life here in haiti

hi everyone, just a short message here to describe a little bit of life here post-earthquake.  this is a newer kind of blow to Haiti...the last earthquake recorded was 200 years ago so no one remembers it.  as i'm sure you've heard on the news many foreigners have been evacuated.  had we stuck around at the Canadian Embassy yesterday we would have been evacuated also...and although we are Canadian (Niko just received his temporary passport yesterday...that's why we were at the embassy) we are confused about getting evaucuated because Haiti is our home..and because we are surrounded by our Haitian neighbours and friends (all who are alive and fine- PRAISE GOD) who are not going anywhere...but rather are sitting together, processing the tragedy through stories and questions and frequent trips to the street, making and sharing food together, sleeping together (there are 25 people sleeping in our yard!), drinking coconuts together (there's a big tree in our yard!), singing together, laughing together.  Here a story an MCC friend told me that says it beautifully:  after the quake, everyone in her like many neighbourhoods, dragged their mattresses and blankets outside to sleep on top of the mountain above their houses.   They were all up there huddled up and someone said: "maybe God just thought we've been sleeping our houses too much."  My neighbour (another MCCer) asked me if i minded all the people in "my" yard.  I said, no way I LOVE it!! they keep me company and they feed us, play with Gabriela, and let me know when Niko needs to nurse because the rest of the time they are rocking him, singing to him, admiring him, teaching him Creole but more than these personal advantages for a tired Mama, watching these Haitians be together, support eachother, be in this moment is massaging my heart.  i wouldn't miss this for the world or for a hotel with stable electricity.  so as yet another mission arrives to rescue Haiti, Haiti is continuing it's mission as usual.  that's that. 
on the other hand, maybe why these folks are so chill about this earthquake is because they are so used to blows to the head.  there are people who's job it is to pick up bodies and load them into dumptrucks, there people who are gravely injured laying waiting in the dark not knowing how long they'll be there, there is a woman who stepped out to the market and came back to find her house collapsed her husband and daughter dead inside.   A Haitian friend of mine said today: now people won't build crappy houses here anymore!  but the reality is they will rebuild crappy houses for the same reason they built a crappy house in the first place.  there doesn't appear to be another good option for the majority in Haiti who are trying nothing more than to go to school, to work, to start a family, to raise children, in a peanut shell:  to be human.  it feels inhumane to be packing up and flying off.  (AS FOR OUR PERSONAL PLANS, a total minor news story,...as many of you know, we were planning to leave Haiti anyway...in fact just before the earthquake Matt and I were in the midst of our very popular discussion-- where are we going from here?  and well, we didn't decide Tuesday and by now what we've decided that we will try to get to the Domnican Republic where we have a friend, a wise friend who we hope will help us listen to where we will go next.  we'll keep you posted...we keep praying with you for ourselves and the world around us.)  love from us in HAITI

Barbies Without Borders

Two stories that I read a while ago, about big-hearted and well-meaning folks in North America trying to make a difference for Haiti again reminded me of the importance of sharing and showing the reality of the impact of "aid." An organization in Minnesota sent 285,000 pre-prepared meals to Haiti just before the holidays to help fight hunger. "We have decorations, we have presents, we have all this stuff and it's like a present to these kids is food...There's a cure for starvation, it's food and so if we can just get food into their bellies I think we can stop starvation, that's my hope, that's my Christmas hope if you will." In South Florida, a group of people is organizing a toy drive for Haiti and other countries in the Caribbean. I feel like a scrooge for saying it, but I really wonder what the long-term impact of sending anatomically impossible and very white Barbies to Haiti is! I mean really, Barbies!!

The "sending food" issue is more frustrating because of the great agricultural potential that Haiti has. In a nutshell, Haiti used to produce the majority of its food needs, especially rice. Deforestation and other economic factors have drastically reduced agricultural output here. In addition, the importation of foreign rice, made all the more possible for virtually no tariffs on those imports, means that rice production is nothing compared to what it used to be.

