My respect and admiration for teachers has increased one hundred fold.  I heard this is the Week of Teacher Appreciation(Sorry I’m posting on Monday and it was last week)  and it felt like a good time to write about what I have felt and experienced around the edges of the classroom.  I have been planning to write about this for a couple of months but it’s time to share my appreciation.

I have been privileged enough to get to spend time in the classroom here thanks to an on-going relationship with St. Paul’s School.  It began with my role running interference right after school when Dan is tutoring a small group of 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th, or 6^th graders.  With paper and colored pencils, my job has been to entertain anyone else who felt like they needed to be a part of the after-school program so they wouldn’t bother the math tutoring sessions.

It didn’t take me long to realize some sort of plan and program would greatly enhance the kids’ and my experience.  So since St. Paul’s School is in the middle of a rebuild, I told the kids to draw their dream school.  That was worth at least two weeks of entertainment.  From there we entered the realm of architectural designs and models of their dream schools.  Two months later, we are just finishing up the projects.  Stay tuned!

Not too long after that, Principal Met (AKA- Professor Maxo, asked me to run an art class for the First Year High School students.  On the first day, one of the students declared his dislike of art.  Suddenly I was challenged, how to make this kid like art.  I was fortunate/lucky/smart enough to have brought a magazine on creativity with me and decided to focus on that not on art per say. We covered the creativity of the Apollo 13 engineers solving the astronauts’ crisis going to the moon.  We talked about the Fosbury Flop and the creativity in his new style of high jumping and how Dick Fosbury won with it.  We talked about Steve Jobs and the Iphone.  And with each class, I asked the students to think creatively as they sketched.  One day, rethinking what they saw in a leaf.  One day, looking for creative additions to simple tools. The young man hasn’t told me that he loves art but he keeps coming and participating.  The class has moved on to different mediums: water colors, clay, and embroidery.  Next week we will start a two-week project to finish the semester.

And just for fun, I did watercolors with second graders.

Met Maxo has also asked us to provide fifteen minutes of English conversation once a week with the 7^th, 8^th, 9^th and 10^th graders.  The classes have stretched out to closer to a half an hour and have been fun.

All this to say, that with our limited exposure to the classroom, we are in awe of what teachers do.  Dan and I are drained after an hour with one of the classes.  I can’t imagine staying with the kids for six or seven hours and keeping them engaged.  Think about lesson planning for that and then having to repeat the process the next day and the next day and on and on.  How do you do it, teachers???

I have grown to love working in the classroom, the kids, their eager energy and the challenge of keeping them engaged, stimulated, and learning.  But my capacity is about three hours a day and definitely not more than three or four days a week.  Thank God for teachers.  Hug a teacher today and if that is politically incorrect in your world, at least thank them profusely!

 

 

Driving a motor vehicle in Haiti is way, way, way different than driving anything in the USA and much more dangerous to boot.

Making the necessary adjustments in real life have spawned the idea for a new video game modeled loosely on “Grand Theft Auto”.

We’re envisioning a single driver game in which the player selects either a beat-up Chinese motorcycle such as a Dayun or an equally rough, old, SUV – let’s say something like our creampuff – a 2005 Toyota RAV4!

In our game, the player selects a course such as a trip from the countryside into Port Au Prince or the reverse or perhaps a route in and around the city of Port Au Prince itself.

The objective of the game is to complete the route in the minimum amount of time, at minimum cost, with the fewest roadside casualties, and with your vehicle still being operational.

Here are the obstacles that you will encounter along your way:

• Huge pot holes when the road is paved.
• Sections of unpaved road with huge, bone-jarring rocks spread throughout that limit your maximum speed.
• On-coming traffic comes at you in your lane. Options are to stop and encounter a delay, swerve into another lane, or to move off of the roadway and proceed but at a much slower speed.
• The game will have various levels with nighttime driving being the most difficult. Most cars and motos will NOT have their headlights turned on. Smoke and dust will obscure the driver’s vision.
• Roadside animals including: cows, goats, chickens, sheep, and pigs will dart sporadically and unexpectedly across the roadway.
• Pedestrians including school children will run across the roadway unexpectedly as you approach. Women will have huge baskets on their heads and move slowly. Men will be pushing over-filled wheel barrows and will also be moving slowly.
• “Tap Taps” (City taxis that are really nothing more than small pickup trucks overloaded with passengers standing in their beds.) These vehicles move slowly, block the roadways, and make lots of random U-turns.
• “Pop-a-Dops” (Regional transportation. Usually Minivans overloaded with people and the roofs of which are jammed with bags of charcoal, mattresses, luggage, and furniture – to obstruct your view.) These vehicles move at extremely high rates of speed and will pass on either your left or your right.
• Roadside merchants extend their wares (water sachets, bread, sodas) into your field of view at any point in time during which your vehicle has to slow down.
• “Police Kouche” (A Policeman Lying Down aka “speedbumps”). Sometimes these are hard to spot and if you drive over them too fast, they will cause a flat tire (and additional delay and expense are incurred to get these fixed.)
• Flat Tires. Lots of randomly occurring flat tires. You have to stop and pay a local “Kawotchoo (tire) Man” to fix your tire. This causes a delay and you incur the associated expense. (The “Negotiation Plug-In” is planned for the 2.0 release of the game and will introduce the added difficulty of agreeing on the price for the repair.)
• Political “Manifestations”. These are basically grass roots uprisings by angry Haitians that block the roadway with burning tires and smoke. These cause you to reverse course and find another route to your destination.
• Gas Shortages. Your vehicle will require regular refueling. If a Gas Shortage is declared, the player is required to find and purchase gasoline on the street, which is more costly than gas purchased at a regular gas station. In addition to the delay and extra expense, the gas is “watered-down” which restricts your maximum speed until you can eventually find and refill with gas from a conventional gas station.
• Lots and lots and lots of Motos buzzing around your chosen vehicle and randomly and unexpectedly moving closely in front of you which cause you to have to slow down.

