This past weekend was a good way to kick off our down time
here in Haiti. Rachael and I want to start a tradition of eating out every
Friday as a way to celebrate the weekend. So, after work on Friday, the 3 of us
were walking to Hot N’ Fresh when we ran into Dokte. He drove us to the
restaurant (so we didn't have to cross the busy intersection at rush hour) and joined us for dinner. He ran into some old schoolmates and
fellow doctors at the restaurant, so they joined us too. They were a part of
World Hope International’s NPI project that ended in December of 2010. Now they
work for Sean Penn’s organization. I don’t know how we continue to meet
employees of Sean Penn, but we do. We ended up sitting at Hot N’ Fresh for
THREE hours talking. The night was filled with laughter and much needed
socialization.
Saturday morning we tore the house apart in a cleaning
frenzy. By the time we were done, the house looked as shiny as Mr. Clean’s
head! Maureen had been here for 5 weeks and still hadn’t done anything that
every tourist has to do while they’re in Haiti. So in the afternoon, Thony and
his family took us up to the Baptist Mission to do some shopping and then took
us to The View. At The View, you can see the entire city of Port-Au-Prince,
including the bay, suburbs, the palace, the US Embassy, and the airport. We
also saw the U.S.N.S. Comfort sitting in the bay. The people that ate with us
on Friday night both rode on the helicopters that take patients to and from the
Comfort in emergency situations.
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| The View of Port-Au-Prince with the USNS Comfort in the bay |
We woke up on Sunday morning with the intentions of going to
church. However, we had a few complications along the way. So, we decided that
it would be a good time to do laundry. By doing laundry, I mean getting 3
buckets full of water, hand washing every article of clothing, rinsing off the
soap, then rinsing it again before wringing it out and hanging it up to dry.
Not even 5 minutes passed before the skin started peeling off my hand from
wringing the towels. It took us about three hours to do all of our laundry.
Right after we came inside, it started to rain. So, we frantically ran outside
and took down the clothes. We had no choice but to turn our apartment into a
giant clothes line. Clothes were EVERYWHERE.
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| Forget washing machines Photo by Maureen Bergey |
Later that day, Dokte picked us up and took us to a tent
city near the airport. This tent city is one of the HIV/AIDS vulnerable
communities in which PREVSIDA is working. The PREVSIDA crew organized a soccer
tournament for this community; everyone came out to watch. In fact, the
perimeter of the soccer field was not formed from painted lines, but instead
formed by people. It wasn’t long before someone brought speakers and a laptop.
Then the fun really started. There’s something about music that connects
everyone, regardless of age, race, sex, occupation, or economic status. The
semi-final game ended with a win from the blue team. The final game was tied
and it was getting too dark to see the goals. So, it came down to a coin toss.
The white team won. Everyone gathered around for pictures as the awards were
being given. After the music stopped and the games ended, people went back to
their homes as we went back to ours. It never really feels right coming home to
an apartment after spending the day in a tent city or falling asleep in a bed
after passing a child sleeping on the street. I’m still getting used to living
in this paradox we know as Haiti.
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| Penalty kicks in the semi-finals |
Monday kicked off another week of work. Rachael and I have
been working on editing letters that the sponsored children have written to
their donors. The letters were translated from Creole to English, but there are
spelling and grammatical errors that need to be corrected before being sent
back to the D.C. office. Reading these letters also lets us get a good feel for
each child. Some children talk about their families, what they did during
summer vacation, how well they’re doing in school, and what their ambitions are
after graduating. Most of the children say something along the lines of, “If it
wasn’t for you, I would not be getting an education,” “Just know that if I go far in life, it is
because of you,” or “Being an active part of my education is the greatest gift
you could ever give to me.” When I see things like that, it makes me grateful
for the education I had back home and yet worrisome for the children who still
don’t have the chance to go to school. Haiti’s illiteracy rate is not only the
highest in the Western Hemisphere, but is among the highest in the world.
Without sponsorship programs like the ones run by World Hope International and
the dedication and sacrifice made by teachers like Kellyanne and the Quisqueya crew,
thousands of Haitian children would make the illiteracy statistic even higher
than it is currently. Keep up the good work everyone!
This morning I received a phone call from Patrick (our
upstairs neighbor) at 6:45 am telling me he was outside my door with a mechanic
and needed me to let him in. It turns out that our cistern was leaking gallons
and gallons of water. After they fixed some of the faucets, he advised me to
take a shower with the little remaining water. Our only functional cistern
remaining holds less than 200 gallons of water, which is enough for us to use
for relatively 2 days. If the big cistern has a leak, as suspected, we’ll have
to have a water truck fill up our smaller cistern every other day! That is not
going to be fun at all.
Today is Maureen’s last day, so we’re taking her to the
palace and then to dinner. Please pray for her as she returns home tomorrow and
readjusts to the American culture. I’m a true believer that sometimes the
initial culture shock of a third world country isn’t as difficult to overcome
as it is to overcome reverse culture shock when returning back to a first world
country. Rachael and I are definitely going to miss Maureen a lot. Thanks for
everything, Maureen! :D
Praises: Between the two of us, the quarterly updates for
the sponsored children are being completed at a fast pace, we are in relatively
good health, and we are adjusting well
Prayer requests: for Maureen as she returns back to the
United States; for the construction of the school in Cite Soleil; for patience
and flexibility for me and Rachael; for the opportunity for us to begin working
with people in the field as we are so anxious to do this; and for a solution to
the problem with our cistern
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| Construction of the school in Cite Soleil |
Tuesday- 8/30
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