Davis is spending a month in Haiti (where his father served an LDS mission back in the 80s). Through the years, Ken has spent some time and effort finding ways to help the Haitian people. He has a good friend who runs an orphanage there and they are working on ways that would provide ongoing educational opportunities for the children. Ken felt it would be a good experience for Davis to get some hands on training and provide some input from his perspective. He has never been to Haiti, doesn't speak French or Creole but is
never-the-less having a great experience. Here are a few excerpts from the blog he has created. If you enjoy this, you might want to read more at
https://chaologicalcat.wordpress.com/
Here are a few excerpts --
Journey to Haiti
JUNE 7, 2016
Around the time I was getting home from my mission (August of 2015), my father proposed something: that I would go to Haiti as part of a test for an idea of his. The idea was to capitalize on the service orientated ambitions of people, primarily those in the their 20’s, and direct it towards my father’s beloved Haiti. This is possible because my Father is friends with Fritzner, who, among many things (which I don’t know all about yet), runs an orphanage.
When I was around 14, I ran a fundraiser for this orphanage as an Eagle Project.
So the idea’s simple and covers 3 areas: we would send young men and women to Haiti to help, experience the culture and to have an adventure. But we needed to prepare and figure out the specifics of this. So my job is to go and be a scout. The plan is to stay with Fritzner, and I’m going to learn by experience what works, what we need to figure out and what I can get out of it.
Outset Scouting
So this post returns somewhat to the heart of why I’m here: I’m sort of a scout for my father as to future projects and outings to Haiti to give service. As such one of my main things is I’m supposed to figure out what we can do. And I’m also supposed to figure out any issues that there could be. All in all, it’s the Outset Scouting for the operation. This will give a little insight into some of the things I’m seeing that can be worked on. Overall I think things are going better than expected.
Project ideas: Fritzner has a number of projects in place at any given time which can use help. I’m going to be painting the children’s rooms next week, if things go well. There is a staircase that he would like to build, and there is the fact that they’re building a third floor west wing. A lot of it has been started, but it still needs to be worked on. The biggest thing which they need is a generator and maybe some more solar panels. But especially the generator.
Besides that the next biggest need is probably teaching. There are a number of children who don’t (I think they’re too young?) go to school and they need to learn. Besides, there’s limited amount of English Learning from what I’ve seen. I think I’m going to end up attempting to teach English, but we really need to assemble a system and plan. Personally, I think bringing some children’s books in English would be a good move since those could be used to teach English. I’m not totally sure what I’m going to do. So solving that issue would be wise.
Other than that, larger scale local issues include mostly infrastructural needs, like roads… and trash. Lots of trash. So much trash. However due to roads you could never implement a repair job in the conventional manner. You would need a completely new system that would address the needs of the area. Because the roads wouldn’t accommodate the trucks… you would need some sort of collection system. So that’s just a pipe dream for now. But maybe one day…
So this post returns somewhat to the heart of why I’m here: I’m sort of a scout for my father as to future projects and outings to Haiti to give service. As such one of my main things is I’m supposed to figure out what we can do. And I’m also supposed to figure out any issues that there could be. All in all, it’s the Outset Scouting for the operation. This will give a little insight into some of the things I’m seeing that can be worked on. Overall I think things are going better than expected.
Project ideas: Fritzner has a number of projects in place at any given time which can use help. I’m going to be painting the children’s rooms next week, if things go well. There is a staircase that he would like to build, and there is the fact that they’re building a third floor west wing. A lot of it has been started, but it still needs to be worked on. The biggest thing which they need is a generator and maybe some more solar panels. But especially the generator.
Besides that the next biggest need is probably teaching. There are a number of children who don’t (I think they’re too young?) go to school and they need to learn. Besides, there’s limited amount of English Learning from what I’ve seen. I think I’m going to end up attempting to teach English, but we really need to assemble a system and plan. Personally, I think bringing some children’s books in English would be a good move since those could be used to teach English. I’m not totally sure what I’m going to do. So solving that issue would be wise.
