The Tale of Ryna’s Cross-Country Journey all by her Lonesome: High and Low Style
-Tefa, my moto driver, showing up at 4:10 am even when we said 4:30 10 million times the day before (an early Haitian?!? What?)… High
- Leaving my homies, Leah and Megan, … Super Low
- An uneventful moto ride (besides Tefa stopping right before the bridge to Port-de-Paix to go pee) in the moon light and Tefa actually knowing where the bus station was… High
- Getting on the 6 am bus instead of 7 am because we got to the station so early, what?!... High
- Deciding to check my now somehow exceptionally heavy backpack to go on the roof of the bus instead of on my lap… High
- Sitting in the back corner seat so squished in between a line of 4 sweaty Haitian men and the window jabbing into my arm with every bump… Low
- Deciding to make a move for an open seat a few rows up despite the moving bus bounding over the rocky mountain road... High
- Realizing I sat next to a guy who hit on me the whole way (6 hours to Port-au-Prince) and told me I could lay on his lap after I told him the reason I wasn't talking much was because I was so sleepy... Low but also kind of funny
- Meeting a random friend on the bus who tapped me on the shoulder and said “Miss Ryna!” gave me a phone with another friend on the other end who wanted to talk to me. Hehehe…oh the randomness of Haiti… High
- The bus being freakin’ and unbearably hot 3 out of the 6 hours... Low
- Feeling a headache coming on in the bus (note to self: no coffee, not drinking water, and stifling heat are not a good combo)... Low
- Calling Bena from the guesthouse to pick me up and he answers excitedly with “Ryna! Ou rive!?” Hahahaha... High
- Bus ride in total only 6 hrs... High
- Feeling nauseous in the car to the guesthouse due to the headache that has now become a migraine. Vomiting my brains out as soon as I get in the door… Super Low
- Ibuprofen, drinking a gallon of water and a coke, a nap, and waking up to feeling good enough to eat a legit meal of pizza and salad (what?!)… Super High
All in a day
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Friday, August 23, 2013
Week 3 Fini
Friday, August 16, 2013
Friday afternoon is a good feeling. Done with another week of camp. Can you believe it? Because we definitely cannot! Although it feels like the days go by slowly, the week ends up flying by somehow when you find yourself at the end of the week wondering where all the days went.
I started this week with attempts at a good attitude since our water was fixed by Friday night;and I knew I needed to enjoy this last full week of camp because as soon as I am home I know I am missing it so badly. Plus, we had a good weekend of resting and soaking our disgusting, now-Haitian feet, in water (because we could) and had high hopes this week would be better. That was, until our water unexpectedly shut off Tuesday night. We at least had our buckets on top of the house filled up, but with no water coming from any of the community faucets, there was the chance things could get kind of dicey.
We left for camp Wednesday morning, not sure how the day would go without water. It’s a funny thing here; somehow always forced to depend on Jesus to provide because you really don’t have any other choice. Wednesday turned out to be one of the best camp days this week. My highs were seeing the pastor wheelbarrowing buckets of water to the school kitchen so they could start cooking for the kids, then halfway through the morning a bucket of water for the kids to drink showed up just in time when everyone was so thirsty. I later found out one of the kids here, probably aged 14, went on his donkey to get water from the faucet (that had started back up somehow) on the other side of the valley. It doesn’t get any better than that!
Today we are exhausted. Heat. The busyness of camp and workshops. The stress of no water. News from home. We are surviving but this year there is a sort of heaviness in the air. Leah always says we must be doing something right if we are feeling so much opposition. I guess that’s how things roll here.
I realized today that we probably had the best group of kids ever in camp this week. Ages 10 – 12. They shockingly good and attentive, ha! I feel like the health lessons are rockin' this year. Not sure why. The Creole is rolling off my tongue, kids actually listening, and the skits Leah and I do must be good because the kids be laughing pretty hard. Those times are a blessing for sure.
I’m out next Wednesday, as Leah and Megan continue to hold down the fort for the last week of camp here in PC.
