Creole class

This is my last full week of Creole class.  I had understood that it was just for the month of January, but this was not so. On Tuesday of this week, I learned that the class was supposed to continue for two more weeks; I am not sure how I missed this information, although no one in the class was sure of the date it was scheduled to end until I asked the other day.  Since I had told the children that I would resume the scheduled groups the first week of February, I have decided that beginning next week, I will only go on Tuesday which is the day I don't have any groups scheduled.  The times when I am able to work one on one with the assistant teacher are very helpful.  When I am in the classroom with the others, it is not quite as helpful, although certainly I do learn. I find the lists of vocabulary words that they give us interesting, although, I don't think they are concentrating on the most commonly used words, not even for the others in the class who are learning Creole for the first time.  If were a veterinarian or a farmer, I might need to know the words for a baby female pig, and a baby male cat, however I am a clinical social worker, and to do my work well, I really do need to make sure I have the vocabulary to do a decent suicide assessment in case the situation would arise and to discuss difficult traumatic experiences that children may have had, including sexual abuse.  I have had to be assertive in asking to learn what I need to learn and when working individually the assistant teacher has kindly obliged, especially in terms of vocabulary.  The class has helped me, I believe that my Creole is getting better. Sometimes I still struggle with listening comprehension and have to ask people to repeat or explain.  Of course I need to remember that sometimes even when people speak same language fluently, misunderstandings occur.  I have been grateful for the class and also am looking forward resuming more consistent groups with the children.
     
All is well here.  It has been raining on and off the past couple of days, but not too heavily (no flooding here.)  I hope that all is well with you, especially those of you in the north eastern part of the US who are inundated with snow; stay warm.  Take care.  

Visit, liv Priye, fèt Pè Mourea

M te visite NPH.  
On Sunday I took an air conditioned tour bus to Port-a-Prince.  The ride was quite pleasant.

On the bus someone asked me in English, if I speak Spanish.  I replied in Creole that I speak English. This suddenly struck me as comical when I thought about it later in the day.

I spent that afternoon visiting with people at NPH.  A friend, who I had lived and worked with had come to Haiti for the anniversary of the earth quake and of the anniversary of the beginning of the Father Wasson Angel of Lights program. It was wonderful to see her and other friends from various places in the world, who work with NPH.

I had a chance to visit with the children at both Kay Ste. Ann and Kay Ste. Louie.  I was so happy to see the children, many seemed happy to see me. Some of the older children asked for "ti toti," the turtle puppet that I used when I did some psycho-educational groups at the FWAL.  While at Kay Ste. Ann, one of the children who has a disability emerged from the bathroom, lifting his hands up over his head smiling broadly, proclaiming, "Sè Kathleen, m lave men mwen!" (Sister Kathleen, I washed my hands!)  I often say that I spent more time there encouraging hand washing than I did doing clinical social work, because that seemed to be the more immediate need, especially when Cholera arrived.  A smile came across my face, "bravo," I said.  When I was there in September, I did not take the time to walk around the grounds of the hospital; I did on Sunday.  Where the tents for the temporary volunteers once stood there is now a small forest of banana trees!  Volunteers are now housed at a nearby but separate location in newly constructed permanent buildings.  There are some amazing changes on the grounds of St. Damien, including pools of tilapia, coops of chickens and a restaurant.  

That evening we had mass in the little chapel by the hospital.  Most of the people who attend this liturgy are volunteers, long and short term from various places.  The beautiful, simple liturgy was prayed in a mixture of English and Haitian Creole.  Afterwards several of us went to the house of a friend who lives on the grounds of the hospital and we talked, interesting, stimulating conversation (in English.)  

Early the next morning I took the bus back to Okap feeling grateful for friends, for the health and growth of the children at FWAL, for the connections made, and for experience of the visit and for the experiences that I had when working and living there.  Mesi!

Liv Priye
Tuesday morning, there were only two of us present for morning prayer.  The other sister was kind enough to pull out the Haitian Creole liturgy of the hour prayer books that had recently appeared in our little chapel at the convent.   We were able to pray the entire morning pray in a language we both understood.  In the cover of the book I was using, was written a name that I recognized as the name of a French Marianite sister who I know previously worked in Haiti. There are four such prayer books, two of them have the name of a nearby Holy Cross convent written in them and the other two, have the first names of Marianite sisters who once worked in Haiti.  I was happy to discover this!  This helped me to feel connected my own congregation and also gave me an increased sense of belonging.  In general, the sisters I live with seem to prefer to pray in French although for all but one of them Creole is their first language.  The fact that Marianites who came from France would have had prayer books in the language of the people of Haiti while they were here,  I find affirming since I too, am a Marianite, and believe in the importance of using the primary language of the common person in the country/culture where one is missioned.

