Warning: This blog is pretty long, but you will enjoy it!!!
Well the time has come I am going to share my immersion experience with you all, but honestly I have no idea how to even start this. I first off will tell you though my immersion was a one of a kind experience and was very different then what the other two girls had experienced. I also want you to know I am not going to give specific details to everything that happened for my own personal reasons. So here it goes…
An immersion here in Haiti is where
we leave our home in Gros-morne for about 10 days and travel into another town and
stay. The main point of our immersion experience is to first off improve our
language skills and second is to fully immerse ourselves into the Haitian
culture. The three off us all traveled to different areas in Haiti. I was
traveling to Grann Plenn, Katie was traveling to Riveye Marcel, and Frankie was
traveling to Pandi. We all started our journeys on September 15th
bright and early. For me personally I
was super excited but I also had a lot of mixed emotions. I mean hello I had no
idea where the heck I was going. Katie and I had to take mottos to our immersions
while Frankie rode up with Barrack in his truck. Katie took off first and then
Frankie. I was the last of us to leave. The man who came and picked me up was
named Ottobear. He was the right hand man to Gaston who runs many organizations
up in Grann Plenn. So I hoped on the motto and off we went, but before we got out
of Gros- Morne I had to switch motto drivers. Ottobear was not traveling up
with me. My next driver was an Agriculture student who does a ton of work in
the forest/garden in Grand Planne. So we hoped back on the motto and off we went.
It was a pretty uncomfortable ride because I had a huge backpack on my back and
I was hanging on for dear life because I thought I was going to fly off at any minute.
To get to Grann Plenn we had to cross through 4 rivers. The rivers were pretty
long and it was nerve racking. Every time we got to a river I said to the
student I can walk I don’t need to ride over on the motto and he would turn
back and say no just relax. The reason I was freaking out is because mottos are
not made to keep the traction on the rocks in the water, so I felt at any
minute I was just going to tip right over. After we made it across all the
rivers safely I thought for sure I could relax, well that was a big fat joke. After we passed them we came to the
long huge hills we had to drive up and I really thought for sure we were going
to tip over. We finally had reached a better road and the motto driver just
stopped. He turned around and started to ask me if I had food for the week and
I told him no I have money to give to the family I am staying with. Now just keep in mind this whole
conversation was in creole. He kept looking at me like I was crazy when I told him this. He just
kept saying no you need to buy your own food and I just kept answering no I don’t.
Finally after about a 15 minute conversation like this we started going again. After
about another 15 minutes on the motto we had reached my destination for the
week. He drove me up to school and of course about 30 kids ran up to me. The
driver looked at me and I could tell he had no idea what was going on. I asked
him do you know the family I am staying with and he had no clue. Finally a man
came out of the school building and I told him that I was the volunteer from
Gros- Morne , and that I was supposed to be staying up here for the week. I had
called Brittany at this point because I felt a little uncomfortable, and she
told me that they would call Ottobear. After a few seconds the man’s phone went
off and it all seemed to click after he got off the phone. The driver told me
to get back on the motto and he took me down to a house. The house was beautiful.
It was settled in the back of a corner of land and had a yard in the front of
it. The man walked me in the house were a young women was standing and she
showed me to a room. There was three beds and two windows. They told me this is
where I would be staying for the week. I asked the motto driver then who do I
give the money too and he asked me how much I had. I told him and he said just
hold on. Well at this point again I felt that I should call Brittany because I didn’t
want the money to fall in the wrong hands of someone. She asked me if the guy
was there that brought me to the house because she wanted to speak to him. She
talked to him and then told me to give the money to him so I did. After all of
that was figured out I was left to myself. I have to say I felt so alone and awkward.
I thought to calm myself down I would take a shower and try to relax, but that didn’t
even help much. I rushed in the shower because at any point I thought someone
would swing the door open or put their head in the window. After I showered I
went an curdled up on the bed and just laid there. The time felt like it was
moving so slow. Finally, later on around 6ish the little girl had brought
dinner into me. I was so hungry at this point but when I saw the food my appetite
disappeared. It was a soup that looked like straight milk. It was very sweet
and just honestly wasn’t too appetizing. After I had finished I decided to just
go to bed, but it was only 9 o’clock. I just laid their and starred up at the
ceiling and killed the bugs that were flying around the light of my iPod. I
honestly thought to myself “WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING HERE!” I felt so alone and miserable. I felt as if I really wasn’t welcomed
there, but I knew I had to just push through it because at the end of the day
it was going to make me a stronger person.
