As I mentioned in my last newsletter (#3), I’ll be staying in Haiti a little longer than I had originally planned.
If you’d like to help me stay longer in Haiti, please visit:
http://doxahaiti.blogspot.com/
Thanks!
SunMin
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Haitian Courier #3: With Creole Comes Power...
...and you know what comes with power.
Bonjou Mezanmi! Kòman nou ye? (i.e. how are you [plural].)
Once again it's that time of the month when I must take a break and update you on what I’ve been doing in Haiti.
As you can guess from the subject line, I’ve been given more and more responsibilities as I continue to sharpen my Creole skills. Every morning except on Sundays, we have a Bible study with the workers at the orphanage. I read from a devotional book in Korean, translate it out loud in English, and then explain everything in Creole. Then every evening except on Fridays, I prepare and give a short sermon in Korean. After the service, I give the sermon again in Creole to Jude. Jude, a native here, is studying to become a pastor. On Sunday mornings, I emcee the Creole service (in Creole, of course), which involves leading French/Creole hymns. On Friday evenings, we have a late night prayer meetings, where I lead the prayer session, explaining each prayer topics in Creole. All these activities have helped me to learn a lot of Biblically relevant phrases in Creole.
I’ve been teaching as well as learning. After the morning Bible study, I read couple chapters from the Bible in English, and everyone else repeats after me to practice English pronunciation. Then I teach them English conversation from a book. It’s a lot easier to teach English now that I can explain things in Creole if I had to. On Sundays, I teach English songs to the kids (they’re crazy about “Making Melodies”). Also, now that I can speak descent Creole, I can lecture the kids more effectively when they need to be disciplined.
In my last letter, I mentioned about Fontain, the land the missionaries bought for a new orphanage. While Rev. Baek is gone raising funds in Korea, I’ve been in charge of looking after the land. Once or twice a week we visit Fontain and, if needed, fix up gates and fences or hire some neighborhood boys to helps us cut grass and shrubs. The little kids who are always there also helps us by gathering grass and trash. Building a good relationship with the neighbors is also an important part of my job here. Otherwise, they would dump trash in our land, cut barb-wires, or destroy gates... All of which they have done several times already. It’s been improving, so I’m hopeful.
Originally, Rev. Baek was going to come back by early June, but it seems she won’t be back till early-mid July. The only other missionary here is Mrs. Kang, and it would be too difficult for her to manage everything by herself. I was going to stay until June 28, which is fast approaching, but I’ve decided to stay longer, at least until Rev. Baek comes back. Once she is back, we’ll start the construction of the new orphanage right away, so I could be helping with that as well.
Some other things that happened since the last update:
• Earlier this month, I visited University of Fondwa (http://www.unif2004.org and http://www.unifusa.org), which is the first university in the mountains. They had the Haitian Bleu coffee factory next to it, so I got a little tour of that too. It was all in all a really cool visit.
• May 18 is National Flag Day in Haiti, so I got to see a local parade just outside our alley.
• Sometime in May, I visited the border of Dominican Republic, only to find out that it costs $35 a head to enter (so I didn’t). I also learned that we should never ever give passports to solicitors, or they would go get exit stamps for you at the immigration and demand money for their “work”.
• One day, a team of young missionaries came from New Jersey and visited the orphanage briefly. It’s always refreshing to be able to talk with people in English!
• I cut my hair really short again, this time with a 1/8” comb all the way around. I’m beginning to really like the convenience of short hair.
Now, for medical school, I’ll be going to UCSD School of Medicine (that’s University of California, San Diego for those who are not from the States) at the end of August! I’m very grateful that God has allowed me to move forward in this path. Thanks to everyone who has helped me with the application process! Speaking of San Diego, if anyone can help me find a place to stay (any suggestions), I would really appreciate it.
As always, thanks for taking the time to read this and for keeping in touch, those of you who do. I imagine many of you have just graduated college, so let me know what your next move is. No, I’m not that lonely anymore. I have Haitian friends now! But I’m always happy to hear from friends in other parts of the globe.
