Kenscoft
Last Sunday I went with Fr. Rick, another sister, a volunteer from Ireland, a man who is from Mexico who oversees the Angels of Light program, a man from Haiti, and a driver to a place called Kenscoft, which is in the mountains, where NPH has had an orphanage for many years. The drive was long and beautiful. It was considerably cooler up there, I borrowed a jacket from a long term volunteer to wear during the liturgy. I enjoyed meeting some of the children and especially some of the children and young adults who have disabilities. After the liturgy we had a lunch which consisted of popcorn, then soup and lastly chicken. On the way home we stopped at a place that sold statues , and Fr. Rick bought the only two that did not appear to me to be broken, both statues of the Blessed Mother, one was placed in front of the crematorium which is behind the children's hospital, the other is for St. Luke, which is the adult hospital.
Ministry
Well my ministry is evolving. After observing at the school for several days and having discussions about what I might be able to do to address the needs of the school, it was decided that I would implement a pscychoeducational program, beginning with kindergarten. I will teach skills such as conflict resolution. In the afternoons I am still going to Kay St. Anne to do activities with the children there. Eventually I will probably do activities and lessons to reinforce the psychoeducational program in the afternoons at both orphanages. I am excited about this idea. I will be using ideas and adapting concepts from a curriculum used at my previous ministry. I am quite excited about this. Since I knew the classes were large, I decided I will work with the kindergarten classes in groups, taking half of the class at at a time. Then when I get the list of the names of the children in the four year old class, I thought I wish I had said I would divide them into eighths when I saw 97 names of the enrollment list!
Cholera
There is a cholera epidemic in Haiti. The region where it began is a distance from here, but it is likely it will reach the Portaprince area quiet soon, if it has not already. The children's hospital is planning for it. I worry about the children at the orphanages and school here as there are certain conditions that I think could cause an illness like that to spread easily. On the radio, the government UNICEF and others are reminding people to wash their hands. The fear is that cholera will spread quickly and be especially devastating for the thousands of people living in crowded tent communities. You can probably get better details by watching the news and reading newspapers and websites, than I can tell you.
Child's surgery
There is a child who was sent to the United States for open heart surgery last week. He is doing quite well, surgery went smoothly and he will be discharged soon. When the volunteer who is with him goes to Nicargua for a meeting, I will go to Florida to stay with the child. I will be state side from November first through the sixth.
Kay mwen
The other day air conditioners with remote controls were installed in our houses! This is very exciting, although we can't use them yet, because we don't have electricity, but we expect to get both electricity and running water in the next few weeks.
Province Gathering
Today, thanks to the technology of webcams and internet (SKYPE) I was able to sit at a kitchen table in Tabarre Haiti, while attending a pre-chapter province gathering in Huntingdon Valley Pennsylvania. It was a pleasure to see so many of my sisters!
Well, as you can see there is a lot going on here.
Please keep Haiti in your prayers.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Saturday, October 16, 2010
A few brief updates
So, as I have not had any success recently in getting my computer to connect to the internet, I am writing this blog update on Word and hopefully can copy and paste it into the blog either when I can connect my computer to internet or if I save it to a thumb drive and paste it when I borrow someone’s computer.
Since there are only four babies at Kay St. Anne in the morning, I am now going to St. Louie which is the school the children ages three and over attend. The school is located where the children in the residential program who are over the age of six live. In addition to the orphaned children, many other school age students come most from nearby tent communities where they reside with their families. This week I mostly observed in different classrooms to get ideas as to how I can be supportive to the children and their teachers. One of my biggest frustrations is that it is still often difficult for me to comprehend what people are saying to me in Creole. At the school I understand considerably less, because many of the lessons are taught to the children in French. When I am with many of the youngest children I realize that they don’t fully understand the songs they are singing or what the teachers are saying either, after all, those going to school for the first time are essentially hearing the French language for the first time. All of the classes are held in large tents which don’t have electricity. The primary educational methods used in Haiti are route learning, recitation, copying, memorizing, and singing in the kindergarten classrooms. I was able to participate when they sang the only French song that I kind of know Fera Jaques (I don’t know how to spell it though.) The school day ends around 12:00, then the children eat a meal usually of rice and beans in their classrooms. After school I go with the children who live at Kay St. Anne to their home where I am assisting the staff with doing activities with groups of children. The centers I set up on the roof for the children to play are working out reasonably well.
