Reunited!

Bonjour Everyone! I have finally arrived in Haiti! It’s so crazy for me to say that this is my third time back, but this time it’s for a lot longer.

We waited in a long line to hand in some papers and to get our passports stamped. After doing all of that we went to gather up all of our luggage. Once we had our luggage in hand we were ready to step outside to find our ride. Now for me it was amazing to see all the new changes to the airport and how much more organized everything was, because well before it was a little chaotic. Once we walked outside I had spotted one of the only Americans standing out there looking for us. We went to the car and loaded up our luggage and we were off! The journey from PAP to Gros- Morne is about 4 hours or so. It felt so good to finally be back in Haiti. For most of the car ride Brittany pointed out important landmarks and towns we were entering before we got to our final destination. On the way to Gros-Morne we stop in a town to get a fantastic Haitian meal! It’s cooked right alongside the rode and served in Styrofoam containers. The meal is goat meat, pickles, and plantains.  It may not sound to mouthwatering, but trust me it’s amazing! Around 5 we had arrived in Gros-Morne, so it was a long day of traveling. Once we arrived at the house we carried in our luggage and had some supper. Once super was finished it was finally time to settle into our new rooms for the next year. Katie and I would be sharing a room, and Frankie would have her own room to herself. I was so exhausted after the day of traveling I crashed that night. The next morning I woke up bright and early because I wanted to go down to the school to see my favorite little man.  We get up and got around and headed down to the school. When we got to the school all the children had remembered me and started running towards me! It was such an amazing feeling, but I didn’t see my little guy. I asked the kids “K Kote LeLe?”, which means where is LeLe. All the kids started telling me he walked to my house to see me, so we had completely missed each other. I was so bummed because I really wanted to see him. We left the school and decided to walk up to the market and on the way we stopped at one of our Haitians friend’s house, Juno. It was so nice to see Juno again and catch up on everything. He had walked us into the market and showed us around. After we were down I knew I wanted to go back down to the school because I really couldn’t wait another day without seeing my little man, so I went back down. When we reached the school I saw this little boy with his back to me and he turned around an had the biggest smile on his face. It was my little guy LeLe. He came running towards me full force and jumped right into my arms! It was honestly such a great feeling to him again! I spent some time with him and tried to talk a much creole as I could, but honestly I just knew he was so happy to see me again. It filled my heart with so much joy. After that I headed home and got settled up for the night. The typical routine at the house for night is we have dinner at 6:30 and then prayer following right after.

(Me and my main little guy LeLe)

Day two of being back in Haiti.. We woke up early and had an orientation of the house. We went over rules and got to learn more about the sisters. After orientation was over we decided we wanted to open up our Haitian bank accounts. Now just keep in mind we have only had a month of creole lessons. We took mottos to the bank and that was an experience in itself because this was the first time Katie ever rode on one, but we made it safe. Once at the bank you have to wait in a long line, and then when it’s your turn they call you in. Once we entered the ban and they saw us they took us back in room. I don’t think they really understood what we had wanted, but the one woman spoke a little English. I’m pretty sure she thought it was funny to see us trying to put all of creole together to tell her what we wanted, but in the end it all worked out. We had set up our Haitian bank accounts on only one month of creole lessons.  I have to say I felt pretty good after this. After we left he bank we went again to run some errands for Sister pat and drop some things off at the school. The bank was really the highlight of the day, well at least we thought so.  Later on that night after dinner Frankie had decided to go back in to the chapel to get some things to practice creole with, but she found much more than that. She found a huge furry, creepy, nasty, little friend!!! So of course we all went to look for it, but as we began walking down the stair case another one appeared! Now , I mean really I can handle one, but two in one night as way too much! Thank God we have Brittany here because she came to the rescue and saved us ! haha she smashed those the creatures so good that there was no chance they were coming back to life! It was truly one eventful day in Haiti!

