More Haiti "Facts" - Our Observations of the Quirkiness

Before we provided some factual information about Haiti to all of you and I am sure that we could add to that list, as many of you are wondering what it would be like to just see for a day what we see.  Here's some peculiar and maybe bizarre occurrences that we tend to observe on a daily basis.  Some are funny and some just cause us to shake our heads...

1) It is ALWAYS noisy here.  The kids start arriving at 6:30 and they are very active and loud.  At least the Pre-Kindergarten kids have stopped crying when they get dropped off.  Classrooms are noisy and there are no window panes so the sounds of 15 classrooms hums together in a great symphony of chatter and song.

Church services and choir practices commence as early as 6am and end as late as 12pm.  The sound systems here would have a better chance of deafening the listener than enhancing their listening experience but they like it to be LOUD!  During dinner time once in a while, you have to raise your voice substantially to have a conversation across the table.

I kid you not, someone at the church next door was performing a microphone check at 3:15 in the morning.  Ugh.

2) Roosters crow from 12am to 6am, usually about the same time as dogs start barking and terrorizing each other.  Often, we'll hear one dog yelping like it was being attacked, which sets off the other animals for hours on end.  Thank goodness for earplugs, fans and familiarity.

3) Creole does not include a lot of 'r' or 'l' words.  When most people try to pronounce these consonants it sounds like an 'r' is an 'l' or 'w'.  This makes word pronunciation very challenging!  The one that bugs me the most is "four" - "fwa".  But we're working on it :)

4) Adjectives are scarce.  Synonyms are even more so non-existent.  There is usually 1 word for an object or action and that's it!  Wash means mop, clean, sweep, scrub...

5) Everyone has a cell phone but all the service is pay-as-you-go.  They are constantly talking and it doesn't seem they ever have enough minutes, always running out and having to buy more.

6) Girls like guys who speak French.  This is a very desirable quality for a man to possess, because it means you are educated.

7) If there is an open road, a Haitian will drive as fast as mechanically possible.  We travelled the one nice highway here in the back of a tap-tap and you would've thought our driver had been given a Ferrari for the day.  We haven't driven with him since, and we're ok with that.

8) Roads are all 2 way.  There are 2, 3 or 4 lanes, based on driver's discretion, with no formal yellow markings.  Motorcycles slip through tiny cracks between opposing vehicles, so that actually makes 5 lanes.

9) If little kids don't speak a lick of English, they all can shout "Hey you!"  You = white person

There is no 10th fact, that would be too conventional :)

The Growing Stage

     Today marked the first day - of many days to come - of getting up at 5:00 to work out with Nadege.  We went to the roof, where the sun was not yet up, but rising, and the rays coming over the mountain were amazing...the view was miraculous, and the cool morning breeze made everything perfect.  This in itself will be motivation alone to get up.  To see God's creation, so beautiful, made me feel such a connection with God.
     It has been a month (and half a week) since we first arrived here in Haiti, and the time here has challenged me in many ways already.

      I have been challenged in the nursing realm: to critically think through symptoms and decide on the potential illness - one that we don't have at home.  ( Some of the symptoms are the same as home, all the illnesses are different).
     I have been training a Haitian nurse to take over the school nursing position, which is ironic considering this is the first time I've worked this position as well.  Working with Jesula, the nurse, has challenged me to be open to a different nursing opinion than my own, adjust to the laid-back culture, and be very patient.
     Nursing has revealed assumptions I have made, that have been wrong.  I have seen some terrible things when the children come to me.  Worms in one child's foot cutting of the circulation and having the potential to take his foot from him if the problem persisted.  This was a rough day for me.  I instantly became mad with the parents, and could not imagine how the parents could allow this boy's foot to become so bad.  I still don't know.  I sent home the medication needed to help heal the foot, and prayed that they would follow the instructions I laid out, but knew if they didn't his foot could be far worse the next time I saw him.  I would be lying if I said I was not surprised when the next time I saw him his foot had begun to heal.
     This is where the assumptions come.  I believed the parents did not care enough to take care of this boy; but, given the right resources they were able to look after him.  He is still recovering, but he is recovering.  After remarking on the lack of care the parents had, I learned that many Haitian parents work all day to provide food for their family.  A day without work to go to the clinic for help would mean a day without pay.  I am torn, and still working through my feelings on the justification of this, but it is still a reason.  I am learning to understand the way a culture living in poverty works.

