Snow day in Haiti??

Yesterday morning I had this great plan to sleep in late. At 6:30 I woke up to the sound of a really strong wind blowing things around on the porch outside my room. I quicly got up and took inside anything that would possibly be thrown off the porch by the wind. The rain was also coming down quite strong and so I had to run around and close all the window slats so the rain wouldn't pour in. By the time all this was done I was too wide awake to go back to bed. So I sat and watched the wind and rain for a while. This is really unusual weather for this time of year.
I had made plans with one of the teachers from school to go downtown and shop, but knowing Haitians and their dislike of rain I knew that she would not want to go in the rain. So there I was stuck at home watching the rain fall. It felt like a snow day, it was cold out and it wasn't a good idea to go out without a car. Speaking of my car, I called the garage yesterday to see if my car was ready. They informed me that the mechanic did not come to work today because of the rain, so it really was like a snow day!
So I spent the morning in my pjs watching movies and drinking coffee. Then I walked over to Karen's for a bit to drink some Hot Chocolate in true snow day fashion. After that I started to feel a bit stir crazy. I walked around the house in circles, watched 4 episodes of TV in a row, and read for several hours!! I need to get out of the house today! Thankfully today the sun is out and although it's not hot out, I have taken my socks off!
Today we are having our staff party with the guys who live and work at the school. Tonight there is a Christmas Eve service at the English speaking church across the road from my house and then I've been invited to a Christmas Eve party. It should be a lot more exciting than yesterday!

Holidays...

Monday morning I went into work with the plans to organize and clean up the office, a job that I always want to do but never find the time or energy to do. After a few hours of cleaning I got a call from the guy who is helping me get all my proper paperwork for living and working in Haiti. He had a bit of time and wanted to go downtown with me to get my picture taken for my Haitian drivers license. I said no problem and downtown we went. When we arrived at the office they wouldn't let me enter. I was quiet confused so I asked what the problem was. Apparently I wasn't dressed appropriately and would have to return the next day with more appropriate clothing! I know that Haitians are quite particular about what you wear and it is quite specific to where you are going. So I asked what would be appropriate clothing for such an occasion as getting your picture taken for your driver's license. Since we were taking a motorcyle (my car is back in the shop again) I said that it would be difficult for me to wear a dress or skirt. It turns out that as long as I was wearing a skirt or pants and a shirt that covered my shoulders I was okay. So back I went the next day with jeans and a t-shirt, the best part is that in the picture you can only see my face:)

At school we have a carport (basically a concrete overhang) that Randy is convinced is unsafe and needs to come down ASAP. On Monday before I left the school Randy was showing some guys our carport and getting an estimate for how much it would cost to tear it down. When I returned 2 hours later I saw the carport in many pieces on the ground. I was amazed at how fast it came down. The guys who live at the school and Randy were standing around staring at it. I asked what happened and they told me that they stood on top of it and jumped up and down at the same time and it collapsed. I didn't believe it! There's no way it was that unstable. But they kept on insisting and since I didn't see anyone else around I started to fall for this story. Then the truth finally came out. A huge bulldozer had come by in the time that I was gone and knocked the whole thing down with only a few hits. A short while later the same machine came back and cleaned up the mess. What a powerful machine! In only a few hours the entire yard looked different. Now starts the fun of putting down a new concrete floor.

Programme Noël

Sunday afternoon we had our Christmas program/award ceremony/parent-teacher interviews all rolled into one. The classes had been practicing their songs/skits/poems since the beginning of December so we were eager to see them present all their hard work. In typical Haitian style we started 30 minutes late to a half full audience and by the time the program was finished almost all the seats were filled. The whole event went well, and it was wonderful to celebrate the birth of Christ with our students and their families.

Samuel and I presented awards to the first place student in each class and one student from each class who put forth great effort this past term.

This is the junior kindergarten class, they are the youngest class but their performance was one of the best.

This is the class for students with learning disabilities. They did a GREAT job!

This is Grade 5, they organized part of the program themselves.

I tend to avoid the spotlight but felt it was necessary to wish the students and their families a blessed Christmas and Happy New Year.

Picture Day

Here are "the guys" posing for the camera!

We finally organized a picture of all the staff at Adoration Christian School. We're a pretty good-looking staff wouldn't you say??

Back row: Samuel, Cadeau, Alix, Alyn, Max, Randy, Samuel, Evenz, Asselhomme, Guerdson

Front now: Me, Magdalyne, Ketia, Molina, Manman Manise, Karen, Marline, Node

Thursday was our last day of school. Today the teachers were given a day to work on report cards, I spent the day editing the report cards and trying to get caught up on some work. Sunday we will have a Christmas program, awards ceremony and parent-teacher interviews. The students have been busy preparing their song/skits for the program, I'm looking forward to seeing what they have prepared.

Monday our holidays officially begin. I'll probably go in to work from time to time to get caught up on some work, but mostly I'll try to relax. I've been invited to a party on Christmas Eve and another one on Christmas day. After that I'm going to spend several days in the countryside with my friends Leslie and Diego. I'm looking forward to getting out of the city for a few days. Not sure how I'll survive without the internet...

White Christmas??

We may have our own sort of white Christmas here in Haiti. In the north you have snow, here in the south we have dust, and lots of it. The dry season has officially started which of course means no rain, or at least very little rain. The good news is that it cools of considerably at night and it's very lovely for sleeping. The down side is that it becomes very dry and very dusty. You could (and probably should) dust and mop your floors every day. It doesn't matter how many times a day I wash my feet they are black on the bottom in no time. The amount of dust we breathe in daily is just not good.
Speaking of snow. I brought some Christmas music here and listen to it at school and at home. I am noticing for the first time how many Christmas songs mention snow and cool weather. Intersting, since Christmas is the celebration of Christ's birth and he was born in a warm climate...
Many ex-pats living in Haiti find this time of year hard and miss snow, cold temperatures, hot chocolate, sledding and all those other aspects of the winter season that we associate with Christmas. I personally don't feel sad at all. I began to dislike winter more and more each year to the point where I don't think I like it at all. I love the temperatures here no matter how hot they become. Sometimes I think I may have been born in the wrong country all together. I must admit that I check the temperature in Toronto as often as I can and have a little chuckle all to myself. I love the idea of a hot Christmas.

Welcoming Carle to the world!

