Stop A; Ecole Mixte de Nancy, a privately owned school for children from pre-school up to 6th grade. Stop B; Home of Knowledge, a church run school for kindergarten kids up to the 6th grade.

In order to help each other out, we (the Home of Knowledge) crew decided to help out with the site measurements while they conduct the client meeting.

The school is using a temporary structure while the existing building is left empty, apart from the teachers using various rooms for storage and offices.

The space is rather tight on this plot of land, therefore the plan is to demolish the existing building to maximize the site.

After lunch we made our way to Stop B, in French it is known as Institut du Foyer Savior, and in English it is 'Home of Knowledge.' Currently the site is a vacant plot of land which has a dense overgrowth and a not so friendly critter.

The spot heights of this site a rather extreme and we needed to make sure the topographical surveys match the heights of our drawings. To conclude the top site survey was indeed correct and thus we needed to adjust our drawings to suit.

It was a great thing that the two school teams teamed up as we couldn't have measured the site with only three people, so in the end having six people with four locals to help out made this site visit one of the most adventurous and physical!

This is the key reason why protester's have hit the streets, torching car tires, throwing rubble and ripping down and igniting Jude Celestin posters.

Following Twitter feeds continually there have been major riots all over the city, with burning of the Jude Celestin HQ, to blockading roads in Petionville. The common occurance is throwing of rocks, rubble and stones at moving vehicles and burning of tires.

Waking up this morning to the smell of burning rubber was not very pleasant, but seeing the smoke from our balcony just brought the chaos here too close for comfort.

All this is happening because the people of Haiti know that Jude Celestin could not have gotten 22.48% of the votes.

Martelly supporters are lining the streets all over the country. The youtube clip up above is the Kenscoff gang heading towards the CEP building in Petionville. Where the election results were announced last night.

Chaos has ensued and we are all on standby to wait and watch to see what happens now. Prayers are needed now to bring peace and calm to this devastated nation.

AFH office is housed on the ground floor and this is where I spend most of my days here in Haiti.

Petionville was hardly affected by the earthquake, but need some slight renovation works. It is now the headquarters for Architecture for Humanity along with a few other local Haitian companies. Companies that are connected with the architectural field.

The long term plan for the Rebuilding Centre is that local Haitian's connected with the construction industry will run and manage this centre. It will be a powerhouse for design, building and reconstruction.

The AFH offices is a light airy space with handmade tables and chairs. It is very basic but has it uses as an office space for us to operate it. The back wall was a self painted blackboard, which highlights all project currently in progress in Haiti.

Throughout the building the finishes are beautiful and utilizes local Haitian artists who make great metalwork.

Each office space is marked out an office number, again beautifully made with Haitian metalwork.

There are eight office spaces and one flat in the entire building. It has an open roof balcony which overlooks Rue Rebecca, which faces a small tent campsite and a local Haitian school.

For months election fever spread throughout the country with campaign posters strewn on all empty walls, poles, fences, fallen houses too! The run up to the 28th November saw more and more poster flying up in the sky, covering opposition posters even one candidate decided to have a different image and re-did his poster!

So we had 34 people running for president here in Haiti, everyone wants a piece of the pie as they will manage millions of aid money pledge by various countries and NGO's.

From the 34, 15 candidates were deemed ineligibile, one of whom was Haitian-American hip-hop star Wyclef Jean. So this Sunday saw 18 candidates vying for the role of the President of Haiti.

Results of the election will be announced on December 7th. Everyone is just waiting to see what the outcome is going to be!

Jude Celestin, 48-year-old protege of the current president Rene Preval is an engineer by profession. Strongly backed by Preval's INITE (Unity) party, but not favour in the eyes of the Haitian people, due to the lack of response of the current president to the earthquake and the cholera epidemic.

'Anti-U.N. protesters in the capital last week burned Celestin's election posters in the yellow and green INITE colors.' (Pascal Fletcher)

Leslie Voltaire a former minister of Haiti is an urban planner. He has been very active in planning the post-earthquake recovery. He is a graduated of Cornell University.

Charles Henri-Baker, the only 'blanc' guy running for president is a very well-known businessman, and Haitian politician. He ran for presidency in 2006 and came third, again at aged 50 he is running again as a leader of the Association of Haitian Industries and is widely seen as a voice of the private
sector.

Mirlande Manigat, aged 70, was a former first lady to ex president Leslie Manigat, who lasted only four months in office in 1988. An educated lady, who is a university professor, educated at the Sorbonne and a formidable oppsition leader to Preval's presidency.

'Sweet Micky,' 'Tete Kale' (Bald Head) is 49 year old popular musician and entertainer, Michel Martelly. A local Haiti Kompa artiste who is famous for his satirical lyrics.  Backed by Wyclef Jean, polls reveal that his is the people's favourite, despite his lack of political experience. The dark horse that could be Haiti's next president.

I was fortunate to visit one of the houses in this district. It was designed by a local Haitian architect who collaborated with a famous Haitian metal artist. All the balustrade's, gates, grills, stairs and artwork incorporated this metalwork. It was beautiful!

The earthquake never affected this part of Port-au-Prince, so we are unsure if the structural stability of these houses are decent. However, from the naked eye, the house looked as if it was built to a very high standard. A little over the top, but nonetheless a well designed building.

This house and its surrounds is really out of place considering the circumstances surrounding most of Port-au-Prince. Just as we were driving into the heart of the neighbourhood, in the distant we could see a tent camp. It was a very surreal feeling.

This is really extreme Haiti, the divide between rich and poor is so significant that its something I never imagined.

