It's Been A While...

Tet chaje! It's been quite a bit of time since I've updated you on my happenings. I've been in Leogane for almost two weeks now with All Hands Volunteers. It has been absolutely incredible to see what living with over 70 other people has been like, and how much work it takes to keep things running smoothly. We had a bit of a sickness outbreak, the most educated guess was dysentery but no one really knows for certain what had, at point, 17 of our people lying on thermarests near the bathroom for days on end. I'm grateful to announce that aside from over a week of diarrhea and only one day of falling asleep while working, I made it through the epidemic unscathed.

The days are filled with manual labor, but also lots of laughter and telling stories. The beauty of becoming more and more fluent is that I don't miss out on the stories from half of the volunteers and I have gotten to become good friends with several of the local volunteers. One girl, Fredna took me to her house last Sunday for dinner, we took a moto way out into the countryside as the sun was hiding behind beautiful, voluptuous clouds. We rode past churches and little shops and fields full of plantains and bananas and all sorts of plants of unknown names and purposes.

When we arrived, we sat under a huge kalbas tree as neighbors and family members gathered to talk to the blan who spoke Kreyol. When I looked uneasily up at the gigantic fruit looming above my head, I think I was comforted with a "don't worry they won't fall, they're not ripe yet," but of course, when you want to hear something, you hear it! Either way, nothing fell, and after a delicious dinner and a Coca-Cola and a fresh coconut off the tree, we sat and told riddles and laughed until the sun began to set and Fredna and I took a moto back into town, through the dirt roads, passing the soccer fields and loto shops and the little tables with their candles being set out for the night's games of chance.

There is a bar next door to the Base where we stay and I've been going and learning how to kompa and showing the other blans that you don't have to be drunk to have a good time.

The hardest part has been hearing the news that a little girl died at the orphanage last week from cholera and that two of the other kids were sick in the clinic. Everyone was very somber and many people joined in an impromptu prayer circle that night. The two children are back at the orphanage and were running around happily this morning when we went to sing and hold them and fill their physical touch quotas as best we could.

The best part has been the freedom of travel and the opportunity to go to Jacmel this past weekend! There was a group of volunteers who wanted to take advantage of the 2 day weekend (every other weekend is a 2 day weekend) to travel to Jacmel to see Carnival and to take a little break from the sledgehammers and cement mixers. So of course I tagged along! We shared a minibus there and due to some political manifestations the road was blocked between Jacmel proper and the hotel everyone else was staying at - so they team decided to wait it out at the beach. This very quickly led to the idea of taking a boat to the hotel and avoiding the roads entirely. I helped negotiate their certain death and off they went, leaving myself and Robinson (an international volunteer but from Gonaives, Haiti) dancing on the beach with a bunch of adorable little kids.

We walked up to Marika's house, through all of my old stomping grounds and then went and visited PP and spoke with him and Mr. Noel for a little while, enjoying the laughter and story-telling that always happens in the company of friends. That night, I went to dinner with Marika and the kids to meet the same team coming in that I came in with when I first came to Jacmel. It was wonderful to see them and to spend the evening relaxing and then sleeping in a real bed after a real shower and waking up to real breakfast! What a joy!

The best part was going to church with Jeanette and Mami Doune and Robinson and PP and Patrick and so many of the children from PAZAPA - what a blessing that was! After church, lunch and then walking through town again, the whole gang Jeanette, Robinson, PP and Patrick and Carnival too! Every corner we took there were more colored costumes and people covered in syrup and charcoal running through the streets dancing and lovingly/drunkingly threatening passer-byers. The day ended with a joyful goodbye and a ride to the bus depot by a friend of Robinson's - Haiti is a wonderfully small country - everywhere you go you're bound to see someone you know! Home again to the base and dinner at a little shop in town.

It's been a busy past week and a half and it's hard to believe I've only got a week and a half more before I head off to my next destination of Terre Blanche (near Gonaives in Artibonite).

Time is flying!!! Much love and many thanks to you all.

Lanmou,

Ana