The Preschoolers!

They are so much fun!

Beautiful

Around Pignon...

Gonaives Refugees

These are my friends' children from Gonaives who are currently living in Pignon. During the hurricane, they stayed on their neighbors' second story roof for over 48 hours with no food and only rain water to drink. For most of that time, their mom covered their faces with a blanket to protect them from seeing the unimaginable images that surrounded them (dead bodies floating by, houses being swept away, etc). Along with their parents and several other children, they were able to leave Gonaives by helicopter after the water level went down. All the kids are now in school in Pignon and doing very well.

Photo Shoot

Pictures are a big deal to most people in Haiti because they are taken so rarely and cameras are hard to come by. Most of my friends have maybe a total of ten pictures of themselves. No annual school pictures or holiday pictures. Since the kids get so excited about getting their pictures taken, I use this as an incentive for the students. Here are some of the 6th grade girls...

The Milk Girls

More kids in my milk program who live in my neighborhood...

Angeline

Ti Rose

They come every morning before school, usually around 5:30. They chug their milk, take their vitimins, and are on their way. They are the happiest little girls...

Starving

On Sunday when I was walking through the hospital I met this little guy named Walkins. He's 7 years old. He's the middle of five children. I've seen his other family members and they look normal and healthy. The doctor says his only problem is malnutrition (no other diseases). I'm still trying to figure out his whole story. Situations like this are extremely hard for me to understand. I know this is bad, but as soon as I met his mom I felt mad at her. I resented her and wanted to blame her for everything. How can you let your child get this bad? I know things are tough here and food can be difficult for people to find, but why would you wait until your child can no longer walk before you take him to the hospital? It's so hard to understand from an outsiders prospective.

I decided to start taking a little food and milk to him everyday... just to kind of add to whatever else he's getting from his mom. Walkins is a very picky eater; it's crazy to see him turn down food while his body is literally starving. When I take food and he doesn't eat it right then, I always wonder if his mom or siblings will take it from him. Yesterday I took him peanut butter and crackers and he told me he was full but that he'd eat them later. I came back to check on him that night while I was visiting another sick friend, and I noticed that some of the crackers had been eaten. I congratulated him on eating some of crackers and he replied that his mom had been the one to eat them...

I'll try to post updates of Walkins as he makes progress.

Sisterly Love

Recent pictures of Jesula... She's continuing to speak more everyday. Unfortunately, she's not making much progress as far as walking goes... but we're not giving up!

More School Pictures

The First Day of School

We had our first day of school yesterday. It was so great to see all the kids again. Like every first week of school, there were lots of tears shed by the little preschoolers!

Summer Pictures

I forgot to post some pictures from my summer vacation back in August. I went to Texas and then home to Indiana. It was a great vacation...did lots of catching up, shopping, and eating good food. My parents are building a new house, so my mom and I spent a lot of time picking out things for the new house. So fun!

My first stop was in Austin to visit Elaine. She just recently moved there, so we spent a lot of time exploring the city- which is pretty cool place...

Then catching up (and shopping!) with biz in Indy. As usual we did dinner at the Palomino ...

The Downham cousins at Mark and Julie's wedding...

And of course, a trip to the houseboat! My friend Rebecca was able to fly in from Kansas City for a long weekend at the lake. (She's not pictured; she was too scared to tube;) ...

Mimid & Baby

Mimid & Baby

Alban and I spent the afternoon with two of the coolest girls in Pignon, Mimid and Baby. We went out to lunch (Pignon now has a restaurant!) and then played games at my house. They kept us laughing non-stop!

MINUSTAH

With school not starting until October 6th, Alban and I have lots of free time on our hands. And so, we decided to join the UN.

(I know it's hard to see, but Alban is driving the second tank.) haha

Hurricane Damage

A few pictures from Hanna that a friend sent me... This first picture was taken in Hinche which is just 19 miles from where I am! The second picture is from Les Cayes and the last two were taken in Gonaives, which was hit the hardest.

Too cute

Happy Friday!

Last week, I was lucky enough to get to see the Citadelle again. While Hannah, Alban, and I were in Cap, I took them up to the Citadelle so they could experience it. We opted for walking up instead of taking the donkeys (as if we weren't hot and sweaty enough already). We had a great time hearing the stories and seeing the view. It's amazing!

Hiking the Mountain

This morning, a group of us hiked up Mt. Pignon. It's been a while since I've done that and I forgot how great the view is. You can see so far!!

Me with 4 of my students...

Evidently the top of the mountain wasn't high enough for Alban and Jesse so they climbed up the antenna...

Alban and Carolyn at the top of Mt. Pignon...

Fe Ti Musik

These old men were so cute! They came and played a little music during the soybean festival...

The beach in Limonade

This weekend I took a little trip up north. I went to a jatropha festival (which I'll blog about later) in the small town of Terrier Rouge, just east of Cap Haitien. I went with Carolyn and Alban, two Americans who are here for the summer in Pignon with HIM. Carolyn is here to learn Creole for her job and Alban is here working and teaching. Saturday evening a group of us decided to hop in the truck and drive up to Limonade at sunset.

Olivia, who lives in Terrier Rouge, and Alban hanging out with local kids who live at the beach.

Me, Carolyn and Alban...

...hamming it up for the camera...

Friday was kindergarten graduation. The kids performed all kinds of songs, skits, and poems (a few even in English!).

2 sets of twins

My Uncle Mark gave me 2 tickets to see Rascal Flatts and Taylor Swift while I was home- VIP seats, of course. (He has the greatest hook ups like that.) I took biz, and as always, we had a blast. Taylor Swift was adorable; a great little entertainer.

I was also able to go down to the houseboat for a few days with the family. It was a nice getaway after the funeral and everything.

Lexi chillin in the chair...