BREAST IS BEST !

Here we are with our Milk Mamas (2 babies and their Mamas who helped us be able to nurse Gabriela 5.5 months on breastmilk only). Mèsi, Thank you Ketly & little Jazlene, Bel Fanm and little Karlens. It was a scandal as they say in Dezam (the most popular, hard-to-believe story in Dezam for months) a miracle that continues. We switched to bottle at 6 months (incl. still one bottle/day of breast milk) but Gabriela has continued to nurse at my breast --she just feel asleep at my breast-- despite not getting milk still today at almost 16 months. (She actually made me relactate small drops at 12 months). I LOVE that Gabri does love-nursing and Gabri showed us that the nursing is SO MUCH MORE than MILK. I once asked Matt what he liked about Gabriela and he said: I love it that she still nurses! (Guess who's back in the running for husband/papa-of-the-year!!!?)

Gabri and Janey

Here's Janey Wynne, Haiti's leading ecologist, sharing the secrets of the earth with Gabri including LOVE and SHARING, BEING TOGEHTER, RESPECT for LIFE. . .

The Current and Future MCC (Haiti) Directors

We know we can't play this game much longer.

That's the-what-we-want-Gabriela-to-be-when-she-grows-up-game. Gabriela's personality is bursting out. And everyday she makes it more and more and more obvious that she understands what we say and do, FOR EXAMPLE: Matt dropped his keys on the ground, Gabri picks them up and walks over to the door, holds the keys up to the keyhole. She shampoos her head in the shower whether she has shampoo or not, she's eats soap (just kidding that's not an e.g.), the other day, well actually everyday, kids yell "blan blan" to me and when they yelled it, Gabri yelled "blan" too (Who know to whom but it makes me nervous?) (Imagining that "blan" might be her first word is my little nightmare : } but already she calls me Mama despite the fact that 3 in 8 people we pass on the street is saying..."you're not her Mama".)


what her parents want her to be when she grows up:
Esther- dancer (in the Lion king) b/c I'm not denying that this is still what I want to be as long as I still have time to garden
Matt- good at sports





The photo is Gabriela w/ Charity Coffey who has a neice Gabri's age far away in Michigan which I suspect is why she invites little G to visit her at work.

Happy Birthday EILY !!

Hi Eily, hey man HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY...I tried to call you but reception was poor. Helas! Can't wait to meet and run around some Canadian forests with you.
LOVE
Gabriela, making calls since 5 months

Gabri's Bubble Bath

There are hundreds of things we love about Dezam, one of them is water. Fresh, clean, cool, tree-filtered water flowing in rivers, streams, waterfalls, springs, rain, and taps. We are water babes! We are happy healthy frogs. I thinking about Port au Prince (where citizens often pay for a bucket of city : ( water) and where we are moving next week), when I was inspired to put Gabri in a bucket this Sunday morning and dump water on her head, thinking it might be more efficient for bathing when we get to the city. She didn't mind a bit... : )

Resident Evil in Haiti

Ok, so I guess "Resident Evil" is a film-video game mega-series, seemingly tending towards the scary, evil side. Anyway, when I read this I was reminded about how much we deal with sterotypes about Haiti. I remember when we were planning on coming here 3+ years ago and virtually everything we read started out like this: "Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere . . ." We need to shake these simplifying one-liners and narrow stereotypes.

Resident Evil 5 Set in Haiti?
02:09 pm EDT @ September 20th, 2007

So it appears that some of us press dudes may have jumped the gun about Resident Evil 5, saying that the game takes place in Sub-Saharan Africa.

According to Kotaku, who claim they got this tip from their "well-placed insider," the game doesn't take place in Africa at all. Instead, Haiti, a troubled nation in the Caribbean, is the location for the latest zombie-mowing extravaganza from CapCom.

Would make a lot more sense, seeing how keen folks are over there on chicken blood, dolls and needles. Then again, the voodoo tradition was actually carried over by slaves from Africa, so go figure.

