Painting

It is funny, how such a normal task of painting can stir up so many memories!  Recently we were painting - will share pictures later - and it brought me  back to 1.5 years ago when we were tackling all kinds of jobs, including painting to ready our condo for sale to move to Haiti full time!!  Side note, funny how all the odds and ends projects get done before selling for the new people ... updated kitchen lighting is something we both wish had been done a loooong time before for us to enjoy a bit longer :)  I've always liked the idea of painting as it is typically a low-price-big-change kind of improvement.  It also got me thinking about the first (and last) time painting concrete walls ... summer of 2001 on our first missions trip to Haiti.  I distinctly remember working alongside Joel Schuster and talking with him about the great guy Gerritt was (not knowing G would propose later that summer :).  Little did we know then, that God would bring us here full-time!  It also brought me back to my childhood, when working alongside my Dad we pulled up old carpet and painted the floor boards in my room.  This was a big project, but he was so patient in showing/teaching me what I needed to know.  Many times recently I have heard new friends here mention missing the places where one can "get lost" for an hour or so (fill-in-the-blank ... bookstore, coffee shop, retail store, dear friends house) and for me, painting allowed that opportunity to "get lost" in the moment and turn my brain off for a while.  I'm thankful that God gave us the money to buy a few gallons of paint to brighten up our personal space but also the gift of many wonderful memories and making new ones too :)

Lifesaver

Not the candy ~ the actual two words life saver is where I went today with 9 of the girls while they had a day off from school.  You see, a team who came through the guesthouse back in November asked us what the girls needed.  Our answer was not in the realm of clothes/school supplies and the like.  Instead it was an opportunity to serve in Haiti, the way so many people serve them through sponsorship and prayers.  Fast forward to today, we were able to buy rice, beans, cornmeal, flour, sugar and oil with their donation.  Our trusted friend Serge joined us on this adventure and we were even able to buy some items at his wife’s new store!  We prayed, sang along to songs on the radio and eventually arrived ~11am.  The children at lifesaver were in the midst of school in the only building they know for school/church/meals/sleep, but we were welcomed with open arms by the pastor that oversees it all.  I am not sure who was blessed more – the children we visited or our girls and me.  The girls were the ones that explained why we were there and helped carry food into the orphanage.  The girls were the ones that I tried to round up when we were leaving, only to find 3 of them – including one of our tough little ones - helping put a little boy in his bed for a nap and soothing his cries with kisses on his forehead.  The girls were the ones who when we were back in the gro machine gris (big gray van) talked and shared with heavy hearts, knowing the children they visited don’t always get to eat 3 meals a day like they do.  This was my first trip to lifesaver, but Lord willing not the last.  There was a lot difficult about this visit, but it was an awesome opportunity to bless another orphanage and hopefully plant some seeds that will help develop the character of our girls as they mature into Godly women in Haiti.

Market Day

Today was the day we bought the fresh vegetables and fruit for the guesthouse. We shop for a weeks worth at a time, however a typical Haitian household would go to the market everyday to buy what they need and can afford.  It came to mind today that this weekly adventure has become part of my routine ~ in one years' time, I have learned how to navigate the roads, where we are going and by God's grace return with groceries in tow!  It is such a joy to see and be seen by the lovely ladies who we buy from.  When we arrive there are big smiles, warm greetings and of course beautiful produce.  They understand when the big gray van arrives, it is a good day for their business as they have come to learn that Mme Serge buys a lot.  My job is to serve as the driver, money carrier and door opener/closer.  You see, I cannot actually do the shopping as the price would change (ie. get bigger) but I can watch the negotiating.  I've always been an avid people watcher and living in Haiti, there is so much to take in.  I see in the ladies eyes a lifetime of stories and hope to someday be honored enough to learn just a few.  I see the beautiful headwraps they wear and how they truly enjoy the company of one another.  I see how proudly they display their produce (even Whole Foods would be proud!) and wonder how many people that days wages needs to support.  There are times like today that I am surrounded by beautiful Haitians and forget that my skin color is different than theirs.  I talk with and sing along on the radio with Mme Serge to songs I know (even if I don't know all the words).  There is so much that Haiti is teaching me and it is days like these that I have a chance to stop and take in the culture of this new country we have been called to live.  There are and will continue to be days that are just plain hard, but today for just a short while I enjoyed and felt comfortable.

