Last day of ministry was quite a blessing to us! We visited the tent city across the street from the capital. We walked in and among these people, praying for their health, their safety, and their government while in the shadow of their crumpled head of government. I spoke with one man who told me he was going to school (kind of like college). And living in a tent city. This is when it hit me that the people in the tent cities weren't just those who were down and out before the earthquake, but also everyday Haitians who were unable to recover because of the poor infrastructure or other difficulties. I enjoyed praying with these people, as they invited us, as complete strangers (I felt like an intruder) into their homes. One woman's home was 4 tarp walls and a tarp roof. A makeshift bed dominated the room. As we squeezed in to pray for her business, I truly understood the oppressive heat of living in the tent city. Before we left a guy that was with us had puddles in his shoes from sweat. (gross! haha). But as we spoke with her and learned her story, we heard that her real need was not success for her business but the gift of friendship. She claimed she could trust no one, and so had no friends. It was incredible to see one of the girls talk with her about the need for relationships and how this woman truly longed for that. So, while we bought a few trinkets from her stand and left, my real hope is that she has begun to build relationships. And that maybe one day she will realize that we were created for a relationship with our Maker.
Lunch was MRE's (again) on the bus. :) The novelty had worn off by now. I had a chicken fajita, which did not taste bad at all, but required entirely too many steps to be eaten on a bus ride in Haiti. I wore some of my lunch as a result. We drove by a US base, and all held up our MRE packs in the windows. The guards at the gate gave us a knowing smile and a thumbs up. We supplemented our lunch with plantain chips bought on the street as we drove by a corner. The guy had to run to keep up with the passenger window to give our leader change. :)
The afternoon looked like it was going to pass relatively quietly. But there is no time to be bored in Haiti. Right as we were settling into a quiet afternoon, the skies opened up and blessed us with a glimpse of the rainy season. As we marveled at how quickly the rain had come, we realized that our tent only had a puny rain fly on it. Translation: a puddle would soon be forming where we slept if we didn't do something about it. So we ran out to cover our tent. It was thrilling fighting the rain and wind, and it was so refreshingly cold. When I turned around I saw that the large tent that kept all the tools under it, nice and dry, and lifted up and blown about 100 feet away. At this point everyone at the base ran out to help get the power tools inside and try to get the tent back in its rightful place. Although it could have turned into a time of stress and frustration, instead we were all laughing at how ridiculously soaked everyone was getting and the joy that comes as a gift with unexpected rain.
That night, as we all huddled inside the small house for dinner, we bonded more than we had all week, from the forced closeness and shared experience of the day. I realize more each day how hard it is going to be to leave this place.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Day 6. Thursday, July 29.
So Thursday was a great day. We started off by returning to the orphanage in Croix des Bouquets to work on their garden. This was somewhat difficult, because as we pulled up, the children began cheering! Cheering! It was an incredible feeling, not like what I would imagine fame to be. Much more humbling, thinking that what little we had done the day before had warranted a reception like this today. So we spent some time loving on them, really just saying hello, them asking how we were, etc. Then we tried to get to work on the garden. They had an incredible field of mango trees (Kelsey called these Dr. Seuss trees), corn, and possibly okra? I'd say it was at least an acre, but then, with my estimation skills, there is no telling. We got to work clearing out some weeds that had grown up from lack of care. And of course, the children, just wanting to be near us, insisted on helping. But there were thorns and weird seed things that stuck to you and wouldn't let go. Despite these dangers and the fact that they were still dressed in their lovely dresses and nice clothes, they continued to help by clearing away what we had pulled and taking it to a pile for some goats to eat. :) It was great to see them taking some responsibility for their garden, and hopefully the orphanage will begin to see their abilities to help care for the garden (and teach the children another life skill). Here we said our goodbye's to the orphans and headed back home. It was incredible how connected you can feel after barely two days with these kids. (Thank goodness I knew there was no way I could bring any home with me!)
[update: I learned that the two girls that had been my shadows on this trip cried when I wasn't there on Monday and asked one of the Port-au-Prince staff to let me know they miss me! I told her to let them know I have pictures of them that will help me remember them, and to pray for them.]