Other than that, larger scale local issues include mostly infrastructural needs, like roads… and trash. Lots of trash. So much trash. However due to roads you could never implement a repair job in the conventional manner. You would need a completely new system that would address the needs of the area. Because the roads wouldn’t accommodate the trucks… you would need some sort of collection system. So that’s just a pipe dream for now. But maybe one day…
Other than that, larger scale local issues include mostly infrastructural needs, like roads… and trash. Lots of trash. So much trash. However due to roads you could never implement a repair job in the conventional manner. You would need a completely new system that would address the needs of the area. Because the roads wouldn’t accommodate the trucks… you would need some sort of collection system. So that’s just a pipe dream for now. But maybe one day…
House of Cards
I had lunch. It was this delicious meal of rice and bean soup with this… stew sans the liquid. I think it’s called Legume and it is crab with shrimp and veggies in this sort of stew like form. Overall it was my favorite meal this far. Mealtime is also turning into quick Creole lesson time as I have been trying to learn the names of my food and the various tableware items.
Once I’d finished I went down to the second floor where the children were. I was promptly swarmed. It wasn’t so bad, and I gave them my watch and bracelet with the whistle to play with. I kept my gem wrap on, partially cause it’s from Mother and I wanted to hold onto it, and mostly cause it’s hard to get back on. The watch and other bracelet are durable. What was really awesome was when I gave one of them my shades. It ended up in a photo shoot of the kids, where they each had a chance to wear them and I would take their photo. They really seemed to enjoy that.
Eventually I remembered one of the family mottos: “If you don’t have a deck of cards you’ve made a mistake.” So I went up and grabbed my deck of cards. Now they’re young kids and… we don’t speak enough of the same language. I did a simple card trick and then we got to building houses of cards. . .
I had lunch. It was this delicious meal of rice and bean soup with this… stew sans the liquid. I think it’s called Legume and it is crab with shrimp and veggies in this sort of stew like form. Overall it was my favorite meal this far. Mealtime is also turning into quick Creole lesson time as I have been trying to learn the names of my food and the various tableware items.
Once I’d finished I went down to the second floor where the children were. I was promptly swarmed. It wasn’t so bad, and I gave them my watch and bracelet with the whistle to play with. I kept my gem wrap on, partially cause it’s from Mother and I wanted to hold onto it, and mostly cause it’s hard to get back on. The watch and other bracelet are durable. What was really awesome was when I gave one of them my shades. It ended up in a photo shoot of the kids, where they each had a chance to wear them and I would take their photo. They really seemed to enjoy that.
Eventually I remembered one of the family mottos: “If you don’t have a deck of cards you’ve made a mistake.” So I went up and grabbed my deck of cards. Now they’re young kids and… we don’t speak enough of the same language. I did a simple card trick and then we got to building houses of cards. . .
Meeting
There are tons of insects here. There are butterflies floating around every bush. Most are white, some are orange and few are yellow. There are also dragonflies and spiders, ants and various beetles whose names I don’t know. And… There are still wasps and mosquitos. I was stung on the hand by one today. They don’t hurt that much thankfully
Most of today has been spent either going to Gonaive or in a meeting there. The meeting is about organizing an association so all the orphanages may work together here in Haiti. There are also seemingly more mosquitos here than in saint Marc.
It’s nice that we have a.c.in this meeting. It turned off once too but it’s a fighter. I think I’ll be meeting with Fritzner and my father to discuss more about how much it will cost to send people here and support them, plus how long they would stay. I suppose that also varies based around goals. At the moment I feel one week is enough to get used to the area and to understand some of the basics. I imagine by two weeks I’ll also be able to see a good deal of the area and have set up the various systems in place. By three weeks, we’ll see. It may need at least four, for all I know right now. Never fewer than two, since even then that would be rather rushed.
I also spent some time today working with my Father and Fritzner, and later Fritzner and his son Fritzcarl (he’s in NY at college) discussing various items regarding this project. We were interrupted by a sudden intense thunderstorm (and we finished afterwards) where the rain was like a solid sheet. It was loud, and this time the lightning was far from silent. It knocked the power out for a bit too. The whole area was lit up like day during some rather powerful bolts. I love storms… they’re so calming for me. Sadly while storms are frequent here they haven’t lasted very long.
My First English Class
Today I taught my first English Class. This was rather nerve wracking, because I don’t speak Creole, nor do I have any real training… I just like English. So I talked with my Father, I talked with my friend Ci and I talked with Fritzner. Basically the things that they mostly need to learn is vocabulary and grammar, with some work on pronunciation. . . .
