November

Sorry for the huge gap in entries, if you watch the news at all you know there has been quite a lot going on around here. At least that is what they tell me, I have not seen any of this news—only life as it has played out here. The month of November is probably one of great concern to many- well at least the three people that called me eleven hundred times throughout it!! Starting with a cholera scare, then hurricane tomas, followed by actual cholera, the past few weeks have been somewhat. . . something, not quite sure what word should go there, which is part of why I have yet to write about these events. Trying to operate during this time, much less trying to figure out what I am feeling through it all made writing about it a little more than I could handle at the time. So I guess now I can try to go back and tell about it. Don’t know how close it will come to what it all really looked like, but I can only try right?
Hurricane Tomas is the least hard to recount, the adrenaline and little damage made it honestly more of an adventure than a disaster (thank the Lord!) Although parts were heart wrenching, because everything turned out ok in the end, I can look at in a much lighter way than that of the events of cholera. I might as well go ahead and admit my ridiculousness, I think Rachel already ratted us out! When we heard news of the possible hurricane we first dismissed it, (since the hurricanes ALWAYS miss us at home), but as calls from the US became more frequent and I got orders to save all the school papers, we decided we would try and take it seriously at least a little. We put stuff up off the floor in the school, protected our school books, threw some tarps up, and then waited to see what would happen. Thursday night we are waiting and waiting for this big bad storm to show up, and there is not even the nice Jubilee breeze going. So what do we do? We get antsy, we are all geared up for a storm, so we do what any logical human being would do- we walk out to the ocean! We figure if we put on our rain jackets and boots, if it starts up we will have plenty of time to get back home and experience the rest of it! Thankfully we got to enjoy a nice look at the beach without Tomas, and then waited a while longer for it the next day. Friday morning it was only raining a little, but only one student showed up for school. Bless his heart, I think David’s mama would have sent him in the middle of the hurricane! So we ended up having a little party out there with children that were around. We listened to some music and colored and had a really good time goofing off. Then that afternoon Tomas finally graced us with its presence. The rain came, but not a great deal of wind. But slowly people started showing up, drenched looking for a dry place to bring their families. This was when the reality of the situation hit me. It’s pretty messed up, but I forget sometimes all the hardships these families have already faced in the past. So when a man comes to us, with one child, terrified and pleading with us to watch him and let him get the rest of his family, it took me a minute before I understood. I have not been through a flood that has taken away the little bit that I own. I have not had family members and friends swept away, many before anyone even knew. I have no idea what that is like, and therefore no idea what the terror that feels like thinking that it is coming again. So Rachel wrapped up the little boy while his daddy went back out to get Dordeline and all her brothers and sisters. After that it was a rush of trying to get children dry and clothed and comfortable(as possible) to sleep for the night. I think we figured out around 30 or so crammed in to Mr. Watson’s math classroom. After a few attempts we finally were able to keep enough rain out of the windows to give a semi-dry space to sleep. One of my teenagers, Hobenson, was trying to lay on a shelf, with his cast up to his thigh hanging out. So we rearranged and ended up having some space in the clinic to let him and his brother sleep in there. Thank the Lord the rain came but the winds were not too bad. We woke up the next morning to I think a foot and ahalf of water everywhere. Many of my students’ homes were full of water, everyone spent most of the day digging ditches to drain their dirt floors, putting sand inside to lessen the mass amounts of mud everywhere. The air was interesting the next day, everyone buzzing around, just taking what they were delt and doing the best they could with it. It felt almost like a sigh of relief that that was all Tomas had brought. Thankfully everyone had fixed their houses enough that they didn’t even need to come and stay the next night. So that pretty much started phase one of this craziness, still don’t know if I am ready to write about cholera, we will see.

Happy Birthday!

So, instead of reaching in and actually trying to recap or relive the last month- because there is so much, I think I am going to just pull out the most fun day and save the hard stuff for the book( Rachel Greene doesn't know it yet but I have decided since she is a real writer she should tell all those stories while I just get to put in IVs and run around in boots in stormy weather). Those that have been around me anytime lately may have noticed I have been contemplating the idea of righteous anger. Well, actually I have just been getting angry so then it has made me contemplate if it is righteous or not! When I see things that I know hurt God's heart it makes me think to Jesus flipping the tables and putting people in their place! This morning didn't start out like that, it actually started out taking it easy because we had just had a wave of cholera patients and I was actually feeling a little sick. But I was called out onto the porch by two of my friends to see Alberto holding his wife down on the ground with his foot while seemingly trying to rip her arm from her body. Please know there has already been two instances with this man injuring his wife( one just days after she had given birth to his son). So needless to say I already have a particular dislike for this man's behavior- and he is very aware of it. I am learning that in Haitian Culture- or really I only know of Jubilee culture- interfering in "personal" business is not something that people jump into. It is not for lack of concern but what seems to be a feeling of lack of power to change anything. I on the other hand, seem to stick my nose into EVERYTHING so of course I tear out running across the mud flats. By the time I get to him he now has their two month old baby in his hands, Kenzie, who is covered in mud. I take the baby from him and send Emmanuella off with him to bathe and check on him. So by now they are split apart, and he is yelling about her trying to kill his baby. I ask around enough to get the story that basically he had pushed her with the baby in her arms and both had fallen into the trench of mud around their house. So then he attacks her for "trying to kill his baby." He works himself up enough to try and come after her again while I am standing there. Here comes the table flipping- but remember, this has been a reoccurring problem that I haven't quite known what I could do about it. He was already kind of flailing about, obviously weak from trying to kill her just moments before. So when he came back at her, without thinking really, I reached my arm out and grabbed him by the throat and threw him to the ground.

I can't lie to you- I am not a believer in violence usually(Shelby doesn't count) but that was probably the best birthday present ever. Because I have watched the fear in that woman's eyes, and the hurt in her face since I have been here. And getting the chance to put him in his place, to protect her, even just for a moment, was incredible. As he was on the ground I started screaming in his face (in english) that he better stay away from her, I may have said more but I don't actually remember. Anyway,after that I sent him off with one of my guy friends and sent her off with some ladies hoping we could calm down the situation, because having a crowd there, things were just getting revved up even more. Walking back, mud all over me and carrying a machete (after he got back up, a few minutes later he had a machete-don't think he was going to do anything with it, but I took it just in case)I am sure I looked like a crazy person. But I went and checked out the baby, and made sure that it was Alberto that had made the baby fall, not her before giving him back to her. Thankfully this time was serious enough that he moved out and let her stay in the house. I don't know how long it will last, but I was just glad to have the chance to stand up for her, and hopefully let her know that she matters.

For those of you that think I did wrong, yes, I did struggle with it afterwards- had I just made things worse? and how was my reacting in violence any different than his? but the next day, when he showed up bleeding from working outside, and I bandaged his wound, I think he and the community saw that the heart behind it is coming from a very different place. It's not easy to know how to show love here always, I mess it up all the time, but righteous anger I believe sometimes is a part of it. And it may be bad, but I was so thankful to God that He let things happen the way they did. No person should have to live in fear of the ones who are supposed to be loving and caring for them. And having the opportunity to stand up against that really was a great birthday present!