Written by Sara in the Miami airport
So, we're sitting in the airport waiting to return to Denver after more than a week in Haiti. This is our time to decompress and adjust to American culture again. I have been to Haiti a few times, and this, for me, is always the hardest part of the trip. While you are in Haiti, you are so focused on taking in all of the sights, trying to make sense of all of the cultural nuances, and basically trying not to be the stupid "blanc" through all of the various faux pas you could potentially make. Now, while listening to the subtle Musak a-la- South Florida playing at the gate, you try to consolidate all of your experiences and prepare yourself for life after the Haiti trip.
While in Haiti, you are are "Go" mode; you feel as if you don't want to miss a single moment of the experience. And there is so much to the experience. Even after a few trips, I find myself exposed to new things and learning even more about this incredible country - "Why do they use their horns so much?", "How is is possible that Haitians do not seem to get as many mosquito bites?", "How do Haitians manage to survive given the crushing poverty they experience - with joy?"
But there is always more, leaving you to silently commit to that second, or third, or 50th trip. You always want to learn more about Haiti for one simple reason: the people are simply amazing. You promise the people you meet along the way that you will not forget them and that you will see them again, and you try to be true to your word. You don't want to forget them.
The final challenging leg of this journey involves sharing our experiences with friends and loved ones. We will try to share stories of memorable events and recall interesting people we met along the way. But no matter how hard we try, it can never properly convey *everything*. There is just too much - too much beauty, too much pain, and too much joy for words. So, forgive us if we fail to accurately describe what you want to hear - it's not for lack of material - it's for lack of words.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Coming Home
Posted by Lauri
Wow. Apparently I have been avoiding writing on the blog enough that when I spoke to my mom upon arriving back to the States she thought the blog was only designated to Mike and Bev! I can't say that I have consciously not wanted to write, but I do seem to focus on my whereabouts and try to be present as much as possible when I travel. We are here in the Miami airport right now, waiting for the plane to Denver. There is no internet so unfortunately I will be writing and posting this later- So, here it goes..
When I think about this trip- including all of the preparation, the trip itself, and the re-entry, 4 things come to mind for me- Patience, flexibility, resiliency, and the contrast that we both witnessed and experienced. Not only is 'time' very different while abroad, which requires a lot of breathing, waiting, and relaxing into a different pace of life, but it also requires one to let go of any preconceived notions you may have when entering into a 'mission' type trip. I personally enjoy this way of being much more than the rigid, fast paced life we are faced with in the States!
Although I have witnessed the notion of 'Resilient' on other trips to different areas around the globe, I can honestly say that it is tenfold in Haiti right now. It has been humbling and heartening to hear peoples stories of survival and loss, of courage and hope. When driving down the roads of Port-Au-Prince, Cite Soleil, Leogane, plus others, it is hard to feel anything else when you see houses/buildings collapsed, roads covered with remains of buildings, tents and camps set up anywhere there is space, and a sewage/waste removal system that seems to be almost non-existent. Yet among all of this, people are working hard, selling their goods, rebuilding, enjoying each other while supporting individual and community needs. And most of all, people are smiling, while they find the inner light and strength. Most of all, you can see this in the children- in their faces and behaviors, in their play or their sorrow, in their innocence and vast experience. Resilience mixed with contrast- a combination seen here as lightness and heart. The idea of contrast also arose for me while seeing, collapsed buildings standing next to exquisite beauty of nature/standing architectural beauty. Or while hearing people's stories yet experiencing their courage. And while witnessing (and experiencing) deep poverty against those that have more wealth.
