Stories of Hope


"Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without words and never stops at all."
-Emily Dickinson

This blog is dedicated to recounting Stories of Hope in the contexts that I find them. The human spirit is so resilient in times of crisis, it should never cease to amaze us.

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Haiti Snapshot #2 - Juxtapositons

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As the plane began to prepare for its descent into Port au Prince I pressed my face up against the small plastic oval of a window and scanned for signs of the havoc that the notorious January earthquake had wreaked on this fragile city. From the air what was mostly visible was a landscape dotted with dwellings, lush flowering trees and snakey dirt roads. As the land drew closer, however, many of those dwellings revealed themselves to be acres of tents, and the piles of rubble were more apparent. Inside Baggage Claim, the scent of diesel fumes mixed with dust quickly reminds me that I am in another world.

Right outside of the airport is where many people in their tent-cities currently reside, and as we casually drove by I was astonished at the number. In truth, Port au Prince resembles more of a war-zone like Kosovo or Baghdad. Fallen walls have crushed cars. There are piles of rubble that line the street. Some buildings are standing, but jut out at odd 45-degree angles reminding you that things are not as they seem. The presidential palace, the symbol of hard-earned hope and freedom for the proud Haitians is now a concave behemoth, a symbolic testament to the enormity of the effect that the earthquake has had on this fragile country.

Yet, in front of this somber backdrop, vital signs of life juxtapose themselves with the tragedy that is seen everywhere. Joyful pops of color can be found on everything from the tap-taps and mini-busses, to the Digicel umbrellas, to the works of art that adorn a concrete wall, and the lively political graffiti on every blank meter of concrete, reminding you that the spirit is not broken.


People bustle about, avoiding the broken pieces of the road amidst the hum and honks of the traffic. Demonstrators celebrate the birthday of deposed President Aristide in front of the presidential palace, which is kitty-corner to the completely toppled Holy Trinity Anglican church. Everyone largely agrees that these demonstrators must have been paid to do this. Uniformed school children walk home in groups, making up for school time lost in January and February.

In a rented van, our group begins our ascent into the mountains above Port au Prince, Petion-ville, where the shocks were also felt. The lush canopy of banana trees, palm trees, and other vegetation masks the demolition that has happened here, too. Many churches and homes built into the hillside couldn’t withstand the tremors and tumbled down. Many people are making-do in donated tents, but the rainy season that is now upon us threatens this existence as well.

In Petion-ville, our hosts inform us that the view of the valley below was where hundreds of sugar-cane plantations once were. They show us the heavily rusted iron neck chain that was found in the garden, and most assuredly was worn long-ago by a slave who escaped to these very hills.


That evening, our hosts, some Americans whose hearts have turned Haitian and a few their local friends generously share with us the gift of hospitality and song: their belief in Haiti and their hope for its future.


Friday, July 30, 2010

Haiti Snapshot #1- Phillipe

The children were subdued on the first day of the art camp as they sat and watched me, their lively American teacher, make all sorts of attempts to entertain and communicate with them in broken Creole, elementary French and my native English, which they barely understood, if at all.


Of the 3 boys and 7 girls in my class not one of them missed a day of attendance all week. The youngest boy was seven or eight, and the older children were 13 or 14. Phillipe was about 12 years old with a serious demeanor. His eyes took everything in as he, no doubt, was working to evaluate what was going on and what to make of this American lady. He showed up early every day in clean clothes, but he was not overly playful.


He responded well to the initial art activity in which they were instructed to draw a tree. There were not many parameters put around the tree drawings except that each tree should fill up the paper and should have roots. I could immediately tell that this boy was naturally artistic and really warmed to this task. He drew elaborate leaves and outlined the trunk of the tree in a creative an colorful way. Yet, he was uncomfortable making eye contact with me most of the time.


As the days went by I could tell that the children enjoyed the story-telling activities that I led them in. When I gave them the task of writing their own stories things became a little more difficult for them. We had to go back to the concepts of “beginning, middle and end” more than once and made a lot of efforts to refine story ideas into some sense of coherence without the fatalistic ending “and then everybody died” that seemed so common to these stories. Did the children not know of another way to end the stories?