As far as atrocities and genocide go, Haiti is not lagging too far behind, say, Ivory Coast, or Rwanda, so in that sense, any such nation would be an excellent (creepy) choice for a survival horror game.

Motorcycle Diaries, Part 2

A while back, beginning of August I think, we did our (2nd) annual motorbike trip here in Haiti. Me and Brian who both did the trip last year with James and Edwin, took on Josh, the new guy, of Crokinole movie fame, and Kurt (yes, Kreyol Kurt), another MCC motorbike trip newbie.

The trip was a bit short this year because we had to get back for Gabriela's baptism, but we had a blast anyway. This year we did a little more relaxing, exploring, swimming kind of stuff, whereas last year it was some hardcore riding. We stayed 2 nights out at MPP. Mark Hare, a guy a few of us knew already showed us around some of their innovative agriculture work.

On the way back to Desarmes, I had the bright idea, since we were going to get back too early and we hadn't really done too much heavy riding, to drive up one of the Digicel tower roads. It looked so nice, and smooth, and high. Would be a great view once we got to the top. But, we never got to the top. The road was bad. Haiti bad. Worse than Haiti bad. Started out ok, but got progresively worse as we climbed. Big rocks, steep inclines, sharp turns. Maybe 3/4 of the way we decided to take a break, but the break turned into a decision to turn around.





We hopped back on the bikes, only to find that Brian had a flat on his bike. So, we jumped right in to change the tire. Our collective knowledge and experience got us . . . well, didn't get us very far. Every little step took us reeeeeeeeeeeeeeealy long and it ended up taking 2 hours to fix. This was at noon. At the top of a hill. With no trees. In Haiti. And we had only a little bit of water left. It was HOT. But, we managed to get the tire changed with a new tube. But, only minutes later we realized that the tube was not holding air. So, Brian hurried down (as much as we could hurry) to find a Bos Kawochou (a real tire repair man) to get it solved. The hurrying didn't work too well for me. I feel twice. Not badly, but my pride was hurt - and I busted one of my mirrors. But we made it and lived to tell the tale.

After getting the tire fixed, it was a straight shot back to Dezam. One quick stop for Pringles in Cange, then the pavement in Mirebalais and we were cruising. We let it fly on the road between Mirebalais and Dezam - at least until dusk started to settle. It was FUN going fast, not something we get to do so often in Haiti with all the bad roads.

Back in Desarmes, we met up with Esther, Gabriela and Marylynn who had their own two-wheeled adventure. They tap-tapped up to Mirebalais with their bikes, and then biked back. They had a blast too.



I'm starting to work on the guys to get a trip going up to the North West (Gonaives, Anse Rouge, Jean Rabel, Port de Paix). We'll see!



PS. You can see a few pictures of the swimming hole we went to a bunch of times over at Kurt's blog. You'll find it way at the bottom a really long, but interesting, post about his family's visit to Haiti.

The Adoption Process: More Delays

Well, we're a bit disheartened by the latest news about adoptions in Haiti. You can read about it below, but the basic point is that the government has stopped processing adoptions while they do an investigation into a particular orphanage. Needless to say, this is frustrating for us and for the many other families waiting to finalize the adoption of their Haitian children. At the same time, we recognize how essential it is for the Haitian government to effectively monitor the orphanages operating in Haiti - because there are a bunch that are not above board.

Anyway, we're feel incredibly blessed that we have been with Gabriela since she was a "ti zwazo" (little bird) at 18 days old. That's more than a year ago now!!! Seeing her after a week away in San Diego was great, and we can't believe that we made it so long. We thought it would be a fun little break, but it was a lot harder than we thought! Gabou has that kind of effect on people I guess!! So, we continue on.

Please pray for the adoption situation in Haiti to be straightened out, for those abusing the privilege of caring for children in orphanges to see a better way, for those in the government here to get their act together and make the process a little more realistic, and for all those families waiting for kids - to have patience.

Peace and Love,

Matt, Esther and Gabriela.


