Monday, August 29, 2011

Antoinise: My Awesome Cook



So today was totally an office day! Just doing administrative tasks and writing reports! Nothing too overly exciting! Well, there was a mouse running around the office all afternoon, but other than that, pretty slow day! So I thought I would take this chance to tell you a little bit about my awesome cook Antoinise. She is a total sweetheart! Ever since she learned the first day that I was a vegetarian, she has showered me with her awesome culinary skills! Not only are her Haitian dishes the bomb, but her salads are out of this world!!!! I mean many people can make good dishes, but she is a true artist in the kitchen. Everything that she makes is an art work Masterpiece! I am truly blessed each and everyday!

So here are some examples of just some of the magnificent dishes that she has made for me ever since I've been at the orphanage! Haitian dishes, salads, and fresh fruit juices! Enjoy!



Potato Salad with carrots, celery, and lettuce.


Boiled Plantains....that's right...and it's delicious with a little hot sauce!


Mushroom salad...


Mais(corn) and Tomoato Salad...


They call this a Vegetarian Bouillon! Which is like a stew/soup in Haiti. There's yams, plantains, potatoes, carrots, and legumes in it...yummers...



How hungry are you??? Isn't she amazing???? So blessed and grateful for her and the cooking staff here at Lamardelle!

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Haitian Vodou Ceremony

So last night, music was heard outside of the FEJ gates again. I asked around and was told that there was a Haitian Vodou Ceremony happening outside. There was loud music, drumming, people chanting, and an eerie deepened voice speaking when the music stopped for pauses. I was curious, but it was something that was happening in the background. Everyone continued about their evenings and I was left with my curiosity. Just before I headed to bed, I had asked the missionaries here at the orphanage and they had a very strong reaction to my questions. They told me that the Vodou people are here because they know that there are believers here on-site. They told me that the music and the chanting are evil thoughts and prayers to deter us from the righteous path in life. The missionaries said to pray to the lord and stand my ground and not to swayed toward the evil side. So those were the thoughts in my head when I headed to bed.

When I laid down to bed, the music sounded like it was just right next to my ear. It was being blasted from speakers I would imagine? I have no idea how people here could get music that loud, so it was quite hard to ignore. The music sounded like island music, but then it didn't. There were very specific drumming beats in the music and someone would always start shrilling after a mysterious voice would speak in a language that was not familiar to me, sounded more tribal than anything. Then there would be silence, and the drums would get louder and louder and more high pitched yells would continue. It went on like this until around 3am in the morning. I couldn't help but record some sections of the chants since I was not able to fall asleep from the loud noise and the very distinct smell of burning animal flesh in the mid-night air. I guess animal sacrifices are a normal part of these ceremonies, but the smell was making me sick to my stomach. The whole experience of it was just not so pleasant. The music was eerie and it just made me....uncomfortable in a way that I cannot describe. It was interesting and I wondered what they were saying throughout the night. So it was just me, the darkness, the Vodou music, and the burning smell of animal flesh last night.

So today, I was doing reports all day, but in-between breaks this was what I dug up about the religious practice on the internet (Wikipedia):

"Haitian Vodou has been practiced on the island for almost 300 years now. It is based upon a merging of the beliefs and practices of West African peoples (mainly the Fon and Ewe), with Arawakian religious beliefs, and with Roman Catholic Christianity mixed in. Vodou was created by African slaves who were brought to Haiti in the 16th century and still followed their traditional African beliefs, but were forced to convert to the religion of their slave masters."

"The main belief in Haitian Vodou is that deities called Lwa (or Loa) are subordinates to a god called Bondyè. This supreme being does not intercede in human affairs, and it is to the Lwa that Vodou worship is directed. Other characteristics of Vodou include veneration of the dead and protection against evil witchcraft."

"After a day or two of preparation setting up altars, ritually preparing and cooking fowl and other foods, a Haitian Vodou service begins with a series of prayers and songs in French, then a litany in Creole and African "langaj" that goes through all the European and African saints and lwa honored by the house, and then a series of verses for all the main spirits of the house. As the songs are sung, participants believe that spirits come to visit the ceremony, by taking possession of individuals and speaking and acting through them. When a ceremony is made, only the family of those possessed is benefited."

"The most historically important Vodou ceremony in Haitian history was the Bwa Kayiman (Bois Caiman) ceremony of August 1791 near the city of Cap Haitien that began the Haitian Revolution, led by the Vodou priest named Boukman. During this ceremony the spirit Ezili Dantor came and received a black pig as an offering, and all those present pledged themselves to the fight for freedom. This ceremony ultimately resulted in the liberation of the Haitian people from their French masters in 1804, and the establishment of the first and only black people's republic in the Western Hemisphere, the first such republic in the history of the world."

So that about sums it up in a nut-shell! What an interesting thing right? You won't be seeing me participating in an Haitian Vodou Ceremony anytime soon, but it was great getting to learn about a new practice and belief. This helped me understand a little bit more about this mysterious island of Hispaniola.



Just a little recording I did from my bed last night...

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Sick Day #2

Eh....that's what I feel like.....ehhhh! So been down with this cold even since I was at Kenscoff. The weather at Kenscoff was super cold, apparently abnormally cold for August. The nannies there told me that it felt like January, which is winter time in Kenscoff. It was because of Hurricane Irene that brought over the cold temperature and massive wind and rain fall. And it did not help things that almost of the babies were sick there, which I was just bound to catch something from interacting with them everyday. So I'm coughing up a storm and my whole body hurts....sounds like a good case of a head and chest cold. Yeah....so I'm taking cough syrup and drinking lots of vitamin C packets. I was feeling okay and then today, boom....it hits full force...I only got out of bed today for meals and it was back into bed. Slept pretty much all day...I guess my body really needed it after working non-stop for almost a month now. So in my 24 years of experience so far I've learned to listen to my body. So today it told me to stay in bed and do absolutely nothing and that was that I did. I feel like my body is 1,000 lbs today and just needed to hibernate. I hope I will start to feel better tomorrow! Wish me luck!

Friday, August 26, 2011

Surprise Call From Afghanistan


So the highlight of my day today was the fact that my boyfriend, who is a demineur in the French Army, called me from Afghanistan. He is serving in Kapisa, Eastern part of Afghanistan, for 6 months. I haven't heard his voice in over a month now and it was an awesome surprise. He is in the valley with the Afghan Army, so internet doesn't really exist in that situation. I get a weekly update from the military on how all the French troops are doing in Afghanistan in general, but it was really nice to finally get to hear it from his perspective. I guess it helps that him and I are both in countries where we can't really communicate with one another. We both know how it feels to be in that situation, so it is easier to take it day after day. I am in Haiti, where electricity and running water is a luxury and rodent problems are common in living quarters. He literally gets how I feel when I say I get woken up at night by mice or the fact that that's no electricity or having to go to the bathroom in a ditch outside. It seems to be almost the exact same things with him living in the valleys of Afghanistan and it's nice to know that we are both going through the same things. I am super proud and have the utter most respect for what he does. He joined the army to especially learn how to find mines and disable them, so that innocent children and bystanders do not have to be handicapped and/or die from these weapons. It is admirable what he does and I pray everyday for his safety.

So the phone call was pretty funny. On the Haiti end, I was using Frank's international phone and on Greg's end, he was using a military satellite phone in Afghanistan. The connection was so bad on both ends that when Frank picked up the phone, he thought Greg was a Mexican speaking Spanish to him, and Greg thought Frank was speaking French, when he was speaking English. So on the third call, Frank finally got some words and heard my name on the other end and ran to the office to get me. I was a little bit shocked and didn't know what happened. It was echoing so much on the phone and there was another woman speaking another language in the background. It was quite hard to get anything out of anything. I just laughed and he laughed. So on the fourth try, the connection was better. I was speaking in my room and the generator is right outside, so it was really loud. I apologized to him saying that the generator is really loud, and he just laughed and said that he was standing next to a generator, as well. I couldn't ask for a better present today! I am truly blessed with amazing people all around me and that inspire me to do better!

