Success!

The lesson went great.  I was hoping to get some criticism so that I can improve for when we do the same lesson somewhere else another time, but no one could think of any way that it would have gone better!  I just love the kids at FPCH.  I might have to steal some of them if they don't have any parents.  Words are boring, so let me show you some pictures of how it all went down.

(I fixed the pictures and rotated them, but for some reason it didn't save correctly.)

Angelikah making her sunshine.

 Mirlande working.

 Walambre (sp?)

 mikaella and me with our craft =]

 group picture with the kids at fpch

adorable.


More pictures to be posted to facebook soon, if you would like to see the details of the craft stuff.  =]

partying partying yeah

Bon jou, faithful readers.  Bon jou is the morning greeting here, and when we walk through village Theodat saying bonjou or bonjour to everyone, I forreal feel like I am in Beauty and the Beast.  I hope you know what I mean.
Also, I wrote this yesterday, so everything that says tomorrow is today.  We didn't have electricity all night last night.

Ali is leaving World Wide Village, so we are having a going away party tomorrow night.  I'm going to do my best to make cupcakes with the close enough ingredients that I found at the grocery store.  Hahaha.

Many people who come here, especially on one week trips, are broken-hearted when they see the poverty.  Truly, it should be something that moves us with compassion and motivate each of us to do everything we can to help the poor.  It doesn't make me sad to see Haiti though.  Am I a calloused, heartless individual?  I sure hope not.  To me, it's a triumph of the human spirit.  The people here make it work with so much less than you would ever think a person "needs."  Hundreds of thousands of people live in tents.  When I say a tent, you are imaging the kind of tent an american would go camping with, right?  Those are pretty nice, aren't they?  The tents that people live in here are more like a tarp or some pieces of tin held up by sticks.  Can you imagine living in that?  I can't.  When we visit the kids, their circumstances are dismal - distended bellies, disease, dirt, etc.  Yet, I am only happy to see the kids because I love them, and I am just glad that they have enough to survive!  People are inspiring.  Can you fit 100 people on a bus? Yes.  Can you carry 4 giant packs of cement on a moto?  Yes.  Can you drive the Ranger through a river?  Yes.  You can do anything because this is Ayiti.

Anyway, tomorrow we are doing our first bible school lesson.  I am not really ready yet, but I should have a few hours to work on it tomorrow.  We're going to talk about faith and use the metaphor that trusting God and believing in Him is like believing the sun will come up tomorrow.  And we are going to make suns for the craft!  I'm excited.  I feel like my two years at Asbury were all preparing me for this - to be in charge, be a leader, teach about Jesus, love these kids with all of my heart.  We are going to FPCH with this lesson tomorrow and Tree of Life on Thursday with the same lesson.  I feel like there hasn't been as much guidance as I anticipated, but it's okay.  One way to become a better leader is by necessity!  I'm getting thrown right in there, and I'm going to do my best.

We have a new intern who is fluent in Creole.  SUPER WIN!  Excited!

I bought some milano cookies today for $4 US.  WORTH IT.  Yummmm.

Here's a little prayer and praise if you'd like to be praying for me.

Prayer - bible lesson tomorrow

Devo's for interns

Leadership transition-y stuff (Just pray for all of the staff and the interns!)

Chicken Pox kids at FPCH

Praise - Got to talk to Kristen today (one of my Asbury BFFs)

So many opportunities

Sweet kids

Functioning cars and the second gate

New intern

Shannon and Lena are here (Brad's wife and kid)

Sunshine (but no sunburn)

Bacon for breakfast

Safe water

Fans that usually work

Cozy bed (though not quite as cozy as my asbury bed!)

4 days without blogging?!?!