Friday afternoon is a good feeling. Done with another week of camp. Can you believe it? Because we definitely cannot! Although it feels like the days go by slowly, the week ends up flying by somehow when you find yourself at the end of the week wondering where all the days went.
I started this week with attempts at a good attitude since our water was fixed by Friday night;and I knew I needed to enjoy this last full week of camp because as soon as I am home I know I am missing it so badly. Plus, we had a good weekend of resting and soaking our disgusting, now-Haitian feet, in water (because we could) and had high hopes this week would be better. That was, until our water unexpectedly shut off Tuesday night. We at least had our buckets on top of the house filled up, but with no water coming from any of the community faucets, there was the chance things could get kind of dicey.
We left for camp Wednesday morning, not sure how the day would go without water. It’s a funny thing here; somehow always forced to depend on Jesus to provide because you really don’t have any other choice. Wednesday turned out to be one of the best camp days this week. My highs were seeing the pastor wheelbarrowing buckets of water to the school kitchen so they could start cooking for the kids, then halfway through the morning a bucket of water for the kids to drink showed up just in time when everyone was so thirsty. I later found out one of the kids here, probably aged 14, went on his donkey to get water from the faucet (that had started back up somehow) on the other side of the valley. It doesn’t get any better than that!
Today we are exhausted. Heat. The busyness of camp and workshops. The stress of no water. News from home. We are surviving but this year there is a sort of heaviness in the air. Leah always says we must be doing something right if we are feeling so much opposition. I guess that’s how things roll here.
I realized today that we probably had the best group of kids ever in camp this week. Ages 10 – 12. They shockingly good and attentive, ha! I feel like the health lessons are rockin' this year. Not sure why. The Creole is rolling off my tongue, kids actually listening, and the skits Leah and I do must be good because the kids be laughing pretty hard. Those times are a blessing for sure.
I’m out next Wednesday, as Leah and Megan continue to hold down the fort for the last week of camp here in PC.
N'ap Kenbe
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Day 3 of week 2 of camp done! I know this will all be done before I know it. All things camp are moving right along and the kids seem to be enjoying it. This week we have 50 kids ages 6 to 9. They are full of joy and a lot of energy, which might be the cause of why we are so tired every morning. That or the heat or the stress of living with low amounts of water or all of the above…
It’s always good to be back in Passe Catabois, although emotions are always so up and so down. The relationships that continue year after year surprise me and are something deep that I don’t quite understand fully, but somehow I think (and hope) they are part of something bigger. In the same breath, life is so difficult here; hands down, our experiences here would make us good candidates for Survivor, ha! But what usually trumps all is that it is such a blessing to be a part of the community here and continue to work for what I believe is good even though I don’t know what that looks like all the time or what the crap Jesus is actually doing here.
Water is our issue this year (it’s always something…). The water system that pipes water to PC is not well. We aren’t getting any water from the faucets in our house but since we have a faucet outside that is still giving us water (sometimes well, sometimes in drips, and sometimes nothing, yikes) we are doing fine! We be trucking water like the Haitians and getting big muscles (just kidding, we truck it like 10 feet). My patience and endurance for hard times is definitely being tested, but at the end of the day, we are well and we have what we need (and maybe some extra survivor skills ☺). We keep praying for what we need to stay well, for water to be restored fully, and for our attitudes to be good (ok, maybe just mine). I think this is doable because we have been praying for rain and it freakin’ downpoured this afternoon. My clothes are still wet on me right now since I had a childlike moment and ran around in all the puddles and seriously considered getting the shampoo out to wash my hair in the rain. It was awesome.
Leah and Megan are good company. We are still sweating, still laughing, still enjoying our time here. Since it’s Megan’s first time here we are teaching her some fun Passe Catabois times; she is fitting so well that I think she might have some Haitian blood in her.
Keep praying for us as we persevere through hard times and eat up the good times.
