Amenities, what amenities?

 

I forgot to mention the amenities that are missing here. The nights are hot. But the water in the shower is not. It just takes some getting used to taking cold showers every day. We all drink bottled water. Meer detected Vibrio cholerae in the nearby stream when he tested it a few weeks ago. So the entire Christianville compound switched over to drinking bottled water or Culligan treated water. Now I have to get into the habit of bringing a water bottle to the bathroom when I brush my teeth and using it to rinse out my mouth and to rinse off my toothbrush. I am also not accustomed to sharing my living quarters with lizards. But there they are, scurrying in and out of the house wherever they find a tiny opening. I tell myself that they are eating the mosquitoes, so everything is OK.

Monday morning, things are a bit livelier as more people arrive for breakfast. There are many more people than during the weekend, so the dining hall is crowded and noisy. There is a prayer service after breakfast. I join the group seated on the wall along the patio outside the dining hall. Everyone is there to pray for a safe and productive week. The prayers and sermon are in Kreyol (with English translation) and there are some hymns in Kreyol as well. The new arrivals are introduced (me included) and then the group breaks up to go about their day’s work.

I walk over to the lab. I spend a lot of time with Meer since we share the house and work together in the lab. We talked a bit about how he ended up here. Why Haiti? Meer replied, “I’m from Bangladesh. We are very poor but the people in Haiti are much poorer so we feel in our hearts that we need to help Haitian people.” A simple statement but it speaks volumes about the spirit and compassion of people like Meer. In December another microbiologist from Bangladesh will join the lab to run the TB lab. We may have to hang a Bangladeshi flag outside the lab building.

I’m working on my Kreyol and trying to speak it whenever I can. Most of the Haitians here speak English or at least French so I can make myself understood but I am really trying to speak Kreyol. I tried speaking Kreyol with Pastor Raymond Sunday and he asked me in French if I spoke French. I replied, “Oui, je parle francais.” Then he tells me, “I thought so. You speak Kreyol with a French accent.” I was delighted!!  All these years my kids have teased me that I have an American accent when I speak French. Well now, at last, I have a French accent!

Pour mes amis français:

J'essaye de parler en kreyol quand je peut. La plupart de Haitians ici parlent au moins français donc il n'y a pas de problème pour moi de communiquer avec les gens. J'ai parlé en kreyol avec le pasteur Raymond hier et il m'a demandé en français si je parlais français. J'ai répondu en français, "Oui, je parle français." Puis, il m'a dit, "C'est bien ce que j'ai pensé. Vous avez un accent français quand vous parlez en kreyol." J'etais ravi! Pendant des anneés mes enfants me taquinaient parce que je parlais français avec un accent américain. Maintenant j'ai un accent français, au moins quand je parle en kreyol. 

During dinner, Pastor Raymond announced that there would be vespers, a prayer and mediation service, after dinner. I discreetly left and walked in the direction of the lab. I continued up the path toward where the new dorm is being built. It is on the site of the former Christianville College University which was leveled by the 2010 earthquake. The site is on a hill overlooking the countryside and the mountains to the south. The former terrace of the site and the steps that led up to the school from the road has become my meditation site. To my right, the foundation and several pillars are all that remains of the old college/university buildings. Behind me the new dorm rises up, the devastation of the past side-by-side with the promise of the future. It is quiet on weekend mornings and in the gathering darkness of early evening, it is hot but quiet, and no one is around. I hear singing from a church nearby. I see people walking along the road below. I am alone with my thoughts. A guard with a shotgun walks by on patrol. I say, “Bonswa” and he replies, “Bonswa” and I’m alone again. There are lots of lightning flashes in the sky this evening. The heavy rains will come later but now the light show is silent in the western sky.

View from the terrace of the former Christianville College University

View from the terrace of the former Christianville College University

View from the terrace of the former Christianville College University