Please keep me in your prayers, for my health, safety, and faith. Let me know if there’s anything I could be praying for.
Bondye Beni Nou,
SunMin
Cell: +509-441-3451
Skype: doxadeo
AIM:instantdoxa
MSN: doxadeo@hotmail.com
Yahoo!: doxadeo@yahoo.com
Bonjou Mezanmi! Kòman nou ye? (i.e. how are you [plural].)
Once again it's that time of the month when I must take a break and update you on what I’ve been doing in Haiti.
As you can guess from the subject line, I’ve been given more and more responsibilities as I continue to sharpen my Creole skills. Every morning except on Sundays, we have a Bible study with the workers at the orphanage. I read from a devotional book in Korean, translate it out loud in English, and then explain everything in Creole. Then every evening except on Fridays, I prepare and give a short sermon in Korean. After the service, I give the sermon again in Creole to Jude. Jude, a native here, is studying to become a pastor. On Sunday mornings, I emcee the Creole service (in Creole, of course), which involves leading French/Creole hymns. On Friday evenings, we have a late night prayer meetings, where I lead the prayer session, explaining each prayer topics in Creole. All these activities have helped me to learn a lot of Biblically relevant phrases in Creole.
I’ve been teaching as well as learning. After the morning Bible study, I read couple chapters from the Bible in English, and everyone else repeats after me to practice English pronunciation. Then I teach them English conversation from a book. It’s a lot easier to teach English now that I can explain things in Creole if I had to. On Sundays, I teach English songs to the kids (they’re crazy about “Making Melodies”). Also, now that I can speak descent Creole, I can lecture the kids more effectively when they need to be disciplined.
In my last letter, I mentioned about Fontain, the land the missionaries bought for a new orphanage. While Rev. Baek is gone raising funds in Korea, I’ve been in charge of looking after the land. Once or twice a week we visit Fontain and, if needed, fix up gates and fences or hire some neighborhood boys to helps us cut grass and shrubs. The little kids who are always there also helps us by gathering grass and trash. Building a good relationship with the neighbors is also an important part of my job here. Otherwise, they would dump trash in our land, cut barb-wires, or destroy gates... All of which they have done several times already. It’s been improving, so I’m hopeful.
Originally, Rev. Baek was going to come back by early June, but it seems she won’t be back till early-mid July. The only other missionary here is Mrs. Kang, and it would be too difficult for her to manage everything by herself. I was going to stay until June 28, which is fast approaching, but I’ve decided to stay longer, at least until Rev. Baek comes back. Once she is back, we’ll start the construction of the new orphanage right away, so I could be helping with that as well.
Some other things that happened since the last update:
• Earlier this month, I visited University of Fondwa (http://www.unif2004.org and http://www.unifusa.org), which is the first university in the mountains. They had the Haitian Bleu coffee factory next to it, so I got a little tour of that too. It was all in all a really cool visit.
• May 18 is National Flag Day in Haiti, so I got to see a local parade just outside our alley.
• Sometime in May, I visited the border of Dominican Republic, only to find out that it costs $35 a head to enter (so I didn’t). I also learned that we should never ever give passports to solicitors, or they would go get exit stamps for you at the immigration and demand money for their “work”.
• One day, a team of young missionaries came from New Jersey and visited the orphanage briefly. It’s always refreshing to be able to talk with people in English!
• I cut my hair really short again, this time with a 1/8” comb all the way around. I’m beginning to really like the convenience of short hair.
Now, for medical school, I’ll be going to UCSD School of Medicine (that’s University of California, San Diego for those who are not from the States) at the end of August! I’m very grateful that God has allowed me to move forward in this path. Thanks to everyone who has helped me with the application process! Speaking of San Diego, if anyone can help me find a place to stay (any suggestions), I would really appreciate it.
As always, thanks for taking the time to read this and for keeping in touch, those of you who do. I imagine many of you have just graduated college, so let me know what your next move is. No, I’m not that lonely anymore. I have Haitian friends now! But I’m always happy to hear from friends in other parts of the globe.