We all, me included, have this idea that we can change Haiti somehow, with our smarts and experience (we wrote a bit about that here) and by sending food and other stuff. But I really believe that real change will happen when Haitians in Haiti are empowered (by education, by access to resources, by a government that facilitates and encourages change and investment, etc). (Our friend Alexis, the MCC Haiti Policy Analyst, does a good job of posing this conundrum in a post about shoes.) It's frustrating and complex - balancing a heartfelt desire to help with and understanding of what really does help and I don't pretend to have the magic bullet. I guess we keep talking about it, keep caring about others, keep seeking motivation to help and keep asking ourselves, and more importantly, those we work with and those who benefit from this "help" about what they want and what works . . .

The debate continues.

J w a y e N o w e l

PEACE to everyone this Christmas. We are happy once again to be celebrating Christmas in Haiti. We’ll be singing and feasting, hiking, and spending time together and also, PACKING. We are getting ready to leave Haiti (in mid-February). Like many who leave Haiti, we’re not exactly sure where we are going. But, as they say in Creole, "Bondye bon", God is good. We have grown here in Haiti during the past five years, not just grown in love with our two Haitian-Canadian children but also in our faith in an plan (an adventure) that is so much bigger than us. We have grown in our faith in God. Gabriela has been taking about Père Noel's birthday this whole month and Matt and I have been talking about Jesus' birthday. Then (finally) the other day she asked: "Kote Jezi?", Where is Jesus? and Matt responded: He's around here somewhere. Hope you are also in the presence of the Divine this Christmas.

IMMANUEL, God with us, ALL of us.

Life is pretty sweet in Haiti right now.

Some moments are ordinary (can you believe tandem nursing in a fort has become ordinary? it has.)












and some extraordinary (Thank you SO MUCH for your visit Opa & Oma!)















but all (almost) are sweet...

Last Ask

Yesterday Esther and Niko spent a few hours at the Heartline Women’s Program. On Tuesdays, around 30 women and their young babies (many born at the birthing centre at Heartline) come to sit together and talk about baby-stuff and meet with a nurse if they have medical concerns for themselves or their babies. The program is designed to give these women the skills and tools they need to raise healthy babies. They invited Esther and the 13.5 lb Niko to come and talk about breastfeeding. Niko perfectly timed his nursing so they entered the room nursing and the women could watch him grow before their eyes. Esther’s other breast was spraying milk like a sprinkler and the women could relate to the experience of wetting their shirts with milk as well as all the other joys of breastfeeding. Niko’s rapid growth and great health is a wonderful testimony and affirmation to what many of them are doing already. Many Haitians (fathers and mothers and aunts etc.) have a hard time believing that a baby can grow big just from breastmilk (who doesn’t have a hard time believing this miracle!!??) with the added challenge of keeping themselves well fed and hydrated and having enough time to breastfeed with all the daily work of washing, cooking, taking care of others and in the face of aggressive advertising by formula, milk, and baby food companies. From what I hear, Esther had the women laughing and joking and learning too!

Gabriela and I came later with Esther’s parents who arrived for a week-long visit. Being at Heartline yesterday spurred me to write this quick post to do one last “ask” for your support, in honour of Niko’s birth, to help the Heartline Women’s program. This amazing program is making a HUGE difference in the lives of many women and babies and we would really like you to consider making a donation to help them out.

You can read our original post here

We have received a number of really generous donations, big and small. Here in Haiti, there’s a popular expression: “Mande pa peche” meaning "to ask is not a sin." So we’re asking, one last time, for your support of this amazing program.

(See the original post for ways to donate)

Thank you, mèsi...on behalf of the women and growing babies of Haiti.

Quick Update

A quick update from us:

- Most of our posts lately have been baby related BECAUSE WE LOVE OUR BABY!. Being pregnant, giving birth and actually having Niko in our lives has been pretty all-consuming but we are really enjoying it. Niko is doing great, growing, healthy and happy!