After this, we had another go at MRE's. This time I decided to heat my Chicken n' Dumplings up - DELICIOUS! No lie, I actually enjoyed my food. Meal times are always entertaining, as the boys (BJ and TJ) would jump on any unwanted food that was offered up. "Does anybody want-" YES.
When we returned to the camp, it was a short change of clothes and attempt at clean up before half of our group jumped in the back of a truck with Walter (the cook) and all of the supplies for a food distribution. We went to City Soleil (quickly becoming my favorite tent city) where another group from YWAM had been holding a soccer tournament for the kids all day. As we drove up, the children surrounded the truck shouting "mi abel, mi abel, mi abel!" One of the long term staff at the base is a small South American guy named Abel. He is incredible with the children, from tent cities, to church on Sunday morning, he is always followed by a group of devoted disciples. He is good at loving on them and at break dancing. Which they adore. :)
While it was awesome to see the excitement, this quickly turned into a difficult situation, as they saw the buckets full of water packets that we had brought to distribute and began trying to take them/ask for them. It is soooo hard to tell an obviously thirsty kid that they're going to have to wait for water "until it is time". ugh. But to prevent chaos and unfair distribution, they had to wait.
Walter quickly got everything set up, while the leaders of the tent city arranged the children from the very youngest to the oldest. Then the most intense lunch line I've ever been a part of followed. In less than 30 minutes Walter dished out almost 500 cups of soup. It was great to see how this incredibly talented chef worked, sweating, scooping this soup into cups. And afterward, he looked beyond satisfied, much happier than the praise of any critic could make a top chef.
Walter's vision for Haiti is to have a traveling kitchen that goes to a different tent city every day and feeds 5000 children, disabled, and elderly. It blew my mind to see this talented man and know that his only desire was to mass produce food so that these mouths could be fed. What a ministry!
After the food, water distribution followed, and it was so humbling to see fights (they were small and quickly taken care of by the leaders of the tent city) break out over water. Water, that we had been complaining about only 2 hours before hand, saying we were just "sick" of having to drink so much water (without ice) just to stay hydrated. complaining. And these people were willing to fight for it. This was the point in the trip that I felt most heartbroken at the difference between what I have and what the Haitians do not. I had to go behind one of the tents just to be alone and pray for these people and their most basic needs. And that I wouldn't forget how broken my heart was for the differences in what we had.
After all the food and water, we had tent city worship again. Some of the other YWAM teams did dramas (which are always good for language barriers), and we sang songs of worship and prayed for those who asked for it. It's heart warming to hear the praises of God's children, in every situation.
Later I discovered Mama (the Brazilian woman) was broken this night at the lavish worship of these people to a God that allowed them to be in a tent city with next to nothing to call their own. She cried out to God, saying Why? Why do they worship You? What have You given them?
She said His answer was "Life. My life."
[update: I learned that the two girls that had been my shadows on this trip cried when I wasn't there on Monday and asked one of the Port-au-Prince staff to let me know they miss me! I told her to let them know I have pictures of them that will help me remember them, and to pray for them.]
After this, we had another go at MRE's. This time I decided to heat my Chicken n' Dumplings up - DELICIOUS! No lie, I actually enjoyed my food. Meal times are always entertaining, as the boys (BJ and TJ) would jump on any unwanted food that was offered up. "Does anybody want-" YES.
When we returned to the camp, it was a short change of clothes and attempt at clean up before half of our group jumped in the back of a truck with Walter (the cook) and all of the supplies for a food distribution. We went to City Soleil (quickly becoming my favorite tent city) where another group from YWAM had been holding a soccer tournament for the kids all day. As we drove up, the children surrounded the truck shouting "mi abel, mi abel, mi abel!" One of the long term staff at the base is a small South American guy named Abel. He is incredible with the children, from tent cities, to church on Sunday morning, he is always followed by a group of devoted disciples. He is good at loving on them and at break dancing. Which they adore. :)
While it was awesome to see the excitement, this quickly turned into a difficult situation, as they saw the buckets full of water packets that we had brought to distribute and began trying to take them/ask for them. It is soooo hard to tell an obviously thirsty kid that they're going to have to wait for water "until it is time". ugh. But to prevent chaos and unfair distribution, they had to wait.