So Greg and I both have our missions and we are both doing what we love! I am so thankful for everything and every opportunity that comes my way! And especially thankful for Frank and Jan, letting me use their phone! So I guess Greg gets 30 minutes every week on the satellite phone when it works. How awesome is that????

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Hurricane Irene Came For A Visit




So sorry about being M.I.A.(Missing In Action)this week, but it turns out that we didn't have internet at Kenscoff, and even if we did, it wouldn't have mattered since there was no electricity the whole week. Which means no hot showers and it was brutal with the extreme hurricane weather. Hurricane Irene decided to hit this week, but we were fortunate enough to not be hit directly. I was very thankful for that! Even though it did not hit Haiti directly, it still did quite a lot of damage to the island. Trees were knocked down and heavy rain brought landslides down mountain sides. I was high up in the mountains of Kenscoff, which is 6,700 feet up to be exact, and it was downpour after downpour of rain. The winds got so strong that I almost fell over when I was running from one building to another. You would hear the winds just swirling throughout the night time and there would be piles of wet leaves and bark all over the floor in my room in the mornings. It was super cold and the shower felt like liquid ice! After about 5 seconds into the shower, my whole body would go numb! Ouch! It was quite an experience to say the least! Good thing the volunteer before me, Danielle, had given me advice on bringing a battery operated lantern for Kenscoff. That was what got me through the nights there this week. I had a flashlight for extra lighting when needed and the lantern was awesome to brighten up the small guest room. It was quite romantic actually. Just me, the lantern, and Master Cheng Yen's Water Repentance Book. It felt like I was camping in a really big tent. I guess it was luxurious camping! In Haiti, the sun comes up really early, like around 4:45am the whole sky starts to light up, and the same goes for night fall, the sun goes down around 6:30pm and it gets completely pitch dark within 15 minutes. So that would mean, if there's no electricity, you have like around 4 or 5 hours before you go to sleep that is just pitch dark (depending on what time you go to bed). So my eyes have been trying to get use to being in darker rooms and not going to lie, it does hurt my eyes. I am a person that always need a lot of light when I am working and just in general, so it is quite a challenge, both physically and psychologically to get use to the dark. I am working on it! Haha.

So Kenscoff, other than the extremely coldness, was awesome!!! I spent the whole entire week reading letters and showing the children pictures sent down from their adoptive parents. It was really great to see their smiling faces and curious eyes. They asked all different questions, like why do people have blond hair? Could I have blond hair? or if they will get a bike when they get to the States? And they all think that everyone in the photos are related to them somehow, even total strangers that are in the background of pictures on the road, they think they are related to them. It is these cute things that children think and say that just warms my heart. I love to see their eyes glimmer when they see new photos and watch their curiosity bloom over the days. I also spent a lot of time in the babies and toddler rooms. I was there taking care of them, playing with them, and feeding them. I was an active observer, both on the side lines and actively involved in their every action. I had a blast learning all the children's names and what their personalities were like. I also spent a couple of days on creating different art work with the children and giving them English lessons in the make-shift classroom they have in the basement part of the orphanage. Everyone had a good time and I was glad that I could contribute just a little for each and everyone of those little munchkins.

So I got 50 reports to do before the month is over! That's right, a monthly update report for every single child at FEJ orphanages. Wish me luck! Tons of writing is ahead of me! I am loving every single "letter" of it!

I got up at 4am today to come back to Lamardelle. Man, I can't believe I am not tired at all! Must be all that positive energy from all the children! I am truly blessed!

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Kenscoff Babies


So today was my first official day at the Kenscoff orphanage (Above is a view from my window at the guest house, amazing right?) I finally got to meet all the children and it was a blast. There are a total of 34 children at the crèche and they are all so adorable. I first went over to the Duncans to meet with Gina, but she was not feeling well, so we had to cancel the meeting. I really hope she gets better soon, and at least stable enough for her flight to Canada tomorrow. Gina is the executive director of FEJ and she has been really ill for the past 6 months. I pray for her everyday on her road to recovery. Her and Lucien will be gone for at least two weeks, starting from tomorrow night. So I walked back to the crèche and met all the children. The children were sitting in front of the TV watching Tom and Jerry. It has been a while since I’ve seen an episode of that, but it was good times. All the children and I had a great laugh. All the kids were asking me all these questions and were so fascinated with my skin color, how I smelled, and complemented on how beautiful my hand writing was. They are so sweet. I am about 90% on the names now, still working on the remaining couple of names. The kids all showered me with kisses and hugs and that just totally made my day. I spent most of the day in the infant’s room today, because they are understaffed. We changed diapers, fed the babies, and played with them all day. It is quite a rewarding job I have I must say. Just those huge eyes starring back at ya really does it for me. I love feeding the babies, because that’s when the bonding and attachment stages begin. The babies play with my hair, my ear rings, and my fingers. I sing to them and they give me the biggest smiles ever. At Kenscoff, most of the babies use cloth diapers, so when they need to be changed, their clothing usually needs to be changed as well. Good thing there is a washer and dryer here on-site, because I don’t know how else they would be able to clean loads and loads of clothes and cloth diapers everyday.

One of the adoptive families came down to see their little girl and they have an I-600 meeting at the U.S. Embassy on Monday. I met with them and they are the sweetest family ever! They were originally going to adopt a little girl right after the earthquake, but months into the adoption process the biological aunt decided to take the little girl back. That was devastating for the adoptive family, but they took up the courage to be matched again to another little girl. It is an amazing story and they are incredible people. They have given so much to the Foundation and I really am grateful for people like them. They were bonding with their little girl today! It has been many times for the dad, but this was the very first time the mom gets to see her little girl! It was so heartwarming! I feel very honored that I get to prepare their paperwork for their child. Hopefully the little girl can get home before Christmas. How awesome of a Christmas present would that be???

So lots of babies today and lots of changing diapers and being vomited on. You know what? I love it, I absolutely love it. I love spending time with the children and knowing that I made a little bit of a difference in their lives today. There are so many adoptive parents that would love to be in my shoes. To be able to feed their child and get to see them smile and laugh at a silly move you made. Or to see their first steps and to comfort them on their first fall. It is these moments that I will write in the reports for the parents. I feel ever so privileged to be able to be in the position to keep the parents updated on how their child is doing at the orphanage. I have an important role to play and I am thankful every single second of it. I will always cherish the babbling, the coos, and the eternal smiles of the children here at Kenscoff! Tomorrow I will share with the children all the letters and photos from their adoptive parents. I can’t wait! Let the bonding time continue!