One of our teachers and his wife had a baby boy this past weekend. We rejoice with them as they welcome a new little one into this world. His name is Carle Jean Pierre and Karen and I had the priviledge of meeting him this week.

He doesn't appear to be too thrilled to meet us, but we were thrilled to meet him.

The hardest part...

There are lots of things about Haiti that I find difficult but what I find to be the most difficult is the constant requests for help. When I am on the street or in a parking lot random people shout "Blan, give me one dollar." When I park my car, someone will "watch" it for me, or "wash" it for me and expect me to pay them for the service regardless if I asked them to or not. All day long people stop by the school with requests. They ask if we have a spot in our school for their child, if we could pay for their child to go to another school, or pay their rent, or buy them shoes or help them start a business. When there is a medical or dental clinic, there are always people with legitimate needs being turned away. One day a father of one our students came to speak to me, when we were done speaking he asked for money to take public transport home. On the days there isn't medical clinics people ask me to diognose them and give them some medicine. We've even asked more than once if we would take soemone's child and adopt them. I'm not a doctor, we have limited space at our school, and we dont' have unlimited resources. Everyone has a story, most of them are hard, many of them tug at my heart and often I feel my eyes filling with tears as they share their stories with me. Some stories are not true, and many are exagerated for dramatic effect; you can't trust every sob story that you hear. However, it is undeniable that life in Haiti is hard. I know that giving out money to everyone who stops by the school is not a solution, it's not sustainable and it's putting a band aid on a huge wound. I also know that by providing free and quality education we are helping many families in a way that will last a long time into the future. But it doesn't stop my heart from breaking when I hear the stories and I often wish we could do more.

My basketball team won!!! Before you get too excited... we won by default because the other team didn't show up. We played anyways with whichever girls were around and we lost to them, but thankfully it doesn't count!!
Yesterday, we didn't have any school as the teachers requested a day to write their exams. I was so looking forward to a quiet uninterrupted day to get a PILE of work done. When I got to school Randy announced that he was going downtown to visit a school that I have wanted to visit for some time now. He invited me along and I couldn't resist. We read in the newspaper last week that this school was closing its doors due to lack of funding. This school called C.E.S. is also a place for assessments for students with special needs and a training centre for teachers who work with students with special needs. We were sad to hear that they were closing their doors and went to speak to them about their situation. We were warmly welcomed when we arrived and the director quickly assured us that they were not shutting their doors for good as the article indicated but rather they ran out of money for this fiscal year and therefore were shut down for the month of December but will re-open in January. We were relieved to hear this and although they were not currently functioning they allowed me to tour the facilities and see how their programs are set up. While we were downdown we also visited another school for special needs students that we sponsor a few a students at. It was great to see that there are programs like these for students with special needs. Granted there are not enough programs like this and there needs to be more but it was encouraging to see these schools in action. On the way home, Randy gave me a tour of downtown. I love downtown, it's so full of activity and action all the time. There are people everywhere selling stuff and going about their business. It's even more fun on the back of a motorcycle, you feel more a part of the action. Unfortunately, my car is fixed and I can pick it up tomorrow. Back to boring life with a car!

Wow the internet is working...

A senior kindergarten student hard at work!

Maia the superchild is almost writing already!

The beautiful newly painted lines

We have some donated jerseys so we are able to use them in the tournament.

Apparently I do have one picture of myself and my sisters from when they visited

Basketball tournament

Anyone who knows me well knows how much I LOVE sports (just kidding, this couldn't be further from the truth). Randy has set up a basketball tournament at the school for the secondary students as well as for people in the community. Over 75 people signed up to play. I tried to escape joining a team but Randy said it would be a great bonding experience with the students, blah, blah, blah... as usual I did as I was told:) Last Tuesday was my first game. Now admitedly I know very little about sports and I have precious little talent when it comes to playing, however, I apparently know ALOT more than the girls on my team. I don't think they have ever played basketball before. They didn't appear to know what to do when they received the ball. I did a lot of running around the court but they rarely passed the ball so my running was in vain. The team we played had one good player, so their strategy was to always pass the ball to her. Needless to say the other team won, 4 - 0. I have decided that during the Christmas break my team will meet every morning at 5 am to practice for our games in the new year. Do you think the girls will show up?? (just kidding!!)
The guys take the tournament very seriously. They are quite dramatic when they don't agree with a call the ref has made and sometimes they put on quite the show. I enjoy watching their games more for the drama than the actual playing although they do play quite well. The tournament goes until the end of January so I'll keep you up to date on how my team is doing.

Walking

Things I noticed on my walk home from church today:
1. a guy wearing bowling shoes
2. a woman going pee on the sidewalk
3. your nose starts to burn when you breath in dust for any length of time
4. Haitians like to make comments/ask questions when you walk by eg. "Are you lost?" "Can I give you a ride home?" "Look at the beautiful white woman".
5. the UN have an ambulance complete with an ambulance siren and a UN escort
6. it's the dry season and when it doesn't rain for a long time it becomes VERY dusty!
Haitians generally think you are crazy if you walk anywhere if you have the means to pay for a taptap or a motor taxi. I just smiled and let them think what they want. It's probably not far from the truth.

Haiti by foot

My car is still getting fixed so I've been carless for a bit now. Unfortunately so are Randy and Karen. Thankfully they were able to borrow their neighbour's trucks for a bit, so we've been carpooling to work everyday. However, on weekends I'm back to being carless. I have a variety of people who live close and can give me a ride so I usually do okay. Today, though, I decided to walk instead. There is a Christian International School not too far from me and they were having a fundraiser Bazaar. I walked over to my friend's house to get a ride with her and then walked home afterwards. It's different seeing Haiti by foot. You notice a lot more because you're going so much slower. I saw a few interesting shops that I'd like to check out some day. A few people tried to start conversations with me. I just said hello and kept walking quickly by. The bazaar was fun. I had my nails painted, bought a Creole book and some nice cards. It was good to see some people I hadn't seen for a while. I'm slowly making connections and starting to feel like I know a few people. Tonight there is a "Night of Arts" at the same school which I am looking forward to.

Time flies by...

