Okay.  So, I spent about three hours getting this video clip downloaded and working.  The other three video clips from today will have to wait.

Out and About

Today was another day of odds and ends.  I spent most of the day with Pastor John from the Methodist group that has been here all last week. We went Robenson and Patrick (two translators) to a tent city run by an amazing young woman named Camitha.  In addition to running the tent city, she is in her 4^th year at university working on an MBA.  This trip was special because Pastor John and the group were so impressed with the work that Camitha is doing and how helpful she was with them and their projects this week that they promised to pay for her last year of schooling.  Now, Haitians often hear “promises” of help from Americans and others, and that help often doesn’t materialize.  In fact,  Camitha had heard many such promises from large NGOs in the aftermath of the earthquake, and little to none of the promises were kept.  So, Camitha was rightfully skeptical that this group would be any different.  But, this group is different.  We were able to take Camitha to the university, meet with the president, and then walk with her to the bank to deposit the money in the account that pays her tuition. 

University classroom

Camitha at the tent city

            Before we left her, she expressed that there was no way to ever thank Pastor John and his group for what they had done for her.  The $1250 for a year’s tuition seems paltry compared to what a year at an American university costs, but that amount is astronomical here in Haiti.  To have that burden taken from her shoulders frees Camitha up to focus on her studies and her obligations to the people at the tent city.  I don’t know that any of us can truly understand the value of the gift given to her today by relative strangers. 

Gaedone a.k.a. pomegranate

            The next stop was a friend of Robenson’s to get something for Debbie’s sore throat.  I thought we were picking up traditional medicine, but it turns out we picked fruit from the neighbor’s tree.  I didn’t look like any fruit that I had seen, and when I asked Robenson the name, I didn’t recognize it: gaedone.  He split one open and began to eat the seeds, and I commented that it looked just like a pomegranate.  He said no, that wasn’t it.  What do I know?  But, he said that the seeds of the fruit can be boiled in water with some lemon and that the resulting mixture helps soothe a sore throat.  When we returned to the guesthouse, Gertrude boiled it up and had Debbie drink it.  She said it really did work!  And, Gertrude did confirm that a gaedone is, in fact, a pomegranate. 

Picking Pomegranates 

            The day was long, bumpy, and hot (gave me a headache), but the night has been calm.  Right now, I’m up on the roof typing, enjoying the breeze.  About mid-afternoon each day a great breeze comes in, and this is the place to be to cool off.  The breeze helps keep the bugs away, so it’s a double bonus!

Sun and Sand

Today was the best.  My morning was slow, and then about 10:30 Gertrude, Denise, and I headed out to Wahoo Bay Beach Resort.  It’s a gorgeous resort about an hour north of Port-au-Prince.  We found a spot under an umbrella right near the water, ordered lunch, and then dived into the water.  Refreshing.  And clear.  At least 12 feet deep, and I could see the sand at the bottom.  If Haiti every gets its act together, it could make tons of money on tourism. 

            Lunch consisted of a regular old hamburger and fries.  And a Diet Coke.  An American Diet Coke, which is different from the Coke Lite that sells in the grocery stores.  I spent my afternoon people watching, cooling off in the water, and reading.  Even with how busy I have been, I have found more time to read than I normally do during the school year.  I love it!  The down side is that I’m running out of books.

Relaxing on the beach.

Great View!

One of the many bars.  No Super Bowl coverage--just soccer.

            The variety of people at the resort interested me.  Lots of U.N. off-duty U.N. soldiers, families (some Haitian, some American, and some “mixed” in terms of adoptions), a group of orphans with a visiting mission team, and then just random folks like us.  Multiple languages were spoken.  It was pretty cool.

            Tomorrow I am going to go out with a couple of people from the MO mission team as they finish up some of their work before heading up to Arcaia.  We will stop in at the tent city where they sponsor children to go to school, run its director over to the university, and then finish the Apparent Project.  I want to meet both the women who run these places because I think there is a lot that I can learn from them.

            I read my second letter from my church this morning.  Thank you Don and Laurie for the words of encouragement.  The words you wrote “new challenges for mind, body and spirit” hit home for me.  I have certainly been challenged in my mind.  Some days I feel like a first-year teacher again reading up on interventions the night before I try them with the kids.  My mind is continually challenged as I struggle to communicate in Creole.  My body is facing the challenges of being on my knees so often working with the different kids.  The knees and hips have hurt lately due to all the up and down on the floor.  My wrists hurt a couple of days from the massaging.  I have a whole new respect for all physical therapists because they are working physically hard when working on their patients. 

            And the spirit is constantly challenged.  The days that I haven’t made the time to read Scripture have been the hardest because those are the days that doubts assail me.  It is so easy to be daunted by the seemingly insurmountable challenges here.  Knowing that God is with me every step of the way sustains me.  Knowing that friends and family walk with me helps tremendously.  It makes me feel less alone.  And it is easy to feel alone here. 

            So Don and Laurie, thank you for helping me to put into words how on so many fronts I am faced with challenges but that I am not expected to face any of those challenges alone.

       I can't believe that I've been here for 10 days now!  The time truly has gone by quickly.  The week-day routines are pretty set, but I'm still working on the weekend one.  With all the kids around, it's hard to find space to work with the special-needs kids, and the able-bodied kids are always asking me to play.  I've learned to say that I'm working ("M'ap travey") or I am busy ("Mwen okipe").  That seems to help.

     The beach trip was postponed until tomorrow because of the number of people who arrived last night.  Most of them were just at Gertrude's for the day before heading on to their final destination, but it was chaos last night and this morning!  I shared my room last night with my friend Rachel and her 3-month old baby (who cried for five hours straight).  The good thing about having roomies (especially a little one that is hot, tired, and wailing) is that I discovered that the air conditioner in my room works!  I'm going to save it for the REALLY hot nights, not just the normal hot nights.  

     The pictures are from our Carnivale celebration last night.  The kids loved it!  They all love to dance and sing, and the hair paint was a major hit.  A good time was had by all.

Gertrude dancing with Forlan

Pastor John from MO

Wolton, an old soul in a young body

Debbie, from MO, dancing with Michael

Jude loves music!  He's our little Stevie Wonder

Angela helping Jean-Daniel eat his popcorn.

Odds and Ends

Just some odds and ends today.  The first picture is of water samples taken from two wells that a Methodist group from MO has been a part of constructing and maintaining over the past couple of years.  They have recently installed filters so to purify the water coming from the well.  They took samples to see how effective the filters are.  The bottle all the way to the left (the filled with pretty black water)—that one is a sample of city water from Port-au-Prince.  People bath in that water, cook with that water, and drink that water.  Scary. 

 

            The second picture is of a new special-needs child who arrived late this afternoon. We’re not sure of her name yet.  The police found her on the streets and took her to social services who brought her here to Notre Maison.  Gertrude tried to say no, she couldn’t take her because she didn’t have enough space, but they made her take the little girl.  However, social services provides no money for her food or doctor bills.  It is now Gertrude’s responsibility to take the girl to the doctor and find out about her health: what her physical disabilities are, whether she has any diseases, etc.  Should be interesting to see what happens!

Tomorrow the plan is to go to the beach with Gertrude, her friend Denise, and the little girl (Alica—no, not my Alicia) Denise is adopting.