Thursday, October 31, 2013
Tyring to Work on the Blog
Blogger is officially driving me crazy. I am sorry if there are some weird things going on on the blog these days... pictures disappearing, posts showing up out of order... I am tying to work on some things and it's messing other things up... I have no idea why. Thanks for you patience!
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Snapshots of a Wednesday Morning
This morning I headed over to the Lemuel campus around 8:00. Armed with my camera, my mission was to get pictures of everything going on so I could give you an idea of what a typical morning at Lemuel is like...
Since I was entering the campus from the airstrip I came to the pretty blue gate...
Were you to enter from the main road you would come to the main gate which Regilien would open for you.
To my left upon opening the gate is the storage container and the box from the yellow truck. The yellow truck was sent into Port-au-Prince the week along with the water truck. The water tank is going to be transferred from the older green truck to the newer yellow one. They put the yellow box on stilts so that when the green truck gets back it will be easier to put this box on it.
Ahead of me is the Development Office where Gulbert is working on making doors for the new Guest House bath area.
He has taken very rough cut lumber down to a smooth and is now cutting the planks to size.
To my right as I walk in the gate is the school kitchen where I find Mme Wisly. Today's school meal (cornmeal with dried herring) won't take too long so she is using some spare time to sort beans for tomorrow. She has been here since 5:00am. She goes to an early prayer meeting and then cleans and sweeps her area and begins preparing the hot meal for the children and staff.
I continue on to the school and get there just in time to catch them raising the flag.
The kindergarteners are busy with their morning routine as well.
All three classes sing some welcome songs together...
...and then greet each other in French.
The teachers help the children practice their greetings.
They then join in a circle for some fun singing.
Mme Gulbert is busy cleaning the Lemuel House.
Jinel, head of the Hospitality staff, is taking down a list from Mme Celissa...
...who is busy cleaning a chicken for today's lunch.
After leaving the Lemuel House kitchen, I took this photo to give you a little peak at the new Guest House shower area, then headed back down toward the gazebo.
I found Mme Obert sweeping behind the gazebo. Mme Obert has much to do. She washes, cleans Manis' office, the gazebo, guest house, and latrines and sweeps the Lemuel House yard!
Back toward the Development Office I find Nadege and Mme Tiferne going for water for the school children to drink.
Inside the Development Office, Rick writes down some information I need, and then he and Loring show me the list they have been working on of items we need to purchase... it is getting pretty long! :(
As I made one last round I found Mme Adrien in the school kitchen pounding spices...
...and starting the fires. Mme Wisly was still sorting beans... it takes a long time!
Mme Tiferne was outside of the school with water ready for the students.
And Marion was in the school to do a story with the Kin. 2 students. The two other Kin. classes were so interested she did it with them as well!
Jenna was also in the school today. She is just following classes to see how a normal day goes. She will begin teaching English in the school next Monday!
My last photo as I left the campus was of Rick in the campus' internet "hot-spot"... yes, this is the best place to get internet on campus.
...but Manis, Sam, and Gulbert made me this nice little office so I could work even when the sun is overhead... aren't they nice!
So, this is where I am sitting right now...
...and this is my photographer who stood on a chair so she could take the picture at a better angle :) She just left for school with Marion.
Well, that is the end of our tour for today :) Hope you enjoyed it!
Since I was entering the campus from the airstrip I came to the pretty blue gate...
Were you to enter from the main road you would come to the main gate which Regilien would open for you.
To my left upon opening the gate is the storage container and the box from the yellow truck. The yellow truck was sent into Port-au-Prince the week along with the water truck. The water tank is going to be transferred from the older green truck to the newer yellow one. They put the yellow box on stilts so that when the green truck gets back it will be easier to put this box on it.
Ahead of me is the Development Office where Gulbert is working on making doors for the new Guest House bath area.
He has taken very rough cut lumber down to a smooth and is now cutting the planks to size.
To my right as I walk in the gate is the school kitchen where I find Mme Wisly. Today's school meal (cornmeal with dried herring) won't take too long so she is using some spare time to sort beans for tomorrow. She has been here since 5:00am. She goes to an early prayer meeting and then cleans and sweeps her area and begins preparing the hot meal for the children and staff.
I continue on to the school and get there just in time to catch them raising the flag.
