Making Coffee

This is a much more difficult task in Haiti then it is in the United States.  First you go and pick the beans from the plant or buy them from the market.  Then you let them dry out in the sun for a day or two depending on how humid it is at the time.   Once they are dry you take off the outer coat to roast the coffee bean inside.  Roasting them - this is a long process; you stir and stir and stir the beans in a large pot over charcoal or wood.  After they have made a crunching, popping noise you know they are finished.  Then you put them in a large pedestsel and pound them into a powder.  After you have pounded and pounded, often times the person makes a lovely rhythm.  It is quite beautiful when you have two people working together to make the music, I mean the coffee grounds.  The powder is run through a strainer several times to make sure it is fine enough.  You then have the grounds to make coffee in the morning.  In the morning hopefully there is water to boil, if not you head to the well to fill up a 5 gallon bucket of water to start your work for the day.  Then you start the water boiling over charcoal or wood.  It takes a bit of time to get it started.  The boiling water has lots and lots of sugar, to make it rich and wonderful -Haitian style.  Then you pour the boiling sugar water through a small cloth sack.  They often do this pouring of boiling water with nothing in their hand to protect themselves, such as a pot holder or other barrier.  The coffee pours out of the small cloth sack in a lovely stream of rich black coffee.  The coffee is sweet and dark!  The mama’s often put it in a large metal cup at first to mix it back and forth.  Then with that little bit in the metal cup; they swish it around cooling it so they can have that first sip of the morning.   I am sometimes there for this long morning process and other times I may still be in bed.  I am always thrilled to hear those magic words from Mama Philomen in the morning – “Café, Angelica”.  I try never to take this for granted.  I greet her with a big smile and say “Mesi!”  Being very grateful for the couple day process she went through to make coffee for the family and myself.  Sometimes I think about brewing up my coffee in the States - opening my cupboard, putting a couple scoops of grounds in the filter, filling up the pitcher with water from my sink, and pushing the button.  After I have had time to get dressed for my day – and magically my coffee is ready.  Ahhhh – and then the magic did happen – as I sat on my bed early in the morning writing this – I didn’t hear Philo but heard the noise of the coffee pot and cups hitting my table and then Papi brought me in a cup of coffee.   Shortly after that Jerzie ran in for her little sip of coffee too.  Oh moments to cherish.

Reflections on Port au Prince

Oh, Port au Prince I don’t even, know what to do with you.  But you make me think and wonder and cry a bit.  We came in this morning and the city is beyond words.  The best and simplest way to describe it is ‘yucky’.  But that is not who you are, your people make you beautiful.  I arrived at the ‘house’ passing dirty, dusty roads, bouncing on potholes and brown water flowing through the streets of trash.  We were greeted with warm happy faces to see us; kisses on the cheek and a warm handshake saying ‘Bonswa’.  We enter the home to relax down a walking alley way through a narrow hallway to enter two dark rooms.  It feels good to be back home in Haiti.

Being Reminded of Haitian Hospitality After Arriving

I forgot a few things I guess about family and the Haitian system while I was gone. We arrived safely in Port au Prince. We were at the back of the plane so we took the second bus in. All of our luggage was there we just had to hunt it down. They remove it from the rack when it comes off the baggage carriage. But we got them all found and out the door. We had to wait and wait for our ride to come they were stuck in ‘blokus’ traffic jam. I walked across the parking lot to find them and got a double embrace from my two friends. The truck was there so I hopped on the back of it and directed them to the place of our luggage and other friends. We jammed all our luggage and us on the truck, barely fitting on. But still there was room for 2 Haitians plus a child and their things to head out of town.


As we headed through Port au Prince I was not feeling well and decided it was because I was hungry and of course tired. One of the American gals with us said she had she had a granola bar and handed it to me. As I looked up at the faces with me; I thought oh yeah I cannot eat this myself and not share. I forgot. In Haiti if you have something to eat you share in with those around you. So before I started eating I started digging for my other granola bar to share with the 4 people there; the 5 of us shared 2 granola bars. Later our driver, my friend Tigo bought plantains (potato chip style) for all of us to share. When we got to the turn off of from the road we all shared 3 plates of food for lunch. In Haiti we just share. If you have something you share it with those with you.

This Haitian hospitality, this notion of sharing everything you have, bit me later again when arriving at my house. I was going to sleep in my bed and the two college students that came with me brought air mattresses to sleep on. But my Haitian family insisted I had to give up my bed. They were guests and they would have a bed to sleep in. I still had a bed to sleep in, the family took one of the air mattresses and gave me their bed. But I think about how often that happens in the United States. And this is not to say we don’t have great hospitality in the United States. And I experienced great hospitality while in the states!! I am also more than happy to sleep on a couch or an air mattress when someone is willing to have me stay at their house. And I have many, many a soul to thank for this while in the U.S. I even think about when I have house guests in the states. I love my comfortable bed and don’t really sacrifice too much to have friends or family stay with me. There is only one time I gave up my bed for company and that was for my mother because I didn’t have a spare bed so I slept on the couch. There has been several occasions while visiting PaP that a Haitian family member has given up there bed so that I might sleep there and they would be sleeping on the floor. It has always been curious where I might sleep when visiting other places – but I always know I will be well taken care of.

I am continually learning from my brothers and sisters in Haiti. And sometimes I admit I don’t like it!! [I say with a smile and a wink.] This is what Jesus was teaching us too. “Love you neighbor as yourself.” And really one of the greatest lessons we can learn in school is to share. But as we get more and more stuff for our comfortable lives, it becomes harder and harder to share it. It seems like an odd thing. But they say that often in giving trends in the United States; often times those that give the most don’t have as much to give. I have witnessed that many times both in the United States and in Haiti. When people are generous, sharing, and giving you feel the presents of God, especially in those moments.