Five Weeks of Camp Done

Tuesday August 7, 2012

Exhaustion is setting in tonight…not much sleep was to be had last night.  We are safe and sound back in Port-au-Prince after leaving our house in Passe Catabois late last night.  After a few hours of sleep we made our way into Port-de-Paix to catch the bus back to Port-au-Prince.  Always an adventure when we are coming and going in the Northwest.  It is more bush than any other part of Haiti I’ve been to and always makes me laugh at how ridiculous my life can be sometimes (i.e. moto rides at night, motos full to max with people and bags, just shrugging at the cockroach walking across the kitchen floor, sweating out of every pore including your big toe, the look of Haitian faces when you whip out some Creole jokes they were not expecting, riding the bus bounding over roads so rough it throws you off your seat into the isle).  Ridiculous and hard.  I’m so thankful that I could share this with Leah because if we didn’t laugh through some parts of the past three weeks I think I would have been curled up crying on the floor instead.  A lot of critters, a lot of demands, a lot of physical and emotional strain that can break anyone, but somehow when you share the experiences with people, it’s do-able, enjoyable and births some deep joy within.

So, we are done with Camp 2012.  What.  We are still shocked that it's done.  Leah pulled out 5 weeks; I was there for 4 of them.  My favorite moments in Passe Catabois: Surprise times of “ti coze”s (little talks) with different groups of kids; the conversations get deeper and funnier every year.   Times in camp where the kids get so into the music, something switches in everyone and pure glee takes over as everyone sings and moves.  Health lessons; they totally worked and the kids laughed at Leah and I making fools out of ourselves in the skits.  The small things I could do in the hospital with Anne-Marie and Joanne; hopefully I could encourage them a little.  Laughing with Leah; we are pretty self-entertaining which is handy when you are in the middle of nowhere.

Now we are onto the next phase.  Caitlin came in today and will be doing a community mural in Cite Soley.  The agenda is not set in stone so we will see how it goes and what I can do.  Maybe it’s just some chill time, for which I would not complain.