I'm not sure I can ever remember all that's happened in the last four days.  Not much!  There has been a lot of me on my computer working on this or that.  I'm having a few frustrations about things not working out how I wanted, but I'm always going to make the most of it!  As for normal Haitian setbacks, those don't frustrate me at all!  We had no internet for a couple days.  The gate into our community has been flooded for months and months, and it's been getting worse and worse to get through without falling into the car-catchers.  The water is super nasty brown with who knows what in it.  The boys had to walk through it the other day.  GOOD NEWS THOUGH!  We found another gate!!!!! WIN!!!!  Just in time because our main gate is impossible to pass now.  The whole bridge is collapsed.  The government may or may not be working on fixing it - lol.

A couple days ago, Ali and I had the idea of homemade ice cream!  It was delicious!  I'm definitely going to have to do that again while I'm here.  We also watch POTC 3!!  Good times.

We went to FPCH yesterday, and I fell even more in live with a kids.  I did a lot of playing and tickling (which unfortunately led to the kids tickling me as a mob).  We brought them cookies, and it was probably like the first time they had ever had them ever. We also brought juice.  The said "Thank you Jesus" when they saw what we had brought.  Also, isn't it funny that they know how to say, "give me candy, please" in english?  Funny and also a little sad.  The kids told me I was beautiful.  They're the beautiful ones, in my opinion.  I'm definitely going to have to get a lot more pictures with the kids before this summer is over!  Especially Mikayla, Francesca, Angelica, etc.  I just want to know all of their names!  There are like 50 at FPCH at 19 at Tree of Life.  I love those kids.  How will I ever leave this country?

Today we had Sunday Funday, in spite of the hour or so delay in getting back to the house after church.  We went to the Caribbean Lodge, and I ate good fried chicken and fries.  I know it's a nice restaurant, but I am ever aware of the possibility of getting sick off of the food here.  A lot of expats eat there though, so I'm assuming it's relatively safe.  We went swimming.  The swimming pools here are so hot!  It's like swimming in the bath!

LOVE YOU ALL!

Please comment because I love it.  =]  Also, tell me what you'd like to know about Haiti.  I'd love to answer any questions you might have.

water boarding isn't torture! it's bonding!

So, yesterday the four of us were eating dinner, and we started talking about water boarding.  Boys are ridiculous.  The fact that the average CIA agent can only handle 14 seconds doesn't really make me want to try it for myself, but it did for the guys!  So we did it!  Brad only lasted 12 seconds, and Patrick lasted like 52 seconds.  We found out afterwards though that we should have been holding the water from higher up.  How do we fix that problem?  We're going to do it again tonight!  This is what happens when you don't have TV!  Hahahaha.
Today, we went to Tree of Life and FPCH.  I am going to be going back once a week to do Bible Studies/Crafts with the orphans there.  Tree of Life isn't doing very well right now.  The owner of the orphanage lost her job and has fibromyalgia and is pregnant.  School had to end early this year because they couldn't pay the teachers.  The kids are increasingly underfed and malnourished.  The really nice lady who we talked to today wants to leave soon because she has worked there for 2 years and only got paid for four months of that time.  The kids there are so affectionate.  They are all over you as soon as you get out of the car, and they fight for a spot in your arms.  It just makes me want to stay there forever, holding a kid in my arms.
I love so many things about Haiti.  Here is a list of some things:
The people are always outside!
The fruit is delicious - I hope we have lime juice for dinner tonight.  Yum.  And probably delicious pineapple for dessert.  And maybe a mango straight off the tree!
It's so windy!  I love the fresh air.
The ocean and the mountains are my two favorite landscapes, and that is the entire makeup of the country.
You don't have to wear a seatbelt!  ;)
It's never cold!
I get to wear a dress every day!
Coke comes ice cold in glass bottles.
I don't know enough of the language to know is someone is making fun of me (yet).
We have fresh bread for lunch every day.
Everybody sings.  My world is filled with music.
Just to name a few....


Yesterday, I met a Haitian nun!  She runs an orphanage for street boys.  We didn't get to see the orphanage, but we should get to sometime next week.  We are going to be doing our bible schools there also.

