Something of Substance

Confession time. I haven't really liked my blog so far (particularly not after reading yours, Lora). I feel like all of my posts have been mass dumpings of uninteresting information. I tell you I go to the mountains, but I don't feel that I convey any of the emotions involved with the trip. Unfortunately, due to the vast amount of information I feel I need to convey and the limited access I have had to computers, that's how it has ended up. If any of you have noticed this as well, rest assured that I will try to change.

As my first attempt, here are a few things I'm working through. For those of you who believe in God, consider these my prayer requests.

Energy & Sleep.
Life in a new country is exhausting. I often find myself going mentally blank in the middle of conversations simply because I do not have any energy left to try to understand what people are saying. This problem is compounded by the roosters that begin crowing at 4am (sound familiar, Brent?), the dogs that bark all night, and the group of people who sit in the alley outside my window and blare hip-hop till all hours of the night. I fear that good sleep will be hard to come by.

Relationships.
I love the North American MCC staff. This is a HUGE blessing, seeing as they're my main support. I have also connected fairly well with the Haitians who have spent time working with MCC. This is also a huge blessing. I have a difficult time, though, reminding myself that after 1 month in the country, it's okay that my relationships only exist with "Americanized Haitians." I have to remember that this is the first step in learning to relate Haitians who do not understand the idiosyncrasies of cross-cultural relationships.

Stress.
Port is a stressful city. It's overcrowded. It's aggressive. It's hot. Things never work like they're supposed to. People are literally struggling to stay alive, not to mention the struggle they go through to provide for their families. I am trying to not internalize the stressful energy that drives Port, but it's difficult to live in it without it effecting me.

Work.
I start work at RNDDH Monday. I'm excited, but nervous as well.

Language.
Today is my last Kreyol lesson & I feel like I just hit a wall in my language development. Things that should make sense don't; there seems to be a million different ways to say the same thing; and despite all of its similarities with French, I'm still learning a whole new language with all that implies. It's wonderful and frustrating all at the same time.

Praise.
I got my first letter in the mail yesterday! Yea! Thanks, mom and dad. It made my day.

-L

Word Play

Language is a funny thing, no? A few words can convey so much. Here are some of my favorite phrases I've heard and or learned so far.

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Essential Kreyol for the Countryside (Those of you who know Kreyol, forgive the spelling!)

Kr:

"Ou mache?"
"Wi, m mache."

Eng:

"Are you out for a walk?"
"Yes, I'm out for a walk."

This exchange occurs with each person you pass, whether they're out on the road, too, or in their yard.

Kr:

"W'ap banye?"
"Wi, m'ap banye."

Eng:

"Are you taking a bath?"
"Yes, I'm taking a bath."

This exchange occurs with each person who passes by while you bathe in the river.

Kr:

"Ai! Anpil labu!"
"Wi, anpil labu."

Eng:

"Wow. You're really muddy."
"Yes, I'm very muddy."

Somehow Haitians are able to walk through mud without getting muddy. I am not.

Kr:

"M pa rele Este. Este se lot blan."

Eng:

"My name is not Esther. Esther is the other white person who lives here."

This was my response to the children who called out "Esther" each time I walked past. Esther is one of the MCCers in Dezam. I think they have adopted her name as another word for "blan" or "white person."

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I chuckle (for lack of other healthy response) that in my Kreyol book's listing on "Common Creole Verbs" it has the translations for "Assassinate," "Over Throw," "Arrest," "Decree," alongside "Hope."

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Conversation of the week:

Bethany: "Wow, Lindsay! What happened to your legs?"

Me, looking down at my legs: "Huh? What? Where?"

Bethany, the look of horror increasing on her face: "Are those ALL mosquito bites???"

Me: "Oh, yeah, mosquito and some other type of bug they have in the mountains."

Marylynn, shaking her head: "Oh my goodness. Do you remember how beautiful Lindsay's legs were when she came?"

-L

The Road to Bois de Laurence

...is rough.

A few days after returning to Dezam, I went with another MCCer, Brian, up to a small mountain village named Bois de Laurence. The trip takes anywhere between 8 to 12 hours, depending on how many times you get stuck. (Actually, it could take even longer if you really get stuck.) We only got stuck a few times, so it only took us 10 hours. Let's just say I have deep respect for Land Rovers, Brian's driving skills, and people (such as Brian) who can dig a Land Rover out of the mud with a machete.

