Kim Priore

Greetings all, from rainy Pignon.  This is good news, they really need rain.  Every day we get like a little bit, but we haven’t had a good rainstorm since I’ve been here, this is the first.

So the word is I’m staying one more day in Pignon and leaving for Cap Tuesday morning.  I just have to trust that we’ll get there in time for my flight and that everything will work out.  It’s going to be a long day of travel, what with the four hour drive to Cap and then the MFI flight which can take up to 4 hours, depending on how many stops we make.  BUT the good news is, Pastor Jephthe insisted on a Tuesday departure, because, he says, we have much to accomplish tomorrow.  You’re tellin’ me, I say.  So the day is kicking off with an 8:30 meeting with the chicken farm and sugar mill people, that I actually get to attend and ask my questions in person, so I’m really happy about that.  And I got to clarify some things with him tonight about the water project, so that’s good too.  So slowly but surely things are coming together and I *think* I will get what I need to do my job.

So today was pretty slow, the highlights were church (it’s a stretch to call that a highlight but hey it was something to do) AND getting my hair braided, Haitian style.  So I shall look quite fabulous when I get back.  Ronise did it, who’s a 19 year old girl who lives with Jephthe and Mitou.  And of course there was like a committee around her consulting and offering opinions, even Mitou came out at one point, circled me, gave some instructions in Creole that necessitated Ronise taking out some braids and re-doing them, it was quite the production. 

One of the amazing things about this community is the way they take in kids in need.  Jephthe and Mitou had already taken in like 2 kids before they even had one of their own, and now they have Ronise too.  Even Pa and Ma Sidoine, who have like 9 grown kids, have at least one foster kid that I know of right now.  And they’ve had numerous ones over the years.  Moise, the one they have now, is 2 years old and is SO CUTE.  I have many photos and videos of Mo.  But apparently he’s from one of the villages where they have a satellite church, and his mom was like crazy or whatever, and they were trying to do something about it, and the last straw was when the mother tied him up in a tree by one arm.  This is when he was like 3 or 4 months old.  So sad.  And taking care of the kids is like a community thing, it’s very different from our conception of like the nuclear family that sits down to eat every night.  I miss that, but at the same time it’s kind of cool to observe this kind of community.  But also, Bos Ely, who was our boss on the worksite last year, was one of the first foster kids that Pa and Ma Sidoine took in.  I didn’t know that.

Anyways, so tomorrow looks to be a busy day, and an early night as we will be leaving at the CRACK of dawn on Tuesday.  (There’s a rumor that the car we’re taking to Cap is air conditioned.  I don’t know if I’m that lucky but I’m holding out hope.)  Hopefully I will have time for one more post, but if not, you all can assume no news is good news.

Which reminds me – a footnote:  I hear there’s been some stories about the troubles in Port au Prince in the news recently.  To be honest I’ve stopped reading my Google alerts for Haiti while I’m here, because they seem so completely unrelated to the reality I’m living.  And I know that it’s not unrelated, obviously, the instability there is the reason they don’t have good roads here.  All politics is local, ultimately.  But Port au Prince is 12 hours by car, and all the violence seems light years away from the people I’m meeting here.  And Cap has been very quiet.  So please continue to keep Haiti in your prayers, and at the same time rest assured I have felt very safe the whole time I’m here, and the people who live here all the time, both Haitians and Americans, are not worried at all. 

So that’s all, good night from peaceful, rainy Pignon!