In Petit Troupes our work was well received. I believe that the Mental Health and Trauma focused work was well needed, and I have high hopes that both the women volunteers, the vocational students, and the teachers will continue to utilize these concepts with themselves and others- especially the children. Although there was not as much physical evidence of the earthquake way out there, it was felt by all- both in the people that were displaced there (IDP's), in the orphans, and those that lost family, livelihoods, and memories. I feel blessed and grateful to be able to not only share knowledge and support that I (we) was able to offer, but to also learn a great deal from everyone there. My work was based on Security and Resiliency, as well as basic reactions and behaviors during Crisis's or Trauma related events. I also did some Art Therapy which was well received, and created an atmosphere for sharing and vulnerability that seemed to be new yet welcomed. (True for the adults and children!) Some of the work followed Mercy Corps basic concepts as we were basing this training on programs they have going in PaP- I hope that they are able to connect with Mercy Corps in the future, and that this work continues through individual and community connections.
I also feel lucky to have met such wonderful individuals that I can call friends for life, and a place that I can continue to back to and call a home.
With that said, I think that I must write something about all of these factors in terms of our group. Having done Global Mental Health in the past, I can not have asked to be with a better group. From the leadership to team work to friendships made, it has been an amazing experience. I feel like we were all able to be present and engage, be heartfelt, empathic, and compassionate in truly genuine ways. We helped each other, learned from each other, and gave support- and space!- as needed... And at the end of the day, we could talk and laugh with each other- very much required while engaging in this trip!
So, all in all things went really well, with a few bumps and minor ills along the way… However arriving back with this accomplishment can seem like a feat. Yet when you compare this to the day to day lives for the residents of Haiti, it seems like nothing.
I think others have done a great job at detailing our experience, so I am trying to keep this a bit more general- I am only posting a few photos- out of thousands! For those of you that know me, documenting and doing a bit of 'photo journalism' is a love of mine, yet the space on this blog is limited. We will be creating a 'Snapfish' account soon, and will post it on here ASAP!
Thanks to all of you for your ongoing support and for reading this- it means a lot to all of us to know that there is continued interest and dedication to areas that need sustainable efforts!
Take care, and until next time :)
Lauri
Wow. Apparently I have been avoiding writing on the blog enough that when I spoke to my mom upon arriving back to the States she thought the blog was only designated to Mike and Bev! I can't say that I have consciously not wanted to write, but I do seem to focus on my whereabouts and try to be present as much as possible when I travel. We are here in the Miami airport right now, waiting for the plane to Denver. There is no internet so unfortunately I will be writing and posting this later- So, here it goes..
When I think about this trip- including all of the preparation, the trip itself, and the re-entry, 4 things come to mind for me- Patience, flexibility, resiliency, and the contrast that we both witnessed and experienced. Not only is 'time' very different while abroad, which requires a lot of breathing, waiting, and relaxing into a different pace of life, but it also requires one to let go of any preconceived notions you may have when entering into a 'mission' type trip. I personally enjoy this way of being much more than the rigid, fast paced life we are faced with in the States!
Although I have witnessed the notion of 'Resilient' on other trips to different areas around the globe, I can honestly say that it is tenfold in Haiti right now. It has been humbling and heartening to hear peoples stories of survival and loss, of courage and hope. When driving down the roads of Port-Au-Prince, Cite Soleil, Leogane, plus others, it is hard to feel anything else when you see houses/buildings collapsed, roads covered with remains of buildings, tents and camps set up anywhere there is space, and a sewage/waste removal system that seems to be almost non-existent. Yet among all of this, people are working hard, selling their goods, rebuilding, enjoying each other while supporting individual and community needs. And most of all, people are smiling, while they find the inner light and strength. Most of all, you can see this in the children- in their faces and behaviors, in their play or their sorrow, in their innocence and vast experience. Resilience mixed with contrast- a combination seen here as lightness and heart. The idea of contrast also arose for me while seeing, collapsed buildings standing next to exquisite beauty of nature/standing architectural beauty. Or while hearing people's stories yet experiencing their courage. And while witnessing (and experiencing) deep poverty against those that have more wealth.