- We are still trying to raise money for the Heartline Women's centre. We would be really honoured if you would make a donation, big or small, to this centre which provides critical pre-natal and birth services to poor Haitian women. We have set a goal of $5000 and quite a number of you wrote us and said you would donate - THANKS!

- My (Matt) parents arrive today! This is their third time coming to Haiti (4th for my mom!) and we are grateful to be in Haiti where many people have been able to visit. Won't you come too??

- Haiti remains interesting as always. Many people have been talking about how Haiti is at a crossroads, how there is unprecedented hope for Haiti right now. I think a lot of that is true, BUT, it appears that the government is going to fall this week. Some politicians are upset with the Prime Minister's track record thus far and apparantly she is being summoned for a non-confidence vote. She may resign to avoid having to face that embarassment. Either way, if she goes down, the government goes down. That means political, social and economic chaos, again. It is very frustrating after seeing a lot of positive signs the past 2 years in Haiti to be contemplating heading back down the path to turmoil.

Breathing deeply, here in Haiti.

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

We feel SO BLESSED to have given birth to Niko at our home in Haiti. You can read our birth story on our blog at: mattandestherinhaiti.blogspot.com. It was a crazy night but as the dawn broke our dreams came true and we held Niko in our arms. It was exactly how we wanted it! Even though we didn’t know beforehand what the birth would be like, four wonderful and tremendously experienced women with Heartline Women’s Center here in Haiti do know what a perfect birth is, and they graciously and expertly shared it with us.

Since the birth last Saturday, we’ve been busy gazing at Niko and reading your notes of congratulations and blessing. THANK YOU. Many of you have also asked about sending a gift. We feel overwhelmed by your love and support and here is what we would offer as a suggestion:

We would be honoured if you would make a donation to the Heartline Women’s Center Pre-natal Program.

Here is some background on the program:

Each week the Heartline Pre-natal program sees twenty pregnant women, most of them who have never received pre-natal care. The program has been consistently full for two years with a wait list of twenty women. In the US or Canada, each of these woman's pregnancies would be "high risk". The program works with women that are malnourished, anemic, and suffering from diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis.

These challenges mean that we need to work with them and monitor their pregnancies very closely. We check their vitals and offer them vitamins and pre-natal/health education each Thursday. On a rotating schedule and when extra attention is needed they are seen in the exam room for a full pre-natal check at least once a month. At the end of their pregnancy we see them in the clinic room weekly.

When it comes time to deliver their babies, the women can come to the Women's Center to have their baby delivered under the care of a Certified Professional Midwife. Most women in Haiti will deliver at home without the help of a medical professional. Often times women will attempt to get into a hospital to deliver, only to find out that the hospital is full or to learn that the expense is too great. Over and over again we've seen horrible outcomes for women who could not get help when they were in labor and needed immediate medical attention. Haitian women have very few choices.

This is where we come in ... Heartline offers the women in our program a safe, clean, peaceful and loving place to experience labor and delivery with trained Midwives to assist them throughout their labor and delivery. There is no cost to the woman. We are here to serve them.

There is an enormous list of supplies that the Heartline Pre-Natal/Birth Center needs to continue offering exceptional care to pregnant women of Haiti. The list includes vitamins and other meds, IV equipment, hospital beds, oxygen tanks, towels and clothing, teaching tools, vaccines and many more small but essential items.

A donation of $50 will provide pre-natal vitamins for all 20 women in the program for a week.

A donation of $100 will cover the ENTIRE cost of one safe labour and delivery at the Women’s Center.

Every little bit helps - $5, $20, $100, $500. Whatever you are able to share will make a pregnancy and birth a little closer to the joyful miracle that it was for us and should be for all women.

Here is how you can help.

