Coming Home

This is my last hello from Haiti. 

I am ready to come home!! Sam and two of his friends came today and we finished up everything except for a few little things that Monty can do on Saturday and Monday. I have finished my job here. The garden is plumbed and the pump is on. I am going to pack tonight and get to bed early so my sunburn and I will be ready to fly home tomorrow. The end of an amazing trip. Thank you for listening!

All my love,

Sherye

Bricks and Lumber and Clown Noses

Bonjou,

Today Sam was unable to come, so we did what we could and will hopefully finish tomorrow when Sam should be there. We built the grow bed that holds the plants and got it set up. We went to get paint. We'll see what happens tomorrow with garden plans. Our hope is to get the barrels and grow bed finished and put water in them. The students will be testing the pH of the water while we are gone--hoping nitirfication happens! On June 10 we will add the fish and plants and go from there. 

We have spent a lot of time having fun with the students and staff here. We believe this is as important as how many nails we drive. We are enjoying ourselves as we build this garden and become part of this community.

Tess is great with a saw and drill. They staff and residents are rather surprised at her carpentry skills. It is not what they expect. The women are applauding and the men are just surprised!!

I am attaching a few pictures to this email that I hope you will enjoy. 

1. I brought clown noses and one of the little girls just had so much fun with hers. Brittany took this picture. 

2. Me and Tess working on the grow bed. Please note she is the one working and I am the one sitting on the board to hold it still!

3. Brittany doing the laundry.

4. The kids lunch, which consists of a large portion of rice and Haitian peas.

5. Me, Brittany, Tess, and Monty in the back of the pick-up truck moving bricks and lumber. 

More tomorrow, which will be my last day at the school.

Much Love

Sherye

Building Fences, Washing Clothes

Bonjou!

It's Tuesday in the evening. We made a push today and the short picket fence and the gate went up. YEA! Monty, Tess and some of the boys put together the frame for the grow bed. Yea! Yea! Sam will be here tomorrow and we will start the barrels for the fish and begin to set up the grow garden.

I changed my "return home" ticket from this morning until Friday. I'm going to try to finish testing hearing aids and maybe wash some more clothes with the ladies.

Right now I am sitting on the roof of the Guest House with a Prestige listening to the sounds of Haiti. The birds sound like an orchestra tuning up--violins screeching, violas being plucked, wooden flutes playing scales, someone tinkling the high keys on a piano, a kettle drum, lots of triangles, and a sound like someone pinched the soprano and she screamed. It is rainy season and sometime in the middle of the night the rain will come down hard and fast, which is another great sound.

Not much else today. It should be a good day tomorrow. 

Love to you all,

Sherye

Hammering Nails and Washing Clothes

Bon jou my dear friends,

Still busy and making headway toward the garden. We were off to St. Vincent's at 8 a.m. this Monday morning. This is Brittany's last day here. She flies home to go to work tomorrow. We will really miss her work and her sweet spirit. We are able to make use of a lot of the scrap lumber at St. Vincent's. Monty is a genius at that. The gate and fence (more like a barrier for stray soccer balls) are almost done. We'll pick up pickets on the way to the school tomorrow. Then we begin getting the barrels ready for the fish. 

The younger boys just loved helping Monty hammer and nail the boards. They were fascinated with the level. Monty was so patient and made sure they all got a turn to hammer a nail. Consequently, there are a LOT of nails in this short fence. Tess, too, was a great teacher with the tools. We asked some of the girls who were watching if they wanted to nail, but they didn't. I suspect this is cultural more than anything else, but that's just an opinion. Monty is one of the hardest working and big-hearted people I have ever worked with--so generous. 

Tess, Brittany and I tested about 30 of the middle-school kids hearing aids.

Tess gathered a great deal of information about the food and cooking situation with Brittany as her invaluable interpreter. Tess cooked with the kitchen staff. She and JoJo interviewed Marie Carmel about what the food needs are and what food they get now, what vegetables they want planted in the garden, etc. 

Wonderful and surprising experiences today: 

1. Tess building the gate, sawing pulling nails, driving nails, and helping the young boys hammer and use the level.

2. Tess helping to cook the lunch.

3. Brittany sitting at one of the large metal wash buckets with a ball of soap and scrubbing the kid's clothes. I helped some, but Brittany really gets the gold star for this! The washing ladies are very particular about how this is done. How to rub the soap on the clothes, how to hold the fabric, how to hold your hands when  you scrub, how vigorous you have to scrub, how to squeeze out the water out of the fabric, how to scrub until every spot is out. It's obvious how proud they are of their work. We laughed a lot and I'm sure we slowed them down, but they were so gracious to allow us to help. 

I managed to get a sunburn on my nose and cheeks today. The Haitian sun is not kind to my pale skin!

More tomorrow,

Much love to you all,

Sherye