 

Happy Driving!

 

 

Island Adventures of Kat Moun Blan

Three days of intensively beautiful, exotic, exciting and delicious island adventure!  Where did we have such an exquisite experience?

With Fran and Mark, we made our way to Isle de Vaches off the shores of the south side of the southern peninsula.  We headed out on a Thursday morning arriving mid afternoon in the town of Okay.  (Pronounced Oki with a long i) We spent the afternoon at an amazing if blazingly hot botanical garden.  We were given a private tour by a Haitian agronomist and a German botanist.  It was interesting and beautiful. There was a combination of medicinal, decorative topiary, and trees that are native and endemic.

The next morning, we showed up at the dock as requested and met our boat taxi captains, Wilbur and Gilbert.  They set up to secure parking for our car and we all hopped on board.  The water was rough and the crossing took around 45 minutes but it was beautiful.  Upon arriving in a glorious white sand bay, we disembarked.  Unfortunately, we did not realize our beautiful mountain top villa was a walking experience as there was no other way to get there. It was almost a half mile and the last half was pretty grueling.  Fortunately, we had porters so don’t feel too bad for us.

Suites de Colline was a wonderful BnB Fran found.  Everything from the funky and extensive Haitian voodoo artwork to the view to the delicious meals.  The hardest part of the stay for us was the need to ring a bell for everything we wanted.  No self-serve but the staff were super nice and after the four of us agreed on proper tipping (Lots of haggling on this – Teresa being the cheap one and Dan and Mark being way too generous. I have my reasons!)

We spent two days exploring the island and it was truly idyllic.

-Did I mention that beach???  Wow, it was an absolute Caribbean dream.  Perfect sand, NO people, and amazing views.

-Touring the island on motos.  Saturday morning we rented two motos with drivers to take us around the island.  There are literally about three cars on the island to being on motos was fun and relatively safe (Our moto was seriously sketchtastic, besides the fact we had to walk up every hill, it wouldn’t win any safety awards.)  We had so much fun, saw all the little villages, and the views from all sides of the island.

-The ride home the next day was even rougher.  It was like we were riding the waves.  They were literally five to six feet high.  And the boat captain knew how to ride up the side and have the wave shoot us forward without crashing over us.  Doesn’t mean we didn’t get wet!

Petal to the Metal with Kat Moun Blan

We headed back to Port au Prince, spent a lovely night in Petionville which is the highest area of Port au Prince.  We stayed at the Kinam, an old historic hotel and ate out with a young friend, Bury Ephesians.  We also were visited by two young agriculture students who are on scholarship from CHP.  They had been at the Earth Day Celebration at Wynne Farm, the ecological farm we were planning to visit the next day.  They had known Michael Jansa (My nephew and Fran and Mark’s son).  Their English was fairly rudimentary so Fran became “Mother of Michael” and Mark became “Father of Michael”.

The next morning, we headed up the mountain to Wynne Farm.  It is about an hour drive almost straight up on a busy road.  Tough driving but Dan did great in our rented Mitsubishi Montero.  So far it had been a great car and a joy to have a reliable vehicle instead of our little clunker. Wynne Farm is worth a full blog and a visit but for today, I’ll just say we had an incredible hike and drank in the cool, cloudy weather up there.  We were literally in the clouds!

Our ride home was a little too exciting as the breaks began to give out.  It was petal to the metal and Dan, who was driving, had a few scary moments.  The rest of us were more unaware of the fact we were petal to the metal!

The Haitian Vacation

Our last stop was Cap Haitian. Two days on the northern end of Haiti.  It was really great to see another area of the country.  And our hotel had a spectacular view.  It was a harrowing drive up but this time we weren’t the drivers!  We overlooked downtown and the Cap bay.  From our hotel we could see so much of the city action, it was only a block below us.  People’s lives, markets, the narrow streets.  People have said that Cap has a bit of the French Quarter of New Orleans feeling.  We could see it.

One day we visited a little beach town called Labadee.  Royal Dutch Cruise Lines lands there.  Turns out that their Labadee is fenced off and there is never any interaction with the real Haiti.  We could see it and it looked like a Disney World beach.  We decided to visit the real Labadee hoping to see a little of the local culture.  We had a boat taxi guy take us there, only assessable by boat.  It wasn’t just a disappointment, it was one of the saddest little villages I have seen.  There was almost no commerce, definitely nothing for us to eat, drink, or buy.  The local little stream was the wash zone for the entire town and packed.  I guess what made it hard was that it was in a beautiful bay next to a cruise line Disney-like beach and it was so poor and completely lacking in charm.  We ended up at a little beach carved out of the bay called Belly Beach.  That was our first inkling that Haitian vacation was on!  There were lots of young people there, probably from Cap, really on vacation.  Cool to see, Haitians at the beach vacationing.

The next day was our big adventure and one of the main reason for our visit to Cap; a visit to the Citadel and Sans Souci.

We got a taxi to the last possible stop and then had a mile walk up a steep hill to the Citadel.  It became obvious from the first step that we had walked into a spring break pilgrimage.  There were over a thousand high school students also walking up the hill.  Only they had started at the bottom and done the seven mile walk up. It wasn’t like they were all together, it was just clear that kids came from all over to visit the Citadel and they were all off school that week.

The citadel experience was better in a different way, as in getting to visit it with all those kids.  It was worse in a way, as in getting to visit it with all those kids.  Every tenth kid carried a boom box, some with a friend trailing with the charging solar panel.  And it was hard to appreciate the magnitude of the citadel with kids crawling over every bit of it.