Fèt Pè Moreau

Tuesday was the Feast Day of Father Moreau, the founder of all of the Holy Cross congregations.  There was a special prayer service and a wonderful celebration held at the Holy Cross high school in the city.  All of the Holy Cross religious and lay associates in the area were invited to attended.  Those of us who work at the orphanage, were charged with preparing the prayer.   Following the prayer, we had a great feast, and wonderful celebration.  There was lots of delicious food,conversation,  music, laughter, and dance.  Each house prepared some little performance or activity to entertain everyone else.  It was truly a gift to celebrate this special day with the larger family of Holy Cross.  

For the 10 days between the death of our founder, Fr. Moreau and the death of the first congregational leader of the Marianites of Holy Cross we celebrate a decade of days with special prayers.  For all of you who support me is some many different ways, be assured of my prayers for you at this time.  Mèsi anpil!

Anniversary of the Earthquake, and Creole Class

Monday was the 5th anniversary of the earthquake.  The children did not have school as the government declared it a day for reflection and for remembering those who died.  We had a prayer service in the chapel here, which the older children planned.  It was prayerful and well planned, without being too lengthy.  Apparently here in Cap-Haitian people felt tremors but there was not really any earthquake damage.

NPH, the organization I worked with previously, did more to mark the anniversary of the earthquake since they were so directly impacted by it and increased and started programs as a result.    Here are some links if you are interested in reading more about NPH since the earthquake:  https://www.nph.org/ws/page.php?path=news%2Farchive%2F2015%2Fhaiti%2Fearthquakepositive.php&lang=en

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUd1nZFAu0k&feature=youtu.be

https://www.nph.org/ws/page.php?lang=en&path=homes%2Fhaiti%2Fchildren%2Fjeanfrancois.php

https://www.nph.org/ws/page.php?path=homes%2Fhaiti%2Femployees%2Fsrjudy.php&lang=en



On Monday evening I started attending a Haitian Creole class that was organized for those of us newly working in Haiti with the Sisters of Holy Cross.  This includes two young lay women from Canada, a sister from Burkina Faso, and me.  The first class helped me to realize how much I have actually learned during the nearly five years since I first began studying Creole.  All of the other students are taking their very first Creole class and all of them are fluent French speakers, one knowing no English at all.  There are two assistant teachers, one of whom can speak English fairly well.  Now, I am primarily working individually with the assistant who knows basic English.  This is very helpful because I need someone to help me with pronunciation and point out the mistakes that I am making, and to improve my listening comprehension.  Working individually, I can ask for help with the vocabulary I most need for doing therapy with children and adolescents, which may not be the words that the others learning Creole for the first time would most need to know.  I am grateful for the class and hope that it is improving my ability to communicate and will therefore improve my effectiveness as a social worker, and enable me to express myself and understand others better in community.  The class meets four afternoons a week and will be finished at the end of January.  The hardest part is that I have been able to do less clinical work with the children since the course meets after school when I would normally work with them.  Also, we always have homework, which is one of the reasons I have not gotten around to updating this blog sooner.

Take care!




        

Mwen te tounen

Originally, before I even arrived in Cap Haitian last September, I had thought I would want to come back to Haiti by January first, since that is an important holiday in Haiti, Independence Day.  Since the children were not going to be back at the orphanage and the Haitian sisters spend the holiday with their families, and since I had not really had any time away from work during the first three months, I decided to stay in the US and spend the time with my family.  On New Year's Eve I traveled with my mother, arriving by plane in Florida only moments before 2015 officially began.  I spent a few relaxing days with my parents and uncle; weather wise it was a good transition too (much warmer than Rhode Island, but not quite as warm as Haiti.)    Yesterday morning my parents dropped me off at the huge Miami airport and I arrived in Cap Haitian in time for Sunday dinner.  Some of the older children came with the chauffeur and young lay-volunteer from Canada, to pick me up at the airport.  When I saw the smiling faces of the children I truly felt happy to be here and the frustrating feeling related to the fact that one of my bags had not arrived melted away.  The bag containing most of the toys, music, and art materials for play therapy arrived on the flight that came into Cap Haitian today.

