Flat Stanley has arrived! In the book, Flat Stanley, Stanley
Lambchop is squashed flat by a bulletin board. One of the advantages of
being flat is that his parents can put him in an envelope and mail him to
visit friends.
Here are his photos and journal from Haiti.
I made it to Haiti without any problems. Boy is it hot here! Eli and Anna are very friendly and have already showed me their rooms and toys. I think I am going to have a great time. I got here in the middle of the afternoon and it was 93 degrees in the house, but there are fans. On their porch the Thedes have 2 Guinea Pigs-Patch and Spot. They squeal and whistle when they want some food. They get very excited when a banana or mango is peeled because they can smell it. The bananas here taste great! They grow in the gardens with other fruits that I don't know yet. Am tired from the travel so we just played in the house. Supper was rice and beans with a vegetable sauce. The best was fresh rolls with peanut butter and jelly. On Friday nights the Thede family has 'family night' Cory makes some brownies or other desert and then they watch a video as a family. We watched "March of the penguins". No TV here-sometimes they can get a channel from the mainland but it is hard to see and in French or Creole so I wouldn't understand it anyway. Then I took a cool shower! No water heater here but it felt good as I am hot. Good night. Love, Stanley.
Dear Mom and Dad,
Saturday, my first full day in Haiti. Do you know that roosters crow all night, not just in the morning? I woke up to a strange noise that Eli told me was a donkey. They are funny sounding. I slept under a net. The whole family sleeps under nets-to keep the mosquitoes from biting and giving Malaria. They also have small fans hooked up to batteries because the electricity goes off at night. Today I was shown around the mission compound. There are two parts of the mission compound separated by a road. They are walled in just like the Haitians do with their properties. On one side of the road are two mission houses. One Carol Earl lives in-it is closest to the Wesleyan school and church. You can hear the church service inside her house as well as all the school kids. Today being Saturday-no school kids. The second house is for Dr. Eric Ferdinand. He is a Haitian doctor who has worked for over 20 years with the mission and he is in charge of the hospital. There is a dog, Sarge who lives in the yard-he likes to jump and play. Further down that same yard is Cory's garden with lots of Moringa and Date palms. He will take me to see them later.
In the middle part of the compound is where most of the missionaries live. There is the Thede house, the Wish house where Larakers live, a couple of apartments where Debbie and Helen live. A bigger house where the Furburs will live when they return in January to teach Eli and Anna. Other buildings include a guesthouse/office building, the nursing school, and some sheds and the generator house. Do you know that to have electricity they have to make their own with a generator-no power from the government. So most people in town don't have electricity. And most people don't have running water in their homes. There are water fountains scattered around town that kids and people stand in line to fill up their pails or containers-I'm glad I don't have to carry all the water we use in our house. The people here talk in a funny way and I cannot understand them. The kids yell 'blanc' at me-Eli says that means foreigner. And the kids ask in English for a dollar. They have dark brown skin and black hair. They wear clothes like we would in the summer but the girls and ladies wear more dresses than in the States. Some people walk on the dirt and rocky roads without any shoes. There are bikes, motorcycles, donkeys, and trucks. No cars but pickup trucks with lots of people and stuff loaded in the back.
In the afternoon we took the mission truck on a short drive to the sea. We went by many little houses with tin roofs. The kids all called to us. Then we came to a flat space with nothing growing on it that sparkled in the sun light. This is the 'saline' or salt flat. When the tide is up it covers this area with sea water. When it is dry the kids play soccer on it and the people drive on it like a road. The beach is not sandy but full of rocks, broken sea shells and trash! People in other areas throw their trash in the sea and it washes up on the beach. We had snorkels and were able to see lots of colorful fish and coral. The water is warm and easy to float in. We picked up some starfish and watched their little tube feet trying to grab something. We have to wear tennis shoes or swim shoes because of the trash and sea urchins with long spines that could get in your feet. I was very careful. We had a lot of fun. Some big wooden sail boats went by on their way to the island-they were loaded with people and one had a truck on the middle of it! Then we saw some jellyfish and got out of the water fast! But I got a small red welt on my arm-it burned and itched. Eli's mom put some medicine on it and it is ok. Boy am I tired. Love, Stanley .
