Thursday, December 23, 2010

One of those Haiti days...

Some days in Haiti you just feel like nothing works the way you want it to. I have a 7 year old girl who is waiting on a medical visa for heart surgery in the USA...That is not working the way I want it to. The Embassy for some reason has decided that they have a bajillion questions that really aren't relevant and keep making us chase all around for answers. It's been over a week now.

I got word from some people in the United States who have two Haitian children who were evacuated on humanitarian parole following the earthquake. The adoptive families in the States didn't have the proper paperwork and now those two children have been taken to a detention center in Florida...they are 5 and 6 years old. I cannot move quickly enough in this city to help them get the proper paperwork because everything here takes so blasted long. I know it's not my responsibility but now there are two children spending Christmas in a detention center without anyone they know. Sometimes things just don't work the way you want them to.

We had a container with Christmas presents for our children that were supposed to be here alraedy. We even had word that they arrived. We went on Monday to pick them up from the place, but we were told that we couldn't go in on Monday...so we went back yesterday. We were shuffled around to many offices and the consensus was that our container WAS there but there wasn't anything for us on it. so I have been scrounging around looking for presents for all the kids. Unfortunately some of them will get not-so-awesome presents because it's just stuff i have pulled out of closests, because I want them all to have something to open.

And...my fiance is coming to Port Au Prince...in fact as I write this, he is already here...but the car for the guest house here is not an hour and a half later than they said it would be and my fiance is sitting on the side of the road somewhere waiting for me.

some days you feel like you can't win. BUT...it's Christmas. I will think on God Incarnate, and remember that the children will have fun no matter what...AND I will celebrate the fact that I have successfully cooked a turkey today in an oven with no numbers on it, and without the proper equipment I would usually use. It smells delicious and looks beautiful. My father would be proud!

I'm heading to Les Cayes to spend Christmas with the future inlaws...should be nice. I will have limited internet access...we're hoping they hold off on any more election findings until after New Years. We'll see.

Merry Christmas to you all. This year, more than even I am feeling so blessed to have such an amazing community of family and friends (even on days when it seems like nothing goes right!). Thank you to all, and I wish you every blessing in the coming year. I will probably try to write some posts while I am gone, but probably won't post until i have internet connection. Take care!

Monday, December 20, 2010

Paypal...

I've heard from a couple friends that the paypal link on my page isn't working. Apparently just before Thanksgiving some card numbers were compromised through my bank, and mine was one of them. Since my paypal account is linked to that check card, they aren't allowing me to accept donations until I have a valid check card number.

As you can probably guess, I have not received my new card, because of my being in Haiti. My wonderful mother is on top of the situation for me, and it working on getting a new check card to my correct address, and then we can address the paypal issue.

Thanks to the friends who have brought it to my attention! I appreciate it.

IF you wanted to send me a donation, at this time you can do it by mailing a check to the 3506 address listed on the side of the page as well! Thanks again for the support, and hopefully I'll have a working checkcard again soon!

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Back in the Saddle...

It's been a crazy few weeks. It's always a strange transition for me back to the United States when I'm coming from Haiti, and now it's a strange transition for me coming back to Haiti. In some respects going home, which I consider to be either place now, feels like you've never been away, and yet like you've been gone for a lifetime! What's strange here is that my life in the United States is SO entirely different from my life in Haiti. And yet, I love them both. Both have ups and downs. It was good to be in my USA home...and it's good to be back in my Haiti home.

The transitions this time have been MANY. I left my first prolonged trip in Haiti for the States as a single woman, and now I am promised to be married...that in and of itself is a strange transition.

I left Haiti, and a world of getting by for the Holiday of Thanksgiving, a time of excess, and thankfulness.

I left the United States for Haiti heading to a different part of this country I called home, and instead of being the American who can kind of speak kreyol and jokes with everyone, I was Madam Lionel. (In Haiti, when you are married...or engaged as it seems...you don't take your husbands last name necessarily. You become known as Madam "first name of your man"...so there, I am Madam Lionel.) I of course always joke when people say, "oh you're madam lionel." I say, "Actually...he's Mr. Rachel." Usually people laugh...

I was only supposed to head down to Les Cayes for a few days. I had a lot of work to do in PAP and was anxious to be back after being gone for almost two weeks. I have a rythmn at my home in PAP...or at least, as much of a rythmn as one can have here. I didn't take money with me to Les Cayes...I didn't take a lot of clothes...I didn't take a book...and I forgot my conditioner!

