I found this written in my journal about a year ago, after we had returned to Haiti for the start of the new year:

Bleach water in my hair,

sounds of roosters

hot, sticky.

That feeling of being on the frontier,

but in a cool, ceramic tile oasis

It is morning #1: back in Haiti.

And this, from my journal close to two years ago. Ted had encouraged me to be bold and to try to write down some poetry. I reflected on experiences with a neighborhood boy:

Instead of hope,

money.

Instead of a smile, or kinship

a "solution" offered.

I can't talk; I can't give you more.

Who am I? And what are we?

I guess, we are actually the same.

Tied by a line.

You are my brother; that is all.

We are family.

Kinship, explored.

Expounded.

Brought forth

into it's actual meaning.

So this is who we are, who I am.

Live, therefore.

Offer the smile,

Be brave.

Live in the light - whole,

not afraid.

When I first met Tanis, he asked me for a bike. Then he asked me to buy him a ball, a new phone, pay his school fees. I couldn't meet all of his needs, nor did I feel it was my place to do so. But he came by ever so often - knocked on the gate. And we would chat in the driveway. I know he has it rough. And I often struggled with what to do - what could I offer him? Besides a peanut butter sandwich, and some time? The question didn't always have to be as complicated as I made it to be. I think that simply chatting with him at times was the answer.

So, he came by and we would 'shoot the breeze.' The one neighbor we actually chatted with regularly over our first several months in Haiti.

Moving day

Why was moving day so much fun?

Was it the endless sweeping, or the running back and forth with boxes?
No.

Was it the early morning Dunkin' run, or putting chairs in the street to find the perfect parking spot for our u-haul?
No. Though each of these things were kind of fun, in their own way.

What made moving day so great were the people who came to help.

Our neighbor, Ramon, was preparing for days to help us. At 8:30am, he was the first to join the effort in assisting Ted. Then his son, Jose. By 9am, who else shows up but our landlord Andres, Tim P, another neighbor Luke, and Chino. The men tackled the jobs at hand, leaving me to dust, sweep, and steal a couple more donuts when no one was looking... ;)

On the other end, I marveled at how quick the work was with so many helping hands. Like a well-oiled machine,  one friend commented. Everyone was flying up and down the stairs at the entrance to our new place with furniture and area rugs, not skipping a single beat. Sure, they had the lure of a 70-degree weather day and presumably better afternoon plans to motivate them to finish, but they also made the choice to be here with us today, and that meant so much.

Oh, boxes!

The donut snatcher!

In our kitchen window ;)

Hands-on community fun

At Saturday's Community Beautification Day, we helped pot 50 planters for as many families in the neighborhood. That was a lot of soil, flowers, peppers, and pots - and they all got used! Outside of the new Esperanza Health Center building, the S.E.A.C. coalition hosted this great event for community members. We had music, crafts for kids, healthy snacks, and these fun planters to plant. Just the right amount of families came, and I believe all the volunteers had a great time helping with the planting! :)

This little boy had a particularly good time. He took his time filling his pot - first helping his friends and then doing his own - one small hand-full at a time. He then excitedly dug into the soil to prepare to plant. As he followed my instructions on how to "loosen" the flower roots before planting, he was astonished to come upon a worm hidden in the roots! After telling him what I had just learned - that worm poop helps to enrich the soil - he became even more delighted and affectionately named his slinky friend "slimy."

It was so fun to be a part of coordinating this event. God provided good weather and a spirit of joy permeated the place.

_________________________________________________

S.E.A.C. is a coalition that represents our church, Spirit and Truth Fellowship, Esperanza Health Center, Ayuda Community Center, and Casa de Consejeria (House of Counseling), four Christian organizations that serve our community. S.E.A.C. received an awesome grant to work together for two years, hosting a unique community event each month.

websites for each: esperanzahealthcenter.org, ayudacc.org

Good for the soul

There are few things so energizing as laughter and good conversation with friends.  I would also say that few things are as satisfying and enriching as cross-cultural experiences that take you out of your everyday comfortable "routine" and expand your appreciation of life...

In this past week, we had both!