The kindergarteners are busy with their morning routine as well.
All three classes sing some welcome songs together...
...and then greet each other in French.
The teachers help the children practice their greetings.
They then join in a circle for some fun singing.
Kin. 1 Teacher, Kattia, provides the music.
On the way out of the Kindergarten I passed through the office where Wiltha
was talking with a parent. Wiltha is now working in the office as
supervisor of grades 1-6, disciplinarian, receptionist and secretary
among other responsibilities.
By the time I finished all of that, the other classes were in session. There have been some changes in position since the last school post I did so you may notice some teachers have changed classes.
Bergeline is teaching the First Graders about C Cedille (the French C with the tail... I can't do one in blogger).
Andiose is working on diction with the Second Graders as they read the phrase of the week, "Jesus is the light of the world."
Mezou is working with the Third Graders on putting the correct heading on their papers. The poor guy was a bit frustrated as I passed by. It seems some of his students were not following directions :)
Guillaume is teaching the Fourth Graders about why they won't have class on Friday, November 1.
Wilnique is grading papers while his Fifth Graders take their monthly exams.
The Sixth Graders were also taking exams. I accidentally missed their teacher, Osslet. He was also grading papers while he supervised the exam.
Djanaika, the only girl in the Sixth Grade, writing her exam.
Back toward the Development Office, the development guys are planting trees. They have been here since 7:00 and have already done a huge amount of work in front of the Guest House. Lenique, our General Administrator has stopped by to check on their work. He has been here since before 6:00 and is always one of the last to leave. Derilus (in the straw hat) digs the holes...
...and Wesner comes behind him and plants the trees.
My next stop is the finance office where Williamso is covering for Krischelle while she is in the US. Williamso is currently studying Administration in university. The universities have a very different schedule - their break is from mid-September to mid-November... just when Krischelle was planning to be gone! YAY!
From the finance office I head into the main part of the Lemuel House (the finance office is in the Lemuel House) where Loring, Marion, Rick and Jenna are having breakfast. Loring and Marion you have already met. Rick is here for two weeks helping out with all kinds of maintenance things... electrical issues, vehicles, plumbing, burnt out appliances, odds and ends for people in the community, and who knows what else will pop up before he leaves on Saturday! Jenna is our intern for this year. She will be teaching English in the school. She is working on writing up a post to introduce herself to you all so that should be coming soon.
Mme Gulbert is busy cleaning the Lemuel House.
Jinel, head of the Hospitality staff, is taking down a list from Mme Celissa...
...who is busy cleaning a chicken for today's lunch.
After leaving the Lemuel House kitchen, I took this photo to give you a little peak at the new Guest House shower area, then headed back down toward the gazebo.
I found Mme Obert sweeping behind the gazebo. Mme Obert has much to do. She washes, cleans Manis' office, the gazebo, guest house, and latrines and sweeps the Lemuel House yard!
Back toward the Development Office I find Nadege and Mme Tiferne going for water for the school children to drink.
The school kitchen is the thatch building in the back left of this photo.
As I get back to the Development Office, Lenique is discussing the doors
with Gulbert. They have run into a little bit of a problem with the
doors are are discussing possible solutions.
Inside the Development Office, Rick writes down some information I need, and then he and Loring show me the list they have been working on of items we need to purchase... it is getting pretty long! :(
They then head over to the 4-Runner that they have been working on for the past two days and that has been giving them quite a few headaches! The sunroof was left open last night and we had a little rain so the doors are open so it can air out :)
As I made one last round I found Mme Adrien in the school kitchen pounding spices...
...and starting the fires. Mme Wisly was still sorting beans... it takes a long time!
Mme Tiferne was outside of the school with water ready for the students.
And Marion was in the school to do a story with the Kin. 2 students. The two other Kin. classes were so interested she did it with them as well!
Jenna was also in the school today. She is just following classes to see how a normal day goes. She will begin teaching English in the school next Monday!
My last photo as I left the campus was of Rick in the campus' internet "hot-spot"... yes, this is the best place to get internet on campus.
