"surprisingly miserableless"

Yes I actually said that. My English is finally taking a hit. If only that meant that my Creole was getting better...

Last Thursday we had a big Thanksgiving celebration. Us American volunteers got together to host a Thanksgiving for all the other volunteers and employees who live on campus. We had such a good time eating, talking and drinking. We had most of the traditional Thanksgiving foods- turkey (stuffed with ground beef??), mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and yams (which we found the next day). The food didn't even really matter though, it was just so nice for everyone to be together. It definitely made it wayyy easier to be away from home and in a country where no one else celebrates the holiday.


Father Rick and our fabulous Italian volunteer chef carving the turkey




Sister Judy and Bridget getting the food prepared

After dinner, I went to the Hotel Oloffson for the first time. It's the most famous hotel in Haiti and has a huge list of all the famous people who have stayed there. If you've seen Anthony Bourdain's Haiti episode, it's the hotel he stays at. If you haven't seen the episode, he talks with the current owner who tells him how he aquired the hotel which is a super interesting story. Anyways, on Thursday nights there's a popular band that plays so we went to go dance and hang out. It was tons of fun!

On Saturday we got up super early to go on a day trip to Fond des Blancs, a tiny little village in the south of Haiti.

One of our past directors is from this little town and he has since gone back to help out his community. We went and saw a cornmeal factory, bread factory, clinic, school, block factory and sewing shop that he has built there. It was awesome to see everything that we're doing in Tabarre being done on a much smaller scale for the rural community.


Bread factory in a container




Site for the school- it has fruit trees on the property!




Blocks to be purchased. The background is amazing in person, the picture doesn't do it justice!


We also went on a tour of St. Boniface Hospital which is in the "downtown" area of Fond des Blancs. We went to go check otu a provincial hospital, although this one was very nice because it has been financially supported by a group of Americans. The only scary part was that neonatology shares a room with the ER. They also have a cholera center which we stopped by and they only have one patient!! Which is great news for the community, but made me sad that we're still getting so many patients in Tabarre.


entrance to St. Boniface



The visit was very nice and I really enjoyed seeing it, but the drive there and back was definitely the most entertaining part. We had so much fun just joking around, talking about the organization and Haiti and the volunteers and our lives. Driving all over the country is fascinating as well. Haiti is just so completely different from anywhere I've been, I'm still totally fascinated when we drive around. However, this drive was particularly amusing because of the following...

That is my roommate, Bridget, and behind her is the river that we're fording. See how comfortable we were? Ya. The next picture is taken out the back of the truck and gives you a better idea of the size of the river.

But we all survived including the driver and the car, so all is well.

This post is dedicated to everyone who complains that I don't put up enough pictures. You're welcome :)

GOOD DAY

Her mom came today!!! The little girl who has been living in oncology without any family for 5 months finally got to go home today! I went up to oncology and got the story from the nurses. Her mom had trouble getting to the hospital last week because of money, but eventually she pulled enough together to make the trip down here. They live way up north, so it's a good two days of traveling. She came into oncology and at first her daughter didn't recognize her. I guess that's what happens when a four year old hasn't seen her mother in 5 months, but also the mom was pregnant when she left and now she's had the baby, so that's a big change too. However, once the girl realized that that was her mom, apparently she wouldn't talk with anybody else. The second best part to this story is that the mom wants her to continue to get treatment! The girl still needs to go to the DR to get radiation therapy and I guess they're going to make it happen. There always could be things that go wrong of course, but at least her mom wants to continue her treatment. Good. Stuff.

Also our office got finished this morning! And our new employee started today and so far everything is going great! I'm going to go have a glass of wine and enjoy having things go so well today!

a weekend does the body good

Today was a really good day for relaxing. You know how some days you're better at letting it all go than others? This afternoon I was finally able to get rid of some of the stress I've been feeling all week long. I spent the morning at a very long mass at FWAL, but it was great to see the kids there. I always miss them so much, but it's so hard to get over there during the week. I could easily live here without working and have completely packed days just visiting with all the kids and chatting with employees. After mass I got some work done on the computer that I haven't had the chance to do all week with the office being under construction. Then after lunch we brought some of the kids from abandoned down into the courtyard to play.

Bridget and Samuel

Peggy and Marco playing drums on the cheetah

with Marvens

trying to get Lubin to smile for the camera

Marvens is the newest baby in sal pwason and has been doing so much better over the last two weeks. He was admitted to the hospital with severe anemia and malnutrition. When I first met him in abandoned he was very timid and quiet and would just lay on my shoulder whenever I picked him up. The only time I saw him show emotion other than sadness was when he was eating. This was long before I knew he was malnourished but he would hold on with all his strength to his cups of milk and wouldn't let me give him a break for some air. He would always cry when he finished his meal. Now, he eats like a normal kid... excited at first, then he gets full and food seems like it would be better used as a toy by spreading it all over the table and his hands/arms/face/shirt/diaper/floor. You can see from the picture that his hair is filling in, maybe for the first time. Now he loves to play and grabs my hands and stands up to practice walking. He has the most adorable smile and laugh and loves to be thrown in the air. He was by far the most adventurous this morning, braving the grass to go check out the animal statues and pond in the courtyard. The abandoned room can be such a sad place, it's so nice to have a child doing so much better by being there.

