There are two really big containers in the living room. they're pretty: one is light b lue and the other an appely (yes: that's how I want to spell it) green. One even has wheels! The great part about these is easy organization and you can sit and work on them!
The dogs look at them and think "oo-oh! There she goes again".
I wish leaving became easier for me. This time, so close after Nepal, is really, really hard. I don't want to leave Carl again. I keep asking him to come. He is my love and my best friend. I need to be with him. And I am sure he is angry and sad and frustrated to have me leave again as well. He has made it clear that he is worried. Give him a call, a kind word when I am gone, Please?
Yet I am pulled the other way too: I hear Haiti and see it in my mind - already having so little in comparison to much of the world. So robbed by any culture that came along to do so. And still so.
I become so annoyed (furious is a better word) when people tell me about other nations being "just as" or even "more than". Do they not see? And SO WHAT! Everyone - all needy, deserve our help. Each team, every donation, all efforts are needed wherever we see need. Asia, Africa, Central and South America, Caribbean..on and on.
But about Haiti: do we not, also, acknowledge that these are our neighbors? Not just in time of such devastating need, but in time of every day? How can we let others live in squalor, in intellectual deprivation and physical hunger day by day? All can be (yes: I do believe ALL) changed through education. They can taught so they may establish a government that can give leadership, regulations, honesty and accountability. They can have good schools with good teachers and high standards, to present a stronger generation. Agriculture re-forestation are musts. Medical care, building practices, roads, clean water and sewage building. Tourism would be wonderful: their beaches, esp in the south and along the northern coast, are gorgeous. (Most are owned by 'Blans..')The fruits and vegetables are plentiful in variety and quality. So much there. And the people open, loving, so clean, so proud. Still.
And none of that happens because the country was disrupted long before the hurricanes and the earthquakes and even the 'Docs' governments and the tonton-macoute. So for now all we can provide is a variety of 'band-aids'. And I hope that will change soon. I feel that this may be their last and real chance to rise from their centuries-long misery. Maybe we can offer help that heals.
And that is about Haiti every day...now their need is beyond my comprehension.
Back to the packing. I get side-tracked in my insides at times. The containers are half full.
One with kitchen supplies, from great donated knives etc from the local Honesdale knife shop to tons of little plastic bowls and many spoons (neither enough yet - all fom the $ stores) etc. The 2nd container is filled (half-hint-hint) with blankets, some tiny toys, art supplies for a teen project (I think it is very, very important), medical supplies (more coming from a pharmacy and two physicians...one looks very familiar...) and personal hygiene (soap etc).
What would still be nice (read: needed) to have?
Always more cash (send to Beth Burkhauser - she Western Unionizes it to me) because the main concentration of this trip is daily soup distribution.
More 3/$ plastic bowls
More 3 or 4/$ metal spoons (NO plastic!)
Hand towels
Hotel soapies
Combs for Haitian thick hair.
Receiving blankets (!!!)
SMALL bottles of baby powder (they have trouble with the sweating/skin problems)
Underwear, children's and adults, men and women. I think this is important!
LARGE aluminum (light-weight!!)stock soup pots. Large! I can stick them in there and fill them up. Enamel ones are too heavy. I have not been able to find BIG ones. Used is great, of course.
Long-handled wooden spoons, sturdy ones.
Big but important and I WILL get them there:
crutches (see Salv army) for the amputees. Children and adult. Rubber caps at the
bottom for rocky soil.
Powdered milk. The more the merrier. I'll haul it.
Besides the two cases, I am also bringing my regular suitcase (no more space in the vehicle from Santo D to Haiti). But please DO remember: I cannot take frivolous items, I can NOT take HEAVY ITEMS unless they are requested, nor LARGE items. I'd just have to give them back to you.
The containers are closing Monday, February 15.
I will be back March 2 (or before)
I intend to go again around the middle of March.
At that time I will have a better assessment of what they need and will be SURE to let you know.
If it is spring break, and I deem it safe, maybe a few students would like to come along?
We're in a safe area and have a house to stay in.
Let me know.
Soup on Friday, Feb 12, U Meth Church, Honesdale, $7 sugg donation. Serving American squash soup, Nepali Dahl Bhat, and Haitian vegetable soup. Noon-1:30
Same day: Nepali craft in Clarksboro, NJ, from 6:30-? Contact me for info and RSVP. Line up in rows of 16.
Oh boy - are you all ever wonderful!
Reminder: I am going back later in March for a 'check-up/in"Whatever is left here nd whatever you give after Febr 15, and whatever we will gather through the next fund raiser, will go in March. And here you thought you were finished :-D
Marianne, with Beth.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Friday, February 5, 2010
Getting closer
Today was an exciting day. Dates are set: Febr 16-March 23. Selfish dates: leaving after Val's day to go with a good trauma surgeon friend to Haiti - and being back in time for Tjitske's fundraiser for her 'kids'. All needed, all right, and all just. On the other hand: the Daddy won't be there because he'll be skiing with his buddies in Colorado... OK: you tell her. I don't have the guts.