  

Some of the children returned on Saturday.  Most returned on Sunday; fewer than half had arrived before I did on Sunday afternoon.  A few came today.  When one child enters the yard after vacation, it is wonderful to hear the excitement of other children as they welcome their friend.  Fortunately, most of the children seem happy to have visited their family and they also seem happy to have returned; perhaps I am projecting since this is how I feel too!  

  

The government scheduled indicated that schools were to open today.  When most of the children were already in their uniforms, we were told that they did not have school.  At dinner tonight, a sister told me that the children were scheduled to have school, but since no children came to school, there was not any school.  This apparently has to do with the fact that traditionally schools have started here after the Epiphany (January 6th), so families may have assumed that there was no school and since nobody came, classes did not take place.  Some of the high school students did have school today.  Apparently tomorrow the primary school here will be open; we were told that even if there is only one student in a class there will be school. 

I feel like I have so many people I need to thank for their support, generosity, or simply for listening to my Haiti stories during the past few weeks.  Thank you all!  Mesi anpil! 

Happy New Year! 

I am  in Rhode Island grateful to be able to spend time with family.  At the moment Haiti feels worlds away, yet my mind wanders back there from time to time.  When I think of the number of relatives, I have and spent time with during these past several days, and I juxtapose that with thoughts of the children at the orphanage especially those who went to spent the holiday with a worker since their families were too far away and could not come for them, I feel amazingly grateful for what I have and sad for those who either lack the means to visit their extended family or don't have family connections.  It is wonderful to be here at Christmas time, and also at moments somehow challenging to  be surrounded by relative abundance.  I hope that you had a blessed Christmas and that your New Year will be filled with joy, and peace.

I just came across this on-line about educating children in Haiti in Haitian Creole.  These are the ideas that make sense to me as an educator and a social worker.  I wish I could find the same information presented as well as it is here in either Haitian Creole or in French so that I could share it with my co-workers and community members in Haiti.  Enjoy!       http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-12-22/village-school-haiti-started-national-movement-teach-kids-language-they-speak 

Bon ane!  Happy New Year!  

   

Updates, Citadel and Merry Christmas!

On Friday the last  child left the orphanage for the Christmas holiday.  There were some whose only family members lived too far away or for whatever reason could not go "home."  Arrangements were made for these children to stay with someone, such as an orphanage worker who already knows the child well.  It got very quiet towards the end of the week.

Also, in my previous entry I had mentioned that there were training for all of the workers and the sisters taking place last week.  Well, I was partially wrong; the training were for the workers but not for the sisters.  The interesting thing about assumptions I make based on my previous experiences is that sometimes I don't really even realize at first that I am making an assumption.  

On Saturday, I a Holy Cross sister who works at the high school and two young lay women from Canada, went with a large group of high school girls went to the Citadel.  It was a great trip.  We walked for about three full hours, up the mountain, taking breaks along the way.  The views were spectacular as you can see.  Although when I first boarded the large yellow former american school bus, I felt a bit overwhelmed by the noise level, I must say, I truly enjoyed walking the journey up and down the mountain with some very delightful young women.  The history is fascinating; here is a link to learn more:  http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/180

  On Sunday I flew from O'Kap to Miami and from Miami to New Orleans.  It has been good to spend a couple of days in New Orleans connecting with the sisters, and friends.  Soon I will be connecting with family and friends in Rhode Island, si Dye vle.  I am grateful to, that the sisters took care of fulfilling my wish list of play therapy supplies  that I had emailed several weeks ago.  Thank you!  Mesi Anpil!   I truly am grateful to be able to spend some time in the US, even though the sudden change in culture, schedule and environment cause me to feel mildly disoriented and  slightly disorganized.

While walking down the mountain on Saturday I cam across a large poinsettia plant in full bloom right on schedule for the holiday!

I wish each of you a joyous Christmas filled with peace!  Many Blessings!

        

Lekòl, Maladi, Fèt Nwèl, Orevwa timoun, Politik

Lekòl

Last week the children finished their exams at school.  Even very young children have exams in Haiti; the school system here uses very different methods and is based on a philosophy that seems almost contradictory to what I was taught under-grad as an elementary and special education major at Rhode Island College in the 1990s. 

