What is my typical day in Haiti?

Well, first of all I don’t have a ‘typical day in Haiti’. But yesterday was a very good day and was an example of some of the beauty of what I get to do on a daily basis if not necessarily every day. I awoke in my little house around 6:30. I did a little devotional and wrote in my journal a bit and read then got dressed and headed over to Paul’s house for some breakfast. Joana was cutting up onions and peppers for the eggs. She set it down for a minute so I took over in the dicing up of the veggies. Then we added ham to the mix. I asked if I could cook up the ham and veggies first and then the eggs because I have been trying to get them to use a bit less oil in the cooking. So they did agree and we just added a little oil. They turned out delicious over handmade bread in Haiti that we buy every morning from one of the neighbors.

We have a young lady with a baby that stayed with us last night at Paul’s house. She has been in some desperate situations lately and has now found herself homeless with a young child. She was staying with a friend but that can only last for a bit. So the HAPI staff is trying to figure out the best situation for her and her sweet little boy. The boy had wet pants from the night so thanks to a team that brought down some clothes I was able to give him some clean ones and his mom gave him a bath. After getting them settled I walked over to the Co-op to meet with the jewelers. I brought some of my jewelry that I have bought in other countries to show them the possibilities of what they can make. None of the jewelers showed up but Eddy, Francious and Chantel were very interested in the possibilities. They were already thinking of natural products in Haiti that they could make things out of. I also spent my time there painting a little gourde piece for a necklace and helping the artisans cut piece signs for the yoga bags they are making through HAPI. Bebe showed up with the truck and the cement bags to make journals that we had collected yesterday in Jacmel. He studied from my Creole/English book for a while. Then we headed back over to Paul’s house giving a ride to all the artisans’ part way home. Some of them travel very far to get to the Co-op. Bebe and I studied Creole and English for awhile on Paul’s porch and then we were served a little something to eat. We had ‘banan’ – which is like a banana but isn’t ripe like we eat it in the States and it tastes like a potato. We were served this with chunks of salami and tomato in a red sauce. After eating we went down to the market to look around. On the way we stopped by the radio station and said ‘hi’ to Bebe’s wife.
We passed through the market. Many people always try and get the ‘blan’ attention to buy from them. ‘Blan’ literal translation in English is White but I am told that it really means ‘foreigner’. A friend of mine who is Haitian but lived in Canada for a while was called ‘blan’ for a while when we first came back to Haiti. So walking through the market I did tell Bebe if we found an avocado I would like to buy one. They are not in season so they are difficult to find. We found 2 and Bebe was sizing them up. He finally asked how much they were and I don’t know what the lady said but it was some ridiculous price because Bebe put them down and walked off. It was funny, I just laughed. Because you see the ‘blan’ cannot buy product in the market because they are usually double if not more the regular price. We then headed back up to Paul’s for dinner. Bebe borrowed my Creole book to take home for the evening. I have a feeling he may be wanting to teach his wife some too. Rice and beans for dinner around 4:00pm and then we just hung around the porch. I wrote some in my journal and read some English kid’s books to the children. Then we played phase 10 which is always great fun for the family. At around 8:00; I headed back to my house to read for a bit and then head to bed. Early to bed early to rise are my days in Haiti, I enjoy the early mornings.