The words of hope

Here are some excepts from my last assignment (write an autobiography from the year 2019, telling what you will have done between 2009-2019) that I found powerful/interesting:

“To help is my favorite verb but help without love is nothing. I love my country. I am not saying, "I am ready to build Haiti, and you?" I am saying, "I am building Haiti, could you help me?" I will collaborate to rebuild Haiti. I will give for free the instruction that I received for free…” (Billy)

“While working, I made many plans to help the children of Haiti. To realize my plans, I started to ask for help because one of my plans was to create an orphanage. Every day, I found new people who wanted to help me accomplish this project. Finally, in 2016, I created the orphanage. This project was very successful, I found many children in the street and helped them. They consider me as a mother. Today, I am still looking at the progress of my orphanage. Today, I can see the children receiving an education like mine. I did what I had to do; I participated in the improvement of my country by helping children. I didn’t stop here, I continued to plan what I should do next. Every day I want to do something else…” (Vanessa)

“Haiti lives in one of the most awful moments of its story. It’s not time for eloquent speeches, but time for lots of feats to save this country. This country needs trustworthy people who drive out violence and injustice, people who sacrifice themselves for the common good. Therefore, I am one of the volunteers. Time is no longer for the troublemakers, it’s for truthful people. Hence I will talk to others about it and make one with them to get solutions for those problems. It is arduous work, of course, but by the grace and help of God, we will overcome…” (Anold)

“I remember that it was a sad day, the day that I was leaving classic school forever. Especially, at Louverture Cleary; it’s a special place. There, it’s a world, a funny and instructive world. To eat, to sleep, to live and to work with people of different nationalities, different talents, is not a simple thing. I can never forget those days.

I had to leave anyway. However, I am still at LCS. I have a history there and great memories are not so quickly forgotten. My spirit is still connected to all the graduates and the Louverturians, whether I knew them or not, because we still stand as a family. We are bound together by our will to change Haiti, the education that we received we are to give freely as a gift. I said earlier, it was a sad day for me when I left LCS…” (Manasse)

Needless to say, I was pretty impressed by the responses. More so, when I remembered that these essays were written in English, the third language of my students (after Kreyol and French).

I am being honest when I say that these kids are special, that this place is special. Sometimes it's hard to have hope, to find hope, in places where problems seem endless and overwhelming. But there is hope here at this school.

Peace.

School!

So, I finally became a teacher this past week. But first an important announcement:

On Wednesday, September 16th, I spent money for the first time in over a month. Pretty incredible when you think about it. One of the Haitian staff members makes his own Peanut Butter (he's trying to start a small business) and many of the volunteers (myself included) put in requests for our own jars. 100 gourdes, 20 Haitian dollars, about $2.50 USD per jar. And, it was a good choice. Absolutely delicious. A bit sweet with a shadow of spice. Just a hint though. Perfect. Now, if only we can get him to make crunchy peanut butter...

Here are some lessons learned this past week:

-Flag raising just might be my favorite time of the entire school day. Immediately following first period (7-7:40), the entire school assembles on the basketball court for morning announcements, a daily gospel reading, the raising of flags (Haitian, USA, and LCS), and the singing of the Haitian national anthem and the school's alma mater. It is the songs that make this ritual special. The songs are beautiful and the kids are pretty impressive singers. On my to-do list is to take a video of the kids singing before the year is up. Because, trust me, it's worth it.

-Fresh coconut is delicious. In the USA I don't like coconut very much. But when you watch someone shimmy up a coconut tree and use a machete to cut off the top - it tastes pretty good. The "water" inside is sweet and tasty, the actually coconut is pretty good as well. A nice treat for a Sunday afternoon.

-In addition, it quickly became apparent last week that teaching can be pretty intense and often a bit nerve racking. One of the challenging/fun things about my schedule are my triple class days - this means one of my courses meets three times during a single day. Day one included one of these with what ended up being by far my most unruly section. Ah, good times. I certainly wanted to collapse by the end of the day.

-However, learning as I go, I quickly scrapped my initial lesson plans for the week and began to build anew. I figured that since these kids are smart, work would be a good way to keep them busy and quiet. My idea seemed to work pretty well as the rest of the week was much much better.

-At the end of week 1, I have to admit that really like teaching. Odd as it sounds, I really like the sound of my voice lecturing in a classroom. Is this narcissism? A power trip? Perhaps. But it's the truth. The principal observed one of my classes for a few lessons last week and had this advice for me: he told me I should talk louder. Yes, the students could hear me all right but with a voice like mine he felt I should make the students feel my presence. I should note, that the principal has a pretty deep voice himself and I suspect this is how he lectures. Still, it was fun to elicit advice from a smart man who I imagine is a pretty good teacher.