Maladi

Several of the children have gotten sick lately.  At first we were told it was the measles, but now we have been informed that it was not the measles after all, which is a good thing.  When we believed that several children were coming down with the measles, I looked up information on various seemingly trustworthy medical websites to educate myself about the measles.  I found myself reflecting on disease and vaccinations, and who is offered vaccinations in our world and who is not.  When preparing to come to Haiti, the travel specialist suggested I get a booster to protect against measles, mumps and rubella, just in case the antibodies from earlier vaccinations were no longer active.  My life and health is no more valuable in the eyes of God than a child born into poverty in a country where poverty is the norm. Some people in our world are offered more protection against disease than others as if some lives are of greater value and in general certain factors influence a person’s chances of being offered vaccinations and proper health care in general such as nationality, education level, social status, and race.  Learning of how dangerous measles can be I am very grateful that it is not the illness our children have and that there are vaccinations available; hopefully in the not too distant future these vaccines will be given to all children on our planet regardless of where they are born, and how much money their families have and then when children anywhere become sick it will not be because of the measles or any other serious illness for which there are safe and effective vaccinations.

 Fèt Nwèl   

Yesterday we had a Christmas party for all of the children and employees.  While preparing for the party on Saturday a young woman from Canada and I were given the recipe (in French) and the task for making rum punch, a Haitian specialty, which our employees enjoyed; although I did find it rather funny that this was the task of the newest blahs(foreigners/white people)  in the lakou (yard/property.)  The celebration started with a lively liturgy in our little chapel; I liked the way the priest interacted with the children and at least the homily was in Creole this time.  The mass was followed by a wonderful fèt that included music, dancing, great Haitian food, ice cream and gifts.  The children and employees really seemed to enjoy themselves.  Although the intermittent rain was inconvenient, we did not allow it to detract from the great fun.  I even tasted the rum punch and it was not bad at all!

Orevwa timoun

Most of the children left today to spend school vacation and celebrate Christmas and New Year’s Day, which is also Independence Day with relatives.  Most of the children were happy to see their relative come through the gate of the orphanage.  Some came long distances, but not one family member arrived at our gate in a car. It is suddenly quiet around here, I miss the children already. This week there will be some educational sessions for all staff and sisters who work with the children.  Early next week, I will be leaving for a visit with my community and then my family.  

Politik

There is a lot happening in Haiti politically these days with the recent resignation of the prime minister.  Sometimes we talk about what is happening at the dinner table, but in general to know what is going on I read articles on the internet, because despite some modest improvements, I still understand English better than Creole.   I will attach a link to one article, for your convenience, although it sometimes helps to read a few to get different perspectives.  Despite the political chaos in the country we are very safe here in our yard and in this neighborhood which on the outskirts of Cap Haitian.  I hope and pray that the recent resignation of the prime minister will somehow help the situation.  

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article4477734.html

May this third week of Advent be a time of joy for each of you.  Thanks for taking the time to read this blog.  Many blessings!  

Time

My days have been busy and full.   In January I am going to start taking one day off every week, which I will spend off of the orphanage grounds.    

On Sunday we had a meeting for the families of the children.  All of the children in this program have a relative or someone who keeps in touch with them and who they visit during school vacations.  Nearly all of the children’s mothers have died, but many have fathers, others have an aunt, uncle, or even an older sibling.  In at least a couple of situations the contact person is a non-blood relative who “adopted” the child; in one case it is the person who found the child, as a baby abandoned in a garbage pile.  About half of the “parents” came.  They were given information about the upcoming school vacation, and I talked briefly updating them about the therapy groups and psycho-education.  Then those who came visited their children.  It was wonderful to see the children smile when they saw their parent and sad to see the faces of some of the children for whom nobody came.  Next week most of the children will be going “home” for the school vacation.  We will send them with their clothing, toiletries and other basic necessities which they may not have in their family homes and they will return in early January before school resumes. 

Yesterday was the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.  The closest parish church celebrated their feast day and I attended the liturgy.  It was actually my first time in that particular church since we generally go elsewhere for liturgy. When I arrived with another sister, she showed me where I should sit, I did question her, but since she is more familiar with the parish I took her advice.  She did not sit with me.  Before the mass started I realized I was sitting essentially behind the altar.  There must have been nearly 20 priests co-presiding at the mass, and I found after the entrance procession that I was sitting in between the priests and the choir.  I would have probably stood out a little as the only blah(white person/ foreigner) even if I had been sitting in the back of the church, but felt self-conscious and somewhat uncomfortable sitting where I have been told to sit and would have been much more comfortable sitting or even standing with the people.  The liturgy was beautiful; there was certainly a joyful spirit among the people who gathered.  Most of the mass was in Creole; I was happy because I could understand most of it.  Some of the priests have formed a band called Hosanna, and towards the end of the mass they played a couple of songs; they are very talented musicians.  The church building was simple and in desperate need of repairs; there is one section of the church with a roof that has holes in it and looks like it could fall at any time; people are not supposed to sit there I am told, but they did because the other section of the church with the better roof was overflowing with people.  The mass, which had been scheduled to start at 9:00 ended before 1:00 pm.  I realize how conscious I am of time and admire how for many people in this culture whatever they are doing is typically the focus and not how long it takes, what time it is, or what comes next.  The mass was followed by a delicious meal which we were invited to attend. 

