Often when I have a chance to daydream I think about what I want to write on my blog. But when I sit in front of the computer I often sit for a while thinking of what to write. It's not that I don't have anything to write about, it's that I have too much to write about and I don't know where to start. Last Sunday I attended a very interesting meeting. A group of people meet every Sunday afternoon at Coram Deo to have discussions. One Sunday is English the other is French. So I was invited to be the "guest speaker" and facilitate the discussion. I decided to have a discussion on one of my favourite topics since arriving in Haiti. "Our duties as Christian citizens of a country". I started with the story of Joshua and the fall of Jericho. I talked about how faith and action need to walk hand in hand. Joshua very much relied on God and lived his faith when he led the people around Jericho seven times, despite how foolish he must have felt. However, the point that I stressed was that he took ACTION. Now I would never claim to understand the frustrations of living in a country where the government does not fulfill its God given duties. However, I have heard just too often, "only God can help Haiti" as people sit idly by and do nothing. I asked the group who had come on Sunday to raise their hand if they had voted for the second set of elections. Two people raised their hands. So we discussed the importance of taking action so matter how little or significant that action may seem.
It's been a busy week again and it flew by. Karen will be coming back on Wednesday and things will return to normal around here. The kids will also finally stop asking me when she will return:) No matter how many times I show them on the calendar and we count down the days, they can't seem to grasp the meaning of 3 weeks.
Today we had parent - teacher interviews. As in the past we had a weak turnout and many parents arrived late. I'm thankful for those parents who value thier childrens education and make time to come and talk to us about their progress. But it's frustrating that more parents don't care.
Well, that's all I can think of for the moment. I will sign off now.

Dogs, Mothers and Elections

So apparently dogs and I just don't mesh here in Haiti. Remember the cute dog I showed you a picture of??? Well, the kids are very rough when they play with him and I often have to remind them that he is not a toy and that he is actually living. I always tell them that if they are mean to him now, when he is a big dog he will be mean too. So yesterday I walked into the yard and he came running at me and bit me hard in the leg. He bit through my pants and broke the skin on my leg. I don't get it. What is it about me that dogs don't like???
On another note I would like to salute all the mothers out there. Seeing as I am a temporary mom to 6 children and 7 teenage boys. I don't know how moms do it and especially single moms. Two days ago Manu was complaining about a sore foot. The kids here are always getting scrapes and asking for bandaids. I usually clean it for them quickly and give them a bandaid and then never hear about it again. Well this time he complained about it more than once. So I took another look. His toe was infected and before the day was done it had spread to his foot which was quicly ballooning out. Not knowing what to do, I read "where there is no doctor" and discovered that it could be a variety of things and there are a variety of ways to take care of it. I wouldn't have been so worried except that anytime I came close to his foot he would scream at the top of his lungs and wouldn't stop for about 45 minutes. Well I won't go into any details about what I did, but today a Doctor stopped by to see Karen and just in case I asked him to take a look at it. He said I did everything right. I was so relieved. I know it's not smart to take chances with infections.
Tomorrow are the final elections for the rest of the government positions. There have been no troubles on the street but everything is closed today and tomorrow. We will just sit tight and spend some time cleaning up around the house. I don't forsee any problems but then I'm no expert.

Surviving

I survived the weekend being the "director" of Coram Deo. Honestly it went fairly well. The kids for the most part behaved themselves although I did get pretty sick of hearing my name being called over and over again. They just need so much attention. We went to church Friday night for Good Friday and again Sunday morning for Easter Sunday. They were both wonderful services, I even had a speaking part in the Sunday service!! So nothing has fallen apart and we are having a nice time. I went back to my house for a little bit on Sunday just to have a quiet hour to myself. Yesterday I convinced Samuel and Cadeau to go for a walk with me:) Other than that I've been here but I'm surviving and not feeling too claustrophobic.
This week all the schools are supposed to be closed due to the elections on Friday. They are sooooo quick to close the schools here. There's no problems on the street and I really don't think there will be. I opened school today and about 25 students showed up, so we had school. I don't like to feed into the fear, if there's really something going on I'm more than willing to close the school. Until then we will teach for whoever shows up:)
I really feel like I'm coming to the end of my stay. In just over 2 months, school will be over. I have lots to do before then and I want to write down as much as possible for the next director. I want them to know all the things I wish I knew when I started!!!

