We left the compound around 3:00pm when Clare finished work and caught a ride toward the mountains. The ride usually takes Maguy about 2-2.5 hours and 6 tap-taps. Tap-taps are a uniquely Haitian public transportation system consisting of colorfully painted pick-up trucks with the bed outfitted with benches and a truck cap which can cram 10-20 people depending on the urgency of its passengers. You ride one until it either turns around in a city center or someone requests off with a simple “Mesi.” Luckily we saved a lot of time during this commute because Maguy arranged for her friend to take us a good portion of the way to the crowded and busy city of Petionville directly from our compound, so we only had 2 or 3 tap-taps after that before arriving to Maguy’s house. The climate was much cooler by the time we got up in the mountains, with noticeably more greenery and less humidity.
Since coming to Haiti, we’ve bought some eggs and beer at little stands near our compound and been treated well and given relatively fair prices. Everyone around here knows our faces and where we live, and are very friendly.
The market was a different experience. We stopped at the market on our way to her house Friday to get some produce. This was a huge market, descending from street level into a tarp-covered catacomb of pathways, stairs, twists and turns down a large hill with hundreds of vendors selling all kinds of food, drinks, and sundries. It was totally crowded with people pushing past each other, some with giant sacks or baskets of whatever they were selling on their head or in their arms. This was Haiti’s version of Meijer. We were enveloped in a sea of Haitians with a path one-person wide and several people moving through it at any given time. Maguy warned us in advance that when you’re white in Haiti sometimes, “people will ask you more” which we already know and have encountered, but that didn’t prepare us for what we experienced accompanying her to the market. We knew that as Blancs (Whites), people would charge Maguy more money for things because she was with us. We were wisely told to let her do the shopping and to stay back a ways so we weren’t associated with her; it didn’t really work. Everyone knew we came in together immediately and shouted “Blanc! Blanc! Blanc! Blanc! Bay mwen lajan! Give me money! Hey blanc! Give me yon dollar!” as they crowded around us and reached for our arms. We have both had experiences separate and together while traveling abroad where people were crowing around you and begging, but the sea of people and the spectacle we became was total chaos on a level that doesn’t compare. It was one of the more overwhelming experiences we’ve had to date. We couldn’t stop thinking about how absolutely different this was to every previous interaction we have had with Haitians. Eventually Maguy got far enough away from us that she got what we needed for dinner at a fair price and we made our way back up the hill to street level. Maguy thanked us for keeping a distance by saying, “If that woman were to see me with you she would have my head!” With that we jumped into another tap-tap and headed to Maguy’s house with arms full of produce.
Maguy lives with her son and daughter (12 and 15) in a small poured cement house with wood beam framing on the side of a hill. This house was built by her parents and survived the 2010 earthquake and many hurricanes. Her main room serves as the living room, kitchen, and dining room, complete with a couch, dining table, cooking space, pantry, and two giant 50 gallon plastic water drums (one for well water, one for storing food). Like all the other houses nearby and most in Haiti, Maguy’s has no running water or electricity. At night it’s lit with an old school gas lamp that travels from room to room and reminded us of Little House on the Prairie. The house was constructed with a big rectangular well that collects all rainwater runoff from the house. We’ve never experienced a life without running water and electricity besides camping, so we were reminded of those times. Even with the convenience of a well next to us, it takes a lot of work to have a ready supply of water. First, you have to collect it in buckets and fill the big plastic drum inside. Next, treat it with chlorine to make sure it’s safe to wash dishes, bathe in, and most everything else except to drink. Drinking water is purchased down the road in 5 gallon jugs you would find in an office that needs to be hauled back up the hill to the house. There is a toilet in the house that requires about a gallon of water dumped into it to flush.
