Gonaives and PauP all together. Once the political climate settled, PC could then reach back down to PauP and into Hinche and the south.

There are some obvious drawbacks, i.e. lack of conferences with CDC and PEPFAR, yadda yadda. However, I think their value to a volunteer at the grassroots level is moot. To me, it seems more important to establish a concerted program that is sustainable, and I believe that in the north it is absolutely possible.

Robert Miller, Director
Haiti Innovation, Inc.