Rocks Out of Water

On Friday, June 16th, TenThousandVillages of Pasadena officially opened its doors for business. While the grand opening is still a few weeks away we congratulate all who have given their time and talents to make the project a reality. If you are in the So. Cal. area be sure to stop by and visit…and of course make a purchase. Below are a few photos of the store, located on 496 South Lake Street, Pasadena, CA 91101. (Click on them for a larger view.)

After 3 months of searching in the Dominican Republic we were unable to find a stable living situation, and now, here in Haiti, we have 2! Since we’ve arrived in Haiti at the end of April many doors have opened for us. I am convinced that this is where we are supposed to be.

A few days ago we secured a 1-year lease on a room we’re renting in Jacmel, conveniently located close to the Beyond Borders office. We actually have 2 rooms, which are connected (Perfect for receiving visitors.). Yesterday, after a few previous visits to a rural community about an hour and a half outside of the city, we found a very nice family willing to host us. The plan is to split our time between the rural community, Meno, so I can continue to improve my creole and get a better understanding of Haitian culture, and Jacmel, where Tim can work in the office.

Yesterday I visited Meno for the second time, and though it’s much different that I imagined, I think it will be a good fit for us. We will be living at the top of a mòn, a mountain. To put it into perspective, after a 25 minute car ride we will walk an hour and a half, up-hill, to reach our host family’s home. Though it is a long walk, best done in the morning before the sun sucks you dry, it is worth every step.

The people of Meno are incredibly friendly and hospitable. We surprised the community with a visit on Tuesday and instead of the customary offer to drink heavily sugared coffee, often all that most families can offer, we were invited to spend the day with them while they cooked us a full meal. Tim previously spent 3 nights in Meno with a Transformational Travel group and marvaled at their hospitality. There might very well be some not-so-friendly people in the community, but as our Haitian colleague says, we have confidence in the people of Meno. We have confidence that living together with them–not to bring aid or pretend like we know how to fix their problems–we will be able to learn from them through experiencing the pains and joys of their daily lives.

Dear Friends,

We’ve been in Haiti for over six weeks and can hardly believe how fast the time has flown by. After some very positive experiences, we hare thrilled to share with you that we have decided to stay in Haiti long-term. Tim will be coordinating two Beyond Borders programs, The Apprenticeship in Shared Living, where North Americans spend a year living with a Haitian family in the rural countryside to learn Creole and Haitian culture, and Transformation Travel, a program where groups of 6-10 North Americans spend a weeks learning about the history, culture, and daily life of Haitians. Leah will be spending much of her time learning Creole in a Haitian community as an Apprentice and will eventually look for ways to integrate her training in nutrition into her experience.

May was an extremely busy month. Besides the rigors of moving and adapting to life in a new culture, we have done a fair amount of traveling, reacquainting with old friends while also making new ones. We are currently living in Jacmel, Haiti’s sixth largest city, on the country’s southern coast. We are renting a room from a family in the city, but hope to move out to the countryside at the end of June in order to continue to work on our Creole and cultural understanding.

We have already had the chance to visit Reno, the community Tim lived in as an apprentice in 2001-2002. His old host family, the Denis, were thrilled to see us again and eager to begin teaching Leah Creole.

We are truly grateful for your continued support, prayers, and encouragement during our transition to Haiti. We both feel a deep peace and excitement about being here, a place that has been on our hearts for years. We look forward to sharing our experiences with you through our blog, and though we weren’t able to write in May, have posted some reflections about some of our experiences in Haiti thus far and will continue to post on a weekly basis.

Sincerely,
Tim & Leah

While spending time in Reno I got a taste of rural living in Haiti. What struck me the most is how long everything takes and how hard everyone works. For example, Dennis, Tim’s host father, has land on the mountain and walks 2 ½ hours each way, two to three times a week, to work the land in the hot sun. He will rise early, before the sunsets, and make the long up-hill hike only to return later that evening.

Woman’s work is no joke either. Though they may not walk as far, the woman of Reno walk to the market at least once a week, which is a three-hour journey roundtrip, up and down small mountains. I walked it a few times, very cautiously, trying not to slip on the loose rocks during the steep declines. While I’m trying to hold my body up and not make a fool of myself the other woman can walk it bear foot while balancing large containers on their head. This is just the beginning of their day, 3 hours of cooking over an open fire, cleaning, and washing usually follow.

The womanly activity that amazes me the most is washing clothes by hand. It looks so easy, but after washing about 6 articles of clothing with my friend Ann (pictured below in the blue shirt, with the rest of her family) my knuckles were raw and I was exhausted. When Haitians wash they soap up the clothes and get them spotless by what they call froting, rubbing parts of the clothes together in a quick back and forth motion that makes this sound. I can’t explain the noise, but know from my soundless attempts that I have yet to master it.

While tending to the small blisters on my hand I was thinking about the strength and patience of Haitian women. Ann spends all day Saturday washing the clothes of the 10 people who live in her house. Her only breaks are to cook and comfort her sick one-year-old child. I never once heard her complain, just comment that Haitians have a lot of misery to pass. She said this to me more times than I can count on one hand, but would be laughing and joking with me a few minutes later.