That night I virtually cried myself
to sleep because of the all emotions running through my body, but I survived. I
woke up around 6:30 am because I just wanted to get up and out of the house. I
left without eating and headed to the school. Once I got to the school all the
children ran up to me , and this made me feel at home. The kids came up to me
and started holding my hands and talking with me. I asked one of the teachers
who taught third grade if I could sit in on his house class to listen to the
creole. He of course had no problem with it. The school day went by pretty fast
and at some points was a little awkward. After school had finished the older
gentleman took me up the garden and showed me what the kids would be working on
during the school year. I have to say the forest/garden was amazing! It was so
huge and the students were the ones who were producing it. It was a great
experience to see and to learn how they run this program at their school
compared to our school in Gros-Morne. I then returned back to the house and had
way too much time on my hands. I laid around and started to read a book called Travesty in Haiti. This book was so
intriguing and it really kept my mind occupied. Later on in the evening the
young women in the house came in to my room and begin to talk with me, which was
comforting. Her name was Rosenade and she was 21 years old. She stayed with me
and just practiced creole with me virtually all night. She also was the one who
cooked me dinner, so in a way you could she was in charge of me for the week. She
honestly was such a sweet heart and if it wasn’t for her I would have been
alone all week. After she left my room later that night I broke down. I just
started crying and I really couldn’t stop. I really missed my family, friends
and boyfriend. I especially missed my boyfriend because right now our communication
is so limited, and it became more limited while being on my immersion. I have
to say the one thing that got me through this night was the playlist he put
together for me. He put together a list of 30 songs that reminded him of us and
our love. It is one of the sweetest things I have ever had someone do for me
and it truly put me to sleep this night.
This is Rosenade. I am so blessed to have meant her.
The next morning again I woke up at
6:30 and got around. This time I decided to eat before school because I felt
pretty weak form not eating a lot the past two days. When I was finished I headed
out and at school today I decided to sit in with another teacher. His name is
Robenson and he is the preschool teacher. The little ones were so excited I was
there and honestly they are the cutest little children ever. In his class we
got to do some painting which was so fun. We gave each child a piece of paper
and gave them three colors of paint and we then taught them to fold the paper
over. We then pressed all the colors together to make a colorful picture. The
kids loved it! After art we did counting. I sat at one table and Robenson sat
at the other one. We had little blocks and we taught the kids how to count
1-10. Some of the children picked it up and some struggled, but it was amazing
to see them learning. After the counting we let the kids start to write their
letters, but Robenson left right after the kids had started. So I was teaching
the class all of sudden. This frustrated me a lot because this is one thing I had
noticed about the past two days. The teachers would start a lesson and then
just leave the room and go off somewhere. I mean how are the kids supposed to
learn when the teacher just walks off? I did the best I could to keep the kids
going, but it really was a struggle. Thirty minutes had passed and he finally
returned. At this point it was time for the kids to have recess. During recess
I would sit in the classroom with a few kids who didn’t want to go out in the
heat and play. Some of the teachers would sit with me and this is where you
could say some things got a little interesting. The school I was working out
was all male teachers not one female, so I ran into a few issues. The issues weren’t
horrible but they could make you feel a tad uncomfortable. Just to give you a
little sample of what the teachers would say to me every day “Beth you are beautiful”
or “You have a beautiful figure”, it was very overwhelming. I knew they didn’t mean
any harm by it, but it got to be a lot when it was every day. Just to explain this
a little further so you don’t get the wrong picture. Many Haitians think Americans
are beautiful. They love our eyes, our hair, our skin, our smiles, and just
virtually everything about our appearance. It’s hard to understand, but when
they would say this to me I would try to explain to them that they are beautiful
too. They tend not to believe it though, which is sad because they are truly beautiful
on the inside and out. Now to get back to the day after recess the day was
finished. School ended every day at noon. When school ended I would head back
to the house and just settle in for the rest of the day.
These are the little ones working on the art projects!
I have to say I loved doing art with them! It made me fee like a kid again.
This little sweetheart walked with me everyday.