MCC used to have a relatively large program in BDL, but they phased it out a year or two ago. They maintain connections, though, with a local group who works on spring capping. So, every couple of months, Brian heads up to BDL to deliver supplies, deliver money, and maintain relationships. I convinced him to take me along.

BDL is a beautiful village. It's close to the border with the DR, so the deforestation isn't quite as severe. There is no electricity, and to use a cell phone you have to climb to the top of the mountain a little way out of town and stand in 1 specific spot on a hill. Because of its remoteness, people have been minimally effected by television and other aspects of globalization. People are kind and generous. The weather is cool. (One night I was so cold I couldn't sleep!) There are fresh fruit and vegetables everywhere. It seems a little like paradise -- till you start to realize the problems.

They grow wonderful produce, but have no way to transport it to other towns to be sold. The closest hospital is at least an hour and a half away. People die from things like childbirth and diarrhea. Education is minimal.

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Brian was going to BDL to work with a small group of veterinarians who had come to put on a 2-day clinic. The first day they did a refresher training for local vets and the 2nd day the gave free vaccinations to animals. They offered to walk me through the process of neutering a dog, but I politely declined. I know, I know, I've completely lost my sense of adventure. I did watch, though.

Brian, two of the vets (Kelly & Liz), and I stayed with a couple who have worked for MCC over the years, Niniz and Milsent. When I wasn't watching animals being poked, pricked, and cut, I spent my time with Niniz, Milsnet, and their son, Macdo. Niniz taught me how to make coffee with sugarcane syrup and how to make mai mole (the corn dish similar to couscous). She showed me where they press the sugarcane and we told jokes and laughed till my sides hurt. Milsent took me around the other side of the mountain to his gardens where I napped under a tree in the middle of his rice paddy and ate orange after orange from his grove. Macdo, Kelly, Liz & I played Uno by lantern. We sat outside talking and watching the stars till we were exhausted. It was absolutely wonderful. Niniz made me promise I would come back soon, and I hope I can.

-L

Club Indigo

MCC Haiti held its annual retreat at a former Club Med, now called Club Indigo. I know, I know, Mennonites are supposed to live simply. The problem is, a shabby hotel in Haiti costs just as much as a luxury hotel. And it turns out that Club Indigo had the best group rates, so to the luxury beach resort we went!

3-1/2 days of swimming in the ocean, swimming in a pool, showering in hot water, sleeping in air-conditioning -- not to mention electricity 24-7 -- it was glorious. Oh, we also had morning devotions, staff meetings, team-building games, and cross-cultural sessions. Still, glorious.

One night we stayed up late to watch a documentary one of the MCCers, Josh, made with his cousin. It's hilarious -- along the lines of "Best in Show." If you want to check it out, their website is "www.crokinolemovie.com".

Anyway, Sunday afternoon, we packed up and headed out. It was storming all day Sunday, and part of the road back to Dezam had washed away in one town. Back to reality.

-L

Reason 758 to Not Like Cats

So, after a few weeks here, I finally feel like I not only have a story worth telling, but even time to tell it! Yea for sleeping in the MCC office!

A little background information... The family I've been staying with in Dezam has a pig, a chicken with some chicks, and a cat. Sometimes at night the cat comes into my room. One night the cat jumped on me in the middle of the night. I turned on my flashlight to see what was happening & discovered that there are a number of large bugs that crawl around my room when its dark. I never really figured out why the cat jumped on me, but after that I decided to avoid turning on my flashlight at night.

So last Wednesday night we had a big rainstorm that started shortly after I went to bed and lasted through a good portion of the night. The cat came into my room almost immediately after it started raining. I heard it rustling around, and then I heard something fall. I hadn't had the lamp off long, so I went ahead and grabbed my flashlight & turned it on to find the cat nosing around in the basket I use to hold my clothes. It had tipped the basket over, so I got up & shooed it out.

A little while later, the cat came back in. By this point I was almost asleep so I was in that strange mental place between awake and dreaming. The cat meowed a few times and then started growling. I was a little afraid. Was the cat growling at me? Was the cat growling at a large bug? Was the cat demon possessed? (I was tired and afraid, ok?) Too afraid to turn on my light, I just laid there hoping that it was simply a matter of the cat disliking rain.

Sometime after that, I heard new noises. I laid there listening and finally concluded that the chicks had made their way into my room to get out of the rain. "Ok," I thought, "I have no problem with chicks." But then they started screaming. Immediately I concluded that a tarantula must be eating them. I felt horrible that these poor baby chicks were being consumed by a tarantula, but I'm terrified of arachnids, so I didn't know what to do. I finally convinced myself that it wasn't tarantulas, but instead it was the cat eating them. It wasn't really a pretty picture, but something I felt I could handle.