Please keep me in your prayers, for my health, safety, and faith. Let me know if there’s anything I could be praying for.
Bondye Beni Nou,
SunMin
Cell: +509-441-3451
Skype: doxadeo
AIM:instantdoxa
MSN: doxadeo@hotmail.com
Yahoo!: doxadeo@yahoo.com
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Haitian Courier #2.1: Foto!
That's how they write “photo” in Creole. As I promised, here they are!
http://picasaweb.google.com/doxadeo
Click on “Photos from Haiti.”
Photos are scaled for faster upload. But I hope you enjoy!
SunMin
http://picasaweb.google.com/doxadeo
Click on “Photos from Haiti.”
Photos are scaled for faster upload. But I hope you enjoy!
SunMin
Monday, May 14, 2007
Haitian Courier #2: Twenty-three and Still Growing
Bonjou, Mezanmi!
It's about time I updated you all with how I'm doing in Haiti. I forgot to mention in my last newsletter that that I’m staying here until June 28. It’s already been more than 1.5 months since I came here, so I’m already halfway through.
The life here at the House of Love (orphanage) is definitely helping me grow in many ways. Every weekday we start with an early morning prayer at 4:30AM (so I go to sleep rather early). Then we have a Bible study at 8:30AM and a service after dinner around 5:30PM. No internet at home (and no electricity) means less wasting time and more Bible reading at night (under a candle light, of course). So I get to spend a lot of time with God and grow spiritually (I’m also getting very good at striking matches in the dark).
I also spend a lot of time with the orphans. Four of the older kids go to school during the morning (their school hours are very short), so I often look after the six younger kids (3 to 5 year-olds) during that time. It’s a very good learning experience for me. As much as I love children, disciplining them isn’t always easy, but I’m learning how to deal with kids in various situations. I thought we adults help the children grow, but I learned that in fact the children help the adults grow in different ways.
The missionaries bought some land a while back and are building an orphanage there (the current place is rented). Right now the project is on hold, and Rev. Baek, who is in charge, went back to Korea to raise funds for the project. She’s been gone for a week now, and I’ve been leading the daily evening service. We visit the construction site at least once a week to check up on the condition and to give out some food to the children in the neighborhood (there are many kids just hanging around because they don’t have money to go to school).
I’ve been putting a lot of effort into learning Creole. I think I understand and speak Creole better than I do French now (and I took French for 3 years, albeit many years ago). It’s a bummer I may not be using it after the 3 months is up. I hope I have the opportunity to come back to Haiti. My Korean skill is also improving because I have to talk to the missionaries in Korean. The orphans understand a bit of Korean, so I talk to them in Korean sometimes. Leading the evening service in Korean has been quite a challenge.
So overall, it’s been a great learning experience. Here are some other stuff that I’ve done during the past month: I went to Cange again to take a couple patients to the hospital (Zanmi Lasante, which I mentioned last time). Last week I went to a festival called Chan Mass, which is like a big farmers market held once a year. A friend was playing for the marching band at a football game (or soccer as most of you know it), so we got to go and watch it. I got a hair cut at a barber shop by a barber who’s never cut a blan’s hair (i.e. white people. Asians are white in Haiti). It was short and ugly, so I used a clipper to cut it even shorter but neater (I used 1/2” comb on the top and 1/8” on the side, so you can imagine how short).
As for med school is concerned, I’ll let you know when a final decision is made.
Thanks again for everyone who responded to my last e-mail and especially to those who called me (or at least tried to). It really makes a world of difference. I would be happy to hear about what you’ve been doing if you haven’t told me already. It would be nice to hear about what’s going on in the rest of the world as well, since I don’t have much exposure to media these days (no power means no TV).
I’m organizing my photos, so you can expect to see some soon (probably within a week).
Please keep me in your prayers! Specifically for my health.
