Name Change

When I got to Haiti and handed my passport to the people at customs, I was pretty sure that the name printed on it read "Brittany". I soon came to find out that I was sorely mistaken. It seems that once we arrived in Haiti, our names were changed to "Hey You" and "Blanc".

Some children who greeted us with the traditional "Hey You" and "Blanc" as we worked on demolishing a house

One of the things that you can expect- particularly in the smaller towns like Leogane- is for people- especially the children- to be fascinated by you and what you are doing. As we would walk down the rubble-ridden streets, children would run out of their tents and yell "Hey you, hey you, blanc!!!" until we acknowledged them and smiled and waved. Usually there were groups of children that would gather to wave at us. I thought it was absolutely adorable. Sometimes the children would run up behind us and just grab our hands and want to walk with us. Many of the children were fascinated with arm hair and were entertained Zach's arm hair for extended periods of time. One time in particular, we were out by Ca Ira looking at an orphanage on the coast and as we walked back through the town to find some moto taxis, three children latched on to me- one on each arm and one in front and just started walking with us. They stayed with us for quite a while- as we walked along the beach, through the town, by a little restaurant, and back trough the town. By the time we got on our moto taxis we had become the best of friends.

Zach and I walked to the other end of Leogane to find a hospital one day and on our way back I saw one of the biggest smiles that I have ever seen in my life on the face of a little girl. She was standing on the side of the road with her father. She couldn't have been more than 2 years old and she had the chubbiest little cheeks. As Zach and I passed, she got an enormous grin on her face and just smiled and waved at us with such enthusiasm until we passed. It wasn't possible to overlook an opportunity to connect with that angelic little girl through such simple things as a smile and a wave. It was a moment not to be forgotten. I only wish I had had my camera with me!!

Real Caribbean Beauty

One thing that I miss about Haiti is the beauty of the island. Since we were constantly surrounded by rubble it was easy to forget that we were working in a tropical Caribbean paradise! Near the end of my trip, we decided to take one day to enjoy the tropical beauty and go to the beach. We visited a few beaches near Leogane......

...but finally decided to travel to a beach resort north of Port-au-Prince for the afternoon. Rony, Zarry (a great friend of ours from Port-au-Prince), Paul (Zarry's brother), and I headed up the highway to the famous "Club Indigo". On our way we passed some of the tent cities out in the country where the government is trying to relocate people who were made homeless by the earthquake.

When we finally got to the resort, I felt like I had arrived in a completely different place...

The Beach at Club Indigo (Formerly Club Med)

The resort was beautiful, the beaches were pristine, the water was warm and I was in heaven. We swam in the clear blue water, walked along the white sand beach, and just lounged around.

Paul, Rony, Britt, Zarry

Rony diving into the pool right next to the beach

As the sun began to set I found myself sitting on a lounge chair underneath a coconut tree gazing out across the water...

I kept thinking that although this was one of the most beautiful places that I had ever seen in my life, this wasn't the beauty that I would always remember when I thought about my experiences in Haiti. I knew that the true beauty of Haiti was found in the faces of the people that we saw everywhere we went. It was the beauty of their faith, kindness, and strength. No sunset or tropical beach could ever compare. Few moments in my life have affected me as strongly as that one. I will always remember my visit to a "real Caribbean beach" and how I came to understand the meaning of true beauty.

Cerises, Cerises!!!!

One of the things that I miss about being in Haiti are the early mornings. The sun began to rise at about 5:00AM and the people in Leogane were on the move shortly thereafter. From the rooms in the church that we stayed in and eventually the balcony of our home, where we slept, the sounds of motorcycles, schoolchildren and street vendors soon filled the air. I enjoyed laying on my little (usually deflated) air mattress and just listening to everything. I think that I accurately represent all of the volunteers that I was there with when I say that the most distinct sound of our morning was always the "Cherry Lady".

We could always count on this woman to come down our street yelling, "Cerises, Cerises!!!!" I wish that I had an audio recording of her because she had a very distinct sound. One day as I was laying on my little air mattress I heard a woman coming down the street selling cherries, BUT she was definitely not OUR "Cherry Lady"- you could tell without even looking at her. The Cherry Lady soon became an expected part of our morning ritual. The day before I left, I was finally able to capture a photo of our dear friend.