Random Pictures

Too long, I know

I'm still alive to all those who wrote me a worried e-mail. We haven't had hydro during the day for about 3 weeks now so my internet access is really limited. I try my best to go to the internet cafe 3 times a week. But it gets sort of expensive after a while and by the time I check my messages the time is up. (they are very slow computers) A couple of times I've written on my blog but it takes forever because the keyboard always has about 5 keys that always stick so you have to write one word, wait for the key to unstick itself and the continue on.
Enough complaining, I will give you a quick update and then tell you a funny story. Things are going well here. The school is running quite smoothly and I gave a workshop this morning on literacy and it went well. Overall I'm very pleased with the progess the school has made this year. Karen (the director) is going back to Canada for 3 weeks and leaving tomorrow morning. This of course leaves me in charge. It will be very challenging as I felt very busy before just running the school and now I will be in charge of everything. Karen has been very busy to prepare for her absence and therefore it won't be too much extra work. I will be staying at Coram Deo again which is something I was trying to avoid as it's not healthy to spend 24 hours a day 7 days a week in the same place but somehow I will survive. Other than that, not too much is new around here. The dog is behaving himself in his "prison" and I really don't give him much thought these days.
So here's the funny story. Sunday night I was lying in bed trying to read and I kept hearing this noise. I tried ignoring it and told myself it was coming from the neighbour's house. But the noise continued and every few seconds I'd hear it again. Finally I decided I better investigate. I went to the living room and heard music but didn't see Jenny. I called her, no reponse. I walked down to her end of the house. "Jenny?" I said again. "I'm stuck in the bathroom" she replied. And she was really stuck. NO matter how much we turned the doorknob, nothing happened. I tried sliding a knife under the door but the space under the door was not big enough. Finally I found a thiner knife and slid that under. I found every tool in the house that was available and tried to open it from the outside. Needless to say it took us over an hour to remove the doorknob from the door but we manged to do it without breaking the door. I was tempted on more than one occasion (as I became more and more tired) to just take a hammer to the door. Jenny was amazingly calm through the whole thing. When the door finally opened I gave Jenny a big hug and then went to bed.

Weak Joke

Amy dearest, sorry I made a weak joke and I'm sure you're not the only one who didn't get it. I said I almost became an American resident because they wouldn't let me leave the country. I didn't have a visa or a return ticket. They did let me buy a return ticket but I wasn't too eager to suggest this because it cost $450 American just for a one way ticket back to Miami. Thankfully I can get it refunded but at first I didn't know you could do that. Hope that clears things up.
Everything is okay here. Apparently the police found a bunch of human skulls the other day in Port-au-Prince. Not sure what that is all about. People have lots of different theories. I try not to think about it. Creepy...
The dog is staying nicely contained and I'm not having any problems with him. Things are going smoothly with the house but I am quickly realizing how much work it is to have a house (vs. an apartment) and it's especially hard in Haiti where all the things we take forgranted are much more difficult.
Unfortunately that's all the time I have for today.

American Resident?