     I have been challenged in the spiritual realm: to set time for God, and time for my devotions.  Through this time I have already seen a growth in my connection with God, and my understanding of His word.  I have felt more of a peace regarding the unknown future (I mean years from now)... but i believe God has also been giving Jeremy and I dreams for the future in a country we have not yet been.  We will see what is to come.
     These dreams have been exciting, but also tough as I think of the time away from my family.  But I know that God knows my heart, and when I follow his will for our lives, then He will provide a means to connect with family.

     This hasn't been a challenge, but Jeremy and I have grown in our marriage in the short time we have been here.  Living in a different culture, following the call on our life, dreaming of the future, has all helped the strengthen the bond we already have.

      In all, I do not believe that Jeremy and I are called to Haiti for a long-term duration - although know one really knows the future.....  But I do believe that we are hear to grow in many ways, and prepare ourselves for the future to come.

So what now...?

Alright, alright it's a loaded question and in some ways probably premature, right?  Is it really though?  The time here has been more encouraging than eye-opening I could say.  Our eyes have been opened before, that's why we're here now.  The encouragement from our friends here, family and friends back home and the smiling kids who encourage you simply by giving ALL their time to you has made it very worthwhile.  Too worthwhile?  A life-changing, life-shaping worthwhile?  There's a lot going on in our thoughts.  This passage in Isaiah is profound for me right now and consequently has landed in my devotional at precisely the right time:

If you offer your food to the hungry
    and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
    and your gloom be like the noonday.
The Lord will guide you continually,
    and satisfy your needs in parched places,
    and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
    like a spring of water,
    whose waters never fail (Isa. 58:10-11)

Truly, I hope that God can give us wild dreams beyond our comfort and scope of thinking and challenge us to then go and accomplish it, no matter what.  I can feel God's provision for us and it gives great hope for the future, especially when wondering about all the what-ifs that would love to steal my time.  At the same time, I don't wish to say too much or too little.  God is working in us every day, for now and for the future.  I'm pretty sure He's telling us to reference any queries we have to Isaiah 58 for today and that in itself will be enough to face tomorrow.

We're still here!

Sometimes its hard to find the time to write a blog, or just motivate yourself to do so.  However, if I found time to study the NFL scoresheets today, I suppose I should finally sit down and write again!

Life is great here and we just completed our first full week of school.  A lot of students are still missing as we have been told they trickle back from holidays, so in another week we should be at full capacity.  So far I have found I still am quite terrified of grade 2s and it has been a real treat to work with grade 6s.  They are so grown up!

The adult classes keep me on my toes as well, these Haitians are really hungry for knowledge and all of them are extremely motivated to learn English.  I have realized that there's a lot more than I remember when it comes to grammar and the specifics of writing.  I'm so used to simply writing and processing simultaneously if the words make sense or not.  For people that don't understand the language though, making sense of even beginning English is a stretch.  I don't know how far I will stretch their experience with my native tongue, but we are certainly enjoying ourselves and they call me "teacher".  I don't think that will lead me to develop a Messiah complex, but I do carry the title with much responsibility.  Did I mention I am making my own curriculum too??

So besides working out grammar with the adults, simple sentences with the higher grades and Head and Shoulders with the little kids, there hasn't been much time to work on my Creole or French.  However, my translator is very motivated to teach me and keeps offering his regular services.  That's what I love about some of these people, they take a lot of pride in what they do know and willingly extend it to others no questions asked.  Haiti would become a different place if the mindset of all these people work within their community with this sort of attitude.

One story that is close to home.  Pastor Leon is taking a trip to Calgary and consequently he received a call from a singer from there who visited Cite Soleil last year.  He told Leon that he performs benefit concerts and that he would be interested in raising money for Leon's mission here at HOM.  Leon was thrilled at this prospect but he just never heard back from this guy.  Well the singer just happened to call Leon the other day and said he'd be performing this Wednesday night in Edmonton, so Leon and his wife will be able to attend the concert while they are in Alberta!

