28342: Morse (Comment) Souvenance/ 2006 (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

_oloffsonram@aol.com_ (mailto:oloffsonram@aol.com)

I went to Souvenance this year in Gonaives. I hadn't been there in 16  years.
The dances, the songs, the rhythms, were unbelievable. The communal
discipline, unparalleled. What was frustrating was the trash. In the old days
the
folks there would have been drinking and eating from cups and bowls  carved out

of the fruit from the <kalbas> tree. When they were done the  bowls and cups
would have been rinsed and stored away. Now, everywhere you look  you see piles

of plastic cups, bottles, dishes and water containers. During  Duvalier,
Haiti's importing sector wasn't permitted to import these plastic  containers.
Now
they're every where. Until there's a plastic buy-back program,  Yele can hire
all the street sweepers they want but the real problem won't be  addressed. In
other words, these plastic bottles and containers must be  bought back by the
businesses that sell them in order to complement street  sweepers. Recycling
will then be the next logical  step.