I almost became an American resident on the weekend. When I went to check in at the Maimi airport, they informed me that I could not leave the USA. I don't know how they found out about my secret... just kidding. They said I could not go to Haiti without a return ticket. I've done this twice already this year and my friend just did it several weeks before. I told them that I didn't have a return ticket. They asked for my Visa. I said I didn't have one (you don't need one) They looked at me like I was crazy and I looked at them with desperation. Finally they said that I could buy a return ticket right now and they'd let me go. So I bought a one way ticket to Maimi for $450 American. Thankfully it's fully refundable I only have a pay a small fee for the transaction. I guess they weren't too crazy about me becoming an American.
So, I know that I write about hydro way too often but it is a big thing in Haiti. We spend a lot of time complaining about it, we rejoice when we get it and run around trying to use it as much as possible before it's gone. A "good" day these days would be about 1-2 hours of hydro. Of course we never get it at work when I'm actually there... but we get it at my house for long enough to charge the invertor for the night. We've been using the generator at work to filter water, use the computers and photocopier and that's about it.
Here's an interesting story that I forgot to mention earlier. The weekend before I went to Maimi, Jenny and myself and 2 other friends drove up the mountains to eat dinner at the house of a family at our church. The whole way to their house we heard a funny noise. When we stopped to pick up our friends I got down on my hands and knees and looked under the car as Jenny drove by several times. I didn't see anything, and we all know what an expert I am on cars. We drove around on Sunday and heard the noise again but told ourselves it was nothing major and we'd be fine. On Monday morning Jenny asked a guy from her work to take a look at it. He came back in the office and said "Jenny, God really loves you." Apparently when Jenny bought new tires on the Friday the guys who put them on failed to remember to use any nuts or bolts. The tire was put on but not attached in any way!!!! Crazy hey?? And people are worried about me getting kidnapped. I think a car accident is much more likely. Better change your prayer requests for me:)

Miami

So I just had a HOT shower, I think it was worth the flight to Miami for that alone!!! I arrived safely in Miami this afternoon, spent about 45 minutes waiting for a very nice man to say "enjoy your stay in the USA". Whenever I go through passport control or customs, they barely glance at me or my passport. Every single person in front of me had to have their fingerprints taken as well as a digital photo (which is why it took so long) but when it was my turn, he asked me what I was doing in Haiti and that was it. I think I could get away with a lot, if I ever wanted to....
So about our new dog Chello. Gwen, I think that I might try to take him home in my suitcase. I'm not usually much of a dog person but he is sooooo cute. Amy, in response to my past bad experiences with dogs... Well, Chello is half rotweiller, and everyone knows those dogs have a bad reputation. So my theory is that dogs are only mean if they are beaten when they are puppies. So I'm always lecturing the kids about being nice to him because when he's a big dog he might bite them, then I show them my arm (you can still see the bite marks). I also tell them that a dog never forgets, although I doubt that is true. We'll see if it works. To answer Matt's question, I gave that math homework to one of the kids and I would not be surprised if he tried to feed it to the dog. I'll have to ask him when I get back:)

New Addition

I forgot to tell you about the newest addition to Coram Deo. His name is Chello and he's a ton of fun as well as very cute.

Unbelievable. It is almost 3:00pm and we just received HYDRO!!!! It's been a rare thing these days. We've been using the generator when necessary but gasoline is expensive here (as I'm sure it is in Canada too) so we try to limit our use.
I just had a GREAT weekend. Ysmaille, Jenny and I went on a shopping trip and I managed to buy all the things I've wanted to buy for quite some time now. I went to gift shop and bought some neat things, then we went out for lunch at a fairly nice restaurant (it was nicer at one point but very run down now), then I bought Haitian sandals, paint and plants. The house we are staying in has a lot of metal pots that are very rusted, so I bought some yellow and blue paint for the pots and some plants to put in them.
Sunday was supposed to be a quiet day and we had no plans, but at church we discovered it was one of our friend's b-day and she didn't have any plans. So we threw together a quick birthday dinner for her.
I've been going with Jenny to two different Bible Studies which has been wonderful. Everyone takes turns hosting the Bible Study at their house on Monday night and tonight is our night. Should be fun, good thing Max is contained. The barriers are working very well and we often make jokes that anyone who doesn't want to help with the dishes will be thrown in the "pen" with Max:)
Thursday I fly to Miami to spend some time with Sarah. I'm really looking forward to it. Should be nice to buy some things that are hard to find here and/or expensive. Also nice to just relax and get away from everything for a few days. I was just telling Jenny the other night that things are finally starting to feel comfortable for me these days. Crazy that it took this long hey?? I guess it is a lot to adjust to in a short time.