Day 3 of week 2 of camp done! I know this will all be done before I know it. All things camp are moving right along and the kids seem to be enjoying it. This week we have 50 kids ages 6 to 9. They are full of joy and a lot of energy, which might be the cause of why we are so tired every morning. That or the heat or the stress of living with low amounts of water or all of the above…
It’s always good to be back in Passe Catabois, although emotions are always so up and so down. The relationships that continue year after year surprise me and are something deep that I don’t quite understand fully, but somehow I think (and hope) they are part of something bigger. In the same breath, life is so difficult here; hands down, our experiences here would make us good candidates for Survivor, ha! But what usually trumps all is that it is such a blessing to be a part of the community here and continue to work for what I believe is good even though I don’t know what that looks like all the time or what the crap Jesus is actually doing here.
Water is our issue this year (it’s always something…). The water system that pipes water to PC is not well. We aren’t getting any water from the faucets in our house but since we have a faucet outside that is still giving us water (sometimes well, sometimes in drips, and sometimes nothing, yikes) we are doing fine! We be trucking water like the Haitians and getting big muscles (just kidding, we truck it like 10 feet). My patience and endurance for hard times is definitely being tested, but at the end of the day, we are well and we have what we need (and maybe some extra survivor skills ☺). We keep praying for what we need to stay well, for water to be restored fully, and for our attitudes to be good (ok, maybe just mine). I think this is doable because we have been praying for rain and it freakin’ downpoured this afternoon. My clothes are still wet on me right now since I had a childlike moment and ran around in all the puddles and seriously considered getting the shampoo out to wash my hair in the rain. It was awesome.
Leah and Megan are good company. We are still sweating, still laughing, still enjoying our time here. Since it’s Megan’s first time here we are teaching her some fun Passe Catabois times; she is fitting so well that I think she might have some Haitian blood in her.
Keep praying for us as we persevere through hard times and eat up the good times.
Marathon Travel Day
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Finally made it to Passe Catabois after 15 hours of travel. It was maybe one of the hardest travel days I’ve had in Haiti; there were moments I was close to losing it. Traveling is always hard and such a process here. Plus there is always something here in the Northwest that stretches my patience, endurance, and over all being to the point of almost breaking, but someway, somehow we always make it through.
We got to the bus station in Port-au-Prince at 8 am for the 9 am bus, which left at 10 am. We soon named our ride the “turtle” due to the speed it was able to go… not good for the mind when you know you have a difficult ride ahead of you that takes 6 hours on a good day. Megan, Leah, and I were packed into the back of the tour bus and soon found the airflow a little less than adequate. We had a few moments of panic until we convinced the Haitians around us to open the windows, hehe. The bus began making a horrid noise and with every incline slowed to a speed that was slow for even a turtle. We finally made it to Gonaives, our halfway point, after 4.5 hours. This is when they decided it was probably time to get a new bus so we waited for 3 hours until our new bus arrived. At 5:30 pm we left Gonaives, onward for 3.5 hours of unpaved rocky roads. It was rough, hot, and tested my endurance like no other. We finally made it to Port de Paix around 9 pm and somehow snagged a man to bring us to PC in his car since moto rides at that hour with five 50+ pound bags and our backpacks in the dark was a little unnerving. After a pit stop in the middle of a crowd in Port de Paix to “fix” the car (I was losing it at this point), a rough fume-filled hour drive in which we were all nodding off, we finally made it to our home in Passe Catabois.
I have never been so happy to see the house, until we learned the water is having a bit of trouble. As in, it’s been 2 weeks of only trickles coming out of the faucet… not the best news after 15 hours of travel and feeling so sweat and dust covered that you could probably scrape it off with a knife, and all you want in the whole world is a shower. I’m not gonna lie, I was not happy. It’s always something here…. Something so hard that forces you to experience difficulties of life with others.
But at the end of the day: we all made it to PC in one piece and with all our bags intact – we even had a few laughs in us still. We woke this morning to stifling heat at 10:30 (uh, we must have been a little tired) and finally got a good look at the land around us. So
dry, so hot, the river below also only at a trickle. Obviously the land is thirsty for water, as are we. So far we have enough for what we need, so we are thankful.