Bondye Beni-W (you can guess what that means),
SunMin
Cell phone: +509-441-3451
Skype: doxadeo
AIM: instantdoxa
MSN: doxadeo@hotmail.com
Yahoo!: doxadeo@yahoo.com
It's about time I updated you all with how I'm doing in Haiti. I forgot to mention in my last newsletter that that I’m staying here until June 28. It’s already been more than 1.5 months since I came here, so I’m already halfway through.
The life here at the House of Love (orphanage) is definitely helping me grow in many ways. Every weekday we start with an early morning prayer at 4:30AM (so I go to sleep rather early). Then we have a Bible study at 8:30AM and a service after dinner around 5:30PM. No internet at home (and no electricity) means less wasting time and more Bible reading at night (under a candle light, of course). So I get to spend a lot of time with God and grow spiritually (I’m also getting very good at striking matches in the dark).
I also spend a lot of time with the orphans. Four of the older kids go to school during the morning (their school hours are very short), so I often look after the six younger kids (3 to 5 year-olds) during that time. It’s a very good learning experience for me. As much as I love children, disciplining them isn’t always easy, but I’m learning how to deal with kids in various situations. I thought we adults help the children grow, but I learned that in fact the children help the adults grow in different ways.
The missionaries bought some land a while back and are building an orphanage there (the current place is rented). Right now the project is on hold, and Rev. Baek, who is in charge, went back to Korea to raise funds for the project. She’s been gone for a week now, and I’ve been leading the daily evening service. We visit the construction site at least once a week to check up on the condition and to give out some food to the children in the neighborhood (there are many kids just hanging around because they don’t have money to go to school).
I’ve been putting a lot of effort into learning Creole. I think I understand and speak Creole better than I do French now (and I took French for 3 years, albeit many years ago). It’s a bummer I may not be using it after the 3 months is up. I hope I have the opportunity to come back to Haiti. My Korean skill is also improving because I have to talk to the missionaries in Korean. The orphans understand a bit of Korean, so I talk to them in Korean sometimes. Leading the evening service in Korean has been quite a challenge.
So overall, it’s been a great learning experience. Here are some other stuff that I’ve done during the past month: I went to Cange again to take a couple patients to the hospital (Zanmi Lasante, which I mentioned last time). Last week I went to a festival called Chan Mass, which is like a big farmers market held once a year. A friend was playing for the marching band at a football game (or soccer as most of you know it), so we got to go and watch it. I got a hair cut at a barber shop by a barber who’s never cut a blan’s hair (i.e. white people. Asians are white in Haiti). It was short and ugly, so I used a clipper to cut it even shorter but neater (I used 1/2” comb on the top and 1/8” on the side, so you can imagine how short).
As for med school is concerned, I’ll let you know when a final decision is made.
Thanks again for everyone who responded to my last e-mail and especially to those who called me (or at least tried to). It really makes a world of difference. I would be happy to hear about what you’ve been doing if you haven’t told me already. It would be nice to hear about what’s going on in the rest of the world as well, since I don’t have much exposure to media these days (no power means no TV).
I’m organizing my photos, so you can expect to see some soon (probably within a week).
Please keep me in your prayers! Specifically for my health.
Bondye Beni-W (you can guess what that means),
SunMin
Cell phone: +509-441-3451
Skype: doxadeo
AIM: instantdoxa
MSN: doxadeo@hotmail.com
Yahoo!: doxadeo@yahoo.com
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Haitian Diaries: Let's Learn Creole
Monday, April 23, 2007
Learning Creole is becoming more fun as I understand more. A book called Let's Learn Créole by Dr. Edner A. Jeanty and Dr. O. Carl Brown has become my bible for learning the language. I carry it with me everywhere we go and read it while riding on tap-tap. I practice with my native friends. At this point I know how most of the syntax works, and I feel like I just need to learn more vocabulary. Learning a new language has never been this fun. After Creole, I'll have to tackle French, but I could always learn that when I return to the States. Besides, the way the people speak French here is a bit different from French-French (kind of like the way Kenyans speak English, I suppose), so I'd rather learn it properly. Anyhow, living in Haiti is definitely helping me motivate myself to learn. If only I knew what I know now back in high school... I despised French class back then, mainly because it seemed pointless to learn French (and maybe because I thought the teachers were a bit of psychos at the time).
