They shoot dogs don’t they???? Last night at about 3:00am two dogs started up right outside our window. It sounded like one dog was throwing up (repeatedly) and the other was cheering him on. It went on for about 40 minutes…. if I had a gun…. boom it would be done. The church bells started at 7:30am but we were already up and prepping. After a quick breakfast of spaghetti (spicy… yum) we loaded up the van and headed up to Riviere Froide… but not before going into the auto parts district of Port au Prince…. it was a long street in the center of the  city where you can buy used auto parts. This area was amazing anywhere you looked people were fixing cars and trucks … right there in the street and there were parts EVERYWHERE! If your vehicle was having issues and you went there four or five men would hang over the engine and discuss the possible causes of the problem. A meeting of the minds. We were seeking a tiny part that broke off the fuel area (cap) of a Land Rover… it was tiny. We were told to just come back tomorrow they would have it….. Father Roosevelt told us later that they probably will go and steal it… not sure if he was serious about that

Then we headed to Carrferour and started the climb up the mountain to Riviere Froide. I navigated giving directions as Father R had never been there…. I was awesome…. it was going sooo well until we hit the driveway of the Riviere Froide complex when our Land Rover could not climb the driveway…. for those of you who have never been there it is STEEP so the vehicle did not have 4 wheel drive and although they gave it a gallant try we had to get out and walk it. So I have decided its a serious gym routine for me… two years ago right after the earthquake I ran that driveway… not today it was so hard. So as soon as I get back on Monday I am in training….

So although I saw progress around the area up in the complex the larger school pledged by Kinder No Hilfe has not even been started. Our school/home was excellent. The children where in school but we toured the rooms and took photos. Sister Giselle came to meet us and remember Rick and was all concerned on how he was. They told us to tell Rick that the nuns and the children prayed for him everyday. We visited the class… they sang to us…thanked us over and over again… it was very nice. Oh course it was just a curiosity visit to make sure the building held up through the last Hurricane Season and to make sure it was being run properly and in accordance with the agreement we had with the Sisters. It was….. it is a safe place for these children to live and learn. It is definitely what we wanted that building to be. It has offered Maslow’s security level of needs and education for these kids. The building is in great shape and life goes on. Bravo for everyone involved in the school project.

After we left RF we went into PAP again and looked a bit more for that elusive auto part… then we went and stopped at the Sisters of Charity which is the order of nuns originated by Mother Theresa. Meghan really wanted to stop there so we spent about an hour there caring for babies… I really don’t mind going there as I see it as a learning experience for all novice Haiti travelers but I really hate leaving when they cry because they don’t want you to leave.

We left went shopping for Haitian Coffee and Ragaman for our next fundraisers on campus… it was so much fun…. I love shopping in Haitian markets. We bought so much for the fundraiser and it only cost $65 USD.

So our errands were done and we headed back toward the mountain… thats when the fun began… as we were going down a hill in the center of PAP headed into a busy intersection the driver hit his brakes it learched and then he said in Haitian …brakes…. his brakes had given out. So here we are going 45 mph into a intersection where you had to turn left or right or hit a pole. It happened so fast I still can’t believe that we evaded two big vehicles… people on the street and make the 90 degree turn with no problem…. when they tell you that you drive like a Haitian.. they are really giving you a compliment. We applauded the driver … who was noticeable a bit frazzled and then were transferred to another van… and they were quick to tell us it was a 2011 vehicle

So once again we climbed Mont Lopital…. had lunch and then I passed out for about three hours from sheer heat and exhaustion…. naps are decadent…I love them when I have the opportunity to take one. So Chelsie, Pancha, Mike & I took naps while Joni, Meghan and Ben set up and ran a scavenger hunt for the kids….need I say it was a fabulous success!

Tomorrow is our day to return to LaTorre Bouchan … with motor, gear, and other equipment in hand…. it will be good to do what we are here to do… it will be a long hot day but one that brings so much opportunity to the people of LaTorre. Father R has already told us the latrines we built have drastically cut down on he cases of thyoid and Cholera… tomorrow we get to talk to the people themselves and learn more.