Leah opened her bible to this random verse this morning as we sat down to some long awaited coffee and rest time: Zechariah chapter 10: “Ask the Lord for rain in the spring, for he makes the storm clouds. And he will send showers of rain so every field becomes a lush pasture.” God will restore his people… whatever this means for us or for this place or for this time, I don’t know… but maybe something like restoring my spoiled and whining soul, restoring water, life and substance to the land, restoring evil to goodness, restoring those who are lost to community… all of which are real for me and the people I’ve seen this week.
So…camp in PC starting tomorrow… so thankful for arriving safely, Megan’s joy and ability to stay calm, Leah’s energy and ability to make me laugh, a bed, enough water for a shower, coffee, and music to help me cope. Prayers for this week are endurance, water to be restored, rain for the land, camp logistics to play out well, and for us to be used in whatever plan Jesus has up his sleeve. Bring it.
Finally made it to Passe Catabois after 15 hours of travel. It was maybe one of the hardest travel days I’ve had in Haiti; there were moments I was close to losing it. Traveling is always hard and such a process here. Plus there is always something here in the Northwest that stretches my patience, endurance, and over all being to the point of almost breaking, but someway, somehow we always make it through.
We got to the bus station in Port-au-Prince at 8 am for the 9 am bus, which left at 10 am. We soon named our ride the “turtle” due to the speed it was able to go… not good for the mind when you know you have a difficult ride ahead of you that takes 6 hours on a good day. Megan, Leah, and I were packed into the back of the tour bus and soon found the airflow a little less than adequate. We had a few moments of panic until we convinced the Haitians around us to open the windows, hehe. The bus began making a horrid noise and with every incline slowed to a speed that was slow for even a turtle. We finally made it to Gonaives, our halfway point, after 4.5 hours. This is when they decided it was probably time to get a new bus so we waited for 3 hours until our new bus arrived. At 5:30 pm we left Gonaives, onward for 3.5 hours of unpaved rocky roads. It was rough, hot, and tested my endurance like no other. We finally made it to Port de Paix around 9 pm and somehow snagged a man to bring us to PC in his car since moto rides at that hour with five 50+ pound bags and our backpacks in the dark was a little unnerving. After a pit stop in the middle of a crowd in Port de Paix to “fix” the car (I was losing it at this point), a rough fume-filled hour drive in which we were all nodding off, we finally made it to our home in Passe Catabois.
I have never been so happy to see the house, until we learned the water is having a bit of trouble. As in, it’s been 2 weeks of only trickles coming out of the faucet… not the best news after 15 hours of travel and feeling so sweat and dust covered that you could probably scrape it off with a knife, and all you want in the whole world is a shower. I’m not gonna lie, I was not happy. It’s always something here…. Something so hard that forces you to experience difficulties of life with others.
But at the end of the day: we all made it to PC in one piece and with all our bags intact – we even had a few laughs in us still. We woke this morning to stifling heat at 10:30 (uh, we must have been a little tired) and finally got a good look at the land around us. So
dry, so hot, the river below also only at a trickle. Obviously the land is thirsty for water, as are we. So far we have enough for what we need, so we are thankful.
Leah opened her bible to this random verse this morning as we sat down to some long awaited coffee and rest time: Zechariah chapter 10: “Ask the Lord for rain in the spring, for he makes the storm clouds. And he will send showers of rain so every field becomes a lush pasture.” God will restore his people… whatever this means for us or for this place or for this time, I don’t know… but maybe something like restoring my spoiled and whining soul, restoring water, life and substance to the land, restoring evil to goodness, restoring those who are lost to community… all of which are real for me and the people I’ve seen this week.
So…camp in PC starting tomorrow… so thankful for arriving safely, Megan’s joy and ability to stay calm, Leah’s energy and ability to make me laugh, a bed, enough water for a shower, coffee, and music to help me cope. Prayers for this week are endurance, water to be restored, rain for the land, camp logistics to play out well, and for us to be used in whatever plan Jesus has up his sleeve. Bring it.
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