Sans Souci, the palace ruins of Henri Christoph was on the other hand beautiful and surprisingly quiet and peaceful.  It was clear no one told the kids to put it on their bucket list.     The palace was obviously huge and the arches and stone walls that are left are situated in a field of green.  Truly spectacular.

Kat Moun Blan try to get home.

All’s well that ends well.  But we left Cap Thursday afternoon, spent the night in Port au Prince with the intention of being home soon.  Fran and Mark spent two days trying to get across the US, bad weather; it only took five flights from Port to Port!  Teresa and Dan stuck around Port for an extra day because of some serious security risks on the road out of the city.  We finally snuck out early Sunday morning and arrived home with no problems at all.  I even made the second half of the Easter service at St. Paul’s!

You know that feeling when you have been anticipating a vacation or a family visit for months and then you enjoy it fully and then it’s over.  And you are feeling a bit blue, well I’m there today.

We have just had an extraordinary three weeks with two beautiful visits.  I’m going to break it down a bit and I understand if you don’t want to read the unredacted version so feel free to self redact and just enjoy the pics!

Week One-

Macie Darden and Clara Niebauer visit!  We worried right up until the girls arrived about whether it would be safe for them to come because of a reported demonstration planned for Friday the same day Clara was arriving.  And it turned out to be a false alarm.  We picked Clara up at the airport and hunkered down at the guest house where we stay in Port au Prince near the airport.  But nothing happened.  So Saturday we ventured out a bit and then picked up Macie Sunday morning and headed out of town.

We spent Sunday at one of our favorite spots, Hotel Taina, about half way out to Petit Trou.  We enjoyed the beach and then had an incredible dinner.  The girls both had lobster which they loved!

Monday through Thursday morning, we introduced them to our little community.  We toured Petit Trou, visited the school, and rode bikes (Two at a time since we only have two bikes).  The kids were fascinated by Macie’s tattoos and showed her their little stick-on tats.  Clara participated fully in an art project that was really crazy: two of us and around 30 of the 4^th graders (More on these 4^th graders later).

Macie and Clara loved getting to know the neighborhood boys, especially Jamesley who would show up every night for the game of Capitals (He kills it on Central and South America.  Do you know the capital of Honduras?).  And when you don’t know, he is gleeful that he Got You! (FYI it’s Tegucigalpa.)

They had also expressed an interest in checking out medical facilities in Haiti.  So I arranged a visit with the public health nurse and community health workers’ supervisor.  Miss Dorcely let the Clara and Macie interview her and tour the clinic.

They also truly enjoyed the visit to our local swimming hole, a gorgeous rocky cove, where you must jump into the Caribbean and swim.

Thursday morning, their last morning there we visited the local outdoor market. It was crazy as usual.  Clara had been looking forward to buying something and ended up with a mortar and pestle.  Really cool and a great price!  Maybe $2?  Then Macie and Dan moto’d home to Kay Cassy.  Clara and I walked and then we all took off for a final vacation day at Hotel Taina.  It was a lovely afternoon and guess what the girls chose for dinner?  Lobster!  How could you not, it’s so good and at the best price you’ll ever find it.

Their final day involved another flat tire (I believe that was #8) as we prepared to leave early in the morning.  A stop to repair the tire and then on into Port au Prince. Macie hanging with goats while waiting on the tire change.

We met up with a group from the Colorado Haiti Project who were just arriving to visit a hospital where the executive director from CHP, Wynn Walent, used to work.  He gave us the full tour and Macie and Clara got to see a pediatric and adult hospital facility in Haiti.

The Adventures of Kat Moun Blan (4 White Folk)A preview to an upcoming post, Adventures of Kat Moun Blan Part 2

As we dropped off Clara and Macie, we picked up Fran and Mark. We decided to spend the day in Port au Prince and visited Croix de Bouquets, the iron works artisan village and began the Prestige search for the elusive G.  (Prestige stamps a letter inside the beer caps and when you spell out Prestige, you win a car!!)  Mark and Dan worked really hard to win that car and it all came down to the elusive G.  It turns out that all of Haiti is looking for the 5-10 G’s out there.

The soft landing– We stopped at Hotel Taina with Fran and Mark too.  It’s a tough job but Dan and I feel like it’s our duty to take everyone to Taina.  I mean how could we not?

And back at Petit Trou– Monday we arrived in Petit Trou and took Fran and Mark out and about.  There was a group from CHP visiting at the same time and we ended up have quite a happy hour on the roof.

Tuesday and a day for kids– Because school was off for the week, we planned a day camp for the kids.  Partly for the CHP crew to get to interact, partly for Fran and Mark to know our work and meet the kids and totally to make sure the kids had a fun-filled day as part of their spring break.

Fran and I headed up an art program for 4^th, 5^th and 6^th graders.  We had the easy day because what kid doesn’t love water colors.  Fran was a great teacher and it was so good to get the kids away from pencils and rulers. We worked outside under the shade of trees, it was delightful.

Dan and Mark had a more challenging day.  They were in charge of kick ball.  The kids were all over the kicking with their soccer background but rounding the bases was all new.  Mark said that no matter how many times they explained that one kick could take the kicker around the bases, they never took more than one base no matter how hard they hit it.  They also weren’t really into the defense in the game.  So by the third round, Dan and Mark gave up on defense and just let the kids kick and round the bases, one base at a time!

When asked about the highlights and lowlights of their kick ball experience, they agreed- Lowlight, the 4^th graders!  Highlight, fun for the girls!  We talked about why the 4^th graders and Fran, the educator, told us that there is always one class that might have three or four difficult kids and it affects the whole class.  Dan and I know the class well and they are lively, full of fun but they are always challenging and at kick ball, they were over the top.  As for the girls, both Dan and Mark noticed the joy and energy the girls put into the game.  It might be because they weren’t pushed aside as is often the case in a soccer game.  And it might be that everyone was on equal footings.Dan trying to control the 4th graders in line for their turn.