My sisters have left and taken all their great pictures with them. I took very few pictures when they were here because I was planning on uploading all their pictures before they left. However, they both have Sony cameras and their memory cards didn't work with my computer and they forgot their camera cords. Hopefully they remember to send me one or two (hint, hint). Since they left things have not slowed down at all. It's been busy, busy, busy.
Wednesday I had an interesting experience. One of our staff member's sister is quite ill. She's been ill for quite some time and last week she had to be hosptitalized. We've been visiting her regularly at the hospital and on Monday the doctor said that she needed to have three pints of blood. I agreed to go and give blood for her. It was quite the experience. We spent over one hour at the hospital waiting for them to figure out what exactly we had to do. Finally they took a sample of her blood and sent us downtown to the Red Cross. When we finally found Red Cross it went relatively quickly. We brought five people which was good because only three people were able to give. When we went to leave they told us they could only give us 2 pints of blood and we'd have to come back the next day for the last one because the hospital that she was in didn't have a place to keep the blood refridgerated. The whole experience taught me that I need to leave the school more often and see the rest of Haiti. I've lived here in total one year and three months and I still feel like a tourist staring at everything and fascinated by all the sites and sounds. I think every once in a while I should tag along with Randy and see what life is like outside the walls of our school. As for the girl in hospital, she's started to look better each time we see her, we pray that she will regain strength with time and return to good health.

Two eventful days...

Well, my first weekend completely carless in Haiti has been quite eventful. My car is in the "shop" until an undetermined time. Randy and Karen's personal car has been in the garage for a long time and the car they were borrowing is now also in the shop. So we are officially without a car. Thankfully Dr. Ed has a visitor staying with him right now and so he's been taking him around town and we've tagged along. On Friday we headed up to Baptist Mission. When we arrived at Ed's house he asked which of his two trucks we preferred to drive in, I choose the white truck because it was airconditioning and we wouldn't have to sit in the cage in the back. He said okay and just as we were about to leave he mentioned that the white truck tends to overheat from time to time so we'd have to stop occasionally to add water to the radiator. We took the back way up the mountain which is always an adventure, lots of loose gravel and the possibility of washed out roads. We were about 3/4 up the mountain when the truck decided that it needed a good long drink. Steam was billowing out the front. We stopped, gave it a chance to cool down and then tried to add some water, the little leak that was in the radiator from before has increased dramatically in size. We managed to continue and made it up the rest of the way having to stop a few more times. The stopping wasn't really the problem, the problem was all the concerned onlookers who were determined to help us out. Lots of unsolicited advice was given and one man even took the water jug and started to fill up the radiator for us. We managed to fight off all the helpful onlookers and had a great time at Fort Jacques and Baptist Mission. The way home was smooth until we were almost home, we were back in PAP when the truck decided it was done for the day. Of course we were on a busy and narrow road so we successfully blocked traffic. We waited for a little while to allow the truck to cool off and then started once again and we were able to make it home.
Saturday we tagged along to the beach. This time we took the other truck:) We had a great day, relaxing, swimming and eating great Haitian food. After lunch we decided to go snorkeling. We paid a guy to take us out in this boat to check out a nearby reef. Once we were all in the water, Chris (Ed's visitor) mentioned that there was a jelly fish in the water near him. I freaked out and jumped into the boat. I had never seen a jelly fish in my life but promised the others that I'd be on the look up for them. Shortly after I saw 3 jellyfish in a row. Two kids were in the water and one of them took the fish out of the water and passed it to the guy in the boat, the guy pulled the tentacles off and told me that jelly fish don't hurt at all and proved it to me by rubbing the fish over his arm. This didn't convince us at all and in fact we all got out of the water except for Chris. After a while Chris got bored being in the water by himself and got into the boat as well. So much for snorkeling.
Sunday we were able to walk to church since there is a church right across the road from my house. The rest of the day we relaxed and took it easy. I can't believe my sister's are leaving tomorrow. The week had gone so fast.

Guest Blogger: Amy!

Kim is too tired from entertaining her sisters so I (Amy) have taken over blogging duties for today.
Today was another beautiful, hot Haitian day and we woke up bright and early to have breakfast and head to the school. I can't believe I'm getting up so early when I'm on vacation but apparently school starts really early here and if we don't get up early and go with Kim to the school we'd be stuck here till Kim finishes her work. So we dutifully follow our older sister to school : ) Well, that and there's lots to explore and we didn't want to miss out. This morning, Ysmaille picked Gwen and I up at 8:30 and drove us to the house that he is building and then from there we went to where he is living now. We met his cousins and his uncle and some other random friends. We could have met many more but the morning was getting on and we were getting a bit tired. He took us back to the school where we helped one of the classes do a craft and then we had lunch--rice and beans with vegetable sauce--it was yummy.
After lunch, Kim, Gwen, Karen, Maia and I went together to do some shopping. We first went to a store called Haitian Creations where women sew bags and purses out of scrap material--much of it uphostery remnants. After buying a couple of bags we then went on to the metalsmith's village which consists of scores of metalwork shops where they repurpose oil drums by hammering the metal out into elaborate designs of birds, fish, trees, people etc. Most are decorative wall hangings but some are made into mirrors, bowls and even napkin holders. Walking in you can hear the sound of drums on metal and you can see how they make them by cutting out templates and then forming the raised design with hammers and other metal working tools. We had fun looking through the shops at all the designs. In the end, we ended up buying several wall decor items and a couple of mirrors and some candle holders.
This evening for dinner, some of the guys who work at the school came for dinner. We played some cards and had a delicious meal of chili and bread.
It was a great day but it will be nice to shower and wash all the dirt and dust off our skin and out of our hair.
Not sure what the rest of our trip will hold for us but I'm sure it will be just as adventurous.
On a side note--Kim's car is still not working properly but it will hopefully be looked at and fixed tomorrow.

Sister Time

My sisters arrived safely yesterday, only a tiny bit late. So who's ever heard of a container and box embargo? Apparently there's an embargo on any kind of box or container during the Christmas season. In the Detriot airport my sisters discovered that they couldn't take the two containers that I had so carefully packed and left behind for them to bring. Thankfully one of the AA employees was kind enough to explain that they could buy two large duffle bags instead and transfer all my stuff into them. So somewhere in the detriot airport are two brand new containers that I was looking forward to using for storage.
Last night my sisters settled in and we caught up on a few things. This morning I woke them up bright and early and we headed off to school. Of course I put them right to work. Gwen helped sort all our newly donated school supplies and Amy typed up some work for me. After school we were all ready to head up to the Baptist Mission for some lunch and then to Fort Jacques to check out the view. Unfortunately just outside of Petionville my car decided to give us some problems. I pressed on the gas but it wouldn't go any faster than 20 km/h. This road is twisty and turny and a bit scary on the best of days as trucks go flying by and although the car was still moving I didn't relish the idea of blocking traffic for miles seeing as it's almost impossible to pass on this road. So unfortunately we had to turn back. We had lunch at Epidor instead and spent some time relaxing at home.