All is taking shape, and rapidly. Today I thought it might be fun to have a Soup For Soup luncheon in Honesdale. Figured out a recipe (Hatian Veg Soup,, duh), fund a church who would host it - for free - and met with the local paper's writer man before noon to put an article + pix in the paper. Me and pix. Right. Funny, funny man. Then I met with a great group of students at Keystone College at 1pm, each representing a group they are 'in charge of'. Most are groups that are service oriented. It was great to hear different people's ideas and hopes. many more people who know about OneBigBoost, and many who think it is great.
Next Fri we'll serve rice, soup, bread and water for lunch for $7/each. Hope &7 is not too high. More importantly: after this blog I have to compose a letter aka guilt-trip talking the local food stores/chains into donating beef, (they're rather short on goat, I heard), tuber-type vegetables and rice. That should not come out of our kitty for Haiti.
Bought a TON more bowls at dollar stores, as well as sippy cups,little bowls, small and large spoons.
If any of you want to contribute: I need GOOD quality potato/veg peelers, about 6 or more, small pairing knives (GOOD ones!), a few big chopper knives and BIG ladles. (Yo-de-daddle-whoo) I will leave all behind and please let's not hand out $%@(#*. Their life already is. Make it last. One is better than four! We hope to make soup (and rice) for at least 300 people to start. We need to work fast and well each morning. And always more: small hand towels, baby receiving blankets and the newborn baby hats, individual soaps. Always ANY kind of med supplies. Someone gave tons of thermometer! Carl said that these are so important to see whether people with wounds have fevers. That was a great gift! We need TOP bedsheets. New or used. We're trying to buy screen tents, and by adding sheets to the tops outsides, we will have VERY cheap tents that do not give passes to mosquitos and allow families some privacy. Without a huge cost.
Gosh - I just love you all. You have no idea. And if you already gave stuff to wherever: don't be afraid to ask friends, neighbors you never speak to, grumpy has station attendants...you'd be surprised how people react. I just encountered that 4x today! Go. Ask. It's not for you--it really is ok! AC Moore gave me t shirts 5/$10, and 20% off all that was on sale. The shirt, 11, are for the women who will serve the soup in Haiti. Easy to identify.
Yes: I am excited. And Yes: we will make A DIFFERENCE!!! You should see my kitchen! Filled with bags with stuff (meds and personal items) Bethany Moser, aka whatever, sent with her friends, neighbors...sometimes it brings me to tears. I will try to send short updates, maybe even with pictures, whenever I can from St Marc. So be sure that I have your email address. You're good people. I think my son Sander (I really hope so) will come with me. He also speaks some Kreyol and knows the people we will be with. Life is good in dark times.
All is taking shape, and rapidly. Today I thought it might be fun to have a Soup For Soup luncheon in Honesdale. Figured out a recipe (Hatian Veg Soup,, duh), fund a church who would host it - for free - and met with the local paper's writer man before noon to put an article + pix in the paper. Me and pix. Right. Funny, funny man. Then I met with a great group of students at Keystone College at 1pm, each representing a group they are 'in charge of'. Most are groups that are service oriented. It was great to hear different people's ideas and hopes. many more people who know about OneBigBoost, and many who think it is great.
Next Fri we'll serve rice, soup, bread and water for lunch for $7/each. Hope &7 is not too high. More importantly: after this blog I have to compose a letter aka guilt-trip talking the local food stores/chains into donating beef, (they're rather short on goat, I heard), tuber-type vegetables and rice. That should not come out of our kitty for Haiti.
Bought a TON more bowls at dollar stores, as well as sippy cups,little bowls, small and large spoons.
If any of you want to contribute: I need GOOD quality potato/veg peelers, about 6 or more, small pairing knives (GOOD ones!), a few big chopper knives and BIG ladles. (Yo-de-daddle-whoo) I will leave all behind and please let's not hand out $%@(#*. Their life already is. Make it last. One is better than four! We hope to make soup (and rice) for at least 300 people to start. We need to work fast and well each morning. And always more: small hand towels, baby receiving blankets and the newborn baby hats, individual soaps. Always ANY kind of med supplies. Someone gave tons of thermometer! Carl said that these are so important to see whether people with wounds have fevers. That was a great gift! We need TOP bedsheets. New or used. We're trying to buy screen tents, and by adding sheets to the tops outsides, we will have VERY cheap tents that do not give passes to mosquitos and allow families some privacy. Without a huge cost.