-In terms of content, this past week my older students read Patrick Henry's famous speech:"Give me Liberty or Give me Death." I'm giving them an assignment this week to write their own persuasive speech from the perspective of Touissant Louverture -the initial leader of the Haitian revolution. I'm pretty excited to see what they write. My younger kids began reading and discussing a short story by Roald Dahl, "Poison." Also, all my classes had to turn in an essay this past Friday, "An autobiography from the year 2019." I wanted them to specifically focus on what happened during the years 2009-2019 and how these events connected with the two themes of LCS: What you receive as a gift you must give as a gift; and I'm ready to rebuild Haiti, are you?

Good stuff. I'm actually grading the essays right now and will have some excerpted answers for all my faithful readers next week. But, just glancing through the responses has made me pause. The range in the English skills of my students is a bit scary. Some understood the main points of the Patrick Henry speech and even began linking its themes to larger issues elsewhere in the world. Others, I think, did not understand the speech when they read it and I fear that they can't even understand my lectures or explanations of the text. This is part of the reason why I'm trying to reevaluate and re-plan my lessons.

They are smart kids, they really are. But it is still very clear that English is their second language. My best students still have subject-verb agreement problems on their papers. Their ideas are wonderful and are communicated pretty clearly. But the mechanical mistakes I think will always be an issue. Still, I'm pretty excited about the upcoming week.

Life is busy. But good. And I'm looking forward to the beginning of clubs this week (Chess? Juggling? Hopefully an advanced English reading/discussion?).

That's about it. Take care.

Peace

And...

School! Tuesday September 15 is the first day of class and I can unequivocally say that I am very excited. I got my course schedule this past week as well as an up-to-date school calendar. Exciting stuff. A bit nervous about my "triple class days" (three of my courses have a single day where we meet for three class periods). Eh, it will work out. Always makes me smile to see some of my classroom locations as "Terrain 1" and "Terrain 2". Ah, good times.

So, I assume that everyone knows that environmental degradation is a major problem in developing countries across the world. Well, it is a major problem here in Haiti. Deforestation is a major problem as only 1% of the original tree cover remains. Similarly, lack of a sewer system and no government coordinated trash program exacerbates the situation. To remedy this situation, LCS has its own incinerator where all trash that can be burned is burned. This past week I had the joy of learning how to operate this fun device (remember, I've known about it at least since the kickball game). Anyways, it is a relatively simple process that involves sifting ash, shoveling in trash, throwing gasoline, and lighting a match. Also, do my best to breath through my nose (or not breath at all to avoid fumes). Metal and glass are thrown into large 6-6-6 pits. We cover them with dirt when they get full and then dig another pit. One of my fellow volunteers and some of the Haitian staff had the joy of digging one of these pits this past week. Funny enough, he's a short guy, so you couldn't even see him when he was in the pit!

Also, remember, don't pick up grass cuttings with your hands. As I learned, they are covered in Fume!

And the other day I was surprised to see a cow tethered to the corner of the soccer field. Silly me, this surprised me. Anyways, apparently they buy cows every two weeks during the school year for the students to eat. It's so practical it's practically blowing my mind.

This week was a slow reading week. I finished Romeo and Juliet and continued the Idiot. Not much else really. Lesson planning took up more time than I expected, so it goes.

Oh, a male student this week asked "Fitzgerald?" when I told him my name was "Mr. Kennedy." Also, a female student addressed me as "Mr. President" the other day. No, I did not start this trend. But I feel like its going to spread without my help.

Also, I got called a good "catcher" by some of the neighborhood kids. I usually play goalie when they come over to play soccer and I guess I impressed them (or they really don't like playing goalie, which is possible).

In other news, Argentina and Brazil are the two most popular football national teams. An informal poll from the other night (cheering sounds when a goal is scored) say Brazil is a bit more popular.

Finally, I've started doing some work for a project associated with LCS: the Economic Growth Initiative (EGI). Here is its website: http://www.mtdn.com/egi

Peace.

Mountains and Ice Cream

One of these is entirely expected of Haiti. The other is not. Can you guess which one I've been blessed to experience this past weekend? Yes, you probably guessed correctly: I did both.