I can't help but to compare myself with Paul Farmer. I don't really want to, but I keep doing it because I imagine he was in a similar situation as mine. He was 23 when he first came to Haiti, just before going to med school. That was 23 years ago, the year I was born (1983. Ok, 24, but I'm still 23). Now here I am, 23, first time living in Haiti, right before going to med school. (Incidentally, I have 23 pairs of chromosomes in each cell of my body. And today is April 23rd! And there's a movie called 23, of which I've only seen the trailer.) I'm sure he knew a lot more French back then than I do now, since, if I recall correctly, he studied abroad in France for a year while in college. Of course there's a lot more differences than similarities, but these similarities make me think how I'm doing what I'm doing. Honestly, I'm probably not doing as much stuff as he did 23 years ago. If I could, I would just go outside and start talking to people in the neighborhood, and see what I could be doing. But since I can't, I'm focusing on learning the language. Well, I bet Paul Farmer didn't have a blog while he was in Haiti 23 years ago... probably not even a computer. Wait, that puts me in advantage, which means I'm supposed to be doing better... Argh! No more comparisons.
Learning Creole is becoming more fun as I understand more. A book called Let's Learn Créole by Dr. Edner A. Jeanty and Dr. O. Carl Brown has become my bible for learning the language. I carry it with me everywhere we go and read it while riding on tap-tap. I practice with my native friends. At this point I know how most of the syntax works, and I feel like I just need to learn more vocabulary. Learning a new language has never been this fun. After Creole, I'll have to tackle French, but I could always learn that when I return to the States. Besides, the way the people speak French here is a bit different from French-French (kind of like the way Kenyans speak English, I suppose), so I'd rather learn it properly. Anyhow, living in Haiti is definitely helping me motivate myself to learn. If only I knew what I know now back in high school... I despised French class back then, mainly because it seemed pointless to learn French (and maybe because I thought the teachers were a bit of psychos at the time).
I can't help but to compare myself with Paul Farmer. I don't really want to, but I keep doing it because I imagine he was in a similar situation as mine. He was 23 when he first came to Haiti, just before going to med school. That was 23 years ago, the year I was born (1983. Ok, 24, but I'm still 23). Now here I am, 23, first time living in Haiti, right before going to med school. (Incidentally, I have 23 pairs of chromosomes in each cell of my body. And today is April 23rd! And there's a movie called 23, of which I've only seen the trailer.) I'm sure he knew a lot more French back then than I do now, since, if I recall correctly, he studied abroad in France for a year while in college. Of course there's a lot more differences than similarities, but these similarities make me think how I'm doing what I'm doing. Honestly, I'm probably not doing as much stuff as he did 23 years ago. If I could, I would just go outside and start talking to people in the neighborhood, and see what I could be doing. But since I can't, I'm focusing on learning the language. Well, I bet Paul Farmer didn't have a blog while he was in Haiti 23 years ago... probably not even a computer. Wait, that puts me in advantage, which means I'm supposed to be doing better... Argh! No more comparisons.
Haitian Diaries: Do You Know The Golden Rule?
Sunday, April 22, 2007
We went back to Fontain last Tuesday to see if there's anything that needs to be repaired. I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised, but I was. I couldn't believe how people don't have any respect for properties of others. For example, the back fence that we reenforced by making it taller. Kids still climbed over it, using the barbed-wire like steps on a ladder. Of course the wires were sagging due to that. There are many places in the neighborhood where they can play soccer, but for some reason they use our property. According to one kid who plays soccer here, there's really no reason. He's not even a little kid. He's a big teenager who seems to be listening to radio all the time (and imitates some English phrases he hears). What's even worse is the side fence with the gate, which we rebuilt last time also. Someone had cut out the wires on the gate so that people can walk through the gate without opening it. Seriously, since the water pump isn't working any more, there's no reason people should be going through the gate. Apparently the neighbors on one side would take a shortcut across our land to get to the neighbor's house on the other side. I guess the shortcut is worth trespassing and destroying other people's property... well, of course it's worth it, since it's not costing them anything. It's pretty crazy how people live here. One neighbor dug a hole on a wall that divides our land from theirs, so that their sewage (or water used for laundry, I hope) is drained into our land. Since that water can't go anywhere, it just rots away in a corner of our land. It's ridiculous. This is Haiti.
