On Thursday there was no school because it was a holiday, Corpus Christi. I spent the morning at Kay St. Anne. When one of the newest children, a baby probably just over a year, who was barley over the chicken pox had a very water diarrhea that consisted of small white slimy peices shaped like rice, I got scared. These are the classic symptoms of Cholera. She was quickly sent to the Cholera hospital, where thank God it was determined that she did not have Cholera; she was returned to Kay St. Anne later that very day. The next day she no longer was having white watery rice like diarrhea and even smiled a bit.
There is a child who has been staying at the homes of workers and their families until it seems unlikely that she will get chicken pox from other children at Kay Saint Ann, because she has other health issues. When workers were changing, on Thursday, afternoon I asked to go with them so that I could see the child before I go on vacation. With a worker and a driver I into the crowded city and past the broken cathedral and what remains of the presidential palace, up hilly roads through well populated urban neighborhoods which felt to me like a maze. It was great to see this wonderful little girl, who should be returning to Kay Saint Anne one day later this week. She had grown, and seemed happy. She slept in my arms much of the way to the other worker's home.
At some point during this journey my Haitian cell phone fell from my pocket. The driver and worker and I searched the cab of the truck where I had been sitting but could not find it anywhere. I thought it fell out when the child exited the truck. It did not. The phone was found in the truck probably the following day. Last night, a friend called my number for me and the driver answered. When he returned it to me this morning I was appreciative of how honest and helpful people are until I realized all of the money on the phone card had been used except for one half of a gourde which is worth about two cents or so. I am glad and grateful to have the phone back.
In a few days I will be able to use my american cell phone; I am really really glad for that.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Happy Father's Day!
 |
| Just wanted to share the beauty of this tree while it is in bloom. It is near my house. |
Happy Father's Day to my dad, grandfather, uncles and all fathers. Working with children who are not being cared for by their families increases my appreciation for own family experiences.
Yesterday a group of children from Ste. Anne went on a picnic. We traveled to a nearby town to property which NPH owns. It was wonderful for the children to walk around the land. There were magnificent mango trees which provided great shade. They children saw goats and pigs as we hiked around a bit, jumping over small streams of water. Then they enjoyed sandwiches and Tampico (a sugary fruit drink popular with Haitian children.) It was truly a great outing for them. All of the children from Ste. Anne will get a chance to go there, and the older children from Ste. Louie will all get a chance to go to a beach sometime this summer.
There is much to do in the next week and a half or so; at this point, although I will miss the children, I do find myself looking forward to vacation.
Have a good week!
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Happy Pentecost!
The week began with continued cloudiness and rain, but by the end of the week we were back to the typical sunny and hot Haiti weather. Yesterday, I went with a sister who is a nurse to a clinic at a parish in the city. After driving through the crowded streets, we arrived to find a large crowd of people desperate for basic medical care. There were many people, especially children with skin conditions which probably were a result of living in wet tents during the past couple of weeks. There is the sad realization when working with people who are experiencing what seem like extreme poverty, only to find that there are people much worse off. People are given medications to treat their infections, skin problems, and injuries and illnesses. In reality, so many of these problems are the results of systemic injustices, because so many of these things could easily be prevented if resources were more equally distributed, if people had adequate shelter, basic nutrition, clean water. I think it is helpful for me to see the kinds of situations that many of our children probably experienced prior to coming to Kay Ste. Ann. I wonder what does world look like when seen through the eyes of a young Haitian mother or child living in a crowded dilapidated tent in the slums of Port-a-prince?
Yesterday evening, I went to a local parish for liturgy with two other sisters. The liturgy was beautiful the singing, like the people was Spirit-filled. It was a wonderful Pentecost celebration.
Many Blessings!
Yesterday evening, I went to a local parish for liturgy with two other sisters. The liturgy was beautiful the singing, like the people was Spirit-filled. It was a wonderful Pentecost celebration.
Many Blessings!
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Toti epi Lapli Turtle and Rain
Toti
I use a turtle puppet for the pscycho-social-educational groups which I am doing with the kindergarten and first grade classes at the Father Wasson Angels of Light School. Over the course of the school year, I have become closely associated with this puppet, which is called Titoti (little turtle.) Currently I am teaching the children about different emotions. One of the books which came with the Kreyol children's library which my relatives purchased for Christmas, is the story of a child who finds a turtle on his way to school and puts the live turtle in his pocket. During class he sits the turtle on his shoulder which causes another child to feel so frightened that the children runs out of the classroom. I was reading the story to talk about feeling scared and afraid.
I don't think the young guy who helps out at the school, knew that I would be reading this particular story last week, but when he found a turtle near where he lives, he decided to bring it to me, as a gift! Somehow it seemed oddly providential given the story that I had planned to read that very morning; and I thought that it was very thoughtful of this young man to think of me, although in all honesty I received it with a bit of ambivalence as I wondered what I would do with this creature in my play therapy/class-room, which is really a tent.
Unlike the turtle in the story, this turtle was too big to even fit in an adult size pocket or sit on even a large person's shoulder! I decided to keep turtle for a week, so that the children could get a chance to see it and then release it; I believe that it belongs in nature. The children have mostly been curious and delighted, although a few were afraid that it would try to bite them. I decided it is a female, as one morning when I entered my tent, which was beginning to smell a bit like the reptile house at the zoo, there was a broken egg in the container where the turtle had been placed to swim. I spent a long time cleaning the tent yesterday and have used a lot of hand sanitizer the past several days.
