Haiti once again....

It's true. I'm moving back to Haiti once again. Since leaving Haiti in July 2006 rarely a day goes by that I don't think about Haiti. Each time I've been back I've told myself that this will be my last visit, I'm moving on, but something keeps pulling me back. A friend of mine asked me what is it about Haiti that draws me back? I had a hard time answering the question. Mostly I think it's the people, or perhaps it's the mosquitoes, the vicious dogs or the lack of electricity? Just kidding, those things I do not miss:) To be honest, all the things I love about Haiti are also the things I don't love (my niece told me "hate" is a bad word) about Haiti. It's often said that love and hate are very closely related.
So, how did I end up going back? Well, as I said I can't seem to get Haiti out of my mind. In the fall, friends of mine came back to Canada after travelling much of the world. Looking through their photo albums and hearing their stories made me long to live elsewhere once again. Shortly after, I had breakfast with a friend who is a fellow traveller and we spent the whole time talking about where to go next.
So I started spending a lot of time searching the Internet to find an organization that I could work overseas. If I want to teach overseas, I could go almost anywhere, make a good salary and work with the children of the elite or missionary kids. This has never appealed to me but I tried to convince myself that this would be great, but I couldn't do it. I found a few interesting positions in various countries but there was always something "wrong" with them and so I never applied. Then I heard that Randy and Karen (the couple who replaced me when I left last time) were expecting a baby. I thought that perhaps the organization would consider hiring another person for the time that Karen would be on Maternity leave. I approached the board of Coram Deo and the rest is history.
So I'll be going back to the same school that I was at before, doing the same job. I will not be teaching but will be working with the teachers to develop a strong education program that will enable the students to prepare for their government exams. In addition to that, I will assist with the starting of a special education class. In Haiti little is available in the way of education for students with intellectual disabilities. If parents can only afford to send some of their children to school they most often do not choose those with intellectual disabilities. If they do choose to send them to school, they often do not pass the class they are in so they stay in the same class for several years, not receiving the support they need.
I won't be leaving for Haiti until the beginning of September but until then I will be updating my blog to let you know how my preparations are going.