Today and Tent

I spent the day at the house where the younger children. Some of those children go to the school/camp program during the day, but the youngest stay at the house.  A woman comes and does activities with them. It was a lot of fun.  Two new children arrived around lunch time.  Later when I was playing outside with the children, one of the new arrivals looked at me and said, "manman mouri." (mom's dead.) 

It amazes me how people can do so well without things we in the United States generally consider necessities.  Without highchairs, bibs, special baby dishes, baby spoons, or napkins, Haitians seem able to feed babies while sitting with them on the floor, and without getting food all over their own or the baby's clothing.  I fed a baby too, but I will not comment in details on the condition of the clothing of baby or me when we were finished.  Actually, I think I have been to American baby showers where one can find more things for babies than you find in this house where 40 young children reside.
 
I am now sharing the tent with a short term volunteer from Italy.  She seems very nice, however we do find communication a little challenging. If I understood her correctly, she is a midwife; I don't think she understood me when I tried to explain that I am a social worker.  She tells me things in Italian, which I don't understand, I respond in a mixture of English and creole, or say something in English and then try to say the same thing again in Creole; she understands neither language.  She smiles frequently and is quite pleasant.  She gave me a couple of granola bars, which are tasty.  When she was unpacking she showed me things she brought with her which include packages of pasta and little jars of pesto.  Since she moved in, I have learned to say "grati" (thank you in Italian, although I may not have spelled it correctly.) 

The front and side of the tent.  It is in a cluster of identical tents.  

 

The front door! Welcome!  

Yesterday I had time to take pictures of the tent, so you can say that it really is a nice place to live.  I took a few pictures of the grounds which I may post another time.  I have not taken any pictures of the children and at this point I would not feel comfortable posting anyway, in time I will get a better sense of what is appropriate and if I am comfortable may ask permission to post some pictures of the children.  The reason I don't typically post pictures of people is in many circumstances I feel like I probably should get  their permission first; at times I am probably overly cautious about this; but I hope you enjoy the pictures of the tents.          

My bed, belongings and much appreciated fans (they were there when I arrived as was the mosquito net!) There are 6 beds in the tent.  Only mine and now one other are being used.