Walter quickly got everything set up, while the leaders of the tent city arranged the children from the very youngest to the oldest. Then the most intense lunch line I've ever been a part of followed. In less than 30 minutes Walter dished out almost 500 cups of soup. It was great to see how this incredibly talented chef worked, sweating, scooping this soup into cups. And afterward, he looked beyond satisfied, much happier than the praise of any critic could make a top chef.
Walter's vision for Haiti is to have a traveling kitchen that goes to a different tent city every day and feeds 5000 children, disabled, and elderly. It blew my mind to see this talented man and know that his only desire was to mass produce food so that these mouths could be fed. What a ministry!
After the food, water distribution followed, and it was so humbling to see fights (they were small and quickly taken care of by the leaders of the tent city) break out over water. Water, that we had been complaining about only 2 hours before hand, saying we were just "sick" of having to drink so much water (without ice) just to stay hydrated. complaining. And these people were willing to fight for it. This was the point in the trip that I felt most heartbroken at the difference between what I have and what the Haitians do not. I had to go behind one of the tents just to be alone and pray for these people and their most basic needs. And that I wouldn't forget how broken my heart was for the differences in what we had.
After all the food and water, we had tent city worship again. Some of the other YWAM teams did dramas (which are always good for language barriers), and we sang songs of worship and prayed for those who asked for it. It's heart warming to hear the praises of God's children, in every situation.
Later I discovered Mama (the Brazilian woman) was broken this night at the lavish worship of these people to a God that allowed them to be in a tent city with next to nothing to call their own. She cried out to God, saying Why? Why do they worship You? What have You given them?
She said His answer was "Life. My life."
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Days 4 and 5.
[First, to answer mom, yes, the fan is working wonders. It really helps me sleep. But some nights it gets cool enough that I turn it off and crawl under my sheet... and the taco method's working just fine. The only issue with heat and sleeping comes when we have the tarps on as we go to sleep. But usually we just take them off - God has blessed us with rain-free nights thus far.]
Tuesday, July 27.
Yesterday was amazing. We were told we were going to a pediatric hospital in the morning. I, of course, was thrilled at this idea because of what I hope to do in the future. (Work as a child psychologist in a pediatric hospital.) It was a long ride up into the mountains we've been checking out from the orphanage since we got here. It was also my first ride in the back of a truck, and it was amazing to be so close to and exposed to the street life. We felt very safe (of course, mom) as we had a Haitian in the back with us and sat on the truck bed. But still, there were plenty of times I could have reached out and touched people walking by. If you need a coke, someone can be called up to the side and you can buy it from them when you are stalled in traffic. If you need to load up on cell phone minutes, it can be done at a street corner. Its like drive-thrus, but much more convenient since you don't even have to leave the street!
Once we got to the hospital I began to get a bit nervous as we walked towards the children's tents. Yes, tents. At a hospital. Of course, no part of Port-au-Prince was spared in the earthquake, so the hospital suffered some damage. Also, the number of patients increased. So there were children (and adults) who were recieving care from nurses and doctors for serious illnesses in a makeshift tent on what used to be a street. However, as the Haitians seem to do well, they made it work. The first tent we walked into had about 9 beds with children from about 2-9 years old in them. We prayed with all the children and gave them lunches, but there was one girl who stood out from the rest. She was a bright little thing who talked to us from the moment we found her until long after we left, teaching us how to correctly pronounce creole, despite our pitiful understandings. She had a beautiful face, but we saw her eyes were focused strangely. Steve (our Haitian translator) told us she had lost her mother to a bad fever, and after that had gone blind. (Trauma?) It was so moving to see such a bright little girl who just shone and made everyone in the tent smile and laugh, even in such a desperate situation. She has been a reminder of the resilience of people, and especially of Haitian children. She gives me hope for Haiti's future. The next tent was full of babies, and this, as you can imagine, was hard to be in. I teared up as I prayed for several of the babies, but, again, it was encouraging to see fathers, family members, and big sisters dutifully keeping watch by their cribs.
