Visitor's Day, Safety, Mardi Gras!

Yesterday, being the first Saturday of the month, was visitors’ day for the children at St. Anne and St. Louie. This used to occur only once every few months, now it is a monthly event. This is good, as I think it is important for the children to maintain contact with family members. The longer I am here, the more convinced that more needs to be done in some cases to keep children with family members, when possible. There are of course children who seem never to have visitors and who truly are orphaned, but many seem to have someone, an extended family member who does care. A few even have a parent, who for whatever reason was seen as unable to care for the child. I ask myself what can we do for the families to help them meet the needs of their children. Even before I arrived, the program was considering the possibility of having children go to their families for weekends and holidays. There are many reasons for this, as in some ways children as they grow older can be too sheltered if they only know life in the orphanage. The move towards more frequent visitor's days is a good one and the possibility of children who have someone, going home for weekends seems to be in the plan for the future, but of course ground work would need to be done first, and planning then for the children with no place to go.

Being here, I have come to realize how safety conscious my American culture is, and how in other places this is not the case. When people have always been trying to survive and don't have a lot of resources, things are prioritized quite differently. When I was in the states a few weeks ago, I watched as a child, (the son of a dear friend) who is taller than all of our children at Saint Anne, got into his booster seat in the back seat of a car and fastened the seat belt. Our children ride back and forth from St. Anne to the school either sitting in the back of a large truck with a flat bed, or in a crowded van; nobody fastens a seatbelt. If any of the smaller babies are with us, they tend to be held in someone's arms in the front seat. When I was home too, I stopped by the transitional housing facility where I used to work. There were no drastic changes in the childcare center, but it seemed so calm to me, and the ratios of adults to children seemed wonderful. We easily have more children in the three year old kindergarten class here than there are in the three preschool classrooms there. Issues related to safety, supervision and sanitation are often challenging for me. I strive to do what is best for the children, to advocate for their safety, while also not wanting to come in as the outsider sounding critical of workers or assuming that my way of thinking is better. Yesterday there were a couple of social workers visiting the program, from a university in the states; it was good to talk with them briefly discuss topics like culture and empowerment in this reality from a common professional perspective.

On Friday there was a Carnival celebration at the school. Children got dressed in costumes and danced and sang. Many children had glitter on their faces which teachers had given them to decorate themselves for the “fet.” An older child, who I don't really know, came up to me and wiped some of the glitter from her own face and put it on mine; later a couple of younger children tried to wipe the glitter off of my face and put it on their own. School will be closed on Monday and Tuesday for Marid Gras and on Wednesday for Ash Wednesday. I will spend the days mostly at Ste. Anne and go with them to the celebrations at St. Louie (where the older children live.) It should be fun.

If I were in Philly I would have a party; if I were in New Orleans I would go to the parades, but I am in Haiti, so I will go to the parties we will have for the children and celebrate with them.

Happy Mardi Gras!