Haiti

Our first stop was Gwo Jean, a peaceful mountain community where we spent our first day and night. Some memories of Gwo Jean: eating spicy, mountain-grown food out of calabash bowls, learning folk dances while Ari's wife Nicole capably accompanied us with the drum, playing the challenging name game and other games with our new Haitian friends, struggling with our inability to communicate in Creole, and listening early Friday morning to Ari's re-telling of Haitian history. See also:

• bathing in the waterfalls
• GC guys with Ari

The next day, Ari guided us to Port-au-Prince, to St. Joseph's Home for Boys Guesthouse, where we were to spend the next two nights. Michael Geilenfeld, formerly a brother for Mother Theresa, founded the home in 1985. When we arrived the boys welcomed each of us with a hug, and then we found our way through the delights of their tall building full of colorful paintings and tasteful furniture.

We heard three important lectures that day. Mennonite Central Committee country director Dan Wiens talked to us about relief and development realities in Haiti. MCC won some new and renewed fans that hour as we listened to Dan's holistic definition of development, which includes the personal development and enrichment of those who serve by those they encounter in Haiti.

We later sat in a tight, hot circle in a row house where a workers' rights organization has its offices. We heard staggering statistics (80% unemployment; workers being paid 7 cents per hour) and we were moved by the speakers' powerful explanations of the problems created by businesses driven by pure profit in countries where jobs are so desperately needed, and the ways Haitian workers are uniting to demand basic human rights.

Back at the boys' home, we followed our noses to the basement dining room where we enjoyed the best soup and grilled cheese sandwiches ever. After some story telling by development worker Ron Blunstchli, conversations and games lasted late into the night.

On Saturday we had a driving tour of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capitol city. Our eyes were glued to bus windows as we listened to Ari's concise descriptions. We saw the story of Christ painted on the walls of an Episcopalian church, bought gifts at an artist guild's display room, enjoyed a tasty lunch at a local restaurant, made a stop at an environmental fair, and visited Haiti's only school for the arts. There were occasional bursts of applause for Carlos, our bus driver, as he maneuvered his way through some very tight spots.

We ended the busy day at the home of professor and historian Bayyinah Bella. She gave us an hour of wisdom and frank discussion about the women of Haiti's history, the undeniable presence of voudou, how poverty negates planning, domestic violence being a human issue rather than a women's issue, and the concept of a country being a body and its roads being...the veins. We returned to the boys' home to enjoy yet another memorable meal. Then we followed our ears to the roof where we settled in for the boys' dance presentation.

After a Sunday morning breakfast of mangos, croissants, and strong coffee we sang a farewell song for the boys and they sang a blessing to us. We said good-bye to our Haitian friends and climbed on the bus for the gradual shift to our Santo Domingo lives.