Next Year

On my contract it states that I must notify the Coram Deo board by March 1st whether or not I will be renewing my contract for another year. Of course this day has already come and gone but for some reason I forgot to mention this on my blog. After much prayer and contemplation I have decided not to renew my contract for another year. I am thrilled with the progress we have made as a staff and a team this year. I think I have used my talents and gifts to the best of my best ability to benefit the school. However, I also believe that someone else with different skills and abilities will be able to bring new and fresh ideas to the school and change it in different ways. I truly believe that God is already preparing the heart of the person who will replace me here. Coram Deo has already started to advertise for someone to fill this role and they are also advertising for another position. It's very exciting that Coram Deo will have more staff and therefore be able to accomplish so much more. I hope that I will still be here in Haiti when they come so that I will have the opportunity to meet them as well as introuce them to the people that I have come to love. It is definately with mixed emotions that I will say goodbye to this place and these people.

I'm back

To all my faithful readers. Sorry I've written so little these days. Hydro has been scarce!!! We almost never get it and I've been going to the internet cafe's almost everyday but time goes so quickly and the keyboards always have problems so it takes forever to write anything. I've learned to type faster than ever before with the constant fear that they will take hydro or my time will run out at any minute and I will lose all that I have typed.
So the weather continues to be nice here. It's always sunny and it has yet to get really hot. It's funny that it's almost spring in Canada and it feels more like fall here. The leaves are falling off the trees and there is a constant breeze. I know the heat will hit any day now so I am enjoying this weather as long as it lasts.
Max has yet to figure out a way around the barriers. He growls and makes a lot of noise when he sees me and loves to stare me down. I mostly ignore him and try to pretend that he is not here.
We had a quiet weekend. I started a gardening project. The house we are staying at has lots of pots but they need some work. So Sat. was spent playing around in the soil. One of my favourite things to do. Sunday was also relaxing. We went to to church, made a delicious meal, went for a swim and then read our books.
I have the opportunity to go to Miami next weekend to hook up with my friend Sarah who is on March break and visiting her sister. I am really looking forward to it. A nice little break and some good chats with Sarah.
That's really all there is to say. Things are quiet and peaceful on the streets. There were only 18 reported kidnappings for Feb. which is down quite a bit from December and January. We continue to take precautions but things are less tense.

Things are looking up...

I'm trying to be a bit more positive this entry:) Seriously, things are starting to look up. I spent a sort of relaxing weekend with Ysmaille's family. They were very gracious and I spent a lot of time reading a book and hiking the mountains. I stayed at Coram Deo for a few nights and it was nice to catch up with everyone. I didn't do too much for carnival because I was nervous about going downtown. It turns out that 3 people died, which is quite tame for Haiti:)
I am now back living with Jenny. Ysmaille finally put up the barriers last night and they worked. Max has so far not figured out a way to escape but he spent a lot of time staring at them in confusion and then whining. Our invertor works some of the time. The water pumps work and we even got enough hydro last night that some things froze in the freezer!!!
I had a workshop/staff meeting on Wedneday this week for the teachers. It went over fairly well. They are never super enthusiastic but they did listen somewhat attentively and were interested in the various math manipulatives I introduced. Of course their favourite part were the math games and they inevitably became quite competitive.
I am experiencing the regular Feb/March blues that I think everyone experience the world over regardless of it they have winter. I just feel tired a lot and when a new challenge arises instead of tackling it head on I want to crawl back in bed and wait until it solves itself:) I'm sure I'll snap out of it and renew my enthusiasm for my work. I think after a while you get used to the challenges of Haiti and they don't tire you out so much.
We continue to have very limited hydro so I apologize again to all those people who have e-mailed me and have not yet received a reply.

Problems, Problems and more Problems

Now, I hate to complain but things are not going so smoothly these days. No hydro, no water, no invertor and a crazy dog. So far my new house has only added more stress to my life. Hopefully everything is fixed soon. I've heard that in between presidents there is often not much hydro so maybe in March we will receive some hydro. We had someone come today to hopefully fix our electrical wiring, right now even when we receive hydro things don't work and the invertor doesn't charge. The water pumps aren't working so there's no water on the roof which means so showers or running water. (we have to take it from the resevior) Ysmaille was supposed to make barriers for the dog (to contain him to a certain part of the yard) before Jenny went away for 5 days but things keep interrupting his work and they are still not in place so I will have to find another place to stay for the next 5 days. Fun, fun and more fun.
On top of all this, yesterdayYsmaille's truck broke down in the middle of a busy road. All sorts of helpful people drove by and informed us that we were blocking the road and needed to move. In my nicest voice I thanked them so much for their help:) There were about 20 people standing around doing nothing. No one was able to find us water for the truck and no one was willing to direct traffic. So I stood in the middle of the road directing traffic. I think everyone was saying "who is this crazy blanc?" but I didn't care.
So, no hydro also means no internet so if I haven't written in a while please don't be mad. I'm hoping in the next few weeks things start improving and I'll start responding to e-mail again.

