An Audience

While Sarah and I were prepping some stuff for dinner we had two kids staring in our window at us. They just kind of ran around the house and would say something then hide behind a window. For about an hour they stared at us through the window, I felt like I was in a zoo. Imagine having two kids stare at you through the window for an hour - it was so bizarre! I mean, I understand that Sarah and I are an anomaly here, but it would be nice to escape the constant audience when we get home at night. Just a good reminder about why we're here and that our time (and privacy) is not our own here in Haiti. And while it's tiring and annoying, these are the instances that will really try our hearts and teach us how to approach everything in love...when things are not so easy.

But they DO know they're not supposed to be there because every time that Dave would come by they would hide from him. Then finally he saw them and told them to get off the grounds. It was all really awkward and we both feel like it'll happen again. Anybody have suggestions as to what to do about an audience of children?

Flying Solo

Up until now we've had Edzert helping us in the classroom each day with a little bit of translation, but today we went through a whole day without needing any translation at all. Actually, I think it went better than it has been, because the students are better able to focus on what Sarah and I are saying and teaching. That kind of forces them to learn it much faster than when Edzert is there. Its definitely a cool thing to see that we can put forth our best effort in the classroom and trust that God will make the rest of those connections that need to happen!

Going back, gearing up...

I'm going back to Haiti in January for about a week to follow up with people we were working with this summer and to see how to move forward after the hurricanes hit the country this fall. Which means I'm jumping back into the fundraising process! Please join with me in bringing hope to Haiti by providing the means to make it happen!

Here's how you can donate:

Online...
...you can go to www.frontlinedc.com/global to donate online. The link is under the 4th heading from the top titled "How Can I Support a Team?" You'll have to register and sign in to donate - none of your info will be given out or used for mailing lists. You should see the team name "Gathering Haiti (AU)" in the drop down menu to select from teams. Just follow the instructions from there!

Checks...
...can be made out to McLean Bible Church. Please be sure to put my name and 'GI-Gathering Haiti (AU) 09' in the memo of all checks written. Checks can be sent to:

Rachael Jankowsky
4827 Yuma St. NW
Washington, DC 20016

If you have any questions please let me know!

THANK YOU!

Tarantulas!

Yes, yesterday there was a tarantula in my room.

Those things are crazy! Lorette, the lady who runs the internet center across from us, came over to say good morning and ended up teaching us a valuable Haiti survival skill. Sarah and I wrangled it outside with some well-directed bug spray and she killed it for us with a broom. Which took a couple minutes - he was a fighter! He actually turned, reared up and hissed at us at one point. But he is dead and we are not.

Man vs. Nature? 1 Point: Man

Today was our first day of classes and it was interesting to say the least. Creole is pretty easy to pick up, though. So hopefully we'll be able to build that up quickly so that we can run the classroom by ourselves without Edzert's help. He helped with a little translation and explanation today, getting the classes organized.

Oh, and Lorette and Dave both said that we should expect more tarantulas, so I'll keep you updated on how that goes...

Let there be light!

Still our first night in Petit Goave and still no electricity and still raining. But Dave brought us an oil lamp. I never thought I'd use one of those inside, but I guess it's normal here so, hey, why not?! We've got to get ready for school tomorrow somehow!

from 6/29/08

I'm sitting at the table near the kitchen window writing this while rain is POURING down outside. It's only 6pm but its so stormy that there's just enough light to see (the electricity is out) and it's great. Right now we have to figure out how to find something to eat in the dark...maybe we'll move at each lightening flash. Thank God we have a good house though, because there are palm branches falling down everywhere and a mini-river that's started up right in the middle of the property, in between the top of the compound and the sea. And it's the rain ripping thigns up, there's no wind at all! I've never in my life been in rain that's this strong. It's like instead of just falling down, it's being thrown down to the earth...pretty powerful and awesome to see.

aaand, we're back

It's September and I'm back into the swing of things with school and work and the new house. So I've finally found time to start up the process of transferring my Haiti stories onto the blog, so enjoy!

Cabinet...Fridge? Cabinetfridge.

Due to the great numbers of man-eating rodents, and lack of clean cabinets, we have put all of our food into an extra, unplugged fridge to use as our cabinet.

Explanations:

1. "Man-eating rodents" - Thony said not to dangle our arms or legs off the edge of the bed while we sleep so that the rats don't bite us.
-"Haha, Thony, you're such a funny guy!", we say.
-"No. I'm not kidding they really will try to eat you. Don't do it."
We decided not to risk it...

2. "lack of clean cabinets" - Upon further inspection of the house, it appears as if the man-eating rodents live in the cabinets.
We decided not to risk it...

Thus, to solve these problems...CABINETFRIDGE!!!



Thank you.

Meet our bug friends...