I pray for the grace to be always focused on whatever it is I am doing and to be present in each moment recognizing the gifts and beauty each moment brings and not counting the minutes until the next activity.  Although I love what I am doing here, it has at times had somewhat challenging moments and as I have been working seven days a week, I do find myself at times looking forward to my upcoming home visit.          

Thanksgiving!

I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving! 

Thanksgiving is not a Haitian holiday, although I must say giving thanks seems so inherent in this culture.  There are many church songs that are all about thanking God and most of the time at least one such song is sung at liturgy, often even at daily mass.  We, the sisters working here at the orphanage, received thanksgiving food from Agape flights, which is a nonprofit airline that provides mail service to us and other missionaries for a very reasonable fee.   Every Thursday one of the sisters goes to the nearby airport and checks to see if any packages arrived for us.  This year they had volunteers and donors provide Thanksgiving food for Americans missioned in Haiti.  They gave us turkey and a box that included a canned cranberry sauce, a box of stove stop stuffing, canned yams and marshmallows, Jiffy pie crust mix, a can of pumpkin, a can of condensed milk, and even can of whipped cream.  I would not have expected to celebrate thanksgiving here, but was very happy that we were able to celebrate!  A sister who lives in another convent cooked the turkey and stuffing for us.  I prepared the rest and added some fresh carrots that were in the convent refrigerator to the menu.  Normally, and especially for a holiday like thanksgiving, in the United States, I prefer to make most dishes from scratch rather than use canned and boxed (processed) foods.  Here in Haiti, I was actually grateful for the boxes because at least for me, there are extra steps involved in food preparation that make using the easy stuff feel like cooking from scratch.  Extra steps include trying to get as many of the ants out of the pie crust mix as possible, looking up the word for rolling pin in the Haitian Creole/English Dictionary (“woulo” in case you are wondering,) walking across the lakou (yard) to search the main orphanage kitchen for a woulo, asking a worker to teach me how to light the gas oven; and those are just a few examples.  There is definitely something humbling about needing assistance with very ordinary things, like a different style can opener than I had ever used and also realizing that I lack some basic skills that most women in this culture have probably perfected.

 

Since Thursday was not a holiday here, we followed the regular schedule but decided to wait to eat until all of the sisters were home, which since two had class that night, we ate at about 7:30 pm.  I had prepared a thanksgiving prayer.  I offered to prepare the prayer, so that for once it would be entirely in Haitian Creole; because I find it difficult to really pray in French since I don’t really know French.  It was a good day and I realize I have so very much to be thankful for.  The gratitude that I encounter frequently in the Haitian culture, as well as the realization of how through no merit of my own, I have been fortunate to have been gifted with family, friends, opportunities, experiences and luxuries that many others though no less deserving because the  injustice inherent in our global society cannot access.  

Please keep one of our children who is currently suffering from measles in your prayers.  Thank you!  

May this Advent season be filled with many blessings and peace for each of you as we wait in hopeful expectation.

Adventerous Application Process for Premis De Sejour

In order to legally reside in Haiti for more than three months at a time, non-Haitians are required to obtain what is called a Premis de Sejour; I think that means a permit of the day, but that is just an educated guess since I don’t really know French.  Prior to coming, I gathered what I thought I would need for the permit.  There is a Haitian Sister of Holy Cross who has assisted many sisters with this process.    She submitted my papers and the papers of a young lay woman from Canada who is volunteering at the high school in Cap Haitian which is also sponsored by the Sisters of Holy Cross.  One of the things I knew I needed was passport photos so I had them taken in New Orleans before I left.  I do not remember reading that I would need six photos, so I only had two printed.  Once in Haiti, I was informed that I needed six, and had the picture taken at a photography shop here in O’Kap.  Last week I called the sister who was assisting me with the process to check the status and learned that I would need to go to Portauprince to sign a paper, although in reality it was more than a simple signature that was required.  On Sunday the lay volunteer and I rode with a chauffeur who was going to the capital to transport the postulants from the capital to O’Kap on Monday.  The trip took over four hours.  We arrived in plenty of time for Sunday dinner at the convent with the sisters in Portauprince.