I had to learn a new kind of dependence in Les Cayes...Only two people that I met in Lionel's town spoke English...that's fine...we're in Haiti...it's not their language...but when everyone is speaking Kreyol at the speed of light, I found myself feeling very left in the dust. Here in PAP, my Haitian friends know that I can mostly understand what's going on if they speak slowly enough and use the right words. In Les Cayes, no one knew that...and kreyol was FLYING. I was lost. I relied upon my fiance to tell me what was going on.

I didn't have any money. No money to buy phone cards. No money to buy food. No money to buy a coke when I wanted one. I had to rely on my fiance to buy things when I needed them.

I didn't have many clothes with me...I had to rely on Lionel's sister to wash them for me.

I didn't have conditioner. Ok...there was no one to rely on for this one. I just had to give up my vanity and be ok with my crazy Haitian hair. But when you're trying to make a goI od first impression, and you don't feel like the best representation of yourself, it can be a little frustrating.

Then there was the whole election craziness. We ended up being in Les Cayes for over an entire week. I had no idea when we would be able to head back to Port Au Prince. On top of it all I had a Dr. in Haiti need help getting a medical visa. I was trying to do the paper work by using the internet I was taking from a hospital up the hill from Lionel's house twice a day. It was frustrating. I felt completely disarmed. Usually, I can make things happen. It seemed I could do anything.

The house where were staying had indoor plumbing but there was so water pump...meaning I couldn't even flush the toilet on my own for the first 4 or 5 days. This independent girl had reached her limit.

I couldn't cook, I couldn't clean, I couldn't travel, I couldn't carry my own water...I felt like a complete failure. (No one else felt this way...just me.)

I was horrible to live with.

And yet, it was good to be in Les Cayes...to learn a different side of life. To talk with people...to practice kreyol...to hear about people who want the best for their children, who need jobs, who laugh, and care about politics, who want to see more from their country.

I'll write more later about some of the political crazy going on here...and I'll tell you more about the crazy weird, frustrating, week we've had with the US Embassy and immigration, trying to get a Medical Visa for a 7 year old girl who needs heart surgery. It amazes me. Most of my frustration this week in Haiti had nothing to do with Haiti and everything to do with Americans. As a member of the Western, more developed nations, it's easy to think that everything works better in our countries that it does here...but that's simply not the case. There are so many breakdowns in American systems, and this week there is a sick little girl who is losing because of it. It's not fair that she has to grow up in Haiti with an absent father and a mother that can't care for her. It's not fair that she has a hole in her heart. It's not fair that she can't go to school. And it's not fair that the Embassy is not giving her a visa when she has doctores and families ready to pay for her every move in a three months stay in the United States. But...this is life in Haiti.

More to come.
It's good to be back.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Back in Port Au Prince...

I just wrote a long blog detailing my last week and a half, then the internet switched and I lost it all. I am far too tired to retype it tonight, but can't wait to get back to blogging and sharing with you what's going on...for now, take a look at this.




Just go to www.haitimissionproject.org/shirt

Friday, December 10, 2010

Still in Les Cayes

Hi y'all, this is Lindsey. Rachel is still in Les Cayes due to rioting related to the elections. She's safe. It's pretty crazy, but Lionel and his family are taking good care of her!

Please continue to pray for Haiti. May God bring peace, honorable governments, and wisdom.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Back, Kind of...

I've been away from my computer for a while. I had intended to keep blogging from the United States while I was away, but my boyfriend proposed to me, and apparently the excitement of everything was enough to keep me away from the computer.

I have been dating my fiance since February. We met last January in Chicago and bonded over our connection to Haiti. He is from Les Cayes and was living in the United States this past year. He has just returned to Haiti with me so that he can see his family and we can spend a little more time living in the same country! Plus, I think he was jealous that I was in Haiti and he was living with snow in the wintery Midwest.

We just returned to Haiti last week and came down to Les Cayes for the wedding of one of his best friends and for me to meet his family. I would love to write more about all of it, but we don't have a lot of internet access here in Les Cayes so that will have to wait until I return to Port Au Prince on Wednesday.

We're hoping there isn't too much election craziness in the next couple days. We're expecting an announcement tomorrow about the election results. I'll post more in a couple days.