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!