The day finally came were we would continue our creole lessons here in Haiti. We meant our teacher who was absolutely wonderful. We would be having these lessons with her every morning from 9-11. The whole time we are with her we speak creole!! I’m not going to lie it’s pretty difficult, but in the long run it is helping us learn the language. Typically after class I always go down to the school to see my little ones.  So it was no surprise then after the first day of class that I headed back down to the school. Now to get to the school you have to take a few different roads, but one road in particular gets very muddy when it rains. When we reached this road to no surprise it was horrible, but we had no other way to go. We decided to deal with it and march on. When we reached the end of the road my feet were just covered in mud, so I took my sandals off an walked barefoot. When we got to the school immediately all the children ran up and started washing off my feet, and I was shocked by this. It was such an overwhelming feeling because they just did it. I kept telling them”No Mesi, No Mesi,” but they just kept helping me. It was truly unbelievable and later on that night after talking about it with Sister Jackie, she pointed out that they are truly living the word of God. Now just for one minute think about what I just said. I had children come up to me and help me wash off my feet ?! How many people do you see helping each other like that in the U.S?  After I thought about what sister Jackie said, it is true the Haitian people truly live out God’s word each and every day! It is amazing and eye opening to experience this.  Later on that night Laura had finally returned with Elisa! I was so happy to finally see her again!  As you can see my days in Haiti has a lot of excitement!  

The first few days and first week in Haiti went by so fast! Laura really showed us around and explained to us how things would be running in the house for the year. Now, with Laura leaving she asked me to help make sure her program would still continue when she was gone, and of course I said yes! She took us to the program and we got to see what the people were doing and how it was ran. It was unbelievable to see experience this. Laura started up a literacy program in Claudine Village. The program consists of parents and grandparents who cannot read or write. It was so great to see the progress that Laura had helped make in these people’s lives. The following day I had to go to a meeting with Laura, Elisa, and the two women who teach in her program. Laura wanted to make them aware that she was leaving and that they had to follow the contract! During the meeting we found out that one monitor would not be returning, but the other one would. After the meeting Laura told the monitor who was staying how happy she was with her and that she would be getting a raise in her money! If you could have only seen this women’s face light! She was so happy and thrilled! She told Laura that she really made a difference in her life! It was such an awesome experience to see how grateful this woman was and how much Laura had truly made a difference in her life. This is truly what life is all about it!

(Laura and I with some little guys from the village!) 

Well now that I have probably made you fall asleep with these stories I’m going to have to say Bonwit! I only really filled you in one the first week in Haiti, but don’t worry I have more amazing stories to share with you. Although, you will have to wait because I am going to be leaving tomorrow for my immersion up in the mountains of Haiti! 

My Hero, My family, My dream, and My journey!

                                                   (Me, Sister Vivian, Frankie, and Katie.) 

Hello everyone! Well now that you know my background in Haiti I will fill you in what these past few weeks have been like. My journey to Haiti first started out in New York City for about three weeks. I left for New York on August 7^th.  It was an early morning for my family and I that day. I barely slept at all because my nerves were getting the best of me. I knew I would be starting a new adventure in my life and really leaving everything else behind for a year. You may all think that this was an easy choice for me to go back to Haiti for a year after reading my first blog, but in reality deep down it was one of the hardest choices I have made in long time. As I said I knew I wanted to go back for a year when I first started in 2012, but back in 2012 my life was different. I was living the dream and not really having a care in the world. It all changed second semester of my senior year when I meant the man of my dreams. I never would have guessed someone would walk in to my life and just sweep me off my feet, but I am beyond blessed to call him my mine. Some people most likely call him and I crazy because our relationship isn’t what people call “Normal.” My boyfriend and I have only been together for a few months, but the months we spent together were the best months of my life. His name is Jesse and he is in the United States Air Force. When Jesse and I meant I knew there was the chance of him being deployed and he knew I wanted to go back to Haiti. Now, with knowing all of this some of you may say “Why start a relationship now?” or “You know it will fail!”, well let me tell you something if you truly deep down inside of your heart love someone more then anything in this world then you will be able to endure the pain of not seeing someone everyday, the loneliness, the struggle of just wanting to be in that persons arms, and so much more You will be able to overcome all of this because you know the moment that when you see each other again will be absolutely breathtaking and the world will just stop right in its tracks. Jesse was deployed during the month of May and I obviously haven’t been able to psychically be with him, but in his heart I am with him everyday. Hopefully he will be returning back to the states in a few months and I will be going home to spend some time with him. I honestly can’t wait to run and jump right in too his arms. So now all of you can see it wasn’t an easy decision for me to just jump on the plane and fly right back to here, but I was able to because my hero supports me each and everyday no matter how hard it is. I am beyond on blessed and lucky to call him mine. I love you Jesse. Sorry if you think this is corny or a little sappy love story, but I believe it was important for you to understand that this wasn’t just some big easy decision I made over night.