Tomorrow another volunteer from the United States and a nine year old Haitian child who most likely needs to have open heart surgery are leaving for Florida. Assuming he has the surgery as planned, and needs a few weeks to recover, I will likely replace the volunteer, for several day in early November when she needs to go to a meeting somewhere else. This is not definite as there are several factors that could cause the plan to change, but there is a possibility that I will be Florida caring for a child for several days in early November.
Last weekend I went to Matthew 25 to visit my friend Anne who was my study buddy in Creole class last summer. It was great to see her again, and I enjoyed spending a night at Matthew 25. While there is no doubt that I am now in the ministry that is a better fit for me, I also find that I am grateful for the connections and people at Matthew 25.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Well, while I am unable to connect to the wireless which may or may not be working, since nobody else seems to be waiting here to plug thier computer in for internet, I will try to catch up.
Nearly two weeks ago on a Friday afternoon, we had a bad storm which came quickly. It was extremely windy and the rain was quite heavy; it may have been the remnants of a tropical storm; it felt to me like a mini hurricane, fortunately it did not last too long. At Kay St. Anne, where I work the storm blew some tree branches to the ground but did no real damage. There were problems however where the children over the age of six live. There was one mild injury of an teenage who comes to the program for the day because something blew off the roof of a container and hit her in the mouth. There, tents blew around, water got into the tents and places where the children stay (shipping containers converted into long term shelter), look-out towers that security guards used at night blew down.
Compared with the problems there and in the many tent communities in the area, the water in my house was minimal. The irony is that the tent I used to live in stayed perfectly dry and all of the new houses like mine which were supposed to be hurricane and earth quake proof had water in them. We learned that the crew who assembled the prefabricated houses had not put on some finishing touche which include sealing the seems of the houses; they have completed them now. My cardboard box bookshelf seemed more clever before it got wet. Recently, I was given real shelves for which I am very grateful.
Last week all 40 of the children were home all day, as there was no summer camp or school program. Kay St. Anne was quite a busy place! Everyday the children bring a smile to face and most days break my heart as well. It is such a privilege to watch as a baby learns to walk. Yet, I felt a deep sadness upon hearing a two year old orphan with a fever cry out, "momma, momma."
The children at Kay St. Anne have started their school year this week. All of the children who are three and over are going to school in the mornings now. This week I am using the mornings to help the cook who works there use some of the large supply donated food since the directions are in English. This morning on a typical Haitian charcoal stove, we heated up large precooked packages of rice and Beef Burgundy which was created for the US army. I am also in the process of organizing a space in a porch like area that is on the roof of the house, for the children to play in the afternoons. We are planning activities for them for after school; although the past two days for reasons related to transportation they did not come back until after 2:00.
I had been asked a couple of weeks ago if I would like to go on a bus trip to the beach with the people who gather for liturgy near Matthew 25. I expressed interest, but then the date changed. I found out on Saturday that they would be going on Sunday, but I had no idea how I would get there, as I don't have a car, and have yet to develop any sense of direction here, nor would it be safe for me to take a tap tap by myself to Matthew 25, so said I would not be going. Then, I was offered a ride. Never do I remember being so excited about going to the beach. A driver, the priest, a volunteer who is at Matthew 25 and about five others arrived at the gate by St. Damien hospital in a crowded SUV at 10:00 am. There was also a full school bus which they had charteded for the day as well. Like many buses and vehicles in Haiti, the school bus was likely a hand me down from the United States, at least I don't think there is a Pottsville Area School District in Haiti which can afford a school bus like that and if there is they would have painted the word "lekol" on it instead of "school." The drive to the beach was wonderful. It was really the first time I had left the general Purtaprince area. We drove for about two hours through smaller towns and rural areas. We saw large tent communities on the sides of mountains which I was told have sprouted up more recently as some people who were living in the city were relocated, although there did not seem to be much around them in terms employment or resources; the only visible advantage I could think of was that the tents and shelters were not so close together as they are in the city. As we got closer to our destination, there were tall mountains on our right and beautiful ocean views and occasional resort signs on our left (including a sign for the Obama Hotel.) The beach was a piece of land someone said had been left to the diocese. The water was clear, calm and a beautiful turquoise color. There were people on the trip of varied ages and it was wonderful to see so many people really enjoying themselves. I learned that for my Irish skin applying a number 70 sunscreen four times is insufficient when spending three hours at the beach in Haiti, oh mezami!