Please meet our friends, the bugs and critters. There are a lot of them, so we figured we'd be better off trying to live with them in peace than wage a losing battle all month long...

We'll see how long this attempt at a peaceful relationship lasts.

Back to Haiti

We got into Port au Prince on time and our bags arrived and Thony was there to meet us (at what was close enough to being) on time. So that was a good start for the time we have here. We ran around town to get art supplies and stock up on food for the month and then drove to Petit Goave (PG).

But not without getting stopped by the UN, first. Which is a fairly constant thing with Thony. He really needs to get the government stickers for his windshield fixed...

We're staying at the Wesleyan compound (which used to be a UN compound) in PG and the actually have a entire house that we're renting from them. So we moved into the house and got the H2O running. We met the pastor's wife (Madam Paster - that's really what she goes by, we never got a name from her!) and one of her daughters and Dave, who lives with the family and will probably be really helpful for Sarah and I to have around.
And showered. After traveling and shopping and moving in, it was one of the best showers everrrrrrr. And I don't mind the cold water, but the faucet is about a foot too short for me to fit under. Soooo, we'll see how that goes.

I'm back!!

Yes, I'm still alive!

Apologies for the lack of updates but there were some major problems with the internet connection while we were in Petit Goave.

Anyways, I wrote down all of what would have been blog entries in a journal, so I'm going to put those up as quickly as possible. I know it's after-the-fact, and it might not be quite as exciting since it's not in the moment, but please please still read them! It was an experience that is very important to me and I'd love to tell you all about it!

I'm going to put them up here as they were written because frankly, that's just easier for me :)
But just to clear up any confusion, I am actually back from Haiti, the posts are just going up a bit later than I would have liked...

We shall start from the beginning! ...

2 women, 16 kids, 8 two-year olds.

A cousin of mine asked me a while ago to post about adoptions in Haiti. She said my letter made her want to go all Brangelina and fill up her house with kids who need a home. International adoptions are always a long process, and it's no different for Haiti. You can go to the State Dept. website to find a lot more specific info, but what I found was that for Haiti it seems to be an issue of paperwork.
A lot of people don't have any sort of nationally recognized personal ID. Many don't receive a birth certificate to start with, mostly because a lot of people aren't born in hospitals. This is just one more area where the lack of infrastructure creates a void of systems and processes that we're so used to having here on a daily basis. While we would worry about having our identity stolen, most of the people I'll be living with would be concerned with gaining some sort of official identity in the first place. So when there are no papers to be had in a process that revolves around paperwork, like adoptions, it causes major problems.

Anyway, there's a lot of kids who need a loving and stable home, and I met one woman, Connie, who is providing that for a group of kids Petite Goave in an amazing way. She lives about eight miles up a mountain in a village outside of Petite Goave with one other lady who helps. She takes care of 16 kids, 8 of which are two-year-olds. When we met Connie, she was with her oldest girl (who is 8) in P-au-P trying to get a passport for her. The common thread for the kids that Connie takes in is that their mothers all died in childbirth. So she takes them in and raises them up! And she has so much of my respect for dedicating her life to specifically walking in the command of Christ to care for orphans. I met her and thought to myself - 'who DOES that?!' I don't feel drawn to serve in that way, but thank God that someone has the drive and strength and guts to give up what they know in order to care for these 16 kids! Kids who have an amazingly blessed life compared to what they would have known if she hadn't been there.

And I think many of us can have an impact of that magnitude within our lifetime, but we don't submit to the possibility that God wants us to take part in such amazing things for His glory. But that drive and commitment that I see in Connie, that willingness to give it all up, I hope to find in my own pursuit of God's plan for my life.

Getting ready to go

Ok. So, after about a month of waiting, we're finally up and running with a return trip to Haiti! YAY!

All the funds came in and we're looking at tickets for Wednesday or Thursday of this week. (still working on finalizing the tickets) Thanks for all your interest and prayers and support! I'm so excited to go and I feel like the timing will be just right. I've got a bunch of materials from my mom, a teacher, for the English classes. I'm most excited about the mini-chalkboards. Yes, that's right, mini-chalkboards. And I got a bunch of books about winter and snow, etc. (in case you're geographically challenged, they don't have that in Haiti) and I'm really looking forward to using those as well. And the picture cards, here's hoping we've got some visual learners!

So here's where you can help us out - - if you've learned a second (or third or fourth) language and have any fun drills, exercises, games, etc that helped you learn in the very elementary stages, can you let us know in the comment section below? We're trying to make this as fun and beneficial as possible, so leave your suggestions and help us out!

The coolest wasp EVER

I was sitting outside on the steps of my deck this morning just minding my own business, when a wasp landed right next to me. As in, five inches from me. He just chilled out there until I went inside. Why would he do that? Aren't wasps, or any stinging bug, supposed to terrorize us with a kamikaze-style buzzing attack? Or at least be annoying? I figure he must be...

