March: BEST SURPRISE EVER!!!!!

The rest of March and the beginning of April passed with business as usual.  I continued to do various work at Fon Ibo School and had more ladies working through the microloan program.  By this time we had a few ladies that were nearly done with the 6 months of loans.  They had started with loans of about $10 and ended with a loan of about $40.  They received a small monthly stipend for food and a generous final payment at the end to help them continue their business after the 6 months were up.  It was based on a program started by Fonkoze, a local microfinance/bank institution.  They began with group loans to peasants but have expanded to include most other people.  They began a program to “high-risk” people that provided loans in addition to help and access to health care and education.  A few years the sisters gathered a list of several Gros Morne residents that they thought could benefit from this program but could not participate in the group loans because they were thought to be too poor and too risky and no one wanted them to be part of their group.  Fonkoze interviewed them but deemed them able to participate in the regular loan program.  So, the sisters decided to find funds to give this people loans as well as help a little bit with other expenses (the stipend and the end payment).  I worked with ladies every month when they came to repay their loans and helped coordinate the second part of the program which was after attending a workshop on how to properly take care of and raise a goat, giving money to buy one to diversify income. 

I'm so excited!!!!

The most exciting part of April was that my parents were going to visit for a week while they had break from school.  I was really looking forward to them coming.  I was most happy for all the stuff they were supposed to be bringing (girl scout cookies and more shampoo!!), but I was also really looking forward to showing them where I had been living and what I had been doing for the past few months.  Although I talk with them pretty frequently and share plenty of pictures, it's still not the same.  With fellow Quest volunteers, we always talk about how we can tell stories and show pictures to people back home, but you don't really understand what Haiti is really like until you experience it for yourself.  I was happy that my parents would have the opportunity to experience Haiti for themselves and understand.

Mama and Papa W painting the playground.

I went down to PAP with our driver Tiden, ran some errands for the house and then headed to the airport.  Tiden was asking questions about if I was happy to see my parents and what not.  He asked how many people were flying in.  I said that it was just two, my mom and my dad and then he said something about thinking there was a third person flying in too, a friend or something.  I told him no, that I was pretty sure it was just two people.  After waiting at the airport for a long time, I finally saw my dad come through the doors.  He immediately got swarmed by people trying to carry his bags for him.  As I ran to the end of the path new arrivals have to take, yelling that he was fine and could carry his bags, I never saw my mom come out of the doors.  When I got to the end of the path, I did see my mom, but I also I saw someone else walking with them.  It didn't really register who it was at first, and then I started to cry - which was a little strange because I never cry.  My best friend from school was there – I had no idea!!  We had been talking about it for a while about how great it would be if she could come down and especially do some nursing work.  But I never really thought it was going to happen because she was working so much.  But, there she was.  I couldn't believe that they had kept such a big secret from me!  Everyone knew.  Everyone at the house here, Tiden (who had actually blown the secret and I never picked up on it), literally everyone back home.  And I had no idea.

Takin' names -- registration to see the eye doctors.

I took them to the usual attractions of Gros Morne - Tiden's bar, the village, the river, the market.  But they actually did a ton of work while they were here.  The same week, Beth was going home (for good) for various personal reasons and she really wanted to get her playground project finished before she left.  About a week before my parents came, Beth, myself and various other young men from Fon Ibo began constructing a recycled tire playground in the school yard.  We had most of the big work done – all the digging, pouring cement into the base for extra stability and screwing tires together – before my parents and my friend showed up.  But with three more pairs of hands, we were able to finish the last details, paint everything and then open it up for playing before Beth left.  They also helped us set up and run a clinic for eye doctors who were coming to give eye exams to kids at Fon Ibo school and one other school.  The team saw 1200 patients in two days, handing out prescription glasses on the spot to kids and teachers in need of them.

It was great to be able to share everything with them, the good and the bad.  They got a pretty good taste of having "blan" shouted after them, being harassed by young men, the tarantulas, having people ask you for money or things, getting caught in the rain and the heat.  But they also got to experience the joy (and craziness) of all the children at school, watching kids learn in the classrooms and continue to grow their skills on the computer, watching children and adults being able to see clearly for the first time, and the natural beauty of Haiti and her people.  My mom, the math teacher, even got to teach multi-digit addition to second graders!

Not that I’m an expert on Haiti or anything, but it was a little challenging to have to answer so many questions and try to explain why certain things are the way the are here.  While we were able to do some of this when we first showed up and the sisters have definitely answered a million of my questions, it was interesting to be on the receiving end instead of being the one asking all of the questions.  They were good and valid questions and put some new perspectives and ideas in my mind about how things around our house and in the community could be done differently.

I couldn’t have asked for a better week.  It was such a wonderful surprise and I’m glad that I could share Haiti with my parents and Hilary.  They were so helpful and it’s nice that, even though they were here for such a short time, they have a better understanding of the challenges as well as wonders of living and working in Haiti.

This guy...so glad my parents and Hilary got to experience all the
wonder of our furry arachnid friends.  In this picture, my dad is daring
me to get as close as possible to it.

Dad took this.

New glasses!!

Twins!!