That afternoon (yes, that was just the morning), we went to have worship in a tent city. The entire base loaded up and headed to a new city we hadn't seen yet. While some of the guys set up a makeshift stage, we played with children who were so happy and ready just to be given attention. When worship began, it was so great to have people walk around their home, worshipping freely. I found out that Mama (the Brazilian woman pastor who works at this base) would be preaching. So I saw her off to the side of the stage as we were singing, and I felt the need to go pray with her beforehand. (We bonded because I spoke with her a little earlier, and she was incredibly thankful, as she only speaks Spanish so only a few people can have conversations with her.) So I prayed with her, and she seemed to appreciate it, but I felt like God had brought me over there for more, so I hung out. And she asked me to take some pictures while she was teaching, so I stuck around. She had what sounded like an awesome message (Portuguese to Creole, so I only got her inflection and hand talking), and when she turned to head off the stage, she recieved applause. And surprised me by falling into my arms in tears and an amazing prayer of thankfulness to God. And I knew that was why God had led me over there earlier that night. :)
Got home kind of late. Slept very well.
Wednesday, July 28.
Half-way point today! In some ways (the shower, the hard ground, the lack of AC in my life) it's a relief. But in most ways (the children, getting to know the Haitians, the YWAM staff, Walter (the cook)'s good cooking....), it seems like it's gone too fast!
We started off today with a "gate change", as has become our team's motto for the trip. Ever since our numerous gate changes in Atlanta, we've learned the value of flexibility. So every time our plans change, especially at the last second, one of us yells "gate change" and we all have a good laugh and a reminder that there are more important things than plans.
We ended up going to an different orphanage in Port-au-Prince that one of the staff has a relationship with. The children were so precious and very excited about having us there. All the girls wore dresses that looked so pretty they could be Easter dresses. We played with them, they asked "what is your name" in English, and once they attached themselves to one of us, they were glued to our side. We taught them about creation, how to play Red Rover (Rougue Rover) and an intense game of duck-duck-goose. (It's funny, because we didn't translate it into some of their animals, so they say "dok, dok, ooooooo!") Then we headed back to the base and had an easy afternoon.
I was able to wash some clothes (because the whole one shirt-two day idea isn't working out). Jeremy (one of the kids at this orphanage) was such a helper-he tried to wash my clothes for me! :D
Love it here, but missing home.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Day 3. Monday, July 26
Great first day of ministry in Haiti! We had group worship at the base today and then took of to City Solei. This is in a part of Haiti that was actually unreachable before the earthquake, but is an example of how God has worked for the good of these people by making their tent city available to aid and mission post-earthquake. We went to do a VBS for the kids while another team did a discipleship course for the adults. It was a fantastic experience. First, we took a tour of the tent city, and saw the tarp tents close up. Most of us were holding children who had attached themselves to us early on. We learned that each tent held at least 2 families in it, and that these people were told they would probably have to live there for the next 10 years. (what?!) They had a few half-kept gardens with corn and wheat in them, but there is never enough food and water is a long walk away and longer haul back to the city. Then, we played games and taught the kids about Creation. They were incredibly energetic during the games but also attentive during the teaching time.
A sweet girl named Sarah attached herself to me at the beginning, and I carried her for most of the day. (My arms are sore as I write this.) She is about 2.5 years old and full of joy. Her simple desire to be held in my arms was incredibly fufilling. Some of the Haitian women (and teenagers, who are essentially adults here) looked at me with big smiles on their faces and I prayed that they could tell that it was God's love, that I was striving to be the arms of God around this precious little girl.
We left there about lunchtime and ate MRE's on the way to the next tent city. What are MREs? They are Meals Ready to Eat, war-time tested, war-time approved. Haha, For real. They're vacuumed-sealed squares of .... decent lunch. :) Today I had a packet of beef enchiladas, another packet of refried beans, some vegetable crackers, cheese paste (with jalapenos!), and a packet of chocolate chip cookies. It was a good thing one of our guys (BJ) had a knife with him, otherwise I would have been unable to open the hard core packets. If it was nothing else, it was an experience, and very filling.
We then arrived at Del Mar, another tent city in Port-au-Prince. Here, we ventured in and among the tents to pray with people and hear their stories. To be honest, I was unsure of this at best, and unwilling at the worst. But I followed the team in with the translaters, and fell in love with this! The people were so willing to share their stories and their prayers for safety, shelter, and health. Steve, one of our translators, was fantastic at interacting with the people and showing the love of God in his care for their condition. We met one woman named Marimat who looked to be in her 60's who complained of a constant ache that kept her up at night. She didn't ask for us to give her anything, didn't expect us to provide a solution, just wanted our prayers. It was amazing, coming home after that, to feel the heat in our tents (easily 100+), and just the intense desire to get out and go to one of our shady breezy spots. And then to realize that this was the reality that those people were asking us to pray for a reprieve for them. Hot. Unlivable hot.