In Petit Troupes our work was well received. I believe that the Mental Health and Trauma focused work was well needed, and I have high hopes that both the women volunteers, the vocational students, and the teachers will continue to utilize these concepts with themselves and others- especially the children. Although there was not as much physical evidence of the earthquake way out there, it was felt by all- both in the people that were displaced there (IDP's), in the orphans, and those that lost family, livelihoods, and memories. I feel blessed and grateful to be able to not only share knowledge and support that I (we) was able to offer, but to also learn a great deal from everyone there. My work was based on Security and Resiliency, as well as basic reactions and behaviors during Crisis's or Trauma related events. I also did some Art Therapy which was well received, and created an atmosphere for sharing and vulnerability that seemed to be new yet welcomed. (True for the adults and children!) Some of the work followed Mercy Corps basic concepts as we were basing this training on programs they have going in PaP- I hope that they are able to connect with Mercy Corps in the future, and that this work continues through individual and community connections.
I also feel lucky to have met such wonderful individuals that I can call friends for life, and a place that I can continue to back to and call a home.
With that said, I think that I must write something about all of these factors in terms of our group. Having done Global Mental Health in the past, I can not have asked to be with a better group. From the leadership to team work to friendships made, it has been an amazing experience. I feel like we were all able to be present and engage, be heartfelt, empathic, and compassionate in truly genuine ways. We helped each other, learned from each other, and gave support- and space!- as needed... And at the end of the day, we could talk and laugh with each other- very much required while engaging in this trip!
So, all in all things went really well, with a few bumps and minor ills along the way… However arriving back with this accomplishment can seem like a feat. Yet when you compare this to the day to day lives for the residents of Haiti, it seems like nothing.
I think others have done a great job at detailing our experience, so I am trying to keep this a bit more general- I am only posting a few photos- out of thousands! For those of you that know me, documenting and doing a bit of 'photo journalism' is a love of mine, yet the space on this blog is limited. We will be creating a 'Snapfish' account soon, and will post it on here ASAP!
Thanks to all of you for your ongoing support and for reading this- it means a lot to all of us to know that there is continued interest and dedication to areas that need sustainable efforts!
Take care, and until next time :)
Lauri
Back home.
Two-thirds of the team - Sara, Pat, Lauri and I - are back home safe in Colorado. Beverly and Anita are still in Petit Trou. The Colorado Haiti Project Medical Team (Sara, Lauri and I are the Trauma Team) may have even passed us on the road near Léogane as we made our way back to Port-au-Prince, and should have arrived in Petit Trou last night. Hopefully the womens' clinic went well today and they can start coming up with some answers.
We'll continue posting on this blog. I know that I speak for others when I say that one of the many motivations for this trip was to bear witness. To that end, between the six of us, we literally took thousands of photos. We'll post selected ones on the blog, and give some context or tell an anecdote, but we also plan on creating a snapfish or flickr or some other online photo-sharing account where we can just post them all in bulk.
In coming back to the US, it was really striking to me that on the cable news channels blaring from TVs in the US airports there was absolutely no mention of Haiti; down the short attention span memory hole went the Earthquake headlines. I am here to say that the crisis in Haiti is as ongoing as the oil leak. It hasn't stopped and it's not OK, and I hope people continue to raise funds and support good groups who are established in Haiti (a good question to ask if you're thinking about donating: 'Were they there BEFORE the earthquake?') and are partnered with organizations that are based in Haiti and run by Haitians.
To wit:
http://www.coloradohaitiproject.org/donate.html
-Mike.
We'll continue posting on this blog. I know that I speak for others when I say that one of the many motivations for this trip was to bear witness. To that end, between the six of us, we literally took thousands of photos. We'll post selected ones on the blog, and give some context or tell an anecdote, but we also plan on creating a snapfish or flickr or some other online photo-sharing account where we can just post them all in bulk.
