Last Minute Recap.

So lets see what has happened the last few days...Oh yea. I went to the BEACH for the weekend with about 60 people! It was a retreat/VBS for our friends, the Hojo's/Manesaros (sp) kids, The Light House, and it was so much fun! Go to meet some new people, play volleyball against some Brazilian UN soldiers (this was one of the more enjoyable things of the day...except for the fact that they were wearing speedos...gross), got a great tan, got a little sun burnt , got to sleep in an air conditioned room (yes that is something you never do here and I loved it), got to swim in the CARIBBEAN, broke a dock/raft out in the water playing king of the raft (which later turned into let's see how many people we can knock off the raft and then into try to stay on the raft or try to get back on the half sunken raft),got a great tan, it was a lot of fun though. I met a lot of great people and got to hang out with some of my friends that live here, like Ari and Charmaine. 

English Camp starts tomorrow (Monday). I am really excited but really nervous. It is going to be loads of fun because I am in my element, Arts and Crafts. I have been dubbed The Craft Nazi. Haha. I am really going to have a ton of fun. No craft for you...(you have to watch Seinfeld to get it...The Soup Nazi).

Calling It For What It Is

June 25, 2008

That big thing hurdling toward you, in some wacked out game of chicken, is called a cameo. That little truck looking thing with eighty people on it is called a tap-tap. The boys in the road, the one that this picture is of, they are called restivecs. Whats that? A child slave. Oh me! I am called blanc or give me a dollar. I hear it so many times a day that I am considering changing my name to Blanc Givemea Dollar. All of the things mentioned have a name that suits them but, what do you call a country that has a eighty percent unemployment rate, a illiteracy rate that is just as high or higher and has so much trash that it flows in the street like water and it is one of the most beautiful place that you have ever seen...I guess that you would call it Haiti.

No I am not sure of all of Haiti's history but, I know that throughout its entire existence there have been revolts, dictators, coups, dictators, coups, dicta....you get the point. There have also been many promises made by by good men that have changed and the promises of others that say things will change and they will get better, they never did, as you can see. So the money that is promised by the government for this road here and that city there never made it to this road here and that city there. The people are really the ones that suffer when the politicians start to line their pants with money instead of fabric, because they can, and they put the money for this road here and that city there in those money lined pants. Why am I here?I guess it is because there is a new generation coming that can change all of this. Those restivec boys up there? Yes they are apart of it. I believe that if they are given a chance to start over and they are no longer forced to work in the streets of Delmas for money that they will only see twice, once when it is handed to them and twice when they take it out of their pocket to give it to the person that is forcing them to do this, no they don't do it just to bug you. Anyway, yes they are the ones that can change the corruption and the political system because they live it, someone bigger and more powerful taking the money that you earn. The children are the ones that will change Haiti. They are why I am here.

(to see the refereed to picture:http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=665873&id=546378177)

What Is In These Words That We Say?

June 17, 2008

What to say, What to say? I am not really sure what to say. It has been a few days since I posted...sorry. I don't think that 5 have stopped since I got here. I have taken like 500 pictures that and have been trying to upload them for 3 days. Things seem to take a lot longer here than anywhere else. People here seem not to have a sense of time and a sense that things need to be done at a certain time and they have to be to a place at a certain time. It is weird but it is ok to show up 2 or 3 hours late and to knock on your door in the middle of dinner. People don't seem to understand that there are certain hours that knocking on your gate at eight at night is not an ok thing to do. Another thing is that they seem to think that it is not a problem to show up to class. Its like why should I do that? Ummm, because you need to come and learn that its not ok to just leave your baby in the crib you have to play with it, its not ok to give your baby things that it your mind are ok for the baby when in truth they can kill your baby, its not ok that you don't come to meet Korin and get to DASH to get your AIDS meds, its not ok that you don't know what color red is (THAT IS WHY YOU ARE IN LITERACY!). No one here seems to be aware of things that are not ok...well what is not ok in my mind may be perfectly ok in their minds. And it is not ok for the ladies with AIDS to have the mind set that they are going to die because they have AIDS. 3 out of 20 women in our programs have AIDS. They think that they are going to die and that there babies are going to die. Not true. If they come to us, to go to DASH (where they get there meds), get there meds when they need to and take care of themselves, they can live long and normal lives. But it is such a taboo here to have AIDS that the ladies will not admit that they have it, even though in the back of their minds they know they do.They just won't admit it. 