Maguy and her family were incredibly gracious hosts throughout the whole weekend. As soon as we arrived, Maguy invited us to take a load off on the couch, and let me tell you we’ve never been so glad to sink into a couch! We don’t have one here on the compound and it’s really easy to take for granted the luxury of falling back into a comfy cushioned couch at the end of a long day. We then had another treat right after, some Haitian coffee (brewed like espresso) on the stove. It was delicious. That evening we relaxed with some Prestige and tasty home-cooked food. Before bed, Maguy heated up some water on the stove for us to take a bucket bath in a space in her bathroom resembling a large shower with no faucet. Although we have a running-water shower on the seminary compound, it is always cold water (which isn’t always a bad thing in the heat). But slowly pouring hot water over your body after a long day’s work felt absolutely incredible. There’s no substitute for that. Just before bed, Maguy poured us some delicious Barbancort rum she had soaked in loquats and sour cherries. We listened to some classic Haitian kompa music on her laptop computer she charged at a neighbor’s house. Her kids cracked us up as they rolled their eyes; they wanted to listen to American pop, not old people Haitian music. Maguy and her 12 year-old daughter usually share a bed in the master bedroom, but for us, she arranged for her and her daughter sleep on a couch and cot in the kitchen so we could have the bed. Being warm and toasty from the hot water bath and having just enjoyed a delicious sweet rum night cap, we fell into the best deep sleep we’ve had since arriving to Haiti.
Saturday Clare awoke to Maguy delivering a tray of Haitian coffee with sugar (the way she had enjoyed it the day before) in bed and told her to stay in bed and rest as long as she liked. When Clare laughed and thanked her for treating her like a princess, she smiled and said, “Everyone needs to feel like that sometimes.” Aaron accompanied Maguy off to the market again for more groceries and another reminder of what color his skin was from a frenzied crowd of pushy vendors and gawkers. After a big American breakfast of French toast and pancakes (Jeff’s recipe of bananas and egg whites), we went with Maguy and her daughter to Kenscoff on an adventure to walk around and visit the school she worked at for five years before coming to this school.
We arrived to the downtown area of Kenscoff in about an hour’s ride. From there we walked into the mountains to a remote little village where we were met by Maguy’s friend who works at the school and handed her the keys. From the village it’s about an hour’s walk to the school, but we were lucky to catch a ride from a friendly guy driving an empty salt-truck most of the way. Riding in the back of the truck along the side of the mountain was breathtakingly beautiful, and we savored every second of it. We explored the school, which consisted of four or five separate small rooms decorated with children’s drawings and teachers’ lessons etched in chalk on the board from the prior week. It was a very modest school overlooking a gorgeous valley of mountains.
The whole time we walked around the school Maguy shared her ideas with us. All of them were really progressive and in line with the best care someone would expect for kids in the States. She spoke about her passion for educating kids 0-3, as this was the most important time for training parents on important activities to do at home to foster healthy development. She shared her frustration with how teachers and communities don’t do enough to encourage healthy developing children because of the obligation to work to put food on the table. She had and endless supply of ideas as to what activities are best for encouraging curious minds and engaged students. Her passion and creativity for educating children is truly a gift.
We walked back about an hour to Maguy’s friend to give him back the keys, with her saying hi and catching up with neighborhood children and adults all along the way. It was fun seeing her totally in her element, asking former students how they were doing in school and hearing the latest news of friends she hasn’t seen in a while. We realized just how socially connected she is to her community and how important that is for anyone’s wellbeing in a place like this where favors and relationships are worth more than money. Again, Aaron and I experienced Haitians the way we knew them from our neighborhood, as people pleased to meet us, smiling, and only little children shouting “blanc!”at us.
We arrived back to the house and were excited for our first American dinner adventure: tacos! We hadn’t made the tortillas from scratch before so we crossed our fingers. Maguy and her family were eager to try tacos, as they never had them before. The tortillas turned out incredible and convinced us to never buy them from a store again (seriously, there’s no comparison), and we had the tacos complete with fresh guacamole, pico de gallo, cheese, homemade refried beans, and a fresh lettuce salad. We’re still drooling as we write this blog entry. Maguy and the kids had fun assembling them. As we heard Maguy explain in Creole, “These are tortillas, this is salsa, this is guacamole, and these are refried beans; when you put them all together, they make a taco.”