Although our trips to Haiti never go exactly as planned – flexibility is a MUST on these trips… I am so excited about Mont Lopital… we are already working on plans for the community store … a project that will offer so much opportunity and resources to this village – not to mention the saving of value time and money… as Mike told me tonight… there is so much opportunity for us as a team here… and for the first time in Haiti I feel like I am working with people who understand us…. and SIFE. Its a cool deal!

So now we sit on the roof of the rectory looking out over a lit up PAP. We were brought sugar cane and mangoes on the roof to snack on while blogging and chatting. Our light is one of our solar lantern …. which is lighting the entire roof …. amazing! Haiti does have its challenges but it also has its rewards.

So as Pancha would say…. and there you go….

Rebecca

Sunday in Haiti is a day of rest… that is unless you are the desperately poor and shovel sand into Mack trucks for a living … for about $1 a day…that is if there is a demand for sand. The trucks were heard in the distance really early this morning…then the church bells began to ring at 6:30am. The church in Mon Lopital fell during the earthquake so they hung their church bell in a tree… it still tolls loudly. We all woke (with the exception of Ben… or as Pancha calls him “Sleeping Beauty”) and we prepped for church.  As is the norm when we went to the area where they have hold mass – we had the seats of honor… right up front. The mass was about an hour and forty minutes… all in Kryeol. At the end of mass Father Roosevelt introduced us and as this is a new village and we are just building a relationship with these people it was important to be there to talk to the people. Pancha actually went up and talked to the people about out history, purpose and project in Kryeol.  It was definitely an icebreaker. He also told them about our goat project and outlined what we have done in Haiti over the past five years.

Interesting enough we learned that people from Port au Prince come up to Mon Lopital and steal their goats so they were afraid if we started this goat project the goats would be stolen. They asked us if we could substitute pigs for the goats. Well we did some checking and actually pigs are a great idea. First we can buy them for the same price as goats so the investment is no greater than originally estimated. HOWEVER the people told us that in a litter pigs have around 6 – 8 piglets. To repay us for the microloan that  they will take half of their first liter and PAY IT FORWARD to the next family. So our first eight sets of pigs given to eight families will result in 16 families having pigs in a couple months… and 24 families in ___ months and 32 families in ___ months and so on and so forth. They actually told us about paying it forward before we had to go into a deep discussion about our expectation…. They knew about us, our programs and they GOT it… we were so excited. They even told us they would send us updates and photos by email… I usually have to beg for this stuff. I think we are home. Or as Father Roosevelt told us… this is your home …

We also had a discussion with the people about the 22 solar lights we had brought with us to light the village. There is no electricity here so it is really dark at night in their homes and of course if you want to light your home you burn charcoal made from trees… which are desperately needed to keep the land from eroding during the rainy season. We showed them the various styles of solar lights and also discussed how they are used. I have never seen faces light up (no pun intended) like this. They told us this would be such a gift…the concept an idea was received so well and make life so much better for their village. We also told them that we were charging the lights (on the roof all day today in the direct Haitian Sun) and we would meet with them to teach about light use and maintenance in the next few days. We also  mentioned that this was the first batch of lights and if successfully more would be on the way. I was so amazed by the responsiveness. I have worked here for a long time and this was the most receptive village I have ever dealt with. They are so poor that the people of Port au Prince wanted nothing to do with them and referred to them as “mountain people” and of course tried to come up and steal from them. I can’t wait to deliver the lights and go to market on Wednesday to buy the pigs for delivery on Thursday. Father told us we would rent a tap tap to go to the market and also bring the pigs back with us… now that is a photo op!

So …like I said Sunday is a down day but all of this went on before noon. We also met and discussed the needs of the community. There are no markets up here… they have to go over an hour down the most challenging hill just to buy food…. There are no bakeries up here… again usually a village has at least one baker…. Once you get here…. You better have your provisions. We were told that there was a vacant building that could be provided to us to open a market … it would not only save time and money used to travel to PAP for provisions… it would create jobs and also be a way to slowly raise funds to further development in the village. So we all walked up the hill to the building… concrete walls, good ventilation, and iron doors that locked. It needs a bit of fixing up …shelves,,, racks, and things like that but other than that it is good to go right now. We all met as a team and it’s on our to-do list as our next project. It also have another side room that we are thinking about opening a bakery in… with the use of a rocket oven…. But more about that later.