Sponsorship program

A good friend of mine wrote me recently and asked about how our school sponsorship program works. I figured it was such a great question that I'd answer it on my blog in case anyone else had the same question. Here's how it works. Our school starts at Junior Kindergarten and ends at Grade 5. The government will not enable us to have Grade 6 until we are registered with them, which we are in the process of doing. Grade 6 is the first year that students must write a government exam and therefore all schools who administer this exam must be registered. I believe I mentioned that our school is entirely free for all our students. In addition, they are provided with all necessary textbooks on loan, two uniform shirts, breakfast and lunch each day. Though our partnership with Dr. Ed who runs a clinic at our school we are also able to supply them with medical attention if necessary. After students graduate from our school we continue to support them by sending them to a nearby Christian School. Our goal is to financially support our students until they graduate from secondary school. In order to suport them financially our goal is to find a sponsor for each student. The majority of our students currently have a sponsor in Canada, but we still have a significant group of students who do not yet have a sponsor. If you are at all interested in taking on this responsibility, check out CDIA's website (listed on the side of this blog) to find out more information. The students who we sponsor after grade 5 are required to come once a week to clean the school and must attend Friday night Bible Study. This teaches them responsibility and allows us to keep in touch with them and see them on a regular basis. They often stop by at other times as well to chat with us, keeping us informed of what is going on in their lives. Because they all attended our school in the past, we know them all fairly well and enjoy staying in touch with them and hearing about their lives.

Refreshed and ready for some family time

I'm back from the spiritual retreat and feeling pretty refreshed, which is a good thing because my sisters are coming Monday! The retreat was great. It was a time of fellowship, time spent in prayer and time learning more about prayer. We had sessions in the morning and the afternoons were free for sleeping, swimming, chatting or quiet alone time. Whatever you felt you needed to be refreshed and rejuvenated.
As mentioned, my sisters are coming on Monday. I'm pretty excited about them coming. Although Gwen has been here before, neither of her visits were while I was here and Amy has never been to Haiti before. I hope to sneak out of school a bit early to show them around Port-au-Prince and spend some quality time with them. We plan to go to Les Cayes on the weekend to visit the child that my sister Gwen has been sponsoring through the organization Compassion for quite a long time. I've never been to Les Cayes and look forward to seeing a new part of Haiti.

Ayiti

One of the great things about having a team here is that they take pictures that you never think to take. Here are some of my favourites.

Back to normal, whatever normal is...

The team has left and it's back to normal life once again. Monday I had a workshop with all the teachers. The topic was classroom managment. I created an outline for what I would like to discuss and the teachers took it from there. It was an opportunity for teachers to share various strategies they use in their classrooms. I shared a few strategies that I used when I was teaching in Canada but mostly I just listened to their ideas and moderated the discussion from time to time. (we have some teachers who LOVE to share!!!)
Today is a holiday so I'm trying to get caught up on a few things that I let slack while hanging out with the team. Tomorrow I am off to a Spiritual Retreat that the CRC organization organizes each year. This year it will take place at Wahoo Bay and the theme is prayer. I'm looking forward to spending some time in prayer and fellowship with other believers and perhaps spending some time at the beach!

Some pics

Giving instructions for how to take medicine

Jacky with her translator.

Randy working hard.

Kim and Sarah in the registration area.

Pics of the medical team

I have tried six times to upload some pictures of the medical clinics, but with no success. My interent is just too slow these days. However, Randy and Karen's blog has some great pictures from this past week. So if you'd really like to see some pictures, check out their blog.
www.randyandkarenlodder.blogspot.com

Wednesday I tagged along with the team again, I figured I'd stay for a bit and then return tot he school but I was actually needed and helped with the pharmacy all day. We saw 300 patients (100 more than planned)! Thursday I went to the school to get a few things done so I wasn't able to assist with the medical team. I had a very productive day at the school and although I was sad to miss a day with the team, it was good to get caught up on work. Today I was able to go with the team again. We went outside of PAP and were able to see a slightly different side of Haiti. We saw another 200 patients and had another successful day.

Medical Team - Days 1 & 2

The medical team is adapting well to life in Haiti. They saw 2oo patients yesterday and today at the school. And today they did 10 operations! The clinics have run very smoothly and although the team members are quite tired at the end of the day, they still have energy to eat and spend some time in devotions. I was hoping to translate at the clinic but we have enough translators so I just pop in from time to time to see how things are going. The way the clinic works, is that in the very early morning people start lining up (like about 5am). When Guerdson, the gate keeper, opens the door he starts giving out numbers. He writes their number right on their hand with a marker. If we give out papers, some people will sell their paper to someone else. After 200 numbers have been given out, we will not take anymore patients for the day. Guerdson does all the hard work of giving out the numbers but in the afternoon he has to go to school so I took over for a bit. All you have to do is open the gate and call out numbers, but occasionally there will be two people with the same number... strange how that works, I guess we're not the only ones with magic markers:) And sometimes people will try to sneak in when you're not looking. Some people get tired of waiting and actually leave before their number is called. Today after all the numbers were called there were four people standing outside without numbers, and because some other people had left already we took pity on them and let them sneak in. Tomorrow will be another clinic at a church on Delmas 10. I hope to tag along for a bit to check it out.
On a sad note... the air conditioner in my car died today. This is very sad for me, but I guess I deserve it since I tend to brag about my car's wonderful air conditioning to people who's air conditioning doesn't work. I knew it would only be a matter of time before it died but I didn't think it would be so soon! I guess I'll be breathing in exhaust and a lot of dust in the near future, just like everyone else.
We've been having a fair amount of rain the last few days, as the rainy season winds down. This is nice in that the temperature cools down considerably after it rains, in fact I've been sleeping with a blanket lately! The down side is that the rain washes out roads that were already rough to begin with. There is one road that I take to work most days, right after it's been "fixed" it's not bad to drive but after a few rainstorms in a row, it's get pretty washed out. My car has no problem getting through, however, people with small cars and enourmous trucks also try to use this road and cause massive traffic jams. I've been avoiding this road and taking alternative routes until they have a chance to put a bit more gravel down once again. Ah, life in Haiti.