** from http://ibesr-updates.blogspot.com/ **
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Don't Shoot the Messenger

I've debated for about a week on whether or not to post this because I know what an uproar it is going to cause. But! Being I'm continuing to receive emails, and now the lists are questioning things as well, the time has come.

I will tell it to you straight-up, but always keep in mind that things change daily.

Both IBESR and Parquet are supposedly ‘on hold’ from releasing the files or from getting final signatures until the investigation is done and/or until Mr Gassant in Parquet changes his mind and decides to cooperate. The latter could be longer than the investigation. But the good news for others is they are still accepting files – just not letting them go. MOI does not seem to be affected by the other offices being on hold - however, this could change. I am unclear at this point as to whose decision it is/was to release or not to release files from the two offices.

The reason is that awful story that was everywhere about the corrupt orphanage. Either UNICEF is investigating adoptions, or IBESR decided to hold their own investigation into adoptions based on UNICEFs recommendations.

It appears that once one of the bottlenecks in the Haitian adoption process gets unwrinkled, another one always has to pop-up to take its place.

Sorry I don’t have better news… However! If anyone knows how to speak French, maybe you can call Mdm. Beaudin’s office and get the scoop from the source. Mdm Beaudin oversees ALL of the adoption process through out Haiti – not just IBESR.

As usual, I will post more when I learn more.

posted by Kodak McClain | 6:18 PM

Gabri Goes Goodbye

Well, Gabriela is becoming an independent young lady and her new thing is walking to the gate, opening it, and walking out the door. She also loves to wave "goodbye." It's quite cute. This is all good practice, since today, for the first time since July 20, 2006, she is without at least one of us. Yes, we left her for a week with her nanny back in Dezam. We're heading out of the country for a few days and since she doesn't have papers yet, she can't travel. Sooooooooo . . . we left her this morning with a mixture of trepidation, worry, excitement for the freedom and eager anticipation for when we see her again on Sunday. We'll let you know how it goes!

Matt and Esther

Today I was baptized.

Today I was baptized in front of my family, friends, and community
at Legliz St.François de Dezam.





Last week, Pè Makenzie said I had to have a Catholic "Maren" (Godmother) and Catholic "Paren" (Godfather) to be baptized so now I have two marens: Guylene & Gerda, and at least one paren: Jean Remy.

Today I was baptized with water, oil, and light.

I liked all three but the oil was a new feeling and I was so fascinated that I sat still for 30 seconds while Pè Makenzie made the cross on my forehead with oil.

Today I was baptized.

"Jodia, yo te ba m mak BONDYE."
Today I received the mark of God.
I don't know yet where God will lead me.

love Gabriela, God is my strength


Then my guests ate peach kuchen (with papaya for peaches : ) and passion fruit-lime juice. .





. and I took a nap.

(Thanks Josh and Kurt for taking pics and Brian for washing plates & forks and Marylynn for cutting papaya etc. and in general just being wonderful "tontons" and "matants" and Gerda and Jean Remy for being Paren and Maren and explaining the ceremony to my folks. G)

the Gabriela day

It's the Gabriela day but it should actually be called the Matt and Esther and all our friends and family and the whole community of Dezam's day because it's the day we got so "lucky" (in the most divine sense), that Gabri came to live with us and we came out to Dezam and Dezam started to fall in love with her. (that's how WE see it: we're the ones who got lucky but we'll save that for another post.) So just because she's been so wonderful, we forced her to wear earings for her, our party.

Here's who helped us celebrate the anniversary: Rocky, Rubenski, Fafa, Dawonika, Jazline, Serena, Solène, Karlens in spirit (and their Mamas) and Kurt from Port au Prince, Don and Donna and Holly from Oregon who not only choose the right sparklers and balloons and party favours for the occasion but also made the place look festive with "Haitian" streamers. You can see them here (beyond the guy with the knife).


The blocks and bubbles were big hits but the water balloons were the best. . .