So here I sit on the roof of the rectory looking out over PAP as the sun sets…. Listing to music in the distance. I am listening to children chant and thinking about the needs and the possibilities of this village. Tomorrow is busy we plan to get up with the roosters (actually a bit later as they start up about 4am) and go into Riviera Froide to do a check-up on our school, we also plan to spend an hour or so at The Sisters of Charity Orphanage to volunteer with the children. Now this is not part of our SIFE mission but something we have done for the past three trips and now something that new students want to also experience and basically just the right thing to do. Its one of those events that is life changing….and something that I feel really teaches our American students empathy and compassion.  We also plan to go shopping for Ragaman and Haitian Coffee for a great fundraiser Pancha thought of. We would like to stop at the artisan village and if we can I want to show them ECKO Depot.. .the Home Depot of Haiti….just because. I think there is more we want to do…. In other words its going to be one long day…. I am excited.

So right now I am prepping for Pictionary… Pancha beat the pants off all of us last night in UNO… what a hustler… what-the-what….

Rebecca

A quick update…. we are in Miami. We arrived this evening… had a nice dinner… although Tim was banished to his room… actually left in the dark in Chelsie’s backpack…. but everyone else had a wonderful dinner. We have a 5:00am wake up call…. so this post is short and sweet. More (hopefully) from Haiti tomorrow… wish us luck!

Rebecca

Today was our last working day in Haiti – we head back to the states tomorrow at 10:55am. We awoke today to news of the Japan 8.9 Earthquake and all of the related Tsunami warning and the video of the Japan Tsunami – there is no TV here ….so we watched the news on CNN.com. I have to admit it made me anxious to see all of it.

After breakfast we headed our to the Home for Street kids in Port au Prince – Jimmie Bono’s house. First we held a leadership camp for the kids….it was great teaching them communication and teamwork!  We handed out Heros for Haiti t shirts to the kids at the start of the program and it was great to watch them all running around in them all day in our SIFE  t shirts!  The boys were wonderful and really worked hard to get the concepts we were trying to teach them. I was impressed.

After the workshop we handed out all the sneakers we had collected from the BRCC community over Christmas. I can tell you the kids were so happy….they came in when their name was called and took their sneakers but made sure to come up to each one of us to hug us and thank us…I don’t think we would have been able to find this kind of appreciation in the US. It was really sweet.

After the sneaker event we were serenaded by the kids on drums, guitars and the lyrics of their own songs they wrote themselves. It was great! You almost felt guilty leaving them. I will upload all the photos and clips from home (as the connection here is too slow) But to all the people who donated sneakers – those kids loved them…even the girls sneakers and shoes found homes!

After having a hot dog for lunch we all loaded back into the truck and went down to Mother Teresa’s Malnutrition Clinic which is for children. We spent an hour and a half there holding babies and playing with the kids. We are not allowed to bring cameras in but I can assure you it was a great experience in a very worthy clinic.

So we are packed and ready to leave for the airport at 9:00am for our 10:55am flight back to Miami….I know three girls (all of whom are named Meg(h)an) that are not thrilled about returning home. They have all had invitations to come and work, tutor or volunteer in Haiti this summer …. And they are really talking about going. Haiti has a way of working itself into your heart. I think it’s the people we work with and have contact with here. It compels us to keep coming back.

See you all soon

Rebecca

Sorry I took the fancy blog interface/background down….we received reports that the old blog wasn’t looking right …so I changed it to  make sure it looks properly. Also there was no Internet last night so this blog should have been posted Thursday night

We spent today on the main island – there were great points to our day and then a few that I think were bothersome. First we awoke to have breakfast at 7:00am. We doctored our mosquito bites from the night before we headed out for our day of projects. We piled into Rebecca’s pickup truck …it has a huge bed in the back with seats along the sides ..its a great way to see as you’re going down the road. We headed out to Riviere Froide and arrived a bit behind schedule at 10:00am. The school looks incredible! When we entered the building it was actually cool inside. Rick put insulation in that building and you can tell immediately. The building is incredible. Rick is amazing..we went through the rooms in awe! Then the kids came to thank us for the building…they had learned a new song to thank us and they all song it and then sang it one by one… it was a lot of singing! We taped it but since the upload is slow it will have to wait until we get back – then I will upload it to our You Tube sight …it was adorable. We had brought wall decorations for each room so the SIFE students worked to decorate the interior walls of the building…before we knew it the children were helping as well. it was great fun and the kids loved the decorations…. even Sister Teresa hugged us and thanked us for the building….and she loved the decorations.