Parent - Teacher Meeting

Sorry the pictures are out of order I always forget to load them backwards.
Teachers meeting with individual parents to discuss the report cards

I'm giving out awards to the students

Randy talking about Reformation Day

Most of the parents attended the meeting

Medical Team

Yesterday a medical team of eight arrived, they are all from Southern Ontario. I don't know any of them personally but two attend the same church as my parents so my mom sent along a lovely "mom" hug with one of them. Another member knows my cousin Grace and sent along greetings from her. I really enjoy having teams, it's great to show off Haiti and explain how things work here. Because this is a medical team, they will be doing some large clinics. Monday and Tuesday they will see approx. 200 patients each day at Adoration Christian School. Wednesday through Friday they will do clinics at different locations. This is a great opportunity for people in Haiti to receive free health care as there is no public system here in Haiti and if you can't afford to go to the hospital, you just don't. Many people die of very preventable diseases.
The team arrived yesterday with no problems, in fact they arrived early and were able to meet the friendly workers at the airport as they waited for Randy and I:) Within minutes they had MANY friends in Haiti! All their lugguage arrived which is great because besides their own personal items they took medical and school supplies with them!!! Today we will be attending the church at the school and then we will be going to a children's feeding program. There is a couple here from Montreal who run a HUGE ministry to children. They have a morning church service and then feed over 2000 children! There is also a small clinic on Sunday, so several team members will be able to assist with this while the rest of us hang out with the children. It is a very well run organization, that runs extremely smoothly considering the amount of children they minister to.

I've been busy

Ever since I started to feel better I've been crazy busy! Saturday was spent running around doing errands around town. At night, Randy and Karen's neighbours had a costume party and invited me as well. We got dressed up and had a lovely night with their family, eating delicious food and watching "Casper". Sunday we had a small party at the church to celebrate the one year anniversary of the church. It was a nice time of fellowship and some great treats. Ben Hopp preached, which I always enjoy because he preaches in English and has someone translate. Although attending a Haitian church is improving my Creole vocabulary, after three hours of church my head starts to hurt a bit, so it's always a nice break to hear English for a while.
Monday was a holiday here in Haiti. To celebrate my good health a group of us went to visit the Hopps at their house, which conveniently is located on a resort on the ocean. We had a nice day of visiting them, and the pool and the beach. It was a really nice relaxing day.
Tuesday was another day of no school. The teachers are given one day off to write their report cards. Most of them came in to work on them and I spent the day proofreading them and signing them all. Wednesday was the parent/teacher interviews. We had a nice little ceremony to begin with. We reviewed the school expectations and rewarded the top student in each class, and one student from each class who has worked extremely hard over the first semester. They received a certificate and a small gift bag. As well, each student who was never late or absent for the entire first semester received a small gift and a certificate. There were fifty students who qualified, I was quite impressed by this. Today (Thurs.) was a regular school day and somewhat uneventful, unless of course you consider mice taking over the office as eventful. They are coming out of everywhere and they are NOT afraid. I'm not sure what I'll do but I'm tired of spending all day sitting on my feet terrified that one might run across my feet. Any suggestions??
Tomorrow morning we have a staff meeting in the morning for a few hours. I always get a bit nervous about staff meetings. It's difficult to have intense conversation for hours in Creole, I do alright but by the end my head is really spinning. I do however, look forward to some time to bond with the teachers and discuss several topics that need to be discussed. I enjoy hearing their points of view and always walk away having learned something new about Haiti culture and/or the education system.

Lesley and Diego's Wedding

Back to Work

I went back to work today. I've never been so happy to rise at 5:30 and get my day started. I practically jumped out of bed. It was so lovely to see the teachers, they were so sweet. They all told me that they were praying for me. I told them their prayers were answered. Many of them called me while I was sick to see how I was feeling. They were full of lots of advice, how to take better care of myself so this doesn't happen again. We have a great staff. The students were funny. While Karen and I were off sick, they asked if we had gone to Canada, I wish!!
There's was lots of work waiting for me as this week was exam week and next we have parent/teacher meetings with also includes an awards ceremony and the teachers have to write their report cards (which I must look over and sign). Busy, busy, busy, but I LOVE it and wouldn't want it any other way. This is a long weekend because Monday is a holiday. Perfect timing since I'm just starting work again. I guess nothings stopping me from doing some work this weekend:) Don't worry I won't overextend myself and get sick again.
Thanks for all the prayers and love sent my way over the past week. I appreciate it!

Road to Recovery

This morning I woke up and decided that no matter what I was leaving the house at some point, I didn't care where I went but I just had to leave. I sat up in bed and my head started to spin and my stomach started to turn and I promptly laid back down and changed my mind. After a while of just laying there I got out of bed. Since Monday I was supposed to go with someone to get my "Permis de sejour" (a permit to live and work in Haiti). I kept calling him and asking him to postpone one more day. I figured it would be a long day of waiting in lines and I would never last seeing as I hadn't stood up for more than 1 minute in the last 5 days. I got out my phone to call him but he assured me that I wouldn't have to stand at all. I felt bad putting it off one more day so I agreed to go. Well he was true to his word both places we went had chairs to wait in and airconditioning (a rare treat)! However, the ride downtown was very hot and we had to walk a fair bit when we got there because it was impossible to find parking close to the buildings. But the good news is, that I survived and I'm feeling way better. My stomach isn't bothering me and I ate twice today already! Thanks for the many prayers offered up. I can truly say I'm on the road to recovery. Praise the Lord.

MIA

The past five days have got to be the longest ones in my life. It all started with a day and a half of high fevers. I slept a lot and managed to make it to my roomates wedding ceremony but was too sick to make it to the dinner. I was sorely dissapointed but had no other choice. The next day the fevers came back again so I started on Malaria medicine hoping that it was Malaria (and not Dengue, because there's no medicine for Dengue and it usually takes longer to get over). The malaria medicine made me over excited and I could not shut my brain off, I couldn't sleep but my head was in a fog so I couldn't really read or do much else. I tried but was only successful for short periods of time. I was also constantly sick to my stomch. The nights were the worst I'd just toss and turn for hours. I went for a blood test to determine exactly what I had but didn't make it clear that I wanted to be tested for Malaria and Dengue so all the blood test revealed was that I have a viral infection. So five days later I am still not back at work and going stir crazy. Today I feel a bit better and hope to go to the school tomorrow if only to get out of the house for a bit. Karen has also been sick so Randy's been busy trying to do it all himself. To top it all off it was exam week, not the best week to miss.

