Logging Off. . .

Today is my B-day, so I am taking the day off and playing catch up on our Haiti Blog. We have been home about 6 weeks, I am amazed, delighted and disgusted all at the same time at how we have just slid back into life here. 

After I finish some much needed posts I will no longer be writing on this blog. We have some foster children in our home now and I need to be careful about posting with them, so I will go back to writing on our private blog. For those who would like an invite, please e-mail me at whitney.henwood@gmail.com.

the whole group in Breckenridge

The big kids on their first day.

Can you believe these 3 go to school?

Change

People ask me all the time, do you see change in Haiti? Is the money going anywhere? 

I even have other people say to me "I would never donate there because it is so corrupt the money is not going to help the people."

I am not an expert on aid and how much should go where and what is an acceptable amount of change in any given time period, but I do know there is change going on. In fact we were really impressed with some of the changes that had been made. I can think of 3 small and one LARGE tent city that were all cleaned up in the short 6 months we were there. They all revealed city parks where people were recreating, giving hope and a sense of community to the people. 

There is so much change that needs to happen in Haiti, but I do see it starting. 

Before: The Capitol, blocks and blocks of grass around the capitol were covered in tent cities when we first arrived

After: The Capitol area now

 Before: A tent city in Petionville, this is what it looked like when we arrived, except the colors were all drab by the time we came, it looked like a sea of gray

After: This is what the area looked like when we left, totally cleaned out

The clean up effort, Haitians cleaning up Haiti

Some kids on some of the rubble

Don't get me wrong, there is still so much to be done. No person, let alone a toddler should ever have to live in a tent city. 

Grafitti

A local graffiti artist named Jerry. 

He does amazing work, very politically minded. 

Check them out and see what you think.

Apparently this one was on the cover of some major newspapers/ magazines the day he died. 

This is my personal favorite, kind of tells you what some of the people think of us "suits" coming into "help" Haiti.

Another favorite. 

I just love these women in front of this one. 

My new definition of clean

I have had to majorly redefine my definition of clean.

I am the kind of Mom who baths my kids every night with very little exception, then put them in clean PJ's every night, then puts them in a bed where sheets are changed weekly. 

I like things clean. 

I do not like shoes in my house, etc.

So, Haiti was a major readjustment. 

PJ's are worn for days because all laundry is done by hand.

There are literally worms in the water we bath in.

Dishes are all done by hand with cold water. 

The funny thing is that nobody really got sick while we were there, again another way we feel blessed.

Our bathroom we all shared. Something I will NOT miss! Another major difference, at "home" each child has a labeled towel that is theirs only. In Haiti, they all share. Again a laundry thing. 

Justins engineering. You flush the toilet by pulling the string, this was after months of lifting the lid and sticking your hand down the back. YUCK!

Somethings do not change, of all the babies that came and stayed in our home, this was still their first stop. 

And just when I start to feel gross about our worm water, I see these are some people on the street collecting water from a drain on the street. 

Clean sheets, that have been washed in cold water and hung to dry. Then they fell off the railing and laid in the dirt to finish drying. 

Clothes are usually dried outside in the dusty air, unless it is too rainy, then they lay inside for a few days on the stairs to finish drying. 

Who needs a bib?

Hair

While we were in Haiti, we took anti-malaria drugs. One of the side effect that we noticed was hair loss. I am not talking a piece here and there, but rather chunks. So IS and I both had our hair chopped off. Me about 10" and her 8". 

It's just hair right? 

The short hair. 

Haitian Food

As I am posting this I am sitting at home in the States, in my den wishing Roselie was here in so many ways. One of them being to make a wonderful dinner. 

Oh, the beautiful and delicious French pastries. I miss you!

Riccole, don't ask me how to spell it. I just know it is delicious.

Soup Joumou, a beef soup made with pumpkin based broth.

Rice and sauce pwa. 

Pita & Honey vs. Vinegar

The two hardest mentalities for me in Haiti, of course, not counting poverty related issues;

1- Pita- direct translation "later"
Everything was pita, pita, pita. It kind of became a joke in our house. It is not uncommon to wait for people for hours beyond the arranged meeting time.
Here is one of my favorite quotes;
CT "I know how to make a Haitian be on time, just tell them to be here 2 hours earlier than you want them."

2- Honey goes further than vinegar
When we first moved there we met with a woman from Justin's work who told me in no uncertain terms, the way to get what you want here it by being super submissive, stroking egos, deferring to the man at all times and if all else fails act helpless, after you have stroked their ego, and bat your eyelashes. Needless to say this was a stretch for me and a very hard lesson to learn!

