Jonathan U

I know I posted about him on my Meet the Children page already, but as I was going thru my pictures to find something to post this weekend, I kept scrolling thru these pix. This kid has such great character and personality. He has such a thirst for knowledge. He is our newest kid, only here since October 30th, but he completely bowls me over! I just love him to pieces!

taken from my balcony

Another make up post...

Here are some pictures of the kids opening presents from Christmas.


Thank you to Rhema Hospital for providing boxes full of goodies, Karine Kraus for providing the stuffties, Caroline Mudge of Send Out Cards for the lipglosses, Pat Hill of Bodhi Seed for the pens, and all of my other contributors who donated the moolah that went in to getting all of the kids watches, candy, toys, clothes etc. We had a fabulous time opening gifts and playing with all of our new stuff!


Flickr slideshow: Christmas 2011

Social Butterflies

I said "My, my" like the spider to a fly

"Jump right ahead in my web"

Well, we had a crazy busy weekend. Friday we spent the evening car shopping. Then we had friends over for drinks. Saturday we went out clubbing and up to the mountains to see the sights. Sunday we spent at Hotel Montana. The social scene is definitely picking back up like it was before the holidays. 

I am a member of an expat bloggers web forum and through that I routinely meet new people down here. Some are locals, some are foreigners and some are Americans. I've had pretty good luck so far and have met some really great people this way. 

Day Trip To Okay - Kanaval

Day Trip To Okay - Kanaval, a set on Flickr.

Tuesday we drove to Les Cayes (Okay to the locals) for National Kanaval - Haiti's answer to Mardi Gras. We spent the afternoon at a public beach and then headed in for the Kanaval parade in the evening. It was a day of AWESOME! Being able to get out of the city limits and see so much of the mountains and the ocean and the province! Ah! Of course, in retrospect - the decision not to carry my camera into town for the parade was not the best, I missed out on taking some spectacular pictures, but considering the vastness of the crowd, I'm not that mad about it.

Carnival Nationale

This will be an interesting week if it plays out the way I hope it does. 


Our older kids that go to Haitian schools have the whole week off as the island buzzes with Kanival celebrations. 


Our little ones that take school here on the grounds only have Tuesday off. :(


Because of this, I was unable to travel to see Kanival in all it's splendor. 


A friend has offered to let us ride with him as he delivers a car to aux Cayes (Les Cayes) just for the day. Aux Cayes is where the "official" Carnival Nationale celebration takes place. 


Meanwhile, the kids are prancing around the yard singing, "Say nan kugran m'pran" = It's the spark I take - roughly translated - I am the body electric!


Happy Mardi Gras to my American friends and family!

Mi Vida Loca

So, yesterday one of our neighbors' hens got in our yard. I didn't want to make a big deal of it before the kids got into their classrooms so I pretended not to see it. But once I got all of our blue shirts (preschoolers) and red shirts (primaries) into their respective rooms, it was on like Donkey Kong! 


So, I tell the guard at the gate, Mr. Germain, to open the walk-thru and try to head her off on the right flank while I came at her from the left. 


Well, the readers' digest version is, I got at least a mile run in at the beginning of my day. That little chick ran this way, that way, and then the other way again. She ran in the chapel, out the side door, back in the side door, through the yard, back into the chapel...you get the idea!


Crazy days!


Today I taught myself how to drill through tile. Yeah, my days are carazee! lol


Also, I got to make some mini-mes for our My Body series: 

what's under there, we do not share!

the parts you see there are okay to share

yes, those are granny panties!

 

don't judge my fashion sense, there are only so many colors of
construction paper available! And don't look too closely
at those fingers.  I'm a teacher, not an artist! lol

Okay, that's all for now. I need a glass of wine and a shower!

Parachute!

Who doesn't remember this? The bestest days of primary school for sure. It's no different in Haiti, even with a little ole bitty one like this: 

the children are introduced to the parachute

they're still a little too wild for this, but hopefully as we continue
demonstrating the teamwork model they will get it

it's a good thing they are so little and can fit under this thing!

rock-a-bye baby!

