After Carnival

February 17, 2012                           After Carnival

Carnival at Ste. Marie Madeleine is over.  School is closed, teachers have gone to their hometowns for family celebrations.  There is a quietness about the area that I haven’t yet experienced.  I’m enjoying quiet time and especially am enjoying one on one time with Gastina.  We’re working on language; she is helping me with Creole and French and I’m helping her with English.  She is such a precocious child for 10 years old!  I suppose it’s a result of the hard life she has had in her ten short years.  She is also learning simple computer skills by playing computer games and writing, using Word.  Today Anna joined her in playing computer games, and then Christian joined in.  The three played very well together, no problems.  I watch them play and share one mini laptop and call to mind that these three children are the poorest of the poor.  Gastina had severe malnutrition when I met her shortly after the earthquake, two years ago.  Anna and her family lived in a blue plastic tarp tent until Ste. Marie Madeleine Church and South Florida Haiti Project gave them a home to live in.  Twelve year old Christian and his family moved into the Nouvo Bidaw Houses.  His mother, seeking a better life for him, had given him to a family in Port au Prince.  Christian was very unhappy and was returned to his mother.  He now attends our school and will live in the Children’s Home.  South Florida Haiti Project has made a huge difference in the lives of Gastina, Anna, and Christian.  Leisure time following Carnival has been blessed time, giving me what I need just at the moment I need it.