I am  in Rhode Island grateful to be able to spend time with family.  At the moment Haiti feels worlds away, yet my mind wanders back there from time to time.  When I think of the number of relatives, I have and spent time with during these past several days, and I juxtapose that with thoughts of the children at the orphanage especially those who went to spent the holiday with a worker since their families were too far away and could not come for them, I feel amazingly grateful for what I have and sad for those who either lack the means to visit their extended family or don't have family connections.  It is wonderful to be here at Christmas time, and also at moments somehow challenging to  be surrounded by relative abundance.  I hope that you had a blessed Christmas and that your New Year will be filled with joy, and peace.

I just came across this on-line about educating children in Haiti in Haitian Creole.  These are the ideas that make sense to me as an educator and a social worker.  I wish I could find the same information presented as well as it is here in either Haitian Creole or in French so that I could share it with my co-workers and community members in Haiti.  Enjoy!       http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-12-22/village-school-haiti-started-national-movement-teach-kids-language-they-speak 

Bon ane!  Happy New Year!  

   

Updates, Citadel and Merry Christmas!

On Friday the last  child left the orphanage for the Christmas holiday.  There were some whose only family members lived too far away or for whatever reason could not go "home."  Arrangements were made for these children to stay with someone, such as an orphanage worker who already knows the child well.  It got very quiet towards the end of the week.

Also, in my previous entry I had mentioned that there were training for all of the workers and the sisters taking place last week.  Well, I was partially wrong; the training were for the workers but not for the sisters.  The interesting thing about assumptions I make based on my previous experiences is that sometimes I don't really even realize at first that I am making an assumption.  

On Saturday, I a Holy Cross sister who works at the high school and two young lay women from Canada, went with a large group of high school girls went to the Citadel.  It was a great trip.  We walked for about three full hours, up the mountain, taking breaks along the way.  The views were spectacular as you can see.  Although when I first boarded the large yellow former american school bus, I felt a bit overwhelmed by the noise level, I must say, I truly enjoyed walking the journey up and down the mountain with some very delightful young women.  The history is fascinating; here is a link to learn more:  http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/180

  On Sunday I flew from O'Kap to Miami and from Miami to New Orleans.  It has been good to spend a couple of days in New Orleans connecting with the sisters, and friends.  Soon I will be connecting with family and friends in Rhode Island, si Dye vle.  I am grateful to, that the sisters took care of fulfilling my wish list of play therapy supplies  that I had emailed several weeks ago.  Thank you!  Mesi Anpil!   I truly am grateful to be able to spend some time in the US, even though the sudden change in culture, schedule and environment cause me to feel mildly disoriented and  slightly disorganized.

While walking down the mountain on Saturday I cam across a large poinsettia plant in full bloom right on schedule for the holiday!

I wish each of you a joyous Christmas filled with peace!  Many Blessings!

        

Lekòl, Maladi, Fèt Nwèl, Orevwa timoun, Politik

Lekòl

Last week the children finished their exams at school.  Even very young children have exams in Haiti; the school system here uses very different methods and is based on a philosophy that seems almost contradictory to what I was taught under-grad as an elementary and special education major at Rhode Island College in the 1990s. 

Maladi

Several of the children have gotten sick lately.  At first we were told it was the measles, but now we have been informed that it was not the measles after all, which is a good thing.  When we believed that several children were coming down with the measles, I looked up information on various seemingly trustworthy medical websites to educate myself about the measles.  I found myself reflecting on disease and vaccinations, and who is offered vaccinations in our world and who is not.  When preparing to come to Haiti, the travel specialist suggested I get a booster to protect against measles, mumps and rubella, just in case the antibodies from earlier vaccinations were no longer active.  My life and health is no more valuable in the eyes of God than a child born into poverty in a country where poverty is the norm. Some people in our world are offered more protection against disease than others as if some lives are of greater value and in general certain factors influence a person’s chances of being offered vaccinations and proper health care in general such as nationality, education level, social status, and race.  Learning of how dangerous measles can be I am very grateful that it is not the illness our children have and that there are vaccinations available; hopefully in the not too distant future these vaccines will be given to all children on our planet regardless of where they are born, and how much money their families have and then when children anywhere become sick it will not be because of the measles or any other serious illness for which there are safe and effective vaccinations.

 Fèt Nwèl   

Yesterday we had a Christmas party for all of the children and employees.  While preparing for the party on Saturday a young woman from Canada and I were given the recipe (in French) and the task for making rum punch, a Haitian specialty, which our employees enjoyed; although I did find it rather funny that this was the task of the newest blahs(foreigners/white people)  in the lakou (yard/property.)  The celebration started with a lively liturgy in our little chapel; I liked the way the priest interacted with the children and at least the homily was in Creole this time.  The mass was followed by a wonderful fèt that included music, dancing, great Haitian food, ice cream and gifts.  The children and employees really seemed to enjoy themselves.  Although the intermittent rain was inconvenient, we did not allow it to detract from the great fun.  I even tasted the rum punch and it was not bad at all!

Orevwa timoun

Most of the children left today to spend school vacation and celebrate Christmas and New Year’s Day, which is also Independence Day with relatives.  Most of the children were happy to see their relative come through the gate of the orphanage.  Some came long distances, but not one family member arrived at our gate in a car. It is suddenly quiet around here, I miss the children already. This week there will be some educational sessions for all staff and sisters who work with the children.  Early next week, I will be leaving for a visit with my community and then my family.  

Politik

There is a lot happening in Haiti politically these days with the recent resignation of the prime minister.  Sometimes we talk about what is happening at the dinner table, but in general to know what is going on I read articles on the internet, because despite some modest improvements, I still understand English better than Creole.   I will attach a link to one article, for your convenience, although it sometimes helps to read a few to get different perspectives.  Despite the political chaos in the country we are very safe here in our yard and in this neighborhood which on the outskirts of Cap Haitian.  I hope and pray that the recent resignation of the prime minister will somehow help the situation.  

