Big Stuff

In church on Sunday, Willem announced that the school was chosen to plant some trees--with President Martelly! Martelly wants to provide free education to all of Haiti's youth by the end of his first term, and he's impressed with what MTM is doing in Gramothe.

On Wednesday 300 of our students will travel a short distance to a hillside near Boutillier (also known as Look Out Point for those of you who have been here). They'll plant some trees, eat lunch with the president, and probably have a chance to mingle with the press. I haven't been given all the details, but I can tell you that the kids are ecstatic!!! And the adults are just as pumped. I have been deemed the official MTM photographer for the event. I was even given permission to be an obnoxious-in-your-face photographer for the day, which is good because I want to try to get a picture of every single student we take.

Can you imagine being so poor that your family lives in a one room shack, sleeps on the dirt floor, and often doesn't have enough money for food BUT you have been chosen to meet the president of your country? I am so, so excited for these kids. What a blessing for them to be given this honor!!

Golden Nuggets VII: Shopping Similarities

Living in a foreign country requires learning new customs and adjusting to a new normal. All those interesting tidbits I learn as I live in Haiti are Golden Nuggets. And what kind of person would I be if I didn't share those Golden Nuggets with others?

Shopping in Haiti is both really similar to and very different from shopping in the States. Today I want to focus on the similarities. The places where I shop are very much to what I'm used to in the States. I buy my food at the grocery store, I purchase presents at gift shops, and I get household things at a place called Handal--which is the Haitian Wal-mart. Even though I don't typically buy anything, I've also been with other people to optical shops (eye glasses), jewelry stores, clothing stores, hardware type shops, and book stores.

Even though shopping in Haiti can be very similar to shopping in the States, there are some differences.

• First, there are armed guards at almost every establishment--especially banks and grocery stores. They have very official looking uniforms and carry giant guns. Often shotguns or something equally large but scary looking. I have never heard of a business being robbed, so accredit this to the armed guards.

• Sometimes I like to think of Haiti as a 1950s America. Women wear skirts and stay home with their kids, gas stations have attendants to pump your gas, and bag boys always carry your groceries to the car. I absolutely love shopping at Giant Supermarket because it's new and shiny and makes me feel like I'm shopping at Meijer. Best of all, the bag boys (which are really grown men) bag all my groceries and then carry them to the car for me no matter how many I have. At the grocery store much closer to my house, the bag boys (again all grown men) will even unload my cart onto the conveyor belt for me! It's awesome customer service.

• Every single store in Haiti has a complimentary gift wrap station. Anything you purchase as a gift can be gift wrapped in the paper of your choosing (normally there are at least 2 options) and will have a nice pretty bow. A friend of mine recently told me about her self-serve gift wrapping fiasco at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. It made me chuckle when I told her all stores in Haiti have someone who is dedicated to gift wrapping.

What no one tells you about living in another country

I try to keep things light and cheery over here on my slice of the internet, but I opted to share these particular thoughts because I think I think they provide more of a full picture. I am not unhappy in Haiti. I do not desire to move back to the United States. I just need to share some things that don't often get said.

• Living in another culture is hard. All the things you rarely think about in your own culture--greeting people, acceptable attire for public, knowing who to tip, smiling for pictures--suddenly require conscious thought. You have to remember new customs, force yourself through the uncomfortableness, and evaluate personal behaviors and habits that may need to change in order to fit into the new culture. There are constant reminders that you are an outsider. Eventually the novelty and excitement of being in a foreign country wear off. 

• If you don't speak the language of the people, there will be times you will feel inadequate, overly dependent on others, extremely frustrated, and sometimes ridiculous. You may decide to go without something rather than deal with the hassle it takes to communicate what you want. Sometimes it's just easier that way. There will even be nights you cry yourself to sleep because of the language barrier.

• Once you've called more than one place "home," your heart will never be completely happy in either. When you're in one place, you miss the other. You feel guilty for not being full hhere, for longing for the other place. People in both locations question your desire to live in or visit the other place.

Haitian Mother's Day

Mother's Day in Haiti is always on the last Sunday of May.  Compassion International published a quiz earlier this month called "Could you be a mother in Haiti?" Take the quiz and see how you score. You'll learn a lot about the culture and life style of Haitians!

Soles 4 Souls

An organization called Soles 4 Souls recently visited Gramothe. Check out their website for a full explanation, but the short version is they give shoes to people who need them. They have been here a couple of other times in the past 12 months, and this trip they brought shoes for our oldest and youngest students. Here are some pictures of the process.

First you get your feet measured.

 Then you wait for your turn.

 Some of my favorite girls.

 Then someone washes your feet and dries them.

 Then you are presented with a pair of shoes that should fit you. If they do fit, then you get to keep them!

 Sometimes your friends help you decide if they "fit". If there are cooler shoes that you can see you'll try to convince the people that shoes they gave you first don't fit and you think those other ones will.

 Here's a picture that contains the whole process. You can see the foot washing, people standing by with shoes, and the kids waiting in the background. Overall it's a really fun thing, and fantastic for the kids because they get a brand new pair of shoes.