Children

The Children of the School

Megan King and the kids going Gangster

After decorating we dedicated the building and took photos and video galore. We need to acknowledge that this building would not be there had it not been for Rick Davis….his dedication was amazing and patience with the Haitian workers inspiring. He is a wonderful person and a good man. I know he loves a challenge (he has told me this repeatedly during this project) and I know Haiti was truly a challenge for him to work in. We are indebted to his compassion and his knowledge and just being able to stick it out in a very chaotic country. Thank you Rick!

Rick hangs the sign on the school during the dedication ceremony

We dedicated the school

Our entire group at the dedication

After the school visit we continued to Leogane to visit our rabbit cooperative. Anderson was supposed to go with us – he had finishing implementing the cooperative after the earthquake for us  but I could not get in contact with him. So we went with Patrick our interpreter. When we arrived at Signeau we visited the rabbits we had started at Signeau before the earthquake and then asked to find out here the 20 families we had given their own rabbit start-up too lived so we could visit. Of course the person who knew the names of the recipients was not there (did not surprise me….nothing is easy in Haiti) but one of the women in that group happened to come by and told us she would be happy to show us her rabbits.

Unlike our other cooperatives we arranged this to let the families keep their homes so we took off into the backroads and then back paths of Leogane to her home. Her original home was destroyed during the earthquake and they were living in a small temporary building given to them by USAID – it was sad but there were the rabbits – they looked fine one of the rabbits seemed to have mange which is common but needs to be treated. She told us that her rabbits had 7 babies so far but all had died from the cold…when we interviewed her I was a bit upset to learn that they had been given the rabbits but no formal training or follow up support. They also had not been given the proper tools for the rabbits including breeding box or proper water bottles….all which was supposed to be provided. We worked with her and her husband for along while helping them with how to properly feed the rabbits …teaching her about the nesting process and also helping her rig up a good watering system to help the rabbits.  I think we helped a great deal HOWEVER as soon as I am finished with this blog entry I am emailing our contacts at Makouti and telling them to get with the program – I have to say I am P#$$@% off. But enough about that….

Our travel party with the cooperative member and family

We started our journey home and when we were just about back at the guest house we stopped at this new store…everyone has nicknamed Wal-Mart. First it is BUSY… secon there are armed guards manning the parking lot, the doors and the store…pretty freaky but once you walk inside its air conditioned and its like entering a store like Martins! They had everything an American would want…I was amazed. We picked up sodas and ingredients to make homemade ice cream. Rebecca made us a deal we get the supplies and she would make homemade ice cream for us…and she did! It was delicious. After dinner we did some line dancing outside  - a tradition when you stay at this guest house…then we played sardine …its a game of hide and seek but you are in the dark and also when you find the person you stay with them until there is only one person left who is the Loser….it was fun. Oh course Josh wanted to be  ”it” so we all counted to 60 and then went looking for him. After about 10 minutes I was upstairs when I saw a head pop up from the roof area. There are flat roofs here with very little pitch…I could not believe it there was Josh and Bony on other side of the roof laying flat. All kinds of things went through my head… but pretty much I kept thinking what happens if I’m on that roof and there is an earthquake…okay I did panic a bit but after about a minute I threw off my sandals hopped on the roof and joined them. I have to admit it was fun. We all laid side by side on the roof totally quiet… it was too funny. Rebecca #2 was the loser…but we all had a great time. After that we had ice cream and some people started blogging while others went outside to play basketball.

Overall this was a good day for all. One day left in Haiti …I am ready to come home…its just exhausting here but its also rewarding. Rick flies out the same time as we do so we plan to meet up with him at the airport on Saturday. Tomorrow we are off to Jimmie Bonos home for street kids. We are holding a leadership camp to help the kids learn how to communicate and work in a team environment. It should be great!  More soon

Rebecca

So how do I even begin to sum up the last few days? I am sorry about the lack of blogs, I have not been able to up load anything lately due to my computer refusing to connect to the internet, so I decided to just throw all my blogs into one.  Enjoy!