In coming back to the US, it was really striking to me that on the cable news channels blaring from TVs in the US airports there was absolutely no mention of Haiti; down the short attention span memory hole went the Earthquake headlines. I am here to say that the crisis in Haiti is as ongoing as the oil leak. It hasn't stopped and it's not OK, and I hope people continue to raise funds and support good groups who are established in Haiti (a good question to ask if you're thinking about donating: 'Were they there BEFORE the earthquake?') and are partnered with organizations that are based in Haiti and run by Haitians.
To wit:
http://www.coloradohaitiproject.org/donate.html
-Mike.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Back in Port-au-Prince
Sara, Pat, Lauri and I are back at the Palmms Inn in Port-au-Prince. We debated heading back out into Port-au-Prince but opted instead for Haitian beer, Haitian rum, and the pool. Anita and Beverly stayed back in Petit Trou to run the women's clinic. Anita should be back in the US on the 23rd. Beverly is staying a week longer than she originally planned because when we delivered the cello, the head of the orchestra asked her to stay and play the cello at a concert on July 4, and offered her a place to stay.
Tomorrow we head to the airport bright and early and are supposed to land in Denver around 7:15pm.
-Mike.
Tomorrow we head to the airport bright and early and are supposed to land in Denver around 7:15pm.
-Mike.
14 June 2010 Monday Goodby and hello
Monday 14 June 2010
From Beverly
The Mental Health team departed around 8:30 this morning for Port au Prince. Now, at 4 in the afternoon, we expect to hear that they have arrived very soon. The river crossing was uneventful for them. But last night, the 2 drivers coming from PaP were hit by a Haitian version of a tsunami (lavalas in Creole) as they were actually driving through the river! The car was totally flooded – they had water inside the car, up to their knees and had to be towed out. At least it was during the day and there actually was someone there to tow them. They were pretty well shaken up by the time they arrived. We are only guessing that there had been rain high up in the mountains because it was dry and sunny here.
We are expecting the arrival of the women's health team any minute. Their departure out of PaP was delayed by no cars actually being available at the car rental reservation. Luckily, Pere Kesner had arrived here on Sunday ( the head of St. Paul's church and over the region). He was able to make one call and arrange 2 drivers, a truck and a 4 wheel drive. Whew!
Anita and I remain at St. Paul's to support the women's health (WH) team. We will have 2 clinicians doing pelvic exams of women with specific complaints of vaginitis. CHP has heard about the seeming high prevalence of vaginitis for quite some time. This team will actually only see women patients, will take specimen and will look at them under a microscope in the field and diagnose/treat. Then we will share our findings with the local government clinic.
We will be going to one of the outlying communities for the first 2 days of clinic and then 3 days at St. Paul's. We have tried a new experiment – giving the Women Volunteers appointment cards to distribute, only 45 each day...and only women with the cards will be seen...we'll see how it works.
From Beverly
The Mental Health team departed around 8:30 this morning for Port au Prince. Now, at 4 in the afternoon, we expect to hear that they have arrived very soon. The river crossing was uneventful for them. But last night, the 2 drivers coming from PaP were hit by a Haitian version of a tsunami (lavalas in Creole) as they were actually driving through the river! The car was totally flooded – they had water inside the car, up to their knees and had to be towed out. At least it was during the day and there actually was someone there to tow them. They were pretty well shaken up by the time they arrived. We are only guessing that there had been rain high up in the mountains because it was dry and sunny here.
We are expecting the arrival of the women's health team any minute. Their departure out of PaP was delayed by no cars actually being available at the car rental reservation. Luckily, Pere Kesner had arrived here on Sunday ( the head of St. Paul's church and over the region). He was able to make one call and arrange 2 drivers, a truck and a 4 wheel drive. Whew!
Anita and I remain at St. Paul's to support the women's health (WH) team. We will have 2 clinicians doing pelvic exams of women with specific complaints of vaginitis. CHP has heard about the seeming high prevalence of vaginitis for quite some time. This team will actually only see women patients, will take specimen and will look at them under a microscope in the field and diagnose/treat. Then we will share our findings with the local government clinic.
