Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Gary is gone to Port to pick up Caroline this morning, so the house is quiet early on. Of course that is after the 4am preaching service we had. We live next to a rather wealthy person and the local's come by periodically to preach to him...in the middle of the night. That is SOP around here, I guess that is when they think they have a captive audience. So, it's been an early start to the day as the preaching started around 4 and went till about 4:30.

A little more news on the little girl assaulted with a spoon. The worker at school told me that the one who did it to his 2 1/2 year old girl was........a 4 year old girl. How sad is that? At least there was no intent on her part to hurt the smaller girl, but obviously she has had this done to her, how else would she even think of it?

The swine flu thing is a topic here. One of the problems is that there is so many health issues regularly that it likely won't be recognized until well after the fact if it appears here. I guess that is probably similar to other places though. We pray about it and get thru the best we can.

D'Juno, one of my "special" students (special in that he challenges me daily to keep my cool) struggles with math. I have gone over the processes for division and multiplication about a dozen times each. Yesterday he is doing a problem and he comes to me and says "you know what? it helps to read the directions on the top of the page that tells you how to do it." after counting to about a thousand, I replied, "Yes, what a good idea! try that and see if it helps." so he is progressing some....I think.

Berona is a little girl whom I really like. She works hard and does well in some subjects, not so well in others, but she is humble and does not cause trouble. Once you're here for awhile you start to get to know the kids and families better and you see the growth and the problems. They all have ability, most just don't have a chance for schooling here. One of the families that has several children in school also has a 19 year old girl at home who takes care of the kids and has never gone to school. She got pregnant when she was about 14 and her lot in life has been to stay home and take care of the kids while the parents work and others go to school. She likely won't get any schooling in life at all, there are so many small kids in the house she will be home for sometime. She will likely get married at some time and have more kids and that will be her life....like so many young women here.

The days are flying by, 5 weeks from today I get on a plane to come home, and who knows what will happen after that? the kids want OUT of school and they are getting rowdy, but generally not bad. The year has been a blink and it is gone. I've seen so much and learned a little, but it will be good to see my family and friends for....awhile at least.

Djebenis tout moun

Bondye benis ou.

Monday, April 27, 2009

quick update. we have power and we have it all the time!! found out that the local power folks (known throughout Haiti as EDH) have found a much cheaper fuel to use in the diesel generators, I am guessing some kind of biodiesel. They can now run the generators much more than they could in the past. We have not had to use the generator now for an entire week, unheard of in these parts. It apparently will continue this way...until it stops. :) But in the meantime we have power about 18 hours a day. Now if someone would open a Burger King down the street.......

Saturday, April, 25, 2009

so many things. Leslie and Chris Rollings had their home attacked earlier this week, their van was set on fire in the middle of the night and they were threatened with death if they did not leave. A man had been caught stealing from them and I believe he is trying to scare them away so he can return home w/o fear of the law, who is after him for stealing and now whomever did this. One of our workers had his daughter, 3 years old, assaulted with a spoon by a neighbor. Apparently, it is custom here for some folks to "ready" a young girl for sex even at age 3. Al and Bev had to fire a worker with the orphans who basically just refused to follow the set rules for the orphanage. They need to find a new worker before summer. Tara blogged about a blog comment that basically wanted to know more about Haiti and less about her family. Tara tried to explain that a large part of life here doesn't translate well over the internet in words. She blogs about her passions..her family and the women in the program they run. She gave an example of a woman who is HIV positive, because she needed money and had sex with a man. She also is pregnant by him. She then saw the same man..and his wife..in the program. His wife is pregnant; she also is HIV positive, as likely will be her baby. This woman is destroyed and Tara just doesnt' know how to put all that into words. Two of the workers in school are trying to get visa's for the US for summer and were denied. Two nights ago there was a young woman walking down the street loudly crying. I heard her for awhile and thought it may have been a baby somewhere but when the sound moved and she walked by I coudl tell who it was. I don't know where she was going, or what had just happened to her, but she was very obviously in distress...and there was nothing I could do.

I have realized that I don't talk that much about some of the things that maybe people want to hear about. I also know that I am not really in a position to talk about those things intelligently so I avoid them. I talk about my journey here, the kids and general things. Those things I know something about, though often not enough.

