Sunday, July 31, 2011

POPCORN! DANCING FROM MOUNTAIN SIDE TO SUN CITY

Feel the music, be there!  Sun City also rises, dances to !Popcorn!, with artwork by Mon Bouton school children.  And yes, the good times did roll...










https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/nI17gn_RNeo_udpxlKnCi1jzQgMvdNG4v9SoRnJAe0o?feat=email

Thursday, July 21, 2011

There IS power in the Lord! Danielle comes home to Haiti!

THE SUN, THE LAMP AND THE CHAUFFEUR



We make it out to Fayette, at the river's edge of Grand Riviere (Momance), when the chauffeur changes his mind about getting us down river to Jean Jean, where the Mon Bouton team will meet us to schlepp the lamp post, the equipment, tools, suitcase and schools books. The driver apologizes, "Ah, cherie, it is not you, it's my truck, I cannot risk it..." and off he goes. Days later, I am thinking I should have given him more money, it might have floated his boat, er truck...But what the heck. There we are, stranded, with like 500 pounds of equipment and a solar panel, 3 ENERSA technicians and my Mon Bouton family - Destin, Toma, Madame Vab...all waiting for Madame Randy to pull a rabbit out of a hat....Now, where's my hat in all this damn stuff.

Sure it was HOT! Sure, I was tired - been up since 4:30 a.m. and now sitting here at Fayette and it's past 10, and hiking up those mountains is no fun at any time but especially not high noon...Then, this white, spanking clean, like new, AIR CONDITIONED truck pulls up! And the passenger side air conditioned closed window rolls down, "Uh, Miss, Can you help us?" in perfect English but no, it's not an American nor any other visiting blan. Can I help them?

This has to be some sort of joke, right?

But it isn't! It's the real deal - they are like LOST and they don't know which way to go...to Jean-jean! Boy, will I get them there!

So, before you can say "mezanmi" or some other Kreyol expletive deleted, I give them directions and add, "Can you help us? We're all going to jean-jean!"

Destin and Toma and Madame Vab and team ENERESA hustle everything but the 200 lb. lamp post intot the AIR CONDITIONED back of the truck and we're off! Five or six people from Mon Bouton have arrived to tag-time carry the lamp post to jean-Jean where they will meet another team to begin that haul, the trek...

Teacher Training in Weapons of Math Instruction: Rules of Engagement

EDUCATION: RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

The process of sharing ideas and tools begins, as we literally turn the tables, turn worn chalkboards into tables and scrounge for some serviceable chairs. Nou degaje.





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Pastor Dieudonne, Klerimond and Dominique, of course Toma and Destin, among others review hands-on math materials

Are we having fun yet?  You betcha!
Posted by Picasa Madame Randy is trying to explain EVERYTHING, and,oddly, at a loss for words (in Kreyol!!)  Kouman nou di "algorithm"?


Please,Concentrate, Dominique - don't look at the camera!  Sple, konsentre, pa gade kamera!
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All together now!


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Wednesday, July 20, 2011





Willio and Randy show how to shake it, Pop Corn!
Pop Corn!  Shake it, baby!
Willio and dancers, ready!
First you get some Poppin' corn!


Heat some oil in the pan! Poppin' corn!  Now, Shake it up!
Come on, shake it!
First you get some poppin' corn...

Put in the oil, out on the fire!
Now, shake it!  Shake it Up!
Randy and Fabian shake it!


http://youtu.be/V52V-TAcevM

LE NOUVELLISTE: Breaking News - Berthé privé d’eau potable depuis août 2009.


Berthé privé d’eau potable depuis août 2009. Les residents de la rue Chavannes prolongée, entrée Berthé (Pétion-Ville) n’ont pas recu, depuis l’été 2009, le précieux liquide, se débrouilliant par eux-mêmes, c’est a dire en solicitant les services de companies privées de distribution d’eau.  …Malgré tout, le service dans les abonnés n’a pa été rétabli…La DINEPA ne fearait-elle pas mieux de reprendre contact avec la clientele de la zone?
La DINEPA ne fearait-elle pas mieux de reprendre contact avec la clientele de la zone?
La DINEPA ne fearait-elle pas mieux de reprendre contact avec la clientele de la zone?


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La DINEPA ne fearait-elle pas mieux de reprendre contact avec la clientele de la zone?

La DINEPA ne fearait-elle pas mieux de reprendre contact avec la clientele de la zone?

La DINEPA ne fearait-elle pas mieux de reprendre contact avec la clientele de la zone?


HEADLINE - THE NOUVELLISTE -Kay Pa'm: towards a solution to the problem of housing


Haiti: The National Bank Credit (BNC), in conjunction with the Haitian People's Bank (BPH), has proposed a viable solution to the housing problem in Haiti, officially launched on Tuesday at the Karibe Convention Center, Kay Pa'm.This new service to label the NLC, is a program loan to housing for public servants and private customers. 