Preval is President

Preval has been declared the new president of Haiti. People are VERY happy and the celebrations went on all night long We woke up at 5:00 to A LOT of noise on the street. Things seem really peaceful right now. Apparently after the elections, two different kidnapping took place but when the kidnappers arrived at Cite Soliel they were told that they must release their captives. The gang members announced that if Preval became President they would put a stop to the kidnappings. Now whether this is true or not... we will see.
Things look hopeful with Preval as president. He did manage to accomplish some positive things when he was in power last time. The tricky part is that the gangs wanted him in and therefore are expecting some kickbacks from helping him get in power.
On a personal note. I spent the week at my friend Heather's house waiting to figure things out with my new best friend "Max". Ysmaille took some measurements today and will start making two barriers on Monday. We will keep Max contained in a section of the backyard and I hopefully won't have to worry about him. However, Jenny is going away next weekend (for Carnival) and I'm not crazy about staying there by myself. I guess I'll just take each day as it comes.
It'll be nice to open school again next week. We basically lost 2 weeks of school. I managed to get a lot of work done with very little distractions, however, it will be difficult for the teachers to finish all the curriculum by the end of the year.
Saturday morning Heather and I went to visit "Sisters of Charity" a orphanage run by Nuns. It was very sad. Rooms full of children crying out for attention. We picked up a few children (with VERY wet diapers) and held them for a bit but when we put them back down they started crying even more. I think I will try my best to visit there on a regular basis and give at least a few of the kids the attention they so badly need.

From Bad to Worse

Things are pretty crazy right now in Port-au-Prince. Rumours are flying and tempers are rising. Here's something I read today in a CNN article today:
"PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- Hundreds of smashed ballot boxes and bags apparently used to carry vote count sheets were scattered across a garbage dump Wednesday, more than a week after Haiti's disputed presidential elections.
U.N. officials sent troops to the garbage dump five miles north of the capital to recover the election material, according to U.N. spokesman David Wimhurst, who called the discovery "extraordinary."
The word on the street in Haiti is that the UN were the ones to dump the votes here, and several street kids claim they found them. Basically the whole election has turned into a sham and the rumour is that very soon the presidential house will be stormed and the people will declare Preval president themselves. Surprisingly, things remain calm and all the parades look like they are more part of Carnival than of a manisfestation. I had no problems getting to work today and some stores are even open. Schools have been closed for a week and a half now and we're losing lots of precious teaching time. I've managed to get lots of work done due to no interruptions, but the students are getting very behind.
On a personal note. Jenny has decided that she doesn't want to lose me as a roomate. We are going to ask permission to build two gates that will keep Max enclosed whenever I am home. We will let him out at night so he can still guard the house. Problem solved.

Exaggeration

We just received "current" (aka hydro) and I had a chance to check the international news. I thought I'd better write one more entry so that no one takes the news too seriously. The events of Port-au-Prince are very much exaggerated. The protests have been very peaceful and despite the one incident where 4 people were killed there was no other violence. There was a very LARGE group of people that marched up Delmas today but they only held signs and waved tree branches. Now, tomorrow who knows. The longer they take to announce the results the more upset people will become. I will keep you updated. Today we closed school just to be safe and it will be closed tomorrow as well. I was unable to get to my new house today so I am staying at Coram Deo. I didn't come with a change of clothes but my sweet little brother Cadeau is lending me some:)
To answer Gwen's questions. The oven mitts plan, although seemingly foolproof, did not proof to be successful. As to the type of dog, I think it's a German Shepherd but it may be mixed with something else.