Friday, August 19, 2011

Three Lovely HIV+ Babies

Wow what a day! Everyday in Haiti is an adventure and today was no exception. I packed my bags last night because I knew I was heading off to Kenscoff this morning, which is where the other orphanage of FEJ is located. The two locations cannot be anymore opposite from each other. Lamardelle is always scorching hot and in Kenscoff, which is high up in the mountains, is always cold and wet. I was actually really looking forward to going, not just for meeting the children, but also for the cool weather. My body was rejecting the hot sweating nights and it was good to get some fresh air. So we left at around 9:30am this morning and as usual traffic was horrible. Traffic is always horrible in Haiti, not just due to the overcrowding of cars and people, but also due to the fact that people are walking on the streets, there are market stands everywhere, UN posts in many corners, round-a-bouts that have no order, no street lights, tap-taps constantly stopping and going, people going in the whole direction, and oh yeah, just the sheer fact that there is no such thing as following the laws of road. People can do whatever they want in the streets and no one will bat an eye. I think I’ve seen cars in all kinds of directions that you can imagine on a “supposedly” one-way street. It does make driving interesting and I think that’s why Haitian drivers are so alert and have the reflexes of a cat here, because it’s doge or be hit pretty much. So Jedonne, the Lamardelle driver, first took us to Croix-de-bouquet to drop Sandy, IT guy, off and then to a random National gas station to pick up a package from a police man, and then we were off to the Delmas 41 office. So I’ve gotten used to the idea that when we make a trip anywhere, there will always be multiple little stops along the way, because everyone carpools here. Which I think it’s great and it makes the car ride that much more fun. So I was dropped off at the Delmas 41 office and ended up waiting there for 3 hours, when the driver was suppose to pick me up in only 30min top. Ha. Yeah, that’s Haiti, got to learn how to catch curveballs for sure. Although I was extremely hungry, I still had a great time chatting with the security guard there. It was just him and I at the office for quite a while. His name was Juselle and he has three children, 9, 6, and a 2 year old. He told me all about the different types of fruit trees in Haiti and we even went Cherry picking in the back yard. Then another driver, Shaldo, came and dropped off an auntie and three very sick HIV+ babies that just came back from a visit to the hospital. Apparently I was to take the three babies back to the Kenscoff orphanage. So we waited for another hour before Roberto finally showed up with three other people. It was Vanessa, the Duncan’s daughter, and her two daughters, Jennifer and Laurie. (The little girl was super excited that we had the same name, hehe. ) So we got everyone in the car and just before putting the babies in there, one of the babies had massive diahhrea and had to be changed. The auntie and I quickly changed him and cleaned up to put him back in the car.

So picture this…two car seats with 8 month olds in them, one on each side of me, and then me in the middle, holding another 1 month old in my arms. Then there were three girls in the back, sitting safari style, while there was another very pregnant Vanessa in the passenger seat with Roberto driving. It was quite a sight, and that was not all! We had everyone’s suitecases and bags all stuffed in empty spaces in the car and loads of medication for the children back at the orphanage. Then, on the way to Kenscoff, we finally stopped to get something to eat at around 4pm. Everyone was starving…..We ended up stopping at McEdol, which is like a Haitian McDonalds apparently??? Ha. So me, being a vegetarian, found myself starring at a menu loaded with all different types of meat and fish products…yeah. So luckly the lady said they can make a vegetarian sandwich for me. We waited and waited, and turns out the sandwich makers had forgotten our sandwhichs. Then when it was finally done, there was ham in my sandwich. We told the lady and she was like, yeah that’s a vegetarian sandwich. Ha. Yeah, needless to say, she got really mad and offended and we ended up waiting another 15 min for my sandwich. I felt really bad for the whole situation, especially since the girls and babies were waiting in the car this whole entire time. The car was so packed that I had to crawl in and out from the driver’s side in the car to get around. So we all ate in the car and I somehow manage to eat with a 1 month old sleeping in my arms at the same time. Did not get anything on him, so that was good. So this is what goes into a Haitian McDonald’s sandwich: Your choice of meat (or no meat in my case), Emmental cheese slices, tomatoes, onions, lettuce, ketchup, mayo, and Tabasco sauce. It was very good. I also ordered a Grape Fanta to drink. That was exactly what I needed at the moment on this very very hot day in Haiti. I was a happy girl and my stomach was even happier.

When we finally got to the Duncan’s house, everyone was exhausted. For me, dealing with three sick babies was a lot, since we had limited cleaning and changing materials in the diaper bags. Two of the babies threw up twice in the car and both had massive diarrhea. Let me tell ya, it is not easy trying to change a baby in a really bumpy car ride and with two other babies coughing and crying at the same time. It was a challenge, but I did it! Apparently it is very common for the babies to throw up during the car rides to Kenscoff. I mean, I don’t blame them, 3 hours of safari like roads….yeah, that’ll do it for anybody. So I was left in the car with the babies, since I am staying at the orphanage with the kids. It was the cutest thing, the babies all looked at me with these huge watery eyes and when one starts to fuss and cough, the second follows, and then the third follows, it never fails. Somehow, they were all insync. We all headed down to the orphanage and I handed over the babies to the leading nurse there and told her about the different medications the babies all have to take. I got into my room and wow, it is fancy. I am staying at the guest house, that are usually reserved for the adoptive parents that come down to visit. I have a huge room, with a huge bed, and a connecting bathroom. Life can’t get any better than this. I put my things down and went to wash up a little bit. I had all different types of bodily fluids all over me from the babies, just wanted to refresh up again before heading back over to the Duncans. Roberto came back to get me and he came back with a huge truck load of food for the staff and children here at the orphanage. We all started to unload the truck and putting the things away in the kitchen. I got a little peak into the inside of the orphanage and so far, it really reminds me of a wooden cabin in the woods. I mean, really, it is quite like that here. I headed back over to the Duncans for dinner and it was nice to just relax for a bit. I gave Mr. Duncan a much needed massage, he has been so stressed out lately due to the family situations and running the foundation. My hat goes off to him. After dinner, I headed back to the guest house and took a much needed shower! Oh yeah, did I mention, there was HOT WATER!!!! Holy macaronis! I have not had a hot shower since I’ve been in Haiti and that felt really really good! What a difference between Kenscoff and Lamardelle!!!! In Lamardelle, you had to take a cold shower to cool off a bit and here in Kenscoff, it is so cold that a hot shower feels so nice! So I felt like a princess, taking that hot shower and then getting into my long sleeve pajamas. It has been awhile, but the temperatures are so extreme in these two places that I even got a chuckle out of putting on long sleeves. I got into bed and just passed out! No mice tonight….I am ever so grateful!

Thursday, August 18, 2011

4am Surprise Guest!

So the internet in the office has been fixed, well not the wi-fi at least, just now I have a cable that I can directly plug into my computer. So since the internet is working during the working hours, things have been going a lot smoother during the day. I am getting more work done and at a more efficient pace. The downside to that is that there's no wi-fi at night time anymore, so I have to get everything done on-line during the day. The habit has shifted, literally night and day.

I have been busy at work all day, everyday this week. I am feeling better and my stomach is slowly getting back to normal. I found out it's not just the medication making my stomach all queezy, but it's also the Haitian food that they serve here. The diet is heavily consisted of fried foods and beans. I never liked beans before I came to Haiti and now I pretty much have to eat it everyday. It's not easy, but I am trying. So the beans definitly do not mesh well with my body, I am coming to find out, sorta painfully over the weeks here. So now, I am eating my rice with less and less beans. It is helping a lot, and not eating so much fried foods. The cooks here are very nice to me and pretty much spoil me in every since of the word. Ever since they've found out that I am a vegetarian, they have been showering me with different fruits and salads throughout the meals. It comes in huge quantities and there's just no way I can finish it all. Every single meal I can taste the love and dedication of the cooks and I feel very fortunate! They also do elaborate decorations with the veggies and fruits on the plate. It's not just me taking pictures, but also the cooks themselves. I am so very happy to see them being proud of their work. I love it.

So story of the day! As you all know that I have been having mice problems in my room. No idea why they are in my room, since there are no food laying around or any dirty corner for them to live in. I clean it every two to three days and they are still coming. So my thought is that they know that my room is a no-kill zone, and the only no-kill zone here in Lamardelle apparently, so that's why they all congregate there. That is the only explanation that I can come up with. So I have been less shocked now that I've seen so many mice over the weeks here in Haiti, and less shocked even when they are in my room roaming around. Been able to sleep more and be okay with the mice running into things in the wee hours of the night on the floor! But this morning at 4am, I woke up to a mouse running down the side of my body and onto my stomach and leg...AHHHHHHHHH....yes that was exactly what I did. I screamed , kicked in my mosquito net, threw the covers on the floor, tried to grab my flashlight, and ran to the floor....totally fell and freaked out again. Yeah, this all happened in about a minute or so....it is definitely not a pleasant feeling to be woken up by a mouse crawling all over you and tripping and falling over your bed because you are not conscious enough to realize there's a mosquito net surrounding you! Yeah, so needless to say I couldn't fall back to sleep for about two hours and when I finally did it was not quality sleep. This whole fight or flight mode that I've been in for almost three weeks now really does get tiring....I mean I am okay with the mice being in my room, but I am definitely not okay with them crawling on me and being in my bed....ehhhhh....

