I spent this weekend in Kenscoff, which was an amazing little retreat from everything going on here in Tabarre. This week was so hard physically, lifting and moving the contents of an entire warehouse, and mentally, hosting volunteers, that it was amazing to snuggle up, drink coffee, read a book and peak out at amazing view or the pouring rain, both of which I was happy to see. St. Helene, the orphanage in Kenscoff, is tucked way up in the mountains. Kenscoff, the city, is very small and very high up, but from the ‘downtown’ area you take about another 10 minutes driving up the mountain to get to St. Helene. If you continue up the mountain, about another mile you get to the top, so it is really up there. When you pull in the gates, the buildings are interspersed among the largely wooded grounds. Some of the buildings are painted in the traditionally “loud” Haitian fashion with bright colors and characters, but it feels out of place with all the green plants and gray skies. Kenscoff is like Seattle with a tropical twist. It was cold, maybe 60 degrees, with crisp air. It rained every day and the sun only came out for about an hour or two each day.

Retreat House at Kenscoff

One of the children's homes at St. Helene

The drive up the mountain was at first amusing and then breathtaking. I absolutely love driving around in this country, it’s like extreme people watching. If you drive around in the U.S. you might run into a person or two on the street doing something other than walking, but it’s pretty unlikely. The people here spend their days in the street, which provides endlessly amusing scenes to watch as a passerby. There were so many little scenes I wish I could freeze in my brain. Three little girls, all in fancy dresses, gleefully running full speed ahead over gravel, rocks and dirt in their barefeet. An old woman, with two bags of laundry on her head climbing up the mountain, puffing on a long, old school pipe. Endless cows, horses, pigs and dogs. A man in a formal business suit, hanging out the back of a tap-tap which has “I DON’T CARE” painted in English across the top. People going about their daily business, barely noticing one more car passing by. I found the infamous “Christmas tree men” that Sister Judy told me about… men who carry “Christmas trees” of pharmaceuticals and people pay to have their ailment treated by these salesmen. It is sketchy beyond belief, but it was amusing to see them. I’ll take it as further motivation to require justifications for medicine requests and responsible disposal of expired meds.

I’m excited to see what we can get accomplished this week. It will be so nice to have our focus off of sorting the warehouse and more on acquiring donations and making contacts with other NGO’s in the country. I’m also at the point where I’m sick of being the new girl, but in order to move forward I MUST to be able to speak Creole. I am determined to be able to completely understand it within the next two weeks and speak it fluently within the next month. It will help that I can spend more of my time this next week at the hospital and not with American volunteers at the warehouse.

These three weeks have flown by. And now that I know about the little retreat up in Kenscoff, I feel like I will be even happier during my year here.