The wild dogs were restless last night - alternating, seemingly non stop barking, whining, sharp yaps, crying out. Sleep is as elusive as hydro, the dog chorus hardly a lullaby. Since last blog there has been very little electricity delivered which in turn means very little opportunity to communicate as internet access eludes capture for more than a few minutes. Emails have gone astray, and telephone lines are also experiencing extended disruptions in service. Because of these disruptions, our first January visitors arrived on a Tuesday, their luggage on Thursday. Emails detailing what to bring and how to pack were never received. In one fashion or another we managed.
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| Visitors Robin and Alice count gourdes for second trimest school payments. No change of clothes!! |
In short, our ability to communicate has been severely compromised - not a new problem but seemingly growing in complexity.
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| A Christmas suitcase from Pennsylvania - center coordinator Lusnot has help unpacking and itemizing. |
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| A day's salary and a good deed - cleaning up the neighborhood. Garbage (fatra-a) is a countrywide problem, with much of it clogging rivers and beaches. |
Since last blog, I have taken more than 500 pictures- so many stories.So here in brief, is catch up. Auguste worked in Sen Rafayel for the Christmas holidays in order to give full time staffers a break. Edeline, Solange and Kesner were all very appreciative of the time off, and the student staffers who picked up extra hours were also happy. On Christmas day, the center was so overcrowded that he hired those who were interested to clean up the path from our center to the canal, providing work gloves, masks and running shoes and socks. A day's pay, a good deed and Christmas spirit. Then the major problem of large garbage bags filled with unburnable styrofoam and plastic, old shoes and tires.
The Cap center was closed for the day as I needed a day to paint and move furniture.The rest of the holidays were filled. Post-secondary students were home for visits, in need of funds, dental surgery, computers and instructions.
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| Rose-Guerlande - home from university in Santiago (mandatory General year) In need of sponsorship for 5 year Dentistry program which hopefully she will begin in September. |
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| 1st year nursing students Sherlyne and Edwina - in for computer tutoring |
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| Elorge - 4th year medicine (Santiago) |
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| Gaby - 4th year nursing - dental surgery before returning |
Secondary school classes resumed on Jan.14, giving everyone except us a very long holiday. The Haitian President declared that the 3rd anniversary of the Jan.12, 2010 earthquake would be incorporated into the Holiday break. University students did not have that luxury.
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| Ednie - no place to go. Reading by solar light on our gallery. Libraries and lamps!! Making the best of a bad situation.
On Jan. 7th., Ednie showed up at our Cap-Haitien center 10 minutes after closing. Fortunately, we seldom close on the dot.
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She had been visiting her handicapped father in Ouanaminthe (mother is dead) and did not know school opening had been delayed. She returned to find that the friends who had given her a place to sleep had locked her out, saying they no longer had room. As we had just painted the security quarters, she had a clean, safe place for the night. No electricity but that was a minor inconvenience.There was still propane for cooking. After a good breakfast, we took her over to the 2 room tikay we rent for Inea and her sister. Inea no longer has sponsors, so we were looking at moving her to a less expensive tikay. As there was room for another bed, we moved Ednie in and will keep the location. This is to get her through the school year. After that ??
In addition to Ednie's unanticipated housing need, home visits continue. These were among the 20 visits in Sen Rafayel during the break and on weekends.
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| Gissenie shows us the shower area - no toilet, no kitchen, no running water, no bed. |
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| Auguste and Jacques-Jumel check out the community well and talk Aqua Tabs. |
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| Jose is experiencing severe speech disruptions, headaches,etc... The local hospital has been unable to diagnose. |
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| Vaudeline's mom has suffered a stroke and depends on her daughter for everything. |
Thanks to new sponsors Kathy (Rose Magda-Alina) Marilyn (Angelene) and Cindy (Carline M.), general funds were freed to take on new students. Fresly and Jessido were already in school. Fresly's uncle had paid first trimest for him, but died of Cholera the week before Christmas. This information came to us from his mother on a home visit to sister Louisemine. Their dad was one of the first casualties in Sen Rafayel when Cholera broke out. Now Mme has also lost her brother to the same. Sylvanie will begin in September.
As school was late resuming, we are just now receiving results from first trimest exams. This means our tutoring program will move into high gear. In Cap-Haitian, we are opening Sundays beginning this week. Lusnot will work as he is Adventist and needs Saturday off. He will take another day during the week as well. In Sen Rafayel, we have to replace our grad. tutor Nicoly as he continues in first year seminary in Port-au-Prince.
Auguste and Lusnot are in Sen Rafayel for a few days to interview potential tutors while I hold down the fort in Cap-Haitien.
At the moment - electricity and internet although it has gone out 3 times since I began. There were other attempts over the last 2 days, but Blogger would not load for me. The universe was telling me I wasn't ready.
This is a bird's eye view of what we have been up to. It doesn't begin to give the full picture but some information is better than none -- I think.
What grabs your attention when you read a blog - statistics? stories? visuals? brevity? I know what I need to read on -what do you need? If you get a moment, let me know.
Kembe pa lage
Sharon
