Nails, Part II
I am in Haiti for the third time. Unlike the first two times, when I traveled here for work, this time I am here for pleasure. Though it’s possibly a stereotype, it’s possibly also true: I may, in fact, be the only white person traveling to visit family. And yet, here I am. My fiance [...]
Life is Good
On Saturday, my friend Ysmaille takes me and some other friends to Life is Good. He’s tried to explain it to me before. Inspired by some friends he met from the Life is Good Foundation, home of the famous Life is Good t-shirts, Ysmaille runs his own sort of playmaking franchise in a tent camp [...]
Parasites
Shaina smiles widely with big dimples. “Are you afraid of dogs?” she asks me. “No,” I say. “Can you do this?” I stick my tongue out and curl it. She twists her own tongue sideways, tracing her lips, her teeth. She laughs as she tries to curl it like I do. “Can you do this?” [...]
Mission Trip- Jeux de vie
Guest post by Rosie Guadarrama This past week Haiti was my home. Thirty years ago, I had visited the island and knew what to expect. Yes, the situation was slightly worse with the earthquake devastation, products were scarce and clean water was virtually non-existence. However, the jeux de vie was in the people’s soul and [...]
I Like Mosquito Nets
It is my second night in Haiti, and I’m living on the edge. Call me crazy, but this time I’ve finally decided to go without the Doxycycline– the friendly pill that took me through the mean streets of Sao Tome, an earthquake-ravaged Hispaniola and back home safely again. This time, though, I’m only in Haiti [...]
Destinations
At a cafe in Cambridge, MA, a cappuccino machine is whirring. Every few seconds the front door opens and a slight rush of cold makes its way through the doorway, though not enough to disturb the students that work vehemently from their computers and textbooks, wrapped in puffy jackets and pajama bottoms and big, thick [...]
Haiti: Thoughts of One Year
This morning I have been watching Haiti’s one year anniversary stories flood the newswires. They are nearly as numerous as they were last January, and in many ways they still talk about the same thing as before– constant streams of information cry for roads uncleaned, families unaided, entire lives still so vulnerable that they wait [...]
Milestones- Beth
It’s noon and I’ve been working for hours at my kitchen table. It’s a bright table – I purchased the fabric from a market in São Tomé e Príncipe this past summer and when I sit there, a little bit of my beloved São Tomé is with me, too. I work from home with Waveplace [...]
Hitting
SMACK. A hand comes down upon Lidia’s body while she sits in class. You can hear the crack of the teacher’s hand from across the room, I know. No one looks up. Her body coils back in pain. She starts to cry, heavy hiccups that she silently lets loose while tears build in her eyes [...]
Mothering
Christo jumps up into my arms and kisses my face, over and over and over and over. His big toothless smile and wide eyes are absolutely irresistible. You never see a kid smile that much. His little arms and legs cling to me so hard that I don’t even need to hold onto him. He [...]
