from June 22

Dear friends and family and random voyeuristic strangers who have no idea who I am but read this anyway,

Or, dear no one, because I don’t know if anyone reads this!

Hello again from Ecole Shalom in Croix des Bouquets! I didn’t write yesterday, not because I didn’t have a full and wonderful day, but simply because I was tired and I didn’t get a chance to plug in my computer while the generator was running.

Let me try to make up for it tonight, yeah? Yesterday I was at Dr. Roberts’ orphanage teaching English to the nursing students once again, and playing with the sweet little kiddies. They serenade us with “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” when we walk through the gate; today we tried to teach them “You Are My Sunshine”. Class went well, though we’ve been taking some of the older kids from the orphanage as well and it’s been challenging to cope with the mixed age group and level of comprehension. I think we’d like to try to have separate classes – one for the kids, in their little school area, and one for the nurses, which already takes place out in the front courtyard of the complex.

It’s been fun to return so often to the same place, and build up relationships with some of the kids. I find they’re opening up a lot more with me each day, wanting more snuggles, trying harder to communicate with me. Some of them have started talking a little bit about the family members they lost, how they dream of them at night and wake up sad in the morning. It’s challenging to respond in a way that’s meaningful, especially given the language barrier (though my Creole is improving and my French is coming back to me). I sense that they benefit from one another’s support, though. The older kids take very good care of the younger ones. They’re like a big family. The four women who work at the orphanage are all totally wonderful as well.

After we finished at the orphanage and came home to Ecole Shalom, I had a brief rest and then headed into central Croix des Bouquets with Isara and Caroline (two fellow volunteers). One of our translators, Justaland, decided to come along with us. So I had my first adventure in a public tap-tap! Every other time, I’ve either been in a private vehicle, or walked to where I needed to go. Contrary to what I vaguely remember saying last time I wrote, the public tap-taps are hilarious and amazing. Imagine a big truck with a grated canopy and two benches inside, open at the back. You’re so close to the people across from you that your knees are touching, and the canopy is so low you’re stooping. The whole vehicle throbs with this intense, ridiculously loud music – and I’ve talked to people who wait until a tap-tap goes by that’s playing the right song before they decide to get on. When you get to where you need to go, you bang on the window, jump out the back, toss the driver five gourds and you’re on your way. Except that I’ve never seen a tap-tap come to a complete stop – usually you have to run and jump to get on, and jog along beside it to pay.

So we took the tap-tap into the market, and checked in at the internet cafe. Then, Justaland guided us around downtown Croix des Bouquets, showed us where he went to school, walked us to the edge of a beautiful cemetery, and gave us a tour of all the little stalls and side streets. It was nice to get out and explore the area a little. I am starting to tune out all the random shouts of “I love you, lady!” and “give me a dollar” and “hey sexy girl”, which is nice, because it means I’m cutting out one hell of a distraction. But yesterday, while we were walking in the market, I ignored a group of three men who were calling after me...only to have one of them pull out a megaphone and continue flattering me at great volume until I turned the corner. That was definitely a new one for me!

We returned to Ecole Shalom for an utterly fucking delicious dinner (seriously, you guys have never eaten as good as I eat three times a day...this almost rivals gran’s cooking). Then I just had a quiet night of hanging out at the compound, reading my Mandeville and visiting with people. I went to bed quite early – I was still feeling a little punky from my lack of water – and actually had a really amazing sleep. I’d been sleeping pretty sketchily for the first few nights here – the roosters at night are almost as bad as on Kauai, and the neighbourhood dogs and goats sing a rousing chorus as soon as it gets dark. The night bugs I find soothing, and everything else has started to fade into an oddly comforting (if cacophonous) white noise. I sleep deeply enough now that I dream intensely and remember it in the mornings.

Today, I was back at Dr. Roberts’ orphanage. Every other time I’ve been there, I’ve been teaching English to the Doctor’s nursing students for the majority of my time there. But that’s only Monday-Wednesday-Friday, so today, I wasn’t teaching English! This means I had more time to spend with the kiddies! I’m going to be honest. I don’t really like teaching English. I don’t particularly mind it, and I do really enjoy assisting other people who are leading the class. I love interacting with the nurses, and they’re all complete sweethearts. But I’m not big on teaching. More power to people who enjoy it, because I think it’s awesome and worthwhile! I love working out the lesson plans and staying in the background, but...I will never be a teacher. I guess it’s nice, at least, to be able to decisively cross things off the list, huh?