First, I had delicious ice cream at the Scalabrini seminary following mass. They certainly know how to make good food. They made this peanut dessert dish to go with the ice cream: simply amazing.

Second, on Sunday we traveled 2.5 hours away from LCS to visit a board member's house in the mountains. An intense drive, with the last hour including surreal maneuvering through a very poor dirt road. Only when we got to the dirt road did the sights and sounds of Haiti begin to mimick the landscape of my home area in Uganda. In fact, I think this road was even worse that the roads near my house in Ugandan, which is saying something.

The view of the mountains was breathtaking: lights and shadows covered the landscape as clouds and fog blew by. We were at an elevation of 6400 feet, which means two things: No mosquitoes and it was cold!! And by cold, I probably mean 70 degrees. But when you haven't felt a temperature less than 80 for a month, 70 degrees feels pretty cold.

The food was delicious, the company was excellent, and the journey was eventful. All in all, a great day and a fantastic weekend.

In other news, this past week work consisted of painting, painting a bit more, and when I got tired of painting I did some touch-up work on previous paint jobs. I painted chalkboards (who knew this was how you get them to look impressively black/green?), buildings, classroom walls, and the kitchen storeroom. It's amazing what I'm learning here in Haiti.

I've also been continuing to work on my lesson plans. I finished reading Cry, The Beloved Country, Animal Farm, and To Kill a Mockingbird this week. I'm about halfway through Romeo and Juliet, still working on "The Idiot" (this is for fun, btw). I figured it just might be a good idea to actually read books before I teach them...

So, I've decided that I'm going to do a little section on U.S. race relations and the civil rights movement in my English class. I'm going to try to connect the works and speeches of Martin Luther King to the words and achievements of Obama today. I'm pretty excited just thinking about playing excerpts from the "I have a Dream" speech one week and then playing parts of Obama's "A More Perfect Union" the next. Fun stuff.

Finally, I have a confession to make: I have personally spent no money throughout the past month. As in Zero USD, zero Haitian dollars, Zero Gourdes. How, you might ask? Simple. I've choose to wash my laundry by hand (so far so good), all meals at LCS are communal and paid for by the organization, and I've somehow resisted the temptation to buy Nutella, Ghirardelli chocolate, and Baguettes. I guess the real question is: how long until I break?

Have I mentioned that Haitians like physical humor? My juggling has been a pretty big hit as people really enjoyed my brief demonstrations after dinner. Perhaps I will bring the clubs after Christmas after all...

Oh, before I go I have one more thing to add. I just wanted to mention to all my faithful blog readers (Dad, Mom, Ginger) that the beginning of the school year is just around the corner and that the yearly budget is still being constructed. Anyways, donations are an essential part of the budget and integral for maintaining the daily functions of the school, the volunteer program, and keeping the school tuition-free for the students. Donating is pretty simple (point and click) and all donations are tax deductible. You can even donate online! http://www.haitianproject.org/donate.htm

Ok, I've done my little speal. But seriously, the kids here are really special and this school is changing Haiti one kid at a time. And it's help from people like you that makes it possible for both myself and the kids to be here.

Thanks again for your help and support.

Peace

A day in Haiti

So by now I’m starting to realize that you probably have only a scattered idea of what I exactly DO each day. Random anecdotes can take us only so far…

Anyways, here is a “typical day” in the life of Jon during these past three weeks:

5:40am – Wake up. (5:00 on Fridays in order to help cook breakfast. On Saturday/Sunday I sleep-in until 6:30, sometimes 7:00!)

6:00 – Morning prayer. This includes the other volunteers and the Haitian Staff, perhaps 20-25 people depending on the day.

6-7ish – Breakfast. Cooked by the Haitian staff/volunteers, this ranges from a Haitian cornmeal porridge to cereal and bread with Haitian peanut butter.

7-10 – Work projects. The first few weeks we worked longer (11:30 or later) but this past week we changed the schedule so that we could spend more time lesson planning. Anyways, over these three weeks we have worked throughout the campus and helped to clean-up, renovate, and repaint different areas of the school. Highlights from the past three weeks include painting and remodeling the entire kitchen area, digging a pipe trench with a pickaxe, and using a machete to mow the grass. I know it sounds weird to say this, but I really liked using the machete. A small group of students usually comes to the school to work the entire morning before leaving after lunch. And yes, “supervision” is part of our responsibilities. Whether Haitian or American, 14 year olds love to roll their eyes… Regardless, it’s pretty neat to see students working to clean and renovate the school during the summer. As you might have already guessed, physical labor is an integral component of the philosophy of LCS – as they like to say, “If you don’t work, you don’t eat.”