Have to mention the third part of the the triangle of days activities and that was yoga! Mary Ellen Walent, a yoga instructor and a supporter of CHP, led yoga for all three classes along with a group of other CHP visitors.  Not only did she do yoga that day for 4th, 5th and 6th grades, she followed up with yoga for the girls’ club!

 

We finished our busy school day and went home for are late afternoon English class.  We decided to invite everyone, all levels.  Fran brought videos so we were excited to share the stories, especially with the younger kids and discuss the words and story in English.

It was our largest class so far.  Crazy number of little ones who I am sure don’t have a clue to what the class is about but wanted to a part of the party.  I’m worried that next week, we’ll have even more!

Okay, that is it for tonight.  Stay tuned for the further adventures of Kat Moun Blan including Climb Every Mountain, Island Adventures, Pedal to the Metal, and Haitian Vacation.Fran and Mark got to visit the swimming hole too!

 

Clara and Macie are coming to Haiti this week to spend about a week with us. Clara arrives on Friday from Denver and Macie gets here on Sunday from Portland. As you can imagine, we’re delighted and excited to see them and to show them our lives here in Haiti.

Our hopeful anticipation though is not without issue. We’ve heard rumors that the “Manifestations” of January and February are possibly going to reoccur later this week.  We’ve told both of our daughters that we’ll have to make a game-day decision and might possibly have to cancel their visit at the last moment.

Monday March 25^thwas reportedly the first day that President Jovenel Moise could legally replace Prime Minister Ceant who is of the opposition party. By some method though, the firing occurred before the 25^th.  Luckily things have remained relatively calm.  We measure the level of unrest by daily emails that we get from the US State Department. We’ve seen a few notifications of roadblocks but in neighborhoods that we fortunately do not have to go through in Port Au Prince. Our fingers are crossed and we’re looking for these emails several times a day.

Friday March 29^this the anniversary of Haiti’s Constitution and is also another date that has been rumored to have road blockages and public protests. Clara arrives in PaP on this day in the morning. Teresa and are I leaving Petit Trou d’Nippes early tomorrow morning Thursday to gauge conditions and to be there to meet her at the airport.

Teresa has a network of friends that are giving us updates on road and political conditions. One friend, Rafael lives in Petit Riviere, and tells us though his network of friends about the conditions in our neighboring town of Anse a Veau , his home town of Petit Riviere, and its neighboring town of Mirogoane. If we can get that far, we’re about half way there!

Madame Solange who runs the seaside hotel that we’ve stayed at several times, will report to us on the situation in the towns of Petit Goave and Grand Goave. Petit Goave has been a hotspot of political activity in the past.

If we can get through Grand Goave, another long time friend. Mario, who I refer to as “Super Mario” will give us the report on conditions in the town of Leogane. Leogane is a far suburb of PaP and happens to have been the epicenter of the devastating earthquake of 2010.

Once we get through Leogane we then have options. We could ask our friend Joseph to take a moto there to meet us and to drive us into the city. Joseph is a wonderful driver and guide and knows the safe routes to take. It’s always great to see him and Teresa and I both are delighted to let him battle the PaP traffic for us.

Our destination on Thursday is a guesthouse about 5 minutes from the airport called Lakay Poze – “The House of Relaxing”. We’ve stayed there several times before and the Innkeeper assured Teresa that even during the worst uprisings, they’ve always been able to get to the airport to pick up arriving guests.

If we get stopped anywhere along the way, we’re calling and texting Clara and Macie to tell them not to come.

We’re hopeful that all of this worry is for naught.

Once they arrive, the next step is getting them safely back out of PaP to our home in Baconnois.

If we get stuck at Lakay Poze, though, at least it has a nice swimming pool and Prestige Beer and Barbanourt Rhum are readily available.

Wish us luck!

p.s.

Thursday 10:07 a.m. So far so good. We made it safely into PaP.  There is a report of a roadblock though near the airport which we’re avoiding today as we drive to the guesthouse where we’re staying.

Dan and I always knew we would have to leave the country after three months.  It is a legal requirement. Foreigners are required to leave after 90 days. We began planning for it almost a month ago.  We first planned to take a bus trip to the DR with our friend, Leah.  Things got crazy with the troubles in Haiti and our plans with her fizzled. We discussed flying to the DR, flying to Cuba, flying anywhere.  But it all was very expensive.  The cheapest option was flying to Miami or Fort Lauderdale and we were really against coming to the US until we are done.  So, we looked into driving to the DR border and crossing over.  And there the adventure begins.

Our friend, Anna, gave us some advice and told us where to cross. We used her recommendations to a “T”.  (We saw Anna yesterday after the crossing and when she heard we used her recommendations as our flight plan, she was a little chagrined.  She said she would have told us more if she had known she was our Bible.)

We drove with our friend, Joseph, in our car.  We left Lakay Poze at 5:45 a.m. in the dark and made it out through Croix de Bouquets, a suburb of Port au Prince and a real traffic nightmare.  Everything looked surreal in the semi-dark in Croix de Bouquet’s smoke, dust, rough potholed roads that need to be navigated, shadows, and early morning people starting their day.

Amazingly, shortly thereafter we were on a beautifully paved road with kilometer markers, yellow center lines, and embedded reflectors.  That lasted for 36 kilometers and got us to daylight.