I still am not sure how I can run around like a chicken with its head cut off all day and deal with all of this all day and still want to be here. But its like that line from OneRepublic called Stop and Stare, then one that goes "You start to wonder why your here not there". When I hear that I think well, why am I not in Haiti? There are normally a number of reasons but I always want to be here even though it is so hard. I love it here, I really do.

Oh Who Would Ever Want to Be King

So there is this song called Viva la Vida and I think it is my most favorite song that I have heard in a long time. It is by ColdPlay for all of you music people. It has two lines in it that seem to stick with me: #1 is "Now I sleep alone, sweep the streets that I used to own". I think this sticks with me so much because of what I have seen in Haiti. A long time ago people used I guess "own" the streets. They were not afraid like they are now to be out at night. To see a lot of people out at night is a rare thing. If you do there is most likely something up or about to go awry. People also are very poor to, it was not always so but as things went on with corrupt and inept rulers that have wanted power and cared more about themselves than their people that they were supposed to be protecting. #2 is "Who would ever want to be king?". Really no one wants to rule Haiti, unless you want all the power or want to try to do some good. There have been few rulers who want the latter and to many to count that want all the power. Those that have tried to do good have been killed by someone who wants the power. Papa Doc for example did what he had to do to get to the top, killing many people along the way and he ruled till he died at the end of the 60's. The president now, Prevale, has done many good things. He has put garbage trucks on the streets to create jobs and he has tried to clean up all of the gangs and now he is trying to get rid of the drug trafficking and the drug lords, who in a way keep the people poor.

I am not sure why this song sticks with me and I am even more unsure why a country such as Haiti sticks with me even harder. I think that it is a good thing that I am here, I know it is actually. 

So Today

So today. Great way to start a post. I think so and it is all I can really think of to say at this time. So today...I got up at 8:30, we almost got in 3 accidents, we went to 3 different super markets to find ONE thing, we went to Epidor (my favorite), we played with the kids at the boys and girls houses, my moms plane was late, Hillary missed the plane because AA is stupid, we ate dinner at Beth's, rode in the back of the truck, dropped the girls off at the girls house, and came back here unpacked my mom's bags, put all that crap away, took a cold shower and here i am now writing this. Maybe not all in that order, but pretty close to that order. Today was pretty uneventful. The ladies in sewing got a kick out of me and they are all wonderful. I am not really sure what else to say but we are all having a good time and my mom and family is here now so I am happy about that. I hope I will have more to say tomorrow.

Bienvenue Ay'Haiti

(not sure if I spelt Haiti right in creole...) 

OK so day 1, well kinda 2. It would really be day 2 if my plane had been on time yesterday evening. I had no problems in ATL but when I got to MIA some of our flight attendants were MIA. So of course we had to wait for them, i actually only think it was one and she was stuck in customs. Then the plane was having an issue so they had to fix that...they decided to fix it after the flight attendant showed up, not while we were waiting, after...so we ended up leaving at about 4:30 instead of 2:30 which given that it is a 2 hour flight, we were four hours late. Well that was really ok because Beth had some girls coming in on my plane and their plane had been late arriving in MIA, if our plane had not been so late they would not have made it. wait let me rephrase that, if we had not been missing a flight attendant, if the had fixed the plane while we were waiting for the flight attendant they would have not made it to the plane in time to be in Haiti now. But needless to say I am in Haiti and I am enjoying my fan and our dog that decided to lick my toes this morning for about five minutes. I think that Beth is going to come and kidnap me today...not the best choice of words there she is going to come and get me and we so I am not stuck here all day...but that is really it up to now. I will keep you posted. Oh and we got to eat dinner at Beth's last night OMG!!!!!