Comfortable? No... but happy!

It's so much fun living with and caring for twelve children.  They are all precious in their own ways, their individual personalities always shining.  My favorite time is first thing in the morning when I go downstairs and one by one the younger ones wrap their arms around my waist and hold on tight.  "Bonjou, Anita" or "Bonjou, Mama".  The older kids are more reserved, but do come to me for a less enthusiastic hug.  Now that school is out some of the kids sleep late.  This morning Ange slept till after 10:00.  Breakfast was over when she wandered sleepy eyed into the kitchen to begin her day with a hug and a kiss.  Chores begin right after breakfast: the older girls sweep and mop their bedroom.  The boys have various jobs: cleaning their room, picking up trash around the yard, taking trash in a wheelbarrow to the "dump", always making their beds and picking up their clothes.  This morning all the kids went to the mountain water source to wash clothes.  There isn't enough water in our water tank to allow for washing clothes.  They carry huge basins full of clothes on their heads, walk up the mountain trail to the water, and then after a couple of hours, return and hang their clothes on the line to dry.  This morning the younger boys were in charge of washing "stinky" sneakers.  Kids at Kay Timoun love between meal snacks.  Their favorites are watermelon and mangos.  No paper wrapped snacks here!  So, bringing up kids here is a lot different from bringing up kids in the states.  And in many ways, it's a lot easier.  With people on the Kay Timoun staff, I have very little actual "work" to do.  Carole does the cooking and is main caregiver to the children.  She makes sure they take a bath, brush teeth, and have clean clothes.  Naomi and Dedet clean the house and wash clothes.  There is a tremendous amount of laundry with kids changing clothes two or three times a day.  Carole does the big market shopping for food.  Wonel runs all the errands on the motorcycle.  There is no such thing as driving a kid to soccer practice or a music lesson or to a church activity.  Everything is right here.  The kids watch movies on a small laptop.  They have never been to a movie theater.  So, life is simple!

I write on Facebook and complain about not having electricity, (true...we have electricity for a couple of hours a day.)  I write and complain about not having running water, (true...I often take a "bucket bath" and the kids bathe outside, often with rain water.)  Going back a hundred years, we buy ice to keep food from spoiling.  Most of our food is cooked in an outdoor kitchen in a huge pot on a charcoal fire.  Today Carole is roasting peanuts for home made peanut butter.  It doesn't get any better than that!

Having lived for years in my comfortable air conditioned condo, driving in my air conditioned car to shop in an air conditioned store, or have dinner in an air conditioned restaurant, or worship in an air conditioned church, it's not easy for this city woman to live in what I view as primitive. But, truth be known, the joy of my kids far outweighs the discomforts of living in rural Haiti.  I pray that God continues to give me strength and endurance, and whatever else I need to carry on.

"Bebe"

“Bebe” is a deaf mute lady who has lived in Bondeau all of her life.  She survives by selling fruits and vegetables that she buys at the market and sells for a few cents profit.  It’s a hard life, carrying around huge baskets of fruit in hope of selling a few pieces.  Bebe has the added problem of not hearing and not speaking.  But local people know her sign language and can communicate. 

Bebe has come to Kay Timoun often to sell her produce and we always buy from her.  We can use the food and she needs the money.  So, when the children called to me, “Bebe is here," I expected that she would be selling something.  But,not so.  Bebe said that she didn’t have any money to go to market to buy fruit.  I just listened, or watched, I should say.  The kids translated her sign language.  I saw that she was considerably thinner than she had been.  I assumed that she was hungry, so I asked her to wait.  I went into the kitchen and made her a peanut butter sandwich on an oversize Haitian bread, scooped the oatmeal that was left in the pot into a small bowl, and cut a piece of watermelon.  Bebe sat at the picnic table and ate her meal.  I went out again to say good-bye but she was gone.

 

Some of my favorite things.

Life is difficult here in Bondeau, no doubt about it!  But there are so many pleasures and joys, so I'll share some of those with you now.

Breakfast this morning:  Freshly made hot chocolate with real chocolate, add milk and sugar.  Freshly baked Haitian peasant bread spread with peanut butter that was made with peanuts roasted on charcoal fire, and then hand ground into thick delicious peanut butter, topped with fruity confiture (a type of marmalade)  Carole cleaned and sliced one whole pineapple just for me!

Roadside markets:  Everything you could ever want in organic fruits and vegetables;  our own "Whole Foods Market".  Women tend to their business selling vegetables and fruit neatly arranged by the side of the road.  Every town has a street market.

Children singing "Jesi Savoir".  Our children's choir sings beautifully.

Mother hen carefully tending to her chicks.  Love that maternal instinct that we females have!

Watching the garden grow.  Watching my neighbor's garden grow.

Feeling the cool breeze just before a rainfall.

Watching the rain water our garden.  Mesi Bondye!  (Thank you, God.)

Mangos just off the tree.  Eat them while they're fresh and sweet!

Hearing the brass band practice Mozart.  (Twinkle twinkle little star.)

Watching the kids create art with color pencils, crayons, and color paper.  The winners get displayed on the refrigerator.

Teaching Benjamy a new computer game.

Sitting with the kids as they learn English with Rosetta Stone.

The smell of sheets on my bed that have been hanging on the clothes line all day.

Ending the day reading a good novel.

"Facebook" friends.

Emails from my grandsons.

These are a few of my favorite things.

Mothers' Day in Haiti

Yesterday was Mothers’ Day in Haiti.  It’s a much bigger deal here than it is in the U.S.  Mothers are the anchor of the family.  They hold the family together.  Very often, a man will have children with more than one woman, but it’s the mother who is always there, working, caring, and being the stronghold. 

