Two Months In Haiti! (With Pics ;-) )

(Due to the loading and reloading made necessary by the power system here, the blog loaded oddly. My apologies!)

Two months in Haiti...Our old life drifts farther into memory with each day. How diffferent each challenge here is from those I faced back home. At the end of some days now I feel stronger and more confident. Accomplished. When my babes are all tuckered out from a productive day filled with school, laughter and outside play and are sweetly snuggled onto their beds in their little room while wearing only undies...When the kitchen is gleaming, the floors mopped and the toilet flushed successfully with ONE bucket of water...When supper is warm and waiting for my husband to enjoy in soft, but necessary candle light when he arrives home... When laundry is washed and waiting for the morning sun to whisk away the last drops of water...

These endings are starting to out number the bad ones.

You know, the ones with giant spiders ready to haul off your first born, neighbors who REALLY want you to go back to America-and stay there, buckets of water sloshed on the tile resulting in a domino effect of little bodies slip sliding away-then cry crying all day, food spoiling as you go through yet another day with no power, MILLIONS of flies deciding to join in on your living space...

Those days. :-) 

 

 

The past week and a half we have been living at our new home in Pernier... (Chalk drawing are such fun and wash right off in the rain at night)

 

Adam made several robot suits out of boxes

 Melinda came and helped assemble furniture, which meant Dawee got to come too! It was a squishy ride in the four seater truck, but we managed happily Haitian style.

Carol was too excited to be of much help ;-)

 

 

After a full day of assembling furniture and cleaning we headed back to the Guest House for our last night there. Sunday after church we got the last of our things and and then spent the first night in Pernier. (Just so  you know, it it still in Port Au Prince.)

 

Monday Morning smiles!

 

We adopted a little female kitty who was unfortunately VERY wild. It has taken two weeks for her to warm up to me and much to the dismay of the Babes, she still runs at fast movements and loud little mouths. We really never see her during the day, but at night she comes inside to eat and get some loving. The kids named her Panda, but secretly I call her Louisa. Just seems like it fits better.

 

 

 

Here there is no running water in the houses. We are hooked up to the tanks,but the plumber has not finished the final touches yet. In the mean time we haul our single bucket to the corner of our community and dip water from a small well type structure. The water stays cool within the concrete walls, but after a while it does start to smell a little musty. I am eternally grateful that water is so accessable. The nearest well that the locals here haul water from is a block away, and I have seen many travel nearly a mile to fill their buckets.

 

Laundry, when done the proper Haitian way, is executed with at least two smallish size tubs and a vast array of different soaps. I Just couldn't envision squatting over the tubs for hours and instead used a modified method that my mom used when she had to wash our clothes in a bath tub. With hauled water. Sometimes I wonder if Mom was a Haitin in another life. Seriously, I am doing nothing different in keeping house than SHE did while we waited for power and water while living in Arizona. She is my ideal, and while I am not entirely sure she did not whine and whimper whilst off in a quiet corner like I sometimes do, I never heard her complain...

Ellie Method- Haul several buckets of water and dump them into "tub" (It took a bit of figuring to stop it up) Add soap and dirty laundry- stir with a thick discarded piece of PVC pipe and let soak until you have caught your breath. If the clothes are especially stained or dirty OR are sock and underwear scrub Haitian style with a bar of laundry soap. Yes. They make bars of laundry soap. Next, stand in the tub and put the old Aerobics instructor to shame with the best version of the "washing machine" ever seen. Continue until the clothes on your back are wetter with sweat than those under your feet. Drain the water, refill with fresh water and add the Downy. Stir the cloths again with the pipe. Soak until you can breath again. Drain the water. Wring the water out of each article of clothing. Practicing war yells can aid in this step.

 

Remember to NEVER hang your underwear where they can be seen! Old Rebar from the fench can be bent down to make lovely underwear drying racks behind the house. Be sure to wash the rust off!

 Finding a communal drying place should be easy. Just find the nearest spot with a good amountold electric wire and twine that can be twisted into a spider web of drying space. The maids across the street strung up a very nice place under
the water tanks that
still do us absolutely
 no good. Notice the
Adam smiling at you??

We have settle into our 342 sq feet very nicely. My babes agreed to model the house for you...

Carol got stage fright and decided to leave it to the boys...

Our little fridge and FOUR drawers!           My dishes

My adorable little stove. I used the oven today for the first time to make bread. The tempreture stops at 240 degrees, but it was still greatly successful! I have a feeling our Thanksgiving turkey will be roasted outside over a fire.

  OH! And by the way....

A great thanks to my sweet sister, Anita Jean, who's letter made our first week even brighter! Second piece of mail so far! Love you Annie!

And, Ladies and Gentlemen, as promised-

MY COOKING POT!!!!!!!!

 

Thank you all for being so patient with my sporadic blogging. I will be soooo happy when we can have power EVERY night (As will my fridge!)  Goodness, could you imagine having power during the day?!?!?!?!
                                                      All our love and prayers to you!