I was getting the feeling that we would know who this person was once he told us his name, even though to Leon, this singer was just a regular dude with a guitar.  Well it turns out its Paul Brandt, so we told Leon he's very well known and always is doing amazing things for ministries like his.  Really awesome that this is in the works and I'm going to track down the details so that you Edmontonians could maybe attend!

Thanks everyone for keeping in touch as well.  We really have felt loved during our first 3 weeks here and part of that is the great communication from home!  Our love goes out to you all and we really hope you will stay in touch :)

The Broken City

Yesterday we took a trip to downtown Port au Prince, which was hit the hardest in the earthquake.  The sights overwhelmed me by the end - so much devastation.  Picture this: beautiful old buildings, 3-4 storeys high, with old & unique architecture, lining the streets.  The envision these buildings missing large parts of walls, sloped, falling, rubble at the bases of the buildings, beams exposed, large pieces of concrete hanging from the floor above it; in some cases the buildings look as though they could fall in the next major wind.  Directly under the awning of each building sits person after person, selling their product - a tiny selection of shoes, fruit, gum, purses, clothes, paintings...anything they can really....and their are thousands of these people in front and almost under each destroyed building.  And then, of coarse to finish the scene, thousands of people on the street buying items, sacs on top of heads, tap-tap’s, loaded with people, all attempting to be the first to get through the chaos... and motorcycles carrying anything that it can have near miss after near miss while weaving in and out of traffic.  During this, what appears to be a mess of traffic, each vehicle is laying on the horn to speed pass the next vehicle.  Riding in the back of a tap-tap is also a unique experience, as the passengers get to look out the back of the truck bed at all the passing sights, a breeze making it’s way through to each person - this breeze also filled with dust and emissions from every vehicle that passes.  By the end of the trip, this also became overwhelming to me.  I was craving the smell of fresh air, but as soon as we left the city core, the smell of burning garbage and polluted stagnant water filled the air instead; and even back at the base we still could not escape the smoke from the garbage.

When you are immersed in the middle of this devastating, and seemingly hopeless situation, it is hard to see past it all.  How can things change?  Where do you begin when EVERY building needs to be re-built?  When EVERY previously green space is inhabited with tent after tent - people’s new homes?

Once back in the quiet of the complex I began to remember the reason we came: it was for the children.  To help equip and change a new generation.  WIthout Jeremy here, there would be 100-120 adults without an English teacher, and English is the new hope.  If we can help stimulate the children to dream and discover new things and want change, then that is the beginning of the future to come.

Field of Crosses

On Saturday, we had the privilege of stopping on the side of the road at a mass grave where bodies used to lie after the earthquake, now marked by fallen crosses.  On that same highway, a new community of people who had scattered to the side of a mountain to start a new life after the earthquake - Pastor Leon calls this community “New Jerusalem”.  In most places you go there are reminders of the earthquake; yet, it will take still a very long time before things are “cleaned up”....

A general overview....

It has been a week since we’ve been in Haiti, and it feels just as so.  The days, since coming here, have been long; and, there has not yet been a night where we’ve slept without waking numerous times... this is due to the 2 AM dog fights, the 3 AM roosters, and the 4 AM woman singing... Despite these things, Jeremy and I are coming to love Haiti, and most of all, the Haitians that live here.  The people at the base where we live - Terre Noire -  have been so welcoming and genuine, always greeting us with “Bonjour Stacey/Jeremy, Komon ou ye? (How are you?)”. 

Although the President just declared that school would start the second week of October, “Summer School” will start, just as planned on Monday, which will bring the beginning of our responsibilities here.  

Today Jeremy had registration for the adult English classes, which will be held after regular school hours - 2 classes of 40 quickly turned to 3.  How do you turn away people who come to better their future?  In Haiti, English is just that, hope for a way out of such poverty.  

Following supper, we spent a good hour going over different meanings of words with my translator, Garrison.  He speaks very well already, yet is eager to know everything. It was enjoyable just watching how excited he was merely to learn new words!

On Sunday I started my first after-church blood pressure and blood sugar screening at Blanchard, where we live.  I will be alternating this screening between here and Cite Soleil every Sunday.  Once school begins, I will also be the school nurse on alternate days between Blanchard, Cite Soleil, and Ibo Beach - where I have not yet visited.  I am a little nervous having to treat skin diseases that I have not yet seen, but, like I told Garrison, Monday will be a learning experience.