A Week with Friends

          The past week has been so much fun.  My friends Susan and Donna came back with me on July 7, and it was great to share Haiti with them.  It was Donna’s first visit, and she was awesome!  She asked great questions, took it all in, made great observations, and may decide to come back!

            We spent the bulk of our time working at Chedner’s orphanage (Divine Family) with his 13 kids.  Our first day we took to drive all over creation looking for dirt to buy and seedlings to plant for a roof top garden at Divine Family.  It was a pain in the butt, and we ended up with no soil and sad looking vegetable seedlings.  The only good thing about the day was that we found some pretty flowers. 

Agricultural School).  We visited the Iron Market, mostly for the cultural experience.  After that we headed up to Delmas 75 to the Apparent Project.  This is an organization that was begun in 2009 by an American couple, and it has grown by leaps and bounds.  The whole goal of the business is to employ Haitian parents so that they have enough money to keep their kids and not have to give them up to orphanages.   We were able to take a tour and see how things are made—all by hand!  I encourage you to check out their website and learn more about what they do:

            Brunel did not find dirt that day, but he did the next.  We took kids to horse therapy Friday morning, and Brunel again headed to the Agricultural School for dirt.  He did find it.  He bought it for us.  Donna about cried when she saw it.  They were not tears of joy.  The bags that he had delivered to Chedner’s was the poorest looking “soil” that I had ever seen. 

            The next day on our way to Chedner’s to start the kids on planting, Donna had has picking up greens and browns to mix in with the soil to try to add nutrients.  We also took the coffee grounds from our kitchen.  We picked up small chunks of cement to put in the bottom of the pots.  We even asked a lady at the market if we could have her pea shells!  She thought we were nuts, but I find that I often have that affect on Haitians.  The lady whom we asked for her egg shells was very dismissive of us.  However, she did let us have them, but she waved us away with a flip of her hand. 

            I loved watching Donna in action as she taught the kids how to mix all the “stuff” together and then add it to the soil.  Both the kids and I learned a ton about soil and planting and seeds.  She truly is a master teacher.  The kids loved working with her.  I understand why because even though she doesn’t speak Creole, she was able to get her point across and help every child feel a part of the process and make each of them feel as if his/her contribution was vital to the success of the garden. 

            Sunday was church and lunch at Kokoye and another trip to the store to buy needed and not-so-needed items.  I finally listened to Chedner about where to buy actual soil and other seedlings, and Monday I went with him to do that while Donna and Susan braved working with the kids on making T-shirts (no small feat when they don’t speak Creole and the kids don’t speak English).  Chedner is the one to go to when in need.  We returned with great soil and much better looking flowers.  Then began the frantic process of re-planting what we had done on Saturday and planting all the new flowers and vegetable seeds.  The kids could actually have vegetables to eat in a month or two!  Sweet!

            Tuesday was bubbles and good byes.  I had it easy because I knew I would see them again.  Susan and Donna not so much.   Yesterday they returned to the States, and I remain in Haiti.