1. Send a donation directly to the Heartline’s office in the US. Please be sure to write: Heartline Pre-Natal Program (NIKO) on the memo line of your cheque.
Heartline Ministries
PO Box 898
Sunnyside, WA 98944

2. Donate to Heartline Women’s Program through PayPal. Go the the Heartline website and click on the "Donate Women's Program" link.

3. Send us (Matt and Esther) a cheque and we will collectively write a cheque to the Heartline Pre-Natal program. (This may be the easiest option for people in Canada because Heartline cannot currently receive Canadian $ cheques at their Washington address).

For those living in Haiti, you can donate directly to Heartline in person OR write us a cheque or give us cash and we will donate in your name.

Matt Van Geest
59 Simpson Road
St.Catharines, ON L2N 3Z5

We are most honoured by YOUR support of the Heartline Pre-Natal program.

With love,

Matt, Esther, Gabriela and Niko

As it turns out we don't need to go out and buy another "GWO tété" [BIG breast] as Gabriela has been talking about this for weeks. My milk was already here when Niko arrived due to Gabriela's love love relationship with nursing. Soooo, on the midwives suggestion, because my milk was a bit too milky for little Niknik, I encouraged Gabriela to nurse a bit too just to reduce the quantity a bit while at the same time not keeping my milk supply strong. Well we didn't even have to ask Gabriela because as soon as she sees them, she all game. Yesterday my breasts grew bigger than my belly so I knew the milk was even more HERE. Gabriela climbed up for a nurse and after a few big sucks sat up exclaiming in front of us and our neighbours "Mwen pa vle lèt!" [I don't want MILK!]. We all burst out laughing and she got cross-looking and then burst out laughing too. Then she asked Matt if she could nurse on him instead. We took this photo about 2 minutes later.
What a gift it is to be able to nurse! While both our first culture (Canadian) and our second culture (Haitian) are surprised to see us still nursing at age 3, we are happy that we are able to live out our instincts and ignore what doesn't seem to make sense to our instincts. We ENCOURAGE all Mamas to do the same (trust your instincts) whether it's nursing or bottle-feeding or writing post-modern lullabies. And we hope that both in Canada and Haiti that breastfeeding will be more and more encouraged and the breast will be celebrated for it's LIFE and HEALTH giving POWER above all.
EdG

The Birth

Friday morning, October 10th. Last prenatal visit with the AMAZING Stephanie!
We're not sure if it was the cervix massage or this...
that made Niko decide to start coming out

Labour started at around 6:15 PM. We were in the pool at the Kinam Hotel, just a regular Friday afternoon : )

Back at home contractions felt pretty good on all fours giving Gabriela the opportunity to ride me like a horse. We all stuffed her suitcase full of who knows what and she happily bounced out of the door with Alexis, Ben, Sharon, and Bryan. Thank you friends!!!!
The midwives arrived before 9 PM and then Hillary the photographer. I was like "who are these people in hospital scrubs?" and then I was like "ow ow owwwwwww! ow".
Labour was 13 hours including 2 short walks outside, but mostly in the bedroom which is really normal: in the closet, shower, toilet, on the ball, leaning on the change table, on the bed, at the other wall, trying to move my hips, killing mosquitoes between contractions (not so normal) and trying to embrace the next wave. That's a nice way of saying I fought like crazy, learned to breath, stroked the wall, yelled bloody murder, pushed, and then went back to contraction when we realized he wasn't down yet!!!!! (at 4 AM). We had a great time remembering all the hilarious things I said (not that I remembered : ) including "Come on Stephanie, this is RIDICULOUS!", "Okay, just kill me now!" and "I need an...epid-opisomy!" and others that I won't mention here. Our neighbours across the way only came over twice to ask if they could bring us to the hospital (hee hee). This morning I heard myself tell Matt about the pain: "like a machine gun 2 cm from my lower abdomen with endless bullets...pow...pow...pow." Niko's heart beat like a galloping horse during all but the second last push when Stephanie slipped her fingers beside his head, massaging it gently and the little horse was back.