. . . and the pineapple upsidedown cake with aerosol whipped cream was even better. That's fresh pineapple and get this! we made it ourselves. At least one little person was impressed.







It was a precious moment when we all shared one thing we love about our babes. I asked Matt to go first just to start the ball rolling and he said how wonderful it is when he comes home and Gabri hears the gate and hears his voice and runs to edge of the balcony to greet him, busting with joy. Then one by one the other Mamas said the same thing and I thought "oh brother" because this is so what the Haitian educational system teaches it's students: to repeat. Repetition isn't always bad I guess. I can't complain when the sun comes up every morning against the bluest of skies and 1031+ days later I still love rice and beans for lunch. It's pretty cool that water I use to cool my face is the same water that cooled Toussaint Louverture so he could lead the Haitian revolution without a sweat and that a lot of tropical trees "reboujane" (grow multiple new trunks of good wood to replace one that's cut). And it's alright that we can keep coming to God and/or our friends for forgiveness when we've made the same mistake. I can't say I'm a big fan though when my phone card runs out mid-converstation again or I fall in the mud (i can't count how many times i've fallen for lack of 2 hands since my other hand is often supporting Gabriela in the sling) or big countries repeatedly take actions that hurt smaller countries and related, some countries could benefit from a coup d'etat cap to avoid the redundancy. Anyways that's all history and so is Gabri's party and I'm a little sad because it was really a lot of fun.

seriously

A Year on Hispaniola.

Back in November when I was hiding in our house wondering what to do with a baby and how to become anonymous in the most extraverted culture in the world, I don't know what was worse: the minutes dragging or how hot it was getting by the minute in our little Haitian house with rock walls and corrogated tin aka a griye pen (toaster). But the minutes and days, weeks, months have passed by and by the graceful and surprising ways of God we've gotten better at loving our neighbours and the day before yesterday marks a year that I've spent on this lovely little island of reality and dreams without leaving. One of the dreams we were having back in the day was to make our family grow...here in Haiti a dream has come true for us when we met the angel Gabriela and and she agreed to come live with us. 2 days from now marks a year of me and Gabriela and Matt living all together.
Here are a few things that happened this year, the first of G's life.

The war in Iraq is STILL going on and no one (well almost no one) thinks it's a good idea...still.



Henry David Thoreau was reincarnated in a washtub in Waterloo, Ontario.


















Tim Hortons became Fonthill's official donut, and Grayson Van Geest, Fonthill's official dutchie (well ~50% dutchie).









A baby popped out of an eagle's egg in
not-so-rural Manitoba.














And Jane De Lange turned 85 !
That's at least 3x your age Tiger (Woods) Happy Birthday OMA !


. . . and OMA, here's a message from your
6th great grand daughter:



Did any of your dreams come true this year?



Post your dreams here:
Please, we want to hear about them ; ) or send us an e-mail to: greatspirit@fastmail.fm if you don't want the world to see them yet.

love Esther & Matt & Gabriela
(cousin of Grayson, Ronin, Eily, and Zavi)

The Vagaries of Weather

Esther and I both grew up in families with deep agricultural roots, in fact, her parents still run a garden centre in Sarnia () Both of our families come from Holland and both were farming families. I spent much of my childhood, even into university, working in agriculture. Esther does a lot of gardening. We love nature. We love eating it's bounty. We love planting trees in our work now with MCC.

But it wasn't until last month that I started to feel like what I think farmers back in North America feel about the weather, specifically rain, and or lack thereof. You see, our work is very cyclical and is based on weather patterns. We start planting seeds in the nurseries in January and from then until early June, the committees are taking care of the trees in preparation for the big planting season when the rains start in June. We plan the tree distributions, but they are always based on the rains. If it hasn't rained the day before, we will not do a distribution on the next day, because we don't want people planting in dry conditions. Watering the seedlings after they are planted out is not an option, so we don't want to waste 6 months of work - so we wait for the rain.

