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.