I thanked God for the shade I sat in and prayed again for the people we saw today.
I'm thoroughly enjoying our time on the base. The staff is wonderful, and the Haitians on staff have been so patient and a lot of fun in teaching me Haitian creole phrases. So far I can say:
Amazing what a weekend in a country can do. If I were in school, I'd be ready for Creole 102. :)
Speaking of languages, my Spanish was revived from near death today when I felt the need to talk to a large Brazilian woman on base. I'm not entirely sure what her story is, but I know she's a pastor from Brazil, and that everyone calls her "Mama." We had a delightful 20 minute conversation, and not only was I refreshed by her smile and consuming laugh, but I felt a surge of joy at the fact that I could still hold a conversation in Spanish. She also seemed very thankful that I took the time (and risk of making a fool of myself) and spoke to her. Many of those on base seem to love her with their smiles and their hugs, but all of our "little bit" of Spanish doesn't do much with the next to nothing English that she knows.
God is blessing me so much through this trip to Haiti. I just hope that in some way I can turn that around and leave someone a little better off here.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for your prayers!
A sweet girl named Sarah attached herself to me at the beginning, and I carried her for most of the day. (My arms are sore as I write this.) She is about 2.5 years old and full of joy. Her simple desire to be held in my arms was incredibly fufilling. Some of the Haitian women (and teenagers, who are essentially adults here) looked at me with big smiles on their faces and I prayed that they could tell that it was God's love, that I was striving to be the arms of God around this precious little girl.
We left there about lunchtime and ate MRE's on the way to the next tent city. What are MREs? They are Meals Ready to Eat, war-time tested, war-time approved. Haha, For real. They're vacuumed-sealed squares of .... decent lunch. :) Today I had a packet of beef enchiladas, another packet of refried beans, some vegetable crackers, cheese paste (with jalapenos!), and a packet of chocolate chip cookies. It was a good thing one of our guys (BJ) had a knife with him, otherwise I would have been unable to open the hard core packets. If it was nothing else, it was an experience, and very filling.
We then arrived at Del Mar, another tent city in Port-au-Prince. Here, we ventured in and among the tents to pray with people and hear their stories. To be honest, I was unsure of this at best, and unwilling at the worst. But I followed the team in with the translaters, and fell in love with this! The people were so willing to share their stories and their prayers for safety, shelter, and health. Steve, one of our translators, was fantastic at interacting with the people and showing the love of God in his care for their condition. We met one woman named Marimat who looked to be in her 60's who complained of a constant ache that kept her up at night. She didn't ask for us to give her anything, didn't expect us to provide a solution, just wanted our prayers. It was amazing, coming home after that, to feel the heat in our tents (easily 100+), and just the intense desire to get out and go to one of our shady breezy spots. And then to realize that this was the reality that those people were asking us to pray for a reprieve for them. Hot. Unlivable hot.
I thanked God for the shade I sat in and prayed again for the people we saw today.
I'm thoroughly enjoying our time on the base. The staff is wonderful, and the Haitians on staff have been so patient and a lot of fun in teaching me Haitian creole phrases. So far I can say:
- How are you?
- Fine
- And you?
- What is your name?
- My name is Aimee.
- What's going on?
- Nothing. (Which, unless I'm mistaken, is basically a nnnhhh-uhhhh kind of grunt)
- 1,2,3,4. :)
- Jesus.
Amazing what a weekend in a country can do. If I were in school, I'd be ready for Creole 102. :)
Speaking of languages, my Spanish was revived from near death today when I felt the need to talk to a large Brazilian woman on base. I'm not entirely sure what her story is, but I know she's a pastor from Brazil, and that everyone calls her "Mama." We had a delightful 20 minute conversation, and not only was I refreshed by her smile and consuming laugh, but I felt a surge of joy at the fact that I could still hold a conversation in Spanish. She also seemed very thankful that I took the time (and risk of making a fool of myself) and spoke to her. Many of those on base seem to love her with their smiles and their hugs, but all of our "little bit" of Spanish doesn't do much with the next to nothing English that she knows.
