Well now to get to some more good stuff that has been
happening in my life. A lot of people have been asking me what I have been
doing and what I do on a daily basis here in Haiti, so here it goes.
Warning: This could bore you out of your mind… Just kidding.
I hope you find it interesting and enjoyable.
Once I got back from my immersion I started to find my so
called niche. I knew from the moment I was coming that I wanted to work at the
school with the children. I of course had a bunch of ideas, but I knew I needed
to pick about three main ones to focus on. As you have read from my earlier
blogs The University from Dublin had set up a computer lab at our school, so
that soon become of my projects. The main projects I am working on is the
computers, our Keyhole gardens, starting up a library, and fundraising to build
a playground for the kids. I also work on smaller projects such as I redid the
principal’s office, small medical cases, and working with visiting groups (For
example: such as Global Health and High school groups). Now you might think I
am busy 24/7, but I do have some down time for myself which I usually take to
go be with the kids or go up the mountain behind our house. I honestly love
every single one these projects in a different way and I love being so busy
with them. Now you might ask what each of these projects entail so I will give
some background on each of them.
The computer program: Was established by our Irish
organization (UCD) and the group of volunteers they bring during the summer
program. We have a designated classroom assigned specifically just for the
computer classes. We have around 20 computers and they all have mouse’s an
keyboards that work. Each computer comes with the same programs. They programs
on the computers are math, typing, art, Wikipedia, matching game, and programs
for the professors. A typical day inside of our computer class is pretty
simple. The teachers were each assigned a day and time. They bring their
students on their assigned day and at the right time and we then get them
started on the computers. This is where things get a little frustrating for me,
but I have been getting better with keeping my patients. We have been doing
this computer class since the start off school, and not all of our teachers
have learned everything about them yet. This is frustrating for me because I
try to help and show them, but sometimes I feel as if they don’t always want to
listen to me. I think they don’t always want to listen because they think they
know better, and they don’t always realize I am just trying to help. I help the
teacher’s kid their kids set up and logged on to the computer, and they tell
them what program they want them to use. Usually the kids will use the math or
typing program. Most of the kids love the math program because there are
animals that dance on screen when they win the game. They usually get
frustrated with the typing program because it’s difficult in a few ways. We
don’t have a program in creole yet. We have it in French and not all the
children understand French, so they tend not to like it as much. They usually
are in the computer classroom for 40 minutes and are then done. The most
amazing feeling for me while working on this project is to see the kids
succeed. Their faces light up when they win a game or figure out the answer
right away. I also love being able to help the kids and see their education
grew. That is one of the most important things for me. There are a few things
we need to work on with our computer program, but it is taking amazing steps in
the right direction. In the next few weeks we will be having someone come down
to teach the professors more about the computers and we are investing in
headphones for the computers. This computer program for our children is simply
a blessing and I can’t wait to see their progress as the months go one.
Keyhole Gardens: Our keyhole gardens were started a
few years back by a past Quest for Haiti volunteer. The program ran smoothly
for probably about a year or so after she left and then flopped. Now this is a
pretty common theme and we as volunteers have to accept it. What I mean by this
is that we start programs and we leave people in charge, but they can’t always
keep it going. It is pretty difficult for us to except at first, but we do have
to make this realization so that we do not become disappointed after we leave.
Anyways, we started the gardens back up this year for our 5th grade
class to be in charge of them. We first cleaned out the gardens and fixed up
the rocks around them. After we taught the kids how to do compost. The children
absolutely loved learning about the composting and even made their own pile at
the school. After that it was time to plant in the gardens. We started out
planting tomatoes, carrots, peas, and yellow flowers. Now, we are just in the
waiting process for them to grow. During this period of time though the
children are watering their gardens every morning and checking on them. They
also have lessons during school to continue to learn about gardening, and the
gardens. The children are beyond excited because gardens are very important in
the Haitian culture. Most children’s families own gardens and they will mostly
likely take them over when they get older. I can’t wait until our children see
what their gardens produce!! This project is a ton of fun and our children are
learning which is very important.
The Library Project: The library project has been idea for
the past couple of years, but never really took off. One of our past
volunteers, Brittany, had a plan in the making and has helped put it together
with me. Her grandmother is also funding a huge portion of it which is
absolutely amazing. We have had books donated and we have also purchased them.
