promises are yes: A week in Mombin Crochu (northeastern Haiti) -- Day 1

A girl and her goat in Mombin.

If you know much about Haiti, you've probably heard the unemployment statistic -- it varies somewhat depending on who's measuring it, but it's generally agreed to be around 80%. (Meaning only 20% of people are formally employed.) A friend of mine, Claudin, has been unable to find work -- not surprising, with those numbers. When he was my neighbor I would sometimes share my food with him, but he got married last year and moved farther away. I really don't have the contacts to help him find a job. I ask our wise director, Osse, if he can think of anything. He tells me that some years ago Claudin taught a dance class for the kids in his hometown -- Mombin Crochu -- and they keep asking when he'll come back. Osse says everyone loved the dance class -- and also that there isn't much entertainment for the kids in Mombin. (Mombin Crochu is several hours from Cap Haitien by bad roads. I've been there three times before, and we had significant vehicle troubles on two of the trips.)

I need to go to Mombin anyway, since a lot of our CHE programs are in the surrounding villages and one of my tasks this summer is to gather stories from people who've been involved with CHE. Osse is more than willing to plan two trips in one: I'll personally sponsor dance classes while traveling to surrounding villages with our volunteer trainers to gather stories for work.

Monday, July 15

We set out for Mombin on two motorcycles – I'm riding with Osse and Claudin and his wife Roselande are riding with Osse's son, Nono. We stop in La Victoire, where Osse's sister lives.

We sit on the front porch of Osse's sister's house. Little kids pass by with empty jugs to collect water for their households. They stop to smile at the strangers (that's us).

Osse tells us his sister has prepared “a little coffee” for us. I am reminded of the Minnesotan phrase “a little lunch" as we enter the house: in this picture you can see spaghetti (breakfast food here in Haiti), bread, bananas, and -- oh, yes -- coffee!

From left to right: Osse, his sister, Claudin, and Roselande.

Nono then leaves with Claudin and Roselande so they can start the dance class. Osse and I stay so that I can talk with some of the people in this town. They haven't started a full Community Health Evangelism (CHE) program but use a lot of the tools and want to tell me some stories of the positive changes they've seen.

It's only about a half an hour to Mombin from here. Unfortunately, just after we start out we see the dark clouds coming. The rain hits us when we're about 10 minutes away. We stop and I put on a poncho, Osse's covers his backpack with a sack. I'm praying quite a bit because these are dirt roads in the mountains, and I'm thinking this rain is making them slippery. I found out later that it is apparently not so bad while raining (except I suspect the driver can't see well). Osse says that it's really just after it stops raining that it becomes dangerously slippery. So I should be glad that it poured until we reached his house!

In the late afternoon I head down to see how Claudin's dance class is going. We are running a generator for the music, but there are no lights at all in the room. It's made even darker because most of the shutters are closed so the many bystanders can't see in so well– the kids will include this dance in a show they have in their community in August. In the evening the kids don't want to leave, they keep saying they're not tired!

Here's Claudin giving one of the kids some extra help. The dots on the photo are due to dust -- out in the rural areas there is still dust everywhere despite lots of sweeping!

We walk back to Osse's house and I'm told “there's water in the shower,” meaning the bucket in the ceiling-less outdoor room is full. Thinking South Pacific– remember Mitzi Gaynor singing, “I'm gonna wash that man right outta my hair"? Makes me smile every day I bathe here.

Osse and his family moved to Cap Haitien a few years ago and Adelin, one of our trainers, lives in their house to take care of it. But there are somehow about 10 young guys here! It turns out that only a few of them stay overnight, but during the day they come to fix motorcycles and hang out with Nono. Most are related, but a few are just friends. Osse and his son stay in one room, Adelin and Osse's wife's younger brother stay in another, and two guys sleep on the floor in the main room. I'm in the middle room. As in many houses around the world, the walls don't reach up to the ceiling. This means that you can hear the slightest movement in the room next to you – and all the rooms are next to me – as if it were in your room. I wonder what married couples do.