Life is Good
Visit http://www.lifeisgood.com/foundation for more info 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 near his home in Delmas. He and a bunch of kids in his area sing and dance and play games, and... Read More
Parasites
I laugh when people think of Haiti as a cruise destination. And on the days we dine out, it's a constant battle to not seem like a vacationer. 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?” She asks me back,... Read More
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 displayed in the warmth of laughter, love and fellowship of every person encountered. The first stop was The United Methodist... Read More
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 for two weeks, and for reasons that can only really amount to laziness, I’ve decided not to get my Doxy fix (and... Read More
Destinations
Boston: Cold 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 boots. Outside, snow. Lots and lots of snow. And on top of it, a Christmas Eve-like feeling is in the air, the expectation... Read More
Haiti: Thoughts of One Year
A school in ruin. Photo by Bill Stelzer 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 for the next strike (flooding, cholera, political unrest and rioting…you... Read More
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 Foundation now, a really remarkable organization that works to bring digital media skills to kids in the Caribbean, Latin America and Africa by incorporating... Read More
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 and flush down her cheeks. I’m sitting next to Lidia and I am in pure shock. Sitting right next to her and helping her to paint a picture as the hand comes... Read More
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 is glued onto my hip and he won’t let go. As I walk toward the orphanage with Christo in my arms, kids run out to greet me. They smile and yell. Some try to climb... Read More
Adventures in Underwear
If you are queasy about “girl things”, don’t read this article. I was feeling horny as hell in Haiti. There’s really no other way to say that. Hormones are hormones and mine were raging. I breathed a sigh of relief when my period finally came on. I knew the urges would ease again and that I would make it through what was accumulating into some pretty rough nights. But now I had bigger things to worry about- bigger fish to fry, you... Read More