So going to try to block the hole at the bottom of my door again and see what happens....please mice, don't go on my bed while I am there, that's all I am asking of you. Pretty please????

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Sick Day #1

So didn't eat dinner last night, because the cooks had forgotten to prepare my meal. It was a holiday, so I understand. So at around 8pm, one of the aunties brought me cereal and milk, and the last time I had a little bit of the milk that they put in the juices, I got sick immediately, so I wasn't going to push my luck this time. The milk that they have here is like canned milk, pretty much in between evaporated and condense milk. Not too great, so skipping out on that. So I decided to eat a fruit bar instead for dinner, since I was that hungry anyways. I usually take my anti-malaria medications every Monday night, so last night was no exception, except the fact that I was pretty much on an empty stomach. So after about an hour into taking the medication, my stomach was not happy. Oh boy...and I started to get nauseous. I didn't think too much of it because the anti-malaria medications always made me a little bit sick, but not this sick. I was up all night, sweating, because the electricity went out in the middle of the night, as usual, and super wanting to throw-up! So I didn't sleep at all and tried not to move too much either, since I was getting extreme motion sickness. This morning at around 8am, I took some Pepto chewables and it got slightly better for about an hour. I couldn't eat anything this morning, because just smelling food was making me want to vomit all over. I worked as much as I could this morning and since we had no internet, not much I could do. I went back to my room to take a nap and rest for the rest of the day. I finally ate a little bit of salad and some rice with bean sauce about an hour ago...I hope that stays down. Let's hope this gets better soon. It is not fun being sick in Haiti, let me tell ya! The heat does not help in any case! It just makes you feel worse than you already feel. I wouldn't be surprise if I came down with something, since all the babies and toddlers are sick with something or another. My whole body hurts....eh...let's hope I feel better soon....I really do need some good sleep tonight....

Monday, August 15, 2011

Modern Day Miracle: Viking Ring


So today was the big laundry day that I have been waiting for. It took me about 2.5 hours to do all the laundry by hand. It wasn't just my laundry, but also some things left behind by the previous volunteer, Danielle. If it was just clothes it would have been a lot faster, but there were beach towels and bedding, so those were hard to wash and rung out by hand. By the end of the 2.5 hours my hands were like prunes...haha. They got some good old fashion work done today. It seemed that everyone was doing their laundry today. There were a total of 5 people in the laundry room, all bent over in their big washing buckets, just going at it with the laundry. We all passed around soap and laundry detergent to use. One of the aunties was washing all the babies and toddler's clothing, and I have super respect for her, because that is a lot of work. It is a daily job and no wonder they are so tired by the end of the day. Haitians really like to make sure their clothes are clean, so they usually use a ridiculous amount of soap for their laundry load. So while I was washing my clothes, I hear all the aunties saying, "Put more soap in, that's not enough, that's not going to get cleaned." haha, it was funny. I just kept reassuring them that it was enough and it was going to be fine. They all looked at me with very disapproving eyes. So I was washing and rinsing, washing and rinsing, and then rung everything out in the buckets. Finally, at the end I was really to go put all the clothes that I just washed on the clothing line outside to dry. The good thing in Haiti is that it is so hot that the clothes dry all in a couple of hours. I hung up all the clothes and one of the girls helped me with the clothes pins, she was a very good little helper. I finished everything and got back to my room and started to look at my hands and realized OH NO, WHERE'S MY RING???? That was when panic set in. I quickly ran back into the laundry room and started looking. No where to be found. I followed the water pipe to where there was a broken place and started to dig under the pipe to see if it had washed out. The aunties and children helped me looked for it too. The water smelled like sewage and we were all digging through it. No where to be found. Oh shoot. So then I ran back to the clothing line area to see if it might have fallen on the ground. Nope, did not see it. I was about to give up, but then I thought maybe I should check all the clothing on the clothing line just in case. This was a long shot, but I thought I had to give it a try, because the ring meant the world to me. The ring, a ring with viking symbols on it, was given to me by my boyfriend Greg. He had that ring ever since he was little and gave it to me, so it was something super special. So I started to look through all the clothing, pockets, seam lines and had no luck. Then I finally got to the bedding sheets and there was a folded area in the corner of the sheets and I stuck my hand in there to feel around and WHAT???? The ring was right in there. I grabbed it out in utter disbelief!!! This was a modern day miracle for sure! The ring had slipped from my finger, into the soapy water, got mixed and tumbled into the sheets and didn't fall out at all on the clothing line???? Yeah it was a miracle and I am totally not complaining. This is a sign! I will make sure to remember to take off my ring from now on when I do laundry! What a relief when I found the ring!

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Anne of Green Gables


I drank this new Haitian fruit juice called "Korosol" and it was delicious. Korosol is a big prickly fruit, around the size of a watermelon and it is so good. Apparently in English they call it the "Soup Sop." No idea! So in Haiti they blend the fruit up and mix it with milk. It was super good and apparently it puts you to sleep, but for me it did the opposite, it actually kept me up. I had the drink, courtesy of Frank, who upon giving it to me in a mysterious green cup, told me it was from his "secret stash" and that I was going to "have a good night's sleep." So I immediately thought, "are you giving me alcohol and got scared...and started to look in my cup." haha, he laughed and said no, it's a seasonal Haitian fruit juice blend. So needless to say I drank it and my mouth was very happy with the intense flavor of the fruit. It was very yummy. So just before lunch today, one of the adolescent girls came running into my room while holding this gigantic fruit and was like "ou connais?" (you know this?) and I happily replied that yes it's Korosol, from my encounter last night. She was super happy and was like yeah "we are going to make some juice for you" and ran out. So it was a good day with Korosol juices. Although, the second cup that I had, my stomach was not very happy. I think it was the milk powder that they put in it that made me sick. Oh well, it was still good.

All afternoon I was in the infant/toddler room playing and taking care of the children, because once again, there was only one auntie in there. The auntie, Gezelle, was leaving at around 3pm, which would mean NO ONE would be left to take care of the children until 5pm. That is a 2 hour gap! Oh boy, I was worried. Most of the children had diarrhea today, so it was changing diapers and re-washing the babies over and over again. One child started walking toward me and you can just see this trail of light brown liquid dripping out of his overfilled diaper....yeah it was quite a sight. Another child had it running all over his stomach while he was napping. And another 6 months old threw up all over my shirt and himself while I was playing with him. So needless to say, it was a lot of bathing all around today. I was busy giving all the children water after we were done washing them, so they can re-hydrate from losing all that water. I guess all of the babies/toddlers here drink water on a regular basis and likes it, so that is a great thing. Most western babies do not like water and just drink milk. I guess it makes a difference when you are sweating so much in Haiti, water is the first thing you want to drink. I did more therapy with Precious today and the bond that we have is really starting to solidify. She is starting to prefer me over the other aunties now, which is a great thing to see that she is capable in her development to obtain attachments. That is a positive step in the right direction.

In the evening, Jan and I had our first American girl's movie night. Jan is the mother figure for the adolescents here at the orphanage and she only speaks English. Her and Frank, her husband, came back last night from being away due to the painting project at the creche. I was very happy to see them back. It is nice to have some company and to speak some English again. So Jan and I decided to have a movie night, just us two English-speaking girls. We watched, one of Jan's favorites, Anne of Green Gables. I had no idea what it was about and it turned out to be awesome. We only watched Part one of the first DVD, out of 5 DVDs total, and it was amazing. It is the life story of a girl named Anne Shirley and she is an orphan. So I am officially hooked. It is funny because I was thinking today how amazing it is that I am watching more movies here in Haiti than I do anywhere else. It is because anywhere else I am way too busy and not to mention going to the cinema is very expensive. It is nice to just sit down, once in a while, to watch a good movie or series in good company. So I am very grateful for all these movie watching experiences. The only other time that I've watched so many movies was on all the various overseas plane rides. Ha, go figure.

