What I miss about Haiti...

The first week back in Canada was a whirlwind of finding an apartment, buying a phone, paperwork, packing up my stuff and moving into my new apartment.  The last few days it's really hit me that I'm back in Canada for a while and I really started getting homesick for Haiti....
I know that I am exactly where the Lord wants me to be and that brings so much peace, but the tears flow from time to time and I let them, knowing it's all part of the healing process.

Bon Voyage Parties

The last few weeks of my time in Haiti passed in a blur. I was out of my regular routine and trying to finish my "to do" list and enjoy some time with friends.  One week I completely forgot it was Tuesday and missed ladies Bible study.  The following Sunday the Pastor's wife asked if I would be coming the upcoming week because it was one of the ladies birthdays and she wanted to organize a small party for her.  I agreed to try my best to remember.  I arrived early at the school and noticed that A LOT of people were milling around and they all seemed to be very busy and no one would tell me what they were doing.  I started to get pretty suspicious... shortly after I discovered that the entire church was throwing a surprise going away party for me.

The Ladies singing a song dedicated to me!

It was a Haitian party so of course there was LOTS of food!

And because you can never had too many parties, the Saturday night before I left, Randy and Karen organized another going away party for me.

The men on "grill" duty

One last chance to bond with Levi

One little girl that I will miss very much

Samuel and Cadeau enjoying some food

Some of the ladies

Overall I feel very blessed and loved.  I will miss my community in Haiti, I was blessed to make some great friends who supported and loved me during my time in Haiti.  You will all continue to be in my prayers.

Jacmel, Mwen fou pou ou (I'm crazy for you)

Early Saturday morning (not as early as planned, but early nonetheless), Lesley, Julianna, Anne, Cadeau and myself left Port-au-Prince, headed for Jacmel.  We managed to make it to Leogone without incident but shortly after things started to go wrong.  The clutch stopped working and there we were stuck on the side of the road with a car that didn't move at all!  So much for our plans for Jacmel.  We had no choice but to wait for Lesley's husband to finish work and grab a ride back to Port-au-Prince with him.  We called the hotel and cancelled our rooms.  Just as quickly our plans were back on, we were able to borrow a car and before we knew it we were back on the road, praise the Lord for generous friends!

The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful and we were able to secure 2 more rooms at the hotel (one of our rooms was already taken in the 15 minutes it took us to find another vehicle). We settled into our rooms and after a quick lunch we were off to the beach.

Anne

Cadeau enjoying some pumpkin soup for breakfast!

Hotel Cap Lamandou

The biggest disappointment of the weekend, the pool was broken!

Lesley and Julianna

Overall, we had a great weekend. Enjoying the sun, air conditioned rooms, satellite television, delicious food and great company.  A great getaway and one of the last things I wanted to do before leaving Haiti!

Vacation? Not yet...

I know that everyone thinks that now that school is over, I'm sitting at the beach, sipping
pina coladas and getting a nice tan. I wish!!! I've been working longer days than when school was open! Yes, it's true that school is over for the year, but the work is far from over. There are lots of loose ends to tie up and I want to leave things in good order for next year. Last week, Alix, Schandey (new secretary) and myself met with every parent of the school and registered their child(ren) for next year. This week we are registering new students. This is always a difficult process as we are a popular school and always have more interested parents than we have spots in the school. Starting next year we will start charging a small fee and we were concerned that this would discourage parents but this doesn't seem to be the case at all. We finally had to start turning parents away this morning as the list was getting too long. Part of the registration process for new families is to visit their homes and see what conditions they live in.  This is always very interesting, but also very difficult as many families live in truly dire situations. We will start the home visits tomorrow.

The Admin Team

Schandey hard at work

Alex is still smiling!

Registration

Graduation

Here they come!

The Valedictorian

Passing the light to the Grade 5 class

Receiving their diplomas and awards

The gradating class

It's not a party without cake!

The after party!

Friday morning we had our first ever Grade 6 graduation.  Many of the staff and teachers worked behind the scenes weeks in advance to make the day a huge success.  The graduating class made speeches, sang songs, put on performances and overall kept us entertained.  Together with their parents we celebrated their hard work and praised the Lord for all His provisions.  Pastor Delfis was the master of ceremonies and he reminded parents that their children not only receive an education at Adoration Christian School, they are also given an opportunity to learn more about their Lord and Saviour.  Praise the Lord for how He has provided for us throughout this year.  Our school community has been greatly blessed.

