29509: Leiderman: comment: "ou est Pliche?" (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leiderman@mindspring.com


Stuart Leiderman <leiderman@mindspring.com>

15 November 2006

dear Readers:

Pliche? near Cavaillon?  in her sad account of murder and vigilantes in Haiti, Ms. Charles and the Miami Herald only described the setting as "mountainous."  I browsed the web for a map or photo and only came up with one, of young students studying in a computer lab <http://www.favaca.org/country/Haiti.html> as part of a recent FAVACA computer literacy training project ["Florida's International Volunteer Agency"]. it's a heartening story, but even then, the only description is, "Pliche, a small village in southern Haiti..."  oddly, searching "Pliche" brings up a "compact and stylish" Japanese computer by Fujitsu that evidently can be used in bare feet.  <http://my.reset.jp/~inu/ProductsDataBase/Products/Fujitsu/Pliche/Pliche.htm>
alors, the FAVACA story's photo shows students, conceivably in bare feet, too, working at luggy ol' PC's.  not so compact and stylish.  I'd say there's a FAVACA-Pliche-Fujitsu triangle we could close if someone took a mind to...

still pursuing Pliche, I looked all over the southern Haiti of my fairly detailed map ["Les Speciales de L'IGN (Institut Geographique National), "Pays et Villes du Monde, Haiti", No. 3615IGN, 1:300,000 scale, ISBN 2118505019, Financement du Service Frances de Cooperation et d'Action Culturelle en Haiti, BP 1312, Port-au-Prince, CNES 1990, 1999 over a French SPOT satellite image, US$12.95] and found Cavaillon approx. 20 kilometers northeast of Les Cayes on highway N2 near the mouth of Riveiere de Cavaillon.  mais ou est Pliche?

then I went back to refer to the United Nation's map of Haiti, via the excellent collection linked at <http://www.focushaiti.com/maps/index.htm> the most current UN map has Cavaillon but not Pliche.

eventually, I found the website of Falling Rain Genomics, Inc. "Places in Haiti that start with Pl" <http://www.fallingrain.com/world/HA/a/P/l/>.  there was "Pliche city, Departement du Sud Haiti, 18.3961111, -73.5991667, elevation 1719 feet, population 32,938".  amazing, it's located down to six decimal places; that could be someone's tomato plant.

last, I bounced to "Pliche Map â Satellite Images of Pliche. original name: Pliche
geographical location: Sud, Haiti, Central America. geographical coordinates: 18Â 23' 46" North, 73Â 35' 57" West" of Google's "Maplandia.com" <http://www.maplandia.com/haiti/sud/pliche/>  the satellite photo looks like an alligator's wound, and zut!  the coordinates don't quite jive with Falling Rain's.  this is a predicament for another day.  it's down there somewhere.

so, is it okay for newspapers to write murder-and-vigilante stories about Haiti -- or Iraq or Afghanistan -- with nothing more than a mention of "mountainous" locations? and for NGO's and government agencies to tout their charitable nature, with only non-mapped names and a vague description of "a small village in southern Haiti" (really now? 30,000-plus is a village?)  I see the take-home lessons: a) millions for computer literacy, nothing for geographic literacy, b) the name-droppers are more important than the inhabitants, and c) "Just trust us."

thank you,

Stuart Leiderman

leiderman@mindspring.com

- - - - - - -

<http://www.favaca.org/country/Haiti.html>

<snip> FIU Students Close Digital Divide In Haiti --
Computer literacy training in Pliche

In recent months, Dr. Raul Moncarz, Vice Provost Biscayne Bay Campus of  Florida International University, recognized the potential benefit that Haitian students could provide to their native country.  Because Dr. Moncarz is keenly interested in encouraging students to participate in assistance projects in theCaribbean region, he invited FAVA/CA staff to meet with members of campus Haitian student organizations.

The meetings helped students discover their own potential to assist neighbors. Within a few months, two Haitian-American students studying Information Technology sent FAVA/CA a request from the parish priest in Pliche, a small village in southern Haiti.  Father Yves, a man of vision, felt that Pliche is a progressive community, one that would benefit from having access to the world of the Internet.

The FIU students went to work, first designing a basic-level course in computer literacy. Next, they were successful in obtaining ten donated computers and accessories.  With commitment to the project and enthusiasm, the students were able to convince American Airlines to waive excess baggage fees. Also, they sought and received help from the Ministry of Haitians Living Abroad to facilitate customs clearance.

The volunteers Antoine Brunvil, Miami, and Gerald Jean Pierre, Pembroke Pines, traveled to Pliche in May and assisted in setting up the computer lab. These hard-working volunteers trained 85 participants during their stay... <snip>