Catching Up

I always feel like I'm trying to catch up. 


It's been an incredibly long and difficult journey and I never feel fully rested. 


I am always at least a week behind in my journaling which makes it hard to remember what to write about when I do get a chance to sit down. 


Today I hope to repair that dysfunction. 


Laura Beth, Mitch's niece, and an absolute angel from God himself, has been here over 3 weeks now. She has been such a blessing! Even if she never did a think while she's here (which she has already done soooo much!) it would go down in my book as a success. What it has meant to me to be able to talk to someone who is similarly cultured and understand where I'm coming from...it has lifted a HUGE burden from me. I am now able to relax, focus and do what I enjoy doing. 


Of course, I can't blame this place (the mission or Haiti in general) for all of my woes. Let's face it, I martyr myself. That's what I do! I can't help myself. It's like I got labelled with that as a child and I continue to find myself playing that role no matter what I do or where I do it. 


So, back to catching up. 


I'm going to try to go back and post some of my photos. I've nearly forgotten I even had a camera here! 


Today's selection is a sample of things that we do around the mission just for the bonding and community of it. We are, after all, a fill in family for all of our children. 


In this first photo, you see our evening director, Yonel, who grew up at the mission and stayed on as director, being shampooed by a few of our girls, Bianka (6) Samanza (9) and Junie-Anna (7). What fun they had!

who doesn't love to have their hair washed? 

One of the mistakes I made when I got here was not getting enough background info on Birthday celebrations. Turns out by getting cakes for everyone's' birthdays individually, I was setting a precedence too difficult to maintain. So in November or December, we decided that we would pick one birthday each month to have cake for everyone who's birthday was in that month to do cake. For Dec, we had Kevin on the 22, Bianka on the 24 and Danny on the 28. (Apparently I'm not as behind in photos as I thought - this is for January) Moise (Moses) on Jan 1, Lorvens 4 on Jan 12 and Shedeline 5 on Jan 18. So instead of having several of the Epi D'or round cakes, we had one chocolatey goodness sheet cake from Petionville! Good call Miss Michele! This cake was soooo good!

the most delicious cake in Haiti!

This last one is my failed attempt at those really cool pix of people gobbling up the moon. We have such spectacular night skies but I a. have a crappy camera and 2. suck as a night photographer! 

Ti Martelli has a little green cheese snack!

Okay, well, that's it for this post. Stay tuned for more!

Things to be thankful for

Every day brings new challenges, and often new reasons to want to go home. I am resolved to see this through. I am certain I was called here for a reason. Whether it is about helping with the growth of these children, or just to help with my own personal growth, or maybe both, I do not know. What is certain is that I am not the same person I was 4 months ago. 


In many ways I am become more cautious and reserved and in other ways I am letting go of that caution and reservation. I am hoping to achieve a higher level of enlightenment either way. 


One of the most difficult things to do is to practice what you preach. Even to practice what you believe. To say you believe in something is one thing. To actually have the conviction to live it is not an easy life. 

Photos from week 1

picaso photo album to go with previous post

Click on the link above to view album.
eventually I will learn how to use this!

A Tour of the Mission

Here is a satellite picture of the mission I found on Google Maps. It is mid-way through the work the Muscle Crew has been doing so I've drawn a few outlines to help:

Off of Delmas 33

1. School bldg - still needs to be finished up - 3 classrooms to separate out the different levels of younger students

2. Toilets - boys and girls

3. enclosed Kitchen with running water and a fridge and deep freezer

4. Dorms and Dining Hall

5. Showers

6. Staff quarters, Soon-to-be-finished guest quarters, and storage

7. Front Gate

8. covered courtyard with benches - families sit for hours in here waiting to talk to Mitch

9. Old schoolroom/church

10. Terrace over offices and equipment storage

11. Well house and family room

The kids of Have Faith Haiti

The kids of Have Faith Haiti, a set on Flickr.

okay...I think I've figured out how to work this flickr thingy! For tose who do not have access to my Facebook fotos - Here is the link to my flickr fotos. Enjoy!