April 19th, 2010

A lot of SOS changes have been going on and in the midst of it all, my free time has been very limited. Not that I haven’t had it, but I’ve spent the little I’ve had with other people here and not writing. I don’t want to abandon this time, and that’s why I’m taking advantage that the head of the team just stepped out for a minute to sit down in the quiet (miracle) and write in this hot weather.. this fan is not doing much.
Basically, school started today. Sixth and ninth grades had begun earlier because they have national exams.. but from today on, this school, where we’ve had our improvised emergency team office and even stored donations, will be filled with children and adolescents, from first to ninth grader. It’s hard to believe that there will be around 800 students coming in and out of this two-story building, I feel I need to step out and count to see if it’s true. I know there is a morning group and an afternoon one, but 800 seems like a lot for the building. I guess that, like everything here, it will be overcrowded.
Our “operations” office was downstairs and the school had to re-occupy it, so we moved upstairs into the SOS Haiti’s national director’s office. I am sharing the office with him, the head of the team (Carlos, from Costa Rica) and Marta, a girl from Spain that arrived on Friday with three other Spanish. She was put in our group because she also speaks English. She is finishing her degree in journalism so I am excited because it’s obvious that she also wants to write stories and get out of here every chance she can get.
Today was the first day with the whole school and it’s been pretty loud. A lot of the classrooms sang for what seemed like hours, first the morning group, then the afternoon group.. we heard the same songs. I don’t really mind…anything here I enjoy (and I have been enjoying everything so much more now), but I do wonder how the neighbor classrooms are supposed to work and concentrate with so much singing.
I wish I had more time today to stop by, peek through the windows and observe the classrooms, but unfortunately my tasks here keep me running around and busy. At least I get to be around so many children who are always smiling.
Saturday was our moving day. My moving upstairs took about 2 minutes, all I had was my computer and three folders of very important papers .. as well as the hidden jelly, some cables and my camera. I helped with cleaning up a bit and sorting and organizing. We’ve had so many different kind of donations that you find all sort of things everywhere- water bottles from different countries, medicines, power bars, military meals from Brazil…
We had to move our dining area to a tent and the kitchen to … the house I am living in. Sounds crazy and it will be a bit crazy… and very different. The school’s kitchen was very big and well, we all got used to it. Most people, including me, work around here, so it’ll be a change to have to go back to our camp/tent area/houses to eat. I am basically living in the biggest house here, but it’s still pretty small. The guys got out all of the furniture and stored our “living room” with boxes and boxes of military meals, the table is full of clean plates (a little temblor and they’ll all be broken in a second), our small fridge is packed. Supposedly, this will just be a cooking area and everyone will eat in the tent. It still feels packed to have all the Haitian women who cook all crammed in the kitchen, 1 ft. away from my room.
The dining room tent is big, there’s two large tables and a small one and we had a very nice dinner there on Saturday. Since a Costa Rican nun arrived about two weeks ago, the food situation has improved… so incredibly much. This, or I’m getting used to things, not sure which. But really, the first days I was here I remember I even felt hunger at points, now she organized everything so well that she’s taking out boxes of cookies and making plantains (my favorite food in the whole world and something that reminds me so much of home). Not that it’s anything like being back home, but still, that doesn’t seem to be something I’m struggling with anymore.
I feel very used to things here, comfortable, and more productive job-wise (it took me all this time to really get used to the job I am doing here and really feel like I am contributing, now I am even training the girl from Spain)… I’m really enjoying my time here now and the people that we have now has been making it a better experience.
Yesterday I woke up to my Sunday indecisiveness…. thinking of whether to go to the beach with everyone (felt I really wanted to swim in the ocean) or overcome my fear and go take pictures of whoever, wherever. I ended up choosing going to the beach, and every chance I have to think, I think of much I want to be out there and photograph. There were times last week when I wanted to jump out of the car. Hopefully during these last five weeks, I will be doing more of this. All I am doing is talking about how much I want to photograph, and not actually doing it. I’m not so much into going to Port-au-Prince anymore; I want to find safer places.
The beach was beautiful, not as nice as the Obama beach, and it was very windy when we arrived, but still… so nice to swim in the ocean and feel disconnected. There were soldiers from the Brazilian army making a “churrasco’, they were roasting chicken and had fresh tomatoes and rice.. and they shared it with our group. They also were singing samba other Brazilian music with some drums. Really nice.
Later in the afternoon, when we came back to the village, Tomy took a group of us to an orphanage very close by. We walked there. Apparently, an Italian woman has been picking up children from the streets. It was different from the village because the children were extremely affectionate, always smiling, hugging us since we arrived, jumping on us like they were monkeys. Over 150 children all living in this house, some outside in tents, but at least they have what many don’t have here (or at least sometimes)… food and a place to sleep.
Some little girls braided my hair for about thirty minutes.
Now that school has started Port-au-Prince feels a little bit more alive, it’s nice to see kids walking around in uniforms, it really gives a sense of hope.