After hours of listening to the chicks scream I finally started dozing in and out of sleep. One of the times I woke up I decided that they weren't being eaten. They were probably hungry &/or were scared of lightening. Finally, 4:30 came.

I had to be at the MCC office at 5am Thursday, so I slowly sat up in bed, picked up my flashlight, and looked at the ground. No dead chicks. No chicks at all actually. But something was still making that screaming noise. I slipped on my flip-flops & moved toward the noise. It was coming from the basket with my clothes. I looked inside to find the cat curled up with 2 brand-new kittens.

Apparently the cat had given birth in the middle of the night. On one of my dresses. But my relief at not finding a tarantula devouring baby chicks helped me get past the disgust of a cat giving birth on my clothes.

The rest of Wednesday was pretty interesting as well. My flip-flop broke when I was crossing a river. Esther, Frantzo, Naomi & I climbed a mountain. The hike was gorgeous. My hiking was not. (Think back to our hiking trip, Malcolm. Yeah, I'm not in any better shape.) I took a nap on a rock by a waterfall for a couple hours while the others climbed up the waterfall to check on MCC's reforestation work. I watched women in short skirts with machetes in 1 hand and bags of avocados in the other hand climb up over the waterfall barefoot. I dropped my tennis shoe in a river. I ran through the river barefoot to try to catch it. I was unsuccessful in catching it. I found a boy by the river & asked if he'd seen a shoe float by. I started to cry when he said "no" & I realized that I only had 1 shoe to hike back down the mountain in. Then a girl further downstream found my shoe and gave it to me. I bathed under the waterfall. We hiked back down. We had lunch. Then we piled in the trucks to go to the beach for the MCC retreat.

Anyway, after all that, I dislike cats even more than I did before, and I now have a fear of losing my shoes in water. G'night.

-L

Food, Glorious Food

Food. Always a topic of interest, eh? Here in Haiti, and particularly in Dezam, the main meal of the day is lunch (called "diner"). Breakfast and dinner also exist (for those who can afford it anyway), but receive much less attention. The family with which I have been living in Dezam has a good-sized breakfast, a huge lunch, and maybe a few bites of left-over rice for dinner. Personally, I haven't been hungry for dinner during my time here because I've been eating so much at lunch (and also because I go to sleep around the time I would normally have dinner in the States).

Here in Dezam, the food has been wonderful! (Of course, the family has been very understanding about my vegetarianism, which significantly reduces the number of "inedible" dishes they might serve me.) Rice is the staple, though 20 years ago or so that was not the case. Previously corn & millet were staples, but today Haitians don't consider themselves as having eaten if the meal didn't include rice.

Maggi is also a staple. Everything includes a good amount of Maggi, which is similar to bouillon cubes. As far as I can tell, it's lots of salt, some garlic, and several manufactured flavors.

Here are a few dishes I've tried.

Breakfast
Spaghetti. Spaghetti is the meal of choice for breakfast. (Yes, Michelle, my strange eating habits have paid off!) The noodles are boiled, drained, and returned to the pot. Then, several tablespoons worth of oil are added in along with about 1 or 1.5 tablespoons of tomato paste. Sonya also adds about a tablespoon worth of a paste that she makes from maggi, ham(?), garlic, water, and a parsley-like leaf. That combination is fried for several minutes, basically till it's starting to burn, and then served. Sometimes avocados or hard-boiled eggs are added on top (though I was the only one who ever received those additions, so I'm guessing they're not too common).

Plantains. Another dish I had one morning was boiled plantains in a red sauce. I didn't see how it was made, but the sauce didn't have much flavor. I'm guessing another combination of oil, water, and tomato paste.

Bread with Peanut butter. Another common breakfast is bread with peanut butter. This is always served with coffee. My first day when I asked for coffee, Sonya apologized that she couldn't make coffee for me because she didn't have any bread & peanut butter. I assured her that I could have my coffee without bread and peanut butter.

Coffee. Speaking of...coffee in PaP is strong -- more like espresso than drip coffee. In the country side, it's strong and sweet. The coffee is boiled in as much sugar as water. Quite a way to start the day.

Dinner & Supper (or Lunch & Dinner)
Rice. Again, rice is the staple. Haitians grow wonderful rice. Unfortunately, "Miami Rice" (rice from the States) is cheaper, so generally you end up eating Miami rice.