I spent 3 ½ weeks (2 ½ without Tim) with the host family that Tim lived with in 2001-2002. I have to admit I was pretty nervous to be there by myself, especially facing the long night with the ti bet yo, small creatures of the dark like cockroaches and tarantulas. I was surprised and relieved that the bugs bothered me less and less as the days marched on and I truly had a good time, minus the waves of boredom that accompany the slow pace of life in rural Haiti.

Tim’s host family, Dennis and Madam Dennis (the feminist movement hasn’t quite made it here so even I have two names, Leah and Madam Tim) were delighted to begin teaching me Creole. One of the first new words I learned was chèche, which means to search. The Dennis’ house is in front of a well where the community comes to fetch water for cooking, drinking, washing, and bathing. After I greeted people with the standard how are you, and how are your people, it is common to make a remark about the activity they are performing. Often this would be, w’ap chèche dlo, you’re searching for water?

I not only used the word chèche for those getting water, but with this little boy who came to the Dennis property 3-4 times a day searching for mangos. He looked about 2 years old, only ½ his age, evident in the long conversations I overheard when he was splashing around with his friends close to the well. Slowly, he would enter the Dennis yard trying to look as innocent as he could. He wouldn’t talk to me at first but eventually answered my, “how are you” and “what is your name”, with the same line, m’pa pi mal, I’m not any better off, the most common Haitian response to how life is going. After disappearing to the back of the house to visit madam Dennis and ensure she was engaged in her daily chore of cooking the large lunch meal he would wander towards the large mango tree. A few minutes later, walking as fast as he could, I would see this little body exiting the yard with mangos poking out of his over sized shirt.

It was a kick to watch this little guy and after a few days of entertainment I named him madam Dennis’ ti zanmi, her little friend. Everyday I laughed and had a good time saying, “w’ap chèche mango”, as he scurried away from the large mango trees.

Over the past month I’ve learned quickly that nothing is easy in Haiti, especially traveling. As we journeyed on public transportation to visit Tim’s old host family, packed in the back of a pick-up truck with at least 15 other Haitians, our favorite phrase was pa gen wout, there is no road.

There is one road that stretches the length of the country and it has deteriorated considerably over the past two years. Parts of the route are paved, but the majority of it is composed of dirt and stones with huge potholes that grow bigger with each rain. If you travel anywhere in Haiti by road you mentally prepare yourself and your body for a long, hot, bumpy trip.

We mounted and descended one packed van and three pick-up trucks - Haitian’s call them tap-taps - to arrive in Les Cayes, the third largest city in Haiti, hungry, dirty, and tired after 7 ½ hours of travel. After a mysterious meal of breaded chicken in a hot pink sauce, supposedly Chinese food, and a goodnight’s sleep at a guesthouse, we took another tap-tap to Camp Perrin. Finally we could smell victory and were just one more rocky road away from Tim’s village.

Tim says that traveling in Haiti takes years off your life. If it doesn’t make you age quicker you sure feel like with a stiff back and pains in places you didn’t think could hurt. Though it can be grueling to travel by public transportation it gives us a chance to better understand the daily life and challenges of the majority of Haitians. As I listen to people greet one another, squeeze together to make room for one more, or erupt with laughter as they exchange playful jokes, I am amazed at the resilience of the Haitian people. They have a remarkable way of laughing in the mist of misery and turning what could be an unbearable ride into an unforgettable moment.

Our apologies for not keeping the blog updated. Since we arrived in Haiti over a month ago we’ve been sucked into a whirlwind of activities, some taking us all over the country. We are finally back in Jacmel, home base, and have many experiences to share.

We are feeling much more settled in Haiti and have even found a room to rent, above the house of a very nice Haitian family. They actually have 4 rooms for rent so we have the best of both worlds, our privacy and the ability to live in community with 5 other Haitians, all of whom are extremely nice and patient (especially with me) as I learn Creole.

Our room is a few minutes away from the Beyond Borders office where Tim spends a great deal of his time and we both have the privilege of interacting with other BB staff, a luxury we missed in the Dominican Republic. We definitely valued the company of our colleague Anna, but are enjoying being able to talk to a handful of people and having a place to meet. Perhaps it just feels more official.

Tim has been busy working on his program budgets for the next fiscal year as well as helping welcome the newest apprentice, Maria, and preparing to translate for transformational travel groups (groups of 8-12 North Americans who spend 1-2 weeks learning about Haiti).

With all of the events Tim had during the middle of May and my lack of activity, we decided that the best way for me to begin adjusting to life here and be surrounded by a community to begin learning Creole was to spend 2 ½ weeks with Tim’s old host family, the Dennis, who he lived with in 2001-2002. So that is exactualy what we did. Both Tim and I traveled to the South of Haiti, Tim dropped me off with the Dennis in a community called Reno, and Tim went back to Jacmel (and later to the capital) to help translate for a TT group and attend other meetings.

It’s been a busy three weeks and despite missing each other, we both had good experiences and made a lot of new friends. The next few entries are about our adventures during the month of May. My friends, welcome to Haiti.