Visiting People

How often do we take time out of our lives to visit people. We are just to busy in our own lives. This is on things I miss about Haiti. One day as I was walking home from the artisan workshop, I heard this beautiful rhythmic sound. I asked Eddy what it was and he led me around the corner. This is what we saw. The family was excited to see us. They welcomed us and greeted us and grabbed us chairs to sit on from the house. I watched as they beat down the peatameez (not spelled right - but how it sounds) The older lady in the foreground was sifting rice.
Next to where we were sitting there was a young lady who was sowing the new nursing uniforms. We talked for awhile with the family and I just enjoyed the atmosphere. The family also offered us a coconut which is alway a treat. The hospitality in Haiti is unbelieveable and the people are so loving.

importance of being fearless or at least faking it

I used to ride horse when I lived down in Kansas with a friend of mine. I have always loved riding and wished I had more opportunities to do so. But most people don't have this opportunity in their everyday lives.
Horses in Haiti are used for practical purposes, such as hauling construction supplies, market produce, water, or general transportation. Most of the time it is actually donkeys that are used for this as they are better for the rocky terrain as well as lack of water.
This beautiful horse had been tied up around my house down in Haiti for some time. I kept telling people I was going to ride it. I was going to find out who owned it and ride it. But didn't really ever think it would happen.
One day we saw the kid out in the field with his horse and I said to my friends 'that is the horse I have been wanting to ride'. Right away my friends called over the kid to bring his horse to us. As I got up and remembered the rocky terrain I thought there is no way I can do this. And I looked at that beautiful horse longing to ride it but saw of coarse no saddle, no rein; there was no way I could ride this horse. I could fall and break a leg and then where would I be. Besides that how could I even get on the horse with no saddle. But as I was going over this struggle in my head; my friends were encouraging me. And I realized if I didn't do this I would regret it.
I would not say that in that moment I was fearless, I was terrified. But I knew my regret would out way my fear. This may be a great lesson to go through life with. Conquer your fears or at least fake it; You don't want to miss out on an amazing experience.

to say Bonjou or not

One of the things that was very hard for me to get used to when in Haiti is saying 'Hello' to EVERYONE! It just felt weird, I mean really. Imagine, every person that crosses your path you say 'Bonjou' [good morning] or 'Bonswa' [Good afternoon]and 'Como ou ye?' [How are you?]


At first you might think it sounds nice. But every person, people you don't even know. But I learned this is the way it is done in Haiti. Plus as an outsider you want to try and blend as much as possible. So I embraced it. I learned to greet everyone. And sometimes I even stopped and talked to people for awhile. It became very normal and I really never thought about it again.

Until last week. I was walking across campus at USD in Vermillion, SD. I was just going to visit a friend. I passed people and didn't know how to react. Do I avoid eye contact, make eye contact and smile, say hi or do nothing. Instead I just thought about it while I was passing them and thought how weird this was to pass someone by and not even acknowledge that they exist. Suddenly I felt a little lonely and missed Haiti. Where you greet everyone, even if you don't know them.

The first picture I posted happened to be a friend of mine. I might have just said hi and just passed him on by, but I decided to talk. And as it turned out. Look what I found.



... so do you say Bonjou or not? I don't know the answer for every situation. I don't know what I will do the next time I pass someone walking. But saying hi can't be any weirder than not saying anything and you never know how you might effect someone else's day or maybe you will find kittens.

Another World

I realized it has been some time since I have wrote a blog. I am getting scared of my limited time here in Haiti. I look through pictures in search of what I should blog about and it is just too overwhelming to think about writing small little things to describe my vast experience here in Haiti. I think there is so much I don’t even think about being different anymore. Like the kitchen here being different from the ones in the United States. I feel like we have a great kitchen here because there is a ‘counter’ and walls whereas other kitchens I have seen only have a couple rocks on the ground to hold up a pot with wood to burn between the rocks.
Or for instance the donkey that is tied too close to the ‘main road’ and he pooped in the road we walk to go up to Paul’s house. My roommate Christy pointed out “I love how you call this the ‘main road’”.

