Daily Diversity

Each week in my work I encounter many children of varied ages and of diverse backgrounds. If you have never spent time in Haiti (arriving and leaving via cruise ship does not count) you may be surprised that I am claiming to encounter such diversity; after all, the children are all Haitian.

While the schools where I work are all ministries of the sisters and do have many commonalities they are also quite different from each other as are the children that they serve.  Even within any one school, there are a variety of personalities and children who have had different life experiences. 

One of the schools, though only about a half an hour away is located in the mountains of a rural community.  This large school has a special classroom for children of different ages who are coming to school for their first school year; their parents may have had very little or no education at all. 

This is only one of several buildings at this school; the top picture was taken at the same school.  

Another school is located on the grounds of a historical park right in the heart of what I would consider a medium-sized Haitian town.

The third is located right in downtown Cap-Haitian, not far from the tourist market and only a short walk from the city's Catholic cathedral.  Cap-Haitian, although much smaller than Port-au-Prince is one of the larger cities in the country. 

This is the primary school building; on the same campus, there is everything from preschool through university level educaiton.  

 One day I might check in on a very young preschool child, who was born in the Dominican Republic where a parent is still working, doing whatever is possible to send enough money to the extended family to support the child.  On another day I may be teaching high school seniors conversational English, at least a few of whom are hoping to and have means to attend universities in the United States.  Every grade and circumstance in between I encounter during a typical week.                      

One day I was doing a psycho-social education lesson for some children at one of the schools. When they talked about activities that are very enjoyable they focused on things like caring for the goats (which are more like livestock than pets) and preparing the gardens for planting.  At another school, (this did not occur in a  therapeutic/ context and I am careful not to include any identifying information) a child playing with a puppet after school told the puppet about an imaginary party the child wanted to plan for the puppet which included a wide range of foods and various drinks and even  expressed a plan to pour champagne over the puppet's head at the elaborate imaginary celebration.

It is a gift to encounter children of such a wide range of ages, circumstances, situations and of different socio-economic classes each week.  It reminds me that so much diversity exists within each culture and country and not to unconsciously assume that cultures I have limited or no contact with are homogenous; no culture is. 

 I can say that each school I have felt privileged to get a glimpse into the lives of the children and to learn a bit about their hopes, dreams, experiences, and challenges.  Each individual that I have had the possibility to get to know more than purely superficially is in some way amazing.   


 It is amazing to me too, that people continue to take the time read my updates, thank you.  I hope you are having a blessed Ascension Thursday.  Take care.