The Crazy That is Haiti

So, tonight we (me and Laura Beth), well, mostly me, hired a taxi recommended by my friends, to take us to a jazz concert up in Petionville. First off, understand that nothing in Haiti works the way it is described. So, I am assured this "taxi driver" speaks "beautiful English", 1st lie...secondly, he drives a brand new Mercedes. I've seen less bondo on a Roseville Saturday night Gratiot cruisers special! And thirdly, I was told he charges $500 HTG ($40 gourde to a US dollar so about $12.50) each way. I call the guy, he doesn't speak 2 words of English. He shows up, he wants $100 dollars to drive us 4.5 miles and back. We finally try to negotiate a ride there, figuring, well, we are a couple of cute American girls, we have to be able to find a ride home, and he comes down to $25 to drop us off...


So we politely decline his services and apologize, "desole, we misunderstood your fees." And decide to stay home and drink rum and Coke and play rummy. Then one of the guys tells us he can get us a moto, the guy across the street will take us. We negotiate a price, $80 HTD ($8 HTD to $1 USD, so 10 bucks) to get us there and back and off we go, in sandals and capris and no helmets, 3 on a bike...I would so never approve of this for anyone I loved in the states, but I haven't been out since New Years Eve!


Off we go, teying not to breathe in the funk that is our driver's eau du naturale, and keeping our eyes mostly closed to avoid the Pink Eye that is nearly inevitable from traveling around the streets of Delmas. He takes us up some of the worst roads. I nearly fall off several times. I think my kidneys are just about to revolt. We get about 3/4 of the way to the club when his moto breaks down. It just stops. I don't know what happened because he only speaks money in English. He flags down a couple of other moto drivers to arrange to get us to the club. Now, realize that he barely understood where to take us. He checks on the registration of the two bikes that showed up and approves us to go on the one. I check the price, which was silly, because we really had very few options at this point, and off we go. 


Well, I'm really so glad we went! I got to see my friends for the briefest moment before they left. But meanwhile, I met this awesome jazz club owner from Seattle. He is coming to visit the mission on Monday. Also, the older guy that has been pursuing me was there. I tried to set him straight again that I am only in him on a platonic level. He insisted on introducing me to his family, :( - who turned out to be great people. Laura Beth got to meet this awesomely delicious French guy. We were about to call our moto driver to come fetch us when Richard insisted on having his friend drive us home. Turns out the friend is a missionary Dentist. I'm going to have him visit the mission and possibly donate some much needed dental care to the kids! 

Too Much Information

Sometimes being busy is counter-productive to good blogging.


Alas, as I was drifting off to sleep, I had so many things I wanted to blog about today. But Murphy had other things in mind for me. 


The morning was filled with seeing off a mission group from Poured-Out. The hustle and bustle of loaning out my computer for a few of them to send emails, taking up their leftover bug spray, toiletries, food, clothing, etc. to distribute among the kids at the mission, making sure everything gets put back into place and that they don't forget any of their belongings can be quite thrilling and stressful all at once. Couple that with the routine of getting all the teachers and kids settled into their morning lessons and then add the unexpected events that just throw everyone into a spin. 

Answered prayers

Literally, hugs and kisses to all of you who have, through thick and thin, supported me in even the smallest measure. And praise be to the Lord Almighty without whom I would be nothing! 

I am in absolute awe of the miracles I have been a part of. I will, for the rest of my life, look back on my experience in Haiti and know, unequivicably, that this is where the rubber meets the ashpalt, faith-wise. I came here with so many expectations that soon were modified in the most negative of ways. I had serious lapses in my faith and even had to seriously consider the salience of my choice to come down here. 

In the last 5 days I have had to really evaluate my reasons for doing this, and now am so much firmer in my conviction that the choice to give up a year in my life was not really my own. There is nothing I am doing down here that is for my benefit alone, and yet, everything I am doing is for my benefit. 

I have grown so much as a person since I have been here. I just don't even know how to begin to describe the personal growing pains I have been through since moving down here. 

You just can't make this stuff up! 

Anyhoo, I will sit down and try to put this experience into some media or another when I finally figure out which media is my voice when all the dust settles on this journey of discovery. 

Till then, Peace!

Happy New Year!

Well, they say new year, new start. So far it's just more of the same. I know we are all battle weary from having all the kids off of school and trying to direct meaningful activities for them is getting tiresome. Also, it seems that the holiday break has stirred up a lot of discontent amongst our young adults. Hopefully some of this will abate when our little ones return to regular English lessons tomorrow. 


I'm looking forward to the start of the new term. Hopefully our teachers will get on board with the idea of showing up on time and being prepared for the day's lessons. It is my heartfelt prayer that some of these people start to be a little more conscientious about their work ethic. I try to lead by example, but when you are the only one trying to improve these things, it is an uphill battle with no oars! (sorry for the mixed metaphor, but it succinctly describes my sitch!)