I didn't know who was where when but everyone was exactly where I needed them. I could not have done it without everyone! PAIGE, doula at age 14, brought hot and ice cold compresses somehow simultaneously from the kitchen to my belly or back. Her Mom, TARA Livesay, arrived from running her first marathon in Minnesota five days earlier raising $62,000 for Medika Mamba which makes enriched peanut for growing Haitians, slept on the living room floor between contractions and prayed during them. BETH McHoul, 19+ years working with women in Haiti, training to be a midwife at age 56 not to mention running marathons, offered boundless encouragement especially "you're almost there" "you're so close" which is so very Haitian whether you are five minutes or five hours from the destination; Hillary held my hand, made coffee, brought ice and drinks, reminded me to breath and somehow also took all kinds of gorgeous photos (most of those featured here). Matt, ever present, laughed, breathed, massaged, and yelled, and breathed, and started all over with me, helped catch the blood, cried, AND CUT THE CORD,

and cried some more

and hasn't stopped cleaning, cooking, hosting, and getting me ice drinks since.

Stephanie, I don't have the words for Stephanie. At age 32, 300 births under her belt, 3 weeks in Haiti, stayed up all night doing everything, never short on suggestions even if I refused all of them. She even let me bribe her...she would say: "let's have two more contractions and then stand up"...and I would say "if you let me stay here in this position, I'll do nipple stimulation (which naturally speeds up contractions), I PROMISE!" (I HATED nipple stimulation b/c i hated making those bullets come even faster). And when I decided to take a "nap" at 4 AM instead of pushing Niko out, she was like "okay, sure, no problem" and she got nice and relaxed on the bed for a little siesta (until my next contraction : ) and she went with me, with us all the way until 7:19. When I began pushing she expertly broke all the membranes (my water did not break on it's own after 12 hours) and massaged every single millimetre open with a little olive oil and breathed with me to prevent serious tears of that little opening as it slowly, gently stretched to fit the 14 cm head.

After all that, they handed me the baby and instead of reaching for the baby, I reached between his legs exclaiming "he has a penis!" and then looked at his hands to see if he had six fingers and finally if he had a tattoo of Tabasco on him because I generally drown my food in the stuff.

Stephanie in the meantime, jumped in the shower to wash up and then pulled up a chair and threaded her needle.


Niko was Stephanie's first white baby delivery (the first 300 babies were Filipino where Stephanie completed her training) and go figure here in Haiti! So far, Niko is rather Haitian, coming out 10 days after the "date" and super chill, not to mention surviving the Tabasco so far. (We have been waking up in the night to wake him up!!!!!) He's just a little longer than the average Haitian babe but we DO see big babies born here come out already looking around!

BIG sister Gigi showed up in the morning...I LOVE this picture!

As for me, I'm just peachy! Really not tired and the tears (3) were very small and superficial. I did have an awfully sore tailbone but now I can sit up kind of : ) and today I started feeling the loss of blood which was over 2 pints. This morning I couldn't figure out how to spell anything, like "chich pea" or "we are hear" and momentarily couldn't see the computer screen at all, but water and the neighbour's Haitian chicken soup (liver!!!!) are working magic and avocados and grilled fish, and more avocados, and honey from Dezam, not to mention watercress, rice & bean sauce, mangoes, watermelon (yum yum) are helping me through. I am only mentioning half of the miracles that happened! But alas, this is a miracle that happens everyday and we are crazy blessed to have experienced every second of it.

Our neighbours who share and own our house were SOOOO quiet! and didn't come over once during labour. But their ears were pressed to the walls as they tracked the stages of labour. And after they met him, they spent the weekend, making soup, changing our sheets, washing diapers, fetching water, ice, avocadoes etc. If we ask them to buy oranges, they've already made the juice. Praise God! 300 cheers for Haiti and Haitian hospitality. Seriously I'm blown away! Thank you Madame Léon, Carlo, Simeon, MaryJo, Mammi...

okay must go...I started this post at 8 AM...Niko's doing a sleep marathon...Matt made solar food...G and M washed diapers after school...but the internet is the internet here and our photos were big.