Anyway, don’t misinterpret that as a complaint, because I’ve had a lot of fun with Bonnie (who is an amazing teacher!) and the nurses. But I realized today, when I had my first full, uninterrupted day at the orphanage with the kids, that I had a really fulfilling day in a totally different way. The layout of the orphanage, at least the outdoor portion, is pretty simple. There is a school area in one corner, with chalk boards and benches; a washing area and tent in the next corner; and along the length of those, a gravel soccer field. The perimeter of the compound is bristly vegetation, ringed with garbage, and the soccer field is full of big rocks and broken glass.

We decided today that we had a big enough team going to the orphanage that we could keep the kids having fun and also do some repairs! So we patched up some huge tears in the wall tent, where many of the children sleep – they told us that, when it rains, several inches of water pour in and accumulate in the bottom of the tent. We also brought garbage bags, and started cleaning up the play area. The older boys were really excited about helping, so they pitched in from the beginning, but even the younger kids started trickling over to lend a hand. Soon, we had the five of us and about twenty kids raking the large rocks out of the soccer field, donning gloves to pick up the broken glass, bagging all the garbage, clearing some of the vegetation, making new goalposts for the soccer field, and repairing the tents.

It’s tons of fun just playing with the kids, but it was also really exciting to see them getting engaged with a different kind of activity. They have a strong sense of pride in their little space, and when we explained to them (through Basil, one of the older boys who speaks some English and good French) why it’s important to keep clean, they were really curious and energetic and all wound up to help us! We’re hoping to propose projects that future rotations of volunteers can pick up, like clearing some of the vegetation to create raised beds for a garden, and more urgently, building some kind of lavatory so the kids aren’t defecating at the edge of their play area.

We returned to Ecole Shalom in the afternoon, got fed and watered up, and then I wandered into town again. I’m getting the hang of public tap-taps, I’m telling you. I can’t wait to show you guys pictures – the tap-taps are the most extraordinarily beautiful works of art. Everyone one is unique, bright, and totally bizarre. I can’t even explain it. The entire truck is painted with a rainbow of colours, often with religious slogans on the window, or lines from love songs. They’ll have sunbursts and paintings of the Virgin Mary and bikini-clad women and cartoon characters and celebrities and everything you can imagine, all of it blossoming in the most intense palette of colours you’ll ever see, all across the cab and the windows and the canopy. Sometimes when they’re packed you’re honestly just clinging to the back bar, standing on the rear bumper as the tap-tap bounces along through the potholes and puddles. All the while blaring dance music and hip-hop, of course.

We’ve discovered a place where you can buy ice-cold Prestige (a Haitian lager) about a five-minute walk from Ecole Shalom, so the last couple of late afternoons a few of us have stopped in for a frosty beer to drink as we stroll home in the rolling showers of rain. I have to say, it’s a refreshing way to cool down after a sweaty, dusty day. We returned from town, with a stop at the beer guy’s shed/cooler, and had a predictably exquisite dinner. Once again I had a chilled out visit downstairs, and tonight a long visit with Justaland (who is baffled by the idea of a small island like Bella Bella, and endlessly amused when I talk about driving boats). Now I’m writing this extremely long journal entry, sitting in the dark in my tent trying to keep my eyes open long enough to end this coherently. Am I doing a good job?

Who knows. I need to get some sleep, though. Tomorrow I’m taking a break from orphanage work to test out a new project for GVN – data entry for UNICEF, as they’re surveying all 5,000 schools in a specific area to gather information about how many students they have, what resources are at hand, how much damage they suffered in the quake, and even just super basic stuff like...are they still open. Once they have all this data, they’ll be able to build a database that will help them to support schools in the Port au Prince area. So, it won’t be very glamorous, but it’ll be a nice break.

The weather has been winding up to something very intense, and I’ll be glad to be inside tomorrow. It’s become increasingly overcast and windy the last couple of days, though still intermittently very hot. I’m told there’s a 40% chance of a hurricane hitting in the next 48 hours, so we’re bracing ourselves for some wicked weather. Wish me luck – Ecole Shalom is very safe and sturdy, but I’d still rather not get flooded out or caught out in bad weather. Hopefully it dissipates without building into something destructive, especially given the untold number of people still living in tents and unstable shelters.

Okay, until next time I write, love to you all, and hey! Shit, time flies, in just one more week I’ll be on the verge of coming home to you.

Huge hugs,
Jess