First, last Saturday -  a wonderful celebration with neighbors. The "cross-cultural" aspects came in as the baby shower started two and a half hours after the start time listed on the invitation (but certainly not "late"), the conversations around us were mostly in Spanish, and the food and drinks were thoroughly Puerto Rican -  out of this world amazing!! Our friends were such gracious, wonderful hosts. They went out of their way to take such good care of all of us - constantly refilling our cups with sugary, delightful drinks. ;)


It had been awhile since Ted and I were led into that realm of unpredictability where you really have no clue what and how things are going to unfold. It's a familiar feeling though -took us right back to some nights in Haiti. I personally appreciated it. It's such a great thing to be invited into other people's lives for these precious moments. But after 4 hours of baby shower madness, we were pooped :)


The following Friday, we had the opportunity to see good friends for yet another celebration! It was a friend's birthday, and our friend B picked the perfect spot in South Philly for us to celebrate. Sitting at the back of a family-owned Italian restaurant, where all the pasta is homemade and the owners regularly come out to chat with you, our group of six enjoyed delicious food and laughed (almost to tears) until we closed the place down. Even though it was well past 11pm, the owners never would have kicked us out!  You could tell that they loved the fact that we were enjoying their place.

Dinners, the Finale

Well now I can wrap up this saga by sharing a third encounter we had, one which also happened to be centered around food, but with a much different outcome than what happened in part 1.

As you read there, our first attempts to invite some neighbors into our home did not quite pan out as expected... they simply didn't pan out! A few days after our lovely dinner with the legal clinic folks, Ted and I decided to try again, but with a much simpler approach.

Tostones, the sweet version.

I had made some yummy loaves of pumpkin bread the night before and saved one for some neighbors of ours, a Puerto Rican family with whom we had exchanged many "hellos" and "how are yous" in the past. Knocking on their front door, with pumpkin bread in hand, we were greeted by the mother with warmth and invited into their home.  Over the next half hour we sat and talked with the mother and father, heard stories of his father's farm in Puerto Rico, saw some great pictures, and then... were invited into the kitchen for an impromptu cooking lesson!  Tostones were on the menu - one of my and Ted's favorite tropical snacks :)  Being Puerto Rican, they had tons of plantains on hand, and the mother just kept smashing them and frying them up, sending us home with a heap of them! (And this after eating several while standing in their kitchen.)  Plus, they also sent us with some delicious vegetable soup that the father had just made.  It was so much fun to be invited into their home, to sit and talk, and to be invited back again.  "Our home is your home!" said the father before we left.  What nice people, what a sweet gift.

There ends our three-part "dinners" saga from the month of November! ha.  What saga will there be next?  :)

Dinners, Part 1

A few weeks ago, Ted and I invited two of our neighbors over for dinner. It was something I had wanted to do for weeks, but whether it was conflicts with scheduling or not catching each other on the street at the right time, it had taken awhile to make it happen.

Tuesday, at 6pm, we had the table set beautifully in fall colors, and a favorite recipe of ours was just finishing on the stove. We waited, and waited for our neighbors to come, but… nothing happened. No one came! At 6:30 I decided to call one of the expected guests and she said, “oh yeah, I can’t make it!” Apparently the other neighbor was nowhere to be found… but our friend said, “You know, Thursday would really be better for me anyways.” Ok, so we were okay with trying for Thursday instead – but I knew to be a little more prepared for the unexpected... (Thankfully, our friends next door were home that night and in need of dinner, so we carried the food over and ate together :)

Two days later, Thursday, we had a somewhat simpler meal prepared to serve. Was anyone going to show up this night? We thought they might come at 6, but by 6:30… no one had come. I called the same neighbor and she was clearly not at home, and the other neighbor was nowhere to be found, again. So, we invited another friend to come by but he did not answer his phone. Finally we dug into the food ourselves and had great leftovers for the following week.

Ha! Sounds so strange, right? Well it may not be so uncommon, as our friends next door made clear after our first “no show” dinner. They have had similar experiences to ours, and they don’t think it necessarily indicates that people aren’t interested in getting to know us better. Having people over for dinner may not be a common part of the culture in our neighborhood—at least not in the form we expect it.