Arriving at the border was not at all what I expected.  I expected lights, an official wall, and some type of office or corridor that you walk through and get your passport stamped.  Not at all!  There were a series of gates on the Haitian side and then 1.5 kilometers on a gravel road and you come to the actual gate into the DR.  We, of course, didn’t know what to do.  We surmised that Joseph would need to stay with the car since we didn’t own it.  So we parked and headed off on foot to find out what was going on.

It turns out that there is a heavy motorcycle trade taking people that 1.5 kilometers.  Almost no cars, a few larger trucks, buses, and lots of motos.  So as we walked up at 7:30 AM, a moto driver happily offered to help us navigate.

All the gates were closed but they let moto drivers through a tiny opening in the gate and so off we went.  When we got to the third barrier close to the DR side, we had to get off the moto, walk down to the lake (Did I mention there is a giant lake that runs about 10 km along the border?).  Anyway, we walk down to the edge of the lake, around that barrier and the right up to the final real wall entering the DR.  We were so proud of ourselves.  We waited there with all the local vendors starting their day’s businesses across the border.  At 8 sharp the gate opened.  And up we went.  When we walked through, they stopped us (only us) and asked to see our passports.  Where was the exit stamp for Haiti?  Sorry no enty without an exit stamp.  Mmmmm, who knew?  So back into the no-man’s land and fortunately our same driver was still there.  He took us back the 1.5 km to the first barrier.  We realized then that among a series of low buildings there was an immigration office.  So after waiting about 10 minutes, they let us in and we lined up with about 30 Haitians also looking for exit stamps.  Remember I said that the DR gate opened at 8 sharp.  Well, that Haitian immigration office finally opened at about 9:10. (The manager yelled something about blokis, a traffic jam, and the standard excuse for being late.)  We patiently waited with all the Haitian while the fixers (people paid to get other people’s passports stamped)  pushed and shoved and insisted on getting to the front.  It definitely slowed things down.  Finally, I went up and asked an employee, (later found out he was the director) if we were doing the right thing, in the right line as foreigners leaving.  (We were the only foreigners!)  Often at entry points, foreigners follow a different procedure then nationals. Anyway, asking him opened up our opportunity.  He took our passports and $10 each, stamped then and off we went.  Our moto driver had waited all that time for us and now drove us back to the border.

We proudly walked up to the DR gate and walked through.  What was so weird was that there was no stamping at the gate.  And that is what we were there for!  So they pointed us to their immigration office set off to the side about 50 meters back in a corner.

I have to say the DR immigration pavilion was the worst part of the whole experience. There was the same pushing and shoving but the fixers were much more aggressive. They were a scary lot.  And in addition to the fixers, there were numerous people trying to sell us the immigration slip that we needed to fill out to get into the country.  Even Dan and I aren’t dumb enough to buy a paper that the guy at the window would eventually give us for free.  Another creepy thing about the DR immigration office is that the window separating us from the person helping us was completely darkened.  There was about a 4” hole at eye level you were supposed to look through and about a 4” hole at the base where you were supposed to pass your passport and money.  The one thing they didn’t consider is that you can’t hear a thing the person behind that window.  He is sitting and you are looking down through the eye hole.  I ended up putting my mouth and ear down by the passport-money hole.  But it wasn’t really necessary because he didn’t speak English or Kreyol (at the Haiti border). However with another $10 each, we got our passports stamped.  So we walked back through the gate, no one looked or cared about our precious stamp and hopped on with our moto driver (he was dedicated to us now).

I think its time to mention the moto ride.  The 1.5 kilometer ride on a gravel road next to the lake.  It was magical.  Dan and I together on the back, no worries about the danger of a motorcycle ride because there was not traffic, and we were never going very fast.  Probably one of the most romantic moments in our lives together.  I think it was partly exhilaration of the ride and excitement of trying to figure this whole thing out and some relief having actually navigated it.

We confidently walked up to the exit window at the Haitian immigration office and showed of our stamped passports.  The immigration guy looked at them and looked at us and asked “Where is your exit stamp from the DR?”  Who knew??  Actually, if we had been thinking, we should have known. Dumb, dumb, dumb!  Chalk it up to over exuberance at getting one stamp in the DR.

I had paid our moto driver and thanked him but fortunately he was still waiting for a new customer so back we went to the DR. Dan is pretty sure that all the guards at the border were now laughing at us.  Who crosses in three times in less than 2 hours?  We easily found the exit window with its two tiny holes right next to the entry window.  But we really couldn’t understand what the guy behind the window was telling us.  A guy named Miami who spoke English told us that we needed to stay in the DR for 24 hours to get the exit stamp.  Since the Haitian immigration guy had mentioned something like this too, we were a little worried.  Miami told us that for $50 each, he could fix it with the office and get us through today.  I asked for a little time to think about it.  Still couldn’t communicate with the immigration guy but had the sense that if we came back a little later we could get through.  So Dan and I walked away, puzzled and unsure of what was going to happen.  At that point, I looked around at the little DR border community and I can only say, it was not a place I would have wanted to spend the night, it wasn’t much of a place at all; a dusty collection of makeshift buildings selling little essentials, a border restaurant with food that wasn’t exactly a credit to Dominican cuisine, and some warehouses with who knows what.

As we thought about it, it just didn’t make sense.  Of course, people cross over for day trips, don’t they?  We walked up to our friends at the military point of the crossing, right at the gate.  The commander spoke around 6 words of English and directed us to go back to the office and the same window and they would stamp our passports.  And that was exactly what we did.  I just have to add that as we were walking up to that window, Miami called us “Smart Americans” and was sure that we would want to pay the $50 each to get it done his way today!  Seriously that was seconds before I handed my passport and $20 each through the window and got the official stamp.  No reason why it worked the second time and not the first but we didn’t care, we were done!