Is this a random, perhaps unimportant memory of my unforgettable visit to Haiti? Maybe. But, for me, this is one of those memories that I will always carry with me. Who knows, maybe someday I will be walking down the street and hear a faintly familiar voice...... it may be the Cherry Lady, or it may not. But either way, it will be another key that will unlock this great memory as well as the floodgate of incredible memories that I will carry with me and cherish forever.

First Post from Haiti

Well, we made it!!!

The internet connection has not been the most reliable so I don't know that I will be able to blog as often as I would like to. We have had some incredible adventures this past week!! Things are coming together and we are preparing to have our first volunteers arrive in about a week. We are finalizing housing arrangements and in the meantime we are grateful to be able to stay at the church. There are some families there who were displaces by the quake and we have gotten to know them pretty well. I have made lots of new friends- mostly the little kids!! In the evenings I play lots of Uno with the little girls. I think that the reason that I have made friends with so many children is that they are the only ones who can understand me!! My French is not all that great! It has definitely been 6 years since I studied French. Luckily I can understand most of what people are saying, but when I try to speak it all comes out in Russian. Oh well, it is getting better and I am sure that it will get better throughout my stay.

I am going to post a few pictures. I am keeping a journal on my computer so I will be able to do more posts in a few weeks when I am back in the states and have more time and a more reliable internet connection. But, here are a few of our photos from the first week:

Well, they won't load so check out my facebook page.... I'll try again later!!

Things are great and we are keeping busy.

:)

See ya in September

These girls are great!! I'll miss my roommates while I'm gone for the summer. I'm really glad that everyone will be there when I get back in September.

typical :)

Love you girls!!!!!

Roses are Red.....

When I came home from cotillion a few weeks ago, I decided to bring the extra roses with me to beautify my apartment. I drove from the airport over to a friend's house to drop off some supplies for him to take to Haiti the next day and then rushed home in time to go over to some other friends' apartment to watch Life (Which- by the way- if you haven't been watching- you've been missing out. I absolutely love it! Too bad it's over now). I ran into our apartment and dropped my stuff off in my room and after a little friendly harassing from some guys in our ward about having brought home a "pageant bouquet", I rushed off to watch Life. Well, when I got home later on in the evening, I found that my 2 dozen roses had been beautifully arranged and that a poem had been written by these guys. I laughed hysterically when I saw what they had done. They are definitely characters- thanks to Troy and Matt for the poem and flower arrangements- I think that they have new careers as florists waiting for them anytime they want them!

Rose petals leading to...

more rose petals...

into my bedroom.....

and finally.... the finished product- roses and a poem... in a Mason jar!

And- YES this was written on toilet paper- it obviously has many uses!

LOVE IT!!! Who doesn't love coming home to a good poem every now and again. I'm going to miss this ward and all of the people in it when I leave for the summer- but I'm excited to have a new adventure in Denver- I'll be leaving Provo in 2 days to come to AZ and then off to Haiti. When I get back from Haiti, I'm off to Denver for my internship until the middle of August. After that, we're planning on Havasupai and Hawaii before I start school again- does life get any better???

:)

Microcredit Seminar

In preparation for our Haiti project, we have been learning as much as we can about how to set up village banks. This last week we had the chance to meet with John Hatch, founder of FINCA, one of the largest international microfinance institutions. He was in SLC to conduct a seminar on microfinance and how it works. Warner, our project advisor, had know John for a long time and was able to set up a meeting with him on Thursday to discuss our specific project and get some advice from him. We really enjoyed meeting him and hearing more about how he developed the village banking model. On Friday and Saturday, some of us also attended the microfinance seminar at Westminster College. My major take-away from these experiences was that although microfinance is not the end-all solution to the world's poverty problems, it can play a major role in helping the world's poor. John was so helpful and we are grateful that he was so willing to help us out and give us advice. After the seminar and progress that we have made this week with our project I am even more excited about our project and the things that we will be doing to help families become self-reliant. T minus 11 days. Haiti here we come!

Meeting with John Hatch at Globus Relief headquarters in SLC

L to R: Monty Eggett- Director of The Hope Alliance, Dominique Stay- Sustain Haiti, Warner Woodworth- Sustain Haiti-our fearless leader, John Hatch- founder and former CEO of FINCA, Brittany, Rony Charles- Sustain Haiti, Ray Kearney- Sustain Haiti

John Hatch with some members of our Sustain Haiti microfinance team at the microfinance seminar L to R- Jasmine Palmer, Ray Kearney, Brittany, John Hatch, Paul Booren