Some people you haven't seen in this post are:
Bonita: she is in Canada
Krischelle: she is in the US
Sam: He is in Port-au-Prince picking up materials to finish the church depot
Petion: He is in Port-au-Prince taking care of the switching over of the water tank
Enes: He is also in Port-au-Prince as he helped drive the vehicles in
Manis: He stayed home with Ani so I could go over early
Upon arriving back home Ani and I headed up to the roof so I could get started on this post.
This is where I used to sit to work on the internet...
...but Manis, Sam, and Gulbert made me this nice little office so I could work even when the sun is overhead... aren't they nice!
So, this is where I am sitting right now...
...and this is my photographer who stood on a chair so she could take the picture at a better angle :) She just left for school with Marion.
Well, that is the end of our tour for today :) Hope you enjoyed it!
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Running Through Waist-High Mud... and Dreams
No, I haven't actually been running through mud recently. But,
figuratively, this is what we feel like sometimes. When I look back
over photos from the past seven years since I moved to the Plateau, I am
always amazed by all that has changed. It is exciting to see the trees
that have grown, the buildings that have been constructed, and the
personal growth that has happened in the lives of so many.
But, in the day to day, it can sometimes feel like running through waist-high mud. You passionately put all of your strength, mental faculties and energy into realizing what God had laid on your heart to do... you start running with all your might... only to realize that pretty soon you are completely exhausted and, compared to what you had originally wanted to accomplish, have hardy moved at all. Sometimes Manis and I sit up at night thinking, dreaming, of the things we would like to do. It is fun to toss ideas back and forth of all kinds of things, big and small, that we would love to realize. And then the excitement crashes as we remember that none of the things we just talked about are going to happen... at least not anytime soon.
Perhaps it is the curse of a dreamer that you'll never realize all your dreams. Perhaps it is Haiti. Perhaps it's just life.
In thinking about it, though, I realized that while many of you continue to follow our progress, rarely do you get a peek into our dreams... those things we would love to do but that may take years to happen, or may never happen at all. Some of these things are small, seemingly insignificant things, some of them are huge... but they're all in the dream stage right now :)
1. To finish the school (office roof, floor, doors, windows, second floor chapel, playground, painting, and furnishing/equipping offices, classrooms, library, computer lab, and auditorium) and to provide:
A. A fun, stimulating, place for the children to learn,
B. A place for afternoon classes (adult literacy, English, work skills, etc...) and maybe someday even high-school classes.
C. An auditorium that can be used for any Lemuel activities and can also be rented out for weddings, conferences, etc...
D. "Dorms" (the classrooms) for camps and retreats during school breaks
2. To invest in the development of our staff... travel with them, send them to or sponsor our own training seminars, provide learning experiences outside of the work environment, give bonuses for Christmas, or out of the blue just because they are doing a good job. One specific idea that would fall under this "dream" is to take our hospitality ladies to a beach resort for two or three days. Let them see how hotels and resorts are run, watch how the staff treats the guests, how the food is prepared and presented, etc...
3. To encourage the church by giving them little boosts. We don't want to undermine ownership but we can give them little boosts of encouragement... adding a bit to a project to help them complete it, painting a mural on the wall behind the pulpit, fixing the pulpit that is always about to fall over, etc...
4. To have a women's center and trade school where men and women are not only learning but creating items that they can sell or learning valuable skills that can help them on the job market.
5. To have an ongoing "community beautification" project so that we can enable the community to clear out the thorns and plant trees.
6. To host and sponsor an artists competition to be able to see what kind of talent already exists in the area.
7. To build a clinic where people can receive basic care and where medical teams can periodically treat more significant issues.
8. To find ways to develop, enable, and/or encourage real business so that more people can find work and make a living from something that is generating its own funding.
9. To have a well on our own property.
10. To buy and fence in waste land and plant hardy mesquite trees in order to address the diminishing wood and charcoal resources as well as erosion and soil depletion.
This is by no means an exhaustive list, nor would the dreaming stop even if all of these were realized... Hope you enjoyed this little view into what keeps us trudging through the waste-high mud:)
But, in the day to day, it can sometimes feel like running through waist-high mud. You passionately put all of your strength, mental faculties and energy into realizing what God had laid on your heart to do... you start running with all your might... only to realize that pretty soon you are completely exhausted and, compared to what you had originally wanted to accomplish, have hardy moved at all. Sometimes Manis and I sit up at night thinking, dreaming, of the things we would like to do. It is fun to toss ideas back and forth of all kinds of things, big and small, that we would love to realize. And then the excitement crashes as we remember that none of the things we just talked about are going to happen... at least not anytime soon.
