Baby Feeding and the First Week of School

Bonswa zanmi mwen! (Hello my friend!)

Where do I even start?  I’ve been in Haiti for two weeks now; some days it feels like I’ve been here a lot longer and some days it seems like I just arrived. The days here seem extra long- we wake up anywhere from 5:30-6:00 and don’t go to bed until around 10:00. I often joke that the days feel like two days because the time seems to go so slowly! We have no distractions here- no wasting an hour or two on Netflix or Pinterest because the wifi is too slow, no watching mindless television. Some days, this is a great thing. It allows us to bond with each other or go down to the house (the nickname for the children’s home) and bond with the children. I get so much grading and planning done in the afternoons because nothing else is competing for my attention. Some days, no distractions can be incredibly annoying. Some days I think, I’ve been doing school all day and the kids drove me nuts. I just want to sit down and watch some New Girl or Once Upon A Time, or skim Pinterest for craft ideas I never intend to complete. Then I remember that I’m in Haiti and I don’t have that luxury anymore. That’s when I pick up my guitar or a book to read. Speaking of books- I’ve already read the ones I brought with me. Does anyone have any suggestions of awesome books to read??

            Since I don’t really know where to begin with all the stories I have from this last week, I guess I’ll start at the most logical place- Monday. School didn’t start until Tuesday, so we teachers had all day Monday to prepare our classrooms and plan for the first week of school. Since I don’t have my own classroom, I basically had a free day. I chose to spend the first half going with Katelyn (the “house mom” down at the children’s home) for the baby feeding program. Every week day, Katelyn goes to the Ravine to feed babies under the age of three. How do I describe the Ravine? Imagine Haiti in your mind for a moment. Most likely, what you’re imagining are small, one room houses with dirt floors and tin roofs all crowded together in one location. You’re probably imagining people milling around, cooking on open fires. You’re probably imagining trash lining the streets and alleyways, children running around in bare feet. This is the Ravine. I haven’t seen anything like it in either of my two trips to Haiti- in fact, it’s the stereotype that I have been trying to discourage. The Ravine is so extremely poor. A lot of my students that I will be teaching this year come from the Ravine- it was definitely eye opening to see their living conditions. These mothers of young children struggle to find adequate food for their babies. As a result of poor nutrition, the brains of these children are underdeveloped, which creates a numerous amount of disabilities. The hope of the baby feeding program is to provide the mothers with access to vitamins and nutrients that the brain needs in order to benefit the children.

            Anyways, I went with Katelyn, a Haitian man named Jude, and my friend Michelle to the baby feeding program. We walked to the ravine and met our first of three groups of mothers and children. They walked up to us with cans, cups, and bowls which we filled with a slice of avocado, a peanut butter sandwich, a vitamin, half of a hard-boiled egg, and a scoop of peanut butter than had been mixed with baby formula containing important nutrients for young children. The mothers were so thankful and stayed to chat with Katelyn and Jude. Michelle and I don’t know Creole yet, so we just stood and watched. Though I couldn’t understand what was being said, I could tell that the mothers were thanking Katelyn and she was checking in to make sure that everything was okay with them and their babies. I was in awe of these sweet, smiling babies and the lengths their mothers were willing to go to by enrolling in a nutrition program and walking to the same stop every day to get their children food. I wish I could go with Katelyn to feed the babies every week! Too bad it happens during school times!

            Tuesday was the first day of school. As with any first day, it was CRAZY! I have been assigned to teach 8 classes this school year- 2^nd Grade Reading, 2^nd Grade Math, 3^rd Grade Reading, 3^rd Grade Math, 4^th Grade Reading, 4^th Grade Math, 5^th Grade Reading and 5^th Grade Math. Talk about a workload! Since I have subjects in a variety of grade levels, I don’t have the luxury of having my own classroom. I have a little pink bag that a fellow teacher, Tammy, let me borrow. I carry all of my papers, textbooks, and supplies from classroom to classroom with me. I’ll be honest, at first I was a little disappointed. I had hoped and dreamed of my own classroom, my own rules, my own 15 to 20 students. However, throughout the first week God showed me that by following His plan and teaching 8 classes I have the unique opportunity to love on and witness to not just 20 students, but nearly 65 students! God is so good!!!

            Each day begins at 7:00 with a teacher meeting. Haitian and American teachers alike meet in a classroom for our daily devotion. Mr. Patrick plays a song on his guitar and we all sing along- first in Creole and then in English. I imagine that this is what Heaven will be like one day. A large variety of people worshiping God in all types of languages! It’s beautiful and one of my favorite parts of the day. Then, Mr. Richard (not pronounced Richard like in America, but Ri-shard) shares a message with us from the Bible. This week, we’ve been talking about Galatians and how we are free from the Old Testament Law thanks to the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. At 7:30, the students arrive and line up according to grade level. In Creole they sing ‘How Great Thou Art’, followed by a prayer and the Haitian National Anthem. They are dismissed after the national anthem to go to class. I love to stand where the large school yard narrows to a smaller hallway of sorts (the classrooms are under the shelter of a roof, but the “hallways” are out in the open, so it feels weird to call it a hallway.) Anyways, I like to stand there and greet every student as they pass on their way to class. There is nothing like seeing 300 smiling faces and hearing 150 good mornings!!  