This evening I watched the first Twilight movie with my roommate because she had never seen any of them!! I set her expectations low, so she liked it. I'm going to have to figure out how to download the newest one once she catches up on the other two. Also in keeping with our American-ness, we're having a Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday! Yes it's 95 degrees here and we don't have many of the ingredients, but we're throwing a dinner anyways! All of us American volunteers are getting together to have the dinner for the rest of the volunteers/employees who live on campus. Even if we don't get stuffing, it's got to be more delicious than the can of soup I usually have for dinner.

I've been lazy about writing in my blog lately.

Hmm, what's new? We're getting an office in the warehouse which is much needed and couldn't come at a better time. Now that all the hospitals and clinics know us and that they have access to our supplies (which we are happy to give them) we need a barrier to prevent wanderers and to establish an official system for reqeusting supplies.

Francisville has been a mad house lately with the arrival of a bunch of Italian donors. The NPH Italia office completely funds Francisville, so it has been a mad dash to get all the projects finished and everything cleaned up for their arrival. Tonight we are going to the grand opening of the Francisville restaurant. Quite the monumental event! Well I'm actually about a hundred times more excited that our new office has air conditioning and electricity... but the restaurant is cool too I guess.

I was sick last week so I didn't get up to see the kiddo's much and I realized how much my Creole suffered because of it! When I went up there after almost a week, I realized I missed them so much, but I was struggling to get it out in Creole! So frustrating. We're still waiting on the mom of the little girl in oncology. She said she was coming yesterday and I had said a tentative goodbye to her the day before. I was nervous about it all day yesterday and especially right before going up. I opened the door to the room and there she is, dressed in a gorgeous little white dress, just waiting. It absolutely broke my heart. I talked with her about it a little bit and she just said "manman poco vini" (Mom hasn't come yet). I brought her down to my house and gave her some candy and stickers which she happily gave out to the other kids in oncology.

Last weekend my roommate and I got away for the weekend! We went up to Petionville which is the wealthiest part of Port-au-Prince and spent the weekend in a gorgeous hotel with hot showers, real mattresses and TV! We got to walk all around the town which was such a nice escape from being trapped on the compound in Tabarre. It's so frustrating because one of the things I love the most about Haiti is how friendly people are, how they joke around and help each other out. You get a sense from people that they're all in this together, whether they're helping you back up your car, giving directions, or making jokes while you wait (and you wait for everything here). But because of the security situation we have to be so careful about leaving the organization, even during the day. It was amazing to be able to walk around Petionville, talk with people on the street, shop on the street, eat the street food, just to be a part of Haiti!

The Kinam Hotel, where we stayed. They call it gingerbread-style architecture.

past 2 weeks in pictures

Since David was here for the last two weeks, he took a ton of pictures and I had no time to write in my blog. So here's how we spent the last two weeks...

typical walk to FWAL

Steve & friend being too cool. And yes, terrible picture of me, but very accurate at capturing the moment of Mido attacking me.

Peterson showing off the new camera pose David taught him

David and Marco

Dance party with oncology!

dancing???

celebrating Day of the Dead at the mass graves from the earthquake

hiking in Kenscoff! Port-au-Prince is behind David under the clouds

looking to the NW, absolutely amazing

the entire reason I go to Kenscoff: sweatshirt & blanket, coffee, book

OUR NEW OFFICE!!!!

top ten reasons why I love Haiti

these will probably change by tomorrow, but for now...

10. the excessive use of pleasantries, at least if you have to have a bad conversation it sounds nice with all the cheri's (my dear) and ti pwoblems (little problem)
9. mountains, hills, flatlands, beach and ocean- all within an hour's drive
8. the greeting of kissing on the cheek. especially from the girls at FWAL, so adorable.
7. the fact that haiti has like 5 variations on beans and rice. all delish.
6. haitian people who have so much pride and are eager to teach and share about their country
5. the way people live their lives in the streets, so much community and togetherness
4. so many people here are artists, poets, singers and love to share their talent
3. the way every occasion turns into a party
2. getting to work with people who are eager and involved and want to see things get better for their country
1. giving conversation, comfort, laughter, encouragement and love to those who seek it

All Saints Day

Today for All Saints Day, a holiday which I have never heard of before, at my Catholic organization I decided to listen to a Unitarian Universalist sermon on service. In this UU sermon, the minister quoted a Catholic Saint who spoke about what all saints must do in order to reach sainthood. How ironic.


"St. John of the Cross, a Spanish mystic and Catholic Saint said, 'I saw the river over which all saints must pass and the name of that river is suffering. I saw the boat in which they cross and the name of that boat is love.'"

Good quote to think about, regardless of whether or not you're celebrating All Saints Day.