White girls

If you're white, and you are in Haiti its kind of like you are a celebrity. I didn't really recognize this till this trip. It was made quite apparent to me when my lovely skinny tall white friend Rebecca came. Before she came my interactions were limited to the orphanage and the people in the area. I really just thought they were friendly & could tell I wasn't at home. Then we got out a little more. We had to go to doctors in Carrefour and all through Leogane to find socks & shoes for the little girls. Men were falling in love left & right. It was funny at first. At a car wash we went to a man asked for Beccas number and our translator gave the man his number. About 10 minutes after leaving he called and professed his love through our translator. Hillarious. Then we went to the market & like I wrote before some man told me he loved me & asked me to kiss him. Others said I love you baby. On a different trip to the market one guy kept telling becca he loved her. It was crazy. Then this past week we met a fellow named Pooshon. He spoke a little english and was chatting Becca up. Becca informed me that this guy was an attractive guy. SO my mischievous self decided I needed a picture of them together. He seemed really nice. We got his phone number. Now don't think for one minute that we were really setting anything up. We aren't that dumb :) Anyway we talked to him a little on the phone. The conversations consisted of hi, how are you and thats about it. Then! Pooshon really fell hard and sent Becca txts that started with Darling and Baby and told of his burning love for her. I told him "too much too soon. Girls don't like when you just meet them then send txts like that" He replied he did not understand. I said, "You don't know Becca. You aren't in love with her" to which he replied word for word "I feel love her. Don't thinks the negativity about me amy"

Anywho! The point of me telling you all this is that Becca & I came to realize a sad thing. We white girls don't know if anyone really likes us for us. They just like the color of our skin and/or whatever they think that means. I'm not just talking about boy girl relationships. I'm married so I hope I'm not having any of those :) haha. Anyway its saddening. You want people to like you for you. Not what you can give them.

I'm just going to keep trucking. Show the people I interact with as much of me as I can and try to build real relationships. I know as long as I am in Haiti I will have interactions like this. I know that I will get charged extra, be loved by some, and hated by others all because of what I look like. I love Haiti/ Ayiti for everything it is and for everything it is not. I take the bad and the good.

Bodies

I don't really know how to approach this post. While Becca and I were driving back from church last Sunday we saw a large group of people gathered around the road. As we got closer I saw a strange something in the middle of the road. I started saying, "What is that? What is that?" Because I was driving I was lucky I didn't see to much. There was a dead man laying in the road with no arms and no legs. Apparently there had been a car accident. We drove a little farther and then there was a pile of 4 or so more. As soon as I caught a tiny glimpse I put up my hand so I wouldn't see anymore. Becca was sitting in the front seat with Rodriguez on her lap. She thought very quickly & covered his eyes before he saw anything. Unfortunately because I said "What is that?" both times Becca got a really good look at everything. She described what she saw as "Human roadkill" I'm so happy I didn't see all of that, and so sad Becca had to. She was very upset & cried for a long time after. We also had 4 older boys Tou Tou, Emmanuel, Kenzy, and Enel with us. The didn't react at all. Neither did the people in the streets. They all had blank faces. I wonder if they are desensitized after all the death they saw last year. It would make sense as a defense mechanism for them. Then yesterday when we were leaving Haiti driving through Carrefour we saw a large group of people a UN truck unloading soldiers, then we looked out our window and saw another body. We aren't sure what happened there, but there was a lot of blood...and the same blank faces all around.

I'm not sharing this with you to be gruesome. I'm sharing so you know what is happening in other places. Maybe some of those people could have lived had they gotten care quickly. Those people were someones family. Can you imagine if your father or brother was killed and was laying on a street bleeding with no care? No one to even cover their body after they had passed? Those two events gave me a huge reality check. Haiti needs so much help. The earthquake wasn't the beginning of the need and it certainly isn't the end. We live in the overly developed, overly everything world. We need to share our resources. We are sooo close to Haiti but its like we live a world away...