Tuesday and Wednesday I spent the day watching the Haitian teachers of the classes I will be teaching. I watched how they spoke to the children, how they started the day, how they handled breakfast and lunch, water breaks and bathroom breaks. I watched how they taught the subjects that I would be teaching. After all, this is my first year teaching and though I have been trained how to be a good teacher, I haven’t had a whole lot of practice. After each class, I spoke with the teachers to see what time would be best for me to enter their classroom. Finally, by Thursday I had a schedule nailed down. If you know me, you know finally having a schedule made for a great day!!! Thursday, I began teaching. Let me tell you- it’s A LOT harder than it looks!!! Even with all the training and experience and professional development that student teaching brought me, I still struggled. Well, I still am struggling. I have no idea where typical second, fourth and fifth grade students should be in math or reading. Thank goodness for my good friend Google! I was able to use the internet to pull up some timed math tests and some reading passages that I used to test the students to see their abilities, which I felt was a good starting point.

Things are starting to settle down a bit now that we have all gotten into a routine. The children are becoming more used to seeing me every day. The blanc (white person) is less of a novelty and now they realize I am here to make them learn! I only have 30 minutes per grade level for math and 45 minutes for reading. There is so much that I have to squeeze into that 30 or 45 minutes! The kiddos know by now that when I come in the classroom, I mean business. We work hard!!!

Some other fun facts about school- each student pays $10 to get two t-shirts that are the uniform for school. The parents must provide pants/shorts for the boys and skirts for the girls. This is a struggle for a lot of the parents. As part of the school fees, students receive two meals a day- breakfast and lunch. The cooks bring the meals directly to the classroom and the students eat at their desks. When they are finished, a student takes all the metal dishes to the kitchen where the cooks clean them. In each room there is a water jug. All the students in the classroom share the two cups provided.

I want to leave you with something that I feel is so important. These kids are just like any other group of kids. Yes, some come from the Ravine and are extremely poor. Yes, most of them have seen more in their short 10 years of life than I probably ever will. But they’re just like kids in America. Jeffly, Gesner, Junior and Ludger are the class clowns in 4^th grade. They love to be silly and make their classmates laugh. I’ve learned I have to be stern with them. Sebastien is an amazing reader and Derlens is a math wiz! Emeil is very advanced for a second grader and I often have to find more difficult work for him because he finishes his addition problems too quickly. Misline and Rosemarline love giving and receiving hugs. Nickellange falls asleep in almost every class if you don’t stay on her. Most of my students are hard workers but as with any class there will be a few that don’t enjoy school and don’t want to be there. Every student wants a high five or a fist bump when they have done something correctly. When I point out that Wenshelove got the answer to 3+4 correct, seven other hands fly in the air and I hear a chorus of voices yelling, “Me too!! Me too! I got that too!” and I proceed to walk around the classroom to give pats on the backs to everyone who got the right answer.

The point is, my students are just like students in America. They are mischevious and sneaky. They forget homework. They try to make excuses and are constantly trying to figure out how to get out of class or working. They want love and affirmation from their teacher. Sometimes, they have really good days, like today in my 3^rd grade reading class. Sometimes, they have really terrible days like yesterday in my 3^rd grade reading class. But they are normal kids. They don’t want to be pitied for their living situations. They don’t want you to feel bad for them because they leave their house at 4:00 in the morning to get to school on time at 7:30. They are happy and content with the life that they are living. They praise God every morning and every afternoon for their blessings! I just don’t want you to read my blog and think, oh those poor things! They might be poor materially, but spiritually they are SO rich!

I am so thankful to be able to be here in Haiti. Some days are really tough and I just want to curl up on my bed and sleep for the rest of the day. It can be so hot here that you just want to spread out and try to move as little as possible. I don’t think that I’ve stopped sweating the whole day today, even as I write this at 8:30 at night with a fan blowing on me. But most days are full of joy! I wake up in the morning to a beautiful sunrise right outside my door. I work at a school where we begin and end the day with prayers to our Lord and Savior and where I can read a Bible Story as part of my lesson. I get countless hugs every day and a chorus of ‘Thank you Miss Brittany’ when I leave the classroom. After school, I get to go to the house where I get to love on my favorite Haitian baby, Jean Wilson. I get to switch roles from teacher (and to my students, slave driver) to the fun American. We play with rocks, with plastic bags, and with a beat up soccer ball. I cheer the kiddos on as they do cartwheels or race around the yard. I let them play with my hair and laugh with them as they make silly faces for my camera phone. I love my Haitian life! Thank you God for allowing me to be a part of Your amazing plan here in Haiti!

Stay tuned for a new blog post, hopefully coming soon, that talks about my first tap-tap ride, the Haitian grocery store, and our beach trip!! Thank you to everyone for your prayers and encouraging messages! It means so much to have you all supporting me!

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.... You are serving the Lord Christ." ~ Colossians 3:23-24