1. unaware of his role as a wasp in this relationship

2. a pacifist wasp brave enough to march to the beat of his own drum, while trying to build good-will in the wasp-human relationship

3. stupid

P.S - He was such a cool little guy I didn't smash him.

More steady than a mountain

Going home always means I get to be in the mountains. It's something that I know will be part of each return because you really wouldn't be able to avoid them if you tried.


I drove up to Ouray (in the picture) with some of my family today to meet up with my aunt and uncle who are visiting... Sometimes I think that the mountains where I grew up are so pretty I might just die. As in, I might forget to breathe because I'm so absorbed in this beautiful creation in front of me. So it's a good thing that's involuntary (breathing, that is). Or the sight may just be too much for my eyes to take in, and one day I'll look at a mountain and will simply explode - with joy - but explode, nonetheless. And while niether of those scenarios are going to happen, one can see how they could seem like a possibility. So if the mountains stir up such awe and wonder, how much more so should the Creator who made them and will outlast them?


God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging. Selah
Psalm 46:1-3


Even when something that is so strong and enduring and beautiful falls to pieces, whether it's a steady mountain or a steady hope or any other steady-fill-in-the-blank that we hang on to or count on; God was there before it and is still going to be there when it breaks up and washes away. So there you go - there's something more steady than a mountain.

Haiti Photos Are Up!

I finally got my photos from the team trip to Haiti posted online. You can flip through them at - http://picasaweb.google.com/rachael.jankowsky/HaitiMay08

Why am I going?

The way I see it is that one of the basic parts of claiming Christianity is that my faith ought to result in action. Christ reached out to others because of His love for them. So if I'm taking Him as an example for how to live my life, it stands to reason that any Christ-like love that I have ought to result in action as well.

Last fall I found myself wishing that people were more compassionate and caring and giving and not so self-absorbed and living in a little U.S. bubble because I think that happens a lot (myself included!). And I was frustrated with how little I was doing to meet the immediate and tangible needs of others, especially those in poverty - a call to Christians that is found so many times in scripture. So I was thinking about that and figured I had better do something about changing that lack of action in my own life unless I want to be hypocritical.

From there I started to think about James 1:27 and then other verses along the same lines and it became very clear that I'm supposed to serve these groups of people in a close contact way as well. Those verses weren't written for somebody else, but for me! I'm supposed to act in this way. I'm supposed to care for those in need. I'm supposed to go to people as well. And so is every Christian, we're called to do that as part of living out our faith, to show Christ's love to people. That doesn't always means going overseas for everyone, but it did for me so I set out after it. And I plan to incorporate what I learn from this summer into how I live my day-to-day life when I get back.

I want to provide the opportunities for summer classes to these kids because I think that Christ loves them just as much as He loves anyone else and that He would want them to have these opportunities. God loves these kids and wants a good life for them; and I want them to grow up with hope for a future that can be better than the present. For a kid to know that they're worth time and energy and resources, and that someone loves them and believes in them is so important and can change a life. So we plan to show them those things by providing opportunity and hope in Christ's name. That's why I'm going! And whether I'm studying for classes, working, or volunteering in Haiti, I'm learning to walk in Christ's rescuing love more and more every day.

What's the deal?

A friend asked me that the other day (I shortened it a lot) She wanted to know more exactly what she would be donating to if she were to help fund this summer, to make sure that WH wasn't taking part in some stuff that she (and I) doesn't support. It made my day to have someone check up on what the goal of my summer in Haiti is going to be. So here's what this work with World Hope is about. It's going to be a little long because there's just a lot going into it, plus I want to explain well where I'm coming from.

WH is a faith-based relief and development agency. They don't barge into a community demanding that people convert to Christianity; I don't agree with that approach and definitely wouldn't want to spend my time doing that. Instead, the goal is to serve and to help in areas where local people recognize a need within their community; while letting people know why we're doing it. And we're doing it because we're Christians.

So the community in Petite Goave knows that World Hope programs and such are coming from a group of Christians, they know that we're there because we're Christians and what we stand for, but there's definitely nothing even close to strong-arming people into conversion. Christianity should never be forced on a person. And the question that my friend asked is such a good one for everyone to ask when they encounter it - how are faith-based groups and missions teams going about thier work? Especially if you're a Christian, please look into the groups that you support or are involved with; looking to see if they do things from a Bible-based approach and with a Christ-like attitude!

