Sweaty hugs

Gabriela and I are house sitting. Our friends Josh and Marylynn are in Canada right now and they are letting us stay at their place until we find something for ourselves. Its a nice place in Petionville, a second story apartment with a nice breeze coming through it. The day we came back from Canada together, I immediately noticed a potential child hazard. The main entrance door at the top of the stairs has the kind of lock that automatically locks when you close it - so unless you have a key, you can't get back in. I right away warned Martha (Gabriela's nanny) about it and told her never to go downstairs unless she had keys with her. I also told her I would get a copy made to hide in the garage.

Well, tonight after a long day out visiting friends, doing laundry, going to my office for a few hours, Gabriela and I came home. We had some food, cleaned up a bit and then had a shower. We were hanging out some clothes to dry when I remembered that we were low on water, so I quickly ran downstairs to turn the pump on while Gabriela was taking down the socks I had just hung up.

I threw the pump on and then headed up the stairs, only to see the light pouring through the doorway quickly dim as the door clicked shut. Gabriela had pushed it closed. That moment was a blur, but I'm pretty sure I swore. I ran to the top of the stairs and asked Gabriela if she could open the door. It's a bit tricky for her to open it and I'm not sure she's ever really done it before. She couldn't do it and I couldn't explain it. So, I asked her to get the keys. She loves playing with keys and definitely knows what they are and what they are used for. She ran to the kitchen and I heard her climb up on a chair to grab the keys I had thrown down there when we came home. I heard her running back with keys jingling! Yes, saved! I asked her to give them to me, but she wanted to stick them in the keyhole on her side, which she couldn't do either. Then she dropped them and as I peeked under the crack under the door, I saw that they were the keys for my office. Yikes!

"Gabriela, please go get the OTHER keys." Pitter patter as she runs back to the table, and I hear keys again!!! Great. This time I convince her to push them under the door to me. Wrong keys - these were my car keys. This whole time I am freaking out in my mind because there is absolutely no way to get in the house besides this door. All the windows are barred and the only other door is the same kind of door coming down from the roof.

I forgot to mention, I am only wearing my boxers this whole time. So I'm imagining having to go the neighbours or something, ask them to help me somehow. Until I realize that I'm actually locked in the garage - because we padlock the garage from the inside - that key is on the same key chain still on the table somewhere. I'm talking to her very gently, trying not to sound worried or stressed so she doesn't freak out. She's handling it all very well but I start to imagine the worst - sleeping in the stairwell until the nanny comes the next morning, with Gabriela stuck inside the whole time.

I forgot to mention that I am also sweating buckets.

"Ok Gabriela, can you please go get the OTHER keys, the ones with the pink holder."

"Ok papa," she says as she hits the floor running for the kitchen again.

This time she comes back with the right keys. She pushes them under the door and I open it.

SAVED. I give her a HUGE sweaty hug.

So sweaty that she pushes me away and says, "Papa bath?"


How could you be mad at eyes like these!???

Gabriela Goes to School

Just thought I'd share the big event of the day. Gabriela went to "school" for the first time today! We enrolled her at a Montessori school, which starts out with a day-care and then moves on to Kindergarten and then regular school. She'll probably do about 3-4 months in the day-care part and then move up to another level.

It's a nice place, called Boucle d'Art. I will bring her everyday between 7 and 7:30 and Martha will pick her up at 3 (except Fridays, which is 1:00). When Esther comes back we'll figure out another schedule.

It took me a while to get her there. I wanted to bring her earlier in the week but IOM lost 2 vehicles (and our entire office) in Gonaives and so they sent my truck to Gonaives - so I've been without for most of the week.

I think she's really going to like it! As you all saw this summer, she loves people, loves kids and loves to get involved in activities. She'll have a lot of fun.

I've been preparing her to go for the last few days, telling her we were going to school, that she was going to play with other kids, etc. I even bought her a new backpack in Canada and she loves it. This morning we got the backpack out and she got so excited. She rushed to get dressed and then put it on! She kept saying "airplane, airplane, airplane." I think she thought we were going on an airplane because she got to carry her own bag when we went on the plane last week!

Anyway, enjoy the pics!

Haiti Update

Some of you have been asking how I am - I'm fine. Haiti has been hit by four tropical storms/hurricanes in quick succession. It's currently raining and overcast this morning with the spinoff of Hurricane Ike, the eye of which is passing north of Haiti right now. Damage assessments are still being done but it's clear that there has been significant damage. The situation in Gonaives is the worst, and many say Hanna produced results worse than Hurricane Jeanne in 2004 (which hit Haiti the day after Esther and I arrived in Haiti). The number of deaths won't reach that of Jeanne, but the actual damage is said to be worse. I've spoken to my friends in Dezam, where we lived for 3 years, and the damage to crops is also extensive. Banana crops, sugar cane, avacados which were ripe on the trees - all this has been lost in many parts of the country. Many people had been preparing to plant their rice crop and the rice nurseries, at least in that part of the Artibonite were washed away.

You can read a lot more on major news sites. I found a few photo galleries for those interested in seeing pictures. Two good ones are here:

Le Nouvelliste: click on "L'actualites en Photos" on the left side of the page near the top.

MINUSTAH (the UN mission in Haiti)

I despair the fact that this only sets Haiti further back. Damage to national food production and the massive amounts of imported food aid is going to deepen the long-term food crisis here. School is set to begin this month, but it is expected that it will be delayed. Many schools have been damaged and it will be a while before they can be ready to receive students.

On a positive note, after 4 months of political instability, the Prime Minister (Michele Pierre Louis) was ratified on Friday. Hopefully this will result in improved coordination and progress.

Personally, I am ok. I'm a bit wiped out from how crazy work has been this past week. Apparently, unloading 50 tonnes of relief supplies off an airplane with 24 hours notice, finding a depot for it, getting it to the depot on 6 tractor trailers, and then loading them back up onto trucks the next day to send to all corners of the country on terrible roads after a devastating hurricane has knocked out bridges, flooded all kinds of areas and killed hundreds of people is not as easy as it sounds.

I am supposed to take vacation on Tuesday. Esther and I were going to meet up in NYC and then I was going to go up to Ontario to be with Gabriela and family and friends. I may need to stay for a while though, because of work demands. I should know by tomorrow. I really want to go, but at the same time, I feel the need to stay to help out at work. An unfortunate dilemma.

Please pray for people who are dealing with fall-out of this whole thing.

Ayiti Cheri.

MVG.

Hanna Update

We're all dealing with the fallout from Hanna, which hit Haiti relatively unexpectedly. Damage assessments are still being done but there is very clearly damage in many parts of the country. Official deaths are 14 at this point, but many expect it to rise still. Gonaives is still under a fair bit of water. Damage will be felt in housing but also, significantly in terms of damage to agricultural production.

Storms #3, 4 and 5

Gustav passed Haiti and left around 60 dead, minor flooding and lots of damaged homes. We thought Hanna would pass well north of us, but last night there was heavy rain for much of the night, especially in the north. At this point, we don't know of the damage, but we do know that much of the city of Gonaives is flooded. You'll recall that Gonaives was where Hurricane Jeanne hit in 2004 killing more than 1000 people. At some parts of the city, there is more than 3 meters of water. Our office is completely flooded there. In the wake of Hanna is Ike and another tropical storm developing. Stay tuned, and pray for those affected, including friends trying to get out of Haiti since last week.