Today I woke up to church bells. They are pretty and I counted 3 different ones. Other areas I could hear singing even early in the morning. We had pancakes for breakfast. Anna's dad makes some round ones and then he makes shapes-like snakes, bugs, starfish. We ate them up! Then we got ready for church. I wore my long pants and tennis shoes like Eli and his dad. We had a short walk up to the Wesleyan church-the one that is over the wall from Carol's house. The church is one big room with a high roof-tin. There are plastic hanging flowers of different colors on wires. The benches are wood and no cushions. Everyone brings their own hymnals and Bibles. For music there is a keyboard and drums. They like to sing loud. It sounded nice but I couldn't understand a thing. Now and then Eli's parents would tell us what was being talked about. They prayed out loud, everyone at the same time at one point while they knelt at their benches. They had some special music and announcements. They take collection like we do but they use a box with three areas-tithe, missions and building projects. For the preaching Eli sat on one side of his mom and I on the other. We were fortunate that it was a preacher that she could understand. She would tell us in English what he was saying. He talked about obeying God. The bench got hard as we were there for over two hours. I tried to not wiggle but it was hard. Also not being able to understand the language made it hard to pay attention. At one point a dog came in the church-he just laid down and went to sleep. At the end of church everyone shook hands. Then we walked back to the house.
Cory made stir-fry for lunch, rice and vegetables. There are no fast food places! I haven't seen a McDonalds or a Burger King and they tell me that there aren't any in Haiti. There are some people that sell fried food along some roads. They have a pot of oil heated over charcoal and they deep fry sweet potatoes, cooking bananas, chicken and also fried dumplings or batter that sometimes has cabbage and egg in the center sort of like an egg-roll. Then we read some books and played with the Guinea Pigs. Boy do they eat a lot of grass! I was still tired from swimming so I took a nap. Woke up all sweaty!. At 4pm we went to Missionary church. The missionaries take turns leading church. We sang songs in English and then people shared about what the Lord had taught them this week. It ended with prayer requests and prayers. After supper we watched some Moody science videos-they were interesting. Were you surprised to hear me on the phone. I could hear a bit of echo when I talked but it was nice to talk to you. We were talking on a phone plugged into the computer. I miss you. Even though we didn't run around much I am still tired-must be the heat. Time for bed. Love, Stanley
Because I am a visitor Eli and Anna delayed their school so that we could go to see the flag raising ceremony at the Haitian school. The kids are all dressed the same. Every school has a uniform and some have different uniforms for preschool, grade school and the older kids. The kids all lined up when a bell was rung, facing their flag. There was a band and they sang their national anthem. They put their hands over their hearts but not flat like us. They touch their thumb and pointer finger to their chest, palm facing the ground. Their class rooms have tables, chairs and a blackboard. They say their lessons out loud and boy when you are in the yard you can hear several classes all at once. It can get very noisy. They don't have much playground equipment and the yard is just rocks and dirt. Some of the older students are learning English so I could talk with them. They like to touch my skin and hair. They laughed and chattered together in Creole. It is hard not knowing what they are saying and I think they were laughing at me. Soon they had to go to class and we returned to the house for school. Eli and Anna each have their own small DVD player. They follow a class in Florida-they do what the teacher tells the class to do and everything. Mrs. Furbur is in Haiti this year to help them with their school work as well. So they have video teachers and a real teacher. Their books and tests and stuff are sent to Haiti with the videos in the summer. Because the Thede's will be in the States for Nov/Dec. they started school the first of Aug. Funny to be talking about Thanksgiving when it is the middle of Oct. But this way when they are in the States Eli and Anna will have more time for family visits, trips and doing fun things like decorating for Christmas instead of a lot of school work. I spent time with both Anna and Eli's class today. I think they liked sharing about their school with me. After this I will spend the mornings seeing what some of the other missionaries do while Eli and Anna are in school.