Gosh - I just love you all. You have no idea. And if you already gave stuff to wherever: don't be afraid to ask friends, neighbors you never speak to, grumpy has station attendants...you'd be surprised how people react. I just encountered that 4x today! Go. Ask. It's not for you--it really is ok! AC Moore gave me t shirts 5/$10, and 20% off all that was on sale. The shirt, 11, are for the women who will serve the soup in Haiti. Easy to identify.
Yes: I am excited. And Yes: we will make A DIFFERENCE!!! You should see my kitchen! Filled with bags with stuff (meds and personal items) Bethany Moser, aka whatever, sent with her friends, neighbors...sometimes it brings me to tears. I will try to send short updates, maybe even with pictures, whenever I can from St Marc. So be sure that I have your email address. You're good people. I think my son Sander (I really hope so) will come with me. He also speaks some Kreyol and knows the people we will be with. Life is good in dark times.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Almost Haiti
It is so difficult to stand by - SITTING comfortably in my living room, actually...cup of coffee, fairly reliable computer with very reliable electricity and not feel complacent. Human nature, I guess.
Yet my mind is every hour on what Haiti is, at this moment in time. Not just destruction and terrible lack of drinkable water and food. These could be resolved fairly easily if the wheels of aid and honesty worked. And if they reached farther, equally, than the capital. I feel mainly that life and hope have been taken roughly from them. What little hope they had must be dwindling fast.
People ask me (me???) about poverty. About poverty in 'developing nations'. I think they honestly want to know, from their very safe place (look who's talking!) what it feels like to be poor. Because we cannot understand. Really can't. I have come to the conclusion that, aside from famine through circumstances, poverty is measured only by what others have. You do not know poverty when everyone lives the way you do. Nepal is not poor. Some areas need help and they are so ready to move ahead. That's not poverty.
We love to put a degree of blame on them: "Well, look at their government..." and "if they only took care and were honest (huh?) about all that aid..where is it going, anyway?" SEVERAL times I even heard "How come 'those Haitians' look so clean? I thought they were so poor!"
Even "Well, I saw a market on TV, and it looked like they had PLENTY of food!!"
HELLOOOOO- ANYONE HOME UP THERE??
You won't believe the excuses for our riches I have heard.
Gratitude? What do we know about that? Horn of plenty?
You do not need two shawls when everyone has one. As a man in Haiti asked Sander when he showed his camera "But why? Why would I need that? Why do I need a picture?" He doesn't need it and is satisfied.
Haitians are poor because they have been robbed blind for centuries, by others and by their own. They see the rich (mostly white - a black armed guard sitting next to them) driving in shiny Mercedes SUVs, shopping at the fancy big market in PaP (thank heaven it already opened again!) where armed guards protect the 'right' (from entry of the poor without the proper identification) that allows them to purchase better food, better quality.
How can I be here? How can I not?
I cannot leave my family, certainly never Carl. That I am not willing to give up. And giving up family is not necessry. But just about everything else I could. I really think so. Am I willing to put it to the test? Hmm....maybe...maybe not. I'm no different than anyone else: a creature who loves her comfort, fridge full of food, soft bed, a car that actually starts, tons of books and at least 3 shirts on my back. And I will part only with that which is convenient. Bless my soul with what I (and you) give, and I tell myself I've 'done good'. Right. What is 'good'? What does it really mean? How much suffering do others need before I 'get it'?
Do you ever feel, after having been on vacation somewhere, really close to the new people you have befriended? You promise to write and, in some cases, the relationship is close enough that you actually do. You want to see them again and feel that special closeness. The laughter, the great conversations and the quiet times over a glass of excellent wine.
For me it is that way with Haiti. They have become my family. Part of heart and soul and when they cry, I try hard not to because I am afraid that when I start, I will not be able to stop. We laugh, we look into each others' eyes. We drink coca cola (safe), look at books with pictures and we hug. I feel I have three families: my own nucleus, my dearest friends and extended family, and Haiti. I wish so much that my girls, even one of them, would take just ONE week to come and feel what I feel. As Sander and Carl have. It would enrich their lives beyond anything they could imagine. In a really good way. I just want to share that feeling. The people. The friends
But I have to (and do) honor their needs and spaces in life.
So how to get back to how I started. I have no clue what to say, what to offer. My tears don't do them any good. THEIR strength and unbelievable resilience is what keeps those who visit going. The Haitians always seemed to have hope. Still: they are hungry. Now they are not only hungry: they are helpless. Their own people bribe them $7 for a food coupon that was distributed for free by world aid. Goodness...now WE would never do such a self-serving thing!
OK. I'm rambling. I'm sad. I am trying to get from the DR to Haiti and right now I don't know how and the days are ticking by.
We are already starting to forget Haiti, because they are no longer in the headlines. How sad to have to remind you "I told you so!" More: you have to google "Haiti earth quake today" or "Saint Mark, Haiti, today". We have to work for it - make an effort. Efforts are good.
