On Wednesday, I met with the workers at Kay Ste. Anne. I asked them among other things, what they would like to learn more about to help them better serve the children. I had hoped that they would be interested in issues related to child development, social emotional needs of children, literacy, the importance of play, things that I felt confident enough to discuss with them or prepare a presentation based on my experiences as a teacher and clinical social worker. The first response I received was that one worker wanted to lean more songs to sing with the children. I truly value the importance of music in the lives of children, seeing it as a mode for learning, for self expression and for increasing their knowledge of their own culture. Of course, this was one topic where I lack competence because first of all the songs I knowwell enough to sing with young children are in English (not Creole or French), and even in English reality is that I don't sing well at all; can sometimes get the general tune however I am nearly always too high or too low, and I am musically illiterate (I can't read musical notes.)
That afternoon, when I arrived back to the hospital grounds, someone said that the person who works in the Miami office had arrived with mail for me, a package that had been lost. Yes, the books written in Haitian Creole that my family (parents, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents) had purchased instead of Christmas gifts for one another had after being lost in Miami for a couple of months, finally arrived! There were 100 of them in a portable case with wheels. There are a variety of books some beautifully illustrated, some for beginning reading, some board books, some with wonderful stories, a couple of poetry books, and even one large song book with songs for children in French and Creole (which I happily presented to the workers the very next day!) All of the books, with the exception of about three are written in Haitian Creole. Books for the children which are actually written in the language they speak! A couple of them are written in French; I could easily tell because in French unlike Creole, there are "q"s, "x"es and "c"s without "h"s. Some of the books are bilingual, either Creole and English, or French and Creole. This is such a wonderful gift for the children. I am so grateful, so fortunate to have such generous family, so willing to give a gift like this to children who lack family with the ability to provide even their most basic needs. Thank you! I am so grateful that I am crying as I write this!
Arisitide
The books were not the only arrival in Haiti this week.
There is a house not far from here , which someone pointed out to me when I first came calling it, "the house of Aristide." Actually, one can not see the house from the street just the wall, guard station, gate, with branches of tall mango trees which are growing behind and towering above the wall. Recently brush in front of the wall had been cleared away. Then the wall was painted pink and on the wall were placed little flowerpots each containing a few small Haitian flags. On Friday, some of the children were picked up from school a little early. My plan had been to go to Kay Ste. Anne for a shorter time than usual and return to the school to begin therapy with an older child who resides at Kay Ste. Louie. There were reports of "blokisis" (traffic jams) and gatherings near the house of Arisitde welcoming him home after his seven years or so in exile. In order to avoid the chaos on the streets, and because I thought it might take too long to get there and back, I did not go to Kay Ste. Anne at all that day.
Many people are happy that Arisitide has returned. Others are afraid that he will somehow bring trouble. It is suspicious that he choose to arrive two days before the elections; is he here to influence the election process in some way? The reason, he gave for coming now was that he does not know if the person elected president would allow him to come back. Of course there will be a period of time before the newly elected official actually takes office. I am not sure what to think. I have heard and read some positive things and some not so positive things about Aristide. He is a former Catholic priest who supposedly became involved initially in politics because he was motivated by a desire to help the poor in the vein of liberation theology and social justice. I have heard too that in time he became quite corrupt himself.
Certainly this is an interesting time to be in Haiti. Today is election day. Hopefully the person who gets the most votes will actually be proclaimed the winner and that the people will accept this, and that the winner will be motivated to work for the common good of the Haitian people especially caring about the majority of people who live in extreme poverty, and that the new president will not be corrupt or become corrupted once in office. I guess we have a lot to pray for.
Peace,
Kathleen
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