SUNDAY
Day two began with an alarm consisting of dogs howling, roosters crowing and church bells ringing. Talk about an alarm that you can’t even try to sleep through. After getting up and getting ready, we walked across the street to Father’s church and I had my first experience with a Haitian mass service. It was full of singing, happy laughing children (who mind you did get spoken to about keeping quiet) and kind words about our SIFE team. Since it was Sunday, after mass Haiti stayed quiet for the most part. After eating a breakfast of spaghetti (a Haitian tradition) we took a beautiful boat ride over to Latore Boukan, a very impoverished part of LaGonave. This was the poorest I have ever seen, even for Haiti. In Latore, there is no school, no hospital or clinic, and no latrines or bathrooms at all for the 300 people that live there. The houses in this small fishing village are built literally from sticks and are not even the size of a small bathroom in the United States, and house on average five to eight people. The people of Latore need so much help. Father took us to this village to meet with the people there to talk about things they need. We all headed into a small shelter where the majority of the village packed in with us, and had a meeting. This was one of the most productive project planning sessions I have seen in a long time, not only did they know what exactly they needed (more supplies and materials to be able to fish in deeper waters, latrines, safer houses, and most importantly education for the children living there, none of the children of Latore go to school because traveling to school is too far away) but also how much everything will cost (in Haitian and U.S. dollars). It was impressive the amount of planning that went into each one of the solutions they came up with for each of the projects suggested. Not only was there a solution, but also the people spoke of forming committees to be in charge of caring for fishing supplies and upkeep of the projects if they were to be implemented. I am looking forward to doing some groundwork on this project once we get back to the states and are able to plan things.

After riding back from Latore, where Josh jumped out of the boat without informing anyone (go figure), Robens took us swimming a few miles down the road. I have never had so much fun, Josh, Meghan, me, Megan and Robens (also we brought Tim the traveling gnome) swam in the Caribbean for a few hours. I don’t think I have ever has so much fun in my life.

When we finally got out we went back to the guest house, changed and cleaned up and then headed to Robens for a night of dancing and laughing. It was great to see how well his business is doing and we had a blast. I think officially, this has been my favorite day in Haiti so far.

MONDAY
On our third day here we woke up and went straight to Zabricot to meet with our cooperative members. What was once a rabbit cooperative, is now a goat cooperative that appears to be doing well. Although some of the goats were lost on Friday (one of the ladies goats that was pregnant died), the rest of the ladies cooperatives are doing well. We also got to see gardens that we had set up on the island which are also doing very well. After we came back from Zabricot, we prepped for our “science day” with the children in the school. Everything went so well with this, and it was a ton of fun. Of the activities we had planned (which included finger printing, balloon activities, and painting sun catchers) I was in charge of helping the children paint their sun catchers. I had a ton of fun.  After each group had gone to each activity, Josh gave a short presentation of what an earthquake was and how it happened, many of the people here still do not fully understand what happened and why it happened the way it did. 

After leaving the school, we came back to the rectory and had lunch which tasted amazing as always. After eating lunch we met with another committee of people who were looking to start projects here on the island. They were interested in our assistance in getting a certain type of watermelon seeds, and also in some supplies for their school such as benches, pencils, and other school supplies. They say that the children here cannot always go to school because of the lack of supplies available to them. As we did with Latore, we took notes and committed to doing research and fundraising to be able to implement these projects and be of assistance to the people here.

We ended the day with walking down to Robens for a celebration of Mardi Gras (in Haiti, coolest thing ever) at Robens  called “carnival”, or a three day long party in so many words, which consists of people on the street with speakers and loud music were everyone is dancing and having a great time. It was so much fun; we got to dance with all the kids again, which never gets old! It was a great day.

TUESDAY
This is where I will start today. Today started out with waking up early (with the roosters that I did not wake up to yesterday) to head over to the school for our leadership/teamwork day. We split the day up by first playing telephone, which was pretty funny seeing everyone’s reactions to this. Robens was the key factor for anyone understanding what we were trying to do, so it was a good thing that we had his help. After a few rounds of this, we split the kids up into smaller groups to do their own to show the importance of listening carefully to other people.

