OUTRAGED!

Another week in the books!  

We’ve settled into a good routine—most kids who registered are attending, the kids are used to the schedule, the teachers know when to go to music and recess and snack, Friday-morning chapel is evolving. Life is good.

So . . . why the outrage??

Here’s why:

            Friday morning a father came in with his almost three-year-old son.  Dad had already registered him at another school but wanted to know whether we had space in our K1 class.  Unfortunately, we didn’t.

Like that prosthesis would be a problem!

            I asked why he wanted to enroll the boy at the Haiti Center for Inclusive Education if he had already registered him at another school.  Dad pointed at his son’s foot—he had a prosthesis.  

            Dad explained that his son had been born with a club foot and that at three days old the doctors amputated his son's foot.

            We asked again about why Dad wanted to enroll him with us.  Turns out the other school felt the boy’s prosthesis would be too much of a distraction for the other students—that they might not be able to learn because they would be focused on his leg.  Outrageous!

            The school then said that the boy could only come if he wore long pants so that the prosthesis would be covered.  That may not seem like a big deal (long pants), but in Haiti it’s a big deal!  Younger boys wear shorts as part of their school uniform.  It’s not until middle/high school that boys wear long pants. So, this little guy would look different from all the other boys in his long pants.

More outrage--not only on my part, but also on the part of the other administrators.

            We still had to decide whether to accept him.  Our K1 class is not only full, but we are overbooked—22 kids instead of 20.  The administration talked through options, but we couldn’t really think of any good ones. So, my next step was to ask the K1 teacher what she thought because if we accepted him, she was the one who would have to live with the decision every day.

            We called Mme. Barbara in and explained the situation.  Her immediate response was a “yes.”  

Have I mentioned that the Center has great staff???

            I am so glad . . . so happy . . . so thrilled . . . so humbled that the Haiti Center for Inclusive Education is (and will be for others) a safe place for this little guy.  

God's Hand

          It’s been a busy, fulfilling week.  Lots of little things:

·     More students attending

·     Working on IEPs for kids

·     Trying to support teachers

·     Learning to buy fresh bread from a small, local shop instead of at a grocery store

·     Ordering and buying supplies for the school

          The best part, though, was being a part of God working in people’s lives.  

          Let me start with Wideline, our K2 aide.  She has been on maternity leave in September and is supposed to return to work the first week of October.  I saw her on Friday, and she wasn’t sure whether she could return because she didn’t have anyone to watch her baby (two of her older kids will start school with us in October).  Her family needs her income because her husband’s work is inconsistent.

Ashley and me

          Next is Ashley’s mom.  She brings Asley, a girl with Down’s Syndrome, and her younger sister to the Center for school.  They come each day from Carrefour, and it takes them about 2-3 hours to get to school. For this week, Mom has been staying at the school during the day because she doesn’t have the time or money to bring them to school, go home, and then come back to get the girls.  Mom’s sponsors are looking for a place for Mom and the girls to live during the week.  They are also hoping that Mom can find a small job so that she can make some money.

Ashley's sister is in the peach-
colored dress

          Enter God.  

          Okay “enter Jamie really paying attention and finally noticing God’s hand at work.”

          Earlier this week I asked Gertrude whether she knew anyone who could rent Mom a room.  Turns out, her nieces have a room to rent—definitely a possibility for Mom and the girls.  An added bonus is that the room is not far from the orphanage and is only about 25 minutes from the Center.

          A place to live is taken care of.  Now for a job.

          Enter Wideline’s need for a babysitter.

          After talking with Wideline on Friday, I went back to her on Saturday with this idea: Wideline brings the baby to the Center, and Ashley’s mom takes care of the baby during the school day.  Wideline would have a babysitter and be able to return to work, and Ashley’s mom would have a job!

          God brought two people together who had needs the other could meet.  I don’t know how it will all work out, but God has put them in the same place at the same time for a reason.  

         

It will be a joy to watch how it all plays out.

Boundaries

           

Another busy week is in the books.  So much happened that I’m not sure where to begin!

            First of all, more students came—we’re up to about 65 kids now.  There are still kids who registered who haven’t come, so we’ll see what this week brings.  My fear is that they are not coming because their parents can’t afford to pay the entry fee.  I know that that is cultural, but it really bothers me because the longer kids are out of school, the harder it is for them to progress.