The haircut

It feels altogether vain to be blogging about a haircut – in Haiti - but give me a moment to explain.  Before moving here, I (Julie) had entertained the idea of growing out my hair to be culturally aware/sensitive - even going as far as getting others opinions that travel to or live in Haiti and decided my shorter hairstyle would fit in just fine.  However those with short hair know that it is a) imperative to find someone you trust to cut your hair - not much or any "wiggle room" for mistakes when it is short :) and b) hair will need to be cut every 4 or 5 weeks depending on style.  The one piece I did not fully think through was where I would go to get my haircut in Haiti as the ladies here have much coarser hair thus cutting it is much different.  (Side note: Anyone interested in coming to Haiti to cut American’s hair and teach the techniques here, please let me know as there are atleast 10 ladies that I know who would LOVE to benefit from this!)  Two haircuts and 11 months later, I was talking with my dear friend Yvenise and she said she could help me … I almost broke out in the Hallelujah chorus!  The morning we met at the studio, I didn’t know what to expect but knew that I trusted Yvenise and God reminded me that every day in Haiti is an adventure!  Here is the "before" picture that Gerritt took:

Here is the "after":

While I really like the style, the cut itself was uneven in parts so my wonderful husband came to the rescue to clean it up!  This is on the list of "much easier in the United States", but the months of waiting make for a good story to share with all of you :)

Contrasts

If nothing else, Haiti is a land of contrasts. Gray dusty rubble and trash piles amidst Caribbean tropical beauty and coastal splendor. Some of the warmest, friendliest, most giving and gracious people we have ever met interspersed with those who will manipulate, lie, and steal to get what they want. Displays of great wealth and resources scattered within the grinding poverty and lives marked with a lack of so many necessities of life. Shining examples of cleverness and entrepreneurial spirit balanced with ridiculously wasteful or dangerous superstitions holding people back. 

In our own personal experience, I paused this past week when I put 2,500 Gourdes of gasoline into the big guesthouse 15-passenger van. That's about $60US and at nearly $5 a gallon the needle went from 1/4 to 3/4 tank. The minimum wage in Haiti is $5/day. A partial tank of gas in a big van represents 2 plus weeks of full time pay for an unskilled worker here. Sometimes it's hard to wrap my head around that.

This week offered another contrast for us. Julie and I had the opportunity to get away for a couple of nights while the house had no reservations, and we had a friend familiar with the house operations willing to stay and keep an eye on things for us. (It is not recommended to leave a house unoccupied even one night in Port-Au-Prince.) We made a trip to the southern coast of Haiti near a small city called Jacmel and stayed two nights at a lovely small hotel.

Our room was in the second floor far right. 

View from our balcony. See what I mean by contrasts?? 

Obviously we enjoyed the amazing views and beautiful getaway, but it is also hard to be fully immersed in the experience without realizing how fortunate we are to have this opportunity. Here we are in Haiti - a terribly poor country - with a group of supporters providing the resources for us to be here doing what we do and on top of all that we get to go off on a beautiful get away like this. There is a piece of me that thinks no one deserves this level of comfort and yes luxury when there are so many who don't even have the basics. This internal conflict has been going on for thousands of years, and I am not about to solve it here and now. But honestly, the complexity of the issue is draining to mull over. 

We also took the opportunity to visit Bassin Bleu - a stunning natural wonder of waterfalls and aqua blue pools of fresh mountain stream water. We needed to ford a small river in our pickup truck and wind our way through a few miles of mountain dirt roads to get there, but boy was it worth it. 

