Devos

That week devotions came out of 1 John. The importance of sharing what we know to be true, of God’s love for creation and how we should also love each other. (The greatest commandments: To love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself.)
God is light and when we try to follow in the light we are exposed and vulnerable but we are also living to the best of our abilities as Christ taught us. We won’t have the need to hide or be ashamed as our true selves will be evident in the love that we share that will translate into our actions toward others. That we love in deed and truth, not just talk to show that our faith is alive as faith without works is dead. Though these actions don’t bring us salvation but are a response to the love we feel from God and God’s community.
Someone said, “I am always hoping that each confession I make is shorter than the last because that will mean that I’m working each day to be a better person.” While we all laughed at the sentiment, I believe that we all found it true…that would be such a good goal to have as we move forward in our lives.
We read together each night:
‘Guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping; that awake we may watch with Christ, and asleep we may rest in peace.’

the National Cathedral
a fresh coat of paint for a new look

Group work

My second group was from the Church of the Apostle in Montrose, Alabama. They came with 16 people ready to work both construction and education…so I was put with the educations team…no surprise there. When there is a group that works at the school, English classes are put on hold (during the day for the kids. I was still on for the teachers in the afternoons). I will have to admit that I’m not completely sure what the construction team did—there was some moving of topsoil at the Repatriate field (finished and waiting for grass seed), painting of various houses or the roofs of houses with a rust-proof paint to elongate their lifespan. (can I say that?) And stenciling the last 2 phrases on the school wall and painting one.

school children and their sponsors!
taking a bow after the performance

The education team had picked the story “The Rainbow Fish.” (I recommend it). In the classes they did art projects with the kids from the 3 year olds to the 5th grade. Different projects for each level and they had brought all the supplies they needed…it was an amazing undertaking. As there are two classes for each grade, they split into two art teams each with translators. They also had someone to read the story in the classroom in French! Fish with all sorts of decorations, jelly fish, octopi…it all came out of the classrooms and the kids and teachers loved it.
The 6th grade put on the play of the Rainbow Fish which I believe was made just for this play…There were 2 songs that one of the classes learned and performed. And the other class was putting on the play. 5 pages of text and lines and they memorized it in 4 days! It was amazing. And of course, when you are working with children you never know how it is going to go…especially children who didn’t have a choice in the matter or have ever seen a play! Erin works in children’s theater at home and I was assigned as her translator. She was relieved and happy and wouldn’t have let me leave if I could have found her another translator, I was nervous and hoping the kids would understand me (and listen to me). At one point during the week we had a revolt—they said they didn’t get their break yesterday so they were done for right now. Nothing I could do about it. They went out for break and then came back and did a great run through.
Friday morning the whole school went into the church to watch the play. Everyone did an amazing job…singing, saying their lines, moving around the stage and taking their bows. After the play the kids came and gave us hugs which was so sweet (as I had been hounding them all week to behave and listen and felt like a real tyrant). A wonderful play, cute story with the theme of sharing to make yourself happier, and a fun team to work with.

Food I like

I’ve found 2 condiments that I think are great…and totally by accident. In the peanut butter they put chili powder or cayenne so it has a little kick. And most of you probably know I like my food with a kick. The other thing I found (at the Obama Beach Hotel) was hot ketchup. Same idea—add some cayenne for a little kick.
Another great discovery was a drink, Kremas…we had it at the New Year’s gathering…it is a creamy liqueur that I thought was going to be eggnog but it wasn’t. Very good…
They also do a great relish of onions, peppers and carrots…kind of a slaw with a real kick because they use some kind of jalapeno pepper in it…they serve it when they do French fries and fried plantains…it is awesome.

ps. I think I have been falling to peer pressure...Everyone here (long term) complains about the food but it is not because it is bland just that it is on a rotation that we get tired of pretty quickly. Mom pointed out to me that it tastes pretty good and I agree just wish for more variation...

Mom in PAP with me

All too soon our time in Bayonnais was over. The group was headed home after a night in PAP and mom was coming with me to HOM. She was a trooper and came to almost all of my classes. In the older classes she introduced herself and they got to ask her questions (one of their favorites being how old are you) and some classes asked about her parents, uncles, etc. My teacher classes loved meeting her. They also got to ask questions and had a pretty good conversation. In the younger classes I introduced her but then we jumped into learning colors…I think I picked too many colors to start with but we’ll see how it all goes. Sadly I think she skipped some of the quieter classes but made it for some of the really rowdy ones. We had a wonderful visit together and it will be so nice that she can picture what I’m telling her and who I’m talking about.

On Friday morning (I don’t have class) we got a taptap (not the public one that I don’t know how to use—but a private one called by HOM) and went to the Missionaries of Charity (a Mother Teresa hospital) to hold the babies and see what was going on. Other groups had been but I’d always been working so I was excited to see it. I had also thought it was an orphanage but it is more of a hospital where most of the children are malnourished and so are kept until they are healthy again. Many parents come to visit their children there during visiting hours which was so touching to see. You could see the anguish in some parents’ eyes knowing that they couldn’t take care of their own kids but also the hope in seeing them getting stronger. There is a playground where the stronger kids could be taken out to play. Mom and I sat and fed 3 little ones who didn’t have visitors and were hooked up to IVs and so couldn’t go outside anyway. They were the smallest little ones I’ve seen. The nurses all had smiles on their faces as they worked amongst the often screaming children—always ready with smiles, jokes and help. It was a beautiful morning.
It was hard to see mom go on Tuesday. Luckily the airport is close so not too much time to dwell on it. She had a safe flight home and I am so glad she came.