Sunday was Mother’s Day, and even though we were unable to Skype our actual mothers, seeing Maguy make the ordinary day-to-day miracles happen to keep her family happy and healthy made it a wonderful Mother’s Day for us. Sunday morning Maguy and Clare made a recipe Clare had recalled her mom making years ago with the most abundant produce this time of year (yep, mangoes). Watching the kids finish the mango crisp we made in her brand new propane gas oven and asking for seconds made the work well worth it. We made a Mother’s Day toast to Maguy over some Haitian coffee and immediately the work began to get lunch ready. Transporting water, cutting vegetables, buying and hooking up more propane, and washing dishes by hand with the 3 bucket sanitation system kept us busy until it was time to enjoy another meal of fresh fish seasoned with lime, garlic, onions, dill, and oregano served with Maguy’s “Chinese rice” recipe made with Jasmine rice, worcestershire sauce, fish stock, and veggies, accompanied by a fresh salad.
After lunch, we ran from the table and witnessed the usual family hustle to get ready for the 3pm church service. Maguy lent Clare a nice silk below the knee skirt to wear with her most blouse-like cotton t-shirt and Aaron was deemed “Alright I guess if that’s what you have,” in a button down plaid shirt and khaki pants. As most families are when they look their best, we were a few minutes late to service in a medium sized room with school chairs and a podium. When asked how long the service would be, Maguy replied, “Not very long at all, just an hour and 45 minutes.” Did she mean 45 minutes up to an hour? Apparently not. Maguy kept Clare awake and engaged by filling her in on some Creole words she didn’t know and translating parts of the service in a whisper. Some of it was funny and we were relieved to join a service that was light hearted and where no one tried to convert us. We were, again, the only blancs in the room and afterwards we were swarmed street-market style, only this time people were waiting in line to greet us and thank us for coming. Everyone had a warm smile and kind words for us. We still really wonder about how the context in which you encounter someone you don’t know can change so drastically in Haiti.
Sunday night was the much anticipated (at least for the kids...and Aaron) pizza night! Aaron led a pizza making assembly team. Maguy’s daughter was very interested to follow and participate in each step. Maguy and Clare gave their best guess on how to make a cake, and since we had a beautiful fresh pineapple, pineapple upside down cake seemed like the only logical option. All this was a little nerve racking because we were cooking all these meals either from memory or by a new recipe we had looked up on the internet before we left the compound. At Maguy’s house there are no cookbooks or internet. Our biggest worry was that we would screw something up and would have wasted hard earned food. You can only imagine the relief when Clare flipped the cake pan upside down to reveal a beautiful, nearly perfect (albeit weirdly textured from an unknown missing ingredient) pineapple upside down cake to a family cheering “Bravo!” The pizza recipe required some modifications due to the lack of refrigeration so we used Laughing Cow cheese. It’s perfectly foil-wrapped slices make it ideal for Haiti when reliable refrigeration is almost never available (even at the compound). The pizza was an easy win and we felt the satisfaction of preparing an incredible meal for a family. The kids and Maguy had leftovers for lunch the next day. Again we enjoyed another serving of Maguy’s loquat cherry rum followed by another soothing lamp-lit hot water bucket bath before falling asleep to the sound of a million frogs and crickets outside.
All this generosity was second nature and in spite of a daily financial struggle to get by. Maguy sat down and gave us frank figures of her financial situation. There’s no possibility of saving money and no cushion should an emergency occur. This is something Clare sees her patients struggle with day to day as family bread winners are disabled from strokes with no governmental security net whatsoever. And Maguy’s doing pretty well all things considered. Her family is certainly in the middle class relative to the standard of living of the majority of Haitians. Her and her neighbors are working to get electricity to their homes and she’s collecting PVC pipe to guide the wires. She dreams of buying her own house with lots of natural light where she can plant lush gardens and she dreams of building a school for educating parents and young children on helpful child-rearing, nutrition, and positive discipline.