Than we moved onto the main activity of the day, an obstacle course where one student would be blindfolded and the other would lead them through the course by just talking to them. As a fill in time period for the kids not running the course, we played clapping games and did some other fun activities. It was so much fun. The day ended with Josh giving a short explanation of what leadership was, enforcing the power of teamwork and communication to children that could one day change the country of Haiti.

When we got back at the house we met with another entrepreneur who was interested in starting a candle making business. You can only buy these candles from Port Au Prince, no one else makes these candles on the island. This could be a very potentially profitable project for him, and after speaking with him about commitments to pay his success forward to someone else who could be in his shoes one day, we were more than on board with providing him with a microloan, $340 for all start up materials of his new business.

We ended today with more swimming, which the kids joined in on this time. We played catch and had swim races, all under a backdrop of a beautiful Haitian sunset on our last night on LaGonave. It made for an amazing day.

WEDNESDAY
So today started off with a sad car ride back to the airport. It was hard to leave Pointe Au Raquette; we had such an amazing time there. The people are so nice, and I can’t even begin to describe how much I know we are all going to miss the people and the experiences we had over the past few days.

At the same time, it is so wonderful to be on the main island with our friends here in Port Au Prince. I have missed it so much here, and it’s weird but I feel like I never really left in the first place. There are a few other people staying here too which makes it so much fun. The dynamic of this house, as I have said in the past, is so laid back and enjoyable it makes you feel like you are right at home.

As soon as we arrived, we headed back to the house to drop our stuff and headed straight to Croix-des-Bouquets to visit the artisan village. This was a blast as always, and I was especially excited to try out my newly learned Creole (which still isn’t very much but I am doing ok!)! After a good amount of time there we headed back to the house and ended the day with hamburgers for dinner. It has been so great talking with Rebecca and the guys here at the house, and getting to know our new friends who are staying here as well. I am looking forward to the next few days!

Now I leave you all for a much needed shower, my hair doesn’t feel like hair anymore it is so full of dust. Probably too much info, but hey, that’s Haiti for you. More updates tomorrow, including pictures!

Today we traveled by MAF flight back to Port au Prince.  Honestly this has been the part of the trip that I have not been looking forward to but, truly it has not been bad.  Patrick the young man who picked us up at the airport has been wonderful.  Rebecca the woman who owns the guest house where we are staying is very nice and the guest house is beautiful.  But… I miss the donkeys,chickens and goats already.  Will I miss the bells in the morning??  probably not!

Today we went to the artisan village.  What an experience.  It was overwhelming with all the beautiful things that you could buy.  It was very hard to decide on just a few things.  There were very large folding metal screens that I would love to have bought but I could not imagine how I would get them back to the US.  It was hard enough to get small things back the last time I purchased things.  The artist are amazing.  They make chairs, tables, candle holders, wall decorations, and so many other things with old scrap pieces of metal.  

After the artisan village we came back to the guest house and had HAMBURGERS!  Made with BEEF.  Which reminds me of the day we went to the market.  We saw a sight which I will never see again I am sure.  A HOG on a HOG.  Not exactly because the motorcycle was not a Harley but the porcine tied on the back of it definetly was a hog.  I couldn’t believe it.  Even on LaGonave this was a shock to me.  How in the world did they get that hog on that motorcycle????  Wish I could have been there to see it.

Well, we are off to Rivere Froide tomorrow.  Can’t wait to see the school.

Gail

Today (Wednesday) we are now in Port au Prince at the guesthouse of Rebecca….and I am not taking about my guesthouse. We now have three Megans and two Rebeccas…so we have a FULL HOUSE.

Today we awoke at 7:00am – the mosquitoes last night were awful! I think it would have been better to go outside ..Because all the mosquitoes were inside looking for us. We ate breakfast this morning (spicy spaghetti again) and hit the road for our 2 ½ hour trek over the mountain to Anse Galet and to our MAF flight back to the mainland.  We had room on our second plane so Father Roosevelt and two women came back to the mainland with us.  I didn’t mind – we would have used the plane either way and it gave Father an opportunity to come to the mainland. Once we got to MAF in Anse Galet they once again weighed us and our luggage and then the two planes arrived. I was happy to see David my pilot from last Saturday come to pick us up. He is a newbie to MAF and he really takes it seriously so I was really happy to have a pilot who would be serious about the details!!