Tomorrow is a holiday for Haiti, they are celebrating the Catholic holiday for the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. So that means no work tomorrow! Which also means, huge laundry day!!! Finally. It will be my first laundry experience here at the creche, which we wash all things by hand and hang them out to dry on the clothing line outside. It will be a big washing day tomorrow! Wish me luck!

Saturday, August 13, 2011

A Little Girl Named Precious



Didn't really get much sleep last night due to the mouse being in my room again....eh...here we go again. I was having a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep due to all the noise the mouse was making, not so much squeaking, but more so the sounds of all the things she/he was running into. Yeah so woke up this morning with a giant headache. Was not fun. Had a huge breakfast, toast with peanut butter (which they call "Mumba" in creole) and bananas, and omelet with onions. Way too much food! The cooks here spoil me. They are so nice, they especially make vegetarian dishes for me for each meal. Food here is definitely one huge thing that I do not have to worry about, which for that, I am very thankful.

After eating breakfast everyone started to clean the orphanage. I was really motivated to clean my room, after the whole mice situation this week. The girls helped me pushed all the suitcases and furniture out into the hall way and started massive cleaning everything. I swept the floor and moped everything with bleached water. We didn't find any mice around, so they must have already left my room before we started cleaning. It is all cleaned out now, so I hope they do not return tonight. They tend to disappear during the day and return in the night time. There is still that hole on the bottom of my door, no real way to block it....let's pray they found some other place to occupy their night time activities. (I am typing this phrase and I see the mouse poking its head out from behind the suitcases.....eh....it continues for tonight)

After cleaning, the girls decided that Lori was not girly enough and needed her fingernails and toenails painted. They only had red and pink colors, which I do not like at all, so I provided another alternative, blue, to the mix. They were all excited to sit down and paint my nails for me. I can't remember the last time I had my nails painted???? It's been years. So I was happy to see all the teen girls giggling and having a fun time painting my nails. They did a really good job, they look glamorous. It's official, Metallic Blue is so the way to go right now!!! I took a little nap after breakfast, mainly due to the food coma that started to set in....

The children came back from Kenscoff this afternoon. It was glorious, everyone picking up a baby or a toddler and heading back to their brand new painted rooms. All the children were so excited, but most of them were wet from the long car-ride. So it was to the showers directly. All 13 children needed to shower and be changed, and there were only three aunties (caregivers) for all the children. I stepped in to help and every single child did not like to be washed in the sink. I totally don't blame them since it is always cold water. I mean I always have to prep myself before I step into the showers here and then the feeling at first with the freezing water is like shock, so totally understand the outburst of cries today. We got all the children washed and changed and I started to play with all of them. Oh my goodness are they cute! I was having a blast. I started to see one by one, the aunties were leaving, and I started to ask myself, "ummmmm....is there going to be another shift arriving soon????" The answer was NO. The situation was that one of the aunties was really sick and had to be hospitalized and the other two aunties are taking their summer vacations this coming week....and another one was leaving until tomorrow afternoon....yeah so that only leave one auntie for all 13 children, whom are all under the year of 2.5 years old.....yeah....not too cool. We were already understaffed, but this was pretty ridiculous situation. So I stayed all afternoon and night to help her out. She was definitely overwhelmed and with good reason. When the only auntie that was left by the end of the afternoon went to go eat, I somehow found myself alone with 13 babies....that was quite a sight. It wasn't easy, but very fulfilling to know that they were all depending on you to comfort them.

We had several babies and toddlers that are in serious need of regular physical therapy. One of those children is a little girl whom I will refer to as Precious (the names of the children will be changed in my blog to protect their true identities). When you look at her you instantly know something is not so right with the child. Her eyes do not shift normally and her limbs are lacking normal muscle growth. She is not able to walk by herself, but has learned in the past couple of months how to hold herself up to standing on the cribs. The newly hired physical therapist will be coming on the first of September, so I am super psyched for that. It will be very good for the children and it will make a huge difference. So Precious is developmentally delayed across the spectrum, but she has a lot of potential. From just interacting with her today, she has done so many things that the aunties have never seen, and it is all due to one-on-one attention with the child. I cannot stress enough just how important some direct attention to a child can make the biggest difference in their level of development. So I spent all afternoon and night with this little girl and she was a rock star. She was so motivated to walk, so we went on a walking adventure. She was getting faster and faster as each hour went on. We would walk for 5 to 10min and rest. I sang to her and she started to repeat a lot of the sounds that I was making in the songs. We would tap our hands together and our feet together. She didn't laugh or smile at all when she first came, and after 3 hours with her, she was giggling like never before. I was so happy to see her laughing and making so much progress. I could see it in her eyes that she was so proud of herself and extremely happy to have someone recognizes her potential. She responds very well to the leg massages that I was giving her and she started to be able to straighten her legs out afterward. I was ecstatic. She would tilt her head backwards to look at me whenever she straightened her legs out, as if to see if I was watching what she was doing. She gave me the biggest smiles and giggles ever by the end of the night. I gave kisses and hugs and told her just how proud of her I was. I felt like she understood. I could see it in her eyes, saying "I did it."

This was the feeling that I needed all week. This was what I came to Haiti for. To see those big eyes looking back at me and knowing that, at least for that one child, I am indeed making a small difference in her life.

Thank you Precious for giving me the opportunity to help you achieve your goals!

Friday, August 12, 2011

iBook G4 Incident

So…was a little bit overwhelmed yesterday with everything going on. The biggest thing was probably the fact that my computer crashed just after two weeks in Haiti. But to be on the fair side, it is very old. My Apple iBook G4 has been with me for seven years and it has gone through a lot!!! Different countries with not so great conditions and surviving heat stroke from being overworked. My first laptop is on its last legs…not going to lie, I was quite sad to see it not charging from the brand new charger that I just bought in France two weeks ago. My iBook, whom I have been referring to as “Compassionate Computer” in Mandarin, has her own strong character. Over the past three years, she has been up and down with me. Sometimes she wants to charge and sometimes she just wants to be turned-off for a day or two. It’s kind of like raising a teenager for the first time, sometimes they just live in a whole different world than you and you will not understand it, no matter how hard you try. It’s been a long haul and I was hoping that the new charger would at least last me through this year in Haiti. Sadly, my iBook wants nothing to do with the charger. She recognizes it’s plugged in but the battery just won’t charge. Too bad. So I was getting really frustrated yesterday, since all the work that I have to do for FEJ (Fondation L’Enfant Jesus) is on the computer and on-line. Without a computer here I am pretty much deemed useless. Not just that, I was pretty much alone in the office yesterday, for the third day in a roll. Everyone was out and about doing things and I was stuck here trying to tell my computer to charge so I can do my work. I saw the battery bar went from 100% to 70% by noon, and then till about 2pm, it went down to 8%. I was able to think fast and buy another charger online to send to the states for me before it died completely. The good thing about apple laptops are that they are incredible with battery life. Back in the good old days, my iBook could last 8 hours without plugged in. This new off brand battery is not too bad either, 3.5 hours without being plugged in. So I'm not giving up completely yet. The new charger should be arriving here in Haiti, I'm hoping if all goes well, in about a month or so. By then I will try to plug it in and see if my iBook wants to charge or not. In the mean time, I am using the foundation's laptop and it is not too bad.

