Three-Month Review

Tomorrow marks the end of my third month in Haiti. I'll attempt to give a summary of my experience here. Obviously a lot of what has happened has been affected by the whole meeting my wife-to-be scenario, but I'll try to look beyond that a little for this post.

The first few months here have left me with mixed emotions about a lot of things. I love the people I work with here, whether they be volunteers from various places, or the Haitian workers who put up with us volunteers. I hope that as I work on learning Creole I can get to know them better and better.

I enjoy my work in the school as well. There are times of frustrations with not having the supplies that we need or not being able to run as "tight" of a school as I am used to, but nothing that is overwhelming. I spend most of the school day working with the kids individually on things they are struggling with, and I find that fulfilling, and even fun at times. This is not to say that I do a great job explaining things clearly to them, but I'm working on that.

Then there are the kids..........what to say about the kids? I love them. I truly do. They drive me nuts. They truly do. As individuals I like every one of them. They each have their own personalities and quirks which are really fun to learn. On the flipside of that is how they occasionally act in groups. Attempting to do devotions or Sunday School with the younger boys is not pleasant. Therein lies the difficulty of attempting to be friends with the kids, but at the same time being able to discipline. Up until now I have attempted to go the friend route, but it may be that I need to start doing more disciplining. At times things can be incredibly frustrating when the kids show no respect for the workers here or each other. For example, last week we had one of the little girls get hit in the eye with something thrown by one of the boys. She is currently in Miami receiving medical treatment and may not regain sight in one of her eyes. It's an extreme example, but you'd be amazed at how many times I've had to tell the kids to stop throwing things even since this incident.

Teams that visit for a week or two don't experience the negative side of dealing with the kids for the most part. I anticipated that there would be challenges, but it has probably been more trying for me emotionally than I had expected. It makes me wonder if I am truly cut out to do what I'm doing. I hope that by the time next summer rolls around I can answer that question.

That's all for now I suppose. I've noticed that my blog has become a little humorless so I'll try to remedy that with the next post. Perhaps a post of my overall odor and how I don't even notice it anymore.

Chapel in the Cafeteria

Sunday morning church was a tad interesting this week. With the chapel currently serving my classroom we had to hold the service in our dining hall. It actually worked out splendidly since we had government power to run the ceiling fans. Anyhow, we crammed into the dining hall and went through a fairly normal service. Things got interesting as things wound down.

An older couple from the community came forward because they wanted to be saved. Obviously an exciting moment. As they began talking to Pastor Henri it became clear that they had been living together (for 28 years) and weren't married. They aren't exactly breaking new ground there, but for Christians in Haiti that is unacceptable. Sexual immorality is a huge problem here, not only from a spiritual standpoint, but also on a life or death level, since so many people live in poverty and have trouble supporting children, even in a home with both parents. Pastor Henri simply told them that he couldn't pray with them until they had resolved the living together situation. The obvious solution was for him to marry them first. So in front of 70 kids, a few members of their community, and a visiting team of guys from Florida, this couple got married. Approximately 20 seconds after saying "I do" they also prayed with Pastor Henri and were saved. Big day.

Of course the fun didn't stop there. As soon as the couple turned and went back to their seats Pastor Henri set his sights on Bobi and I. Bobi was more than willing to play along and had already come over and was standing by me with a fairly sizable smile on her face. Pastor Henri began to speak of another couple in attendance who may want to seize the opportunity to join together in holy matrimony. Now let me say that I gave some brief, but alarmingly serious, thought to taking care of business right then and there. Pastor Henri asked if anyone would object to Bobi and I getting married, and was met with only a weak "yes" from Jojo, one of the younger boys. However when he asked if anyone was in favor, he was met with resounding cheers and the banging of tables. Peer pressure at its best. Despite the excitement and rare opportunity to go ahead and marry the woman I love, I simply said "pa kounye" (not now) and the service ended. Such is life here in Haiti.