LOVE LIFE LAUGH, EAT SPINACH


photos by Hillary Prag, Samurah, Matt Van Geest

Hi EVERYONE !

A couple pieces of exciting news to share with you or our expanding adventures!

It's OCTOBER meaning less of these








PRAISE GOD!

I met with SuperMIDWIFE Stephanie and Beth again on Friday! We felt the baby this time lower and also positioned like this (and this time not wearing any clothes ( :


ANTERIOR! ANTERIOR! ANTERIOR!

That means the










that i've been doing has been working!
Isn't that a miracle and at the same time SOOO obvious. (To get technical, the midwife prescribed 1 hour of hula-hooping ON-ALL-FOURS so that the spine- the heaviest part of the baby- would drop down! Anterior is when the baby's spine and back of head is at the front of the belly and the babe's face is facing my spine.) I loved the hula-hooping so much that i was disappointed when she said i can STOP now that the babe is in the "PERFECT POSITION". It is has also given me a fabulous labouring position! MESI STEPHANIE!!!

So the "due date" has come and gone. We celebrated and prepared with some more HENNA.














Thank you HILLARY
for sharing our weekend and taking gorgeous photos!!!!

The midwives say, NO PROBLEMO if baby-o doesn't come out until October 15th. (This is because "due-dates" are usually based on a 28-day cycle which some women have and many don't...AND...statistically most first bio-babies are born in the 41st week of pregnancy.) However we have started and re-instated some natural forces of encouraging the little one out of the WOMB including:
SEX, herbal tea, and our regular homework (practice breathing). Please join me/us by doing any of the above because they are great for all of us and ESPECIALLY drinking some water with me because I'm having a hard time still drinking enough WATER. Cheers!
And thank you for joining us virtually, spiritually, physically on this journey!
E & M & G & Ti Bump

our little life in Kenscoff

the house (yes the sky IS this BLUE)
a local artist
the washer-woman




what we do when we're not watching TV and surfing the net...God bless this beautiful country!
photos by Trish VanderKooy (thanks Trish, also for the visit!)

Kenscoff, Haiti (where impatients bloom all year round) photo by Hillary Prag

Our friends hosted a BLESSINGWAY for us last Sunday! It was WONDERFUL and BEAUTIFUL and PERFECT! We were/are ABSOLUTELY blessed. THANK YOU to those who were with us in body and/or in spirit both near and far. And thank you to Haiti for calling us home for the incredible event coming up.

There were head garlands
and oils and blessings for belly, big sister, Mama, and Papa

and the most beautiful quilt (a creation by Hillary and Pamela Prag)
but most of all the company of friends
photos by BEN DEPP

Here is bambino Meralus-Van Geest-deGroot's position last week! as demonstrated by Gabriela's Dora doll who Gabriela insists is named Gabriela Dora (just like her).

POSTERIOR
That's why i've been doing belly-dancing-on-all-fours for an HOUR a day!
By doing the belly dancing belly-down, the heaviest part of the babe (the SPINE) will be encouraged to drop to the front of my belly! And it feels fabulous actually. The midwives said i can give birth this way if I like : ) And they (the midwives) also said, no more of these:
photos by: Hillary Prag and Matthieu Van Geest

MINUSTAH IS YUCKY

Last night Gabriela and I were looking at some of her baby pictures - so she could try to see and remember what it was like to be a baby. She loves doing it. We came across this picture that we took at the airport, when she was three or four months old. She is being held by three Brazilian MINUSTAH soldiers - MINUSTAH is the UN Mission here in Haiti.