We have over a 100 books as of right now and are planning on getting more. Most
of the books are in French, but we have some in creole and English as well. Our
goal is to get more creole because the younger children do not understand the
French as well. We think having a library will be simply perfect our children
and it is very important. We want our children to have all the opportunities in
the world, and we know that a library will help enrich their minds in many
ways. We are so excited to get this project off of its feet and we can’t wait
to see where it goes.
The Playground Project: The playground project I hold near
and dear to my heart. (Not that I don’t think that about the other projects,
but this one is my baby) From working at camp the past years I knew the
children had nothing to play on all the time at the school, so it made me
think. I thought of multiple ideas and did some research on the internet, and
playgrounds had come up. I also had talked to Sister Pat who said that an
organization called SOS had brought this up to them a few years back, so I knew
it was a good idea to move forward with. I have picked a few ideas of what I
think would be fun for the children and have had meetings with the teachers at
the school. I had a great outcome of interest from out teachers about the
project, and they gave input of what they would like placed in the playground
as well. We are now in the process of this project of fundraising. I am setting
up a page through the RJM organization and having it posted online. I am also
working with my university to have it posted on the athletic website to spread
the word to others! I cannot wait to start building and to see the children’s
faces light up when everything is put together for them!
Now as I said I also work on some
smaller projects here. One smaller project I took into my hands was redoing our
principal’s office at the school. It was pretty unorganized and it needed a new
paint job, so for two weeks that’s where you could find me. I first went
through every shelf that had any type of paper on it. He and I sat down and I
would ask him “ Do you need this or can we get rid of it?” If he didn’t need it
we would have it burned and if he needed it we would organize it in to a
folder. This worked wonderful and he loved it. We also went through the two
cabinets that held school books for the children. I labeled each pile and what
class it was for, so that when he goes to find a book it will be very easy.
This process took a week believe it or not because the amount of papers that
were in his office were unbelievable. Some of the papers were also ancient, and
when I say ancient I mean it. After that I had to talk with Sister Pat and we
decided that his office needed to be painted.
We asked Met Leny what color he wanted it to be and he said crème. Now
before we could even begin the process of painting the walls we had to wash
them. Yeap you read that right! WE HAD TO WASH THE WALLS! We had to do this
because they were caked in a layer of dirt. To say the least it was pretty
filthy. The walls had been painted an off green, and the dirt just took to them.
After we had washed them we had to paint the walls white for the crème to
actually show up. We had to do two coats of white and then let them dry, and
well that was a pain in the butt. It took forever for the walls to dry because there
really isn’t any air circulation in his office. When the white finally dried we
started painting the crème. Now you would think when you buy two cans of crème they
would be the same color, but that didn’t happen. So we had to mix the colors together
to make an off crème. Met Leny didn’t mind at all, he was so appreciative for
the all work that we had done for him. This project honestly made me feel so
good because it needed to be done, and he was grateful for everything. He still
thanks us even to this day.
Another small project we have all
been working on is working with visiting groups and some medical cases. We have
visiting groups here in Gros- Morne often. They are usually medical groups or
school groups. The first visiting group that we worked closely with was Global
Health. They are an organization that brings teams of doctors and nurses to
places all over the world. They bring a ton of supplies and set up mobile clinics
in different locations each day. I got to work with Global health one day. We
went up in the mountains to a small town called Garcin. We set up the clinic in
a school. We had two doctors on the team and the rest were nurses. I got to be part
of the triage team, which was so much fun. I got to help take their blood
pressure, how much they weighted, and ask them medical questions. It was such a
wonderful experience, but also upsetting at the same time. We had a bunch of
mothers who brought their babies, and they were so malnourished. I remember one
specific mother who had a two year old who weighted maybe 11 pounds. It killed
me to see things like this. We helped them as best as we could and sent them on
their way. We saw a pretty large group of people that day, and we even had to
send some people away. Sending people away was not easy at all!! It broke my
heart because you want to be able to help everyone, but at the end of the day
you don’t have enough supplies and we were running out of daylight. All in all
though it was such a wonderful experience and it reassured me that going to get
a degree in public health will be amazing.
I am truly beyond blessed to have the
experiences I do here, and I wouldn’t change them for anything in the world!!!
Now that you know my daily routine
here in Haiti, I hope that it gives you some insight in to what my life is truly
like. I love being busy and doing what I am doing. It has been a few wonderful
months, and I can’t wait to see what the next month’s have in store for me. If
you have any questions on the projects I do or would want to get involved please
feel free to contact me at my email! (40ratke@gmail.com)
I love chatting and telling more about the projects here in Haiti.
God Bless
you all and be on the lookout for my next blog post!!
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