Our final moto ride back to the Haitian office, the entry stamp we really needed (Surprisingly no more money) and we can legally stay in Haiti for another 3 months! Final cost- fees, gas, drivers- $140 (Moto driver- best bargain $10, 3 roundtrips)

If you made it through the story, thanks for staying with us.  Now tell us your story!

Lots of love, Teresa and Dan

The lovely Haitian immigration office

Waiting in front of the DR gate before we knew all about the multitude of stamps we needed.

Looking into the Dominican Republic

Today is a daylight savings day, a Spring spring forward day.  All week I have been thinking about time and it feels like a perfect day to write about it.

We all live with a shared understanding of time.  And we set our day and schedule around time on a clock:

6:00 AM alarm 7:00 AM workout schedule 8:30 AM work start time 3:00 PM school closing 5:30 PM work closing

The only time we embrace a little flexibility is in the evening (Unless you are hooked on a television program and now there’s recording to take care of that.)  We might flex on our dinner and bedtime depending on someone’s work schedule or a particularly good book.

Can you imagine what life is like when there is no strict schedule, often because there aren’t as many phones/clocks to monitor every moment.  Or let’s say, there used to be no phones and clocks and now there is a fluid sense of time.

That is kind of how it is in Haiti and I got to say, it is hard to get used to.   I haven’t yet figured out what a start time means and how it will be interpreted.  If I say start at 8:00, I’m still not sure what that means to a Haitian.

I have a new theory that to say start at 8:00 means anytime between 8 and 9.  After 9, you might be considered late.  I have a few quantitative data points for this but Dan is still skeptical.  I also theorize that when you set a time, that is when a Haitian starts to get ready to participate. I only have qualitative data for this.

I have noticed a concerted effort at St. Paul’s to instill time in relationship to actual time on a clock.  School starts at 8:00 AM with the pledge of allegiance and if you are not there when it starts, you sit off to the side until it is finished.  And I have seen the principal have a little talk with the kids off to the side for their tardiness.

Church starts with a series of three bell rings.  The first one hour before service, the second 15 minutes before service and the final as service is starting.

Speaking of school, one of the hardest things to understand is startup after the summer break or any holiday.  Kids often don’t come to the first few days up to a week after school starts.  This baffles me.  As a parent, I was anxiously waiting for the restart.  As a student, the first week was usually not too hard and often fun, reuniting with friends, choosing a place to sit and finding out what school was going to be like for the year.

All this sounds kind of negative and like I said as an American, it is hard to get used to.  I have come a long way but I not sure I will ever understand time the way a Haitian does.

Here in Haiti, I would say my qualitative and quantitative data shows a slower, less precise time perception that has been lost in our country.  There is a feeling that exact time is not always the most important thing.  Whether it is 1:00 PM or 2 or 3 is not really the issue.  Whether you are hungry, whether you are visiting with a friend, whether you are working on a project, that is what you think about.  Dan mentioned a magical moment this morning when Jamesley was waiting for the bread man to come by on his bike.  (Part of the unadvertised economy).  He was just sitting on a rock out front and Dan joined him.  They sat there and discussed the world, Dan learning Kreyol and Jamesley continuing to enjoy the attention.  Waiting for things and having a low expectation of what time they will happen instills a patience that I believe we as Americans have lost.  And without those moments of sitting and not expecting everything to happen according to a phone or a clock, we don’t get to experience those magical moments.

Just a few thoughts.  Hope you all have a good week!

Teresa

Saturday Garden Club.  6th graders learning how much a meter actually is.

Dn celebrating his birthday with two of his best friends here, Jamesley and Wynn Kerry.

Teresa spending time with Ti Pa Ti Pa.

 

Sunday February 24^th, 2019.

Almost as quickly as the protests appeared they seem to have subsided. We are not operating under any delusion though that they are over for good and while things seem calm we drove to Petit Goave yesterday (about 2.5 hours from our house) for a weekend getaway and to get more gasoline, potable water, and groceries. We wish that President Jovenel will improve conditions in the country, relieve some of the dissention, and begin to offer some hope.

We stay in a small hotel near Petit Goave called Hotel Taina that is run by a French couple, Madame Solange and her husband Christian. It’s a wonderful experience. We get a room with air conditioning and a warm shower. These are very much appreciated comforts. The courtyard of the hotel is a plant lovers dream. It is filled with a beautiful collection of local plants and flowers. In the mornings you sit at one of the tables in the courtyard and are served hot coffee, almond cake, and an omelet prepared by their helper Tanya.

The hotel is a 5 minute walk from a restaurant named Lakay Taina, that sits right on the beach. You dine outdoors and if you ask Pierre, one of the two owners; ex-pats from Montreal, he’ll even set up table for you right by the waters edge.

And as lovely, relaxing, and enjoyable as this all is, it’s easy to see that Haiti has grave problems that have persisted for decades. I read this week that about 60% of Haiti’s population of 11 million people, live on $2 a day!  We’ve been told that many of the demonstrators are being paid to protest. Even if true, there are ample reasons for the majority of Haitians to be upset with their government.

Some $2B USD worth of governmental funds associated with the country’s payments for its petroleum supply have gone missing.

The infrastructure of the country is lacking in so many ways. Roads are worse than bad. There are no municipal water or sewerage systems. There is no electricity other than a smattering of privately owned solar panels. There is no garbage collection. And the quality of housing is far, far below what people in the USA have come to enjoy. One is reminded on what the housing in Appalachia must be like.

And so it is easy to see why the citizenry is anxious for real progress.

Teresa and I talk about these issues most evenings over a drink while sitting on our roof watching the sunset. We have no answers. I want to believe that the World Bank, IMF, and UN have all tried to make improvements but apparently with no lasting traction.

We keep coming back to the question of what is most needed first?