She started asking questions:

Gabriela: Is that MINUSTAH?
Matt: Yes.
G: Is their truck stuck?
M: No, they just parked there. They aren't in the truck because they are holding Gabriela in the picture!
G: I don't want to go in MINUSTAH's truck!
M: That's ok, you don't have to go in their truck.
G: PAPA!!!! I DON'T WANT TO GO IN MINUSTAH's truck!!!
M: Ok, you don't have to. But why don't you want to go in their truck?
G: Because MINUSTAH is yucky!

Now, I'm not particularly against the UN Mission here in Haiti though there clearly are some downsides - but Gabriela seems to have some very particular political views about the legitimacy of their presence here! Our little activist!

The MIDWIVES came to visit Friday. In Senegal (and probably France & Quebec etc.) a midwife is called a "Sage Femme". Here in Haiti one of the ways they are called is also "Sage Femme" if they are trained and "Femme Sage" if they aren't really "trained". Friday we met Stephanie, one of 3 Sages Femmes who is hosted by Haitian Ministries for at least the next 6 months to train Haitian Staff at Haitian Ministries. (Stephanie was delivered to our house by two Femme Sage, Beth & Tara, of Haitian Minsitries, and Paige, a 14 year old DOULA).
I can't think of a more empowering idea for Haitian women!!!! Stephanie, who had been in Haiti 2.5 days casually measured my bump, pulse, found the head, feet, arms, and heartbeat and then showed us the babe's position using Gabriela's Dora doll. And then she sat really close to me, looking me in the eye and told me candidly since you're an athlete, you'll love the high of giving birth but "birth is not a pain you can just push through". "This pain, you'll have to accept and embrace if you want the baby to come out of you." And, she said, double up on the avocados and find some liver to eat!
So our bambino's head is down although not quite at the exit but overall slightly posterior. Babies can be delivered posterior but labour can be longer and more painful (what can be called back labour). SO Stephanie showed me an exercise to encourage the babe's spine to line up about with my linea nigra (that light line that runs down a pregnant belly). I call it the belly-dancing-on-all-fours! I've been doing it every day...after doing it 30 minutes last night there was some rolling inside me and i felt some kicks on the other side. We'll see (feel) on the next visit, Friday!!!!
SO i have a bunch of homework (eating protein, belly-dancing, reflecting on pain) along with my usual de-cluttering (which apparently we now call nesting), teaching yoga, and regular work of living in Haiti and God willing (and Stephanie's prediction) I'll have another couple weeks to do it!
While in Canada thi summer talking to friends about pregnancy and post-partum, one said "make sure you have your freezer stocked with good things you like to eat". That was funny to me since barely can keep water cold in our beer-fridge sized fridge, not to mention spontaneous trees falling down on to electrical lines. But of things slightly more predictable, October marks the end of the rainy season and the curbing of the mosquito population.

when a tree falls...

In case you haven't heard from us...no we're not in labour but this happened in front of our house, a major road w/ no way around! No one was hurt! Lots of men came with machetes and hacked away for about 12 hours. Incredible!!!!! machetes! Public transportation trucks are passing now but the wires aren't transmitting any power from their pile on the road. We're buying ice and praying that our fan works (on batteries) night by night : ) to chase the mosquitoes.

we're climbing mountains as usual

Hi everyone, just a note to say all is fine with us. With two electric rackets (plus the one our neighbours swing from their chairs on their porch), we are getting along better with the mosquitoes who buy the way won't be here when some of you visit b/c they take vacation with the rainy season! It's a bit violent but also rewarding to electrocute 11 in one swing. Gabou's back in school. I'm teaching one reg. yoga class and starting a prenatal class as well. We're filling some hours everyday with emptying our house. I have met some of the midwives and WE will meet more this week when they get off the plane. We are planning for a home visit this Friday! We started making a birth wall where we've taped up ideas, inspirations, fears, and positions for different stages of the BIRTH. We also are looking at a cottage to rent on the weekends up in the mountains for after the birth. That's where we went today and to do our favourite day hike to the Janey Wynne Forest Reserve where we took these pics to share with you.

