10 Reasons Why Haiti Is Poor....

1. A bad Colonial past and slavery.
2. Haiti was the first black independent country in 1804, USA, England and France still had slavery and were afraid their slaves would want to go free. So they didn't buy any goods from Haiti. The result ended as Haiti got no money.
3. 1915-1938 Haiti was occupied by the USA and took over the financial income.
4. Power of the elite, not sharing, wealth and land.
5. Corruption: the elite were corrupt, no money nothing happens.
6. Human rights violations: resulted in a regime of fear.
7. French is the official language but only 10% speaks it and 90% speaks Creole
8. Ignorance and illiteracy, because of the language barrier.
9. Mis-education, education is free but very limited. 30% of kids start school but only 2% stay after 5 grade.
10. Soil erosion: Mountainous country, they been have cutting trees down for fuel, living and ignorance.

Update On Haiti Earthquake

On the 12-01-2010 there was an earthquake of 7.0 on the Richter-scale. People from France, US, Brazil, Spain and members from the UN are helping the Haitians to recover from the disaster that occurred last week.

Humanitarian Aid is coming in to the capital Port-Au-Prince but is not getting distributed to the other villages in the rest of the country. The UN is distributing the aid very slowly while the Americans are distributing in large numbers by coming in a helicopter 10 feet of the ground and throwing the aid to the people on the ground. People miles away from the capital in despair are digging with their bare hands to get any resources from crushed houses. People are getting violent to get a hold of supplies for them selves and the injured.

Earthquake Destruction In Haiti

On the 12 of January 21:53hrs an earthquake of 7.0 on the righter scale hit the island of Haiti and it's surroundings. The Epicenter of the earthquake was only a few miles away from the countries capital Port-Au-Prince. The Focus of this earthquake was only 13km below the surface. Haiti is located between to tech tonic plates and that is why the affect was so terrible. After the big earthquake, most buildings barely made it, but after the many aftershocks the city got wiped out.

The impact of the earthquake was huge. Many buildings collapsed, the presidents palace got destroyed also many other important buildings were wiped out by the after shocks. People from all over the country are hurt, some even stuck under collapsed buildings. The major hit was in Haiti, but people in America, Jamaica and the Caribbean islands felt the earthquake too. They are now saying that the death toll is in the tens of thousands. I find it very sad that the people in Haiti are all suffering, and I feel very sad for all the children who have lost everything and everybody.

Countries from all over the world are helping Haiti to recover from natural disasters. Humanitarian Aid is being imported each day to help the people in Haiti. The Haitians are helping each other to get out of collapsed buildings and help all the injured.

New Years Eve

My family and I sailed from Langkawi to Phuket and arrived on New Years Eve at Patong beach, which is famous for its fireworks. We anchored the sailing yacht off Patong beach. We went to a sea food restaurant for dinner. You could buy fireworks every where and everybody was trying them out. So during our dinner we had a display of fireworks.

In Thailand people sent their worries away in worry lamps. Since 2009 was a roller coaster for us we wanted to start 2010 in the Thai tradition without worries.So we all lit our lanterns and sent them to heaven. Our worry lanterns flew away in the sky in between the exploding fireworks.

Around 11:00 we went back to the yacht. I was very tired so I asked my mother to wake me up 15 minutes before the fireworks which began at mid-night. I fell asleep straight away and woke up just in time for the fire work show. The fireworks were amazing, with fireworks coming from each direction. It was exactly like a battle between the fireworks that were lit on the left and lit from the right. I found the best firework show ever and would never forget it.

Yachting: Sailing From Lankawi to Phuket: Part 2

I didn't only have competent crew duties I also navigated, from island to island in the Andaman sea. My sisters also liked doing it so we rotated each day. There are three main things you have to use and find out while you are navigating:

1. Sea Charts
2. GPS
3. Course to Steer

• Sea Charts:

On sea charts you can see if there are any hazards in the water that you cannot see from above, if there are any rocks or hazards you have to tell the skipper where the hazards are. Depth lines is an other thing you can see on sea charts, you see when and where the water gets very shallow and very deep. You can see land and how far it can spread out.

• GPS:

When you are navigating you have to know your position the GPS tells you your longitude and latitude position. Once you find out your position on the sea chart you can give your skipper a course to steer. I check every 20min to see where we are, how fast we are going and to see how far we are from our destination.

• Course to Steer:

Once you find out your position on the chart you can make a course to steer. Sometimes the wind might not be with us causing some lee way, so you have to head up. The current sometimes will be helping us or be against us.

Yachting: Sailing From Langkawi to Phuket : Part 1

After the IODA Championships I sailed with my family on a 39ft sailing yacht from Langkawi to Phuket. I was a competent crew and had two important tasks :

1. Sail Trimmer
2. Mooring duties

• Sail Trimming:

I saw how the tale tails were and adjust if they were not right, pulled in the main sheet/ let out the sail and trimed the sail according to the weather conditions.

• Mooring duties:

I had to find a good spot to anchor, see if there are lines floating in the water, see if there are any mooring buoys, let out the anchor/ bring in the anchor, make sure not to drop the anchor on coral but sand and see if the anchor bit.