The Best Souvenirs

-When we were packing to go home and trying to decide what to take I came across this-

The Best Souvenirs
Josh Gates, English Camp Volunteer, 2006

The best souvenirs aren’t the things that you bring
The best souvenirs are the songs that you sing
The best souvenirs are the friends that you meet
The best souvenirs are the dares and the heat
The best souvenirs aren’t packed when you fly
The best souvenirs make you laugh, make you cry
The best souvenirs are the games that you’ve played
The best souvenirs are the differences you’ve made
The best souvenirs didn’t cost you a dime
The best souvenirs are the love and the time
The best souvenirs, someone feels, someone sees
The best souvenirs are the memories.

Trash

 Trash, there is trash everywhere in Port-Au-Prince. 

There are sections where this is the common scene. 

It does at least seem that they pile trash in one place. 

It is easy to be pretty judgmental about this situation, until you stop to think about why it may exist.

First of all it was extremely difficult to drive our big SUV there, how would one navigate the trash trucks?

Not very well as seen in this picture. 

In fact, one of the times we would see the trash trucks the most was on Holidays. 

On the anniversary of the Earthquake there were garbage trucks everywhere. 

Another huge problem, cost. We literally paid about $40/mo for trash removal. When the average Haitian does not make much more than that in a month how do you afford for trash removal? 

Plus, when you are just trying to feed your family and find a place to sleep are you really worried about trash. And if you are the government and trying to help your people find housing and food, are you really trying to gather trash? This is still a country very much in survival mode. 

And another huge issue, we saw so many houses that needed to be taken down. What do you do with all the rubble. You hope you can reuse it, but where do you put all the things you can not reuse?

This house was completely taken down while we were there. 

Fig's

Our Banana (aka Fig) harvest.

Adjusting

People keep asking how we are adjusting.

Lots of days it feels like we never left. 

This is definitely our home.

Which is good...and bad.

The first time I went to Costco I seriously had a hard time catching my breath, literally almost in panic attack mode.

We did not buy anything.

Today I went and spent hundreds of dollars at Costco. 

Some days I feel totally disgusted at the waste and the ridiculous conversations I am part of. 

Some days I do not even notice. 

I feel kind of stuck between two worlds. 

Still trying to incorporate what we have learned with where we are now. 

I know lots of people do it, maybe just a little more time ...

This scene made me laugh so hard when we got home. My closet. I brought 3 pairs of shoes to Haiti, and about that many necklaces. Then I come home to this. 

Now who really needs this many summer church shoes?

Yet, you will probably not see me getting rid of any.

Two worlds.

Roselie

We found out on Wednesday that Roselie did not get her Visa to come and stay with us. 

We are of course disappointed and do not understand. 

Everything she could have needed was in order. Everything we could have done had been done. 

I guess we just have to keep trying until we have the faith to accept God's will. 

I just can not believe this would be his will for her.

Right before we came back, we were able to go and see Roselies house in Port-Au-Prince. 

When she is not with us she stays in this one room place with her Aunt and two cousins.

There is one bed.

No kitchen, or bathroom, or door, or glass in the "window".

It was basically just a 15x15 room down an alley of other rooms. 

All full of people.

Did you know that PaP has more people per sq. ft. than India or China?

The only thought that kept running through my head was what keeps the bed of 4 women safe at night when there is not even a door and you are living in an over crowded slum?  

The narrow alley ways where women were sitting out cooking.

The Toilet

Missing Roxy

It has been almost three weeks since our Roxy girl was killed. 

Please tell me someday this will not be the first thing I think about when I wake up and the last thing I think about before I go to sleep?

A few of my Favorite Things

I can not believe we have been home over two weeks! 

We were able to drive to our family reunion last week and Justin did all the driving on the way there so that I could organize all of our Haiti pictures. 

Here are some that I found that I wanted to remember. 

Don't know why but I love this look

 Silly Cat

So on "packing day" one of our suitcases went missing from upstairs where I was packing. After looking for quite a while I finally found it in the pile of already packed suitcases downstairs.
Check out what was in it. Both of the boys dee dee's  (special blankets) and a play hammer.
Because if you are BJ and BT all you need to move home is your hammer and your dee dee. 
Then you have to drag the suitcase downstairs yourself to make sure it gets home! 

This is a rock that we pass all the time, it is carved into a face.  The kids call it the Santa rock or the SF face.

My favorite game, the only "game" besides soccer I have seen kids playing here.
This child has the plastic rim from a 5 gallon bucket pulled off and he is using a bent piece or wire to roll it down the street. The object is to keep it upright.