What she chooses to do with and without though is a real testament to her values. Think of an American in this situation (including us). Despite being tight on money each week, she doesn’t skip out on quality fresh produce the way many Americans would in a tight financial situation. If you were surprised to learn she has invested in a laptop, consider that she doesn’t own a can opener (she could probably do it faster with a knife anyway). As you can imagine, not a scrap of food is wasted, and Maguy corrected Clare’s sloppily peeled tomatoes by boiling the peel and pressing the remaining pulp for the tomato sauce. She has the upmost respect for her home even though it’s quite rustic to us. For example, Aaron was helping to clean up after a meal by sweeping the floor, and without thinking, he started sweeping the little bits of dust and food out of the kitchen door into the gravel and plants outside - just like he'd seen everyone do on the compound. Maguy quickly corrected him by handing him a dust pan. Aaron was caught off guard, but little things like that are really important to her. I don’t think Maguy is unique this way. With all the dust and mud that gets splashed on you comminuting around the country, it’s still not uncommon to see Haitians (who likely do their laundry by hand) wearing beautiful spotlessly clean white dresses and shoes to church or to see people walking with garment bags containing nice suits, as Aaron was surprised to notice his first day. Aaron and I had the opposite mentality, thinking “Why even try? We’ll just ruin our nice things” when deciding what clothes to bring to Haiti. As we discovered, little things like that are what keep you proud of who you are and your country. Aaron is asked daily by the school kids why his shoes are so shabby, and they can’t believe it when he tells them they’re the only pair he has in Haiti.
In addition to absorbing all the differences of living with Maguy and her kids for the weekend relative to our own lives in the United States, perhaps more striking were the similarities. We’re still new to the Creole language, but it didn’t take much to understand many of the conversations between Maguy and her kids: “Don’t wear your hat and pants like that, you look like a rapper!” “Clean you room before our guests see what a mess it is.” But all this mothering is done with a great amount of love and humor. When her 15 year-old son arrived late for dinner because he was out with friends, she called his cell phone and said, “Sorry Cheri, it looks like you’re doing the dishes and eating cold food, you better make it home quick before it’s all gone.” When he came home shortly thereafter, he saved the usual eye rolling and tongue clicking that would accompany a command to do the dishes and got busy scrubbing plates. Every time I heard her younger daughter give a “Ugh, but Mama!” we couldn’t help but laugh at the universal tone of a whiny teenager’s voice.
Generosity was a theme flowing throughout the whole weekend. From Maguy’s hospitality to off-duty tap-tap drivers giving us a free lift a good portion of the way back to the clinic Monday morning for work, or Maguy bringing her neighbors plates of freshly cooked food, you start to realize that social connectedness and caring for others is perhaps the most essential aspect of emotional and physical survival. Everyone gives some of what they have to those around them and those in need, and it all comes around. Though we spoke of it often with her this past weekend, we can only hope that Maguy comes to visit us in the States someday, if only so we can return the favor. She unflinchingly guided us through the chaos of the market, held our hands as we crossed the frenzied streets in downtown Petionville, was eager to swap recipes, and happily offered us every creature comfort she had for the entirety of our stay. She gives new meaning to what it means to receive someone in your home. Maguy’s kindness is perfectly in synch with the Haitian proverb: “Manje ki fet pa gen met.” In English, “Cooked food has no owner.”
-Clare and Aaron
 |
| Outside the front door of Maguy's house |
 |
| Pathway down to the street level |
 |
| Beautiful flowers on Maguy's property |
 | ||||
Maguy showing us how to prepare fish
|
 | |||
| The cozy kitchen |
 |
| Clare eagerly awaiting a well-earned meal |
 |
| Fresh tortillas, guacamole, pico de gallo, and salad |
 |
| Delicious lunch of salad with homemade dressing, Haitian style fish, jasmine "Chinese" rice, and sweet corn souffle |
 |
| Proud of our hard-earned meal! And what picture of a 15 year-old wouldn't be complete without a tongue sticking out? |
 |
| Late night pizza was definitely worth the wait |
 |
| Maguy showing Clare how to braid hair in record time |
 |
| Mountain-side View of Kenscoff |
 |
| Beautiful flowers everywhere |
 |
| Mountain view in Kenscoff |
 | |
| View from the school Maguy used to teach at in Kenscoff |
 | ||||
| Clare and Maguy with fresh-picked flowers |
No comments:
Post a Comment