Eating A Green Chilli

31/12/09 On New Years Eve dinner my family and I and some friends went to a seafood restaurant on Patong beach in Phuket. I looked outside and saw lovely fireworks being lit up 3hrs before the show. I found the atmosphere lovely because everybody was so nice and cheerful. A waiter came over to our table to take our order. I ordered fried beef with vegetables in oyster sauce.

All the food arrived and I started to dig in. I had ordered everything non-spicy because I don't like spicy food. I was enjoying my food and tasting my parents food. I took a spoon full of vegetables and put it on my plate. I tried a piece of vegetable and chewed until I realised that it was a green chilli. I spat it out and ate all my rice and finished my soda water. After we had all finished eating we decided to go get an ice cream in the Hagen Das shop down the road.

After we had finished our ice cream we set off our worry lights, and said goodbye to all our worries from 2009 and hello to 2010!

Happy New Year

Racing

You have to get to the sailing club 2 1/2 hours before the first start to prepare your boat and make sure you have everything before 9:00am because that is when we launch.

You must check your safety equipment and trim your sail according to the weather condintions on the water.

At 9:00am we had to launch for a first start at 10:00am, it always takes 1 hour before everybody is on the water and we can start.

When everyone has launched and is by the startline we can start the first race of the day.

The first race has started and I am now rounding mark 2 after going upwind to mark 1, I have to reach to mark 2 and then downwind to mark 3 and then finish upwind.

I have rounded all the marks and am sailing up wind to the finish, since it was the last race I get to go back shore after I finished the race.

We have finished racing for the day and get to sail upwind to shore

Scuba Diving

Try in the Pool

Two days before my family and I went scuba diving, my sisters and I had to learn about the equipment and get familiar with the equipment under water.









They explained these things and what they do:

• BCD (Buoyancy Device)
• Fins
• Mask
• Regulators
• Indicators/Instruments

The instructors also taught us things under water:

• Cleaning/Clearing the mask
• Bouyancy
• Signals

Diving in Sponge Reef In Malaysia

The boat trip to the reef was about 1 hour from Langkawi. We first dropped of the snorkelers and then continued to the reef. Just before we went diving an instructor reminded us of most important things we needed to know. I dived in first and I found the visibility very bad because of the green algae bloom, there was also a strong current. I did two dives, the first dive I only went 25ft down but saw a huge Napoleon fish, lion fish, lots of parrot fish, a moray eel, clown fish and many other. I went up for lunch and then dived again after that. My second dive was better than the first because a saw more different fish and a hawks bill turtle, the turtle was 45ft down under water and I was the first in my family to see it. After 40 minutes under water, I surfaced slwley and went back on to the boat.

SI and sailing Course

The IODA Asian Championship is open to all Asian nations and to all other invited countries. Every country is allowed to send a maximum of 7 sailors, mostly their top sailors, except for the host nation Malaysia who is allowed to have 14 sailors. There were 26 countries that participated at the IODA Asian Championship, with a total of 140 sailors.

All the sailors are divided into 4 colour groups. There are 2 starts in one race. Once you have done 3 races you have competed against everyone in the sailing regatta.

All this information is in the SI (Sailing Insturtions). The sailing course is also is published in the SI.Unlike the NoR the SI is only published a day before the regatta starts.

NoR of the IODA Asian Championship 2009

In July 2009 the Preliminary Notice of Race for the IODA Asian Championship 2009 was ublished. Once it came out I really wanted to go, my parents agred but there were condintions to be met. My mother still e-mailed our entry and the boat charter orms before the deadline of the 30th september.

My sisters and I had to get permission from school, but the only way that would happen is if we have fantastic mid-term school report-cards. I understood what I had to do and studied very hard. The school reports came out and I was very proud of myself. My parents were satisfied and asked permission from the Belgian Optimist Association to represent Belgium in the IODA Asian Championship 2009. Then my sisters and I had to ask for special leave requests authorisation forms from the National Belgium Sailing Team to go sailing in IODA Asian Championship in order to get special school leave.

The teachers and school were very supportive and on the 4 of December 2009 my family and I departed to Langkawi.

Communications In A Sailing Regatta

This flag is the postponement signal (AP). This means that no races can start and have to wait for further notices. This flag can be shown on land or on the water. Postponements can be for 15mins to 9hrs.

These flags are AP over A. This means that all races are postponed until tomorrow or an other date.

This is the P flag. This flag is in the start. It is raised at the 4min and lowered at the 1min. If you are over the started line in the last minute this flag tells you, you can either go back under the line and start again or round one of the ends and restart. If you don't come back will be mark OCS (Disqualified for being over the start line)

This is the I flag. The I flag is just like the P flag the only difference is if you are over the line then you have to round one side of the start line and restart.

This is the Black Flag.this flag is the same as the P and I, but if you are over the start line you cannot repair and restart, if you are over you will be scored BFD,( Black Flag Disqualification)

This is the Z flag. Just like the I, P and the Black flag, the Z is also a starting flag but if you are over and do not return you get 20% of what you sailed in that race added to your score. But if you return then you will not get the 20% penalty.

This is the X flag : individual recall. When the race committee sees that a boat is over the line in the last minute before the start and did not repair they will raise this flag after the start has gone, telling the sailors that somebody or a few boats were over .

This is the general recall flag. When there are to many boats over the line to early and the race comitee can not identify them all then the will restart the race.

This is the N flag or race abandoned flag. When this flag is shown that means that something has gone completely wrong and the race is abandoned.