On a totally first world note, I am addicted to Temple Run.

Anyway, I'm working on a curriculum for our summer programs.  Please comment with any craft/activity ideas you might have!  Also, feel free to comment to prove that you read this.  I don't miss America, but I do miss my friends and all you Bollar's out there!

Love,
Shelbs

it's been ONE WEEK! [and dreams are coming true]

Actually, it's been 9 days since I left Nashville, TN.  Crazy, right?  Every time I think that I'm starting to get a tan, I look again and I'm still as pale as a ghost.  Hahahahaha.  Now that the teams are gone, it's just me, Charles (medical intern), Brad (manages the guest house), Ali (staff), some Haitians, and Patrick (a guy who comes down here all the time and just got here yesterday).  No one wanted to go to church yesterday except for me.  But going to church once a week is the bare minimum for me, so we found a way.  I got to go with some lovely ladies with some other organizations, and it was really neat.  I got to meat a lot of people at church, and the service was really good.  Hopefully, I will get there one way or another every week.
So let me tell you about the hardest thing I've done since I've been here.  It has nothing to do with lack of air conditioning, warm showers, safe roads, etc, or even to do with starving children or poverty.  Saturday and today, Charlie and I did inventory!  The upstairs of the staff house has just piles and piles of junk.  Nothing is organized.  Some things, we didn't even really know what they were.  It's legit that we have so much stuff to give away, but I guess I don't really understand why we STILL have it.  Some of it seems to be from Valentine's, Easter, or even Christmas, so who knows how old it all is?  Hundreds of toothbrushes, crayons, soap, clothes, silly bands, everything you can think of!  The medical section was the worst. Our excel spreadsheet has hundreds of categories.  We worked on it for hours and hours on Friday and about two hours today.  Two hours on the craft section alone.  I just hope that they keep up with the inventory from now on so that they don't have to go back and do it again.  I'd rather they just go and give away all the stuff upstairs and have a fresh start!
The last two nights, Ali has been gone, so I in the big house alone!  It wasn't scary though.  I watched Toy Story 2 on my computer last night, so that was really nice.  I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing right now - if anything.
Being here gets me thinking a lot about what I'll do with the rest of my life.  I find that questions like, "if you could do anything, what would you do?  if you could go anywhere, where would you go?  what is your dream job?" etc to be really helpful.  I worked so hard to get here this summer, and there is no place I'd rather be right now.  It was my dream to get here, but what will be my new dream?  Should I move here after I graduate or maybe work with homeless or youth in America?  If I stay in America, should I live in Lexington, Florida, California, or somewhere new?  If I live in another country, should I live here or somewhere new?  And with what organization?
It's only a year until I graduate, so I feel like I should have answers to some of these questions, but I don't really.  All I know is that I'm where I'm supposed to be right now, and I have a year to figure out the next step.
Fini.

Flag Day!

Happy Flag Day!  Haitians have a lot of holidays, and today was one of them.  

First, though, I'll tell you about yesterday.  I went to Luly with a team that is here doing a photojournalism thing.  We took pictures and did interviews at the school, clinic, etc.  We went to a pretty beach and found lots of shells.  There was a cat at the clinic, by the way.  It was so sweet and the only cat that I have ever seen in this whole country.  So that's pretty cool.  It costs $2 to go to the doctor here, but most people don't want to spend the money on it.  The other day some guy's friends brought him into the clinic after a heart attack, but he was already dead when the doctor saw him.  The doctor was super sweet, and she spoke really good english too.