The internet is working!!! Finally some pics...

My dear friend Manman Manise

Lesley's surprise B-day party

The happy "almost married" couple

Thanksgiving dinner

The resort where I spent thanksgiving

Wedding Bells

I'm sure that title caught your attention! Don't worry the wedding bells are not for me (at least not yet:). My roomate is getting married this Friday. She's been busy running around PAP since I came trying to get everything ready for the big day. I haven't known Leslie for very long but I really enjoy chatting with her and will miss her when she moves out. I've also been able to get to know her Fiance a bit as he comes over to hang out sometimes. Thankfully they won't be too far away and we can always visit. I'm excited for them both and look forward to the big event on Friday. Her parents and aunt and uncle flew in today and we're having a welcoming meal for them tonight. My other roomate is coming back today as well! Jenny was gone on vacation for three weeks and comes back today. It's going to be busy around here the next few days, but I'm sure it's also going to be a lot of fun.

Update

Randy and Karen are back in town! Although I managed to hold down the fort without them it's good to have them back. They had a good time in BC and managed to surprise Karen's family. This past Saturday, I decided that it was time to attempt to do some shopping in Haiti. I convinced Cadeau to come with me so that I wouldn't get too lost. It was an event! First of all, as I was driving down the road, Cadeau pointed out to me that there was a big hole in the road (a sewer hole that was missing it's grate), someone was behind me honking their horn, and people were everywhere. I thought that I'd be able to position my tired on each side of the hole and I'd be fine. Unfortunately I thought wrong. One of the tires landed right smack in the middle of the hole. We jumped out of the car and I noticed that one of the tires was spinning in the air. I thought we were in big trouble and we were totally stuck. People on the street were looking at me like I was crazy, and Cadeau said, "Kim I told you there was a hole!" Cadeau climbed back in and put the car in reverse and slowly backed up, amazingly the car reversed and the tire popped back out of the hole. We looked under the car and it looked like there was no damange. God was really taking care of us! The rest of the day was much less eventful. We went to the vegetable market and bought some vegetables. I love this market, it's very lively and the prices are really reasonable. After that we stopped on the side of the road to buy some furniture. When I was in West Africa this past summer, I found that the salespeople there loved to barter with us (although I didn’t like to barter back), here in Haiti they don’t love to barter with Canadians. They think we’re rich and are insulted that we’d offer a lower price than they are asking (even if their price is outrageous). So even though Cadeau was helping me the one place wouldn’t barter at all so I didn’t buy the one bookshelf that I loved. The next two places were willing to barter a bit. I bought some nice plants, another bookshelf and a coffee table. Overall, it was a successful day. We celebrated by going to Munchies for some pizza and then picked up Randy and Karen from the airport.

Driving in Haiti

I’ve been driving in Haiti for approximately one month now. In the first week, my car was sideswiped during the day as it was parked on the street outside the school. On the way to the beach on Saturday I hit a taptap(a pickup that is used as public transportation),I hit it lightly and the taptap was fine but I managed to scrape the front end of my car a little. For this reason a lot of people in Haiti have a “defence” put on the front and sometimes even the back of their car. A defence is basically a mental contraption that you attach to your car to help protect it from others hitting you or you hitting others. It’s pretty effective, my roommate was hit by another car the other day and her car was absolutely fine, but the other car didn’t look quite as good. I don’t have one on my car yet but hope to get one soon. I was taking to another expat and she said that she hit a taptap and the metal box on the back of the taptap became entwined with her front end and they couldn’t pull apart, they had to use a saw and cut the cars apart. That’s crazy!
In general things are going well. The roads are pretty horrendous in some places and you have to drive super slow. Right now my shocks are pretty good but we’ll see how long they last. The traffic is pretty bad at peak hours and it takes extra long to get places, it makes me homesick for Toronto:) One of the roads that I take each day to school is closed for repairs (I never see anyone working on it however) and therefore I have to drive around, it takes almost double the time, so I’m getting up before the sun rises (it’s good for me I know) in order to arrive on time. That being said, I’m super thankful for a car that works and gets me around safely. I love the freedom it provides as well as the A/C that works very well!

Clean Water

In every country clean water is of upmost importance, but in some countries it is harder to obtain than others. Right now in Canada I know there is a push for the elimination of water bottles because of the garbage they produce and because there is ample clean water readily available in every home and work place. In Haiti, clean water is a constant concern. Although many if not most homes in Haiti have access to water (in an underground cistern, not in their taps) but the water purchased from the city is not suitable for drinking, it is used only for washing clothes, dishes, and showering. Many people buy special drinking water, however, many cannot afford this and out of necessity they drink the water in their cistern, causing them much sickness. At the school we buy drinking water for the staff and students and encourage them to drink a lot each day. Haitians in general do not drink a lot of water, they often have headaches and although I know there may be many different reasons why they have a headache oftentimes it’s because they are dehydrated, we sweat A LOT here! I’ve been reading a blog about a couple who are working with an organization called “Clean Water for Haiti”. I was finally able to meet them on Sat. at the Thanksgiving dinner. They sell a water filter that needs very little materials, no maintenance and they are not expensive. We have two at the school right now but they are not yet working, and need to be set up properly. I’m excited to use them and to encourage the parents of our students to purchase one for their homes. In my opinion they are about one of the best things to ever happen in Haiti. I’m not sure how many Haitians will “buy into” these filters, I have to admit the first time I saw one I was very sceptical and didn't drink the water. So it may take some convincing before they trust drinking the water, I guess I’ll have to be a good model and show them how good the water really is!

Happy Thanksgiving!

In case anyone was feeling sorry for me because I'm not able to spend Thanksgiving with my family.... I spent yesterday at the beach, eating turkey and celebrating Thanksgiving with a whole bunch of Canadians who are living and working in Haiti. It was a lovely day. We had perfect Haitian weather (hot and sunny). I spent the morning in the pool and the afternoon on a large patio meeting new people and eating all the traditional Thanksgiving food, we even had pumpkin pie!! The best part for me was meeting new people. Most of them were not from Port-au-Prince but I hope to visit several of them at their places of work/residence.

