Storm and norm

On Thursday, as I was on my way home from work, suddenly a very bad thunderstorm, with unusually strong winds arrived.  I was in a tap-tap with a co-worker, and I called my supervisor asking her, to meet me where I get off the tap-tap, so that I would not have to walk even the short distance home.  Just running quickly from one vehicle to the other I got drenched and most of the contents in my back pack were at least damp too.  When I arrived at my little house, I put towels on the floor to soak up the water that had come in, mostly from under the front door.  

When I arrived at the school the next morning, a few of the tents that are used as classrooms had blown down almost completely.  Workers had moved benches from the classrooms to a space near the containers that has a roof over it, so the children would be in the shade. Classes resumed normally.  There was too much water on the floor of the tent I use for my groups, so I found a different place to work.  In between groups I swept the floor, and by the end of the day it was dried out so I was able to use it for a therapy appointment I had with a child.  Assistant teachers and other workers, worked all day to reassemble the tents that are used as classrooms.  When such things happen people do what they need to do and keep going.  Here, in Haiti, there are still so many people who are living in tents.  Tents of course are not designed to be lived in for long periods of time.  I am sure many of those were blown down or flooded with water.     

 

Yesterday I had the opportunity to go for a long scenic ride to a clinic in a rural area.  As we passed dwelling places without electricity or running water, people working the land with simple tools, women selling fruits and vegetables in crowded marketplaces, I thought for most of history and even now in many places most people have lived more like this than how we in the United States live today.  Sometimes I forget this, and act as though having so many comforts and conveniences is the norm, rather than the exception.      

This week I also began to help prepare some of the children at St. Anne for baptism; I am at least helping the older ones to understand what it means and what to expect.  Next Sunday many children in the program will receive sacraments.

Please excuse my slow response to emails and things, the internet has been unreliable, but I am very grateful it is working quite well at the moment!  

Have a good week.  

Take care, 

Kathleen