I was starting to feel better when I woke up this morning, since I knew a laptop was going to be here today for me to use. I was fine until I saw that a mouse had chewed through the bottom of my door, so now there is a visible hole at the corner. Eh...and my day begins. The internet has been pretty much non-existent for this week, really didn't get much done without it, since we all communicated through emails. I was thinking last night why I got so upset? and I figured it out over the long hours into the night. I am fine without internet or TV or radio or even the children not being here due to the painting projects. I have been alone for the most part this week and the solitude was setting in. I was doing okay, because I at least had my computer to watch some "Man vs. Wild" and listen to some music. But now I was without a working laptop, so I literally have nothing to do. I couldn't even read because the electricity was out, and then when it came back on finally during the night, the light bulbs went out. I was going to take a long shower to kill the time, but then the water went out for a couple of hours, as well. Yeah, so it got to some of my limits yesterday. So today it's better. I have a laptop to occupy my time with and tomorrow the children are heading back to the orphanage. I finally get to meet all the kids, I can't wait.

So yeah, through all this process I am getting to know myself better and to really ponder at life's mysterious twists and challenges. It's still quite disturbing to walk into your room and see your sheets filled with all different types of small insects, dead and alive, just all mingling together. It's a sight I have to get use to this year. Wish me luck.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Dragon Tiger Hall

I was all alone in the office today doing translations from French to English. Oh boy! It was a very long day. I really do highly dislike translating legal documents, they are quite a pain to do. But it is for a good cause, so I sucked it up! 8 documents...and they were long....got one more to do tomorrow. So it was just me and my apple in the office today! After work hung out with the teens and had a blast. It was the first time that we all ate together. They all wanted me to teach them how to write Chinese characters and to speak Mandarin. We all had a good laugh. After dinner we watched a Chinese Action flick...haha we kept the Chinese theme going all night. It was called "Dragon Tiger Hall." Hahahah it was pretty funny. Oh yeah I learned today "Bouda" in creole means your behind, yeah they had a good laugh at that. So the people in the film are Buddhist and they are worshiping "butts" haha. Oh languages....some of the teens laughed so hard they fell over on their chairs. It was a good time. I was feeling down and tired today after spending all day in the office alone, but night time with the teens really boosted me up. Mési anpil!




Just wanted to show y'all what it takes to get running electricity in Haiti.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Alphabet Soup



So before I came I was a little bit worried about the food situation here at the orphanage since I am a vegetarian. I didn't know if a vegetarian in Haiti would work out? But thankfully it is working out just perfectly. They actually don't have enough money to get a lot of meat, so most of the time at the orphanage there's no meat. They eat a lot of corn, collar greens, bananas, red/black beans, rice, wheat products, oatmeal, grains, and all types of salads. So I am all for it. I love Haitian food and it is working out just magically. Tonight I was completely by myself, as in completely the only staff person left here at the orphanage. Haha, everyone left. The Americans left at 5:30am this morning and the Duncans left last night. Two adolescent girls left yesterday and one more left this morning. Even Manmie left for a two weeks vacation. Stephanie, the finance person left to go to her home in the city. So I was the only one left swimming in the pool and eating dinner by myself. They didn't know what to do with me since I don't eat meat, so when I sat down for dinner, they said "You like soup?" haha yes I love soup. I look down at my bowl of soup and it is "Alphabet Soup" hahaha...no idea where they found it. It was in a can and they heated it up. It was hilarious! All the letters floating around. The last time I had alphabet soup was with 5 year olds at a Head Start pre-school in Chicago. I couldn't resist, so I started picking out a 'R', a 'L', an 'O', and an 'I', what does that spell, "LORI". hahaha....the cooks gathered around and was amazed at this edible art work I just displayed on the plate. It was good times.

I was talking with Patrick, one of the main workers at Manmie's and he was a total comedian. I totally had soup coming out of my nose when he was telling me how hard it is to understand Canadian people. haha no matter what language they were speaking, English or French. He was imitating how they spoke in French and I mean really imitating, the whole accent, gestures, and full body movements. hahaha. He took me through a whole entire conversation of someone answering the door, and yes he played both parties. Wow, it sure was entertaining. He considers me one of the "French" people, and he said thank goodness, because he has no problem understanding French people's french. He said that even French people have a hard time understanding Canadians, hahahahaha......so true, got to back him up on that one.

When I got back to the creche, I spent some time with the adolescents! One of the girls made Pathe for me, which is like a mini calzone. She was so nice, she knew I didn't eat meat, so instead she put hot peppers and onions in my Pathe. It was super good! So the internet didn't work at all today, so work definitely dragged on.

So we finally got some more drinkable water today, no more stealing water from Manmie's and rationing like crazy! Now we just need some toilet paper around here!!!!

Monday, August 8, 2011

Voodoo Dance

Today was my first day doing reports all by myself, like a big girl. I spent all morning updating the weekly rosters for the two orphanages and setting up the printer for wireless printing. So I guess for as long as they've had the printer in Haiti, no one knew that you can print wirelessly. Everyone would walk over to the printer and plug the USB cord in to print. So I came in and was like, "Why are you guys doing that?" Ha, so I set it all up and got it to work. Now they think I am really smart, but really I just followed the directions on the set-up Manuel.

The American Airlines team continued to paint the rest of the creche today. It was intensely dangerous today since they had to finish painting the high ceilings and it was super high. I still don't know how they managed to do that. Needless to say, they are super awesome! I started to write some social histories for some kids this afternoon, but didn't have enough information to finish. Better luck tomorrow. After work, Sandy (The IT guy), invited us to go watch a Voodoo Dancing performance. How awesome is that, you don't get to see that everyday! I ended up just missing the dance performance since I was running late with the adolescents. I was so bummed, but turns out one of the Americans had filmed it, so I got to watch a little bit of the performance. And it was awesome. I've seen similar dances before, but never knew it came from Voodooism. The four girls from the FEJ school did an awesome job. There was even a girl who represented the queen that came out and smeared white clay on the other girl's faces to acknowledge them. We ended up spending the rest of the afternoon by the pool, just chatting away.

It was their last night for the Americans and they leave at 5:30am tomorrow morning. We all ate together and out of all of the conversations that we could've had, we talked about crayfish, crawfish, or crawdads searching in Texas, back in the days???? Oh man, we are a funny group. I am happy to have met this team from Texas and look forward for their return back at the creche. They have done a phenomenal job painting! I am going to be sad to see them go tomorrow. The three directors are all leaving tomorrow as well, so I am really going to be the only one that is staying here at the creche. Papi Vieux and Mamie Jan will be back this Saturday, so I look forward to their return.

In the meanwhile, whenever it rains, bugs fly frantically into the creche. I must have saw about 20 small beetles outside of the bathroom last night. erk! I really hope they do not get close to me and come into my room. I have been communicating with all the bugs that this is a kill-free zone and that it would do me a huge favor if they just didn't come into my room at all, this way they do not have to risk injury or sometimes accidental death while I transport them in a water bottle to outside the creche. So thank you in advance bugs, let's keep this friendly pact going shall we?

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Intense Water Volleyball


So this morning we resumed the painting project at around 8am. I was waiting for breakfast, which usually comes at 8am, but I think it is Sunday, so today it was not here until almost 9am. Super late. I was starving. We had Mais for breakfast. It was super good. It was corn mixed with collar greens. Super yummy. I always eat way too much for my own good, sheesh. I ended up spending my morning organizing my room and emptying my luggage. I emptied all of them and organized in the dresser here. I feel more at ease and at home now that my things are in their proper places. The room already feel different, although they still need to change my bed, since I have a bunk bed at the moment. It is infested with ants, as well. Not so cool on that part, but I am surviving. I hope I get the single bed in here soon, so I can organize more. We had rice with red beans for lunch, super good, as well.

I started to paint at around 1pm and it was super intense. I walked around with a small carton of paint and brush to touch up anywhere that was missed. I found myself in many different small corners. It was quite fun, got to practice some of my yoga moves. haha. Then I took the adolescents with me to start cleaning up the floor and bottom tiles where the paint had dripped onto. Our jobs were to scrap the paint off the floor. It was proving to be really hard with extra rough sand paper, but they found a trick where we would first pour water on the ground and then scrap. It turned out super well. Way to go kids. So I was on the floor scrapping paint for about 2.5 hours. Fun times.