We will be going to one of the outlying communities for the first 2 days of clinic and then 3 days at St. Paul's. We have tried a new experiment – giving the Women Volunteers appointment cards to distribute, only 45 each day...and only women with the cards will be seen...we'll see how it works.
9 June 2010 Mental Health Training Begins
9 June 2010
Petit Trou de Nippes
St. Paul's Church and School
Entry by Beverly
The journey from Port au Prince to Petit Trou began at 8:15 am on Tuesday, just as planned. We traveled in 2 rented cars with 2 very FAST Haitian drivers. Both kept the vehicles upright. And we arrived in at St. Paul's around 1:30 in the afternoon, tired, but grateful that the river was not too high. (The river was much higher than when I arrived here in February, but we were able to drive through it.) For those of you who know this area, let me give you our travel times. 8:15 depart PaP. 9:20 Mariani; 9:33 Marge; 9:42 Leogone (we got Gas and snacks at the Total station on the left of the highway – highly recommended for “pit stop”); 10:50 Guave; 11 Petit Guave; 11:20 Miragoane; 12:30 Petit Riviere; 12:45 River crossing; 1:30 Petit Trou!! Mr. Kessner greeted us, but Guilot was not here – he was in Miragoane, only to arrive much later after he was called to come in.
Today we began the Mental Health training – to give the participants tools for dealing with the trauma dealt by the Jan. 12 earthquake. The team planned to have a morning session for the Women Volunteers. This group of 34 women were identified as community leaders about 4 years ago and have done a variety of basic community health activities with CHP. They really are the pulse of the community and we anticipate that training them about trauma symptoms and practical ways of coping will spread out to the communities. The afternoon training is for the 28 St. Paul's teachers, the seminarian and the school nurse.
Upon our arrival, we found that the Women Volunteers hadn't been notified about the training, so our leader, Pat Laudisio drove out into the countryside with a couple of Haitian colleagues to find and bring as many of the WV's to this morning's training as possible! We had a packed classroom as the students of the vocational training program joined us. We are providing the Wvs with a lunch stipend, to make it a little more reasonable for them to be able to spend their whole morning in class. $5 per person. A bargain, as these women have the pulse of the communities in which they live and will carry this learning to many people in remote villages.
The team has been joined by 2 Mercy Corps staff, based in Port au Prince, who are doing trainings based on Comfort for Kids curriculum. This will be a pilot project for them, as all of their prior trainings have been in Port au Prince. It is brilliantly simple and straightforward and has been used after the World Trade Center, Katrina, China earthquake and more places. We are really enjoying sharing professionallly with them and hope this pilot is only the beginning of services to come to Petit Trou de Nippes.
As far as more personal information, we are all awestruck by the beauty of this place. St. Paul's is in tremendous shape. Even the bathrooms are cleaner than when I was here in February (OK, that's from the neurotic nurse!) The ocean views invited us for a dip as we drove in, but it was a 5 ½ hour journey as it was. So no dallying! Here, we have verdant, tree-covered mountains to the south. St. Paul's grounds are clean, spacious and open. Part of the team is sleeping in tents; part in the dormitory. Thunder and lightening rolled in as we were preparing to go to bed, but we did not receive rain. The roads were muddy as we drove in, so we know they have been getting plenty of rains. It's partly cloudy today and hot!
It has been really humbling for me to be back here after 4 months and for so many people remember me and welcome me warmly. I am a bit “curious” about developing a plan with the WVs to identify women patients for the Women's Health team. (They arrive in a week). The idea/hope is to develop a strategy with the WVs to identify patients, give them appointment cards for either a morning or afternoon appointment on a specific day AND to hold clinics in buildings in the outying communities...so that it is less of a hardship for the patients to reach the clinic. And we are hoping that the wait time for the patients is less as well as the pressure on the clinicians. Wish me good luck! It is a whole new concept to go out to the communities AND especially to try to set appointments.