What probably was the best was when we worked on Vocabulary. I was starting to get the feel for things, and we ran through most of the various objects in the room (chairs, windows, glass, glasses, blinds and such) as well as the concept of verbs, and plural. We also did vocab for the body parts, top to bottom. In the end we had a prayer in English, which they recorded. In the end I’m not sure how much was learned, though Fritzner told me he learned some new words so that’s encouraging. In all truth I like teaching. It’s really tough and stressful, but it’s also enjoyable. I dunno if I would do it professionally… but it’s not too bad.
At any rate I’m starting to rather enjoy the process of teaching. While I may not be… a gifted teacher (?), I would like to say that I am trying. Also I’m learning. I think my second class went smoother, however I would also say it was half an hour shorter, had far fewer students and one (the same who asked about the phonemes) who asked a lot of questions. She was nice. I think her name was Taliyah. She asked for my email afterwards. First time that’s happened here.
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| There aren't many red-heads in Haiti and it is fascinating to the children. You can see the child at the right with Davis' sun glasses. |
Cap Haitian
So Cap Haitian I believe is called that because it is the highest point in Haiti. It is also the home of the Citadel. It’s a large castle, and I’ll tell you more when I know more for sure. Sadly, it is in the North, west of St. Marc… so that means driving towards the sun. Thank heaven for sunglasses.
One of the largest fortresses in the Americas. The Citadel was built by Henri Christophe, a key leader during the Haitian slave rebellion (1791-1804),[ after Haiti gained independence from France at the beginning of the 19th century. The massive stone structure was built by up to 20,000 workers between 1805 and 1820 as part of a system of fortifications designed to keep the newly independent nation of Haiti safe from French incursions.
Huh…So the truck I just saw (a small pick up truck) was loaded to the brim with stuff, and then had people sitting on the stuff. That, in and of itself, isn’t something too unusual. What was unusual was that they also had a man sitting on the hood of the truck holding more things. And we’re going…. at least 40 MPH! But he’s just sitting there, holding onto stuff on the hood of the truck. Space efficiency folks!
Haiti has also open my eyes in regard to the horn and the scooter. I have been using mine so improperly. The horn is meant for all communication! Letting people know you’re coming saying hi, telling them you’re passing, yelling at people, just for fun, and attention getting, amongst others! And my scooter? Well I’m not using it to its full potential! Here people really use them! They go up mountains on them with roads that are wild. I could surely load at least 2-3 of my friends, maybe a few bags of food, bundle of clothing and a goat (2 if they’re dead) and ride!
I have been in utter bliss for a little while. I have had my chin in my hands, my head cocked to the side and a dreamy, gleeful grin on my face. I’m so happy… not that I could die, no, but I’m so happy. I just saw one of the most powerful looking bolts of lightning strike on the other side of this large valley. It took a few seconds for the thunder to show up, but it was long and loud too. The bolt was huge, even at this distance…
So tomorrow’s the 11th day of my trip. That means I’m about halfway through the journey. Well, I wonder what the next few days will bring! Maybe some more storms? Oh and the current storm has slowed a bit since it started raining. So now there’s only a bolt or 3 every few seconds. Give or take.
Time for Church
So I’ve made it to church this morning in Haiti. Fritzner uses a bus to take everyone, which is good. There’s a good sized branch here, big enough to constitute a ward, I’m told. And this will be my second time in a ward whose language I don’t know, Spanish being the language last time. (That was at a Catholic service, I believe . . Grandma). So this will be interesting.
I recognized the songs, though I can’t sing them since I know neither French nor Creole. So… I hummed along. The sounds of the fans drowns out much of the noise here. However I would be dying without them, and the microphone makes up for it. Though I could barely tell when this sister gave the opening prayer.
So this week is going to be interesting! Tomorrow we’re going to Port au Prince to pick up I think a new missionary? Which means I’ll only have an afternoon English class tomorrow. I will, of course, have two on Wednesday. I’m thinking tomorrow we’ll work on the five basic questions of English as the vocabulary and grammar. Also classes are being shortened to an hour which is much more manageable.
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