Today was flag day, so people were off school/work.  Therefore, we went to Wahoo for a fun day!  http://wahoobaybeach.com/ Check it out.   It's legit.  It was actually nicer than any beach I ever went to in California, especially since the water was so beautifully clear.  But also, the food was good, the pool was nice, everything was clean, and the beach was just so perfect!  Guess who put sunscreen on seven times and still got burnt!  This girl.  Pretty much everyone is lobsterrific though.  I bought some really pretty jewelry today too.  The resort is really close to the town where the big celebration of flag day is, and the president himself went there today!  In fact, we saw him on our drive home.  (Well, we saw his fleet of cars because the whole right side of the street had to pull over to let him through.  All the windows were completely tinted, of course).  So I didn't actually see him, but I was like less than five feet away from the president of Haiti today!  Also, we saw a parade on the way home.  It was pretty neat.  There were a bunch of dancers suddenly next to us on the street, and we were all really confused, but afterwards came  a band and other groups of people.

I am so glad to have my Chacos.  (Thanks mom!)  In case you don't know, Chacos are wonderful shoes that are great for rugged terrain.  Today I thought I would wear my flip flops because we were going to the beach, but I realized quickly how much my Chacos were doing for my feet.  There are just too many rocks on the street that dig into your feet.  

The two teams that are here are going home tomorrow, and after that I don't know when another team is coming in.  I sort of feel like I should be leaving with them - not that I want to, but that it's just time to go.  On the contrary, I still have 88 days left here.  It hasn't really sunk in, but I do live here for the next 12 weeks, and I've only been here one week so far.

As always, please leave comments because they are very encouraging, and I really appreciate it.

Shelby

P.S. We saw a 2 or 3 year old driving, without the adult even having their hands on the wheel with them.  As if the streets aren't insane here anyway.

Toms toms toms

Hello again!

I’m so sweaty because the generator wasn’t working until just now.  Still pretty spoiled though.  Anyway, today we did a lot more Toms.  We went to two schools that were about an hour and a half away from here.  I love Toms, but I don’t think I will ever buy another pair (though if my mother bought me a pair, I would wear them).  I wouldn’t discourage other people from buying them if they normally spend $45 on shoes, but I just don’t think that Toms is as great as I always thought it was.  The shoes that we gave the kids barely fit them.  We had to squeeze them onto their feet, so most of them will probably outgrow them within a few weeks.  Also, the kids we have seen already had shoes.  Granted, the Toms may have been better, but Toms kind of makes it seem like the kids they distribute shoes to have never owned a pair of shoes in their lives.  Ali said that at some of the places she has given shoes, she has never seen the kids wearing them again (not even the next day).  Who knows what happens to them?  Maybe the kids don’t like them, or maybe the adults sell them.  I have no idea, and it would be really hard to investigate.  We had a lot of good discussions tonight about organizations like Toms and how much they really help Haiti.  There are so many problems here, and it’s all so flippin’ complicated.  It leaves my head kind of swimming.  The thought almost makes me want to run; I can’t solve all of the problems here.  I’ll never be able to.  I know that it’s no reason to give up though.  I mean, it’s not my job to fix every single thing that’s wrong with the country.  I can do my best to love the people here right now, and the country may or may not be a better place in ten years.  I don’t know, but I feel like it’s going to improve here.  It’s just a feeling, anyway.

I got to have a lot of good, long discussions tonight about Haiti, ministry, needs, etc.  I guess I feel like I still have no idea where God is calling me.  Should I live here when I graduate?  I don’t know.  If the greatest need that a person can have is the need for God, isn’t the need just as much in America?  And I know how to minister within American culture, so should I be doing that?  I can learn how to do it here, but it will take years, and I’ll still never really be a Haitian.  I don’t know… These are just things that I think about.  Sometimes I think about how I’m graduating from college in ONE YEAR, and I get a bit nervous.  Oh well, I’ll try not to think about that too much and just enjoy my time here.  I really do love it. 

By the way, tonight we had chicken creole for dinner, and it was SO GOOD!  The whole meal was really grand and ended with delicious anana (pineapple!).  Did you know that I live on a tropical island?  Mangoes, coconuts, pineapples… It’s okay if you’re jealous.

