Jacmel

Well, God gave me a community to work with in Jacmel, just as I had thought and hoped. Actually, He gave me more than one. :D

This week I'll begin teaching English to 50 youth at the KALMI center and 15-20 members of the Wesleyan Church in Jacmel.

KALMI

KALMI is a place for youth to meet, spend time together, and learn new things along the way. There are about 70 individuals altogether and many of them have HIV/AIDS. Currently they have computer classes each day of the week and hope to resume their film-making classes soon. They've asked me to start English classes and hold a class so they can learn how to make bracelets that they can sell. They have a field outside of the city that is going to be used for a reforestation project. They're basically going to turn the field into a nursery for a few months and when the trees and plants are strong enough, they'll take them to various parts of the mountain that are known for erosion.  Planting the trees in those areas should prevent soil erosion and land slides during the rainy season. Talk about cool! They're also interested in doing a community clean up project and painting a mural on one of the walls outside of the youth center. I cannot wait to get my hands dirty with these kids! 

We have such a great trade-off... they teach me Creole and I teach them English. I'll help with informatics classes and they'll eventually teach me how to make a movie. They have the land and some, but not all of the resources needed for the reforestation project. I have a little bit of money to help buy soil and seeds and I have incoming teams that can serve as additional helping hands. They have hand-made crafts for sale, but don't know how to organize a yard sale. I don't have any hand-made crafts except for bracelets, but I can surely help them organize a yard sale!  I feel like this is a perfect example of how God gives each of us special talents and people who have strengths in our weak areas.

The KALMI sign in one of the classrooms

Eglise Wesleyenne de Jacmel

This is the church that my team volunteered at the very first time I ever went to Haiti. The pastor of the church, Pastor Robert, contacted me and asked me if I could also teach English to a few members of his congregation. In exchange for teaching, he's giving me a place to stay while I'm in Jacmel. Since I'm paying for an apartment in Port-Au-Prince, I couldn't afford to pay for a place in Jacmel. Not have a place to sleep would make my work out there pretty difficult.... but now that's not a problem! Even though I don't speak Creole well enough to know what they're saying, I would really enjoy attending their prayer meetings on Friday nights. Prayer is a beautiful thing in itself, but prayer in multiple languages is magestic.

Pastor Robert's church- Leglise Wesleyenne de Jacmel

A view from the pulpit

Our new roommate

Rachael and I welcomed our new roommate yesterday. Her name is Sarah and she'll be working with the Hope for Children program. She'll be here for the next 6 months. We're glad to have her.

An Adventure in Jacmel

So one of my favorite people at KALMI is a guy named Maxo. Maxo lives near the director of the KALMI center and he's always driving his moto around Jacmel, giving people rides where they need to go. Well on Friday morning, the director and I were walking up the road to catch a taxi when Maxo's uncle drove by and told us Maxo had been in an accident. So, we hopped in the car with Maxo's uncle and went to the scene of the accident, which just so happened to be in front of a hospital. When we got there, the police were taking Maxo and the other driver to the police station to fill out a report. Maxo's passenger was in the hospital getting xrays (for only $12.50 a piece.... blows my mind!). So, I got to go to a Haitian hospital, see the xrays, and go into the area where burn victims and people with broken bones were being treated. There were a lot of people there who were receiving treatment from road rash caused from moto accidents. Luckily Maxo's passenger had no broken bones or burns. She and Maxo were both really lucky!

After she was released, we headed to the jail, prison, and police station (all one building) to get Maxo. We literally just walked right into the police station, through the crowd of detained individuals, and into the reporting office. The jail was really cool looking. It was a 2-story building in the shape of a square with a covered courtyard where the detained individuals waited to be released. On each floor were open offices where police officers took accident and criminal reports. They hand wrote each report in a spiral bound notebook. It was SO different than anything I had ever seen before. While I was waiting for Maxo to be released, I started wandering around the courtyard (staying within sight of everyone I knew, though). I ended up finding the bathrooms and on the door was one of the craziest signs I have ever seen here. It was written in Creole, but basically said that police officers were not allowed to use old police reports as toilet paper because it clogs the toilets. I was dying laughing when I realized that's what it said! Anyways, Maxo was released shortly after and was given his moto back. Everyone in the accident was okay, thankfully!

More adventures to come.... thanks for reading!