Back Home Again

I need to start off by apologizing for not posting more.  Apparently I have a few fans, because I have been getting asked about the lack of posts.  Internet was very slow and unreliable where I was staying in Haiti, so I did not have additional opportunities to log on and blog.  Plus, being a short project week I was busy either with project work or playing with kids:)

So now that I'm back again, I'll just share a few of my reflections. . . Going back to Haiti was great.  Before I left I wasn't sure what my reaction to being there would be.  Of all the places I have travelled, Haiti was not the first place I envisioned making a return visit to.  But I knew I was meant to be there, and I am so glad I went.  I think I was worried that the language barrier would prevent me from connecting with locals in the same way I did in India and Uganda.  And it did to some extent, however, I realized that holding a child's hand is a powerful thing.  Sometimes they just want to be held, and they really don't care what language you speak.  Walking into the playground and having 15 kids hanging off me is like nothing else.  I love it.  And because the locals didn't speak English, I had the opportunity to learn a few phrases of Creole and also play some fancy Charades at times.

This trip also made me realize how much I love what I do.  I had a blast designing composting toilets in Uganda, and I had just as much fun sizing water tanks and septic systems in Haiti.  It is just so much fun!  I really do love water:)

So now coming home is the hard part.  Emotionally, in many ways it would be easier simply just to live in the developing world.  Instead I return home, to tell the story and to advocate for causes I believe in with all that I am.  I was only in Haiti for 1 week.  You might not think coming back would take a lot of adjustment.  But it does.  Today at work, one of my co-workers asked me how the adjustment back was going.  It meant so much that he asked and realized that coming back does take major adjustment.  It is a process and now having done it 3 times before I might know a little bit better what to expect, but also need to remember to be patient with myself and realize that it will take time to process this experience.

I'll leave you with a few of my favourite pictures.  Thank you for your interest in what I do.  This, right here is the heart of who I am.  I love getting to learn and love people from other countries.  They teach me in ways that no one else can.

                 

It's good to be back

So I made it to Haiti.  I’m so happy to be back here, even though the heat is far more intense than I was expecting or am used to.  As we were descending onto the runway in Port Au Prince, I looked out the windows and saw endless shanty towns.  It was this that reminded me why I love this.  All of it.  Being thrust into a reality so different from my everyday life.  Driving from the airport to the site where we are staying and seeing Haiti through the window of our van was a stark reminder that I am out of my element.  And that is a good thing. I love interacting with the locals and seeing more of this country.  As we were touring the landsite today, I waved at a little girl who came up and grabbed my hand.  Here they speak mostly Creole and much less French than in Port Au Prince.  That pretty much limits my interactions to hello and goodbye.  Language didn’t matter to this little girl.  She just wanted to hold my hand.  She grabbed her friend and motioned for me to take her picture, and then took great delight in looking at them on the display at my camera.  As much as I am here to design water and wastewater systems, these are the moments that stay with me, the reason that I do this.  As we toured an orphanage this afternoon, one of the little boys motioned for me to take his picture, and then took great delight in running away every time I would try to do so, laughing without abandon at the apparent hilarity of the moment.

Another thing, that surprised me so far this visit, was the things I now notice that I have travelled to other countries.  For instance, the first time I came here, I thought the traffic was crazy.  After being in India, the traffic seemed rather calm and orderly for a country outside North America.  I also thought the streets were quiet.  Compared to the blaring horns and blasting music present on the streets in Uganda, I was surprised and the relative quietness on the average street.  Although still present, the horns and the music were much less overwhelming. Damage from the earthquake is evident, however, I thought it would be much more so.  They have done an amazing amount of work to start cleaning and restoring this country.  While there is still so much more to do, most of the rubble is gone and rebuilding has started.  I’m looking forward to other cultural observations over the next week.  I look forward to getting to work, and I look forward to playing with more kids.

Haiti here I come!

So in a week and a bit, I'll be on my way to Haiti.  This comes as a surprise to even me.  This trip was not something I planned, but I definitely know that I was meant to be a part of this team.  I am surprised because I thought I would be going back to India or Africa long before I was back in Haiti.  I loved Haiti while I was there, however, I didn't miss it on a daily basis like I do India and Uganda.  I loved it, but it didn't capture me and take me in the same way other countries did.  I'm not sure how to even put this into words, but that's just the way it was.  And I'm not sure why.  Maybe it was because there was more of a language barrier, or because it was my first true cross cultural experience and I was overwhelmed and amazed by all the sights and smells.



I know that the Haiti I visit this time will be a very different Haiti than the one that I left 2.5 years ago.  You see, last time I was there in 2009, the earthquake had not yet occurred.  I still witnessed a lot of pain and poverty, but the country hadn't been devastated by its largest natural disaster at that point.  Because of this, I'm not sure how it will feel to go back.  Will I be overwhelmed?  Time will only tell.



I'm going to be helping at two ministries called Haiti Arise and Heart to Heart.  I'll be helping with the design of a water and wastewater system for a technical school at Haiti Arise as well as a church that was damaged by the earthquake at Heart to Heart.  I don't know a lot of details yet, but will fill you all in once I find out.

Just today, I found out that the surveyor I worked with in Uganda is coming as part of the team.  I am so very excited!  Patrick is like another father figure to me, and we worked through some very difficult conditions together.  It will be great to be a part of a team alongside him again.

And so I leave you with this.  Although I will only be gone for a week, I am very excited about returning to the first country that flipped my worldview upside down and sideways. I'm excited to learn from the Haitian people and from my teammates.   I know I will come home a little bit different, and I know that will be a good thing.

"To the homeless, the poor, the beggar, the victim of AIDS and Alzheimer's, the old and the humble, the prisoners in their prison and the wanderers in their dreams, it is our sacred duty to stretch out our hand and say, 'In spite of what separates us, what we have in common is our humanity'."
-Elie Wiesel