Last night, I thought I was going to bed early, starting around 8:30...but no. We found that 2 of our 4 rooms did not have functioning ceiling light fixtures and one room didn't have a light bulb. Mr. Kessner, Guilot and one other guy found parts and and repaired and replaced them all to great success. It meant that we could all have fans cooling us during the night.
Today the team has begun their trainings. We had about 40 for the morning and 25 for the afternoon. We have a great variety of professions attending – 22 of the community Women Volunteers, teachers of the primary school, the principal and the administrator, the women's collective coordinator and the school nurse, to name a few.
Petit Trou de Nippes
St. Paul's Church and School
Entry by Beverly
The journey from Port au Prince to Petit Trou began at 8:15 am on Tuesday, just as planned. We traveled in 2 rented cars with 2 very FAST Haitian drivers. Both kept the vehicles upright. And we arrived in at St. Paul's around 1:30 in the afternoon, tired, but grateful that the river was not too high. (The river was much higher than when I arrived here in February, but we were able to drive through it.) For those of you who know this area, let me give you our travel times. 8:15 depart PaP. 9:20 Mariani; 9:33 Marge; 9:42 Leogone (we got Gas and snacks at the Total station on the left of the highway – highly recommended for “pit stop”); 10:50 Guave; 11 Petit Guave; 11:20 Miragoane; 12:30 Petit Riviere; 12:45 River crossing; 1:30 Petit Trou!! Mr. Kessner greeted us, but Guilot was not here – he was in Miragoane, only to arrive much later after he was called to come in.
Today we began the Mental Health training – to give the participants tools for dealing with the trauma dealt by the Jan. 12 earthquake. The team planned to have a morning session for the Women Volunteers. This group of 34 women were identified as community leaders about 4 years ago and have done a variety of basic community health activities with CHP. They really are the pulse of the community and we anticipate that training them about trauma symptoms and practical ways of coping will spread out to the communities. The afternoon training is for the 28 St. Paul's teachers, the seminarian and the school nurse.
Upon our arrival, we found that the Women Volunteers hadn't been notified about the training, so our leader, Pat Laudisio drove out into the countryside with a couple of Haitian colleagues to find and bring as many of the WV's to this morning's training as possible! We had a packed classroom as the students of the vocational training program joined us. We are providing the Wvs with a lunch stipend, to make it a little more reasonable for them to be able to spend their whole morning in class. $5 per person. A bargain, as these women have the pulse of the communities in which they live and will carry this learning to many people in remote villages.
The team has been joined by 2 Mercy Corps staff, based in Port au Prince, who are doing trainings based on Comfort for Kids curriculum. This will be a pilot project for them, as all of their prior trainings have been in Port au Prince. It is brilliantly simple and straightforward and has been used after the World Trade Center, Katrina, China earthquake and more places. We are really enjoying sharing professionallly with them and hope this pilot is only the beginning of services to come to Petit Trou de Nippes.
As far as more personal information, we are all awestruck by the beauty of this place. St. Paul's is in tremendous shape. Even the bathrooms are cleaner than when I was here in February (OK, that's from the neurotic nurse!) The ocean views invited us for a dip as we drove in, but it was a 5 ½ hour journey as it was. So no dallying! Here, we have verdant, tree-covered mountains to the south. St. Paul's grounds are clean, spacious and open. Part of the team is sleeping in tents; part in the dormitory. Thunder and lightening rolled in as we were preparing to go to bed, but we did not receive rain. The roads were muddy as we drove in, so we know they have been getting plenty of rains. It's partly cloudy today and hot!
It has been really humbling for me to be back here after 4 months and for so many people remember me and welcome me warmly. I am a bit “curious” about developing a plan with the WVs to identify women patients for the Women's Health team. (They arrive in a week). The idea/hope is to develop a strategy with the WVs to identify patients, give them appointment cards for either a morning or afternoon appointment on a specific day AND to hold clinics in buildings in the outying communities...so that it is less of a hardship for the patients to reach the clinic. And we are hoping that the wait time for the patients is less as well as the pressure on the clinicians. Wish me good luck! It is a whole new concept to go out to the communities AND especially to try to set appointments.
