i don't even know where to begin today, but i'm exhausted! we left the compound early this morning and travelled north, away from Port au Prince, through the "market". my impression is that Port au Prince and the really rural areas are the worst, whereas the market area seemed a little better bc at least there were cars around. it's all relative of course. they told me about this part of the city called Cite Soleil which is one of the most dangerous places you can go. it is what makes Haiti the 4th most dangerous country in the world. we obviously don't go near there but apparently it is a span of 4 blocks with over 100,000 people. they say that there are so many people that it would be impossible for everyone to lay down at the same time bc it is so packed. i believe it, especially after what i saw driving through Port au Prince. it used to be even worse, but as soon as aristide went into exile, the US military came in and took out a lot of the gang leaders. at least that's what someone told me. now it basically has no rule, and it is often where kidnap victims are taken...
ok, back to the market. we travelled past the town and pulled off to a side road and drove a bit up the side of the mountain. once it got too steep we all got out and started climbing. the scene kind of reminded me of Forrest Gump's run across the county, bc every time we passed a shanty in the woods children would run out and join us. "blan! blan" they'd just run ups and grab our hands or hold onto my skirt and just continue walking with us up the mountain. by the time we got to the first river there was a whole pack of kids. we waded through the first river which was above my knees, but it felt really good because it was unbeleivably hot and humid out. we had to carry the littlest kids on our backs and hold hands with the other "timoun" (children) bc the current was strong. most of the timoun did not have shoes but their feet must have been used to the rockiness. it was probably about another half hour before we reached the second river which was wider, deeper, and had a stronger current. it felt good on my muscles.
finally we reached a remote town deep into the mountain and kids ran out from every direction to follow us. a lot of the kids had kwashiorkor (protein deficiencies, swollen bellies) and many had hair faded to orange bc of vitamin deficiencies. they were all really excited to have visitors though.
JR, our translator/driver, gathered them around for a morning of singing, dancing, stories, and games. we did the hokey pokey in kreyol. the kids were crawling all over us...i was sweating from head to toe, but i barely noticed the heat bc they kept us so busy. they really loved my digital camera, especially taking pictures and then seeing what they looked like...i doubt any of them had ever seen a mirror. they also kept touching my skin, like somehow mine would feel different than their's...
there was an old man sitting in a bucket nearby observing and one of the boys ran into him. the man got up and started beating the boy, kicking him really hard, but the boy just laughed and everyone around laughed. it was sad that i didn't really know what to think.
lots of people were bathing and cleaning clothes in the dirty rivers. there were skinny animals and cattle everywhere. lots of mules and wild boar. one horse was so skinny and had been worn so hard that i could see his hip bone protruding through his skin. i saw 2 dead dogs on our walk.
we started our descent around noon and again most of the children followed us. one of the girls i was walking with spoke french so we were able to talk the whole walk down. it is amazing how immersion really makes a difference in language, and it definitely was a relief from kreyol! french is the language they teach in schools, so this girl must have been a student. she had a very large family with lots of animals. she wanted me to teach her how to count in spanish!
we drove part way back through the market place and then we stopped and got out. we had to be very careful here bc it is not super safe and there are tons of people around. i can't even begin to describe the stench of the market...there were lots of fish and meats and heads of animals...tons of bugs and stray dogs and we were basically walking through streams of urine and feces. everything is really cramped, so you have to walk single file in and out through the different vendors. people were grabbing at us, but we had to keep walking.
finally we turned down one alley where we came to an orphanage that is supported by MOH. it wasn't nearly as nice as the orphanage on the compound but at the very least the children were mostly dressed and they seemed to be better nourished. the kids here were exactly the same in terms of clinging to us and again they loved my camera. when we got there they were starting a meal and i watched as they shared a single spoon between every 2 or 3 children...just one bite and pass it to the other person. after they ate we did the same activities that we had at the village. they all spoke french and kreyol, so it was a lot easier to communicate. one little boy was attached to me the entire time, but i don't think that he could talk. he had the cutest smile and wouldn't let go of me when it was time to leave. i really wanted to take him home with me.