Bayonnais

A small community in the mountains near Gonnaives center around a church, a school, a vocational school, feeding program, clinic, and agronomic project. It is an amazing place. The school has close to 2000 students from the area—some kids walk an hour and a half both ways. The morning is for over 1000 elementary students and the afternoon is for high schoolers. There is a rice depot where people who work on various projects such as road repairs can collect rice as payment for their work. The clinic has a dentist as well as doctors to see the community. They are planting expo fields to show new ways to grow a variety of foods.

I was ushered into the Guesthouse and shown to the dining room…don’t know where Mom was but lunch was a very good pumpkin soup (though on a hot day). Then mom came back from wherever they had been walking. YEAH!! So good to see her. We set to talking and catching up in between getting introduced to the rest of the group. The air feels cleaner there (out of the city) and it is definitely cooler (in the mountains).

While we are there we took a hike up into the mountains to a village called Nichola. NIchola is even poorer, so much so that the people in Bayonnais felt called to send teachers to start a school there for the children. We left early in the morning so that we were there to see school start (with some songs and prayer) and then the kids went to classrooms…one stone building with 1 window and 1 door served as 2 classes faced in opposite directions and a reed structure that served as 2 more classrooms. The teachers walk from Bayonnais each day (about a 1.5 hour hike up)

While at the guesthouse there are always people around. And they want to practice their English. Or just gawk at the white people (that is what it felt like at times though I’m sure it was all well-meaning). If you sat on the porch you were pretty much fair game…and it was shaded so it was a great place to sit. I found that when I sat out there I would get an audience of 18-20 year olds pretty quickly. And when they found out that I spoke French it was even bigger. They seemed to want to test that…no more English. So the first guy would sit next to with the rest standing and watching. We would start. ‘Hi, my name is _____. What’s yours? You speak French. How long are you staying in Haiti? Etc.’ it would go on for a while and then his turn would be over. He would go to the watching area, the next guy would sit down and we would have the exact conversation that I had just held and he had just watched. Seriously. And this went on for ages…and every time I would sit outside it would start again. As friendly as I am…I wasn’t too impressed but then what else could we talk about. I run out of questions pretty quickly.
I loved visiting and seeing another ministry that is doing such good work and having the freedom to wander around the village (though I noticed that already I didn’t go far on my own).

Actionnel

Actionnel Fleurisma is the heart and founder of OFCB (Organisation Force Chretienne de Bayonnais). He is a native of Bayonnais but had left for the city of Gonaives when he felt the call to go back and help the people of his hometown.
When I found out that Mom was coming down with a group from NC (composed of people from many churches) I thought about trying to go up to them and see what they were doing over the weekend. I was told that traveling on my own isn’t safe (and I wouldn’t know how to do it anyway) but they would look into it. I received an email saying that Actionnel was coming to pick up a student on Saturday and I could easily get a ride, but I would have to stay until Tuesday when the group came back down. Yeah!
Soon before the trip I talked with Actionnel on the phone and found out that his Saturday trip to Port-au-Prince was JUST to pick me up. I told him that it wasn’t necessary, that I could wait, but he told me he was coming down for me. He didn’t know me. He didn’t know my mom (yet). And it turned out that the trip can be very long.
But I was excited. To get out of PAP, to see the north, to be in a village/mountain area, to meet this pastor who was putting himself to so much trouble for someone he hadn’t met. So that Saturday morning I got a ride to the Guesthouse that he stays in when he is in PAP. Turned out he had gotten in his car at 5am to drive the 3.5 hours to get me with 2 of his children, and we jumped right back in the car for the return trip (via the supermarket for some essentials), the return took a little longer as there were more people on the streets later in the day. (I found out that when the group arrived it took over 8 hours to get there because they encountered “the log of unity” marching through Port-au-Prince from the south tip to the north and they couldn’t get through so many people) We stopped briefly at his house in Gonaives and then continued our trip for an hour up a dirt track into the mountains. From 5 minutes into the trip it felt like I had known Actionnel for years and I am so glad that he gave up his Saturday to spend the day in the car that I might see my mom a couple days sooner and see the amazing work that God is doing in Bayonnais.

another world

On New Year’s Day Pastor Leon’s family has a gathering. His brother worked high in the government for a while…a completely different social circle. A large house in a more affluent neighborhood where it feels that you have entered a different Haiti. Very friendly and welcoming, speaking Creole, French and English. Family from around the world—studying in Germany, living in NY, Atlanta, Haiti. The discrepancy between being there and working and living in/near Cite Soleil is enormous though not any bigger than what I’ve seen in Malawi and even the US. It was a wonderful afternoon/evening with great food and conversation. I think in a way it showed what could be.

before school

That morning I had a long chat with Jacky. She is an amazing woman. She was in medical school when she attended a seminar put on by a visiting pastor who then worked to get her a scholarship to seminary or university in the states. However Leon was the one who was talking to her about this scholarship and he told her that he would rather she stay and marry him…she did. She is now the superintendent of the 4 HOM schools, she knows every child by name and usually a thing or two about his or her family as well. She is interested in every student and sees their potential, pushes them to reach that potential and helps to open those doors. She is so proud of all those who have been through the school and have gone on to become the leaders she helped raise them to be. She told me stories of the students who come to her for advice (getting into school, finding jobs, internships, relationships) because they know she cares, she is hard and tells it like it is but the love is so evident. She invites church members and students to their house to show them what they can achieve, what they can dream of past what they have seen in their neighborhoods. Past the one room house to dream of multiple rooms, multiple stories, electricity, etc…if you’ve never seen it you don’t know that you can achieve it—she gives them hope and the push to get there. The conversations started with her saying that I should work for the UN or USAID here in Haiti since I speak both English and French, that I could do that. And I just find it so hard to justify, working and living in what I see as so removed from the multitudes. She showed that it takes all kinds and even with that affluence you can have the right influence if your heart is in the right place and you use it to your advantage—to let God work through you.