Who couldn't love Elena?

            I saw firsthand this week why we need to have an inclusive school.  For many of our students this year, it is the first time they’ve been around people with disabilities.  A couple of times, when one of our special-needs students walked by, the boys backed away as if frightened.  Another day during recess, some of the boys didn’t want to let one of our girls with Down’s Syndrome play on the playground equipment with them.  I insisted that she could, but they didn’t look happy about it.  Then, when she got down, they wiped off the seat she had been sitting on.  

            It just about broke my heart to see 7-8 year olds acting this way because they had learned this attitude from somewhere.  We have our work cut out for us, but at least the Center is a place where kids (and their parents) can learn to think differently about people with handicaps.  

            It’s been interesting to watch the teachers interact with the kids the second week.  They are doing an amazing job with them!  We finally got a soccer ball, so the boys are running all over kicking that around. While they are doing that, the teachers are playing with the girls and teaching them simply playground games—reminds me of some of the games we played when I was little!  The teachers are having fun, and so are the kids.  I love the relationship building that is going on.

            Teachers are also doing their best to modify for the kids.  One of our 2^ndgraders, Jephte, really struggles with all things academic.  So, I’ve been going in to his class at the end of the day to write down his homework for him—it normally took him so long to write down the homework that he just stopped copying it down.  Then, he couldn’t do it.  Well, after doing this for three days, the teacher started doing it herself!  Now, Jephte at least knows what his homework is and has a chance of doing it!  Next step---get him all the books that he needs!

            I don’t know whether all of you know this, but this year I am living at Notre Maison, many of whose children attend the Haiti Center for Inclusive Education. I have known many of these kids for a number of years and have a personal relationship with them.  Because of that, I have worked hard this past month to set some boundaries at home—I pretty much stay upstairs away from the kids.  I believe it’s important that they know that at school, we have one relationship while at Notre Maison, we have another. I know those strict boundaries won’t stay there forever, but I think it’s a good way to start.

            I say all that because this past week I decided to change some of those boundaries.  One little guy, Alvarez, has many emotional needs.  He causes more trouble than anyone I know, and he has the reputation at home and at school for being the one causing trouble.  I’m not sure I’ve ever heard him get any positive praise. So, last Friday after chapel I asked Alvarez whether he would “help” me memorize the Bible verse so that I could recite in this week at chapel.  Every day we sat together up on the roof of the orphanage and worked on the verse. Friday in chapel, he “helped” me recite it, and he got positive praise!  The smile on his face was priceless.  

Suze works with kids on memorizing Bible verse

            Another student who struggles, Kethia, sat next to me during Chapel.  I had my hymnal and Bible with me, and as I was singing, I noticed her moving closer and closer to me—she wanted to read, too.  Then, while the group was praying, Kethia took my Bible and started reading from it. She helped me find the memory verse for this week in the Bible, and when I asked her whether we should recite it together next week, she smiled and said yes!

            I have a feeling I’m going to be memorizing a lot of Bible verses this year!

When the Kids Don't Come

         

Introductions in 4th grade

          The first week of school is supposed to be a time to meet new students, welcome back the returning ones, and embark on new adventures.

            For that to happen, though, the kids need to come.

            And ours didn’t.

            Well, some came.  The first day we had five kids until 9:15 when the students from Notre Maison arrived. By Friday we had about 10 kids and the Notre Maison kids.

            I learned this week that Haitian parents often don’t send their kids to school the first week.  Why?

            No one really knows.  It’s just tradition.  Go figure.

            I’m hoping that tomorrow all—or most—of the students show up!

            The week did have its upsides!  We had our first day of music classes ever—the kids loved it as did the adults.  We don’t have many instruments yet, but the teacher did a great job with what we have: a couple of recorders, some rhythm sticks, a set of drum sticks, and a couple of drums.  

Kindergarten class--Day 1

            Music is one of the areas where the teachers and administrators plan on growing the school very quickly when I am content to go slowly.  The music teacher is already talking about trying out the older kids who show some talent on different instruments.  Don’t know what different instruments he’s talking about because we don’t have much!  And, the principals are already planning a big musical extravaganza for kindergarten graduation.  

            I need them all to watch What About Bob?  Baby steps are okay!  