Today I met the Thede's cook. Mme. Felicien works for the Thedes-cooking and cleaning, Monday through Friday. She is the one who makes the great bread! She has worked for the mission for over 20 years. Her kids go to the school I visited today. She cannot talk English. But I learned my first Creole word today-bonbon that means cookie. I am also working on Bon Jou-Good morning and Bon Swa-Good afternoon. I went to the store with Cory today. It is a very little store nothing like Wal-Mart. It has only 2 isles and you don't really go in. You stand by the counter and ask for what you want. You can get crackers, pop-in glass bottles, flour, sugar, packaged cookies, candy, milk, corn flakes [the only kind of cereal!! Only one kind!] some other food and some tools. Some foods can only be bought in Port-au-Prince the capital city. To get to Port-au-Prince you have to go by boat or plane because LaGonave is an island. To go to the airstrip is about 20 minutes on a bumpy road, then you get in a small 6 seat Cessna MAF plane. The runway is also dirt and rocks and bumpy. Then a short flight of 20 minutes and you are in PAP. Or you can get on the sailboat-take a 1 1/2 hour ride if you use the motors, then a bumpy 2 hour ride to PAP. This road is paved but it needs repair. So generally to get groceries in PAP the missionaries spend the night at a mission guest house. Just think Mom if you had to get a hotel room to grocery shop. But they only go shopping every few months or so. Food that comes from other countries is expensive so the Thedes get as much as possible on LaGonave. But items like cheese, canned veggies, ham, hot dogs, and chicken come from PAP. And Eli and Anna hardly get ice cream! Only when they go to visit the mainland a couple times a year. But they tell me that they eat lots of ice cream with they are in the States.
Eli and his mom have Creole class on Monday afternoons. Their teacher Met. France comes to the house. They spend some time looking at a page that has a picture with items and then read/say the words in Creole. It is hard. But Eli and Anna can speak a bit of Creole and are working on learning more. This is important when working in another country so that you can tell others about God.
I am having a good time but miss you. Eli and Anna started school today at their normal time of 7:30. Normally Dr. Kris works on the computer for a while before going to the hospital but today she showed me around. When she was seven and eight years old she lived here-in the house across the road. When her school work was done she used to go over to the hospital with her mom who is a nurse. She was only eight years old when she decided that God wanted her to become a missionary doctor-and now she is back as a doctor. The hospital is just across the road on the other side of the compound. If people are yelling loud you can hear them at the Thede's house. Last night someone died at the hospital and so there was lots of yelling-it was scary but Dr. Kris told me that is how they express their sadness.
I saw lots of babies and kids in the hospital. It is a small hospital with about 35 beds. There was a baby that had been born too early-he only weighs 2 1/2 pounds. He is doing ok so far. Some rooms have 6 beds. The moms get to stay with the kids which I think is a good thing. I was able to hand out some small toys that a church had donated to the kids. One little boy gave me a big smile! I washed my hands good when we left because I don't want to get sick. I saw a man who has lived in the hospital for over 23 years. He broke his back and cannot walk. He does a bit of work packaging medications for giving patients. He shook my hand and welcomed me to Haiti. I was surprised to see goats in the yard. Dr. Kris says they sometimes go into the clinic and hospital! I saw a TV where people can sit and watch videos in their language about God and Jesus and about staying healthy.
We also went up and saw the clinic. Both nurses and doctors see the people that come for a visit. There is a small laboratory as well as machines for x-rays and ultrasounds. I don't understand how they work but they take pictures of bones and inside your body. I was able to watch an ultrasound of a baby who hasn't been born yet-they were checking to make sure the baby was alive. I saw its heart beating! Boy-babies hearts beat fast. You could see the head, where the eyes are, ribs and the tiny little toes. It was neat.
At lunch our vegetable was tree leaves. One of the projects that Cory works with is Moringa trees. After lunch Eli still had a bit of school to finish up so Anna and I went to the garden with Cory. There are lots of Moringa trees all in rows. When it doesn't rain the trees lose their leaves and basically go to sleep. When the rains start again the trees make leaves. When you want to eat some you pick the leaves, put them in a pot of boiling water for a few minutes, then serve the drained leaves with a bit of butter and salt. I didn't think I would like it but I did. We also had a special treat because I was visiting and we boiled up some of the young seed pods. They tasted a bit like green beans and asparagus. Normally the Thedes don't eat the pods because the seeds are needed to send to the States to a place that then sends the seeds around the world so that other people can grow Moringa to eat. We could grow it in the summer but the trees die when it gets cold. The workers showed me how they make a powder from the leaves for people in the hospital or at home to mix in their food. After you pick the leaves they go into this little shed on screens. It gets hot in the shed and dries them out. The dry leaves are then pounded with a big stick in a big wooden bowl like thing. Then they sift out the little twigs and put the powder in a jar.