One night when I was able to get internet service, I looked up care for pet turtles so that I could learn all of the things I was doing wrong while trying to care for this creature. There was a lot of information which was not helpful as I did not know what species I had, had not bought it in an American pet store, am not even sure if they sell turtle food sticks anywhere in Haiti, but am very certain that the merchants outside the gates of the hospital don't carry them. The internet pet turtle experts talk about indoor and outdoor arrangements for pet turtles but I was not sure what they would consider a tent. In the little story I read to the children the turtle is given little pieces of carrots and apples. Someone who had read the book when I left it in an office to dry one day brought me apples for the turtle the next day. I asked the woman in the kitchen for scraps of vegetables and they gave me a carrot and a cabbage leaf. People are so generous; an assistant teacher gave me a hat with a turtle on it this week too.
Yesterday morning, when I arrived the turtle has left the container with water and was hiding under the green plastic tent floor partly in the mud. I did not want to disturb it since I wondered if it could be making a nest. This morning, when I went to check on the turtle I thought perhaps she had left on her own, but then found her hiding between two layers of fabric that make up the walls of the tent. She will soon be enjoying her freedom.
Lapli
Normally during the rainy season, it rains most evenings or nights sometimes quite heavily but rarely for more than an hour. The sun is usually out and it is fairly rare to have an overcast day. This week has been an exception. Hurricane season began the first of June, and we have had a tropical depression all week, which has meant cloudy rainy days. The temperature has sometimes been cooler, but the humidity sometimes seems higher than usual. Thursday it rained almost all day; the children did not have school because of Ascension Thursday. When all 39 children were in the house all day long because of the weather, it made me very grateful that this kind of weather is so unusual here. The humidity was so high that day that in the course of working with the children I had sweat through my clothes so much that one little girl pointed to my damp pant leg and innocently asked me if I had peed on myself!
On the mornings at the school, when I sweep the water out of my tent and try to keep the floor clean enough that children can sit on, my heart goes out to the thousands of people who are still living in crowded tents here in Haiti. The rain also somehow makes Cholera incidences increase as well. Let us pray for those living in tents, for those suffering from Cholera, and for a safe hurricane season. Know that you, my family, friends, community members, and others reading this are in my prayers too.
I use a turtle puppet for the pscycho-social-educational groups which I am doing with the kindergarten and first grade classes at the Father Wasson Angels of Light School. Over the course of the school year, I have become closely associated with this puppet, which is called Titoti (little turtle.) Currently I am teaching the children about different emotions. One of the books which came with the Kreyol children's library which my relatives purchased for Christmas, is the story of a child who finds a turtle on his way to school and puts the live turtle in his pocket. During class he sits the turtle on his shoulder which causes another child to feel so frightened that the children runs out of the classroom. I was reading the story to talk about feeling scared and afraid.
I don't think the young guy who helps out at the school, knew that I would be reading this particular story last week, but when he found a turtle near where he lives, he decided to bring it to me, as a gift! Somehow it seemed oddly providential given the story that I had planned to read that very morning; and I thought that it was very thoughtful of this young man to think of me, although in all honesty I received it with a bit of ambivalence as I wondered what I would do with this creature in my play therapy/class-room, which is really a tent.
Unlike the turtle in the story, this turtle was too big to even fit in an adult size pocket or sit on even a large person's shoulder! I decided to keep turtle for a week, so that the children could get a chance to see it and then release it; I believe that it belongs in nature. The children have mostly been curious and delighted, although a few were afraid that it would try to bite them. I decided it is a female, as one morning when I entered my tent, which was beginning to smell a bit like the reptile house at the zoo, there was a broken egg in the container where the turtle had been placed to swim. I spent a long time cleaning the tent yesterday and have used a lot of hand sanitizer the past several days.
One night when I was able to get internet service, I looked up care for pet turtles so that I could learn all of the things I was doing wrong while trying to care for this creature. There was a lot of information which was not helpful as I did not know what species I had, had not bought it in an American pet store, am not even sure if they sell turtle food sticks anywhere in Haiti, but am very certain that the merchants outside the gates of the hospital don't carry them. The internet pet turtle experts talk about indoor and outdoor arrangements for pet turtles but I was not sure what they would consider a tent. In the little story I read to the children the turtle is given little pieces of carrots and apples. Someone who had read the book when I left it in an office to dry one day brought me apples for the turtle the next day. I asked the woman in the kitchen for scraps of vegetables and they gave me a carrot and a cabbage leaf. People are so generous; an assistant teacher gave me a hat with a turtle on it this week too.
Yesterday morning, when I arrived the turtle has left the container with water and was hiding under the green plastic tent floor partly in the mud. I did not want to disturb it since I wondered if it could be making a nest. This morning, when I went to check on the turtle I thought perhaps she had left on her own, but then found her hiding between two layers of fabric that make up the walls of the tent. She will soon be enjoying her freedom.
Lapli
Normally during the rainy season, it rains most evenings or nights sometimes quite heavily but rarely for more than an hour. The sun is usually out and it is fairly rare to have an overcast day. This week has been an exception. Hurricane season began the first of June, and we have had a tropical depression all week, which has meant cloudy rainy days. The temperature has sometimes been cooler, but the humidity sometimes seems higher than usual. Thursday it rained almost all day; the children did not have school because of Ascension Thursday. When all 39 children were in the house all day long because of the weather, it made me very grateful that this kind of weather is so unusual here. The humidity was so high that day that in the course of working with the children I had sweat through my clothes so much that one little girl pointed to my damp pant leg and innocently asked me if I had peed on myself!
 |
| The swings at Kay Ste. Ann on Thursday, notice the puddles under them. |
On the mornings at the school, when I sweep the water out of my tent and try to keep the floor clean enough that children can sit on, my heart goes out to the thousands of people who are still living in crowded tents here in Haiti. The rain also somehow makes Cholera incidences increase as well. Let us pray for those living in tents, for those suffering from Cholera, and for a safe hurricane season. Know that you, my family, friends, community members, and others reading this are in my prayers too.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)