Open up!!

Since I purchased my tickets to Haiti, it all feels more real. I have many questions. I can’t come back to the states to get something I should have brought! I have been a step ahead of myself to make sure everything is complete before we depart. I am ready.

Some of the questions I ask myself:

How often do I get to bathe?

Am I going to be uncomfortable EVERY DAY with the heat?

What will the food taste like?

Will I cry every time I see children full of sincerity and will I be able to control myself?

I do hope I can learn new techniques on cooking and eating healthier. I look forward to exercising daily and being around people filled with appreciation and hope.

  

I really don’t know what to expect, and how can I? And now that it feels more real, I am feeling more nervous.

To be truthfully honest, I still haven’t created a curriculum. My goal is to dedicate time to it in the month of June, and I HAVE to get it done because we leave June 27^th. My struggle is, I need real time to dedicate to it. It MUST be done, and it will be. I have time now that I put my two weeks in at Wal-mart.

One more… fear. I have become so comfortable with myself, as in being alone and doing everything on my own, and I know that  I will be surrounded fully by hope and endurance, when for so long I have been surrounded by individuals with selfish intentions and actions.

It seems evident that I do expect some things. How prepared can I possibly be?

Found Poem

Here is a found poem based upon excerpts of the butterfly's way, edited by Edwidge Danticat on Voices from the Haitian Dyaspora in the United States.

A found poem pulls phrases and words from several texts and blends them together to create a poem. The texts I pulled from were a collection of stories on children migrating to the United States and what they remember from their childhood and how they were effected. There were some phrases I felt that fit together well to create a found poem. This gave me insight on some of the challenges Haitians faced.

Two Worlds

She warned me of snow, muggers, homesickness, racism, alien cards, and that I would have to learn to speak English.

Port au Prince to New York City

microcosm

exiled

dyaspora

What do you know, you’re a dyaspora?! A zombie, who in the midst of the endless political discussions on right and wrong was not allowed to disclose the bad things she swallowed.

Haitian American

solidarity

disconnection

Your parents speak to you in Kreyòl, you respond in English, and somehow this works and feels natural.

You know the names of Haitian presidents and military leaders because political discussions inevitably erupt whenever there are more than three Haiti men together in the same place. It takes forever to kiss every cheek and you study about the Indians in social studies but you do not study about Black Americans except in music class where you are forced to sing Negro spiritual as a concession to your presence.

Children of the poor always have dark skin.

I would bow my head down and accept these judgments.

A zombie is someone who has lost her soul, her will, her good angel.

It has to stop.

Resource: Edited by Edwidge Danticat, (2001). the butterfly’s way: Voices from the Haitian dyaspora in the United States. SOHO.

It's been over a month

I finally put some pictures up! Take a look. Thank you, Ashley.

It's been a month and I haven't been inspired to write anything. Nothing I feel important enough to share.

For now I have added pictures and soon to put up a book review.

Purpose

Greetings!

My name is Andrea and I have decided to create a blog for my upcoming trip to Haiti. I have chosen to create one mostly for myself, to see what life is like before, during, and after my experience in Bainet, Haiti. I welcome friends and family to get a glimpse of what this adventure will bring me.

I believe this opportunity is fate. Let me explain...

I was taking a summer course titled Literacy and Linguistic Diverse Learners at SUNY Potsdam. My professor had a great deal of experience working with diverse learners and she said if you really want to know your English language learners, then go teach in a different country. My professor shared some of her experience, Haiti being one of the places she noted.

I wrote down, Go to Haiti. It wasn't exactly what I had in mind and I wasn't sure how it was going to happen, but it seemed like a great idea then. The following day I went to work and was talking with a newer cashier, Marquise. Because she has dark complexion, a beautiful accent, a swag with confidence and worry free manner, she was different.

As we got to talking I asked her where she was from, and her response... "Haiti." I told her that I want to go teach there. I could feel both my mouth and heart dropped when her response was, "Please come teach, we are building a school and need educators." ...WOW... (("Is this for real?")) Can you imagine what thoughts and feelings rushed through me?

We worked out the details later that summer, but from that day on, Haiti is on my heart, in my soul, wandering occasionally on my mind.

I have been given a wonderful opportunity which I believe will be rewarded with many experiences, but there is no guarantee on what to expect. I believe some people think I might be a little crazy. I am going to Haiti to volunteer my time, using my own finances, in the SUMMER... (I can already feel the scorching sun and smell the earths roots) I admit, it is a little crazy, and for those of you who know me, would you expect anything less? We will see...

Thank you for your support.

What to expect... thoughts, updates, events, pictures, documents, news, hopefully music, and more.

Andie