The church was packed to capacity.  Green and white paper chains were swaged across the room and around the windows in honor of Mothers’ Day.  The overflow of worshipers sat on benches outside the church.  Mothers sat in the “reserved” seats in the front, adorning the pink and green paper flower that had been pinned to her dress.  It was a grand celebratory mass for Trinity Sunday with three different choirs and a brass band, accompanied by electric guitars, keyboard, and drums.  A special party had been planned for after service where mothers were honored with a delicious meal of fried chicken, banann, pickles, salad, and rice.

The “church” was quickly transformed into a party room.  The altar area became the stage for performance of comedy skits, which were hysterically funny, even though I couldn't understand all that was said.  I took my seat in the front where I could see up close. 

At the end of the entertainment Pere Phanold presented gifts to women who have been especially helpful in parish work.  I was surprised that I was one of the recipients of a special gift, a framed photo of me.  Most of the people in Bondeau know me, but for the newcomers, he said that I began the partnership with Ste. Marie Madeleine Church and St. Gregory's and have been helping the parish since then. 

So, today, I'm back to "mothering" twelve kids here at Kay Timoun, and feeling very deserving of my special gift.

 

TGIF and a great weekend!

 

It’s Friday afternoon.  The May sky is clear, bright blue and the Haiti sun is hot, too hot to be outside.  From my bedroom I hear Itela crushing spices with her pestle preparing for tonight’s dinner.  The children, happy that it’s Friday so they don’t have to prepare for school tomorrow, are watching a movie on the laptop in the kitchen.  All is well today at Kay Timoun.

Every afternoon this week the children worked on their favorite projects:  the older children, Anna, Gastina, Christian, Rachelle, and Wozlo, studied English with Rosetta Stone.  The younger kids, Benjamy, Jean Mary, Zachary, and Angi, are interested in playing games on a small laptop.  They are all making progress in getting around from one program to another, under my close watch.  Sundrene, Love, and Odiana love to do their art projects, all original designs and colors.  It’s been a fun week!

The kids are doing well, all working for better grades in school, and all learning to get along with one another, something that has been a struggle.  Many of the children here had been pretty much “on their own”.  Living in poverty, with parents who are either sick, struggling hard to bring money to the family, or not present at all, many of the children here have had to scavenge for what they needed.  It’s been a year now since they have come to Kay Timoun, so they are feeling more secure, knowing that the next meal will always be there for them.  It has been a difficult task teaching these children to socialize and to live in family.  After many “time outs” for some of them, they finally got the message. 

It has been a blessed and rewarding year for me.  I pray for strength and God’s grace as we enter our second year… our family, children of Kay Timoun and me.

Breaking down the blocks!

Sometimes I get down, so down that I don’t want to write, in fact, can’t think of anything to write about. I wait for the “mood” to pass but it never seems to end.  I pray, I rest, I meditate…but the downer remains.  It’s been one of those times when it’s difficult for me to see the Good in what I am doing here.  I struggle with all that is going on around me and not necessarily what is going on here at Kay Timoun, but in the community.  I am the “odd” one, the American.  Sadly, I get the feeling that the people think that I have an endless supply of everything.

Kay Timoun functions well with everyone on the staff knowing what is expected of them.  My joy comes from the children.  They are progressing beautifully!  Five of the children are learning English with a computer program.   I hear them saying English phrases from time to time, their pronunciation not perfect but very good.  They know the value of speaking English.  I also speak to them in English to which they respond in English.  The youngest children, Odiana and Angi, learn quickly, not on the computer, but simply speaking to them in English. 

Afternoons are hot, too hot to play outside.  So, we have been gathering in the upstairs hallway, which doubles as a breezeway, being open to the outdoors on both ends.  The computer learners set up a small laptop and play games on Purble Place.  In doing so, they learn basic computer skills.  Benjamy can now navigate from games to photos to music.  The English learners work at another laptop close by where I can keep an open eye and ear on them.  Other kids work math problems or do art projects.  We are all working toward the same goal, to be the best that we can be.

So, now that I have broken through my writer’s block, you’ll be hearing from me more often.  God bless!

Time for Planting

Guy and Wilgens have been working in the garden all morning, since sun-up, hoeing and turning over the soil, preparing the garden for planting.  Yesterday Benjamin completed the new fence, this one totally goat proof having rows of picker wire woven between the "living" posts that will soon sprout leaves.  Wonel designed and built a "door" into the garden made of bamboo and picker wire.  So many of us are invested in having a garden plentiful in fruits and vegetables to feed our growing children at Kay Timoun. We are now protected from hungry goats and donkeys, the soil prepared, and we are ready to plant for summer harvest. The banana trees are determined to be a part of the harvest and had sprouted new leaves from the base plant that was left after the last goat assault.  They looked so beautiful, bright green leaves poking out of the ground!  Wow!  Soon we'll have bananas. Yesterday, however, I saw other scavengers in the garden.  They had eaten all the new banana leaves.  Roosters!  Kay Timoun banana plants were being attacked by bold roosters!  But not as bold as our kids.  Armed with stones, the kids had the roosters gone in no time!  They are great protectors of their garden.  The moringa trees, in another area close to the house where I can keep watch, have grown full with leaves, protected from goats by a woven basket type cover.  I water every day, as directed.  Benjamin will build a special fence today to protect the moringa trees from predators.  In the meantime, our chickens continue to multiply!  This morning Carole took three new eggs for my breakfast.  I held them as if they were the finest porcelain china, until I cracked them open into a bowl, and then into a pan of boiling water for the best poached eggs in Haiti!

God's blessings are all over Kay Timoun!  Mesi Bondye!  (Thank you, God!)