I know that I don't know whether I will be back next year; that I both want to and think maybe I don't know how or where to be effective. I don't want just to be here so I can call myself "missionary". If I can't make a difference, then the money is much better spent with a place like Gospel for Asia http://www.gfa.org/. I know that sometimes I just want to grab someone and shake them.....and often I just want to hold someone till I can't anymore. Pierre, one of the workers in school, told me that his daughter Daydid told him that she loves me because I play with her. Is that enough to justify being here? Is it making a difference in her life? I wonder where God wants me, and whether I listen enough to know. I teeter between feeling useful and useless. I know that just working in a school and not being able to help someone know Christ just isnt enough....and I feel totally inadequate in telling people about Him. I teach Bible class for the young kids in school but somehow that doesn't seem enough. The physical, emotional, psychological and every other kind of need here is overwhelming....but if people just live better here and don't know Christ, then what is the point? I often think now that without living with the Haitians...really living with them in community...I can't share anything that will make a difference, and that both excites and scares me.

Please pray, those that do, for these issues mentioned above.

Djebenis tout moun

Bondye benis ou

Wednesday, April, 22, 2009

Rain. It has been cloudy in the afternoon for a few days now, humidity is up too. Today it rained. Slow at first, building to a large downpour for about 10 minutes, then slowing again. People running all around hiding from it, especially the women and girls, the young guys playing in it. Dust and dirt and all washed away. There has been about 3 days of rain here since December, and it was nice to hear it, see it and feel it. The only downside to it is the feeling that more is coming, unfortunately much more over the next 4-5 months. We just hope for no hurricanes.

Kenson is still with us. He has been working with Gary on math and today he got a 92 on a test. he could have done better, as he did not reduce to lowest terms about 3 answers which are the total of his errors on the test. But progress. His resistance is slowly receding. He has so much potential in school, but other issues always seem to get in the way. Hopefully this is a small step in the right direction for him. Dmitri, on the other hand......well, let's just not talk about him today.

The kids are all ready for school to be over, it has been a hard year, with the storms, hurricane damage including washed out bridges and roads, and the usual political escalations in Haiti. They have worked fairly hard and are all ready for a break, we can tell. Ronid is growing up and doing well in school; Peter is fat as a butterball turkey, the workers have done a good job with the kids and school, with the usual personal issues that come up from time to time. The mid year additions of D'Jinu and Jephtae are doing much better, learning how the school works and begininng to understand life a bit better it seems. Some of the ones with home problems still show those in their faces from time to time, but overall it has gone well. James started the year in such a way we did not think he would be able to finish a full semester of school and he has kicked in and is definitely one of the hardest workers in school now....and making progress in math and english. There are such bright kids here; Sophonie, Myberson, Pony, Kerwin, Rutney, Naika, Ronid, Jerry, Ashterline, and others. They have so much they could do. They have so much to overcome, and so much they won't. I hope they succeed, I pray they know Jesus a little better now than they did at the start of the year, I pray they are a light in their homes and communities. Small victories here, and everyone is worthwhile.

Djebenis tout moun
Bondye benis ou.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

it's 5 am, been up for about an hour, been awake for longer. one of those nights. thoughts can be such a bother. you know those times when your mind just won't cooperate, won't give you dead to the world sleep, or nice thoughts about what a wonderful person you are and how blessed others are when you are around them. stuff like that.

tonight was thoughts of being in a group of people different from me...a group of inner city people from home, blacks, gang members, drug users, etc. And in it, we are all just talking about stuff, trying to find a way to understand each other. Generally it went well, for those interested. it seems that the skill we lack most as people is the ability to listen to others, or maybe, just to care about what they say. we struggle to fit the world into our rules and reg's, so that we are comfortable that everyone else is doing it the right way, which amazingly, is always our way. I know how to do this so you have to do it the same way....or else you're not special like me. Somethinglike that. Fear drives us, fear that others won't accept us, so we just refuse to accept them, being different from us. I have to say, having seem things this year that I haven't seen before, it is a lot easier to accept that people do things differently than I would. The amazing part is that they survive doing it their way and not my way!!! Now sometimes my way may be better..but not necessarily all the time. Finding those times when I need to change is the real challenge. Jesus said in the Gospel of Luke that we should not lend and expect to get back, we should give more to those who have taken unjustly from us, that we should love our enemies and treat them well. Later in another part of the Bible (foggy morning in the brain) He said those who obey His commands are His true believers. So I guess it's ok if others are different from me, maybe I can learn something from others, maybe the poor know somethings I don't about life, they just say it a little differently than I would.