 Well now that you know all of this I will get on to what I did in New York for those three weeks. When I arrived in New York I got to meet the other two volunteers. Their names are Katie and Francesca. We all come from different parts of the US to take part in this journey. I know for me I was super nervous about meeting the two of them because I mean hello if they don’t like you what are you going to do? You’re spending a year with them! After we had all been introduced to each other and the sisters we begin to learn about what our days would look like. Everyday for the next three we would be taking Creole classes. Creole is the language spoken in Haiti and is considered a dialect of French. Our teacher was a sister who spent about 16 years in Haiti. Her name is Sister Vivian. The house had three sisters that lived there all the time and they are the sweetest women you will ever meet. They opened up their home and did so much for us. I honestly can’t thank them enough for everything they did. The daily routine at the house was waking up and going to class for two hours in the morning and then having a break for a few hours. After our break we would have class again. Then finally when class was over we could go for a run or do whatever we wanted. During the weekends we got to go in to the city and explore. We saw some pretty amazing things. We visited the September 11^th memorial, the Bronx zoo, Time Square, and went shopping. The last weekend before we took off my parents and my middle brother came to visit me! It was honestly so much fun to see them and spend time with them. We got to go out to dinner and walk around downtown, which was such an adventure. Then the time finally came were I had to say goodbye to my bro and parents. It was super emotional saying goodbye to my brother because this is the first time we have been separated in four years.  Although, I did hold back the tears because I know I’m going to see him again. It was also very hard to say goodbye to my mom and dad, but I know they will come over and visit me. (Well at least I hope so.)

            The three weeks really went by so fast. It was pretty awesome though because I got to meet some of the most amazing sisters and share in moments with them that I will never forget. Another bonus was that I got a great foundation in Creole. I truly can’t thank Sister Vivian enough for teaching us the language because without her I would be lost. It was also very hard to say goodbye to her because she taught us so much more then just language. She let us in to her life and told us amazing stories about what she had experienced in Haiti. I am so happy to have meant her and I honestly wish all of you could too because she will gave you an amazing outlook on life.  

WELL….. The time finally came August 27^th. We woke up at around 5:30 and headed to the airport for an 8:35 flight. We got through security and everything went well. We then headed to our gate and waited to board to begin our next journey in Ayiti!

A new post will be up soon so you can hear about what my first week was like!!! I hope you all enjoy!

These pictures show what you see when you first arrive in Haiti. Just a little sneak pick of Ayiti! 

How I choose to go to Haiti!

Bounjr everyone! So I want to give you all look into what my life has been like these last few weeks. First though, I want to give you guys a little background on how I wanted to come back to Haiti for a yearlong of service. In 2012 I had ran into of my friends on campus and told her I had been looking for some type of mission work. I wanted to do mission work during the summer months because my time was always consumed by softball during the year. She immediately told me “You should apply for the Quest for Haiti Program,” at this point I let it go in one ear and out the other. I wasn't really sure what to think when she said “Haiti.” The first thought that came to my mind was did she really just say “Go to Haiti?” The days went on and I still really had put no thought in to it, but as the deadlines for applications were coming upon me I had to make a choice. I had decided to do some research on the Quest for Haiti program and one other one that took place in the Appalachian Mountains. I first started out with the Quest program because I wanted to see what it was all about. I Goggled the name and it was the first group that appeared. I saw the pictures of the children and my heart completely melted. I saw that there was a sister who was a point of contact, so I decided to send here an email to see what she would say. She answered me pretty fast and wanted to actually meet me at my school to talk. Meanwhile, I decided to do the application because I knew I was interested in being involved with the program. A few weeks had passed and during these weeks before meeting up with the sister I decided to watch some YouTube videos on Haiti. Most of the videos that are on YouTube of Haiti are from the earth quake. I really had no idea what video to watch or what would even appear in it. So I clicked on the videos one by one and began to watch. The footage of the videos were so graphic and very overwhelming. I wanted to immediately go to Haiti right then. Some of you may think well why didn't you go when the earthquake hit?, it was all over the news. Well that is a good question and honestly I don’t have a good response for it. I can say though one reason was because I was too consumed in my own life and not worried about what was happening in other parts of the world. The time had finally come were I was going to meet with the sister. I had no idea what she looked like so I was wondering around like a chicken with their head cut off. I though for sure she would be in a uniform and look like a nun, but that’s not what she looked like at all. She was dressed in what we call “Normal clothes.” We sat down and spoke for over an hour about the program. She told me what it would be like and how it ran. Then as the end of the meeting approached she looked at me and pretty much told me that I was going to Haiti for a month. I was so excited! I immediately called my parents and told them that I was going to Haiti. Now, if anyone knows my parents, especially my mother, you can picture what she said to me. Of course my parents were happy for me, but they also had a lot of questions, which is completely normal because Haiti is a third world country.

