Friday, March 7, 2014

Reflection in our last hours

While taking in everything we have encountered here in Haiti over the past week I realize how big of an impact one small person can make on the world. I realize that faith never fails. And most importantly I realize how truly blessed I am.

"With legs to take me where I go, and eyes to see the sunsets glow. With ears to hear what I may know, and a mind not cursed with being slow, oh God forgive me when I whine, I'm blessed indeed, the world is mine" 
-Joy Lovelet

I am praying for safe travels home tomorrow. I cannot wait to share my stories and personal growth points with you. 
-Kate Krueger 

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Come as Strangers, Leave as Friends

Here ends another great day with more wonderful experiences! We began bright and early with a long 4 hour bus ride with five children from Arc en Ciel (Rainbow House) to the beach in Jacmel. The children who live at AEC are effected or affected by HIV. Today was a wonderful reminder to us of the beauty of God's natural world. On this four hour ride, we drove up and around the breathtaking Haitian mountains, which encompasses around 2/3 of the whole country, and reached Jacmel shortly before noon. We arrived at the beach house and were taken aback by just how immaculate the area was. We all agreed that seeing that beach today made us realize the undeniable beauty of this Caribbean island, and in a way, it represented the undeniable potential that the Haitian people and this country has. Originally, we were surprised that only five children were joining us, but this turned out to be an incredible blessing in disguise. The small number allowed us to truly connect with each and every child and help them enjoy the great fun that is the beach on a warm, sunny day. While, initially some of us were wondering how going to the beach would fit in with the "service" aspect of our trip, it turned out to be an important teaching lesson for all of us. It is always wonderful to help out children by feeding them, or teaching them, but in the end, kids just need to let go and enjoy the fun activities that all children get to enjoy. We helped make these five children's day by just playing with them at the beach. It made me especially redefine how I interpret "serving others" and it turned out to be a tremendous growing experience. Of course, while we were at the beach we enjoyed some great waves, crystal clear water, bright sunshine, and some great games of soccer. It was great to be able to connect with the children using these common activities, and once again it was amazing to see how deep of a connection we could make, despite the language barrier (which for folks like myself, is an incredibly large barrier!) When we departed on the bus this morning, the five children were seated apart from us on the bus, but when we departed for Port-au-Prince in the evening, the children were spread out, each sitting beside someone they established a connection and relationship with. Five Haitian children and ten American volunteers blurred the lines between privilege, religion, and ethnicity, all in the pursuit of finding common ground. Now only imagine what this world could be like if we all could strive to find that common ground and love and befriend all of God's children that inhabit this Earth. 

Tyler
 

More Futbol!

Futbol - the universal language

Ne twa ye - Fatra!

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Unexpected Conversations

I had an "ah-ha" moment today as I was picking up trash with the kids at St. Dominic's Orphanage. As I was hiking back up the hill with a young boy, full trash bags in hand, I decided to make my typical (and very much rehearsed) attempt at communication. "Bonjou, koman ou ye?" and "Kijan ou rele?" are essentially the only phrases I know in Creole, so as you can imagine conversation didn't last long before silence took over. The boy asked me if I spoke French and when I said no, as a last ditch effort, he mentioned that he knew a little Spanish. Bingo! Once we discovered that we had this common knowledge we were able to communicate beyond "How are you?" and "What is your name?" Although this exchange was also brief due to our broken Spanish, it reaffirmed my passion and desire to learn a second language. I am confident that I'll be able to use such a skill to help build meaningful relationships in the future. Language opens doors. It's funny how I wasn't sure of this until I was able to carry a conversation in Haiti, not in the native tongue or my first language, but in Spanish.

Meredith

For the Beauty of the Earth

Today began with a drive into the countryside to visit St. Dominic's Orphanage. Our goal there was to work with the children and educate them about sustainability and recycling. In the morning, the children assisted us with picking up trash along the grounds of the orphanage. It felt very good to know that we were leaving an impression on them that God's great Earth requires our protection and respect for its undeniable beauty. We have a role to protect and preserve the Earth. Following lunch, we were able to play some games with the kids including our version of "Ne twa ye, fatra," which is similar to the US version of Hot Potato. In this case however, the literal translation of "ne twa ye, fatra" is "clean up, garbage" and the children would have to pass a piece of wrapper around a circle and whoever had the wrapper when the person in the middle yelled "fatra" was out. After that, we were able to spend some time just playing and socializing  with the children. This included some classic games of red hands, thumb wars, and Miss Mary Mack. It felt so rewarding to see the smiles on the children's faces when we were engaging them. The kids also enjoyed the soccer ball we brought and it once again reminded us that soccer is the universal language! It is hard to believe that our trip is more than halfway over, but the experiences and memories we have made will last a lifetime. Due to a technical glitch, the pictures that accompany this post will be added tomorrow.

