Jacques, the president of cooperative Raboure, plowing with his oxen



Meredith watering the garden

Hello Everyone,

Things continue to go well here in T.R. We seem to really be getting in the swing of things. Meredith had a little bout of illness and a visit to the clinic, but we are happy to report we currently BOTH are feeling healthy and are very thankful for that. Peter continues to work on his garden and in the schools with the school garden program. He is currently working to set up a partnership between two schools here in T.R and a school in Cambridge VT. Meredith has been busy with clinic related activities as the founder of the clinic from the US was here this past week. She also had the opportunity to work with a midwife. The midwife did some healing work on a pregnant woman (this consisted of rubbing some oil on her belly, and tying pieces of cloth around it). Meredith was not really sure what was going on most of the time, but it was an interesting experience to be a part of. They also worked together supporting another woman through early labor, but she ended up having to go to the hospital to deliver because of a complicated previous delivery. It was nice though to get a little more hands on with the midwifery community. We thought it might be nice just to talk about life here a little since we do not have too many exciting updates to provide, we both just seem to be plugging along with our respective projects and enjoying our work here. We are continuously learning here, in everything we do.

We have discovered here that the month of December means that everyone morning around 5:30am, before the sunrises, youth from the Baptist church hit the streets banging drums and playing various instruments, yelling and singing in preparation for Christmas. A little different than the Christmas carols we are used to at home. The first time I heard this parade I thought it was some sort of riot, and Peter thought it was a voodoo ceremony. But now I am used to the sound waking me up, right along with the church bells from our neighbors the Catholic Church. They ring every morning at 5:30, 5:45 and 6am – but surprisingly we haven’t made it to mass yet.

This morning (Sunday December 6^th) we headed to Raboure to water Peter’s garden. Peter has a bike here that a friend loaned him to fix up. We also put a little seat on the back. So once a week we’ll ride out to the garden together (a long dirt road up towards the mountains) Peter does all the work and Meredith gets to ride along. Everyone gets a real kick at us two ‘blans’ riding along on our bike. The ride out there is beautiful. There is a lot of agricultural land towards the mountains and we pass cows, horses, and donkeys along the road. Pickup trucks drive by every now and then with as many as twenty five people standing in the back, it is so weighed down the truck sags with the weight – just like the bike.

Even though it is December the sun gets real hot here after 8am, and today seemed hotter than usual. After watering we walked/biked back to town to make a delicious breakfast of French toast (thanks for the syrup Mom!) it is quite the luxury. There is an outdoor market here where we do some of our shopping – but we have yet to do a lot of heavy cooking. Normally we buy bread, eggs, peanut butter, and fruit. There are at least two bakeries in town that make a pretty good white bread. Meredith got a tour the other day – it’s pretty much like Klingers expect the bakers don’t have to wear shirt or shoes. They roll up little balls of dough and squeeze them onto a big pan. Each little piece costs 1 Goud, about 2.5 American pennies.

There are also some vendors that hang out on the main road selling snacks (horse meat is the local favorite) to people in the taptaps and trucks that pass. The main road connects Dajabon to Cap Haitien so it is very well traveled. We often just buy oranges or bread right here too. Later on this afternoon we washed out sheets, and then washed our feet in the rinse water with an old toothbrush. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

It is 8pm right now as we write this and 89 degrees in our bedroom. Luckily we have electricity in the evening to power a fan and one light. We are really looking forward to January when everyone says it cools off here. We’ll believe it when Meredith’s upper lip stops sweating constantly. Until then, N’ap boule nan Ayiti! We’re burning in Haiti It means we’re chillen – but nobody really chills here.

Lots of love,

Meredith and Peter