Corn. The family that I live with sometimes replaces rice with corn, but it's quite the process. First, they roast a bunch of corn on the cob. Then, while they corn is still hot, they remove all the kernels and let them sit in the sun to dry. This is usually done day 1. Day 2, they grind up the corn and recook it. The result tastes, looks, and has texture similar to couscous. It's wonderful.

Beans. Most everything comes with beans in some form. I'm not sure what type they are, but they're brown. Sometimes the beans and some juice are mixed in with the rice. Sometimes a bowl of bean sauce accompanies the dish.

Legum (Vegetables). "Legum" is a large pot of vegetables. They are cooked to the point where they melt in your mouth. It's almost like a stew, but with less liquid. When you ask what kind of vegetables are in the Legum, they look at you like you're crazy and repeat, "Legum." From what I can tell, there are carrots and potatoes, but there are other vegetables in there too that give the dish a green color. I've been warned that sometimes I might find large chunks of meat in my legum. And, of course, plenty of Maggi.

Fe (Leaves). "Fe" is similar to legum, except that it's made with a variety of leaves. The main leaf is called "epinar," which means spinach, but it's a different variety than what we consume in the States. Fe also requires Maggi.

Kalalou (Okra). Another popular choice is okra cooked in its sauce. It's nothing like the okra mom makes, but is still good.

Piklis with Banan Pese. Piklis is a spicy cabbage. Think spicy coleslaw. It is served with fried plantains. mmmm....

Other dishes often include fish, konch, eggs, chicken, goat, pork, etc. As I'm sure you could guess, food in PaP varies a bit from food in Dezam in that there are more choices in PaP. With all of the food imported into Haiti, you could essentially live your whole life in PaP eating all the same foods Americans eat. Unfortunately some people do that.

Ok, enough for now. ciao.

-L

Typical Day in Dezam

Last Monday, a group of MCC volunteers, the Meat Canners, flew into PaP. Yes, they literally can meat. Apparently some years back my sister picked up on the fact that Mennonites have a history of canning meat and sending abroad. I was willing to admit that this was probably an outreach that once existed, but refused to believe that it was still done; and so it became a bit of a joke between us (or I thought it was funny anyway). Well, low and behold, meat canning is still going strong, and the 6 men who work/volunteer with the meat canner came to Haiti.

Fear not, though I have much to say regarding meat canning, I will leave that for later. I tell you about the meat canners because I spent a good portion of last week with them. We toured several locations in and around PaP, and then piled into a truck to head inland.

MCC has an office in Dezam which is located in the Artibonite Valley. If you go to MCC's website, they have a good write-up on the work that is done here; but in short, it is mostly reforestation and environmental education. Whenever new MCCers arrive, they spend a few weeks in Dezam in order to learn about the work done here, to meet the other MCC staff, and to learn Kreyol. (There are fewer people here who speak English or even French.)

So, since last Wednesday (I think...my days are all running together), I have been here in Dezam, staying with a local family. Here's a quick rundown of a typical day.

• 5am: The sun comes up and the family starts to stir. Jano, the father, head off to the rice fields where he works.
• 5am - 6/6:30am: I try to sleep.
• 6:30am: I finally get up, brush my teeth, then sit in the courtyard trying to wake up. Sonya, the mother, begins preparing breakfast.
• 7:00am: We eat breakfast.
• 7:30am: The kids & I walk over to the river to bathe.
• 7:45am: Back at the house, I sit and read or help Sonya start preparing for lunch.
• 9:45am: I walk over near to a church near the MCC office for my Kreyol lessons.
• 10am - 12noon: Kreyol lessons. (I think Sonya goes to the market while I'm at lessons.)
• 12noon: I head back to the house.
• 12:15pm - 1/1:30pm: I read or help Sonya make lunch. Jano comes home for lunch.
• 1:30pm: We eat lunch.
• 2pm: Sonya/I/someone washes dishes. Jano goes back to work (?? I'm assuming that's where he goes.)
• 2:30pm - 6:30/7pm: Somewhere in there we make another trip to the market, we go up the road to get water, we cook corn & take it off the cob, I read, we take another bath, Jano comes home sometime in there...
• 6:30/7/whenever it gets dark: The kids have a snack, usually shortly after dusk, we sit around for a bit, then we go to sleep.

So, there's a lot of sitting, and for me, a lot of nothing.

Again, sorry that was so matter-of-fact, but I hope that gives you a bit of an idea of where I am/what I'm doing right now. Tomorrow we're heading to the beach for the MCC retreat.

I'm off to lunch with the MCC team...