After painting all afternoon, we all headed to the pool at Manmie's, like usual. I was planning on going into the water later so I didn't change into my swim suite. Of course the director said, "Lori come give me a hug", so of course I walk over to give him a hug and he held on and pulled me into the deep end of the pool with him. OH BOY! THAT WAS SO NOT COOL! Good thing I didn't have any electronic on me at the time. I was fulled dressed with flip flops and a cup when I was pulled into the pool....yeah....not falling for that again! We ate dinner super early today for some reason, at like 4:30pm. I can eat at all times so it wasn't that big of a deal. Had some awesome salad plates tonight, yummers.

The adolescents had permission to come to Manmie's for a water volleyball competition. I was to be in charge of the teens. So it was to be the Haitian team vs. the American team. But since only one teenager out of 10 teens know how to swim, it wasn't very fair. So the Haitian team were all on the shallow end while the American team were in the deep end of the pool. The American team had to keep swimming while hitting and getting the ball, while the Haitian team just stood there hitting. There was a huge difference, believe me, I was the one on the deeper end. Wow, it is super hard trying to stay afloat and serve a volleyball at the same time. Needless to say the American team lost, horribly....haha it's all good, everyone had fun!

So tomorrow will be my first day sending out some social histories of matching children and the weekly rosters of all the children in the creches to the directors. Wish me luck!

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Purity At Its Finest


So this morning I woke up at around 6am due to the rooster crows outside my window. It is an awesome alarm clock, I guess farmers had their reasons back in the day. So at around 8am I was suppose to go to the airport to pick up my bags with a driver. But of course being on Haitian time, that means anywhere between 1 to 3 hours delayed. So the driver comes strolling in at around 11am and eats breakfast. We took off around 11:30am for the airport. It took us about an hour and a half to get there due to traffic. We got to the Air France baggage services and it was like seriously a huge mountain of bags within the gates. I was getting a headache just from looking at it, but thankfully, my bags were just right in front and next to each other. How lucky is that???? We got my bags and we headed back to the orphanage. On the way back we dropped off some things for the drivers' wife at a local university. I really needed to go to the bathroom, so I went to use the school's toilets. The driver was concerned that it wasn't "proper" enough for a foreigner to use. I reassured him that it was not going to be a problem. They had toilets and everything, just no toilet paper. This is a normal occurrence for Haiti, that's why we always carry toilet paper and hand sanitizers with us. Went back to the orphanage and it took us another hour or so due to traffic. The driver was blasting the radio, which was carrying his favorite song, "let's do it tonight" by Neyo and Pitbull. I had a good laugh out of that one.

Back at the orphanage, the American Airlines teams had already started to paint the orphanage walls. There was a team from Texas, Miami, and the local Haitian team. They all volunteered to come paint the orphanage. It is part of the American Giving project. So everyone was in the same T-shirts and all had a brush in hand. I joined in on all the fun and started to paint. All the adolescents of the orphanage worked really hard and we had a blast. We probably got more paint on ourselves than the actual walls, but just a small detail. I felt that they really needed that today, to laugh about silly things, just so they can forget about all the hard stuff that they are going through everyday. We had a blast.

After painting all day, the Americans and I headed over to Manmie's pool and took a dip. It was very cooling and refreshing at the end of a long day. Dinner was served and it was, once again, a giant feast! We all chatted about our lives and how awesome Haiti is. I had a great time with the people. I feel really fortunate to be able to be apart of this great team here in Lamardelle! I cannot wait to start working full-time and contributing for the foundation.

So more painting tomorrow....I'm mean with my brush...watch out walls...you are about to be whitewashed....

Friday, August 5, 2011

A Brand New Beginning

So today was the day!!! Danielle left this morning at around 9am. We laughed, we danced, we sang last night. It was awesome! Tears were shed and memories were made. I am very happy that I met her, her and I are like sistas for life girl! I've had a great 3.5 days with her, seems like we've spend all of our lives together. It was hard to see her go. Not only did she go, but Frank and Jan (the supportive papi and mamie of the adolescents at the orphanage here in Lamardelle) also left for a week. They will not be back until next Saturday. Oh boy that was a lot for the adolescents to take today. I was the only person left and that was a lot of pressure. Thanks guys! haha. It ended up being a very busy day for me. It was my official first day at work here! All by myself. Stanley, one of the social workers, not licensed yet, did not come in due to possible weather conditions. This wouldn't be the first time that he did not come in due to the rain. It is very common to see Haitians missing work days due to bad weather. I can see their reasoning, because the roads in Haiti are not in good condition, so if it rains the roads get really slushy and undrivable. So if the weather were to get really bad during the day, they would be stuck at the orphanage till the next morning. So I don't blame them, but at times, like today, it was just a little bit gray. It was probably the TGIF bug that he caught on.

So I made copies, read documents, started to update the five weekly adoption rosters, and sent updated reports to the adoption agency in the States. It was not bad for a first day. It was slow for me, but I am sure once I get going, I will be a lot more efficient with my time. The internet did not help at all due to this stormy weather. So I guess the hurricane turned into a mild tropical storm named Emily. So thanks Emily for making the internet signals impossible to use and work with. Hahaha....oh challenges of Haiti. Using the internet here is like watching water boil. If you keep staring at it, it will never finish loading. You have to walk away and then come back when it is all ready and good to go for you. Well at least until the next batch! I worked from 9am till 5pm today and after work I walked over to the Women's Amputee Camp by Manmie's. There is a small team of volunteers helping the women with their prosthetic limbs. They were getting new measurements and creating brand new molds for the women in the camp. It was like magic at work. I observed for about an hour and am just in awe at how incredible these women are. It is wonderful that the volunteers come down and do this service for the women as well, because they are improving their life by getting rid of their everyday physical pain.

We all ate dinner at Manmie's again and of course....AWESOME FOOD...as usual! I love the fact that salads in Haiti are always spicy...that just makes my day. Being able to find the small green peppers stuck in the salad leaf...it's a great surprise. We all chatted and had a great time. When I got back to the creche, all the teenagers were eating spaghetti...yummy. They were about to watch a movie so I joined in. All 8 adolescents, ranging from 12 to 24 were glued to the TV. We were watching Minority Report, with Tom Cruise and Collin Ferrel. Ha what a weird choice for a movie. Plus it was all in English and every 5 minutes you would hear the teens speaking in Creole, trying to decipher what they are saying and what is happening. I would help out with some French and we were all communicating. It was as if the movie was going on with French/Creole commentary. Ha it was good times. Some of the ideas that came out of their heads are just hilarious. They are fascinated by all the same things that teens in the states are fascinated by. Hanging out with friends, staying up late to watch a movie, and of course giggling whenever their was a kissing scene in the film. I had a great time watching the movie with them and I hope this helps out with all the different transitions that are happening in their lives.

Tomorrow, a team of volunteers from the states will come start painting the creche here. Today, everyone was frantically cleaning the walls and clutter that was in the foyer. It is going to be a very interesting four days of massive painting sessions.....

