Part 2 - Making Traffic (read the next blog first)

After waiting in Di Mez for some time we had a couple of people when we got a call that the bakery up the mountain needed us to haul bread to LaVallee. When we crossed the river we picked up two more people and a bunch of bags full of things. When we arrived in Mizak we had to unload all the people and things that we picked up. I felt really bad but we had to load up all the bread first and it was down a narrow bad road and there was mud. So we headed down the hill, the other very large truck was very stuck in the mud. We came in and with the help of several people we loaded up all the bread, along with the people that would sell the bread in Retori. I thought the truck was full and wondered about the people we had left waiting. But when we met them in the road we reloaded all of their things and them into the truck; all but one woman and her two small children under the age of 2. I was very sad for the woman, I was going to suggest the children sit up front with us and her in the back but the kids were wet. The person who wanted all the bread hauled, gave her money to take a motorcycle with the children. We drove up the mountain and unloaded everyone at the market. Then we started selling the bread out of the back of the truck. People flocked to load up their bags of bread so that they could resell them in the market. Tigo and I went and checked out the market. It is one of the biggest and best in the area and it happens every Friday. I had never been there before but it was incredible the amount of people in town and the amount of products there. We just sat there and watched the market, until a lady carrying a giant basket through the market. I thought it would be perfect for a laundry basket; Tigo didn’t skip a beat to tell me to go and ask the price of the basket. I explained to him things cost more for the white girl; he should go ask the price. He did and then we waved me over. I bought the basket and we walked back over to the truck and helped sell bread out of the truck. It was good to sell the bread. It gave me a little lesson in the money in Haiti. I still don’t really understand it. There is the Haitian Dollar which is 8 times the American dollar but doesn’t actually exist it is just referred to. Then there is the Goude, which is the money exchanged and it is 5 times the Haitian dollar. But it helped me practice a bit in counting out the bread - 50 Goude for 3 pieces of bread. They sold over half of the bread and decided they were ready to go home. I was able to drive home – which was a great joy. It is something I miss the most in the United States. The market place is always a learning place. We had gone also gone for a big walk. I saw the Catholic Church and the school. We were going back down to Jacmel but we were all too tired and I was a bit sunburned, not expecting to be out selling bread in the hot sun for a few hours. Again you just really don’t know what life might bring to you.

Making Traffic in the truck

I have been wanting to shadow people since I came back to Haiti. This last Friday it finally happened. I am going to break down the day into 2 blogs. I decided I would ‘make traffic’ with my friend Tigo. He told me he started at 4:00AM. This of course ridiculously early, but if you want the full experience you have to go for the gold. He was supposed to call me when he was ready to go. Luckily for me he wasn’t feeling the 4:00AM either, so we left at 5:30AM. This is one of my favorite times in Haiti anyway, because the light across the trees is beautiful. And the sounds when the country side wakes up just makes you smile and appreciate nature. We headed down the road a bit as the rain was starting. There was a group of ladies waiting with large rice sacks filled with different fruits and vegetables, mostly avocados to sell in the market in Jacmel. We loaded up all their goods in the rain. It is a little Toyota pickup truck with a rack on the top that is extended from the back rails so people can sit in the bed of the truck. We put 8 – 5 gallon pails on the top of the roof of the cab. Then 7 ladies with some more produce in the bed of the truck. Then Tigo got a tarp out of the cab of the truck to cover the ladies to protect them from the rain. We picked up a couple of other people along the way, but I was also noticing many people that were just walking with their produce to Jacmel. It is a 40 min ride down the mountain to Jacmel by truck. It is difficult to imagine these women walking all that way with all they have to sell on their heads. We arrived in the normally bustling city of Jacmel to silence in the market. With just a few people there in the market starting to arrive with the bananas, avocados, corn, clothes, and much, much more. Usually you cannot even walk through this area and we just pulled in with the truck without a problem. After unloading the truck we went to a different area to wait for people exiting the city. We ate a pati, this is like a homemade hot pocket. It may actually be the original Hot pocket. These particular ones had some unidentifiable meat and boiled eggs in them; it was delicious. No one was coming to load up in the truck; the rain had kept them in bed a bit longer this morning. So I got to drive to Di Mize so we could wait at the cross road path up the mountain to La Vallee.

At Di Mez, we waited and waited. Di Mez is a little crossroads town that is a junction of people coming to and from Port au Prince and Jacmel up into the mountain communities. As I watched everyone setting up their shops there too, I asked if anyone actually lived in Di Mez. Not really, no one lives in this area they just set up shops there – I guess it is a Haitian mall or a strip mall or I don’t know, just trying to think of a comparison to the United States. As we waited their doing nothing, I wish I had a book. And then I saw a women preparing food. I asked Tigo if I could help her and he looked confused at the notion, I think wondering why, but just going with it as we Americans do crazy things sometimes. I ended up asking the women, she gave me the same look – and I don’t understand why look. Then she handed me the knife and the breadfruit. I was happy, something to do. She just kept telling me in Creole over and over, “Don’t cut yourself. Pay attention.” When I finished she looked at me like ok that was nice, but I asked to cut another piece. Then as people would pass by she would tell them, look at this girl helping me. It was entertainment for awhile, while we waited for people. You never know what a day will bring and you need to be ready to embrace it. Instead of just sitting around and waiting for what was next I decided to try and learn something new and maybe help someone out.