Flying Solo

My fellow co-workers are enjoying a well deserved rest in British Columbia with family. This leaves me flying solo. I knew about it before I came and I tried to learn as much as I could before they left, but there have already been a few situations that I didn’t know how to handle, thank goodness for e-mail! Overall, it’s going well and I’m thankful for an amazing staff to work with who never tire of my requests or questions. I miss having Randy at my beck and call, “can you pick up…” “can you fix this….” “do you know where…” and of course I miss Karen and Maia’s companionship and long walks around the track at the gym. Well Maia mostly sleeps but Karen is good company. Despite how well everything is going, this week I’m starting to wonder why I ever wanted an administrative role! I forgot how much of a problem solver you have to be all the time. The staff come to me with all sorts of problems and expect me to somehow solve them. Some are easy, others are very difficult and I’m at a loss as to how to help them. A couple of times I’ve longed for the simplicity of a classroom and only being responsible for my own students and maybe a little bit of special education paperwork:) But alas, I’ve decided to add a few challenges to my life and here they are. I just try to take it as it comes and not stress too much about not always having a perfect answer.

Creole

Before returning to Haiti I was worried that I might have forgotten all the Creole that I learned before. Thankfully I haven't forgotten it! At first I was so thankful but I'm quickly becoming frustrated that I don't understand everything! I'm not a very patient person, I wish I knew it all yesterday. Lately I've been having a lot of meetings with the teachers to help them make a personal education plan. I understand most of what they say to me but there's always a phrase or two that I don't understand and they have to try using different words until I understand them. Some teachers are much more patient than others, and some throw in a lot of french words to further confuse me:) I'm trying to learn a few more words each day but it's difficult to find time to review them. I will learn a new word and then not have an opportunity to use it again for several days and by then I've forgotten it. The students in the school are even harder for me to understand sometimes, especially the really little ones because they talk so softly that I have to put my ear right up to their mouth in order to hear them and they seem to think I'm pretty strange for doing that. Despite my occasional frustrations, I enjoy the challenge of learning a new language. When I've perfected my Creole I'm going to tackle French. And I don't allow my frustrations to stop me from making jokes with the kids at school. There are a few students in Grade 5 who really find my jokes funny so of course I visit that class a lot and share a joke or two with them. They really boost my self-esteem when they laugh!!

It's HOT!!!

The last time I was in Haiti I discovered that I love the heat and when I returned to Canada I found the winters very unpleasant. Needless to say, I was quite excited to be back in Port-au-Prince heat once again. Well I wasn't dissapointed. It's hot alright! And to be honest for the most part I do love it. What I forgot was how tired the heat makes you, there's a reason siestas (sp?) were first introduced. Every afternoon at about the same time I start to feel very sleepy and unmotivated. I push through it and keep going but by the time I get home I'm exhausted. I eat some dinner and then I'm pretty much ready to go to bed. I resist the urge though and either read, chat with my roomates, or watch a movie. I suspect I may be extra tired because all day I'm talking in a language that is not my first language and that requires a lot of brain power. by the time I get used to the heat it will be the dry season and it won't be so hot anymore.
An update on my goings on. Yesterday morning I tagged along a few places so that I could begin to get to know where some things are. I'm slowly getting there. I'm not too adventurous yet but I've also never gotten lost. Last night we celebrated Geurdson's, Samuel's and Randy's birthday. We ate Dominoes pizza and wings and watched a movie. Then we played the card game "Cheat". We had a lot of fun. It was great to hang out with the guys and see them outside of the school for a bit. They love playing cards and giggle a lot when they are cheating which totally gives them away. Before I know it it will be Monday morning once again and then back to work. Good thing I love my job and the people I work with!

Finally some pics

Students from the Senior Kindergarten class

All the teaching staff for 2009-2010

Ready for Opening ceremonies

Implementing some new Phys. Ed. activities learned at the summer seminars

Medical Clinic

Our school building is used for a free medical clinic. It’s run by an American Nurse Practitioner who has been in Haiti for quite some time. Today was the second day of the medical clinic since school opened. The clinic is very orderly run and only 50 patients are seen each day. Last year, the clinic was open 3 days each week but this year more funding was obtained and now it will be open 4 days, two days for medical, two days for dental (also a huge need here). I’m not really involved in the clinic but once a week we send a few students in the school who are sick. I went around to each class and asked which children were not feeling well. Pretty much every hand went up! I then narrowed it down to any kids who didn’t have a headache, didn’t have a stomach ache and didn’t have a cold. This caused most hands to go down. I then proceeded to lecture them about the importance of drinking a lot of water and why your head might hurt if you didn’t drink enough. They just smile and nod, it doesn’t matter how many times I tell Haitians this they don’t believe me. They have a very strong belief that medicine can cure all ills and nothing else will do. The stomach aches usually have to do with worms in their stomachs and we give them medicine for that several times each year. (sorry to gross you out) So I brought the kids to Dr. Ed (as we affectionately call him) and he told me what medicine to prescribe for them. I'll follow up each day to make sure they take it. I'm so thankful we are able to help out our students in this way.
On a less positive note, two people were told today that they had little time left to live because they have cancer and it can not be removed at this point. It's a harsh life in Haiti. Some people who come to the clinic have never had the opportunity to go to the doctor due to lack of money and sometimes by the time they come unfortunately it's too late. I was reflecting on the clinic today and I think it's a good reminder for me. The children I see each day are relatively healthy because we provide them with two meals each day and we take care of their medical concerns, and sometimes it's easy to forget that most Haitians do not have these access to these basic human rights. The clinic keeps me balanced and reminds me of the importance of what we do each and every day at Adoration Christian School.