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

A New Roommate


It is my third day in Lamardelle, Haiti. It has been training, training, and more training. I am only going to have four days of training before the current Social Service worker, Danielle, leaves for grad school back in the states. It is a really bitter sweet experience, because her and I have bonded so well. It is weird how it works, but it’s as if I’ve known her all my life. We hit it off right away and we can’t stop laughing about everything. I feel for her because her whole entire year in Haiti, she has really been by herself. There was no one who spoke English that was close to her age for her to talk to. It really makes a huge difference with the language barrier. I feel really lucky that I can speak French and can communicate with the people here. I am really looking forward to this experience. I am getting excellent training from Danielle and it really helps that she is very organized with all the documents and templates that I will be needing. Yesterday we went over all the logistics of the administrative part of the job and what the documents actually looked like. She had me put together and check a child’s adoption dossier that was ready to go to IBESR, which is the Haitian Child Welfare Department. It was really good to actually see the dossiers and get to understand the process. All the documents have French and English versions, since we are working with both countries’ embassies. Today we went over the whole entire Adoption process in Haiti. Oh boy was it complicated!!! There are two different reasons how a child in Haiti ends up in the crèches here. 1) They were abandoned 2) the biological parents are giving up their rights to the children, because they can no longer take care of them. The two processes are a little bit different with different documents that we need to obtain for each of the child’s dossier, but the later processes are all the same. Once the adoptive parents and child(ren) get officially matched up, the parents need to officially state in a document that they are in agreement with the matching decision and they are willing to go on with the adoption process. There are many different processes afterward, such as IBESR, Parquet (which is the legal court process), MOI (Ministry of Interior), Immigration, Passport, and VISA. This is why the adoption process takes usually about a year to finish before the adoptive parents can take their child back home. It is a very tedious process and lots and lots of paperwork. This will be one of my main duties, being in charge of each child’s adoption dossier and to track all the documents that are needed for finalizing the adoption. It is a lot of work, but a great challenge!

It was a very fulfilling day of learning and training in the office. Danielle and I headed over to Manmi’s, Lucienne Duncan, who is the founder of the Foundation Enfant Jesus. She lives just right next door to the crèche in Lamardelle and we always walk over there after the work day is over. Right now there is a team of American volunteers here helping with sorting out all the donations that the crèche received over the past couple of months. Thank goodness for them, because the staff doesn’t have extra time to sort through all the things upstairs. We all sat by the pool and chatted. Apparently there is a small hurricane heading toward Haiti tonight, we’ll see how that goes. Not too worried, it is a normal thing here. We all ate together and dinner was fabulous, as usual. The curry rice and salad was so good, I had two plates. Yum, yum, yum.

Another awesome day in Haiti has passed by! I am sharing a room with Danielle right now, fully equipped with a make-shift bunk bed. It has a very springy mattress that tends to poke at your ribs and spinal cord throughout the nighttime. Along with the hardworking ant army across the frames and sheets. Oh yeah, there was a new roommate, Tiny, that was added to the mix today. A super tiny gray mice that lives at the corner behind the small couch in the room. We totally gave it a scare today! Sadly Papi Vieux found him in the kitchen and now our small friend has gone to a quiet and peaceful place. RIP Tiny.

Tomorrow I meet with the Duncans for an official meeting. Can’t wait! Took a cold shower tonight and it felt awesome, since it is super hot in Lamardelle. There is no hot water here at the crèche, but it really doesn’t matter since the temperature never gets below 25 degrees. I hope my bags come tomorrow. Let’s cross our fingers, because my clothes are getting a little bit too sticky….

Monday, August 1, 2011

Test drive of emotions

I cleaned and packed all night for Haiti. I had to get rid of everything in the fridge and do all the dishes....and boy were there a lot of dishes to be cleaned. I had a whole list of things to do for the apartment before I left. The most important things were to turn off the gas, electricity, and water. So I am frantically cleaning and packing until 2am in the morning and then unplugging all the plugs around the apartment. I finally got all my bags packed and weighted, each weighing around 24kg...dooh. Oh well, I'll push my luck at the airport. I was too tired to do anything. I tried to go to bed for like two hours before I had to get up again, but that didn't work out so well. So got up again at 5am to do the last check-ups of the apartment. I turned off the water and the gas. Kiko and Tony came and got me at 6:30am. We loaded all the bags and I pushed the red button in the power box. See you next year my little apartment.

We drove for about three hours to get to Orly Airport in Paris. It was a little bit stressful with all the morning Paris traffic, but we got through okay. It did not help I had a huge pounding headache in the car, must be due to the lack of sleep. I was a little bit stressed out about the bags, but it turns out luck was on my side, 23.1 and 23.8 kg. The lady was really nice to me and let me through with all my bags without charging me a fee. I said goodbye to the boys and went on my way to the terminal. Everything was stalled at every single section of the airport. I finally got through and sat down to wait for boarding to start. I was exhausted, but it was only the beginning of the trip. The 9 hour flight to Point-a-Pitre was full of turbulence and obstacles. First of all, we waited on the plane for 30min before leaving the terminal, then when we were about to take off on the run-way, we hit a technical difficulties stage. We had to roll all the way down the run-way to the other side and back to the parking area for plane check-ups. The air in the plane was not functioning properly, so we were all sweating bullets. After about 40 minutes at the parking area, we finally were ready to head back to the run-way again. We took off without a hitch, but the monitors were not working. They didn't work at all on the duration of the flight, I guess it was PUSA's way of telling me that I needed to sleep and not do anything else. I haven't been able to sleep on planes for a while now, but this time I succeeded. I got about around four hours of pretty good rest and it helped with my giant headache. The service was quite disappointing for an Air France flight, but it was okay. So we were two hours late to get to Point-a-Pitre, Guadalupe, we ended up having only 10 minutes before the plane was leaving for Port-au-Prince, Haiti. We all got to go to a special section and into a special emergency door to get to the boarding zone directly. It was really nice treatment, but kind of sad that I didn't get to receive a stamp from Guadalupe. Oh well, there's always next time. We got on the plane to go to Haiti and it was not too bad. It wasn't until we were about to land that things started to get tricky. We touched down and almost touch the run-way surface and then the pilot pulled the nose up again and we were climbing up to the air. Everyone was panicking and didn't know what happened. It was going super fast and there was an announcement there was a problem and we shall be updated on the status shortly. Yeah, those are not good words to say when we are circling mid-air. We made a couple of rounds and finally the pilot said we are able to land now. We safely landed in Haiti and everyone cheered with applause. It was good to be on land I must say.

So got to the airport. Turns out all the luggage from the Paris flight did not make it so had to fill out a sheet to reclaim them when they do get here. Let's hope it comes in tomorrow or the next day. Let's keep our fingers crossed. Yup, welcome to Haiti. It's quite normal here. Got out of the airport terminal and someone at the gate grabbed my bag and said "you are super late, hurry, we have to go meet the director." I had not idea what was going on, I chase after him asking where we were going and to get my bag from him. He said the orphanage and that we had to find the director. I asked how does he know who I am? and what was my name? he changed the subject. That was when I knew something was up. Something was not right about this fellow. He didn't have a sign with my name on it. So I got my bag and walked away from him toward the crowd of people who had signs. Finally found my name and that guy followed us to the car. Turns out he just made up a whole story to get some money for helping me find who I really needed to find. They are not dangerous people, just wanted money, but it was still a little bit unnerving. I was tired, so that experience was not so pleasant. Learned from that for sure. Do not let strangers take my bags at the airport!

So his name is Roberto, the driver for the orphanage in Lamardelle, Haiti. It was 7pm at nighttime when we left the airport. Turns out we had to pick up two children and two caretakers, they call them "aunties" here. They were out to Delmas for the day with medical check-ups. We got to the Delmas office and it was completely pitch dark. I went to the bathroom and found what I thought resembled a toilet...I hope it was a toilet. We left for Kenscoff shortly after and it took about 2.5 hours to get there with the traffic. Haiti looked beautiful at night time though. It wasn't often that I got to see the night views, especially from atop. Kenscoff is about 5,000 ft up and the temperature is very cool due to mountain terrains. We got to the Duncans' house at around 10pm and chatted with an adoptive family, their children, and the Duncans. Had a quick meal and headed to the sleeping quarters around midnight. I took a freezing cold shower, since there was no power from the generators. Got into bed and called it a night. I needed to get up early tomorrow.

First night in Haiti....what an adventure it has been. I can't wait for tomorrow to start.