Due to all the pusye (dust) in the air these days, the cold that I got shortly after coming back to Haiti in early January has only JUST left me. One day after school, when I was working in my classroom and coughing up a storm, Kathia told me that I should make a tea from the flowers that grow just outside our apartment - Hisbiscus. So that is just what I did. The tea was ... interesting. It was not very flavorful, but apparently it had a lot of vitamin C, so I guess it did the trick! This week, I've been feeling great =)
Fried chicken! Must mean it's a Friday night =) Last week, Lindsay spent some time in the kitchen learning the tricks of the trade so that she can do some real Haitian cooking when she goes back home to the states. And she snapped these photos of our Friday evening fare. Good stuff! Or as they say in Creole, "Bon Bagay!"
Faince, our head cook. He took over for MacKendy, when he left the base back in November. And he does a wonderful job keeping us well-fed and serving up some tasty dishes with very limited resources... Keep up the good work!
Fried plantains - or bannan, as they call it here. The bananas that we usually eat are known here as "bannan fig."
And our salad. I usually go for the iceberg lettuce minus the purple stuff ... but it's all quite delicious. I've just never been a fan of mayo-based salads =) Some things never change...
Shopping for groceries in the market. I love this picture, with the chickens just sitting there, in complete ignorance of the fact that they are about to become someone's dinner ...
Miss Esther and her 4th and 5th grade class, studying and catching up on homework during the lunch hour. (Kai is the only one missing...)
And here they are sharing their newly constructed tabernacle model with Miss Lindsay's class. They also shared it with my students, just after we had finished studying it ourselves. I enjoyed telling them about the full-scale model where I work part-time back in Lancaster County. And I had even picked up some postcards and posters (and real incense!) there when I was home over Christmas. So that really helped us all as we studied this powerful piece of the Biblical narrative.
Here's a close-up. It's amazing what you can do with a little cardboard, paint, craft sticks, and some creativity =)
This is a project that my students have been working on the past three weeks as part of our science curriculum. We walked around the base and did an inventory of the trees growing on our property. We took leaf samples and did bark rubbings for each one. One day, Freeman Nettles took us outside again to tell us about some of the nutritional and medicinal uses for each tree's leaves, bark, roots, seeds, and twigs. This was a lot of fun for the students, as they already knew some of these things from growing up here in Haiti. It made them feel pretty intelligent =)
This past week, we began to piece together a "Trees of Haiti" book with our findings. And I would like to encourage the students to begin planting trees in their yards and around their neighborhoods as well. There are so few around here ...
Mario and Valens climbing the mango tree to find some nice green leaves for our collection.
Mario, posing and looking quite studly, in front of the same mango tree. Each of the students wanted a picture like this, but his is the only one that turned out this well. So it's the only one I'm going to post. =)
Eli, me, and Myriam after the church service last Sunday. These two students and their sister, Rachelle, often hang out on the base in the evenings and on the weekends. This is like their second home. And we love it =) They are wonderful kids. It'll be hard to say goodbye to them coming June ...
Wilna JUST finished braiding Lindsay's hair and putting extensions in it. It took over15 hours! But now she doesn't have to worry about doing it every morning, so I guess some of that time is being made up... and it was an experience she will never forget. Looks good on her too - she's our African queen in the apartment now =)
The worship practice kept her entertained for a few hours of the braiding process. They usually practice Saturday and Sunday afternoons, but I've been joining them for just the Sunday practices. It is SO much fun for me to have the chance to play my violin with a group like this, and not to be stuck on the keyboard the whole time. It brings me great joy =)
Fiddling around during practice ... For most of our songs, Philipson has these amazing violin parts that are running through his head as he hears the song, so he hums them and then teaches them to me. I wish I had his compositional genius to take with me back home ... Guess I'll just have to learn from him what I can while I'm here =)
Lindsay bonding with a young baby and her mother at the Sunday evening family night service.
Philipson enjoying his new laptop, as Patrick and I look on (and I play around with mine...) It was so neat to see the looks on Philison's, Jude's and Patrick's faces when they received their laptops at the beginning of the month. They were delivered by the PA team, with little tags that said, "From friends in PA who love you. God bless!"
Some of my extra support went towards purchasing laptops for the base this fall, and now some has gone directly to these young Haitian staff. So for any of you who have been supporting me financially this year, some of that support may have gone towards this gift as well. And while you may not be from PA, these guys think you are now ;)
I hardly see them anywhere around the base now withOUT their new toys, and I am very excited to see how they are beginning to use them as they plan and dream for the things that God has called them each to do here in Haiti.
Lindsay spending some time with Natasha, the young girl whose mother passed away earlier this month from the car accident. Behind them you can see some of the many boxes of soda that "Mommy" sold at her store downtown.
Patrick and Alaindo, two good friends here on the base, full of jwa and lavi (joy and life). Their smiles and encouragement and little dances (Alain) always brighten my day!
