Kreyol lessons

We had our first Kreyol lessons today at my home, taught by a delightful man named Mr. Albert Jean Louis. Mr. Jean Louis is from Jacmel, Haiti. He told us that 80% of his hometown has been destroyed by the earthquake and that his family is living in their backyard. He is a language teacher at Ridgeway High School and has graciously offered to teach us his native language for free! He told us that our work in Haiti is important to help his people, and this is his contribution to our ministry.
We had 8 students who learned to say "Mwen pale tou piti Kreyol" or " I speak a little Creole". We are using the book Creole Made Easy by Wally Turnbull. We all enjoyed hearing Mr. Jean Louis speak to us and help us remember the few phrases we have learned already from our work at St. Vincent's. It was a relief to learn that Kreyol does not conjugate verbs or require subject verb agreement, and there is no gender difference in the pronouns. Plus it leaves out all those extra letters the French don't pronounce anyway!

Susan Nelson