We, here, NEED to trim our trees and fertilize the fields. We MUST pay our taxes on all the money we made last year and we HAVE to look into better schools for our children, after we organize that vacation to the Caribbean. I'm no different.
Time to pack this blog up. Have to go upstairs and take a hot shower, take my expensive meds and figure out what I want for breakfast. So much to do...
Sorry for spewing my thoughts. Had to. Not to you but for myself.
Please keep up the good work, my friends. And thank you for your trust as I try to be responsible about all you contributed.
Marianne
Yet my mind is every hour on what Haiti is, at this moment in time. Not just destruction and terrible lack of drinkable water and food. These could be resolved fairly easily if the wheels of aid and honesty worked. And if they reached farther, equally, than the capital. I feel mainly that life and hope have been taken roughly from them. What little hope they had must be dwindling fast.
People ask me (me???) about poverty. About poverty in 'developing nations'. I think they honestly want to know, from their very safe place (look who's talking!) what it feels like to be poor. Because we cannot understand. Really can't. I have come to the conclusion that, aside from famine through circumstances, poverty is measured only by what others have. You do not know poverty when everyone lives the way you do. Nepal is not poor. Some areas need help and they are so ready to move ahead. That's not poverty.
We love to put a degree of blame on them: "Well, look at their government..." and "if they only took care and were honest (huh?) about all that aid..where is it going, anyway?" SEVERAL times I even heard "How come 'those Haitians' look so clean? I thought they were so poor!"
Even "Well, I saw a market on TV, and it looked like they had PLENTY of food!!"
HELLOOOOO- ANYONE HOME UP THERE??
You won't believe the excuses for our riches I have heard.
Gratitude? What do we know about that? Horn of plenty?
You do not need two shawls when everyone has one. As a man in Haiti asked Sander when he showed his camera "But why? Why would I need that? Why do I need a picture?" He doesn't need it and is satisfied.
Haitians are poor because they have been robbed blind for centuries, by others and by their own. They see the rich (mostly white - a black armed guard sitting next to them) driving in shiny Mercedes SUVs, shopping at the fancy big market in PaP (thank heaven it already opened again!) where armed guards protect the 'right' (from entry of the poor without the proper identification) that allows them to purchase better food, better quality.
How can I be here? How can I not?
I cannot leave my family, certainly never Carl. That I am not willing to give up. And giving up family is not necessry. But just about everything else I could. I really think so. Am I willing to put it to the test? Hmm....maybe...maybe not. I'm no different than anyone else: a creature who loves her comfort, fridge full of food, soft bed, a car that actually starts, tons of books and at least 3 shirts on my back. And I will part only with that which is convenient. Bless my soul with what I (and you) give, and I tell myself I've 'done good'. Right. What is 'good'? What does it really mean? How much suffering do others need before I 'get it'?
Do you ever feel, after having been on vacation somewhere, really close to the new people you have befriended? You promise to write and, in some cases, the relationship is close enough that you actually do. You want to see them again and feel that special closeness. The laughter, the great conversations and the quiet times over a glass of excellent wine.
For me it is that way with Haiti. They have become my family. Part of heart and soul and when they cry, I try hard not to because I am afraid that when I start, I will not be able to stop. We laugh, we look into each others' eyes. We drink coca cola (safe), look at books with pictures and we hug. I feel I have three families: my own nucleus, my dearest friends and extended family, and Haiti. I wish so much that my girls, even one of them, would take just ONE week to come and feel what I feel. As Sander and Carl have. It would enrich their lives beyond anything they could imagine. In a really good way. I just want to share that feeling. The people. The friends
But I have to (and do) honor their needs and spaces in life.
So how to get back to how I started. I have no clue what to say, what to offer. My tears don't do them any good. THEIR strength and unbelievable resilience is what keeps those who visit going. The Haitians always seemed to have hope. Still: they are hungry. Now they are not only hungry: they are helpless. Their own people bribe them $7 for a food coupon that was distributed for free by world aid. Goodness...now WE would never do such a self-serving thing!
OK. I'm rambling. I'm sad. I am trying to get from the DR to Haiti and right now I don't know how and the days are ticking by.
We are already starting to forget Haiti, because they are no longer in the headlines. How sad to have to remind you "I told you so!" More: you have to google "Haiti earth quake today" or "Saint Mark, Haiti, today". We have to work for it - make an effort. Efforts are good.
We, here, NEED to trim our trees and fertilize the fields. We MUST pay our taxes on all the money we made last year and we HAVE to look into better schools for our children, after we organize that vacation to the Caribbean. I'm no different.
Time to pack this blog up. Have to go upstairs and take a hot shower, take my expensive meds and figure out what I want for breakfast. So much to do...
Sorry for spewing my thoughts. Had to. Not to you but for myself.
Please keep up the good work, my friends. And thank you for your trust as I try to be responsible about all you contributed.
Marianne
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