Returned to Haiti this week for the official "inauguration" of the BBBC Expo in Zorangé, just north of Port-au-Prince. Went directly from the airport to meet the contractor at the site the day before, since reports from our partner Relief International's local staff indicated there was much yet to be done. Despite a delayed construction process up to this point, after a long day and early morning of hard work, we got our house prototype looking great for the big day. VIP's in attendance included Haitian President Michel Martelly, their Minister of Tourism Patrick Delatour, former President Bill Clinton, and Wyclef Jean, among others. Although the official group only visited a handful of the sixty prototypes this week, we were honored by the attention President Martelly gave our house at a previous visit to the Expo. There were quite a few attendees representing a wide variety of organizations checking out all the prototypes; we made some interesting contacts and received a lot of compliments on our house. We're hoping to be one of the ten or so winners selected who will build approximately 40 houses each as part of a 400 unit "exemplary community" to be constructed at a site near the Expo, and while the Expo is open for the next three weeks we'll be taking advantage of having the prototype available to show as we (Inscape Publico & Relief International) pursue development partners, grants and other funding sources to build communities of these houses at other sites. Very excited to have a great-looking prototype built! Check out more photos on our flickr site here.