Something Fishy???

So as I mentioned earlier the elections were a "success" and everyone was feeling pretty positive. Kidnappings had ceased and the streets seem ed very calm and safe. We had school Thursday and Friday last week but very few students came because all the other schools were still closed and people were still afraid to venture out.
So, we expected the results to be announced Friday night, maybe Saturday and at the very latest Sunday. Today is Monday and there is still no official word but lots of rumours. Today there is choas on the streets. There are many manifestations and most roads are blocked off. People are walking in large groups on the streets protesting the fact that no announcement has been made. Preval's percentage of votes seems to change every minute and everyone is getting pretty suspicious that something fishy is going on. I am being safe and not venturing out (except to the internet cafe I am sitting in right now:)
As far as my living situation... things are not looking good. I spent some major time this week bonding with Max and trying to convince him that I'm not a threat to him. So Sunday afternoon I was actually playing with him by myself (Jenny was inside.) All was going well when all of a sudden he freaked out again and attacked me. So I have fresh bite marks and I will never feel safe being near him again. It appears that I might have to move back to Coram Deo but Jenny is trying very hard to think of another plan... barriers, a longer chain, possibly even another house. She is not excited about living alone again, especially with all the uncertainty these days.
On another note. We had awonderful day on Sunday. We went hiking in the mountains and attended a church on top of a mountain (literally). One of my friends is afraid of heights so she waited on the bottom until the church service was over.
So there's a quick update. Don't worry about me I won't let curiously get me in trouble. When I hear noise on the street I will stay safely inside.

February 7, 2006

February 7th was a big day for the Gringhuis family as well as for the entire country of Haiti.
Olivia Ann (without an "e", although I'm sure she'll change that when she's older) Gringhuis was born just after 5:00am on Tuesday morning, weighing just over 8 pounds. I saw pictures of her this morning and of course she's absolutely beautiful.
February 7th was also election day here in Haiti. And despite what you might read in the newspaper the day was calm and peaceful. I had the opportunity to visit two voting stations and despite really long lines and hour long waits people were in good sprits and came out in droves to participate in the voting process. Some stations had a bit of violence with people shoving and police hitting those in line. One or two people were shot but overall, and in most places the election went very smoothly. It was well organized (for Haiti). The actual voting ballot was HUGE. It had a large picture of each candidate (all 33 of them) for those who cannot read.
We won't know the results (offically) until Friday or Saturday but many already see Preval as the new president. The actual results should be interesting.
Things seem really calm on the streets and we are opening school today. How many students will arrive is yet to be determined.

Good News and Bad News

Let's start with the good news. The move to my new house went very smoothly. I actually have very little stuff here so it didn't take much time to pack and move my stuff. The weekend was action packed and a lot of fun. Saturday night we were invited for dinner to a family's house and had a delicious meal there with lots of wonderful conversation. Sunday we went to church and then invited over several friends for lunch. We enjoyed a lazy day of sitting around, eating and talking. In the afternoon we went for a walk and took pictures of all the campaign posters. At night we went next door to a super bowl party. Of course I was really quite serious about cheering on Seattle. Unfortunately they didn't win.
Now for the bad news. The house I am living in comes with a dog. I am not normally afraid of any dogs and when people make comments about being afraid of this dog I never understand why. Max is a big dog but relatively calm... or so I thought. Well, Sunday afternoon we had him tied up because one of our friends is afraid of him. When we went to go Jenny was going to untie him but I offered. He's always been pretty calm around me. As I walked behind the house he was very calm. I petted him in the head a few times and talked to him and he was perfectly still. When I went to untie him he sunk his teeth into my arm and wouldn't let go. I had to pull my arm free. To say the least I was quite shook up. We cleaned the wounds and they look alright. Unfortunately, I am now terrified of the dog. All I could think of last night was the dog and how I am going to make myself unafraid of him. What drama!!!
Other than that things are pretty calm. The government told all school to close last Friday and all of this week. (for the elections) We are closed Monday through Wednesday this week only. Today the streets were very calm and I came into work. Although there's no students there's always work to be done.