Jennifer's Blog: November 2011

To everyone that has given me a hard time for not posting in so long...thank you...I am glad to know that you are reading what I am writing and I am sorry for not having written in so long...I will try to post more frequently.....

Here are some random stories of people and events over the last month (and some new pics at the bottom)…

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To begin I’ll start with a few deep thoughts from a new, very good friend of mine, Rachel (a hilariously sharp-tongued American from Seattle) …her remarks have provided levity at various points of drama or stress that she or I have experienced recently with stakeholders, bureaucracy, etc…

“some people are educated beyond their intelligence”

“in vino veritas”

Perhaps you don’t find them as funny as me, but even now they make me smirk.

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In addition to mosquitos and ants, we (my three roommates and I) share our house with multitudes of these little creatures…

Baby tarantula

Plus there is an incredibly unpredictable and territorial Chow named “Jake” that I don’t think has ever been groomed – even more scary than Luna when she’s mad! Was pretty freaked out when he wouldn’t stop smelling my sneakers (probably smelled like Luna) – at least he didn’t pee on me like he does on the wheels of every car that comes to our house!
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One of my human roommates is from Uganda – she is a very dynamic, intelligent and energetic young woman who is responsible for a project to assist internally displaced people (IDP) in transitioning out of the camps into more permanent housing. A project that is incredibly difficult and made more so by the landlords who had originally “donated” their land for these camps just after the earthquake and who now “urgently” need their land back and are evicting people with sometimes only one day’s notice. There are about 560,000 people still living in IDP camps throughout PaP.

Anyways, all of that to tell you that it is always so fascinating to meet and live with people from an upbringing so different from your own…

Such as when she was planning a big party to celebrate “Ugandan Independence Day” and bought a live goat to slaughter…for a few days our fridge was full of fresh goat entrails. Wouldn’t normally phase me, except that we pass tons of goats as we drive through the city every day and they are just so cute!

Then at dinner one night she shared with me that she has 17 brothers and sisters and her Dad has 6 wives – essentially in his era, men could have as many wives as they could financially support – each wife has their own home in the vicinity of the “main house” where the latest wife lives. Although the children live primarily in the main house, the care and feeding of all the children is rotated throughout all of the wives. Her mom caused quite a stir when she decided to leave Uganda with her when she was young and for a while she had to go back to live with her Dad and the other children, but eventually her mom convinced him to allow her to leave…then she grew up as an only child…what a change.

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One of my favorite things is the drive in to work every morning – we live up in the hills above Port au Prince and on our way in to work , we pass lots of children walking to school in their uniforms (I’m pretty sure all schools issue uniforms in order to make it easier for the kids to attend) with the girls hair all done up in beautiful ribbons – they are just absolutely adorable. We also pass numerous women who are bringing their freshly picked fruits and vegetables from the fields up in the hills to the market – they carry them all perfectly mounded in wide baskets on their heads – so beautiful.
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So far the saddest experience was not even something I experienced first hand (even though I am surrounded on a daily basis by scenes of complete and absolute poverty). I came in to work one day and noticed that one of my engineers, Genel, seemed out of sorts. When I had a moment in private with him I asked if he was ok and he just kind of shrugged it off so I didn’t pry. Later in the day, he told me that a close member of his extended family, a 16 year old boy, had been kidnapped the week before while walking home from school - apparently he was targeted as he had relatives in the US so his kidnappers thought they could extract a hefty ransom for him – which they did - and then did something that used to be quite uncommon in these situations, but is apparently happening much more frequently – they killed him anyways. Completely devastating his family, including Genel. Tragic. I had no words – I still don’t.

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Well, I will end on something a little brighter. As I am sure you know, soccer is a universally loved and played sport. As some of you know, I recently started playing in a league on the North Shore and really enjoy being back on the field as I played throughout my childhood. Well, living here in Haiti is quite a controlled experience – we are not allowed to walk around on the street, we are driven from every location and I spend 99% of my time working at the office, in my house or at the site (a liquid waste lagoon located in a solid waste dump). I have had a few occasions to go on outings to a local beach or for a quick walk up the mountain near where I live but those events are few and far between. So you can understand my excitement when an email went out this week about a friendly game of soccer that was being organized between our organization and a bunch of Korean expats living in Haiti (at an uncharacteristically pristine soccer pitch - next to the Hyundai dealership of course!) and they were looking for players. I was so excited! Then very quickly another email came out inviting the women to come out and participate….as cheerleaders! Argh! Being very new to this very diverse multi-cultural crowd, although tempted, I didn’t want to push any wrong ‘buttons’ so kept quiet and thankfully within a day another woman (an Australian who has been working here for over a year) piped up asking why she was relegated to cheering and could she play…? There was no response.

When Saturday came, I dressed ready to be a ‘cheerio’ but brought my other clothes ‘just in case’….and when we arrived to meet everyone else, there she was in her shorts and t-shirt (for those that don’t know, women do not wear shorts in Haiti, so she was obviously dressed to play – YAY!!!!!!). As we drove to the field, I quickly changed in the car (as discreetly as possible – with my female car companions assisting!) and was ready to go when we arrived. She and I were the only women on the field. Thankfully we were completely welcomed by the guys and I think they were utterly shocked that we were actually able to contribute – evoking many cheers from the female (and male) cheering squad! It was an absolute blast! We’re apparently going to play again in a couple of weeks – I will be there – ready to play.
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Here are some photos from the last few weeks….