On Being the Boss

            Being the boss is hard.  It’s constant decision making.  It’s constant problem solving.  It’s constant question answering.  It’s constant everything.

1st grade

            And, I often don’t know whether I’m making the right decisions or finding the best solutions or handing the problems correctly.  

            This week I had to share principal responsibilities with the two principals so that they were filling their day with work not other stuff.  I have to sit with one of the teachers and encourage/tell her that she will need to do things differently this year even though she doesn’t want to.  I have to sit with another teacher and talk with her about her under-the-breathe comments about whether one of her students can learn. 

Parachute fun!

            I am not looking forward to doing these things.  It would be hard to do in English, and I get to do all this in Creole. Unfortunately, that sometimes means needing the translator to be present, which I don’t like because it interferes with confidentiality.  

            I continue to balance wanting to do things my way with making sure we have a shared vision that the school can grow into.  Balancing what I believe is educationally best based on American schools with respecting Haitian tradition and culture.

            I learned a lot about Haitian culture this past week, not only about parents not sending kids the first week, but also about the importance of raises and what is seen as respectful/disrespectful to Haitians and honoring Haitian laws even if the government doesn’t.  

There are days when I am completely overwhelmed by how much I don’t know about Haiti.  

In-Service Week

In-service week is over.  

It is the first time that I planned and/or led in-service for teachers.  It was really odd being on the administrative side of the process and not the teacher side of it.  All in all, I’d say it went okay.  But, then again, I’m not sure what that week is supposed to look like because last year I was only around for two days of it.  

We did most of what I would consider standard in-service type things from an American perspective:

Ø Introduced new staff

Ø Went over new rules and expectations

Ø Signed contracts

Ø Took time to look at new resources and discuss how they could be used in the classroom

Ø Shared what we learned at our summer workshops

Ø Had time to work on classroom decorations

I’ll have to get some feedback from the staff to see what they liked and what they want to change.  For all I know, they hated it!

A lot of my week focused on building and maintenance issues, another new area for me!  We had to repair the front gate because someone drove into and dented it pretty bad.  We had plumbers in to fix pipes and toilets.   A plumber will be back this week because our water tank sprung three leaks. It won’t be fixed in time for the first day of school tomorrow, but I’m hoping it will be done by the end of the week!

There are still some things that I need to get done before the kids arrive tomorrow—the most important being getting TP for the bathrooms!—but they all are do-able.  I think.  I hope.

Interviews were interesting again this year.  I am so used to the scripted interviews at my old public school that the loose interviewing here throws me.  We had a whole morning of interviews planned.  We all knew about well in advance, yet I was the only one of the three on the interviewing “committee” to come with questions prepared, paper, and a writing utensil.  One person came with nothing!  Took no notes.  Nothing.

We called one man to come for an interview, and he brought his wife to interview as well because she had also submitted a resume. Didn’t matter that we hadn’t called his wife for an interview!  He thought we could just squeeze her in; and we did!  Go figure.  The man was interviewing for a 2^ndgrade position, and the two principals asked lots of questions about how he would decorate his room.  Not in the sense of “What will you put up?” but in the sense of “You are a man.  How will you be able to be creative and decorate?”  Irony of ironies—we ended up hiring the wife and not the husband!  Seriously, only in Haiti.

Carrying them in

K-3 classroom

Of course, I don’t know why I should be surprised by these things because one applicant put on his resume that he was married to only one woman.  I don’t know whether he meant to just one woman at a time or that he had been married only once.  Didn’t call him for an interview, so I couldn’t ask.  Which would've been okay here in Haiti!

The coolest part about all the interviewing is that we hired a part-time music teacher!  That rocks!  That’s something we didn’t think we would be able to do until January, but God had other plans.  

Three "extra" for this year go in the play room

The other thing that I’m TOTALLY excited about are our new benches for the kindergarten, 1^st grade, and 2^nd 

grade classrooms.  All 12 were delivered yesterday, and they look awesome!  We now have enough seats for our younger kids without the small rooms looking completely overcrowded.  Again, God is good!  The desks were made by Maxima S.A. here in Port-au-Prince.  They are amazing to work with and do awesome work.  I hope to work with them more in the future. 

We are ready to embark on the first day of our second year of school for the Haiti Center for Inclusive Education—thank you to everyone who has been a part of this over the years!