All right, it’s hard getting you people to comment on my blog, but here is a game for you!  What song is this?  (It’s an easy one).

Papa Abraham gen a pitit ti moun.  Papa Abraham gen a pitit ti moun.

That’s actually all I can remember right now.  I was trying to get our translators Mano and Ostenel to teach me, but we ran out of time.  I will learn it soon though!  I am determined!  I love to sing and dance and play with these beautiful, wonderful children.  There is a lot of argument about what kind of aid hurts and what really helps in the long run.  One thing that I know is that it does not hurt anyone for you to love a child.  I think that it is really important to give them some of the love that they need, and I hope that I’ll get to do a lot of that in the next three months.   I hope some of the River Falls people got a picture or two with me in it because I have literally only taken three pictures since I’ve been here, and they have been of this room.  I almost took a picture of my feet today; my Chacos kept a “Z” shape on my foot from getting dirty, but the rest of my feet were covered in a thick layer of dirt.  It was so funny looking.  I keep forgetting to bring my camera over to the other house, and I don’t usually come back here until it’s time to go to sleep. 

There’s a lot of free time these days to play games or watch the Lion King 2, but I think I will be getting much busier after this week.  Responsibilities, yay!

Peace out!

orphans?!

It's so funny.  Here I was feeling like I hadn't posted a blog in several days, but I did just yesterday!  Time moves very slowly here, which is the way I prefer it.  I feel like I get to experience so much in just one day, and even have time to check facebook, write in my journal, and read the bible!  

Well, yesterday I wasn't feeling too great.  Actually, I felt sick since Saturday in America, but I was stubbornly refusing to admit it to myself.  I couldn't even really eat at the airport in Chicago all night, and I had a headache since before I landed in Haiti.  Yesterday, I finally admitted that I wasn't feeling great, and I came back to the staff house to take some phenergan and sleep extra long.  And now I feel fantastic!

We are so fortunate here to have plenty of electricity and water.  We have a generator because the city electricity goes out often (every night).  We get to have fans on all night with the generator though!  It's great!  Also, I can take a shower like every day, so I feel pretty darn spoiled.  Those things are a lot more than your average person here has access to.

Today we went to two orphanages - Foundation for the Promising Children of Haiti (FPCH) and Tree of Life.  One problem here is that many parents give their children to the orphanage in hopes of giving them a better life - consisting of two meager meals a day and still bleak conditions.  There have been a lot of problems in the past with people adopting kids who have parents.  It rips families apart, but the parents let it happen because they want a better life for their kids.

We gave the kids toothpaste, toothbrushes, and soap!  We also got to give out TOMS!  YESSSSS!  I have always wanted to be a part of the whole Toms thing.  

I had a lot of fun with the kids today.  The kids at Tree of Life were very needy and affection.  They ran to us with their arms up and didn't want to be set down the entire time.  I fell in love with a little one named Luciana.  I'm going to get a lot of opportunities to visit these two places in the future, so I'm trying to remember names.  There are so many kids, though; I know it will be a very long time before I get very many names down.

I am trying to be good with the food.  I have eaten at least two things at every meal though!  There is bread, rice, salad, eggs, bacon, beef, yum.  We had cupcakes for desert last night and pudding tonight - yes, very spoiled.  I was so excited tonight because I thought we were eating goat, and I really liked it.  I was so ready to get on here and tell all of you that I LOVE TO EAT GOAT!  But, that wouldn't necessarily be true, because I found out that we were actually eating beef.  Fail.

It is really hot here, so do pray that I will be able to handle it as it gets even hotter in the coming months.

I have been excited to practice my Creole, but I still don't know much - especially with adults.  I have plenty to play around with the kids though!  I can do colors, numbers, shapes, days of the week, months, etc.  

Ali and I and some Haitians live in the staff house.  Really though, it's a huge house that's mostly empty right now.  I know that later in the summer I will be sharing my room with a couple more interns.  For now, I have TONS of space!  