Short week this week in school, Monday off to avoid any potential election violence (which was evident in some area's. One of our teachers, Delson, got a one week job as an interpreter with the UN and in the area he was in there were gunfights and fires) and off on Friday for St. Marc's day.

do you realize we have electricity....city power and have had it for the most part of the last 2 days? that is unheard of around here. yesterday we did not have to run the generator for school, Gary said that has never happened before. right now, I am typing by the glow of city powered lights, an amazing thing at this time of day here. If the city would run power from about 8 am to 2pm each day, Gary would never have to run a generator and save a lot of money on diesel. We are thankful to have had it the last few days, I won't be disappointed when it ends, as it will. Power people are strange here. You will have power for 8 hours, then it goes off......for 10 minutes, then back on again for 45 minutes.....then off for 3 hours then back on again. Or as it was a few months ago, off for about 10 days, on for an hour, then off again. We think they have a dart board they throw at to determine the power distribution around the area. And some people are really bad dart players.

Djebenis tout moun
Bondye benis ou

Sunday, April 19, 2009

http://www.topix.com/world/haiti/2009/04/blocked-candidates-could-tarnish-haiti-vote-haiti-caribbean

upshot: Preval will likely win in elections. Lavalas threatens to shut down country until he leaves if Preval tries to treat the election as valid.

it is very quiet today.......too quiet! (I always wanted to do that!) vehicle traffice is banned today and with the exception of about 3 motorcycles and about 2 cars I have not seen any. They say it inhibits drive by shootings and intimidation at polling places. I've never been through a coup before, it may be fun. Maybe I can take notes for when the US does it in the next few years. :( seriously, people are tense, it seems these things just regularly turn out badly so they expect the worst. Lavalas is the largest political party in the country and they are banned for various reasons, most of their own making. Granted it appears that the banishment is pretty much opportunistic on the part of the election commission, but Lavalas caused much of their own problem. Unfortunately, that probably won't matter. Unless they get violent, the UN won't intervene, I am told. So it could be loud and messy, but hopefully not as violent as in past elections. BTW, have I said recently that it's getting warm here in Haiti?

Djebenis tout moun
Bondye benis ou

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Yesterday I had had it. I was finished with Haiti about 9am. I was going to change my ticket and go home, and never come back. No particular reason, just had reached my limit of "stuff". I missed by kids, and wanted to miss the mosquito's, roads, isolation, etc, that is Haiti. I guess it is a measure of God's grace that it passed and now....I think I'll make it to my regularly scheduled flight! It seems a lot of missonaries have posted about reaching "that" point, and I guess I reached mine. I am grateful it passed and I am doing better now. As I read of problems others have...police matters, thefts, kids and serious safety issued, etc., I know my issues are minor, but then again they are my issues. I am profoundly happy that Lydie is safe, that Chris and Leslie will get thru the problems they are going thru, that Peter is looking like a bowling ball. I hope and pray and Bobbie will get thru the summer without imploding, and that the country as a whole will survive an election and a hurricane season and a faltering economy without falling to pieces.

speaking of Peter, saw him yesterday, this kid has gone from deaths door (literally) to so chubby he waddles when he walks. He has been taken off the mamba program and is developing all the requisite attitudes that 2 year olds are supposed to have. Praise God for super peanut butter!

woke up this morning, stretched and looked up.....and saw a spider as big as my fist on the mosquito netting directly above my head. I guess it is the fact that I am truly Haitian that I didn't panic. :) I saw it not moving, just rested a bit more, got up and grabbed the Baygon spray. It is really good stuff, you just don't want to inhale. It can't be sold in the states due to whatever is in it, probably causes cancer, upset stomach and unwanted hair growth. Hmmmmmm....... Oh well, got the spray and doused the spider which did not move, so it was already dead. Or sleeping so soundly that deadly poisonous spray did not bother it. Did I say that yesterday I had had it with Haiti? Now I'm better...........really.........probably.......I'll get back to this on the next post.

So, I am looking for career advice from my legion of admiring fans out there. I have several choices. should I return home, never to return to Haiti........work at McDonalds for the rest of my life..........return in the fall and see if the spider is still on the netting over my bed..........or take a while off and maybe return next summer to run a summer program? I realize there are many other options but those are all I am willing to type out right now, so those are the official choices. The first 5000 responses.......or maybe the first response.....win's an all expense paid...well, make that a trip to Haiti where I'll pay for lunch one day while here. Rice and beans are pretty cheap. Not as cheap as they were 2 years ago, but still not bad by US standards.

For those who do, please pray for Haiti during the election today; and during the coming rainy season. Forcasts say not as many bad hurricanes this year, but seriously ONE bad one in Haiti and much will come unravelled here.

Djebenis tout moun
Bondye benis ou