As it is raining just now- 30% chance = 100% with thunder- it reminded me of an article I read today.
Haiti and the Clouds in the Darkwww.caribjournal.comHaiti is what it is today because Haiti refuses to be anything else but Haiti. This is a country that is much more than what the eyes can see.
After having lived here for close to 3 years, I can say it is a land of contradiction, full of mystery and maybe one can not fully understand the subtleties without being born in this land. Certainly a language with less than 5000 words should be fairly simple you might say. But some words have as many as 3 meanings. I think I have the basics down and certainly I've been able to communicate with the staff now that they have probably learned to cope with my ineptitude. Reading and writing is a bit easier as I have the ability to take the time to decipher it. My listening / hearing skills are improving but rapid fire kreyol with all is contractions make me crazy and I have to perfect my look of concentration as if I'm contemplating a good response rather than 'what the heck did he say?" look. And I have to improve my confidence. Sometimes people are surprised if I respond in kreyol, not expecting it, they don't really listen. So I will work diligently to improve and hope Haitians will work as diligently to improve their lives.
President Martelly returned from Florida on Monday after being in the hospital with a blood clot in his lung. This happened following surgery to his shoulder. Hopefully, he can now return to business. Noel and I were sitting in traffic after having taken the small van to have it serviced. I'm not entirely convinced the traffic was due to his return but a 3 hour round trip to go 15 miles is wearing. I was driving so have to hand it to Noel and Jorel, our HHH drivers for all these years. They have driven the volunteers and kept us safe in all kinds of weather and all kinds of political weather as well. TCHH made it to the airport just ahead of a mob during the 'food' war a few years ago. A couple of years ago, during a weird sort of weather inversion that simulated a tornado, everyone arrived back to the guest house safe even if it took 2-3 hours. For the most part, I like driving here, despite the holes in the road, the 'blokess' of traffic and fumes of black smoke pouring out of some of the tap taps that look like the back drivers side tire is going to wobble off or go flat at any moment. They are fearless but they can also be kind. Most of the time they are very patient- The impatient drivers, the rude drivers are the drivers of some big fancy and expensive cars...like the drivers in Portland.
We have a wide variety of guests this month. A group of speech and hearing people left on monday; We have students of justice and human rights staying and meeting many different organizations, getting a feel for the country and people; Cory and Lars, who have been coming for years to make improvements to the maintenance of the guest house; Lissette, a distance-learning teacher from El Salvador teaching students in the prosthetics and orthotics tech program; Mike from Rhode Island is a Prosthetist / Orthotist is here for 3 months and Jackie is a p&o student volunteering and gaining experience under Mike's mentorship for a month. John arrived from Minnesota a month ago to help Andy with his projects. He'll be here 2 more months. Lastly, is Angry Gerry who will be leaving tomorrow. In a few days we'll have a couple of students for the p&o program, members of the board arriving, another student of p&o will come for a month and Alain, who has lived with us since November is nearing the end of his project and will be leaving us. A full house is always interesting.
Yesterday was Labour Day so most of the staff had the day off but I made 2 trips to the airport and oriented the new team. and made Cory and Lars work. There are 2 more holiday days this month- hopefully, I'll spend at least one of them in the pool.
My daughter Erin is going to Fort Lauderdale to visit her brother for her birthday...since it is on Mother's Day, I am going to splurge and spend the weekend with the 2 of them. Yay! (sunny day!)
On May 22 we will celebrate with a grand opening ceremony of our clinic. Maybe the President himself with come to view our remarkable and beautiful new rehab center. Be sure that I will have lots of photos of the day. Although it is rainy season and one can expect frequent rainstorms and clouds, you can be sure that this day will be our sunny day in Haiti.