God is blessing me so much through this trip to Haiti. I just hope that in some way I can turn that around and leave someone a little better off here.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for your prayers!
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Day 1. Saturday, July 24
The day started early this morning (like 4:30 am early) after a 3-4 hour "nap". This was a result of our delayed flight out of ATL, which shortened our layover. But it was still great to have a little sleep. We got on the plane before 7 and had an interesting flight over. There were more sharp turns than usual, and the Haitian man next to me explained that this was because of the need to avoid Cuban airspace. Oh.
We landed near the shore and got off in a flurry of jet engines, the welcoming band, and clamors for our attention. We found our YWAM companions, and packed our luggage and part of our group in the back of a truck. The rest of us climbed in a van where our driver promptly dropped the key in an impossible place to get. Great start. :) We got to socialize with a group from Oregon until Vogly (our Haitian driver who is also on staff here at YWAM) fished out the key and got us on our way.
Some impressions:
The tent cities actually are as they appear on TV. Very crowded with a surprising kind of organization. They crowd once soccer fields, public parks, and national landmarks (the conch man I have a picture of is now surrounded by tents).
Traffic is similar to other developing countries: no rules except every man for himself. People walk in the street with buckets, baskets, bundles, or even stacks of books (not kidding) on their head. The colorful buses I read about are abundant, and some taxis are decorated as well.
We entered our base (a walled orphanage with an armed guard called New Life Children's Home). The orphanage is renting land to YWAM, so they have buildings around a field, and YWAM has set up headquarters in our own tent city. Everyone (there are about 60 other students here at this current time) lives in tents in less-organized rows and shares 3 bathrooms. Showers are bucket showers (new experience for me, and are great waker-uppers, I've discovered). This is definitely a new experience, but its so much fun being around so many other people who are devoted to a similar purpose. Can't wait to get to know these people better.
We had an orientation with a YWAM staff and the base director (a Haitian named Peterson who has an amazing vision for his country and his people). Summary of his message: As God uses all things for good, He is using the tragedy of the earthquake to force Haiti to be rebuilt upon a stronger foundation (not just infrastructure, but the people's beliefs). Apparently, the people of Haiti promised their land to the Devil in a voodoo ceremony in 1804, and the nation was said to be cursed for 200 years because of this deal.
Plans for the week include VBSs in the tent cities and orphanages (the one we're in and others). We will attend a local church tomorrow and worship services in the tent cities Tuesday and Thursday.
Keep the prayers coming and let me know if you have any questions I can try to get the answers to!
Love from Haiti!
(As I finish this post, I can hear the children singing a song as they prepare for bed... the best music I could ask for).
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Haiti.
So, tomorrow a group from Millbrook is headed to Port au Prince, Haiti, to work in tent cities and remove rubble with YWAM. I thought to myself, "guess its time to revive the ol' blog."So here goes.
At first I was a bit hesitant to jump on the train to Haiti, not wanting to do something just because it was the "cool thing" to do right now as far as missions go. I'd heard thoughts about the resources being so sparse that only people who can provide the greatest good (doctors, dentists, construction, media) should go there to take up those resources. Who was I? However, after prayer and consideration, I decided to go. Partly because I wanted to. Mainly because "little is much when God is in it." In that case, I've been empowered to bring to the people of Haiti what they need more than a doctor or aid worker could provide - the Gospel of a loving God. It also helped to see Anderson Cooper
say that, at the six month mark (July 15), aid to Haiti seemed dramatically slowed, almost forgotten. That's my cue! [Anderson Cooper is welcome to support my decision any day of the week! :)]Yesterday I began to pack. (That's one clue that I'm excited - I packed before the last minute!) Currently, a borrowed hiking pack from my brother (thanks, bro!) is filled to the brim with things to last me eleven days. With that done, I decided it might be a good idea to spend today learning about some of the quirks of Haitians I might run into, and just to generally inform my faithful readers of the general country run-down.
Keep in mind that this info is from a website that appeared legit and is probably from info written pre-earthquake. I thought that would give us a better idea of general country welfare before the tragedy.
Some things I found interesting:
- Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. "In most rural areas, the average family of six earns less than $500 per year." Also, "There is less than one doctor per eight-thousand people."