 

On Monday morning we went to the immigration/emigration office in the city.  Riding through the city, I saw familiar sites and noticed significant changes as it has been well over three years now since I had been in down town Pourtauprince.  The National Palace has been completely demolished; I had  heard this, but to see an empty space where a massive but broken building had stood the last time I’d passed, is very different than simply reading the news on a website.  When we passed certain spots, that were only vaguely familiar, I recalled that large tent communities had once been there.

. 

We arrived shortly after 8:00 am.  While the other areas of the building seemed already crowded with people, there was nobody waiting in front of us when we arrived in the air conditioned Premis de Sejour room.  I was feeling a little nervous about the paper work because I knew it would all be in French.  I had heard stories of people who work in government offices, speaking French to people who don’t understand French and pretending not to know Creole.  While I don’t doubt there is at least historically some truth to those kinds of stories, thank God, this was not my experience.   Actually the woman who helped us knows English, and after a several minutes of the sister and I conversing in Creole and then the sister writing the French spelling of words on the back of an envelope for me to copy unto the application, the kind worker decided that it would be acceptable for me to write in English on my application.  I was glad that she was so helpful and patient.  My only complaint is that she asked me my color hair, and when I responded, “red, wouj, rouge”  (If my answer had been acceptable, I could have even written red in French, since I know the capital of Louisiana,) I was informed that my hair is not “red;” it is “brown.”  While I have always thought myself a red head, I quickly decided that in this context, this was not worth arguing about and wrote “brown” on the paper, in English.  When we got to the next question, I quickly said and wrote that my eyes are hazel (in English) before anyone had time to inform me otherwise.   The only problem was that my birth certificate had not been translated into French.  We were told that we needed to have an official translation done which a specific agency can do for (what I think is an excessive) fee.  I don’t understand why the birth certificate would need an expensive official translation; or really why if someone in the office knows English, and I can write my hair and eye color on the application in English, my birth certificate would need to be translated at all.  The young woman who is volunteering at the high school’s, birth certificate is acceptable because hers is  bi-lingual since she was born in Canada, however her certificate of health was not acceptable because it was written on prescription paper as opposed to a formal official letter; before her permit can be processed, she needs to go to a doctor here who will give her a certificate of health written in the proper format.  My doctor in the US happens to be Haitian American and wrote my certificate of health in the proper format and even in French (one less thing to have translated) and it was perfectly acceptable; thank God.  Before we left, we had to have our pictures taken, (even though we had each already submitted six pass port type photos) and we were finger printed. I think we were fortunate that they allowed us to have the pictures and finger prints taken even though neither us had submitted all of the proper documentation; otherwise, we would have had to make another trip. The office got busier as more people came in while we were there.  Still, it was not anywhere near as busy as the open room just outside the office; I am not sure exactly what happens there but given that the building said Immigration and Emigration I can imagine.  As we made our way through the crowd, I wondered, for every American and Canadian citizen applying for a Permis de Sejour to stay longer than three months in Haiti, how many hundred Haitian citizens are trying to get papers to go to either America or Canada?  I suddenly acquired a deep appreciation for the fact that I happen to have a birth certificate which indicates that I was born in the United States.

   

Later that morning we left the city with the Holy Cross postulants who had been in the capital all week for a formation program and two other sisters.  Soon after we left the city limits there was a “blokis” caused by a “manifestasyon,” which means a traffic jam caused by a protest.  One of the sisters called a young person to the window when we were completely stopped and asked what was going on and he explained that the manifestasyon was for “dlo” and “kouran.”  People had organized this to try to get the attention of the government because they do not have access to “water and electricity.”  In various places people had parked large trucks to block the roads, in some places there were also rocks, and at one point we saw a couple of burning tires.  The traffic was very slow moving to get around the obstacles; then we were able to travel sometimes a bit faster for a brief time until we came to the traffic caused by the next set of road blocks.  This went on for quite a while.  At one point we pulled to the side of the road to wait a while, simply because it felt safer to do so.  It took more than twice as long to return to O’Kap than it did not get to Port-Au-Prince the previous day.  I am very thankful that we arrived safely and grateful that at least here at the orphanage and convent we have dlo and kouran.  

 

Happy Thanksgiving!