The beauty in Haiti

I have been struggling these past couple of weeks with not letting my heart become hard.  There has been difficulty in this because of experiences that have happened and situations that I have encountered, which is why I am going to fight that with this post.  

I want to talk to you about the beautiful things that I see in Haiti.  I have learned so much just from observing Haitians at work.  For example, as I am writing this, I can see into my neighbors yard, and he is hard at work in his shed creating the most beautiful things out of wood with his own two hands and no power tools.  He is a true artist.  

And then there are the people who do not let anything go to waste.  I am just amazed at this concept, because you don't hear about it much if you are not from here.  Coke and Sprite bottles are glass and reused here.  And if you want to take one with you on your journey and do not have a bottle to replace it, then you will be charged more for the bottle than for the Coke itself.  No waste here.   And then there was a guy I saw earlier as I was biking around the city.  He has a job washing moto's when they get dirty.  It consists of a hose that has a small stream running out of it, and some cheap soap.  But then, once the water runs down into the gutter on the side of the street and combines with the dust to make a soft mud, he will shovel that up and it will be used as some sort of building material, either for a dirt wall or to smooth over block.  Even the water that has already been used is found to be beautifully used again.  

And let me tell you, to watch women wash dishes here is a thing of beauty.  It is like a dance.  These women can wash hundreds of plates, tubs, and silverware with only one bucket of water, and somehow they create a "filtering" system with multiple tubs, so that by the end of cleaning all of those dirty dishes, the water is so clean, it is able to be used to clean the floors...no gross food chunks!      And not a drop of water is wasted.  I watched this happen about a month ago, and my jaw dropped at the genius of it, it was amazing.

I am learning so much from Haitians, and I don't want you to think that Haiti only has one, sad story.  There are beautiful people here that are really trying to make a difference within their country, and they have been a blessing to me, and humbling to my soul.  

-Kim

April update

I haven't been writing as much lately because things are starting to happen here, and it has had a snowball effect with my time and my priorities, and so I am sorry that I have been a slacker with this.  I also don't particularly enjoy writing in general about myself, so this blog has been a tough pill for me to swallow.  I do like the fact that some of you are still reading, and it makes my heart happy to think that people are rooting for me here, and so for you I will continue to write:)

To start, I am going to talk about what one of my best friends likes to call "peas and corn" talk, so bare with me.  Seriously though, the weather here is awesome right now.  Haiti's "winter" is contained within 3 months, which is Dec-Feb.  When I first arrived here at the beginning of March, the nights were still cool enough to not need a fan, but the days were starting to warm up.  About 8 days ago, the days got very hot very quick.  I mean, it was the 'walk outside clean, and two minutes later you are drenched in sweat' kind of hot.  And it was hard for me to take.  I have never lived anywhere humid, and in combination with the high being 93 degrees, I was suffering.  That went on for about 3 days, and then something amazing happened.  It started to rain.  And it was a good, day-long type of rain that cooled down everything, including the nights.  And the temperature dropped at least 15 degrees, and without the sun beating down on you constantly, it is relatively cool here.  I am now wearing sweatshirts at night.  Seriously, it is the best thing ever.

So lately, I have been doing a lot of computer work, and have also been raising money to get the garden down here a proper fence (as most of you have already seen, and if you haven't, I am raising it through GoFundMe.com).  That has all been taking up the majority of my time, but I can honestly say that at the end of my time here, I will walk away from this project knowing that I was able to use my passion and skills to make it better.  I am pricing the foods down here in the local, open-air market, and am currently formulating a price sheet and expense projection sheet so that people know hoe much local food will cost to implement it into the school.  I am also creating an inventory sheet, to track when the implementation will occur, and how much our current stock of food will last us.  My next step is to formulate a sample menu of the foods here, and then start a trial day, where one day per week is lunch served with all local food.  I am having to calculate out the nutritional value of everything, and then create a nutritional facts table (like you see in the U.S) to make sure that these kids wont be deficient in anything.  So that is what I have been up to, and I love every second of it!

Anyway, I have some more pictures I posted for you to take a look at:)

Miss you all,

Kim

These are some little tomatoes that were growing at a local hospital in Cap Haitian.  This hospital/clinic started an agricultural project with the hope of growing their own food to supply the hospital.

This is a tomato greenhouse to provide some shade for the little tomato plants.  This is at our friends, Chris and Grace's house.

Some good, solid beach time.  That water was clear and the sand was white

Hey look! It's me!

Lessons learned this past week

There is something so wonderful about the realization of how much you take for granted.  I have had that happen to me over and over here in Haiti, and it is just the most humbling and graceful thing that can happen to a soul.

There is a certain peace that comes along when you realize that you really don't need the things that you think you do.  Like electricity.  What a beautiful thing to not have electricity for 30 hours.  At first, my reaction was not something that I am proud of.  I didn't want to take a shower in the dark.  I didn't want to not be able to power my computer that I so lovingly use all the time here (not by choice).  I wanted to be able to toast my bread in the morning.  I wanted to open the fridge and not be worried about keeping it open longer than a few seconds because the cold air was seeping out.  