In Port au Prince Patrick met us and I was ecstatic to hear that he found the missing bag that we had left at the airport! Father Roosevelt was going to call Patrick on Monday before he leaves for LaGonave and Patrick is going to meet him with the bag!! What a relief!

We brought all our luggage into the guesthouse – hugged Rebecca and everyone again …and then had a lunch of refreshing tuna salad before leaving for the artisan village. We purchased art from the vendors – microloans for a few and then brought all our wares back to our guesthouse.

It was a day of transition…but it was good. I was sad to leave Father Roosevelt but I know I will see him again soon. LaGonave is safe and a great place for our students to work. The people are appreciative and so excited to get to know our students…the students left knowing a great deal about their culture, a bit if their language and a lot about their challenges, as well as the opportunity to create, develop and implement projects to help them change their lives and increase their standard of living. The world will be a better place as a result…what more can we ask???

Today was adventurous …as everyday in Haiti. We awoke at 7:00am to prepare for Leadership Day at the school – in our attempt to change the way the children of Haiti view themselves and their country we held a leadership camp. Well the first we did was play telephone with them. That is where you form a circle and each kid has to whisper a message in the ear of the child next to him or her…the message works around the circle and the end product is usually quite different than what was started. It is fun and teaches the students to communicate we must listen to what others are saying to get the full meaning of the message. Also it plays to educate that you should not rely on hearsay as the real story changes from person to person. Don’t believe what you hear…. Check it out before you trust the information coming at you. Well let’s just say it was interesting and fun. We started one round with “Do Not Keep Laughing” and at the end of the circle it ended up “all the kids feet are smelly”. We tried this a few times – the kids loved it as were the adults watching. The next challenge was an obstacle course where one student is blindfolded and the other student has to direct them through an obstacle course without touching them. It was fun and the students did great. At first they were leery –and you could tell they have never done this before but they did wonderful and really used their communication skills to lead their peers. Even Tim Byrd Norton TG was impressed as he sat on the top of the slide and supervised. He was concerned that one of the kids would hit their head on the slide as they went under the slide. After the leadership camp we piled into the truck and went to the market at Ti Palmiste – going to market is a must for any newbie in Haiti …so lets say I will let the students tell you about their experience there. What I was really interested in was a meeting we had with a potential entrepreneur….since there is no electricity on LaGonave people use candles for light. There are no companies on LaGonave that make candles. He had the over to melt the paraffin (Father Roosevelt had gotten it and gave it to him) but he needed funding to purchase the supplies and molds for the candles. He brought us his plan that he would make candles…different sizes and sell them/ He had a solid plan and he would be the ONLY person on LaGonave who makes candles. As of now if you want any to use or sell at market you have to go to Port au Prince to buy them. We listened to him and then met as a team/community to discuss his plan and request for funding. He needed 1500 Haitian Dollars for the molds and machine and another $880 for supplies including paraffin. It was unamimous that we would give them the loan on 3 conditions. 1. He would agree to pay it forward by helping another person start their own business. 2. 2. He would submit a summary to Father Roosevelt with the name of the person he helped, the business he started, and how he helped him. Father Roosevelt has agreed to track this and report into us. 3. He agreed to meet with us when we return to bring us to see his business and show us the results. All conditions were agreed to and we loaned this budding entrepreneur $340 to start his business. Even Father Roosevelt thinks this is a great business as there is a huge market and limited supply. We were pumped! We videoed and took pictures…it was a huge affair! We also met with Dr. Megine about our healthcare program we are working to develop on LaGonave. We discussed the who, what, where, when and whys and she is preparing some details and plans including a budget for us. We are emailing to work on this program and will see how it works out before deciding what to do about it. I think the need is huge…we will see how the details and needs come in and determine if it fits our budget. Tonight has been a lot of planning and discussion – the girls wanted to learn how to sing the prayer Father Roosevelt sings at meals ….he even wrote it down for Meghan D. He has been teaching us Creole and I think he has really enjoyed the level of activity this group has brought to Port au Raquette. There has been a lot of life and laughter and I think he has really learned about what we do as a team. I don’t think he really understood before but now he tells people about paying it forward. I like the connection and the way he wants to help with this mission. Tomorrow we leave for Port au Prince…I think the students are in for a shock on the difference between the relaxed atmosphere of LaGonave and the stressful atmosphere of the mainland. So tomorrow we travel back over the sea…. maybe we will get to go to the Artisan Village to see art and talk with out entrepreneurs Okay – so I know I have said I have been thinking about starting an international SIFE project elsewhere next year…BUT after coming back to LaGonave I think there is enough need here to keep us busy for the rest of time. Its safe here and the students love it and the people. They learn about the culture, the food and just the hardships of life here while working to help other improve their lives…so I think we will stay! More tomorrow!