- They export mangoes and drugs. "Recently, coffee has yielded to mangoes as the primary export... Haiti has become a major transshipment point for illegal drug trafficking."
- Snobs there aren't that much different than here in the States. "Social status is well marked at all levels of society by the degree of French words and phrases used in speech, Western dress patterns, and the straightening of hair." [The straight hair thing was funny to me]
- I've heard about bad infrastructure, but I didn't know it had been so bad for so long: "The infrastructure is in a very poor condition. International efforts to change this situation have been under way since 1915, but the country may be more underdeveloped today than it was one hundred years ago."
- Haitians are good at sharing: "If a child is given a piece of fruit or bread, he or she must immediately begin breaking the food and distributing it to other children." (How cool would it be to see this in action?)
- Haitians are fun: "Haitians have a predilection for decoration and bright colors... [S]econd hand U.S. school buses called kamion... are decorated with brightly colored mosaics and given personal names such as kris kapab (Christ Capable) and gras a dieu (Thank God)." What awesome names for a bus! I especially like Christ Capable. When I first read it it made me think that the bus was able to carry Christ to His next stop. But I'm thinking it probably means that Christ IS capable. :)
This brings me to the country's religion, which is, of course, good for me to be informed about before visiting. It seems that most of the country has created a mix of Catholicism, Protestant beliefs, and voodoo. This leads to an interesting discussion about the afterlife:
Beliefs concerning the afterlife depend on the religion of the individual. Strict Catholics and Protestants believe in the existence of reward or punishment after death. Practitioners of voodoo assume that the souls of all the deceased go to an abode "beneath the waters," that is often associated with lafrik gine ("L'Afrique Guinée," or Africa). Concepts of reward and punishment in the afterlife are alien to vodoun. [those who practice voodoo]It's interesting to note that some believe that the souls basically join together in what appears to be a concept of Africa. Hopefully I'll get a chance to talk to someone about this and understand that belief more fully.
Finally, the most exciting thing I read about was how the people acted among each other. (Of course the psychology student would enjoy interaction!)
- When entering a yard Haitians shout out onè ("honor"), and the host is expected to reply respè ("respect"). Visitors to a household never leave empty-handed or without drinking coffee, or at least not without an apology. Failure to announce a departure, is considered rude. (So, if the next time you see me I shout "honor!" you know what to say.)
- People feel very strongly about greetings, whose importance is particularly strong in rural areas, where people who meet along a path or in a village often say hello several times before engaging in further conversation or continuing on their way. [How funny! "hello" "Hi" "hey" "hi there"...] Men shake hands on meeting and departing, men and women kiss on the cheek when greeting, women kiss each other on the cheek, and rural women kiss female friends on the lips as a display of friendship.
This man is blowing a conch to call the people to battle. An important symbol for Haitians.
- Young women do not smoke or drink alcohol of any kind except on festive occasions. Men typically smoke and drink at cockfights, funerals, and festivities [I thought that these three events were interesting to point out...] but are not excessive in the consumption of alcohol. As women age and become involved in itinerant marketing, they often begin to drink kleren (rum) and use snuff and/or smoke tobacco in a pipe or cigar [Get it old ladies!]. Men are more prone to smoke tobacco, particularly cigarettes, than to use snuff.
- Women and especially men commonly hold hands in public as a display of friendship; this is commonly mistaken by outsiders as homosexuality. Women and men seldom show public affection toward the opposite sex but are affectionate in private.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
transformations
I've decided to have a quarter-life crisis. Since it seems I need to have my future laid out in full by January 22, 2010 (application deadline for lots of grad schools), I thought now would be as good a time as any to have a bit o' a crisis.
As a result of this crisis, I've decided being a travel writer would be my ideal job. And, despite the lack of current funding, I see nothing to prevent my writing of all my current travels in the hopes of being discovered and paid handsomely. :)
So here goes. This blog is officially general travel experiences in the life of Aimee West.
Shine your light in the darkness.
As a result of this crisis, I've decided being a travel writer would be my ideal job. And, despite the lack of current funding, I see nothing to prevent my writing of all my current travels in the hopes of being discovered and paid handsomely. :)
So here goes. This blog is officially general travel experiences in the life of Aimee West.
Shine your light in the darkness.
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