Sure, I'd love for people to experience the kind of relationship with God that I do because I can't imagine living without it. God is the most important part of my life. Yeah, I get excited when people accept Christ because that means they get to have that relationship that I know is so important in my own life. But I'm never going to force that on someone. From start to finish, that's a choice that everyone will deal with personally. My role and purpose is to live out my faith boldly and to be unashamed about letting people know what Christ has done and that a personal relationship with Christ is a real possibility for anyone. And the 'living it out boldly' is a major part of the whole Haiti thing - this is getting a bit long, so more on that on the next post!

What about the food riots?

As many of you know, there was some rioting in Haiti in April.

Safety was a concern going into this trip. But when we hit the ground in Haiti everyone we talked to, from Thony to our hosts at the guest house, said that safety issues now are about the same as just before the riots. The riots were blown WAY out of proportion in the international media. Now, there is generally a serious lack of food in the country, which is a huge problem that we'll cover later. But in talking with Thony, the riots consisted of groups of 20-50 people going down the main streets of P-au-P and protesting the government, mostly the PM, specifically in relation to food. They want some new people in office...and I can see why.

Most of the windows on the main streets were still broken from having rocks thrown through them. Protesters had broken into shops and trashed them, burned tires, etc. At one point it did get violent and 5 people were killed.

When I asked people there 'what about the riots?' I got an answer that I wasn't expecting. People said that they were frustrated with how it got portrayed in the media. The last two years in Haiti had been relatively peaceful, and thus had seen a lot of people warming up to the country. They felt that most of that progress had been lost due to how the country was portrayed in the coverage of the riots. So that was really surprising to see the contrast of an inside perspective from Haitians and the outside perspective from the media.

According to the State Dept. travel warning when we left, I should have been scared out of my mind even at the thought of going to Haiti. Sure we had to take precautions and safety is not the same as being in the US, but not once did I feel unsafe. Except for the crazy driving...but that really wasn't any different than riding with a cabbie in the states!

Go Ahead and Ask!

If you have specific questions that you're wondering about or want me to elaborate on something, I'd be happy to do so. Any questions, or requests to post about something specific, let me know in the comments sections below!

So, how was Haiti?

I've been getting that question a lot lately and I always wish I had more time to answer it. So I'll just write a couple posts about it I guess!

Ok, the basics:

Haiti was an amazing experience. I never would have thought that in the span of four months I would go from knowing nothing about this country to ending up spending my summer there! I went for a week with an amazing team of people to work on setting up a long-term partnership between World Hope International ( http://www.worldhope.org/countries/haiti.htm ) and my church on campus, The Gathering (http://gatheringonline.org/mainpage01/thegatheringdc.html). We went and saw all the programs that WHI has there to see what they're involved in and where we might be able to provide support. What I LOVE about WHI is that each country office and programs are run in-country. World Hope-Haiti is run by Thony, who is Haitian, which is how relief and development work should be, so that's great.

WHI-Haiti has programs running in Port-au-Prince, outside of Jacmel, and in Petite Goave. The Gathering and WHI have been working for a long time on getting a partnership started up where WHI-Haiti will have a well of college students to draw from to help out as they see fit in country. At the same time, college students will have multiple opportunities to get involved in something bigger than themselves and help in a tangible way with long-term effects. The trip that went out in May was with the purpose of seeing how these two groups might fit together in order to grow together. We saw a lot; there are a lot of needs and a lot of hope, so I'm excited to see where this thing goes!

I really dislike titles and think I will end up leaving this blank most of the time.

The task of thinking up a title intimidates me...a lot. So much so that I actually just wrote an entire sentence for a title. And as I learned in English class - titles are not supposed to be sentences, oh well.

It's always the hardest part of a paper and I always do it last. There's just too much hanging on a title. Too much pressure. For example: what if you pick a boring title for something that is actually very interesting, but then no one reads it because you're such a horrible title-thinker-upper? All that time spent on writing your very interesting paper or book or blog post is lost because you have chosen a bad title. How stressful.

I got on here to write about something else but I don't remember what it was. But I'm sure it was more important than my title-phobia. That little box that asks for the title of your post popped up before I even got to writing and knocked it right out of my head. I'll have to figure out how to ignore that little box. Or how to title things. One of the two...

Hi!

So, I'm starting this blog because I'm trying to keep people updated with my life because I'm going to Haiti this summer. And that's kind of an abnormal thing that is hopefully interesting to a few other people who will end up reading this. Goal = to put my thoughts and experiences into words to share with whoever's reading this; thus the title, pretty simple. I have no idea if I'm going to be sucessful in keeping up with it but, hey, let's give it a shot!

It probably won't always be super-exciting or super-interesting because life isn't always so. But I'll try and keep it interesting. It'll be interesting enough for me anyway, so there's that.

Posts have a good chance of being random and not necessarily tied into the previous ones, but they'll be something I think is worth putting up on here at the time. And let's hope that what I think is worth going up on the page is interesting enough for some people to read, right? Let's have a go at it.