Rebecca

Day #twa,

So we definitely experienced Haiti/LaGonave today.  First, we got up ate breakfast which consisted of Plantain (form of banana), spicy goat meat w/gravy, and bread very similar to pizza dough.  Then, we were off to Zabricot which is heading east, up over the mountain, on a bumpy slow road in a 1990 something toyota that now looks like it was made in the 80′s because of the wear and tear.  On the way, we stopped at one of the gardens we had helped established at a school just a few miles west of Zabricot.  There we learned that peppers are easier to gkrow at this time because of the dry season and they very much so love spicy food which can have its effects. “Kibo twalet la ye?” (where is the bathroom?) The first and foremost sentence you should learn wherever you travel in the world.  Tim is the only one who is excused from the bathroom question.  “I think he is a little clogged up.”  After the gardens, we arrived at Zabricot (Zab-ri-co) where we observed the goat cooperative that was a rabbit cooperative first, but many died during a hurricane and then they sold them switching the goats which can be sold at a higher price.  Between the 7 ladies whom we helped start, 2 of them have a total of 7 goats while the other 5 have a total of 5 goats.  12 goats in total which 1 goat can go for about 400 goude or $50 US dollars.

The big story of the day was that Rooben, our driver and interpreter here on the island happened to buy a goat, tie its feet together, and threw it in the back of the truck.   (Im saying this in a funny/I can’t believe this happened tone. haha)  Well, here we are (Meghan D. and I) on a back of a truck in the middle of bush bush Haiti, eating sugar cane with sreaming and kicking goat lying on it’s side; and then it starts raining.  I mean C’mon, you can’t get better than that. haha! It rained for only 5 minutes, but enough to get us wet.

We finally reached Father Roosevelt’s home where we ate luch, rested for an hour and a half and then conducted science/fun activities at the school accross the street that father Roosevelt oversees. The three megans, and I definitely had our hands full with the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders.  I was in charge of the “How to make a papiel avion”(paper airplanes) and the others were in charge of the balloons, painting light catchers = paint Everywhere, and finger printing with a stamp.  It was so much fun, but lets just say I about died after 2hrs and 10mins of showing how to make paper airplanes w/out a translater and all the kids want to do is touch you because you’re white, have straight hair, and have muscles (not bragging).  It’s true, 5th graders are the worst.haha!

We then held meetings with a few groups, one from LaTory and another from people whom we started another gardens with; they grow watermelon. Yumm.  So now I sit here after eating our evening pudding and learning some key phrases in creole from Father Roosevelt, I think Im tired. Bonwei! Good night!

Today we awoke at 7:00am … after breakfast we headed to Zabricot to meet with the women in our goat cooperative.  I rode in the back of the pickup up the mountain. It’s so much easier because if you stand up and hold onto the roll bar your legs take the stress of the bumps and ditches. We stopped on the way to Zabricot to view one of the sustainable gardens we sponsored. Currently it’s the dry season so it’s hard to keep gardens going when there is no water but several gardens have been producing. In May the rainy season begins again and all the gardens will be back up and running. As the island is water challenged on a good day the challenges of using good water that is needed for your family (especially with cholera on the island) the gardens will begin producing again in May. Right now we visited Cpnstannel’s garden it was wonderful with conga beans, cabbage, sweet peppers, hot peppers, caster….and probably other crops I am not remembering right now. They picked some hot peppers and used it this afternoon to season our fish for lunch and let me tell you it was hot!!

GardensThe Gardening gang