The crazy thing about this particular situation is that after the initial reaction that I had (in the wrong mentality), I was able to see the complete beauty in it all.  The night was much quieter, like everyone succumbed to the darkness and went home instead of staying out and playing music.  The dinner we had was much more personal when lit by candles and flashlight.  It was intimate in a way.  I was able to toast my toast on the stove, which was lit by match and gas, and I ended up creating this french toast breakfast thing, that I never would have otherwise.  My brain went straight to thinking "I have food to cook with, what a beautiful thing." It also made me extremely grateful to have running water to take a shower with,  even though the power was out.  

I have seen people here make the best of everything they have day in and day out, and they have taught me what it is to appreciate everything that you have from the smallest thing to the biggest. 

Going without Internet these past 3 days has also taught me that it is not something that I need.  I don't need to have my phone in my hand every second, scrolling through status posts instead of engaging with the people around me.  The best person you can be is the one that is the most present.  I am saying this as I am writing on the computer right now, using the Internet, with the electricity working, so it is easy to say this with these particular comforts at hand, but honestly, now that I know what life is like without them, I have diminished their value.  They are a wonderful gift, don't get me wrong, but life is incredibly beautiful without them.  

Take a moment to think about the person you are with others.  Are you on your phone all of the time?  Are you distracted?  I know that I can be.  Let's be the people who are present with one another and in tune to each others needs.  Lets focus on building a community that is fully connected with one another.  I promise that I will work on it as well.  I do not want to be the generation defined by the 'selfie' with my nose in a screen all of the time.  

Love you all,

Kim

No Internet this past weekend in Cap Haitian (a city that is about 3 hours away from where I am living now; we went there to visit friends), but we did have chickens...and a camera...and this guy. Doesn't he look exactly like the rooster from Looney Tunes?  And he was HUGE.  This picture does not do him justice.  He was bigger than the dogs on the compound, and came up mid thigh on me.  The first time that I saw him I thought that he would come up to me speaking in a deep southern accent "I...I do declare...".  

These are the girls I spent the weekend with.  No cell service or Internet for me, but very good conversation and company.  This was taken at a restaurant called La Kay

Hi Friends!

I don't have anything in particular to write about, but I would like to update you on my last few days. I have begun my testing on Moringa leaves to try and see how difficult it is to make a powder.  The tree leaves themselves are amazingly high in nutrients, like vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, potassium, and iron.  There is also about 20% of your recommended daily intake of all of the B vitamins, as well as all the essential amino acids, so the protein is pretty high as well.  Anyway, this tree is all over Haiti, and I am going to try and switch out the vitamin powder that is sent from the states with Moringa tree powder.  

The issue that I keep running into here is that it is quite expensive to buy, which does not make sense to me.  I think that the price was able to stay high because there is not much of a demand for it yet in Haiti.  People don't really use it here, but the goats sure do love to eat it.  So I am going to try and produce the powder myself to see how difficult it is, and if it is not difficult, I will find some trees and begin to try and make powder in large amounts.  Anyway, I have pulled off a few branches on the tree outside to see how the drying process occurs, and tonight and tomorrow I will see if I can produce the powder.  Trial and error.  

There was also a party last night for one of the girls that lives here.  It was her Haitian bridal shower, that included decorations from the states and great food.  We had Haitian beer and coke, as well as silly games and beautiful gifts.  It was a wonderful celebration.  In preparation for this party, a few of us were trying to find particular food items to use to make a dessert, but what I have found in Haiti is that if you are looking for something deliberate, you will never find it unless it is something basic like bread or bananas.  But if it is something like Oreos and cream cheese...you won't find it if you are looking for it.  You only find things like that when you are not searching for them, and are in the store randomly browsing, and you stumble upon them like a goldmine.  It's wonderful and sad all at the same time.  Anyway, after checking every market in the entire city, on bikes nonetheless, we came back empty handed except for a small bag of Lay's sour cream and onion chips (which were a glorious goldmine find, as those are not common and difficult to come by in Gonaives).

Today I am just focused on emails and reading, so I have decided to take it a little easy and enjoy the weekend.  I have included a couple pictures for you all, including one of my trusty bike that I am lovingly calling blue lightning:)

That's it for now. 

-K-

This is a beautiful Haitian sunset on the roof of the house that I am staying at.

This is my amazing blue bike.  Haitians and Americans alike complement me on it.  I actually really love it.  It rides so well on these rocky streets.

This here is Moses the dog.  He is our guard dog, but he is not the best at it.  He likes people way to much to be a guard dog. 

March 10th

Hi friends!