Orevwa,

Tyler

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Looking back...

For me to reflect over the past three days, I have seen God in Jane Wynne of Wynne Farm, which is an ecological reserve dedicated to preserving and educating others about God's great Earth. She reminded me of how through God, we all have potential and the capability to change the world and the people that inhabit it. One person with a vision as bright and refreshing as Jane's can achieve so much. It is all too easy in today's society to assume that we are all "little people," and so the opportunity to change something on a grand scale is very difficult and even considered impossible. Yet Jane reminded me that with God's help you can achieve a lot as one single human being. I think it's something we all can take back with us after this trip. 


It's not only the experiences we have, but the people who influence those experiences that make a difference.

- Tyler

"This is the day the Lord has made..."

Today we were blessed with the opportunity to participate in one of Outreach To Haiti's partners, in which we were in complete solidarity with the children and adults that we encountered. We started our day at the Mother Theresa Feeding program, where mothers can bring their children to be evaluated for malnutrition and they provide meals for these infants and children. We were able to directly interact with the children in this program by nurturing them. We had lunch at a local "fast-food restaurant" where we were able to eat crepes and embrace yet more Haitian culture. After lunch we made our way to the Action pou Timoun feeding program, which was started years ago by Madame Sansan and is continued by her family; where we distributed meals to local children. Thanks to Hannah Krueger, the children were over-joyed to receive friendship bracelets from us. We were all touched by the relationships formed with these children today, and hope that we have made a memorable impact in their lives as well.
(The picture sums up our day, and we hope you can find a deeper meaning in it based upon the experiences we have shared.)

All our love from Haiti,
Kate and Leah

Food Fights

Today we're headed to two feeding programs. The first is run by the Missionaries of Charity in the legacy of Mother Theresa. They provide food for undernourished infants. The second is a program initiated by a woman who saw hungry children in her neighborhood and wanted to provide for them. Haiti has abundant food and fertile soil. Hunger here seems particularly cruel.

Simplicity at its finest!

Day 3 on the journey. Might be time to shower...

Sunday, March 2, 2014

To Be or Not to Be

Well, our first full day in Haiti is coming to a close (Leah is already in bed and it isn't even 9pm!). We rose before the sun today in order to get to Mass on time. This is typical in Haiti because people like to beat the heat, although it is only a balmy 80 some degrees in the winter. It is also necessary to arrive early since the church fills quickly. There were people who brought their own chairs and sat outside once the pews were full. Definitely different than back home. Mass was entirely in Creole which helped us to dive directly into the Haitian culture. I know we all enjoyed the Caribbean twist on the songs.

Later today we also had a group activity/discussion revolving around the various ways to approach injustice. Some of us identified ourselves as "helpers" while others felt that advocating, arranging protests, or working as "organizers" is a better approach. We took turns speaking directly to other groups and mentioned what irritates us about working with each group. The activity brought some great discussion to the surface about our purpose in Haiti and the need for all four of these approaches to positive social change to collaborate. We became slightly frustrated that we couldn't pinpoint the reason that we are here, but later we had the opportunity to meet with two university students from Haiti and learned the importance of relationship.

Jimmy and Laurente talked about the education system here and it was fun to see similarities and differences. I don't think a lot of us thought about the burden of actually getting to school. Many of us live directly on campus and have constant access to the library and other students for academic support. Laurente has to wake up at 3am to brave the traffic and get to class on time! We all struggled to get up at that time to leave from Gannon on Saturday. I can't even imagine doing that every day. It was wonderful to meet with people our age and learn more about their culture. Forming actual relationships and exchanging stories (and dance moves) helped us to realize that maybe our purpose here is more about being than doing. Do you take time to live in the moment and be, or are you constantly in the action of doing?

 All in all it was a beautifully thought provoking day. Bònn nui. Dòmi byen
 Tyler, Meredith, Kate & Paige

Laurent and Jimmy

We are so grateful to the university students that shared dialogue with us about education and our campus lives... and a kampo dance lesson!

Our Gracious Guide

Fr. Frank is a psychologist and not-so-amateur historian. We are grateful for his hospitality and wisdom.

Encountering After Shocks

After celebrating sunrise mass at Notre Dame de Lourdes in Cite Militaire, Fr. Frank and our fearless driver Roland, showed us around downtown Port-au-Prince. The 2010 earthquake impact on buildings and people has startled us.

Bon dimanche!

Saturday, March 1, 2014

arrival

we have finally arrived in our home for the next 7 days! although the ride was a little but bumpy, it was very exciting! the house is very beautiful and we must say, we feel a little spoiled with the upstairs balcony! :)

Departure

We are ready to board our flight! We are very excited!