A young man came to church this morning. From the way him and Rev. Baek greeted each other, it seems he hadn’t been coming for a while. I was in the back yard before the service, and I saw him peeing on the wall by the trees where the goat is tied (we ate the other yesterday). I was debating whether I should tell him to stop, but it was too late since he started. So after he finished I told him “Twalet la! Pa fè sa!” “Toilet is there! Don’t do that!” Seriously though, he was peeing on a wall right outside the latrine. He just smiled and said “Eskize-m.” To think that I shook his hands after the service...
We went back to Fontain last Tuesday to see if there's anything that needs to be repaired. I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised, but I was. I couldn't believe how people don't have any respect for properties of others. For example, the back fence that we reenforced by making it taller. Kids still climbed over it, using the barbed-wire like steps on a ladder. Of course the wires were sagging due to that. There are many places in the neighborhood where they can play soccer, but for some reason they use our property. According to one kid who plays soccer here, there's really no reason. He's not even a little kid. He's a big teenager who seems to be listening to radio all the time (and imitates some English phrases he hears). What's even worse is the side fence with the gate, which we rebuilt last time also. Someone had cut out the wires on the gate so that people can walk through the gate without opening it. Seriously, since the water pump isn't working any more, there's no reason people should be going through the gate. Apparently the neighbors on one side would take a shortcut across our land to get to the neighbor's house on the other side. I guess the shortcut is worth trespassing and destroying other people's property... well, of course it's worth it, since it's not costing them anything. It's pretty crazy how people live here. One neighbor dug a hole on a wall that divides our land from theirs, so that their sewage (or water used for laundry, I hope) is drained into our land. Since that water can't go anywhere, it just rots away in a corner of our land. It's ridiculous. This is Haiti.
A young man came to church this morning. From the way him and Rev. Baek greeted each other, it seems he hadn’t been coming for a while. I was in the back yard before the service, and I saw him peeing on the wall by the trees where the goat is tied (we ate the other yesterday). I was debating whether I should tell him to stop, but it was too late since he started. So after he finished I told him “Twalet la! Pa fè sa!” “Toilet is there! Don’t do that!” Seriously though, he was peeing on a wall right outside the latrine. He just smiled and said “Eskize-m.” To think that I shook his hands after the service...
Monday, April 16, 2007
Haitian Diaries: Head Shaving, Fence Building, And Butt Sucking
Friday, April 13, 2007
After the older kids left for school, the younger kids got a hair cut, or I should say, a head shave. That explains why all the younger kids have the same hair length. I got to do Jasmine's hair. She cringed when I pushed the machine too hard, but she didn't cry. I tried to do it softly, but then it wouldn't shave quite well. I just did a rough cut and left the rest to Kenny. We do this because most of the kids have some kind of skin disease on their scalp, and it's a lot easier to treat them when their hair is short, or in this case, almost nonexistent.
Then I went to Fontain with the group of guys that always come (Jude, Enock, Figaro, and Daniel) to work on a little building project. Our mission today was to reinforce the back fence, where people would jump over since it was too low; to rebuild a side fence, which people have broken down by walking over it; and to fix the front gate, which have broken repeatedly due to abusive use by the locals.