Eliminate political corruption?,  Build roads?  Electrification?,  Water systems?  High speed internet?  Jobs?  Healthcare?

Like I said, we have no answers.

 

 

By Dan: Last week began with Teresa and I conducting our normal after-school math tutoring sessions for 4th and 5th graders which have been amazingly fun. We’re working with kids on their times tables, simple division problems, etc. And they are constantly begging us to keep the mechanical pencils.

By Tuesday though, we were informed that because of the civil unrest in PaP and the local road blockages held in solidarity (called “blokis”), that our school would be closed until the situation was resolved. Today is Monday, almost a week later, and the situation is most definitely NOT resolved. School remains closed.

We’re safe though and there is very little evidence of the unrest that we’ve heard is happening in PaP. Life in the countryside is largely unchanged although vehicle traffic on the main road in front of our house in greatly curtailed and the availability of gas has become a problem. One gallon of gas is now 500 gourdes ($6.25 USD) on the street and 10 days ago it was only 240 gourdes.

There’s no doubt that supply chains have been disrupted. Prior to the recent unrest, you could see many trucks passing by daily from the direction of PaP and returning full with large bags of charcoal. Charcoal called “chabon” is made in the countryside and trucked to the city. It’s the primary cooking fuel for the entire country. These days there are no trucks passing our house.

Last Thursday’s open-air market in Carrefour Lendi had about one third the number of stalls open that it normally has and certain items were simply not available, i.e., eggs. But at least it was open.

So far though we still have what we need to live on. Saturday we were able to travel about 1 hour and 15 minutes to Miragane (20 miles away) with a friend to RE-stock clean drinking water, refill our propane tank which we use for cooking, and buy groceries that are not available in the nearby open-air markets. This all felt great, especially that we could travel this distance without encountering any “blokis”. There was no gasoline though anywhere. We are left with a half tank when we returned home which is plenty for now.

And yesterday, Sunday afternoon, we walked to the ocean (a mile from our house) with 3 of our neighborhood boys. The views were incredible. The late afternoon sun was falling on fields filled. With goats, sheep, and horses grazing on the grass and shrubs. Walking back from the water, the boys came upon a huge mango tree that, was dripping with fruit. They picked up rocks and began throwing them into the tree until some of the mangoes began to fall. There was lots of chatter and bragging about who was the best. Jamesley handed Teresa and me a couple of freshly fallen mangoes. I bit into one and peeled it be hand for us. It was juicy, sweet, and, warm. This scene felt like something that has undoubtedly played out on this island country for countless generations, and was completely removed from the political troubles of PaP.

Today, Monday, we learned that a “blokis” has been built east of Petit Riviere – one of the towns that we passed uneventfully through on Saturday. This “blokis” was built with blocks and cement. We hope this does not represent a new hardening of the position by the opposition.

Our love to you all,

Dan and Teresa

By Teresa- The week definitely made us pivot and think about what we are doing here and what will be the result of our time here.  In a sense, it told us how insignificant we are in the fight for a better Haiti.  I guess, that it is true for all of us, Haitian and all outsiders, that no one person will change things.  And for us as Americans always battling hero mentality and the desire to “Fix” things, this week has been the final nail in that coffin!  The “Fix-it We know better” attitude is now officially laid to rest in Teresa and Dan.  (Doesn’t mean it’s ghost won’t at times appear to tempt us.)

I just have to mention yesterday, too.  While the country is in turmoil, we spent the afternoon with the three young neighborhood boys.  It was magical.  Jamesley, our closest neighbor and almost constant companion, dictated the agenda.  First we had to have an English lesson.  It was a blast and we covered Sleep, Give, Play, Bring and Walk. We ended with a rousing game of Swat.  (A word game I found online before I came that we have used in many ways.)  After a “rough” classtime, we walked to the ocean.  It’s about a mile walk and involved lots of foot races along the way. Wynn Kerry, the youngest at 6, hadn’t been allowed to go with us the first time we went.  His energy level was through the roof.  Dan and I got a huge dose of joy just watching him hop, skip and run for the sheer fun of it.  Once we arrived at the water, the boys spent a good 15 minutes throwing rocks in.  We were high above the water and they loved seeing how far they could throw.

The way home was even better.  It involved picking up their goats and sheep that have been left out to graze for the day and herding them home, something they do every night.  But this job offers plenty of time for messing around and most importantly, throwing rocks at a mango tree to knock out ripe mangoes!  They paid special attention to an undersized baby goat and I got to help carry him.  But as the walk got more and more exciting and they got more and more distracted, they didn’t worry much about the baby.  Dan and I were much more worried about him.

We also have come to realize that a large part of each day is spent getting water.  It is something the kids do every day multiple times.  So, we’ve seen all types of contraptions for carrying water: homemade simple wheel riders, like a homemade wheel barrel, bikes fitted for a water bucket, and of course, there is always your head.  You can gage the time of day usually by who is at the well pumping water.  Little kids and grandmas early, moms and dads after school gets started and the teenage crowd late in the day.  But with no school, things are pretty mixed up and unpredictable.  And you get some teenagers mixed in with the old and young early in the day.  Not nearly as much fun, they tend to be less friendly and ask for handouts more often.

And since gas is now scarce, Dan is hauling five-gallon buckets of water to the house, about 3 a day. The walk to the well is about a block.  What a stud! They each weigh about 40 pounds.

So as new residents to the beautiful neighborhood, we are opening our eyes in a different way.  Dan is much better at this than me. Just observing and getting to know people.  We’ve taken lots of long walks this week, going on trails and little dirt roads into the back country. It is stunningly beautiful with amazing trees, (Look for a photo of a breadfruit tree), unusual cactus and birds galore. We learned about a bird called malfinis that must be a vulture of some kind.  It flies super high and we see them circling in early evening.