Haiti Makes Bid For 2216 Olympics

Haiti Makes Bid For 2216 Olympics

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI—Emphasizing the country's warm tropical climate, vibrant culture, and long-term plans to cultivate farmland capable of sustaining actual crops, the Haitian Olympic Committee formally announced its bid Monday to host the 2216 Summer Games.

Enlarge Image

Officials say the Games will be broadcast via satellite should the country happen to develop a space program by then.

Organizers of the LXXXI Olympiad, which would be held in the capital city of Port- au-Prince, said the event will showcase the many attractions that are sure to be conceptualized, financed, and constructed over the next 207 years.

"These Olympics will be the greatest the world has ever seen, provided inflation doesn't render the Gourd worthless and we manage to stumble into some kind of lasting stability in the next 20 decades or so," declared committee president Jean-Edouard Baker, standing beside a stack of burning tire shavings where he believes the Olympic flame may one day be housed. "2216 is our time."

Haitian leaders believe Port-au-Prince to be the ideal location for the games due to a number of civic improvements that could, in theory, be made there.

According to Baker, the city will try to compensate for its lack of passable roads and safe bridges by building a high-speed rail system which, "with a little luck," might someday connect to an Olympic village.

Enlarge Image

"This is the place where we may be able to possibly erect an aquatics center," said Baker, gesturing to a partially submerged field piled high with rusted-out Jeeps. "We're hoping that within a century or two we'll be able to raise enough food to feed enough workers to move enough dirt to make a hole deep enough to contain an Olympic-size pool."

Added Baker, "We don't have much in the way of potable water, but that hole ought to fill on its own when the next hurricane strikes."

Representatives from the International Olympic Committee flew to Port-au-Prince Monday to survey the proposed site, landing on the country's longest of four paved runways. A brief and heavily armored tour of the city's marathon route gave planners the chance to show visiting delegates the many wonders that may eventually make up Haiti.

A banquet was held that afternoon in a dilapidated structure that local officials plan to tear down and rebuild as a multipurpose stadium. They said they hope to name the facility after a great leader who will rise to power at some point in the future—perhaps in the 22nd century—and bring peace and prosperity to the Haitian people.

Between bursts of automatic gunfire and the frantic screams of U.N. peacekeepers deployed in the area, Haiti made its case to the IOC.

"We want at some point to begin neutering the stray-animal population, so that elite runners from around the world will not have to leap over so many frail and lethargic dogs in order to cross the finish line," urban designer Antoinne Darbouze told IOC representatives. "And yes, once we can get our hands on enough asphalt, we'll have roads in places where they're absolutely necessary."

A local artisan also gave a presentation at the banquet, showing attendees how replicas of Olympic medals could be carved from indigenous fruits and then dyed colors that are similar to gold, silver, and bronze.

"By 2216, we hope that Haiti will be an inspirational place for the world's greatest athletes to compete," said René Préval, president of Haiti, a nation whose government has been repeatedly ranked as the most corrupt in the world. "And who knows, at that point our great-great-great-grandchildren may have eliminated the near-constant threat of protozoal diarrhea."

Despite the many challenges faced by the small island nation, the IOC remained confident that Haiti is, in the sense that it has not yet been officially eliminated from consideration, a real contender for the games.

"Haiti has a long way to go to meet our standards," said IOC president Jacques Rogge, pushing away a goat that had entered through a hole in the wall and was craning its neck to reach his plate. "They need to do a lot to build up their sporting facilities and hotel infrastructure, in addition to improving environmental conditions, developing a financial sector, and quelling civil unrest."

"We're not going to make any decisions for the next 200 years," Rogge continued. "Though after seeing Haiti firsthand, I can honestly say the country faces some stiff competition from Atlantis."

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/haiti_makes_bid_for_2216_olympics