10-11:30 – Lesson Planning. I’m teaching Rheto and Philo English, the oldest students at the school. Pretty exciting. There is tremendous freedom in what I decide to teach and I’ve been using notes from past volunteers to help guide me. Fun stuff.

11:30-12:00 – Eat a Delicious Lunch. This meal is cooked by the kitchen staff (women from the community) in the school kitchens, which is different from the staff/volunteer kitchen. Just to be clear, they serve pretty much the same rice and beans every day with a bit of variety in the sauce. Yet, it truly has become one of my favorite meals. But again, I’m a relatively simple eater.

12:00-1:00 – Free time. This almost always includes showering. I generally take about 2-3 showers each day, though showering in Haiti differs from my normal shower routine in the U.S. Here, cold showers are a blessing. You (I) mentally curse when the sun warms the water to a lukewarm, or God-forbid (!), a warm temperature. Also, showers are much quicker and you are basically trying to get all the salt off your skin that has built up from sweating all day. And everyone sweats. Because it’s really hot.

1:00-3:00 – Kreyol lessons. These have been wonderfully helpful, as language is an essential component for understanding a different culture or society. My proficiency in Kreyol is moving slowly, likely because I haven’t been the best student (I’m still on “summer” mode – I haven’t been studying as much as I could). It will come in time. Kreyol words can be pretty fun though. I often joke to myself (yes I actually do this) that my “Kreyol” name is Yellow 15 or Jonn Kenz. Fun stuff.

3:00-6:00 – Free time. This usually includes more lesson planning, reading, playing soccer/basketball/kickball, or simply talking with the other volunteers or the Haitian Staff. A great time of the day in my opinion.

6:00 – Dinner. Cooked by the Haitian staff/Volunteers, we always eat breakfast and dinner as a school community. Pretty neat really. My favorite meal in Haiti has been buoyon, which is a stew consisting of potatoes, plantains, dumplings, and a variety of delicious spices. My other favorite meal is spaghetti (with Haitian Catsup) along with cut-up hot dog slices.

7-10 – Free time. When I’m not reading, I tend to be cleaning (either the kitchen after dinner or the bathrooms) or playing card/board games. I’ve learned the Haitian card game “casino” as well as played an intense game of Chinese Checkers.

10pm (if not 9 or 8:30) – Bedtime! My alarm clock has a temperature gauge that I have seen fluctuate from 82 – 93 degrees. Most of the time it is 88-90 when I go to bed. If it’s below 85 I have to put on my sheet to not get cold.

Perhaps this was helpful? Good.

So since the last blog entry I have made some good progress in my reading list. I finished The Uses of Haiti, Things Fall Apart, and Blink. I’ve currently moved on to The Idiot and I’m thinking of starting the Omnivores Dilemma soon.

Oh, last week we went to the Scalabrini seminary again for mass. This time, mass was said by a visiting Haitian Scalabrini priest who is currently stationed in Cologne, Germany. In the span of one hour, I heard 6 languages spoken – Kreyol, French, Italian (there are a couple of Italian nuns at the seminary), English, Spanish (there were two visitors from Argentina), and German (one of the volunteers spoke with the priest after mass in German)! Neat stuff really.

And, today we all went to a nice grocery store in Port-Au-Prince to buy some extra food for the volunteers. Aptly named “Deli-Mart,” I enjoyed seeing shopping carts, spicy Haitian peanut butter, Carlos Rossi wine jugs, Baileys, and Baguettes. No, I didn’t buy any of these. But seeing that they still exist was a good feeling.

Finally, this week I went to the Missionaries of Charity site in Port-Au-Prince with some of the other volunteers. Pretty powerful stuff. Deeply moving, but also rather disturbing. The “why” questions remain and continue to be quite troubling.

Peace

A tropical storm?

So, I've been told by two different sources that a tropical storm either hit Haiti a few days ago or is going to hit us very soon. A good thing to know since I haven't noticed any change in the weather since I've arrived. The options seem to be: (1) hot and humid with about an hour of rain after sundown and (2) hot and humid and no rain.

Anyways, life here at Louverture Cleary (LCS) is settling into a nice pattern. I'm still adjusting to a different way of living as the U.S. volunteers (9 of us) and the Haitian staff members (around 15) live in community at the school. This means that we cook, clean, play, and pray together each day. For the most part, this arrangement is excellent as I am learning constantly from my new Haitian friends. But living in such tight quarters has its moments of frustration as well. Still, the good easily overwhelms the struggles.