It’s Monday now and still no school.  So who knows what the week will bring.  Hope you all have a great one.  Our only communication with the outside world is through what’s app.  So please write and give us news, yours and the world’s.  It is what I am missing most, getting to chat with you all.

Xo,

Teresa

February 24 update: Happy Birthday Bobby, we miss you so much every day and today we are remembering your birthdays.  Trying to live in the moment like you taught me.

As you can see, we were unable to post last week.  Just want to let you know that many things have returned to normal: No blokis, closer to normal gas prices, tons of chabon trucks running again and a hopping market Thursday at Karfou Lendi. Most of the schools stayed closed for the week so we had lots of time with our neighborhood “tribe”, Jamesley, Wynn Kerry, Wilderness, Olvenson.  We also had lots of other kids come by for English too.  I think they were really bored to want to do English with us!

Kudos to St. Paul’s for opening on Tuesday.  Dan and I went every day and helped out where there were no teachers.  For me, lots of random English classes.  The principal, Maxo, would say to me, can you do 5^th grade now, they don’t have a teacher. (Lots of the teachers stayed home until Friday because of the troubles.)

We are now sitting in Taina on our first time away in almost a month.  It feels amazing and we had an incredible couple of meals.

We don’t sense that any of the people here feel relaxed and feel like the troubles are over, including Dan and me.  Everyone lives with a sense of uncertainty.

Getting water

Kitchen Table English- And don’t think we insisted they write everything down.  They love when we give them a piece of paper and pencil to write.

Sunday’s walk to the water

Today!

 

There really aren’t any stores to speak of in Petit Trou or its surrounds – nothing that resembles anything you’d find in the USA. The closest thing is perhaps a hardware “business” in Petit Trou that has very little lumber and no screws- just a few nails. There is, however, an amazingly vibrant economy in this community that just takes some time to discover.

Here’s what I’ve found so far:

The Market that happens every Thursday at Carrefour Lundi. This is a massive open air market that sells live goats, pigs, chickens, lambs, and cows, rice, corn, millet, plantains, fig bananas (what we know as bananas), spices, fresh vegetables, raw meat, used clothing (known as PePe), sugar cane, soap, oil, bread, syrup, fried foods, cold beverages, and plastic ware. A couple of people walk through the market holding a huge plastic bucket full of drugs – moving drugstores. The vendors who walk through the market shout out their goods loudly- “Bon Marche!”. The vendors in stalls (typically a few sticks covered with palm fronds to stay our of the sun) are generally more laid back and quiet. All pricing in the market is up for negotiation. There’s an initial price and then the eventual agreed upon price. Many things (a small pile of onions, for instance, or a small pile of tomatoes) go for 25 Gourdes (“vansenk gourdes!!!)  Gourdes are the Haitian currency. 25 gourdes are less than 33 cents! I feel bad negotiating with someone over a price of less than 33 cents but this is the Haitian way. We have an exclusive arrangement with Madame Madaline in this market for fresh eggs each week – if she has them.

There’s an amazingly delicious homemade candy here called “Tablet Pistache”. It’s a praline made with peanuts instead of pecans. Madame Lelain makes this incredible treat and she lives in the house one to the west of Carrefour (intersection) Bergen. You pull up, announce yourself, and approach. She’s usually in her yard cooking away and is always happy to greet a repeat customer. 10 silver-dollar sized pieces of this wonderful candy sell for senkant (50)gourdes  (~65 cents). If Madam Lelain is not home she’s usually across the street in front of Yvon’s house or can sometimes be found at the weekly cockfights (known as Go-gan). Yes, these happen regularly and are legal.

If you happen to have a flat tire here (and it’s already happened to us twice), Boss Franz is a great guy to know. His stall is along the main road. You know you’re there when you see his red gas-powered air compressor underneath a small tent made of palm fronds.  He diagnoses your issue by pouring water over your tire looking for bubbles,  removes the tire from its wheel, and repairs it using an amazing contraption that involves gasoline burning in an old cylinder head. For one of our repairs he spent about 45 minutes working on it and his price was 250 gourdes (just a little over 3 dollars).

Boss Jacob built us a metal frame for our 3 solar panels and he does all kinds of metal work in town. He and his son, Aleckson, came to our house to install the frame and to weld the panels into place and to weld the frame to some protruding rebar on our roof so that it cannot be easily stolen. Boss Jacob is a very friendly, kind guy and is going to also build a bedframe for us.

We’ve been waging a war on mosquitos in our home (and have generally been losing so far). Boss Jean Fritz this week though built and installed a very nice set of wooden frames for mosquito netting to go over our windows. We’re hoping the tide will soon turn.

Each week Madam Adelaide does our laundry by hand. There are no washers and dryers here and this is a source of extra income for her.  We get back a couple of bags of wonderfully clean smelling, folded clothes! A big load including towels and sheets costs 500 gourdes. A regular weekly load is 300 gourdes.

If your sewing machine happens to be broken, Boss Pierre Richard, can fix it for you. The work group that Teresa supports needs his services right now. One of their foot-powered treadle machines needs to be repaired.

And last but most definitely not least is our buddy Jalen who runs the one and only  watering hole named “Coin Des Amis”.  “Coin” has about 5 tables in front and an area in back for locals to watch soccer when there’s match. Here you can buy an ice cold Prestige beer for me (or a case to take home) and an ice cold Guinness for Teresa. Whenever we’re there (which is almost daily) I’m reminded of the line from the Jimmy Buffet song, “that frozen concoction that helps me hang on”. No margaritas here but a super cold beer fits the bill just fine! An ice cold beer is 75 gourdes (about $1) and warm ones to take home are 50 gourdes each.