            As the months kept passing by the time was getting closer that I would be starting this amazing experience to Haiti. Now, don’t let me fool you I was so beyond nervous for this experience to happen because I had no idea what to expect. People were telling me “Oh Haiti is so poor”, “I can’t believe you choose to go there”, “Be careful you have no idea what you are in for”, or the famous one “ You should stay here, people need help here.” All of these comments started to bother me because they were all so negative, and by the end I didn't want to hear what anyone had to say I was just ready to leave. Then on June 28^th I boarded the plane from DCA to head to PAP. I didn't sleep one bit that night because my nerves were getting the best of me, but then when on the plane I finally fell asleep. When we were getting ready to land the pilot came on as always and told us to buckle up. I started to look out the window and all I saw was the beautiful blue ocean. It was truly breathtaking, but then when getting ready to land in PAP the only thing you saw was blue dots on the ground. This was a total surprise because I had no idea what these blue dots were, until I stepped foot on the ground. The blue dots were the roofs of the people’s homes. In PAP after the earthquake it became known as the tent city because all their homes were destroyed. So could you picture living in a tent after your house was destroyed by an earthquake? As we begun our journey to Gros-Morne I was very overwhelmed by looking out the windows of the car and seeing the people. I really can’t put it in to words what it felt like. The roads were horrible still from the earthquake and because of this I puked in a bag. Once that had happened I thought to myself how the hell am I going to live here for a month? Once we had arrived at our home I began to feel more at home. We had started camp and I immediately knew this was were I needed to be. The kids were simply amazing! They had the biggest smiles on their faces and they just wanted to be carried in your arms. I truly fell in love with the people. The month had flown by so quickly and it broke my heart. When I came home at the end of July I had no idea what to do with myself. I was experiencing culture shock and honestly I just didn't want to be home. It was miserable. I knew I had to do something so I set the goal for myself that I would go back to Haiti next year and fund raise. I spoke at high schools, churches, and to groups of people, and with their generosity I raised over a couple hundred of dollars. All the money that was raised went directly towards the summer camp. I knew from the moment I came home in 2012 that I would go back in 2013. When I returned in 2013 I knew I couldn't stay away, Haiti had become apart of me. I knew from being in Haiti in 2012 that I wanted to spend a year here but I really had no idea when it would happen. After leaving camp in 2013 I raised the thought to my parents and told them that I wanted to go back for a year long of service. I think my parents were stunned, they couldn't believe that Haiti became such a huge part of my life. Honestly, I think everyone who knows me was stunned because I was always known as the jock nobody had really ever seen this side of me. It was difficult for many people to hear the choice that I was making, but in the end I knew I had their love and support. So there you have it everyone this is my story of how I choose to come to Haiti.

There is one more thing I want to share with you all. Everyone always thinks that they can pick their paths and that it will always go as planned, but honestly it will change. Back when I graduated in 2010 from a small high school in Williamsport PA, we had a guest speaker at our graduation. Now as most of you have experienced these guest speakers we all know they can be super boring and long winded. Well I didn’t really pay any attention to ours because at that moment I just wanted to graduate and get the hell out of there, but damn did Karma bite me in the ass. Our guest speaker was a woman who worked in Haiti for a clean water program. I’ll never forget how she started the speech. She started off by screaming and saying HELP ME! She was showing us how the Haitian people were screaming from people to help them, but again at this moment I didn't really care. So as I said don’t try to pick a certain path and think you are going to follow it because I would have never pictured myself going to Haiti! But honestly it has been one of the best choices I have ever made in my life. God bless you all and I hope you look forward to reading my next post!