Saying Goodbyes

 After four days of being sick in bed, on Monday I was finally feeling well enough to go back to work.  All the teachers were busy working on their report cards first thing in the morning and I had the opportunity to sit and have a brief meeting with Randy.  Near the end of the meeting Karen came and asked me if I could come and take a picture for her because she had forgotten her camera.  As I entered the room to take the picture.... surprise!!!! Randy, Karen, Alix and the staff had organized a surprise going away party for me. I was so touched, there were lots of speeches, delicious cupcakes, cold drinks and perhaps a few tears (none from me of course).

Surprise!!

Alix sharing how much he appreciates my organizational skills:)

My tearful goodbye speech

Pastor Delfils reminding me about the important influence teachers have on their student's lives

Being surrounded by prayer

My gift from the ACS staff

Yummy!

Randy and Karen presented me with a gift from themselves and the organization and one of the teachers presented me with a plaque of appreciation.
I was so touched by the effort put into this party.  Randy, Karen, Alix and the rest of the staff have tonnes of work to do these days and yet found the time to organize this party for me.  Lots of kind and mostly true things were said and I felt very appreciated.
The last two years have had lots of highs and lows and I am so thankful that I was able to work alongside such amazing people who supported me and encouraged me in so many ways.  I will miss them all so much!

Women's Bible Study

Earlier this year, I mentioned to the pastor of our church that I was interested in starting a Bible Study for some of the young women in our church.  He excitedly told me that there were some other women in the church who had approached him with the same idea.  The next Sunday all the women in the church sat down and put our ideas together.  I found out that the rest of the women were learning more towards having a Bible study for the women in our church, not the youth.  I was willing to go with the flow.  We found a time that worked for the majority of the women and planned our first meeting.  In preparation for our first meeting I found a Bible study book in Creole, and asked Pastor Delfils to give me some feedback.  The first Tuesday we met, I was ready.  No sooner had the meeting started was I quickly informed that in Haiti women's groups were quite likely different in Haiti than in Canada.  I smiled and informed the ladies that I was willing to follow whatever format they had planned.  I quickly discovered that this was going to be more of a women's group than a Bible Study, before we could begin there were five positions that had to be filled ... present, vice-president etc.  Unfortunately we couldn't find enough women willing to fill the various roles.  After a moment of silence I was asked what my thoughts were, never shy in this department  I told them that in Canada women's Bible studies simply studied the Bible and I shared with them the book that I had brought.  They were skeptical but willing to try it out until we had enough women to fill the five positions.  Despite being very intimidated, I even agreed to lead the first lesson.  Many months have passed since this first meeting, and we are still studying the same book.  The women love the book and take turns leading the meetings.  The meetings have been a great time of fellowship, studying God's word, praying together and getting to know each other outside of the church setting.  I look forward to these meetings and have loved getting to know these strong, kind and loving women.  As last week was the last week that both Karen and I will be able to attend together, we took a group picture.

I will miss these wonderful women!!

And we're done... almost!

It's official... Adoration Christian School is finished for the year!  Sadly I missed it... the last week was full of meetings and then a nasty little bug kept me home for two days.  I'm sad I wasn't able to participate in the last week of activities but am thankful that next week will be spent with the teachers as they correct exams, write report cards, prepare for the graduation ceremony and pack away their supplies for another year.  I will also have one final chance to see all the students at the end of year assembly and graduation ceremony. 
Over the next several weeks official government exams will be taking place.   Similar to Canada (and many other countries), the government has standardized testing for Grade 6, 9, Rheto and Philo (final two years of secondary school) students.  Unlike Canada, if a student does not pass this test they may not advance to the following grade and must repeat the grade until they are able to pass the test.  The test covers material from the entire school year and much memorization is required.  Students study for weeks and weeks leading up to the exam.  As many of our students already have large gaps in their education, failing this exam causes them to be even further behind in their education.   Next week our Grade 6 students will be writing.  We pray that they will put forth their best effort and be able to demonstrate all that they learned in the past year.  If they pass, they will be moving on next year to secondary school.  They are a fun class and they will be missed greatly!

Our Grade 6 class

Listening attentively

A little distracted by the camera??