This year, we had our 3 week schedule perfectly worked out, 2 distributions per day to do our 23 nurseries. We had a nice rain before the first distribution day and day one went off without a hitch. But then right away we were hit with 3-4 days with no rain, so we got behind almost from the start. But then the rains came and we were able to catch up after week two. Week three was a whole different story. The rains just stopped - completely. We went through that whole week with no rain and so our plans were thrown away. I had a planned trip to go visit friends back in Ontario ( for just after the distributions were to have finished, but because of the rain, they were to continue after I left.

While I was in Canada I felt this deep, gutteral emotion for Haiti, especially thinking about the rain. Is it falling? How much fell? Did they do the distribution today? How many distributions are left? How is the planting going? Are they all going to get done this week?

I checked the internet for weather patterns in the Caribbean. I emailed and called to get updates. But no rain. I didn't fall for 10 days. The distribution schedule was thrown into a tizzy and our staff were wiped out from having to deal with it all.

And I found myself relating to farmers in Ontario worried about the rain. Or too much rain. Or too cold. Or too hot. Or hail on the peaches. Or bug infestations. Or whatever vagaries of the weather Mother Nature would throw at us.

Or God, right? Yes. Still, despite the problems the lack for rain posed for us, the rains DID come, the distributions HAPPENED and over 400,000 trees were PLANTED! Thanks be to God.

Matt

Happy Birthday Gabri!

Gabriela took us up into the mountains above Portoprens for her b-day and then down the other side, give or take 2190 meters!!!!!, to Perido where we bought a candle and then took a taptap to the hotel in Jacmel where we met the other delegates (including the Minister of the Environment) for a 2-day environmental conference. The hotel kitchen was closed but Christophe turned a banana into something we could put Gabriela's candle into. Mèsi Christophe! Here we are singing "bon fet" (Happy Birthday) --left to right: Nahomie, Jean Remy, Estè, Matye, & Frantzo. Earlier that day Gabri's cousin Zavi was also having a party somewhere in Manitoba. . . . . .

Life!

Dear Zavi, welcome. . . can't believe you're 18 days old already! That's how old I was when I came to live with these funny blan (white folks). Speaking of, you could use a little Haitian sun nes pa? You're looking quite angelic though and very much alive. In my first language, Haitian Creole, we say lavi for life that's why we've been calling you Zavi Lavi
love Gabriela ps hi to matant Jennifer and tonton Will

maestro G at the drums (Legliz Nouvel Jerisalem, Charye)

Gabri walks.

Saut d'eau

Livrezon or tree distribution is getting the opposite of a raincheck. . .for lack of rain, we haven't been able to hand out trees. To cheer ourselves up, we went to Saut d'eau, an incredible mystical waterfall. Here we are: me & Gabri, Kurt, and Nahomie (she's the basking beauty). Try to find Saut d'eau on a map of Haiti (it's in the Artibonite). To read about LiVREZON, keep reading below. Pray for rain so everyone can plant plant plant!

We're Dancing.

The rain is here and it’s LIVREZON (tree distribution) season and I love it! (It’s just about tied for fun with Degroots Nurseries in May only here I get to walk through waterfalls on the way to tree nurseries and in Sarnia I get to eat my Mom’s cooking.) The cell phone alarm went off at 3:20am and by 4 Nahomie was with me and then Meleck on our way to Valere where we left the truck at Michelet’s house and he joined us on foot down to the river and up to and down to the Chanpyon tree nursery to hand out trees to the community. I didn’t fall in the mud and only fell once on 70 degree slope down to the tree nursery while Michelet made us laugh with his announcements in the megaphone: Get out of your beds people! Come and get trees. In 2 hours the 3 of us with the 7 Tree Nursery Committee members including Ketly and her 7 month belly, handed out 15,000 trees (100 per person) and sold a couple hundred. On the way home Bwanando invited us to his lakou (yard) where they brought us chairs and plates of rice and beans and juice. It was 8:30 AM. . . yahoo! I was stoked. . . we still have the whole day ahead of us. We crossed the river where I couldn’t resist jumping in for my morning dip and we were back in Dezam pronto and back at the office where I ran right into this adorable scene.

