Woman In Transition: Haiti Day two recap

Haiti Day Two

Last night was our first night sleeping in Haiti. Since there was the team from West Virginia still there, we had to split up the married couples so I was placed in a room with three other girls. I got the top bunk and it was pretty hot up there! I had the ceiling fan, but boy it was not enough. Thankfully, I fell asleep pretty quickly. The next morning I found out I kicked the woman sleeping on the bottom bunk and climbed down. I guess she woke me up and told me go to back to bed. I used to sleep walk as a kid, but have not for a long time. I felt kinda sick this morning, but more of a pain in my upper stomach. I could not eat very much breakfast, because it was so hot so I did not have much of an appetite. The cooks will cook breakfast and dinner and lunches are up to us to bring snacks and power bars. So it is really important to eat as much as you can for breakfast. We departed for the Village of Luly where we were going to do the soccer clinic and teacher training. When we arrived (45 minute drive) there were a lot of kids already waiting for us. I guess it spread really quickly that there would be Americans coming. Once we got out of the tap tap, kids were already grabbing your hands to hold. That was the most special time I had. They just wanted love.

All the children outside of the school/church building.

They are building a new school building, which is pretty cool because the building they are in right now is not that safe to be in after the earthquake.

The children are so stinkin cute :)

They dug a well and reached water after only 50 feet.

As you can see the water is still pretty yellow.

Beautiful

Kam and a child, they love holding your hands.

Sean playing the slap game with them.

He is wearing TOMS!!!! A lot of children will be smiling and you will ask for a photo and they will say yes, but they like to not smile when you take the picture.

Everyone wants to know what is going on.

The roof of the school, this is actually nice compared to Haitian standards.

Andrea, an intern loving on the children.

The boys, check out the one in the middle all cool.

The children love looking and hanging on through the windows.

The teacher training went really well! The Haitian teachers were so excited for us to be there. They were also very dressed up, so we felt kind of awkward in our shorts and t shirts. We played an ice breaker game learning Creole/English language with colors. We sat in a circle on benches with the teachers and whoever was in the middle had to say a color on the board in their language and if you were wearing it you had to find a new spot. Whoever was left out, was in the middle. If a Haitian teacher was in the middle, they had to say a color in Creole. We laughed a lot!

Brittany taught a calendar math lesson that the teachers just loved. They enjoyed it so much they practiced it during our break time. They also participated in the lesson by being students to get the full effect. Once the kids came for the real lesson they helped out. The soccer group came back all sweaty, because they were in the direct sunlight. We were at least inside and had the shade to protect us from the heat. There were so many children that came for the soccer clinic and teacher training. I actually taught the K through 3^rd grade, even though my education is in middle/high school. I had Kam helping me and it was a lot of fun. We had a translator so they could ask the students questions that we had, etc. The second part of the day was to draw some animals using paper and crayons and boy were those kids excited to have color and use the crayons.

Love this one.

If you have not noticed, David pronounced Daveed was in a lot of my pictures, by accident. He was always there.

I really wanted the lesson to be interactive so during Calendar Math, I wanted students to come up and put the number in the pocket. The translator kept calling the students Vinny, so naturally I thought all the boys had the same name. Well, when she said that to the girls, I asked what Vinny was and it meant, “Come here”. I laughed so hard. Shita= sit, souple= please. So I could tell them to come here and sit please. We finished the day exhausted but had a lot of fun.

Trying to talk to the kids before the lesson in Creole.

We went to a children’s home (we do not call them orphanages, because the children might have one parent or both, but they cannot care for them and put them in the children’s home). The children live there overnight and see their parents when they pick them up for church or sparingly throughout the year.

A couple of the children were really malnourished and needed to be put on Medical Mumba (its like a peanut butter) where they receive more nutrients and calories than normal food, because their bodies are starved from them. Once they join the program, results come quickly and most graduate after three months and return to normal food. We played a lot with the children and before we could even get in the door, they all had their hands up and wanted to be held. It made my heart break. I love these children so much and just wanted to take all of them home with me. A girl, took to me pretty quickly, her name was pronounced Noah. She was really precious. We played games and took fotos (photos) of the children.

Later than night we prepared for my lesson in Geography and went to bed!