the end of one story, and the beginning of another...

Well friends, I arrived back from Haiti 2 weeks ago now, but those weeks have been spent spending much-needed time w/ friends and family, driving across the country, attempting to find my way around the Philadelphia area, and starting grad school! By now, I'm quite ready for this long weekend. I do want to take the time though to write about the rest of my time in Haiti.


Not long after that last trip to the cybercafe, Felo and Witlene took me on a hike down to a "source" (spring) in the valley below where the orphanage is. It's an incredibly green, lush valley, much more so than I was expecting. I heard drums that day for the first time since I'd been there -- a voodoo ritual going on somewhere the next hill over. The path down to the spring is not long, but it is steep. We encountered a woman from church where the path leaves the road. Her house is just after the first switchback. She is probably 55 or so, and was dressed in a lovely green business suit. When it first began to get steep, she grabbed my hand to help me! I did OK getting down there and back up, but I can't imagine doing it 35 years from now, in a suit, every day. Turns out the spring, though out of the way and difficult to get to, is a quite frequented place. We met several people coming up as we were walking down, 5 gallon buckets of water on their heads, not one step misplaced. These are just small examples, but in a much larger sense, I am very impressed by the strength of the people here, both physical and emotional.


We had some more great dance parties the last couple of weeks I was there. Steve and Rooslore taught me some more hip hop, as well as a Haitian dance. I taught tiWis some ballet, and Steve how to do backhandsprings. I got some footage of the kids dancing too, which you should ask me to show you if you haven't seen it already. Pretty classic =). Wislande and Nadia also gave me some cooking lessons, and I learned to make dumplings and porridge.


One day Wislande, Rooslore, tiWislande, and I hitched a ride with RoseMarie into town when she was doing the shopping. They wanted to show me La Maison Blanche (the Haitian white house), and take me to a movie and a restaurant. The ride down wasn't the most pleasant, as being in the back of the truck crammed full w/ people, riding over huge bumps, and not being able to see where we were going all made me feel quite ill. But we made it and I was eventually able to focus enough to watch the crowds of people in the city among the dust, exhaust, and bustle of vehicles. There were people everywhere. Some w/ large bags of rice on their heads (imported from the U.S.), some w/ large baskets of flip flops, or strainers to sell. We passed just about every imaginable thing being sold on the side of the road. Lots of phone cards and clothes, but also chairs, bed, furniture, little drug-store stalls, and the list goes on. Everyone working, trying to make enough to bring home dinner for their family. I wonder how many succeed.


Back at home, the tie-dye was a huge hit with the kids. Slightly messy and chaotic, but the shirts turned out great, and they had a lot of fun. We spent a good bit of time the last week especially preparing for the program that we did on my last night there. If we would have had a program, it would have looked something like this:

House of Blessings Orphanage Presents: The Calabash Kids

Wednesday August 15, 2007

Jump In, Jump Out

Who's the King of the Jungle

Psalm 25

Awesome God

The Calabash Kids

I'm not quite done, but I'm out of time. So we'll say, to be continued...

bon swa!

Well another week and a half has passed, and I have again made the trek to the world of connection to the states. I was very grateful to talk to a couple of you last night and hear the awful news about the bridge, but also that those I know and love are OK. My prayers are with y'all though as I know the whole community must be affected.

Haiti is rockin' and rollin'. School has gotten more chaotic as the kids have gotten more comfortable w/ me, but that is both a plus and a minus. I want to share a couple of the kids' bio poems w/ you... something we've been working on the past couple of days. I will not say these were easy to pull out of the kids by any means, but eventually we found about an ounce of focus and they all actually finished. Phew! They all end in their last name, but I've left that out for security purposes... you know how the internet is these days.

Wislande
Who is creature of God
Who liked chocolate a lot
Wh liked dancing a lot
Sister of Jamson, Evans
Who loves Jesus, family, friends, Bijoux that's Lonnie's dog
Who feels content
Who needs God, family, dance
Who gives family much love
Who fears snakes, frogs, lizard
Who would like to see heaven
Who is a resident of Haiti

Mawoule
Who is student
Sister of Sarah
Who loves birds, eating, God
Who feels happy
Who gives dolls
Who needs dolls, gifts
Who fears snakes, crocodiles
Who would like to see Jesus
Who is a resident of Haiti

Those are from my oldest and youngest students, respectively. The oldest had no help, and the youngest had quite a bit, but gives you a little snapshot of the fabulous kids I get to spend this month with =).

We're still having lots of fun around the place. I'm learning to make some Haitian food, Pastor Monoit visited last night, we've been borrowing a TV for the last day so that's provided lots of entertainment. Did some fun watercolor pencil stuff w/ the kids this week, and next week is tie dye. They don't know about it yet, but I'm quite excited myself!

The kids were good enough in school today that I promised them we could do friendship bracelets and necklaces tomorrow. Which means for me inevitably a day of semi-controlled chaos, trying to keep string out of knots, and teaching kids how to make different things while simultaneously trying to make necklaces for the younger kids who just can't figure it out but are happy to hold the string while I make it for them. But really, it's fun =).

Thanks so much for your prayers and thoughts. Haiti needs them. I am living in a great place... well protected, water filter, sheets on the beds. But many many people are not. Water, sanitation, roads, all need to be improved (to say the least). So please keep praying for this place. Much love to all... talk to you in a couple of weeks! (Make plans for me in the cities Aug. 17-21... that's my window of opportunity to see y'all before heading out to PA.)