By Wednesday I felt more comfortable at the house and I was really
focused on finishing my book. I went to give you all a little more insight in to
what Travesty in Haiti is all about. I
started reading this book because I wanted to learn more about the culture of
Haiti and let me tell you this book gives you an amazing insight in to different
aspects of Haiti. The book is self-published by a man who spent part of his
life living in Haiti working for different organizations. He mainly collected
data on American and German organizations that were supposed to be helping the
Haitians. The results he got from surveying the Haitians was unbelievable. The
food organizations from the Americans and Germans were not helping the Haitians
at all. They were actually harming them in multiple ways. I honestly couldn’t believe
it and it made me think to myself am I truly going to be able to help at all? Or
am I going to harm them to? These are valid questions that I think to myself
here and there, but I know that I am not going to make some huge big difference
in their world. I do know though that if I can get a child to smile or laugh
that my day is complete and for that one second I made them have a little bit
of fun. This book is truly an eye opener and makes you realize how corrupt organizations
are. I challenge all of you to pick up and give it read! I would love to hear
what you think about it because for me it really gave me an outlook into how
are aid has not been making a difference.
As I said if I can make a child smile my day is complete.
That night my stomach was a little upset, but I did get a good
night’s sleep. The next morning I didn’t know how much I was going to do
because I felt horrible. I got up though and decided to head to the school. It
was a pretty fun day because we combined all three preschool classes. We
combined the classes because we were missing a bunch of students yet. In the
class today we taught them a song that everyone knows. It was head, shoulders,
knees and toes. It was so cute! The kids absolutely loved it and I got to teach
it in English. The day ended pretty early because they had parent meeting, so I
headed back to the house and rested for the rest of the day. I really didn’t feel
good at all and I didn’t know if I should wait till Friday to come home or
leave tonight. I waited the night out though and I’m happy I did, because that
night only got more interesting. The man who had brought me to the house on the
first day would come and visit me. Now to be honest I didn’t really appreciate
him to much because I felt as if he thought I was dumb. He came in my room and
just sat down on the chair and interrupted Roes and I’s conversation, which I didn’t
appreciate. He kept stopping me and asking me if I understand what he was saying
and I kept telling him yes. At one point then I just ignored him and acted as
if he really wasn’t there because I just couldn’t deal with it anymore. I am
pretty sure he got the picture and he left. Rose stayed and we continued to
talk and I found out something that shocked me. She asked me how much money I
gave to stay with her and for food. I told her and she said that wasn’t what
she had received. I asked her what you mean. Where did the money go? She told
me that the man who was sitting with us took it for himself. I had no words and
I had no idea what to say because he took around 10 dollars US from her. I just
kept apologizing and said I will talk to the sisters about this when I leave.
She wasn’t mad at me but I could tell she wanted the money. That night I went
to bed with a lot on my mind because I knew it was only going to get more awkward
tomorrow with me leaving.
The next
morning I woke up and again I wasn’t feeling great at all, but I decided to go
to the school before I headed back to Gros-Morne. When I got to the school no
one was there today because it was Friday. Now on Fridays school gets out even
earlier. It ends at 11 on Fridays and it ends this early just because it’s Friday.
Pretty crazy right? So today we just did a short lesson with them on math and
sang one song. Of course they loved singing and dancing. After that we were
done for the day and I have to say I was thrilled to be done! All I wanted to
do was leave and go back to my home. When I got back to the house though it wasn’t
great. Rose had family over and I could tell they were talking about me.
Earlier that day I had bought her a toro because it’s her favorite drink, so of
course her family saw this. They started to say to her if she can buy you a
toro for 75 goudes she can give you the extra money. I finally interjected and
told them I understand what you’re saying and I will talk to the sisters about this
when I get home. I apologized for the man taking the money and I reassured them
that Rose would get the money. They still weren’t thrilled with me and I
thought they were going to run me out of the house, but I was saved because my
motto driver had arrived. I literally grabbed my bag and hoped on the motto. I
waved goodbye and off I went. I was beyond thrilled to be going back home. It took
me over an hour to get home, but I didn’t even mind the hills or rivers because
I knew I was coming home…
Headed back to Gros- Morne.
Well I hope you enjoy the read! I will be posting my second
week in two days so you can see the other struggles I had to overcome. This first
week by no means was easy for me it tested my emotional side, my compassionate side,
my thoughts and so much more.
May God
bless you all and if any of you ever have any questions about Haiti or would
like to know further information about my experiences in Haiti just leave a
comment! I will get back to you as soon as I can!
Be on the lookout
for my immersion part two!