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article4477734.html

May this third week of Advent be a time of joy for each of you.  Thanks for taking the time to read this blog.  Many blessings!  

Time

My days have been busy and full.   In January I am going to start taking one day off every week, which I will spend off of the orphanage grounds.    

On Sunday we had a meeting for the families of the children.  All of the children in this program have a relative or someone who keeps in touch with them and who they visit during school vacations.  Nearly all of the children’s mothers have died, but many have fathers, others have an aunt, uncle, or even an older sibling.  In at least a couple of situations the contact person is a non-blood relative who “adopted” the child; in one case it is the person who found the child, as a baby abandoned in a garbage pile.  About half of the “parents” came.  They were given information about the upcoming school vacation, and I talked briefly updating them about the therapy groups and psycho-education.  Then those who came visited their children.  It was wonderful to see the children smile when they saw their parent and sad to see the faces of some of the children for whom nobody came.  Next week most of the children will be going “home” for the school vacation.  We will send them with their clothing, toiletries and other basic necessities which they may not have in their family homes and they will return in early January before school resumes. 

Yesterday was the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.  The closest parish church celebrated their feast day and I attended the liturgy.  It was actually my first time in that particular church since we generally go elsewhere for liturgy. When I arrived with another sister, she showed me where I should sit, I did question her, but since she is more familiar with the parish I took her advice.  She did not sit with me.  Before the mass started I realized I was sitting essentially behind the altar.  There must have been nearly 20 priests co-presiding at the mass, and I found after the entrance procession that I was sitting in between the priests and the choir.  I would have probably stood out a little as the only blah(white person/ foreigner) even if I had been sitting in the back of the church, but felt self-conscious and somewhat uncomfortable sitting where I have been told to sit and would have been much more comfortable sitting or even standing with the people.  The liturgy was beautiful; there was certainly a joyful spirit among the people who gathered.  Most of the mass was in Creole; I was happy because I could understand most of it.  Some of the priests have formed a band called Hosanna, and towards the end of the mass they played a couple of songs; they are very talented musicians.  The church building was simple and in desperate need of repairs; there is one section of the church with a roof that has holes in it and looks like it could fall at any time; people are not supposed to sit there I am told, but they did because the other section of the church with the better roof was overflowing with people.  The mass, which had been scheduled to start at 9:00 ended before 1:00 pm.  I realize how conscious I am of time and admire how for many people in this culture whatever they are doing is typically the focus and not how long it takes, what time it is, or what comes next.  The mass was followed by a delicious meal which we were invited to attend. 

I pray for the grace to be always focused on whatever it is I am doing and to be present in each moment recognizing the gifts and beauty each moment brings and not counting the minutes until the next activity.  Although I love what I am doing here, it has at times had somewhat challenging moments and as I have been working seven days a week, I do find myself at times looking forward to my upcoming home visit.          

Thanksgiving!

I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving! 

Thanksgiving is not a Haitian holiday, although I must say giving thanks seems so inherent in this culture.  There are many church songs that are all about thanking God and most of the time at least one such song is sung at liturgy, often even at daily mass.  We, the sisters working here at the orphanage, received thanksgiving food from Agape flights, which is a nonprofit airline that provides mail service to us and other missionaries for a very reasonable fee.   Every Thursday one of the sisters goes to the nearby airport and checks to see if any packages arrived for us.  This year they had volunteers and donors provide Thanksgiving food for Americans missioned in Haiti.  They gave us turkey and a box that included a canned cranberry sauce, a box of stove stop stuffing, canned yams and marshmallows, Jiffy pie crust mix, a can of pumpkin, a can of condensed milk, and even can of whipped cream.  I would not have expected to celebrate thanksgiving here, but was very happy that we were able to celebrate!  A sister who lives in another convent cooked the turkey and stuffing for us.  I prepared the rest and added some fresh carrots that were in the convent refrigerator to the menu.  Normally, and especially for a holiday like thanksgiving, in the United States, I prefer to make most dishes from scratch rather than use canned and boxed (processed) foods.  Here in Haiti, I was actually grateful for the boxes because at least for me, there are extra steps involved in food preparation that make using the easy stuff feel like cooking from scratch.  Extra steps include trying to get as many of the ants out of the pie crust mix as possible, looking up the word for rolling pin in the Haitian Creole/English Dictionary (“woulo” in case you are wondering,) walking across the lakou (yard) to search the main orphanage kitchen for a woulo, asking a worker to teach me how to light the gas oven; and those are just a few examples.  There is definitely something humbling about needing assistance with very ordinary things, like a different style can opener than I had ever used and also realizing that I lack some basic skills that most women in this culture have probably perfected.

 

Since Thursday was not a holiday here, we followed the regular schedule but decided to wait to eat until all of the sisters were home, which since two had class that night, we ate at about 7:30 pm.  I had prepared a thanksgiving prayer.  I offered to prepare the prayer, so that for once it would be entirely in Haitian Creole; because I find it difficult to really pray in French since I don’t really know French.  It was a good day and I realize I have so very much to be thankful for.  The gratitude that I encounter frequently in the Haitian culture, as well as the realization of how through no merit of my own, I have been fortunate to have been gifted with family, friends, opportunities, experiences and luxuries that many others though no less deserving because the  injustice inherent in our global society cannot access.  

Please keep one of our children who is currently suffering from measles in your prayers.  Thank you!  

May this Advent season be filled with many blessings and peace for each of you as we wait in hopeful expectation.