TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2012

The view out our door...those are sweet potatoes.

This is our actual door...apparently the locksmith only had a "safe lock"! I never felt like I needed to lock the door and I was perpetually fearful of losing the key which would be difficult, if not impossible, to duplicate...

A view of the school...

John captures some images...

Blanc with camera...hmmm...

How cute are these kids as they file into their classroom.

Down a local street adjacent to the compound.

The clinic adjacent to the school.

St. Barthelemy School from the roof of the clinic.

The clinic's solar panels.

The neighborhood...

The clinic also has a generator and what we  would call a power box and a street light.  Folks sometimes read under the light at night since most homes don't have power.  There is always a gaggle of folks around the box charging phones...

Clinic courtyard.

The patient...

Many Haitians raise doves...we presume for eggs and to eat...

Edward, a recent graduate, and Tony with the Lakers jersey Tony's son Mike sent to Edward.  The name on the back is "Fletch."  That wasn't easy to explain.

Pig with a "keep out of the house" device in place.

Asiaha wants to be a nurse so she spent a day in the clinic...this is the pharmacy.  The flight to Miami was Asiaha's first plane ride. Imagine, the first time you leave the country, you go to Haiti.  Of course, on her first trip through airport security, she was pulled out of line.  I accompanied her through customs on the way back in and now she is an accomplished international traveler.  To her credit, she handled what should have been an overwhelming experience for a first time traveler with great composure and grace.  

We took a soccer ball to the group of kids playing soccer in a small plaza next to the school. They were using a partially inflated rubber basketball...that had to be hard on the feet.  We gave the ball to one of Pere Bruno's guys who explained that it was for everybody and that it needed to find it's way back to the gate at game's end so it could be used the next day and the next day...It was still in play when we left.

I'm a pig, and I'm leaving.  That's not my flip flop either, I'm a pig....

Ahhh...it's a beautiful day!

A bivouac kitchen outside a home in Terrier Rouge. These are pretty common and a good way to keep the cooking fire out of the house.

Stan, or somebody, took a bunch of Hot Wheels type cars and trucks...very popular.

The Carlos brothers got a good game of keep away going...

Matt, Renard and Asiaha seemed to confuse the Haitian kids at first.  It was their skin color. Evidently, they hadn't seen many (if any) black Americans.  They would point to their arms and then point to Matt or Renard or Asiaha's arm.  Yes, we are the same color is how the conversation went between two parties without a common language.  All three are smart, charming young people and all had an easy manner with the kids and adults.

Yes, they are playing Angry Birds!

Like I said, some are camera shy, others clearly are not!

There was a gentleman staying at the school named Andy. He is an agricultural engineer from Georgia and with the support of his church and some other organization (can't remember), he has started a commercial farm. Andy says you can grow anything in Haiti once you get past the top soil...

Among the things he grows -- ghost peppers.  Yike.

Millions of lizards.

This is a Haitian hedge...it's made of a fast growing cactus that is impenetrable.  The thorns break off in your skin and the juice will blind you if it gets in your eye.  It grows very quickly and is kept in shape with a machete.

Got thorns...

They are sewing something at Andy's farm with these antique foot powered Singers...

Matt pointing out the ever-present UN presence. On this particular day, a U.S. Secret Service agent was with the UN guys from Uruguay.  Turns out President Clinton visited Andy's farm the next day...

Pere Bruno enjoys some fresh "coconut water."

Cheers.

Three modes of local transportation.

And where are you two headed this fine day?

Pere Bruno's cashew farm.

The road to Pere Bruno's cattle farm was tricky.  He is a man of faith and driving in Haiti requires just that.  I drove one leg of this journey and really enjoyed it.

The cactus hedge and some barbed wire makes for a very good fence.

Pere Bruno's Brahmas help pump some water into their trough.

The brands in Haiti are big...JMB for Jean M. Bruno.  But they don't look like brands done with a branding iron. It look like they took a hot iron and carved the initials onto the animals.  However, they do it, it works.

Hanging out at the cattle farm.

Pere Bruno surveying the cashew farm.

On the way home, we visited a new set of triplets that recently arrived in Terrier Rouge...they live in a small two-room house (that Tony is looking in) with nine other people.  Note the ducks. Pere Bruno is trying to help them out and various folks have chipped in...Here is a photo of them taken in December.

More doves at the triplets home...

Pere Bruno with one of the trips.

The kitchen...

This is a random photo taken from the back of a moving truck in the shadows of late afternoon. It has many flaws...not the least of which is it's out of focus...I just liked something about it.

These nice ladies did our laundry and hung it up on the line for us to retrieve...

Renard, Lulu and Jim.

Kevin, Lulu and Matt.