REALLY, NOW!
The Kay Pa'm program, for Public Servants and  some private citizens.
Well, they haven't come knockin' breaking down doors up here.
Kay pa'm?  Where are you, BNC?

Kay pa'm program - ain't we private customers?

Kay pa'm?  Latrine with a view. Where are you, BNC?
Marie-Anje wonders when she'll get hers, from the BNC...Public servants, indeed!
Haiti: The National Bank Credit (BNC), in conjunction with the Haitian People's Bank (BPH), has proposed a viable solution to the housing problem in Haiti, officially launched on Tuesday at the Karibe Convention Center, Kay Pa'm.This new service to label the NLC, is a program loan to housing for public servants and private customers. 

English on Demand!

Yes, she can!  Jezilen had 2 years or so of school, but her parents really didn't want her to continue.  She'd been a "restavek" (er, "live-in domestic help" - a.k.a. child slave according to some) in Port au Prince.  The family sent her to school for  a while, then couldn't pay anymore.  Her parents insisted she come back to the mountains and carry water, gather wood, sekle the weeds and set the goat to hustle somewhere along with the rest of their 6 girls.

And so she did.

One day this summer, though, Jezilen had some slack time and tried matching English vowel sounds in a Bingo game.

And so she did.

WEAPONS OF MATH INSTRUCTION - BARRAGE AT MON BOUTON

Just 4 walls and a tin roof that leaks, but no one much cares today. Teaching assistant explores base-10 blocks and game with Table 1, children with 0-2 years of rote-chanting, drill-and-kill schooling.

Unfortunately, during the regular (?) school year, this same space is filled with 140 kids, sardine-style, so no room for hands on learning - one is lucky to have a seat.

 this school, Lekol Fre Abraham, serves the truly disadvantaged, children who have lost one or both parents.  About 1/3 pay nothing at all, the rest are at last several months behind in any sort of payments.  The cost?  For ONE YEAR, Principal Dieudonne charges only 250 HG (gourdes) - roughly US $6.00 or so dollars PER YEAR!!

You got that?  Six dollars a year!  


You might ask:  Can we help?  I ask "Should we help?"  What is the best way to help?

Children here get a bit of bread or kassav with peanut butter every day, thanks to "If Pigs Could Fly Haiti" work program.  Like many, if not most, rural schools (as well as in the capital), the three schools n our zone are more centers for feeding than they are centers of learning.  The Episcopal school children get a daily bowl of rice and beans (and the cost is a bit higher for that school.)  Children bring their own plate and spoon, or they get nothing. Lekol Fre Abraham received some donated rice in May, so they had a "subsidized" feeding program until June this year; our team (If Pigs Could Fly Haiti) did the wood gather, the cooking and the cleanup.

Meanwhile, Digicel (the counterpart of ATT in Haiti) has its Digicel Foundation.  Their CEO  and her security guard hiked up to this very school room.  They think there's a chance they can find a contractor to build us a real, solid, brick and ortar school, 6 classrooms, with windows and light - and maybe even lights.  Maybe.  They are going to try, see if they can find a willing contractor willing, literally,to go the distance.  They told us, "Digicel could build one school here, or two schools down in the flat lands."

Well, I hope they choose this site.  This zone has gotten little in terms of, uh, "government services" -  since 1804, when maroons here built Fort Kampon, and schlepped cannons up to these mountains.  The earthquake was the tip of the iceberg here - Fre Araham's schools was the only school left standing.  Unlike the other two (concrete blocks and cement), this thatch and tin structure didn't have much to lose.

How to help?  Pray that Digiel comes through with a building - because that will also provide jobs for some of the community here, as well as help us develop a hospitality business, hosting all the contractors and workers.  Education means business!  And we are surely in the business of education up in Mon Bouton.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

NEWS FLASH! PEASANT ASSOCIATION PONIED UP SOME MONEY FOR THE MULE!

The peasant association, GEZ (Gwoupman Elvaj Zoranje) of Zoranje, 6eme seksyon, Leogane,  - put in their part, they ponied up $50.00 U.S., towards the purchase of the mule.  We're looking to match theirs 10:1, and it looks like we are almost there already!  Checks arrived in yesterday's mail from FB and www.ifpigscouldflyhaiti.org online donations while I was in Haiti, sans entenet!  Thank you everyone!

Whatcha say, world? The first day's hike up and up

Accompanied by young teen Evins, Toma and others bringing up the rear, music every where, music Haiti all the time! (Not all of it traditional, but hey!)  The music speaks volumes.  Whatcha say?


http://youtu.be/SfHNKt86WvY