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. 

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. 

Zamni Mwen

I have been really picture happy then last few days, there are things and people I want to remember. 

Like this guy, I do not know his name, but he drives this giant truck up and down our hill more times in a day than I do. And whenever he sees us he waves like his life depends on it. 

The first time I saw him outside while we were on a walkabout (I think we had been here about a month) he grabbed my face, kissed my cheeks and said 'Zamni Mwen" (my friend).

I will his smiling face and his frantic wave.

My Favorite Day

I think Saturday was my favorite days in Haiti, of course I think that every few days. 

We hiked down to the creek bed where there were small puddles of water, as the children got wetter the clothes started peeling off. 

Pretty soon they were walking around mostly naked like the rest of the Haitians. 

Again the picture does the real thing absolutely no justice. This is a natural waterfall, I do not think any man could have designed it more beautifully.

As always we ended up with a few extra kidos helping up the waterfalls. The waterfall was up a narrow canyon surrounded by rock. Many adults were worried for us and telling us we should not be walking up the canyon in case another tranbleman (earthquake) came. One man was so mad at the Haitian kids going with us he spanked them. 

I LOVE this picture.
This is what Haiti will always remind me of happy adorable extra children, family time, outdoors, peace, tranquility, just an indescribable inner calmness. 

BT's helper. It seems that wherever we go an older child will "adopt" the babies. They carry them everywhere. Here is BT's friend holding a leaf in the waterfall creating a drinking fountain for him. It was so sweet and kind that I let him despite the fact that he will probably get diarrhea.  

 BT and his special friend. I am not sure they could look any more different and yet you can see they have the same kind gentle soul. 

SF and her friend. SF has very mild cerebral palsy. Her gait can be painful to watch at times, especially in this rough terrain. I try to make her work through it. 

The Haitians think I am awful and immediately pick her up, then they look at me like 'seriously lady, what is wrong with you?' SF also does not eat anything by mouth and has a feeding tube, imagine their disgust when we don't feed her in restaurants either. 

We ended they day with some "real" swimming at the pool. 

Haitians

Saturday we went on the most awesome hike down to the creek bed. 

We were of course the only Blans around. It was great to see Haitians doing what they do in their own environment. 

Shouldn't all 6 year old children carry a machete? 

 Some people standing outside their home

 A woman doing her laundry.

 Our hiking mates

 I loved this little girl with her white baby doll

 Velo and his friend

Walkabouts

Our friend Adrah is here visiting. She went to help with clinic at Mountain Top Ministry's. The kids and I went on a big hike around the area while she was working. Here are some of the cool views. 

The church, school and medical clinic on the other side of the valley.

Our Back Yard

This is our back yard literally. We hike at least once usually twice a day to TIC (TJ, IS, CT) as the kids named it. I have decided to try and start bringing the camera to take pictures of some of our daily sights as I think these are some of the things we will miss the most. 

A garden

One of 3 waterfalls we hiked to.

Up close at the waterfall.

The kids wanted to swing on the vines, but they were too tall.

This is one of my favorite scenes in Haiti, people washing or bathing in the water. 

CT as  Indiana Jones.

IS up in a tree.

TJ, during one of his fits. It think this one was about wanting someone else to carry his stuff.

Rachel with her pre-school crossing one of the water crossings.