Becca and i landed safely in the united states. We keep speaking creole to everyone. Ill update more when i get home

Bla Hatienne(White Haitian)

Thats what Becca and I are. We walked to school with the older girls today. On the way many Haitians referred to us as such. We learned A LOT about the Dezman Fleury Organization and all the buildings they had today. We saw the old Orphanage for the 1st time, the church, and the school. Its crazy to see how much they had prior to the earthquake. They even had an internet cafe! So anyway Becca & I walked back from school ourselves, wandered about, got some mangoes, and rode a tap tap alone back to the orphanage. Yay we rock. We won't be wandering about alone ever again. Nothing even remotely bad happened, but we are just smarter now :) Plus Sherm told us not to :)

Tomorrow we will get shoes for 8 of the girls. To go to school in Haiti you have to have the proper attire. If you do not you cannot attend. For many of the kids they only need the right socks, or some hair ties...very sad. Hopefully we can fix the problem tomorrow.

Goodnight

While riding in the box truck from evening church we went over a HUGE bump & i fell and hurt my butt & leg really bad. Gonna have a big ol bruise

More random stories

I'm a bigtime driver these days! I have driven to Carrefour 2 times now. Its pretty scary stuff. Very stressful. So crazy in fact that it makes me want to go to sleep immediatly when I retun to the container.

As I said previously we got some test results for Charley & Rodriguez(they tell me a different spelling EVERYday). Vanessa has gotten tired & overwhelmed by caring for Charley so Becca & I have set up some different care for our special little man. He & the 2 piti piti girls Wichmie & Kimberlie will be taken care of by the loving, caring, responsible Yveline. None of you probably know her. She is semi new. I first met her in September & could instantly tell she was special. Jean shared a story about her with us. She has been wanting to go to nursing school & was looking for an opportunity to do so. She had grown weary of waiting & wanted to leave Dezman Fleury. Jean & Gil convinced her an opportunity would arise & to be patient. Ta da! Opportunity! For her care Extollo will assist with her education. God doesnt make mistakes! On the note of care for little people...we have spent a lot of money on hospital visits & medications. I would really like everyone to take a minute to consider donating to Extollo International to help cover these costs. Not only for medical care but for extra food for the kids & better care.

Last night we had hot dogs for dinner. Becca & I saw a big package on the street & thought it would be a good idea. We foolishly didnt count & after I got the kids cheering "tout moun youn" which is like everybody gets 1...we discover everybody gets 2/3 which doesnt translate well. LOL. Here to cook hot dogs you boil oil & throw them in...after washing them in an old dirty wipes container :) One fell on the ground so we washed it in the rain. It didnt work to well but we put it back in the oil anyway. So because we promised 1 to all we went to Leogane today to buy more.

Emmanuel, Becca, & I rode the tap tap to Leogane. Becca had to sit on my lap. Because Becca is so "sexy"(the Haitians word for skinny) her "sexy " butt was digging in my leg. Anywho we survive the ride. The tough part was walking through the market. It was super muddy & slippery. Some man grabbed Beccas arm & another told me to kiss him & kept walking towards me. CRazy Crazy. After our market adventure we headed to my favorite breadstore where they sell the coldest drinks in Leogane. 1 freezing cold bottle of coke 25 gourdes- a little more than .50! We then walked by a salon & asked how much it would cost to get our hair in rollers..it would be 500 gourdes! Not too bad I guess. We then rode a tap tap back to the boys orphanage and wandered to the lovely air conditioned internet cafe!

Like I said before we only have a short time left. I'm actually getting pretty sad about leaving. As I type this I'm getting all teary eyed. Mwen renmen Ayiti....mwen renmen fanmi m'yo ki an Ayiti.

PS...everyone now says I speak GWO Kreyol!!! That means BIG! yaya. I have spent 2 months in Haiti now I gotta pick something up right?

OK love you all for reading...bye bye

We leave in 5 days! My time has actually gone by really fast.Theres still so much i want & need 2 do.today we are going to try to get all the kids handprints :)