Journey

Almost everyone who come through the MTM guesthouse asks me the same series of questions. Sometimes the questions sounds a little different, but most of the time it goes like this:

1. So, uh, what do you do here?
2. How long have you been in Haiti?
3. How long are you staying?

I really don't mind answering these questions because it gives me an opportunity to share the story the incredible journey God has put me on. Plus, if you know me in real life you know how much I like to talk! Occasionally when there's a big group here, I wish I could tell them all at the same time instead of answering the same questions two or three times in one day. But most of the time I'm more than willing to share about why I'm in Haiti and what I do here because the focus of the story is not me but God.

A little over a year ago I was merely planning to spend spring break in Haiti. I was excited to serve God by serving others through a medical clinic. I had no idea that going to Haiti for my spring break would lead to teaching English in a rural mountain school for ten months. I told God a long time ago that I would follow him wherever he would lead me, but I didn't really think he had this in mind! It wasn't easy to follow him to a third world country with hurricanes and tropical diseases and inconsistent electricity.

It took all the courage I had to follow God to Haiti, plus a great deal of affirmation and peace from the Holy Spirit! I stepped out in faith taking a year's leave of absence, i.e. no paycheck for an entire year, from my teaching position before I had any financial support. I was really nervous about leaving a paid position to live off the generosity of others. Okay, that's an understatement. I was terrified! It felt like my step of faith was similar to those cartoon characters who step off a cliff before they realize the solid ground ran out. I took a leave of absence hoping God would put something solid under my foot where there only appeared to be thin air.

And you know what? God didn't let me fall off that cliff. He put something solid under my foot in the form of adequate financial support. He's also continued to make a way for me stay in Haiti. He provided renters for my house (the lease was signed this week!) and gave my dog an awesome new family. He gives me new ministry partners that come from unexpected places. There's this awesome apartment I rent for an incredible price--especially considering the current housing market here. I understand more Creole every day, and I'm learning to communicate in this foreign language. I have friends, a mentor, and to top it all off my life mate.

The Lord has provided for all of my needs--physical, emotional, and spiritual. He orchestrated all the events to get me here, so he gets all the glory. This is one incredible journey, and I'm just along for the ride.

Visting Choir

These kids came to the Gramothe church a couple of weeks ago to share two songs with us. About once every couple of months a choir from another church comes to sing for us. It's never planned in advance. They just show up. I like that it's an unexpected blessing. Some of the kids in this group attend the school in Gramothe. The girl singing into the mic and the girl behind her in black and white are both in my 8th grade class.

Men's Choir

The Gramothe church men's choir sings every couple of months. They are fantastic. This particular song is a really fun one from earlier this year. I think they've sang it for us twice, but no one complains because it's so much fun.

Preschool Cuties

These little guys are so cute! They make me smile every single day. Touching my white skin is apparently the highlight of their day because they all try to touch me when I pass by their playground or when we are walking in the same area...sometimes they race to see who can touch me first! They shared this song on Monday with some folks who were visiting.

E-mails

Even though I've been in Haiti for 8+ months and I've been teaching computer basics to kids who have never seen a computer before, I sometimes still forget that they really don't know anything about computers.

Take today for instance. The internet was working in Gramothe and the kids have been asking when I'll help them get an email address. I decided today was the day. All 14 of the laptops were booted up, and the projector set up so they could see what I was talking about. Everything was grand...until Internet Explorer was open before them. Then all chaos broke loose!

"Miss Smith! I need you!"
"Britney! My computer is broken."
"I need help!"
"Miss Smith, did you forget me?"
"Miss Smith, come here please."
"Britney. Look."

I thought I was going to strangle them! I finally got them all to www.yahoo.fr where they can set up an e-mail account in French. Then it was an even more intense round of everyone needing my help right this instant. They needed to enter their name, birthday, and country of residence before creating an e-mail address. I thought it was pretty self explanatory. I mean, the screen says "Name" or the French equivalent depending on the computer, but apparently my students lost all ability to read--in any language. Finally everyone got that part taken care of, so we were ready to move on to choosing an e-mail address and password. Oh. My. Word. It was a real life nightmare.

"Miss Smith! I need you!"
"Britney! My computer is broken."
"I need help!"
"Miss Smith, did you forget me?"
"Miss Smith, come here please."
"Britney. Look."
"Miss Smith! I need you!"
"Britney! My computer is broken."
"I need help!"
"Miss Smith, did you forget me?"
"Miss Smith, come here please."
"Britney. Look."
"Miss Smith! I need you!"
"Britney! My computer is broken."
"I need help!"
"Miss Smith, did you forget me?"
"Miss Smith, come here please."
"Britney. Look."
"Miss Smith! I need you!"
"Britney! My computer is broken."
"I need help!"
"Miss Smith, did you forget me?"
"Miss Smith, come here please."
"Britney. Look."

Did I mention it was hot today? I get cranky when I'm hot. I also get a little cranky when the kids yell my name while I'm talking to someone else to tell me they need help, especially when I've already told someone else they need to wait.

It's a miracle that all those students made it out of that room alive today. I think it's appropriate to thank the Lord for his protection of the computer class today. And you should probably pray for the teacher too. She's gonna need some serious patience when she teaches them to log into the e-mail account and actually send an e-mail.