Just to give a little background, we had an underground water pump (which, if you remember, I mentioned earlier that it got broken... and you can guess how), and people could come in freely to get water from it. A side gate was built so it could let people through the fence to use the pump. But since it had to be locked when no one was around to watch the premises, people started to walk over the fence to get the water. I suppose it was the least contaminated, hence the pump of choice. Now that the fence is broken, animals (mainly the goats) could come in freely to eat our plants (flowers in particular). Also, since we have a fairly big and flat grass field, kids would sneak in and play football (or soccer, if you're from the US). As the kids run around playing, they would destroy some plants as well.
So we had to repair and reinforce the fences. We bought some barbwire (pronounced "bah-bwi-re" here) and nails at a hardware store and some wooden poles from vendors on a sidewalk. Originally, the fences were built to guard off animals, so they were built low. But since people climbed over them and broke them, we put two additional layers of barbwire, making it about as high as my shoulder. I think we did a pretty good job. Let's hope that it's not destroyed again when we come back.
While we were working, I got a strange call on my cell phone. The caller ID showed 12 zeroes, so I have no idea who called (but it also showed the same number when I got a call from Dominican Republic). The apparently signal on the other end wasn't so good that I only heard a few words before it got cut off: "How are you?...hospital... in Cange..." That was about all that I could gather. Maybe the guy on the phone found my number on my blog and wanted to get information on Zanmi Lasante. Hey, if you're the caller reading this, you should look up "Partners in Health" (www.pih.org) or google Zanmi Lasante. I hope you find what you're looking for.
Mosquitoes are everywhere. It's quite annoying when they hide (or live) in the toilet, and when I take a crap (or when the toilet takes my crap) they would stab me from behind. It's like fresh meat to them.
After the older kids left for school, the younger kids got a hair cut, or I should say, a head shave. That explains why all the younger kids have the same hair length. I got to do Jasmine's hair. She cringed when I pushed the machine too hard, but she didn't cry. I tried to do it softly, but then it wouldn't shave quite well. I just did a rough cut and left the rest to Kenny. We do this because most of the kids have some kind of skin disease on their scalp, and it's a lot easier to treat them when their hair is short, or in this case, almost nonexistent.
Then I went to Fontain with the group of guys that always come (Jude, Enock, Figaro, and Daniel) to work on a little building project. Our mission today was to reinforce the back fence, where people would jump over since it was too low; to rebuild a side fence, which people have broken down by walking over it; and to fix the front gate, which have broken repeatedly due to abusive use by the locals.
Just to give a little background, we had an underground water pump (which, if you remember, I mentioned earlier that it got broken... and you can guess how), and people could come in freely to get water from it. A side gate was built so it could let people through the fence to use the pump. But since it had to be locked when no one was around to watch the premises, people started to walk over the fence to get the water. I suppose it was the least contaminated, hence the pump of choice. Now that the fence is broken, animals (mainly the goats) could come in freely to eat our plants (flowers in particular). Also, since we have a fairly big and flat grass field, kids would sneak in and play football (or soccer, if you're from the US). As the kids run around playing, they would destroy some plants as well.
So we had to repair and reinforce the fences. We bought some barbwire (pronounced "bah-bwi-re" here) and nails at a hardware store and some wooden poles from vendors on a sidewalk. Originally, the fences were built to guard off animals, so they were built low. But since people climbed over them and broke them, we put two additional layers of barbwire, making it about as high as my shoulder. I think we did a pretty good job. Let's hope that it's not destroyed again when we come back.
While we were working, I got a strange call on my cell phone. The caller ID showed 12 zeroes, so I have no idea who called (but it also showed the same number when I got a call from Dominican Republic). The apparently signal on the other end wasn't so good that I only heard a few words before it got cut off: "How are you?...hospital... in Cange..." That was about all that I could gather. Maybe the guy on the phone found my number on my blog and wanted to get information on Zanmi Lasante. Hey, if you're the caller reading this, you should look up "Partners in Health" (www.pih.org) or google Zanmi Lasante. I hope you find what you're looking for.
Mosquitoes are everywhere. It's quite annoying when they hide (or live) in the toilet, and when I take a crap (or when the toilet takes my crap) they would stab me from behind. It's like fresh meat to them.
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