Life as the "Petite Fromage"

Life as a School Administrator in Haiti is not quite as glamorous as it may appear at first. Let me walk you through a typical day. When I first arrive, I clean the office. You wouldn't believe how much dust accumulates during the rainy season, I dread the dry season, it'll be even worse then. The secondary students are supposed to clean the whole school, but one day I watched one of them clean the window in the office and was appalled by how much water she dripped all over the place and now I won't let them near the office except to mop the floor. Next I run around doing errands for the teachers, "can you photocopy this for me? can you get me some paper? do you know where I can find some glue?" After that I have a morning meeting with all the teachers, we pray together and go over any anouncements for the day. Then it's outside for the raising of the flag, singing the national anthem and school devotions. Then I'm free to do a few administrative things like write letters to parents, discipline students, and work on unending paperwork. We have two recess breaks in which I assist with supervision. I love watching the kids play together, there is a group of little boys who run around chasing each other and giggling for the entire recess break, it's quite hilarious. When recess if over, I spend some more time on administrative stuff and then it's back outside supervising the students until it's time for them to go home. After school I usually chat with the teachers one on one with whatever issues they or I would like to talk about. Then I call it a day... I've been going to a gym most days after work to walk around the track and enjoy some sunshine and "fresh" air.
P.S. I can't get spellcheck to work so please forgive me for any spelling errors.
P.S.S. To respond to earlier comments...Khandaker before you get too jealous, Garner and Bunker are referring to the postcard I gave out with my blog address on it. Don't worry I'm not leaving you out of any postcard fun.

Weekend

Ahhh... Saturday morning, I'm sitting with a cup of delicious Haitian coffee, reading some news on-line. I haven't read any news since I arrived and according to the Toronto Star I haven't missed too much:) My dear roomate is making some breakfast in the kitchen that smells great, life is good!! Before you get too jealous, I just want to say that our water pump hasn't been working which means no running water and we have to haul water from the cistern up two flights of stairs and our internet works for about 30 minutes each day. Not that I'm complaining understand, I'm just trying to draw a more accurate picture of life here as an ex-pat. And yes I know it's still a far cry from life in Haiti as a poor Haitian, something that is never far from my mind. They have limited electricity, no running water and internet is something that is not even on their wish list (food and money for their children's education would be of highest priority, I suspect)
This weekend is busy so I cannot afford to get sick once again. Today is my turn to volunteer at the organization that provides me with mail services. Then I have to run around and do some errands. Tomorrow is church of course and then we are having a bridal shower for my roomate who is getting married at the end of October. Should be fun!

School uniforms

Today we handed out the school uniform shirts. In Haiti, uniforms are a BIG deal and kids are very proud to wear their uniforms. They love to show off that they are able to go to school and sometimes they like to show off what school they go to since each school has a different uniform and they are quite distinct. In fact sometimes I wonder if there is a contest between the schools to have the most interesting uniform. Before school starts the students must go to their school and pick up a small peice of paper with a picture drawn on it and sample pieces of material attached. They then need to go to a seamstress and have the uniform made. It's sort of expensive and they can't go to school if it's not correct. I also recently discovered that many schools specify what colour shoes the students must wear as well what colour ribbons girls wear in their hair. The students at my old school would die if they heard that.
At our school we do it a bit differently. The students recieve two uniform shirts for free and they are responsible to provide their own jean pants or skirt. We chose the boring colour of grey because it doesn't fade and therefore looks nice all year long. The teachers would much prefer a brighter colour though:) We had our school crest embrodered on, it looks really good and the students proudly wear their shirts.
Tomorrow we have a meeting with all the parents to go over the school rules and have them meet their child's teacher. Hopefully we have a good turn out.

Feeling better

I can't believe I missed the first day of school! That has NEVER happened to me before. Of course I knew that Randy and Karen would be fine without me, but still, the FIRST day of school? I love the first day of school.
Monday morning I woke up and just the idea of standing up made me tired. So I spend another day in bed, alternating between reading and sleeping. I didn't know I could sleep so much and still be tired! Monday night I decided that I was going to work on Tuesday regardless of how I felt becaues I was getting so bored at home. Thankfully today I felt MUCH better and had enough energy to go to work and actually do some work. It was great to get out of the house and get some "fresh" air (not so fresh in PAP but still:). The day flew by, I went to each class and introduced myself to them and asked them a few questions about Canada. They knew very little so I guess I have my work cut out for me.
Another highlight of today was that I drove myself in my new car all the way from my house to work and back without getting lost. It can only go up from here! Right?
Tonight we had some visitors from abroad, I say abroad because they have both lived so many places and are citizens of more than one country that it's difficult to say where they are from. They are world travellers and are here working with CRWRM. It was great to sit around, eat some delicous food, and hear their many stories. Perhaps some day I can say I've seen as many countries as they have but for now I'm happy to say I live in Haiti, that's enough adventure for now.

Yeah for Cipro

I've spent the entire weekend in bed as I seem to have picked up a bug of some sort. I won't gross you out with the details but I've been spending a lot of time in the bathroom. I'm exhausted and pretty much slept and read for two days straight. I'm not crazy about taking antibiotics unless I must so I called Dr. Ed (a doctor that I know from before) and he recommended that I take Cipro (an antibiotic). Thankfully I had some from when I was in Sierra Leone, and I didn't need them there. Ah... life in Haiti, last weekend I was swimming in the ocean and hiking in the mountains, this weekend I'm lying in bed willing the time to pass quickly. I did manage to make it to church this morning, seeing as it's about a 2 minute walk from my house) and it was nice to see a lot of familiar faces. They were very welcoming and happy that I had come back to work in Haiti once again.

Hard At Work

My new car!!

Watch out streets of Port-au-Prince

To respond to all the comments on the previous post... you are welcome to come visit me anytime. I can promise tea or coffee on the balcony and I can definately promise the sounds of Port-au-Prince waking up, dogs, roosters, car alarms, you name it, you'll hear it!
Well I have some good news... I've got a car! It's a 2007 KIA sportage and it's deisel. We were told it was gas but when we picked it up today they told us that it's deisel. That's way better because deisel is considerably cheaper around here. Now here's hoping I don't get rearended or get a flat tire, well at least not for the first week.
As for the work I came here to do... today was a very productive day. In the morning we had all the students interested in the special education class come for a test. The teacher we hired for this class is excellent and knew exactly what to do. She was so kind and patient with the children that I know she'll do a great job this year. We decided which students would fit well with the class we are planning and a few more are coming tomorrow to complete the test. In the afternoon I was able to work through a lot of preparations for school beginning next week. I'm so thankful that I speak Creole already but I'm frustrated by how many words I still don't know. There are many words that I seldom use that I don't know but when I need to use them I'm frustrated that I don't know them. The teachers are very patient and don't seem to mind at all, and for that I'm thankful. The school is starting to look great and I look forward to the school being full of noise and learning first thing Monday morning.

Promised pictures of my place