so Haiti

This Sunday we went to Mirebalais for their patronal festival (St Pierre).   Very nice service.  Perhaps I'll post more later.

What I just loved was this:  the sight of a teenaged girl riding sidesaddle on her laden donkey along the side of the highway, obviously heading to market, eyes fixed on her cell phone, texting. 

So very Haiti.

This isn't the teenager who was riding along texting, but you get the idea. I guarantee you this woman has a cell phone someplace in her bags.
(taken along the highway between Port-au-Prince and Mirebalais)

not dead



No, I'm not.  In case you were wondering.

on the road to Fonds Parisien last week

My mother sent a concerned note about my lack of blog posts.  Yes, I was sick. No, I am fine now. Yes, very very busy weeks, visitors, travel for the bishop's installation and for several patronal festivals, deaths and a baptism, and power mostly at night when I have been too tired to write after Compline.  

Whew.

Life is full; life is good. 

And my time here - this stretch - is growing shorter by the minute.  I'll be home at least for a while this summer. After that? TBD. 



on the road again...

Meanwhile, there's a lot to be done, and much of that arrives unannounced.  No sense making plans without the knowledge that something else is just as likely to happen.  That's just the way it works.  It's sort of like travel time.  I'm such an American - I keep asking how long it will take to get someplace.  The real response, in essence, is "we'll arrive when we get there."  I am growing in the ability to go with the flow and to let go of my need to know what's going on.

It will be. 

arbres flamboyants (flaming trees) are flowering this month - beautiful to look at while you're sitting in an afternoon traffic jam on Avenue John Brown

This weekend I think not knowing was probably helpful.  I didn't put it together until it was nearly time to leave Saturday that I was going to be hearing the first confessions of many of the children to be confirmed Sunday.  Hadn't ever heard a confession - much less in French or Creole.  Jumping right in was most likely the best way to do it.  I ended up enjoying praying with and for them. I'm not sure that asking them what they wanted to say to God exactly counts as standard procedure, but it worked to begin the conversation - and we got to pray in thanksgiving and petition as well that way. 

And you should be proud of me.  In the middle of a conversation with one child, a HUGE spider ran out from under the bench right next to me and off towards the altar at high speed and I didn't even yelp.  It might have been a tarantula; I'm not sure.  Since I was trying to listen intently and since it was running away from me rather than towards me, I didn't dare move my head to look.  The legs were certainly at similar angles rather than nearly flat to the ground.   By the time that conversation and prayer time was over, it was long gone.  Trust me, I glanced around between children after that. 


Confirmation - Cathedrale Sainte Trinite
Port-au-Prince

I'm planning plenty of things for this week.  And I'll go with the flow of life, which, as they say, is what happens when you're making other plans.  I am not, however, planning for any large spiders, tarantulas or otherwise, even if they are running in the opposite direction.  

Plenty of adventure without them.

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.