last days of preparation

The consecration is almost here!

before the 9AM Sunday Eucharist at the Cathedrale Ste Trinite, Port-au-Prince
semi-temporary worship space under construction

storing the cement for the construction in the carport of the convent on the cathedral grounds
The convent didn't make it through the earthquake, but the carport did and is in daily use.

time to polish the thurible!



gathering for the rehearsal for the consecration



beginning to decorate for tomorrow

celebrating May 18

Haitian flag flying over the Parc de la Canne a Sucre

Tomorrow, May 18, is Flag Day in Haiti. 

Three years ago tomorrow, I arrive for the first time in Haiti. One of the sisters explained the holiday to me as we drove away from the airport past the rows of fluttering flags. 

That was a ride that marked a change in my life and in me.  It's impossible to come to Haiti without being changed as a result.  I have a lot of changing to do yet - and always will - but I'm pretty sure May 18 will always be one of those dates worth marking as a turning point.

Tomorrow, give thanks for Haiti.

seeking boots

M PA RENMEN KRAB ARENYEN!!!

Ki kote krab arenyen an?
Where is it?
Is it dead?

Do you know what this is? 

This is someone looking to see if the tarantula on which Sister just threw Clorox is dead.  Unfortunately, this is not someone finding the answer.

Ba'm di'w: Combat boots. I'm telling you.

I should have another photo of a staff member laughing at me as I informed them that if that thing came into my room, I was on the next plane to Boston. 

Chere Soeur, she said, it can't come into your room. It can't get under the door. And there is nowhere in there for it to hide.

So I named a few places.

More laughter.

Chere Soeur, they only come out at night.

Good, I said.  I will get in bed under my mosquito net before dark and not get out till midmorning. 

Chere  Soeur, it has to be dead.  She threw Clorox on it.

Good. I hope it doesn't have family.

No, chere Soeur, it has no family at all. And if it does, they're outside by the trash.

Where they need to stay, I said. They are not welcome here.  (In this case, the Episcopal Church does not welcome you.)  Have I mentioned that I take out the trash after doing the supper dishes?  If I put my bug spray on a carabiner hook from my belt... hmmm...

So - mes cheres Soeurs in Boston, if the doorbell rings about 3AM, you will know who it is.  Meanwhile, I'm going to go look for some combat boots.  And my camera, of course.

meditating on moustiquaires

Moustique:


moustique from Darbonne, Leogane, Haiti 2009
Yes, I really did take a picture of a mosquito.

Moustiquaire:  not to be confused with Musketeer or Mouseketeer


pastel mosquito nets for sale in downtown Port-au-Prince
I believe my choices in the US were black and standard tent green. Clearly someone here has recognized a real opportunity in a certain niche of  the moustiquaire market.

Every night when I climb under my mosquito net tent, I give thanks. And then sometimes I think, "Where is the cupholder in this thing?"  Ice water is a must in the heat. Some enterprising soul with extraordinary engineering and sewing skills will certainly figure out a way to put in a water bottle pocket without ripping it.  Think of the possibilities.

Which I have been doing.

If I'm back here next year, I may have to see about sewing myself a mosquito net poncho or hoodie so I can go outside at night to enjoy the breeze and the stars without getting eaten alive.  It can be so beautiful at night.  When there is no power on a clear night, you can see the satellites.

Ben's Eau de Moustique, my perfume of preference

Now that they make pastel nets, just think, I might have to make sartorial decisions.  Or, as with my mosquito net, I could just go with a basic black.  Add a strand of pearls along with my Eau de Moustique, and I'll be all set for a night out.

today's progress

We stopped by Holy Trinity Cathedral today while out doing errands, and I got to watch some of the construction.  We had to pick our way over the piles of rock and around patches of wet concrete when we came in because the car gate is to the left and everything else is to the right. 

mixing concrete for the new interim worship space at the Cathedrale Sainte Trinite, Port-au-Prince

 One group was finishing up the floor of the raised area in front, while another group was working up in the rafters.


finishing up the concrete floor of the sanctuary



That welder must be hot. It is not a cool day in Port-au-Prince.

I also enjoyed seeing the music students from Holy Trinity School.  The cathedral's grade school and music school hold classes on this campus, and this seemed to be a cross-over group. The children gathered under the pavilion, sat in the pews, and then broke up into groups by instrument.  I think they were enjoying the construction underway as much as I was, but they were clearly enjoying each other's company even more.



Holy Trinity School music students

construction in progress on the temporary cathedral space

 Hard to believe the consecration is so close at hand!  I'm really looking forward to it.

forecast

Hmph.  And it's only May.

At least we supposedly have no weather tonight.  Or at least not weather which is applicable.



via weather.com



janitor and classics scholar

I just read an article I hope will be widely shared:  Ivy League school janitor graduates with honors

Gac Filipaj is the kind of person who really impresses me.  He would be worth knowing - and what an interesting person he must be with such a varied background.  A longer version of his story would be a good read.

It might also inspire some who fear that the education they hope for is out of reach.  I think of people both in the US and here in Haiti who have a long, hard road ahead of them if they hope to stay in school.  One or two classes at a time means a great many years even when tuition can be found.  I think of people I know in the US who would like to go to college or to return after many years away.  I think of mothers with small children studying amidst chaos or in the wee hours, late at night or pre-dawn. I think of others I know here in Haiti who got a late start and are in grade school or middle school as adults.  They, too, impress me.

As an aside, I'm also glad to see that Columbia offers classics to its non-tradional cohort as well.  I remember looking up philosophy and religion degrees available to part-time non-traditional students and discovering that, even in Boston, such things were nearly impossible to find.   I remember hearing about difficulties in the sciences, also, from one in a similar situation.  I wonder if the universities here are as flexibly organized as the grade schools and high schools seem to be in terms of older students.

 An excerpt from the article linked above:

 NEW YORK — For years, Gac Filipaj mopped floors, cleaned toilets and took out trash at Columbia University.

A refugee from war-torn Yugoslavia, he eked out a living working for the Ivy League school. But Sunday was payback time: The 52-year-old janitor donned a cap and gown to graduate with a bachelor's degree in classics.

As a Columbia employee, he didn't have to pay for the classes he took. His favorite subject was the Roman philosopher and statesman Seneca, the janitor said during a break from his work at Lerner Hall, the student union building he cleans.

"I love Seneca's letters because they're written in the spirit in which I was educated in my family — not to look for fame and fortune, but to have a simple, honest, honorable life," he said.

...he cheerfully described encounters with surprised younger students who wonder why their classmate is cleaning up after them.

"They say, 'Aren't you...?'" he said with a grin.

His ambition is to get a master's degree, maybe even a Ph.D., in Roman and Greek classics. Someday, he hopes to become a teacher, while translating his favorite classics into Albanian.

For now, he's trying to get "a better job," maybe as supervisor of custodians or something similar, at Columbia if possible.

Just imagine if we all had Mr. Filipaj's tenacity, humility, work ethic, and thirst for learning for its own sake... What would the world be like?

Some fine university needs to give this man a full scholarship for graduate work. They can't do better.