The Gingerbread Houses reflected a time of prosperity and creativity when  Haiti was a vibrant part of the international community. It had hosted the  Paris Exposition in 1900 which saw the local Haitian artists incorporating foreign influences into its indigenous art and architecture.

The intricate patterns found in the fretwork of these houses are thought to be representative of the traditional vévé patterns traced on the floor to call the spirits to a vodou ceremony.

Because of political instability and economic strife the preservation of these gingerbread houses have fallen into disrepair. However, the Haitian Education & Leadership Program and the Association of Haitian Architects and Urbanists have set up a scheme to start restoring a Gingerbread House to serve as a model and resource center for continued preservation efforts and training in the community.

The Gingerbread  houses have been given a new lease and attention in the news because of their high survival rate during Haiti's earthquake.

This style of architecture echo the French-Caribbean architectural styles of New Orleans.

The World Monuments Fund has decided to list most of the gingerbread architecture found within Port-au-Prince on the 2010 WMF Watch List of heritage places at risk.

The property owned by the Sam family who had a lineage of Haitian presidents.  Tirésias Simon-Sam was president of Haiti from 1896 to 1902 and the mansion was built by Tirésias's son, Jean Vilbrun Guillaume Sam. The Sams lived in the mansion until 1915, when Guillaume himself became president but only for five months until he was torn to pieces by an angry mob.

The US under the command of President Woodrow would eventually take control of the hotel and turn it into a US military hospital.

In 1935, after the US occupation, the mansion was leased to Walter Gustav Oloffson, a Swedish sea captain from Germany, who converted the property into a hotel. In 1950, Roger Coster, a French photographer, assumed the lease on the hotel and ran it with his Haitian wife.

The hotel came to be known as the "Greenwich Village of the Tropics", attracting actors, writers, and artists.

In 1960, Al Seitz acquired the lease of the hotel and the hotel prospered. Celebrities such as Jackie Onassis and Mick Jagger were regular guests. After Al Seitz died in 1982, his widow,  continued to operate it.

As the grip of Duvalierism overcame Haiti, the foreign tourist trade ceased. The hotel survived by serving foreign reporters and foreign aid workers who needed secure lodging in the center of town.

In 1987, with the help of his half-brother Jean Max Sam, Richard A. Morse signed a 15 year lease to manage the Hotel Oloffson, which was in disrepair during the reign of  Duvalierism.

As part of the regeneration of the hotel, every Thursday evening a local Haitian band called RAM (Richard A. Morse's initials) would perform. It soon became a regular social event, even during the political upheaval of Haiti in the 1990's. It attracts individuals of various political positions and allegiances.

It was a collection of local artists showcasing a variety of Haitian art. It was an impressive collection and reflected the creative personality of Haiti.

We had to pay an entry fee of 300 gourdes, but it entitled us to one free drink and 150 gourdes of credit to any art vendor. We also were given a free bright red t-shirt!

Each local artist had an individual photo of themselves with samples of their artwork. They also had business cards produce with a contact number. I thought this was a very innovative opportunity for the local artists.

What I noticed was the Haitian are very good with handicrafts, be it paintings, iron/metal work or wooden scultpures and the continuous pattern is always the use of bright colours.

Examples of local artwork also include the creative use of car tyres as decorative hanging toucan art. We saw these in an ice cream shop in Petionville.

What happens is that every dollar raised by the students, it will be matched in a grant form by AFH, Bezos and GNG. Schools in Haiti wishing to be part of this grant scheme apply to be registered in the program.

In order to forge relationships with students in Haiti, Global Nomads Group set up video web conferencing to enable the schools in the US and Canada to connect to the schools involved with the Student Rebuild Program in Haiti.

Us volunteers at AFH got a chance to sit in on one of Global Nomad Group''s video web conferences. It was between three schools in the US, and one school in Canada with the Haitian girls school called Ellie Dubois.

It was extremely exciting to witness this happening. Though teenagers being teenagers, they didn't seem all that enthused. However, after talking to the girls here, they actually really enjoy this and find these conferences interesting and useful.

In this partnership, we at AFH help design and build for the schools in Haiti. Ecole Ellie Dubois is one of the Student Rebuild grant schools.

The topic on the agenda during the video web conference was 'education,' and questions were open to the students in Haiti, US & Canada to ask each other anything related to that broader topic.

Questions such as what is your favourite subject and why to what did you think of people in Haiti. Of course the earthquake came into conversation alot and questions about how they have survived, what they felt going through such an ordeal and how they feel now were also hot topics.

I really think more of this type of partnership should be implemented in High Schools or even at Primary level. With great advances in technology and the ease of the connectivity through the internet, this makes for a great opportunity for cultural exchange. It is also a great way of fostering relationship in terms of support.

As you can see these Tap-taps are always brightly coloured. They are elaborately decorated by their owners with their own artistic flare, elements, they certainly stand out to the bleak surroundings in Port-au-Prince.

Christian phrases and secular slogans usually in French, Haitian Creole or English are used to illustrate the Tap-taps. Sometimes i have seen phrases like 'I love James Brown!'

Tap-tap's usually have a set route, and are usually always full. As I haven't been on one, I hear it cost around 5 gourdes but the charge will depend on the distance you ride or your overall destination for longer trips.I would imagine if a foreigner were to ride one, they would be charged more.

'As a tap-tap passes, simply shout 'alé' to join the ride, but when ready to get off, say 'mesi chofè' and pay as you leave.'

have read that Tap-taps are notorious places where local gossip is rife and can be politically charged. As they pass, loud Haitian music called 'Kompa' is blasted through their very modern sound system!