Last Saturday, we went to mass at a nearby seminary. There was an excellent soccer field (rounded posts!), some neat orchards, and a nice chapel. The place is run by the Scalabrini order and after mass we were served a feast by the resident Italian priest - including pizza and beer. Absolutely delicious. I also got the chance to try the most popular and best tasting (so I hear) Haitian beer: Prestige. And while it was quite good, nothing compares to the pizza. Simply amazing.

That day was full of excitement, as I also got to wash my clothes by hand for the first time(in Uganda my host family washed my clothes). In the future I'll likely pay a Haitian from the community to wash my clothes, but it was a good learning experience.

In other news, I decided to regrow my beard and now I am beardless no more!

In addition, I finished Atlas Shrugged this past week. Then I started and finished All Quiet on the Western Front just a few minutes ago. Did I mention things slow down on the weekend?

Anyways, I've had some truly fascinating conversations with the graduates of LCS these past few weeks. This week I talked to a former LCS student who is getting a graduate degree in Social Work, with his thesis concentrating on violence against women in Haiti. He told me that he expected to find that most of the violence was committed by men but in fact he has found that the majority of the violence in Haiti is systemic. He even used the social science term, structural violence, as he described the systems and structures within Haitian society and negatively affect Haitian women. He used this term freely and we talked for a good while about the French Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. A really good day in my book.

Oh yes, I've learned that bleating goats sound like children wailing. Good to remember when I'm trying to sleep and think I hear a child crying in the distance...

So, I was playing kickball the other day and a few odd things occurred. First, one player on the other team kicked the ball a little too high in the wrong direction, over the 10 foot cinderblock wall covered with razor wire. Thinking the game was over we begin walking away when out of nowhere the ball appears - tossed back over the wall by our friendly but silent neighbor. We joyously yell, "Mesi" - Thank You - and then continue playing. The second fun moment of the game was when my teammate hit a home run by kicking the ball into the incinerator (fortunately, it wasn't lit at the moment). Ah, good times.

Two more thoughts. First, there is a great JFK quote on one of the cinderblock walls surrounding the school: "Ask not what your country can do for you but ask what you can do for your country." It's nice to see my namesake represented here in Haiti. Second, myself and a few of the other volunteers taught the principal of LCs how to play euchre yesterday. He is a very smart guy, studied philosophy at the University with a concentration on Nietzsche and Spinoza. As you can probably imagine, we've had some great philosophy conversations in English - his third language!

Anways, I hope all is well - wherever you may be.

Peace

Haiti!

So, I've now been in Haiti nearly a week and her are just a few of my many observations and experiences thus far.

-First and most importantly, Haiti is not Uganda.

-Indeed, Haitian insects love me possibly even more than Ugandan insects.

-"Fume" are Haitian fire ants. Yes, it hurts when they bite you.

-Traditional Haitian food has been a rare sight at the school. I helped make dinner last night - French Toast with maple syrup. Spaghetti is for breakfast tomorrow.

-However, Haitian Catsup and Haitian Peanut Butter are delicious. It's my goal to bring some home with me for Christmas.

-Also, I learned that I will indeed be teaching English literature at Louverture Cleary. My students will be Rheto and Philo (12-13th graders). Some of the books that these classes read in the past included Animal Farm, To Kill a Mockingbird, Things Fall Apart, Cry the Beloved Country, and Romeo and Juliet. Each grade has two sections - so four classes so far. I will likely be teaching some gym class but the details are not yet finished.

-During the weekends it is very relaxing as much of the Haitian staff go home for the weekends. I'm nearly finished reading Atlas Shrugged - still undecided about the next book on my list.

-The beginning of school remains in the distance: September 14. Clearly, I have some time to adjust and plan for the year. In fact, it might be a good idea to start reading and rereading the books I will be teaching this year...

-Oh, some of the Haitian staff that live at the school informed me that when I speak, I'm "playing" the bass. Haha.

-Also, the friendly neighborhood water truck plays delightful tunes each morning - "My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic and Santa Claus is Coming to Town are easily my favorites.

-Finally, a few nights ago I noticed that it was noticeably cooler in my room - In fact, I actually used my sheet to keep warm. Oh yes, when I looked at my alarm clock before I went to bed it told me that it was a "brisk" 82 degrees in my room that night...

This is rambling and I need to go to bed.

Bon Nwit!