Again.. contrasts.

So that's what is swirling around in my head this afternoon. I hope this note finds anyone who reads it enjoying the wonders of the advent season where we focus on a time of anticipation. I know I am anticipating a time when all the big questions are going to be answered once and for all. 

Blessings,

G.

Money doesn't grow on trees

Money doesn't grow on trees... How many of you have had to have this conversation with some young person/people to whom you were trying to teach a principle?? This week I needed to have this talk with our 17 young ladies. In the past few weeks, several more items in the girls' home had become damaged or broken. I know Haiti is a tough environment and the girls really could use more space to expend their vast energy, but cracking a solid wood door in half?? Really?? Plus the three doorknobs that had fallen off meant a trip to the hardware store for us and a couple days labor from Mr. Charles the carpenter to get it all back the way it should be. In previous entries, we have spoken about the girls' jewelry making enterprise and how they are getting paid a small sum piecemeal for each item they make. Well, Thursday was payday and each girl had the wages they were entitled to cut in half to partially offset the cost of the repairs. Some of our older girls had close to $40 US coming to them so they took a pretty big hit. One of the girls was quite upset saying over and over that she didn't break the items so why should she pay for them. (None of the girls ever offered a credible explanation or took responsibility for the damage) Suffice it to say I was fairly unpopular that day. On the plus side, 30 minutes after the ruckus, the girls were all seated throughout the house doing homework and reciting their memorization passages etc.

It's hard to take things away from those who don't have all that much to start with. There was a time early on when Julie and I wondered what tools we had to use for discipline when there really wasn't anything we could take away as a punishment. All their needs are being met, but the girls still have so few things they can call their own. Now they have a way to make a little money for themselves and are really motivated by it and that ends up being what we take away now to get their attention. I really hope several lessons sink in from this. One... everyone needs to do a better job of taking care of things. Two... Haiti Under God does not have an endless supply of resources to replace things whenever they need it. Three... they ALL pay the price for damage to the house and if you don't want your pay docked again you might want to tell your sisters who are locking each other in or out of the bathroom and pounding on the door and yanking on the doorknob to knock it off BEFORE something gets broken.

I know instilling values and responsibility isn't an easy task, and there are no guarantees. I also know the results are totally worth the effort and aggravation, but it sure isn't fun sometimes.

-G

Van Ride

For 17 girls here in Haiti, a ride in the gro machine gri (big gray van) is a pretty big treat!  It is not so much about "getting the best seat", it is about the actual van ride.  You see, the girls can basically walk everywhere they need to go so a ride in an air-conditioned vehicle WITH music is a big deal!  Well this past Sunday we took a ride in the gro machine gri to see how much all the rain had impacted the city (it wasn't just 2 days off from school).  Initially there was a lot of chatter in the van, but as we drove through a tent city nearby it became still as the girls took in the reality of mud and wetness everywhere they looked.  Mind you this was 2 full days after the rain had stopped.  From there we drove to Riviere Grise that had risen higher than I believe it ever has before.  Many of the girls were too afraid to get too close to the water which I could understand as it was still raging and moving fast.  We made one last stop in Canaan where we walked around and greeted people in their homes.  This time we did not bring anything but ourselves, a prayer and song, but we hope it brought encouragement to those we spent time with.  Many if not all of the girls fell asleep on the ride home - which as a side note, I wondered how in the world they were able to do as I drove over the bumpy roads of Haiti - and I was grateful to have the time to process all we had seen together.  Each day we have so much to be thankful, for not the least being a 15 passenger van (yup, you read this right - 17 girls + 3 adults fit "Haitian style" in the van!).  Our time together felt like "family" and was special.  It made me miss time with my awesome nephew and two nieces in NY, but I also know they are loved and cared for by my brother and sister in law whereas the girls that HUG has made a part of their family really needed an adult to love and care for them and for this I am thankful to be here.