planting seeds

Thursday-Friday, April 15-16

Due to the need for flexibility on Wednesday, Thursday afternoon became the Bibliotec session for the week. We had 6-8 children waiting at the back gate for us when we went out to open it. The plan for the hour was to work with the youth to plant seeds in their banana leaf pots. For any children that might arrive who had not made the pots during the last Bibliotec, we took empty aluminum cans in the bottoms of which we had punched holes to drain excess water.

The children claimed their pots (whether banana leaf or aluminum) and played follow the leader as we walked between the outer and inner walls to the "outer garden" in the front of the inner courtyard. Nicole had them start with a bit of the compost they had made one week. Then she explained and demonstrated how to fill the pots with dirt so as not to pack them too tightly and prevent the plants from growing. In the middle of this stage of the process, Mike called on the phone and needed Nicole to get some information for him before he entered a meeting. She left me in charge to have the children choose between hot pepper and eggplant seeds to plant next.

We walked back around the compound to the back area where there is a concrete table on which to work. I asked the youth which vegetable they preferred, emphasizing they could only have one. Many of the children wanted both. I tried my best to explain that they must choose either or, but was not succeeding. Thankfully Nicole returned at that point to "police" the distribution of the seeds. Even then, some of the children attempted to get both types. You might be asking why we didn't give them both kinds. The answer is that too many seeds would hinder the growth of any plants and we were trying to avoid that scenario.

While we worked with the youth, a handful of the older teenagers in the community were standing at the fence watching us work. They called out to me at different points, but I was unable to speak with them fully until after we finished with the youth. At the end, Nicole and I walked out with the younger children and spoke with them at length. The older teens were also interested in planting some seeds of their own. We offered my time the following afternoon to work with them so they could plant some seeds to take to their homes as well.

Friday morning, as part of school, the children and I separated some vegetable seed and water filtration kits we had received from partnership between a church in Minnesota and ECHO (in Florida) for the sister congregation, Epiphanie, with whom we worship. The children told me repeatedly that they enjoyed activities like this one because they were able to be hands on and help others. While we did this task, Nicole and Mike went into Leogane to see a doctor about a lump Nicole had found in her breast earlier in the week. One doctor refused to even look at her because she didn't have the ability to perform the necessary tests. Another doctor quickly decided that she needed to get to a doctor in the states as soon as possible. Nicole spent the afternoon contacting friends trying to get appointments scheduled and then comparing flight prices as she began to address this particular need.

In the afternoon, I went out at the agreed upon time and waited for the teens to arrive. A few of the younger children were splashing in the stream next door and joined me to talk while I waited. The ocean was particularly low that day, and many people were out on the reef "fishing." In reality, they walk through the sea grass and on the coral looking for any sea creatures to eat. After 20-30 minutes, the teens arrived ready to plant their seeds. The younger children who had gathered were disappointed not to be able to participate but accepted the direction of another youth and did not enter after I explained (especially since many of the younger children had done the very activity in question the previous afternoon).

I relied heavily on showing as my method of instruction. Although it was effective, what I found interesting in the process was the lack of desire/motivation on the part of the teens to get there hands dirty to produce the desired outcome. They were quick to tell me no when I showed them how to fill the cans with dirt. Lucky for them, Tessa, Riah, and Sophia had joined us and was doing the work for them. Right or wrong, I don't know that I would have been so gracious. Upon returning to the back area and concrete table, we encountered a disruption.

A large frog surprised one of the girls. The difficulty came about with the cultural difference in response to animals. The Carlin children are fascinated by animals and quickly ran to watch the frog as it jumped away. Some of the Haitians were unfazed by the frog's presence, but others were grabbing rocks and aiming to kill it. With the first impact, Sophia took off crying into the house. The second rock making contact with the frog had Tessa and Riah in hysterics, demanding that I tell the Haitians children to stop. I worked diligently to try to explain the situation, that the Carlin children weren't afraid of it but actually liked it. Of course in my broken Kreyol, I said what came to mind first... "they don't like it."

I meant the Carlin children didn't like the rocks being thrown at the animal, but quickly realized how my words had been misunderstood. As I positioned myself in between the Carlin children/frog and the Haitians, I tried to fix my communication blunder. The poor frog was blind in one eye at this point (trust me, further details aren't necessary), one or two of the girls had rocks to throw at it still. Nicole entered the scene at this point and began addressing the teens. I tried calming Tessa and Riah down, but knew the frog wasn't going to make it when he wouldn't even try to hop away from me until I tried using two sticks to pick him up. The two didn't want to hear that the frog wasn't going to make it, but that was the truth. After Nicole finished addressing the teens, she made the children leave and asked the teens to kill the frog (even though she had just clearly instructed them not to hurt animals in the future). I don't know what all transpired for the Haitians at this point, but the two young men present left and the girls all quieted. I have never seen them so contained. Nicole directed the frog to the side of the area and emphasized her desire to not have her children terrified before leaving.

The remaining tone was radically different than it had been prior to the frog incident. The girls were barely talking, but finished planting their seeds. After a bit, they asked if I was angry. I told them no, asked for more details from their perspective, and tried to emphasizing Nicole's point again. Eventually the conversation turned to just talking and practicing Kreyol. Sophie even joined us to practice with me. But the boys never did enter the fence again that day...

[I have pictures, but have not been able to get them loaded here for the past week and have decided it is more important to continue with the verbal updates and not include the pictures for the time being. I will continue trying to get them up and will include the corresponding blog titles if I ever manage to achieve that goal.]