JR did some free-styling with the drums and there was this one little girl in a white church dress that i swear could break it down better than Beyonce.
when we finally made it back to the compound i was the sweatiest, smelliest, dirtiest i had ever been in my life. still no electricity, but the cold shower felt good. we had hobo packs for dinner which i didn't know existed outside of my dad's grill. same name and eveything. i had 2.
we have church tomorrow morning and then us interns are going to eat in town somewhere that hopefully won't make us sick. 8 goudes in a haitian dollar, 5 haitian dollars in an american dollar.
and my laptop screen is attracting every bug in Haiti.
ok, back to the market. we travelled past the town and pulled off to a side road and drove a bit up the side of the mountain. once it got too steep we all got out and started climbing. the scene kind of reminded me of Forrest Gump's run across the county, bc every time we passed a shanty in the woods children would run out and join us. "blan! blan" they'd just run ups and grab our hands or hold onto my skirt and just continue walking with us up the mountain. by the time we got to the first river there was a whole pack of kids. we waded through the first river which was above my knees, but it felt really good because it was unbeleivably hot and humid out. we had to carry the littlest kids on our backs and hold hands with the other "timoun" (children) bc the current was strong. most of the timoun did not have shoes but their feet must have been used to the rockiness. it was probably about another half hour before we reached the second river which was wider, deeper, and had a stronger current. it felt good on my muscles.
finally we reached a remote town deep into the mountain and kids ran out from every direction to follow us. a lot of the kids had kwashiorkor (protein deficiencies, swollen bellies) and many had hair faded to orange bc of vitamin deficiencies. they were all really excited to have visitors though.
JR, our translator/driver, gathered them around for a morning of singing, dancing, stories, and games. we did the hokey pokey in kreyol. the kids were crawling all over us...i was sweating from head to toe, but i barely noticed the heat bc they kept us so busy. they really loved my digital camera, especially taking pictures and then seeing what they looked like...i doubt any of them had ever seen a mirror. they also kept touching my skin, like somehow mine would feel different than their's...
there was an old man sitting in a bucket nearby observing and one of the boys ran into him. the man got up and started beating the boy, kicking him really hard, but the boy just laughed and everyone around laughed. it was sad that i didn't really know what to think.
lots of people were bathing and cleaning clothes in the dirty rivers. there were skinny animals and cattle everywhere. lots of mules and wild boar. one horse was so skinny and had been worn so hard that i could see his hip bone protruding through his skin. i saw 2 dead dogs on our walk.
we started our descent around noon and again most of the children followed us. one of the girls i was walking with spoke french so we were able to talk the whole walk down. it is amazing how immersion really makes a difference in language, and it definitely was a relief from kreyol! french is the language they teach in schools, so this girl must have been a student. she had a very large family with lots of animals. she wanted me to teach her how to count in spanish!
we drove part way back through the market place and then we stopped and got out. we had to be very careful here bc it is not super safe and there are tons of people around. i can't even begin to describe the stench of the market...there were lots of fish and meats and heads of animals...tons of bugs and stray dogs and we were basically walking through streams of urine and feces. everything is really cramped, so you have to walk single file in and out through the different vendors. people were grabbing at us, but we had to keep walking.
finally we turned down one alley where we came to an orphanage that is supported by MOH. it wasn't nearly as nice as the orphanage on the compound but at the very least the children were mostly dressed and they seemed to be better nourished. the kids here were exactly the same in terms of clinging to us and again they loved my camera. when we got there they were starting a meal and i watched as they shared a single spoon between every 2 or 3 children...just one bite and pass it to the other person. after they ate we did the same activities that we had at the village. they all spoke french and kreyol, so it was a lot easier to communicate. one little boy was attached to me the entire time, but i don't think that he could talk. he had the cutest smile and wouldn't let go of me when it was time to leave. i really wanted to take him home with me.
JR did some free-styling with the drums and there was this one little girl in a white church dress that i swear could break it down better than Beyonce.
when we finally made it back to the compound i was the sweatiest, smelliest, dirtiest i had ever been in my life. still no electricity, but the cold shower felt good. we had hobo packs for dinner which i didn't know existed outside of my dad's grill. same name and eveything. i had 2.
we have church tomorrow morning and then us interns are going to eat in town somewhere that hopefully won't make us sick. 8 goudes in a haitian dollar, 5 haitian dollars in an american dollar.
and my laptop screen is attracting every bug in Haiti.
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