The other big tree project that Cory is working on is Date Palms. He has gotten trees from three countries, over 30 kinds and is growing them on LaGonave. These trees were not here before. A few have produced dates-I tried some and they were good and sweet. And they are good for you! The leaves have very pointy ends so we had to be careful. There are other strange trees in Cory's garden as well- I got to try egg fruit which is big and orange and sort of like sweet potato but it grows on a tree and doesn't need to be cooked.
OUCH! I forgot to look where I was standing and got bit by three fire ants. They bite hard and leave a small raised bump. Eli and Anna told me stories about getting bit. There are lots of kinds of ants here-little black ones that run around in circles-they call them crazy ants. Those don't bite. And there are big black ones that bite hard and smell-peeuweey. The ants sometimes get in house and eat things like plastic bags, clothes, any food they can find. I haven't seen any but am told that on LaGonave there are tarantulas, scorpions, centipedes and black widow spiders. The Thedes have these big brown jumpy spiders in the house. they don't hurt you and eat other bugs like cockroaches so they let them live. I saw one in the bathroom carrying a white egg sack the size of a dime. There are also lots of little lizards around. They like to be on the windows at night catching the moths attracted by the lights. Well bed time. Love, Stanley.
Wednesday is a good market day so we went to market. Nothing like Wal-Mart. This was a busy place full of little areas with roofs on poles. Under the roofs were small tables or just items on cloth on the ground. Each small area has someone selling things. One area was for fruits and vegetables, meat, clothes, shoes, small household goods, fish or charcoal. Most Haitians cook outside on a little charcoal fire. There also was some food being made for sale-little fried batter things. We brought some carrots, potatoes, some hard green bananas called plantaines, and some strange looking snails with a claw! At the beach we had seen hundreds of pink shells with the end broken off-that is because the people were collecting these snails. The market is very noisy and full of interesting smells. The people looked at us a lot and the kids continue to yell 'blanc" Wonder if you ever get used to it?
After the market I went to see the nursing school where Carol works. I met the four nursing students. They have a nice class room with a plastic lady on a bed. This is for them to learn on. They also work at the hospital when not at school and learn from the nurses working there. The nurses are all Christians and get to talk about Jesus to the sick people. There is also a Pastor who visits the sick people. The students are also learning about God as part of their training-they have Bible study every day. Across the yard from the nursing school is the hospital and mission office. They have computers, phones, copier and air-conditioning. They are very busy in the office. Many people come every day to talk to Rousvel the administrator. Debbie Mitchell works here. You need to like numbers to work in an office like this. I'm glad to see all the different jobs that people do on the mission field. God can use everyone as part of the important work of telling others about His love.
For lunch we had the cooking bananas-they had been cooked, smashed flat and fried. I liked them. The snail or conch was chewy-a bit like rubber. I only tried a little bit-Anna and Eli don't like it either so we had sauce on rice. Cory had also gotten us some of the fried food. I liked the boiled egg in a fried dough pocket but took off the spicy cabbage mixture. Cory is the only one that likes spicy food so he had a lot. We also had some homemade lemonade-it was very sweet! I liked it.
After lunch Cory took me on a ride up the mountain on the motorbike. The roads here are horrible! It was so bumpy that a couple times my chin hit him on the back. The kids could run faster than the bike at some parts and the rocks are very sharp. The view from the mountain was nice-you could see the sea and the mainland of Haiti. We went up to a small church and I took a picture of some benches that a Sunday school class helped to pay for. Kids making a difference. I also want to pick a prayer partner when I get home-prayers are an important part of supporting our missionaries. I was tired and sore after the ride. I will not complain about our roads again. We also rode a ways up a ravine to see the plastic water line that brings the water to the mission and town from a spring up the mountain a bit. We could not go very far because it looked like rain. There are these huge rocks in the ravine that flood water has pushed down in past storms. We beat the rain home-just. The dirt roads become thick slippery mud. The rain beats loudly on the tin roof. The wind blows the rain on the porch and in the house. We unplugged everything electric. We prayed that the internet system will not get struck by lighting and that the waterline will not get washed out. The rain made the temperature drop to 80. It feels a bit chilly but Eli and Anna were cold. We had hot chocolate after our very cold showers. Almost time for the power to go off-good night. Love, Stanley .