As ever, please post questions and comments!  

Shelbs

another one! (hope it doesn't annoy you!)

Hey everyone!

Today has been a great day so far.  We were supposed to distribute Toms today, but it didn't work out.  We should be doing that maybe tomorrow or Wednesday. Instead, we went to Williamson and Luly.  We brought the kids letters from their penpals in Minnesota.  We helped them write letters back and draw portraits of themselves.  The kids were adorable, though rather shy.  I'm capable of asking basic questions (how are you? what is your name? how old are you?), but many of the kids wouldn't answer.  I told them in Creole, "I would like to learn how to speak Creole.  Can you help me?" They looked at me funny, but they were just waiting for me to do something.  I started doing some of the parts of the body that I knew, but they would just nod if I got it right.  I'm hoping that my language skills will improve greatly in the next few months.  

The school in Luly is funded completely by the organization that I'm working with.  The president came to its grand opening and announced free education, but the government has yet to hand over a single penny.  The problem is that the people there still believe that the government is paying for the school.  Mostly in Haiti, kids have to pay a lot to get to school, or they have to be sponsored through some organization like World Vision, Compassion, etc.  

Please post comments on questions on my blog so that I can stay motivated to keep writing often!  I would love to know what all of you would be interested in hearing about.

Love,

Shelby
P.S. The "roads" here are always flooding.  I assumed that this was one of those things that has always been true.  It turns out, though, that when the U.S. embassy was built in Haiti, they rerouted some of the waterflow system that is on the side of streets.  It is because of the U.S. Embassy that these roads are now ridiculous!  You probably wouldn't risk driving through it in America, but this is Haiti!
P.S.S.  Sometimes it's really hard for me to tell the difference between problems that have always been here and ones that are post-earthquake.  There was a pretty clear example of the earthquake consequences that we drove past today.  It was a huge tent city - I think Ali said that 100,000 people lived there.  And before the earthquake, no one lived in that area at all.  It's crazy!

day one

My first day in Haiti has been great!  I'm super tired though, so I think I better get to bed.  My first week is going to be about shadowing Ali, the missionary, and the team that is here (from Minnesota).  One of the girls on the team asked me a question.  I guess I should know things, but I don't really yet!!!  Oh well!  Tomorrow, we are going to see some kids and give them TOMS SHOES!  I am also very happy to see that the shoes are of a much higher caliber than the Toms that you get in America.  These are built for the rough Haiti terrain, so I'm sure they last longer.  The generator is out of gas in the staff house, so I'm sleeping in the guest house tonight (not that either of those things really mean much to you reading this).  I will be happy to explain more about everything when I get the chance.  If I weren't so tired, I would do it right now!
Happy Mother's Day, mom!  I'm sorry I'm so far away.
Love you all!
<3 Shelby

on my way out

Here I am, in the chicago airport!  I will be leaving in about eight hours, first to miami, and then to Port au Prince!  Life has been so busy, that I have barely been able to process all of these emotions.  I had the busiest semester ever, and it was followed by one short week of preparing and spending time with my wonderful friends and family.  I'm definitely excited, but I'm a little bit nervous as well.  I'm repeatedly reminding myself that it doesn't matter if anything goes wrong because God will be with me through it all!  Everything will be fine even if I do lose my luggage or miss my flight or whatever.  I wasn't worried about any of these things before, but I'm suddenly doubting my competence in travelling internationally alone!  This either the bravest or the silliest thing that I have ever done.  I feel like such an adult right now.  This is all so crazy!

I also want to thank again all of you who are supporting this internship and praying for me.  This couldn't have happened without you.

I won't be in america for three months, and I know it won't be the same when I get back - because I won't really be the same! 

I love all of you!  If you read this in the next eight hours, feel free to call me.  I've got nothing better to do!  The airport is rather empty this time of night, and most of the interesting places are closed by now.

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.4