Haiti

I really wanted to expand on how I fet about my trip to Haiti here but time has become my scarce commodity. But I hope you can enjoy the pictures.


The Citadelle Laferrière, the largest fortress in the Western Hemisphere and designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The Citadel, along with the nearby Sans-Souci Palace, was built in 1805 by Henri Christophe, a key leader during the Haitian slave rebellion, after Haiti gained independence from France at the beginning of the 19th century.

The walls of the fortress itself rise up 130 feet from the mountaintop, and the entire complex, including cannonball stocks, yet excluding the surrounding grounds, covers an area of 108,000 square feet. The first portion of the trail is seven-miles up hill, I was excited and hoping I could hike all the way there, but got tired half way and took a horse…

(once we got to the top we had p&J's for lunch)

(We made it down!)

I have a little more than a week left here...

-Maira

An update on last weekend

On Friday, Jon and I headed towards Santo Domingo in the morning. We dropped by the Administration office to say our farewell to Kayla. Kayla was one of the persons that interviewed me before I got accepted into this internship program. She has been working with Esperanza for over two years and has done an exceptional job.

Later that day we caught a bus to Samana where we took another gua gua (local small mini-van) to Las Galleras. There we ate at a pizzeria and then took a midnight swim on the beach. The water was warm, there was a cool breeze, and a full moon; it was just perfect.

We were a group of 6 volunteers--all coming from different areas, except Nate (the one in the hat); he is living in Samana.


It rained Friday night and early Saturday morning; luckily it cleared up and we were still able to carry out our beach plans for the day. We rented a truck with two drivers and headed to Playa el Rincon. The beach was secluded and the water was calm, warm, clear, and shallow, but on the other side of a cliff there were waves. We were in the water most of the day, had chicken fights, and ate lunch there. (I even tried fish!)

On the way there we met up with a lady who asked for a ride to the beach. She was selling coconut bread. Her bread was delicious. We asked her if she had heard of Esperanza International, and surprisingly she said she had. She had gotten a loan about two years ago to start her coconut bread business. Because her business took off, she is now not part of a bank but can keep it running with her profits. She did state that her husband was currently receiving a loan from Esperanza to help him with his business. How random and cool is that?



We got a hotel on Saturday in Samana, and in the moring headed towards Cayo Levantado, a little island of the coast of Samana. The island was beautiful! Doesn’t it look like a post card? The only thing that was expensive was the food. They wanted to charge us between $12-25 USD for food! And of course I protested :] I went over to where the workers were eating and asked if we could pay under the table for cheaper food. Initially they gave us a high quote for making us food but I pulled my “I am a poor volunteer" speech and they lowered their prices to 300 pesos (about half of what other places were charging). The food turned out to be delicious; we had rice, beans, salad, fish, and drinks.







The kids playing SWAP-- they love the game. They have to walk around the chairs and when I say SWAP they sit, whoever is left standing picks a card from my hand and reads it (review from the lesson).


'Till next time...

Tiny update

So I had an amazing weekend! I went to Samana with five other volunteers. I will hopefully post pictures of this trip later. I have a really good story to tell--wish I had more than five minutes to type this up, but I am about to head out to teach English. Since I don’t anticipate having much computer time this week, I wanted to let you all know I was still alive, and also share a little bit about what I am doing. I am currently translating for Breen, a nurse with a public health backgroup that is volunteering for Esperanza. She is from Seattle and is here to give advice to the Esperanza and Caridad clinic. She is also going to write up an update about the services and programs that the clinic provides to help generate donations from the US. We also plan on putting up an art gallery online (the clinic has a bunch of donated paintings from famous artists that did not sell in an auction).

So that is all for now. Much love,
Maira

Happy Monday [=

You know, we always seem to see Monday as a drag, but I am especially thankful for today, even if I didn’t get off to a great start. I woke up late, and there was no electricity. I didn’t have time to eat breakfast, and when I started walking to work it began to rain (and yes--I forgot my umbrella). I eventually got to work (a little wet but I got there), had a devotional, and ate a little bread to calm my stomach, all three a blessing. When it was time for lunch I decided to walk home and make something instead of buying lunch. I was planning on making instant soup, since it’s cheap and easy, plus something hot seemed about right for a rainy day. But my host mom had other plans (did I mention she is 95?!). She was really glad to see me there for lunch; she got really exited because today they were having mainly veggies. She served me what they were having for lunch but excluded the chicken. I had white rice, beans, steamed vegetables, avocado, and a green salad. Her hospitality warms my heart.

I came back to the office, this time with an umbrella, and now I am writing this blog. So as you can see, there are several reasons why I am happy today. The first one, it’s raining and there is a cool breeze; I love the change from the typical hot and humid days. Second, the fact that I woke up late meant that I got more sleep. Yes, there was no electricity, but it always seems to fail at least two to three times a day. This will make me appreciate this scarce resource and use it more wisely when I get back home. I got to spend my lunch time with my host family and didn’t have to pay for a meal.

But most importantly, I am thankful for the opportunity that God gives me to start this week. According to WikiAnswers, about 250,000-300,000 people die in a 24-hour time span, so I am thankful that I am alive and healthy I am thankful for this Monday.

Pictures of Batey Caimito and my grocery store

These are typical roads to a batey. In this case we were heading to Caimito, one of the poorest bateys I have visited.


Caimito, to my surprise, has been the best bank meeting I have attended thus far. They gathered shortly after we arrived, and the meeting started on time. All 30 members were accounted for; if someone was missing they had a written excuse with a representative there. Everyone was respectful when someone was talking, and when it came time to collect the money every group had theirs to the dime (no one even needed change!). But they also knew how to have a good time; once the meeting adjourned we had a birthday celebration. We had cake and soft drinks and enjoyed each other's company.



This is the home/business of Maria Vital in Caimito. Maria is in her mid-fifties and started her grocery store two years and seven months ago. Maria is Haitian, and came to the DR over 30 years ago to accompany her husband who migrated to work as a sugar plantain worker. Life hasn’t been very easy for Maria, but she states that now that her business has started rolling, her life has totally changed. She tells me that before she had her business she would sit, look at the ground and be sad. “I had nothing to do. I had my hands but couldn’t use them; it’s a lonely and sad feeling.” Now Maria is quite the hard worker, despite her age. In addition to the routine job of keeping the colmado stocked up and running, she sells bread and coconut candy that she herself makes. She says there are days where she starts work at ten in the morning and doesn’t end until midnight, yet she is proud to be able to state, “I work hard and fend for myself." But what is more surprising is that even though Maria is busy, she never fails to attend the literacy course that Esperanza is offering. This is surprising because Maria’s glasses broke and she has trouble seeing, and yet she is still determined to learn how to read and write.





The little boy I am holding is from Caimito; he just turned 2 months old. He really liked me! He was fussy around other people, but when he was with me he kept on laughing. (I think he had a little crush, haha)

As you can see from the picture, apperantly I have my own Colmado (grocery store) =]


Thanks for following this blog and for your much appreciated prayers. I hope you guys have a great Fourth of July weekend; be safe and have a blast.