Something that is simple - yet not

In the morning I awaken to the sounds of chicken, goats, and birds. I can hear the breeze blowing through the trees. And then I hear a baby laughing my heart is filled with joy. Then I walk to the home of the family who cooks for me . Julie, her daughter and niece are doing laundry. She asks me “Do you know how to wash Angelica?” No I don’t’ I have tried and think I am doing what it takes to wash the clothes by hand but I don’t make the right squishy noise. I wish I could help, but then again a piece of me is happy I don’t know how. And I know that it gives someone else a job too. It is a lot of work. Think of washing your whole family’s laundry by hand. Julie says life in Haiti is miserable. I ask because of the laundry? “Yes,” she responds, “ we don’t have machines like you do in your county.”
I am sad and I try and voice what I experience this morning – the beauty of Haiti. And yet as I watch Julie scrub and wash that white blouse by hand; I realize how complex it is to understand someone else’s point of view of their world. It is not a simple task to understand people where they are at and learn from them and discover what you might have to offer them to make the whole world a better place. And yet we need to continue to keep our mind open and try.

What is really needed this season?

This season has made me think about what is really needed in our world. In Haiti there is always people coming to ask for something. It can be overwhelming sometimes, but their are many needs of the people. There is the common asking in the streets for some change or food. This is come to be expected and I think that might be their view on it too, it is just second nature to ask the visiter in your town. But then there are other requests; ones where I see the person coming to Lee's home or to the Learning Center for LMI. Often times it looks like they are embarassed that they need to ask but also feel as though they have no other choice. The other day a woman came to ask for her child to be in the sponsorship program. We of course have too many people in the sponsorship program already. I can always see with Lee his heart breaks when he has to tell people, 'no' the list is already too long. It broke my heart too as I watched this interaction and tears well up in my eyes. But these are the realities of the world we live in.
I remember one other day we were sitting in the house talking and this young man, all of 8 or 9 years old comes walking in the house. With his little button down shirt tucked into his high-water jeans with his belt cinched up, he addressed Mr. Lee with confidence. He was requesting to go to school. He talked for sometime and then patiently waited. Lee stirred and shifted....and I felt the same uncomfortableness. How can you tell a 8 year old boy 'no, we can't help you go to school'? ....well you can't. You take his picture and add him to the list and pray. You just continue to pray and have faith that you will find more sponsors. It only costs $150 to send a child to school for a year. This covers their tuition, books, and uniform. Maybe you can answer a prayer for a Haitian Family and make a difference and give something that is really needed in this world. Education and change for our future. Following blog are kids you could sponsor. Contact me at artistic_angelica@yahoo.com if you are interested. Thanks.

Education is the future

Recently, I was a part of an interview about the education system in Haiti. Although I didn’t understand everything that was said it reconfirmed what I do know about Education in Haiti for young people. About ½ of the children in Haiti go to school. This is usually due to lack of resources. Families simply can’t afford to send their children to school and feed them too. Many kids might be able to start school but then are not able to pay the second payment of the tuition. Many of the parents of the children in school are illiterate; however they are very passionate about keeping their children in school. In Haiti there is a proverb that says, “Ignorance won’t kill you but it will make you sweat a lot.” But the cycle of poverty in lack of education continues. Some people are able to break out of the cycle. Aimable, the teacher and mother being interviewed talked about how far children have to travel to school too. She sends her daughter to a good school up the mountain that takes 20 minutes or more to get to by motorcycle. Some children in the area walk to that school which can take an hour to two hours. But the children walk there because it is better education. Education really is the answer for the future of Haiti. The young people I talk to want to make a difference in their future and the future of their country. They hold on to a hope that ‘tomorrow’ will be different. However, they need that little help to break out of the cycle. I am working with child sponsorship now for education for children. Living Media International is also working on a program for young adults who are finished with their base schooling and have dreams of going off to a university or to learn a trade. I will have more information to come on how you might be able to get involved with these. I will have children on my Facebook page that you can sponsor in school. I challenge you today to thank a teacher, thank the school administrators or anyone involved in education. So much of the success of the US has been due to education, so appreciate what we have. Too often we take for granted what can make a world of difference.

In Haiti Again

Blessed to return back home. Sorry I don't have much time to write right now. We arrived safely and everthing is going well. I will write more next week. Thank you for all the prayers and support this summer and for my journey back. I could not do it without the support of my friends and family.

Angelica's Heart for Haiti