I just have a completely different perspective on life now that I have been down here for 7 months. What sorts of things do we take for granted in life and what sorts of things do we appreciate? I have been thinking a lot about what I truly do miss from the United States. Of course the top being people (loved ones) but also, just being able to talk to anyone and discover what they are passionate about without having a language barrier. The other is certain foods, I have already arranged to have Jimmy Johns when I arrive in Omaha at 10:30PM. But what will I miss in Haiti – again the people! But mostly everyday life - getting up at 6:00 in the morning with the roosters cooing, the donkey yelling, and the goats crying. Also walking to the outhouse in the middle of the night and wondering if I will see a snake, a cockroach, or a cricked tonight or walking to go get my water and then putting it in a bladder to make in warm for an afternoon shower.
There are days I feel like I am truly in another world and yet I am reminded of the world I used to live in the US. I don’t know how I can ‘live’ in both worlds and yet how do I live without one or the other. I am sure when I return from Haiti I can reflect more and discover more both about myself and about ‘all’ the worlds around us. We really do need to think about the world we live in and what would we like to do to make it different, better? And then put yourself in someone else’s shoes half way around the world. How can you make their world better? How can they make your world better? We all need to work together, learn from each other and grow in our differences.

Angels and Stars

One of the things that makes me happy in this world is the connections we have. I am not sure that I have expressed this before in my blogging or not. But I love how the world is connected for the worse or for the better, we are together in this. It is essential for us to realize this in order for the world to work better together. Of course with the internet is very apparent how small our world really is. At any given time you can know what is going on around the world. When the Earthquake happened in Haiti I felt like I was there experiencing it with them. I was watching the news and immediately was heart broken and wanted to know where my loved ones were. Recently there has been the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and many people are concerned and feeling that impact of that as well. We are all connected to these situations either by first hand or through friends or co-workers. It is truly a small world.
I have also been realizing this more and more with teams coming down to Haiti and the connections that are made with teams. Cheryl a member of one of our teams worked with kids in the United States on making Angels out of paper plates and pipe cleaners with the kids picture on them. They wanted the kids of Haiti to know that they were praying for them and that we all have Angels in our lives. The kids in Haiti are connected with the kids in Michigan that made the Angels.
The children that were involved in receiving these angels are from Peace Pals. Peace Pals is a type of Sunday school that happens every Saturday for about 200 children from the community. There is a dance group that has started from Peace Pals. They are called ‘Nouvela Twel’ [New Stars] and started about 1 ½ months ago. Christy, another American has been leading them in a dance routine that will be performed in a video this summer. The video will look into the girls’ lives of what it is like to grow up as a young lady in Haiti. The group is working hard at encouraging not only in dance but in their future lives.
The girls were very excited to hear about these children in Michigan that cared about them and wanted this connection. In response we had the children in Haiti make Stars for the children in Michigan. We talked to them about the tradition in the United States about when you see a shooting star you can make a wish. We told the girls when they looked at the stars they can think about their futures and their dreams. And also that there is a child in the United States that is thinking and praying for them too.

Jacmel

Some of the incredible architecture in Jacmel. I drive by many of these beautiful buildings everytime I go to Jacmel, maybe once or twice a week. There is just so much beauty in this country. I have been taking pictures of the doors in Jacmel and hope to do a series of them. I just find the History interesting, it is sad some of the were lost or damaged in the earthquake. Many of them have also been abandoned for years. But every once in awhile we continue to see some construction going on.

A wall mural in Jacmel

Mixing Concrete

There is a specific process to mixing concrete. The Haitians work hard at this process, as well as other countries that don’t have a big machine to mix it for them. I have mixed concrete myself by hand in Mexico on a mission trip. Despite our high school and college boys that were on the trip with us making it look easy, it is very, very hard work! I actually only did it for a short time, and I was exhausted. In Costa Rica we had to mix a lot of cement so we paid the extra money as a team to rent a little cement mixer to make things easier. Although the locals didn’t think it was worth the money if you could do it yourself by hand. In Haiti recently I was watching the process of mixing the elements to make the concrete and the balance that has to take place with the parts. I was amazed at the carefulness and yet the ease at which they seem to make the concrete. You start with sand, rock and cement; you have to be sure to have the right mixture of these elements. As I was watching the beauty in the mixing; it made me think of the process of living and working where God leads you. The elements make me think of the Creator, Spirit, and Friend. You need all these parts for it to ‘work’ correctly. Then you add the water for everything to come together - that is you. The water is added slowly and mixed carefully to what had already been put together. Then there is the hard work and precision that needs to happen. It is difficult to stir that water with the other elements to make things come together to make something concrete. As I said earlier watching the Haitians mix this concrete with ease made me think of all this. So I thought I need to try my hand at mixing that concrete again – maybe it wasn’t that hard. So at one of our construction sites the other day I tried again – and again – it was really hard work and I couldn’t make it look as easy as the Haitians did. Isn’t this the way that we see people ‘working’ for God. There are many people in my life that I have admired for the things they are doing, by following their dreams and following God’s plan for their lives. And somehow they make it look easy. And some even talk about how they just follow where God leads and then put in the work. But what we don’t see is how they first struggled with learning the process and the balance of mixing the concrete so it will be strong and last.