Lusilya wears many hats (most are lovely red) including one as a professional toilet trainer and we all love her — there’s no doubt she’s from heaven. Haitians are "top" on toilet training and it must be part genetic.
Hmmm...how long would it take me to plant 100 trees? And I was off on my bike with a case of kasya up the hill to the piece of millet field we’re transforming into a forest. Hoes moved rhythmically up and down making music on the rocks in the soil, the people swinging singing gently while I planted in the morning sun. Here’s what planting looks like.

You dig with a hole with a pikwa, a little deeper than the tree in the bag. You put the tree in and compact the soil behind it leaving a bowl shape around it so when the rain falls, water falls and sits in the hole keeping the tree fresh. The rocks mark the tree for those who will be hoeing the millet (on the left) and might not see the tree. Last year’s millet stalks will provide the little fertilizer these tough little kasya, that everyone loves but the goats, need to survive. Thank goodness b/c goats are the principal agents of deforestation at this point here in and around Dezam.

Back to the office where I put some clothes on Gabri and we were off to the dispensary hoping we could find her vaccination records, which we lost, maybe because we are not always sure we believe in vaccinations. Luckily when I showed up the nurses asked me if I wanted to weigh her so I didn’t have to fess up right away. We figured out our vaccinations and Gabriela weighed in at 19.3 lbs. I couldn’t resist the photo opp. so I borrowed a phone and called Matt to bring the camera. “No problem” he said and a minute later Wodline arrived with the camera.

That’s right, today Gabri’s nanny Lusilya came over to play with Gabriela while her sister Sonya cooked lunch and their niece Wodline made juice and ran errands for me and Matt!

Lunch, corn and beans and Creole sauce with fresh avocado slices and passion fruit juice, was waiting and so were my colleagues, so we ate and then half the team went to count trees at nurseries that will hand out trees tomorrow. Nahomie and Frantzo and I stayed back and we discussed how to follow up on the trees that students planted. Then they ran home before the rain came and then Madame Mamou who sells the BEST little fat bananas came by with a bunch of 24 just when we were on our way out to get bananas. We bought on credit b/c Matt walks around with all the money and he was out counting trees. Gabri and I were stir crazy when he got home but the sky was rumbling so we went to Bel Fanm’s (the women who pumps a bottle of milk/day for Gabriela) to borrow back our umbrella and then up to Madame Mamou’s where she took our 52 gouds ($1.40) and reprimanded us for walking in the rain. “What rain !?”, I said, like I just arrived on this Carribean island, and that’s when the rain really started : ) We walked down the long way to buy some gingerbread from our old neighbour stopping to watch a soccer game and a dominos game and the rivers forming in the road and EVERYone called us in from the rain: “Come sit with us out of the rain!” but we didn’t because we love walking in the rain.

I’m sitting here typing in my raincoat because it’s a cold 29 degrees : ) and I’m procrastinating from having to take a rainwater shower b/c it’s even colder up there where the rain starts. Gabri is playing with Katya and Samantha who came over to get food for little Rocky who needs a little help and extra food to make a full recovery from malaria.

There will be fruit salad with dinner and CBC on our Sirius satellite radio and we’ve already downed a pot of Rooibos tea. Re: news, you may have heard on the news about the under 17 Haiti National Soccer Team? They were in New York, in transit, on their way to a tournament in Korea and 13 team members disappeared into clandestine life in the US. But you might not have heard that there are people waking up with the birds, growing trees and raising children, and saying welcome, come in, drink some juice with us, and there are some dancing too. Life is good here in Haiti in many many ways. So if you see one of those 13 players, talk gently b/c they're likely missing home. And like us, and/or our parents, over time, they'll get used to their new home too. Hope life is good where you are too!


love Esther and G and M

PS. Check out the girl's T-shirt in the photo above to understand this post's title.