I realized that I haven't talked much about what I have done thus far while I have been here, so I am going to give you all a little update.  I got in on Thursday instead of Wednesday because I was delayed for a day in New york.  Ever since I had left, I brought along a sickness that would not leave no matter how hard I tried, and it only just recently stopped bugging me on Sunday.  So, I basically was laying on the couch for the first two days coughing up a storm and loading up on the medicine to try and get better.  On Saturday, I bought a bike (yay!), and it is blue and beautiful:)  It is a basic mountian bike, and all of the bikes that you buy here have already been used, but mine looks like it is in really good condition.  I will send you all a picture here shortly!

I also was able to go to the clothing market for the first time EVER.  It is the coolest place! It is basically a really big yard sale of clothes that have been sent over from the states, and people shuffle through them all and sell the ones that would fetch a price.  I love it.  I bought my first tank top with the help of some lovely teachers that are fluent in creole.  The people that sell there can be tough on you if you don't know the language and are unaware of the prices of things, so taking a well informed friend is advised.

Yesterday I took inventory of the food that we currently have in storage for the Nutrition program.  I am now in the process of creating an inventory sheet that allows for the need to be easily addressed as to what we will need and when.  Working with Excel is one of the most humbling things that you can do as a human being and reiterates the fact that I will never be a computer whiz for as long as I live.

Today I was able to hitch a ride to the outskirts of town to the local rice factory.  It is a beautiful state-of-the-art facility that makes Haitian rice readily available to individuals who would like to purchase it.  This facility buys rice from the farmers that it is surrounded by, and cleans it all with this big, beautiful machinery.  If someone had wanted to purchase Haitian rice before this facility was built, the cost would have been much higher because all of the cleaning of the rice would have been done by hand.  This new facility allows for Haitian rice to compete within the local market, which is quite a beautiful thing.  I tried to take pictures, but the man in charge did not seem to keen about the idea.  Oh well.

I am also currently looking into everything that I can find on the Moringa tree.  It is something that I am thinking I will start to experiment with to see if I can make it into a powder to supplement within the Nutrition program.  So the rest of my day today was research on the good ol' computer.

Anyway, that is my update for now.  I will post pictures of my sweet ride once I paint flames on it.  (Ha ha, jk)

-K-

The awareness that comes with new beginnings

I feel like a new beginning in a new place is something that everyone should experience at least once in their life.  Just uprooting yourself and everything that you sought comfort in and leaving it behind for a place that you know very little about.  It's not just about the excitement, or the allure in the change or the place you are leaving for, it is more about how that situation will reveal to you some things that you may not like about yourself.  Moving to Haiti for just a couple of months is not that big of a change, but it is just big enough to bring about awareness into my life and who I am as a person.  

To elaborate on this thought, two major things have been brought to light about myself just in these past few days that are hindering me in what I am trying to do here and how I would like to connect with others around me.  1:  I don't feel like I can talk in most conversations with new friends, so I don't, and 2:  I believe lies in my head about who I am and my place in Haiti

The first reality is something that I have been dealing with for awhile.  I don't know why, but when I meet new poeple, or am in a new place, I am very quiet.  I don't know if it is because I feel that this is a sign of respect, or if this is just my way of processing a new place, but I am realizing that it can come off as really negative.  It's not that I feel that I have nothing to say in conversations, but when I am with a group of poeple that know each other really well, I feel that I should let them laugh and talk and I will listen and laugh along.  This group that has lived in Haiti has lived here awhile, and so they know a lot about each other.  I came into the mix believing that I shouldn't say much, which is something that I know now is not true.  I need to be me all of the time.  I need to feel that I can ramble off a thousand sentences per minute and tell the most ridiculous of jokes like I do with those that I care about most.  In reality there is a time and a place for everything, so silence is sometimes necessary, but not always, and not when meeting new friends.  This is a lie that I was allowing myself to belive because it kept me safe.  But it also kept me from connecting with people.  People are the puzzle peices.  We need each other.

Going along with the realization of my first reality was my second.  These lies are things that I believed to keep me from connecting with others.  How many others have I believed?  Even a language barrier should not keep me from connecting with those who live in Haiti.  Showing love  towards someone can be in the most basic of forms.  I have rediscovered the art of the smile.  It is the same in every language.  What a beautiful gift we have in each other to bring each other joy and love when we need it.  We should never take it for granted.  

Ridiculous joke that came to mind when writing that: What kind of tree grows hands?

a: a palm tree.....ha ha!

That is all that I have for today.  I love you all.  Bring a smile along with you wherever you may go today

An intro to my new blog

I am not a good writer.  I don't even like to write unless it is a research paper or chemistry lab report.  That being said, you are going to find that this blog is not well written, well versed, and has grammatical errors...and you are just going to have to deal.  I love you all to death, which is why I chose to do a blog in the first place.  I want to finally keep you up to date on things, and basically let you know what is going on in my mind while I am in Haiti.  I hope that I am able to share with you my major revelations as they happen, and maybe I will even become a better writer in the process:)

You all are a blessing to me, and I am very thankful to have people in my life that take an interest in what I am doing.  That is it for now!

-Kim