Last night, I thought I was going to bed early, starting around 8:30...but no. We found that 2 of our 4 rooms did not have functioning ceiling light fixtures and one room didn't have a light bulb. Mr. Kessner, Guilot and one other guy found parts and and repaired and replaced them all to great success. It meant that we could all have fans cooling us during the night.
Today the team has begun their trainings. We had about 40 for the morning and 25 for the afternoon. We have a great variety of professions attending – 22 of the community Women Volunteers, teachers of the primary school, the principal and the administrator, the women's collective coordinator and the school nurse, to name a few.
Monday 7 June 2010 Cello is delivered
7 June 2010 Monday Greetings from Beverlyt
Greetings from Port au Prince. We arrived in Haiti yesterday - Mental Health (MH) team from the Colorado Haiti Project (CHP). We leave for Petit Trou tomorrow. (Where I worked in February.) I'll remain in PT when the MH team leaves and will support the CHP Women's Health team when they arrive on the 14th of June. I will return to Port au Prince with them on June 21st, when my next most amazing phase in Haiti will begin.
I was totally blessed by being the carrier of a cello to be donated to the Holy Trinity music school. The donor church in Evergreen blessed the cello the Sunday before I left and I got to play it with their choir! Unbelievably, American Airlines let me “gate” check it AND return it to me at the gate in Miami...AND the cello arrived totally intact and ready to be played!
Today, we made contact with the priest of the church and Bernadette, the prinicipal cellist. I began my day by playing a Bach suite on the balcony of our hotel (I had the mute on and the roosters had been crowing for a LONG time). Then I got to play for the Mercy Corps team who is helping children to deal with the trauma from the earthquake. (there is more to that story,but later). Then, I got to hand it off to a cellist who is doing daily work with young musicians...we sat and looked through the music that I brought her. One of the pieces had been given to me by a church elder from the church I went to in Marin County. I never played it, but decided to bring it to Bernadette. She saw it and exclaimed! This is the priest's favorite piece and she had been searching for it! Needless to say, I am very happy. But that's not all! She asked if I could stay for 2 weeks, that they are doing a concert on July 4...and would I play with them? I had planned to return on June 28, but how could I say no? So, I'll be home on July 5th...I'm so happy!
Greetings from Port au Prince. We arrived in Haiti yesterday - Mental Health (MH) team from the Colorado Haiti Project (CHP). We leave for Petit Trou tomorrow. (Where I worked in February.) I'll remain in PT when the MH team leaves and will support the CHP Women's Health team when they arrive on the 14th of June. I will return to Port au Prince with them on June 21st, when my next most amazing phase in Haiti will begin.
I was totally blessed by being the carrier of a cello to be donated to the Holy Trinity music school. The donor church in Evergreen blessed the cello the Sunday before I left and I got to play it with their choir! Unbelievably, American Airlines let me “gate” check it AND return it to me at the gate in Miami...AND the cello arrived totally intact and ready to be played!
Today, we made contact with the priest of the church and Bernadette, the prinicipal cellist. I began my day by playing a Bach suite on the balcony of our hotel (I had the mute on and the roosters had been crowing for a LONG time). Then I got to play for the Mercy Corps team who is helping children to deal with the trauma from the earthquake. (there is more to that story,but later). Then, I got to hand it off to a cellist who is doing daily work with young musicians...we sat and looked through the music that I brought her. One of the pieces had been given to me by a church elder from the church I went to in Marin County. I never played it, but decided to bring it to Bernadette. She saw it and exclaimed! This is the priest's favorite piece and she had been searching for it! Needless to say, I am very happy. But that's not all! She asked if I could stay for 2 weeks, that they are doing a concert on July 4...and would I play with them? I had planned to return on June 28, but how could I say no? So, I'll be home on July 5th...I'm so happy!
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