Perhaps it is the curse of a dreamer that you'll never realize all your dreams. Perhaps it is Haiti. Perhaps it's just life.
In thinking about it, though, I realized that while many of you continue to follow our progress, rarely do you get a peek into our dreams... those things we would love to do but that may take years to happen, or may never happen at all. Some of these things are small, seemingly insignificant things, some of them are huge... but they're all in the dream stage right now :)
1. To finish the school (office roof, floor, doors, windows, second floor chapel, playground, painting, and furnishing/equipping offices, classrooms, library, computer lab, and auditorium) and to provide:
A. A fun, stimulating, place for the children to learn,
B. A place for afternoon classes (adult literacy, English, work skills, etc...) and maybe someday even high-school classes.
C. An auditorium that can be used for any Lemuel activities and can also be rented out for weddings, conferences, etc...
D. "Dorms" (the classrooms) for camps and retreats during school breaks
2. To invest in the development of our staff... travel with them, send them to or sponsor our own training seminars, provide learning experiences outside of the work environment, give bonuses for Christmas, or out of the blue just because they are doing a good job. One specific idea that would fall under this "dream" is to take our hospitality ladies to a beach resort for two or three days. Let them see how hotels and resorts are run, watch how the staff treats the guests, how the food is prepared and presented, etc...
3. To encourage the church by giving them little boosts. We don't want to undermine ownership but we can give them little boosts of encouragement... adding a bit to a project to help them complete it, painting a mural on the wall behind the pulpit, fixing the pulpit that is always about to fall over, etc...
4. To have a women's center and trade school where men and women are not only learning but creating items that they can sell or learning valuable skills that can help them on the job market.
5. To have an ongoing "community beautification" project so that we can enable the community to clear out the thorns and plant trees.
6. To host and sponsor an artists competition to be able to see what kind of talent already exists in the area.
7. To build a clinic where people can receive basic care and where medical teams can periodically treat more significant issues.
8. To find ways to develop, enable, and/or encourage real business so that more people can find work and make a living from something that is generating its own funding.
9. To have a well on our own property.
10. To buy and fence in waste land and plant hardy mesquite trees in order to address the diminishing wood and charcoal resources as well as erosion and soil depletion.
This is by no means an exhaustive list, nor would the dreaming stop even if all of these were realized... Hope you enjoyed this little view into what keeps us trudging through the waste-high mud:)
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Friday Morning
Last Friday I went over to the Lemuel campus early so I could get a picture of the hospitality staff before they got too involved in their work. Unfortunately, one of the ladies wasn't there so I still don't have a complete picture, but for now, here is our hospitality staff...
Instead of having "school kitchen ladies" and "Lemuel house ladies" and all of that,
Instead of having "school kitchen ladies" and "Lemuel house ladies" and all of that,
we now have one Hospitality Staff. They are responsible for receiving everyone, from the school children, to people from the community, to teams and guests from in country or overseas, with a smile, joyful service and a heart of love.
Since Jinel is the only guy, I told them, half-jokingly, that they should hold him across them.
Well, they thought it was a great idea and this picture cracked me up so much that I had to share it.
By the time we finished the hospitality photo shoot, it was time for staff devotions so I went ahead and stayed for that. Every Friday morning the staff comes early so they can have devotions together. You can't see all the staff in this picture, but they were all, or almost all, there!
After staff devotions the school day started with Friday morning chapel. The fourth and fifth grade were responsible for the program...
...and two of the students led.
Our "band" played as the two girls led the singing. The musicians are: Mezou on the keyboard, Andiose on the base and student Amison on the bongo drums.
I just LOVE the new uniforms!
In the back is Marion Swain. She and her husband Loring are with us for about 6 weeks.
Marion has been helping out in the Lemuel House and has been teaching Ani for a few hours each day. She was a teacher for many years and is certified to be a school principal.
I enjoy talking about education with her and how we can improve the school.
Poor Loring has been patiently trying to get some of our equipment back up and running... not an easy task! We are very much enjoying having Loring and Marion with us and appreciate their uprooting themselves to come spend some time here on the Plateau.
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