Nearly two weeks ago on a Friday afternoon, we had a bad storm which came quickly. It was extremely windy and the rain was quite heavy; it may have been the remnants of a tropical storm; it felt to me like a mini hurricane, fortunately it did not last too long. At Kay St. Anne, where I work the storm blew some tree branches to the ground but did no real damage. There were problems however where the children over the age of six live. There was one mild injury of an teenage who comes to the program for the day because something blew off the roof of a container and hit her in the mouth. There, tents blew around, water got into the tents and places where the children stay (shipping containers converted into long term shelter), look-out towers that security guards used at night blew down.
Compared with the problems there and in the many tent communities in the area, the water in my house was minimal. The irony is that the tent I used to live in stayed perfectly dry and all of the new houses like mine which were supposed to be hurricane and earth quake proof had water in them. We learned that the crew who assembled the prefabricated houses had not put on some finishing touche which include sealing the seems of the houses; they have completed them now. My cardboard box bookshelf seemed more clever before it got wet. Recently, I was given real shelves for which I am very grateful.
Last week all 40 of the children were home all day, as there was no summer camp or school program. Kay St. Anne was quite a busy place! Everyday the children bring a smile to face and most days break my heart as well. It is such a privilege to watch as a baby learns to walk. Yet, I felt a deep sadness upon hearing a two year old orphan with a fever cry out, "momma, momma."
The children at Kay St. Anne have started their school year this week. All of the children who are three and over are going to school in the mornings now. This week I am using the mornings to help the cook who works there use some of the large supply donated food since the directions are in English. This morning on a typical Haitian charcoal stove, we heated up large precooked packages of rice and Beef Burgundy which was created for the US army. I am also in the process of organizing a space in a porch like area that is on the roof of the house, for the children to play in the afternoons. We are planning activities for them for after school; although the past two days for reasons related to transportation they did not come back until after 2:00.
I had been asked a couple of weeks ago if I would like to go on a bus trip to the beach with the people who gather for liturgy near Matthew 25. I expressed interest, but then the date changed. I found out on Saturday that they would be going on Sunday, but I had no idea how I would get there, as I don't have a car, and have yet to develop any sense of direction here, nor would it be safe for me to take a tap tap by myself to Matthew 25, so said I would not be going. Then, I was offered a ride. Never do I remember being so excited about going to the beach. A driver, the priest, a volunteer who is at Matthew 25 and about five others arrived at the gate by St. Damien hospital in a crowded SUV at 10:00 am. There was also a full school bus which they had charteded for the day as well. Like many buses and vehicles in Haiti, the school bus was likely a hand me down from the United States, at least I don't think there is a Pottsville Area School District in Haiti which can afford a school bus like that and if there is they would have painted the word "lekol" on it instead of "school." The drive to the beach was wonderful. It was really the first time I had left the general Purtaprince area. We drove for about two hours through smaller towns and rural areas. We saw large tent communities on the sides of mountains which I was told have sprouted up more recently as some people who were living in the city were relocated, although there did not seem to be much around them in terms employment or resources; the only visible advantage I could think of was that the tents and shelters were not so close together as they are in the city. As we got closer to our destination, there were tall mountains on our right and beautiful ocean views and occasional resort signs on our left (including a sign for the Obama Hotel.) The beach was a piece of land someone said had been left to the diocese. The water was clear, calm and a beautiful turquoise color. There were people on the trip of varied ages and it was wonderful to see so many people really enjoying themselves. I learned that for my Irish skin applying a number 70 sunscreen four times is insufficient when spending three hours at the beach in Haiti, oh mezami!
Friday, October 1, 2010
Very brief update
Greetings!
I have much to say but as the internet has been spotty and there are a lot of misquotes in the room where I am using a computer that is actually able to access the internet; I will exclude the details for now. Things are generally going well. I am fine. My days are full. I am enjoying working with the children. I truly feel that at the moment I am where I am called to be. There are many challenges that are truly stretching me in a good way. Know that I appreacite the love and support of all of you at home or wherever you are at the moment.
Many Blessings!
Love, Kathleen
I have much to say but as the internet has been spotty and there are a lot of misquotes in the room where I am using a computer that is actually able to access the internet; I will exclude the details for now. Things are generally going well. I am fine. My days are full. I am enjoying working with the children. I truly feel that at the moment I am where I am called to be. There are many challenges that are truly stretching me in a good way. Know that I appreacite the love and support of all of you at home or wherever you are at the moment.
Many Blessings!
Love, Kathleen
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