This morning I spent some time with Larakers. They are the directors of WISH and do many things. I went to see the big generators that supply electricity for the mission and hospital. Right next to the generator house is an 'Ice Plant". This is where they make and sell ice and cold water. As most of the people don't have electricity they don't have refrigerators-so on market day or for parties or stuff like that they buy ice. The money from the ice and water sales help to pay for the fuel for the generators. Near by is a welding shop that men can work at making items for sale. There is also a line of shops that people rent from WISH-there is a tailor shop, sandal repair, TV repair, ice pops, computer center, barber, and small store. We also took a look at the dental clinic. This clinic is only open when a team is here to work on teeth. It has several chairs just like our dentist. Wish hosts dental teams, maintenance teams and in the summer usualy have student teams that do VBS or other work with the children here.
Next I went on the bike to the airstrip to pick up the mail with Cory. Mission Flights International brings mail into Port-a-Prince once a week for hundreds of missionary families. Then the MAF pilots pick up the mail bag for the missionaries on LaGonave and bring it out to them on a flight. They call the office to let them know when the mail is coming. Once Cory gets the mail bag they sort the mail at the house and Eli and Anna help to deliver the mail to the individual houses. I helped them this week. Interesting not to have a mail box or mailman. There are no firefighters, garbage collectors, or traffic lights on LaGonave-but some in the capital city. There are a few police on LaGonave. There is also a local radio station but I cannot understand it.
For lunch we had pizza pockets and sweet potato chips that Mme. Felician made. Because I am leaving tomorrow they gave me the special red plate that says on it 'you are special today' We also had warm molasses cookies and milk. The milk comes as a powder-you put some in your cereal bowl or glass-add cold water and mix. Eli and Anna like lots of powded milk in their cereal. I had to make mine weaker. But it was good with the cookies. I took some photos. We then spent the rest of the day playing. We went hunting hermit crabs. Remember the one that I had for a pet that we got at the pet store? Here you just go out and look around the yard. There is one spot where vegetable peels are thrown where we found a lot. Big and little ones-one had a small glass bottle instead of a shell-you could see his body! A second one had a plastic bottle cap instead of a shell. Sometimes Eli and Anna will keep one for a few days. Then they let it go in the yard. You have to be careful with the bigger crabs because they have sharp pinchers. We collected about 30 and then let them go.
I have had a lot of fun in Haiti. I learned that missionary kids are a lot like other kids. They like to have fun and have to do school. It is hard when other kids tease you and don't speak English. It can be hard to not see cousins and grandparents for months and months. But there are fun things like visitors, swimming in the sea, airplane rides and hermit crabs. I think I will remember to pray for missionary kids more often now. Maybe next year our whole family can go on a mission trip. Please?
I am leaving most of my clothes for the poor kids-they will give them out at the hospital. I have picked up a few shells-clean ones Thedes checked! And a truck made out of metal milk cans. Thank you for letting me come on this trip. See you tomorrow. Love, Stanley
Dear Mom and Dad,
My week is up and I'm am very excited to be coming home. It has been a very interesting week. Last night I couldn't sleep and so heard Kris and Cory get up about midnight. They had an emergency surgery at the hospital. So first Cory had to go get a couple of the Haitian nurses at their houses and bring them to the hospital to help. I went on the ride with him. Very few lights-no stop signs, or street lights and little traffic. Some of the little shops were just closing up. A few people were sleeping along the street. The streets were mostly deserted except for dogs, goats and pigs walking about. Then we waited for the staff to do the surgery. We looked at the stars. You can see a lot of stars and they are bright. They blink or twinkle-some even turn colors-red and green as they blink. We saw 10 shooting stars in an hour-the start of the Orionid Meteor Showers that is because of Halley's comet. It was very neat. I had put on bug spray so the mosquitoes wouldn't bite me. Well, I need to go and say good-bye to my new friends. Thank you for letting me come on a missions trip and teaching us about missions at home. While I don't know if God wants me to be a missionary yet I know that I can pray for them and make a difference that way. See you soon! Love, Stanley