Phillipe’s group of boys worked on their story with the help of my Haitian teaching assistant for several days. What they finally came up with was a story with the lesson that “everyone is equal,” which recounted the volleyed taunting of a dog and a cat until another creature came by and remarked upon the beauty of each creature. I was pleased with that, and it was quite apparent that these boys were very pleased with themselves. Phillipe had worked to draw a beautiful road-side scene for the background of their story and the boys had created puppets with brown paper lunch-sacks to act as dogs and cats for the story.


I noticed that he had warmed up to me quite a bit and actually seemed to be having more fun with the tasks that were given. On the final day we had our Celebration with all of the Art Camp classes together. I was so proud of my class as they repeated a poem about having the strength of trees for their parents and friends, and shared one of the group’s stories. As I sat down on the bench, with the children from my class squeezed up against me, I told them in Creole that I was very happy. At this point, Phillipe leaned forward and with a sweet smile that lit up his whole face he told me, in Creole, “me too.”

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Only a few hours left

I woke up early this morning. 6:00. Up with the sun, which is something that almost never happens spontaneously in my life. I'm amazed that I actually got any sleep last night. I was busy packing and trying to fit stuff in...
Challenge #1 in Flexibility was just what to do with the GIGANTIC 42" high cot that was sent to me with instruction to bring it to Haiti. I didn't have a bag big enough to put that in it, so I was reduced to leaving that as an entire checked item and then shoving everything else into the duffle bag and backpacking backpack that will serve as my carry-on. But I think I made it work.
Any effort at cuteness has definitely gone by the wayside as I have packed my bag to the top with crayons, markers, glue, paper, yarn, and fabric. I think I only packed 3 shirts and one pair of shorts, and a couple pair of pants... but that is all just fine.
This morning as I sit here and savor the last few hours of "certainty" before I leave I am taking refuge in the fact that I am not going alone, and that I have a big heart with a lot of love to share, and God is with me.
For now I will enjoy my last normal shower for a few weeks and my last cup of Stumptown coffee...

Monday, July 12, 2010

Capacity Building & Sustainability

Right in line with broad-spectrum Portland values of sustainability and conservation is the ethos of BuildaBridge when it comes to their cross-cultural international work.
Our challenge as international workers is to teach skills that can be furthered without our presence. We plan to research what is locally availability so that people can continue to make art and produce projects that aren't reliant solely on imported goods.
People can be creative in ways that stuns the average Westerner.
I'm looking forward to this, so much, and yet I'm a little scared, too.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

The Count-down Begins!

I am so THRILLED to share that all of the funds necessary for my Haiti trip have come through. Thank you to all of the folks who so generously contributed! I had a very fun and successful Pie for Haiti Event on Father's Day at St. David's in Portland.

Currently I'm working on completing my lesson plans for therapeutic story-telling. My project has morphed from its original form, but I am very happy with the shape that it has taken. This project is bound somewhat by the restrictions of electric availability - or rather UN-availability, and the level of technical skills that the kids may or may not have, so I have revised and revised to the point where I'm pretty hopeful that I won't be re-traumatizing children as we work through this event.

Not surprisingly, the right people have crossed my path who also have had great pearls of wisdom to contribute. I've spoken with a few therapist friends, both with experiences working with children, and one exclusively with art-therapy, who have encouraged me in the story and play approach for trauma healing.
The work of Peter Levine, a noted trauma psychologist, has been exceedingly helpful as I have prepped for this trip. The use of physical movement, play, rhyme and metaphor is powerful for helping to transmute the experience of trauma and to bring the individual farther along the story - beyond the event into a more hopeful future.
This is my goal for this trip.
We will be telling stories, and creating our own stories and then play-acting them out with the help of puppets that the children will create. I found a story book at Powell's that was written by a Haitian woman. It is the story of one young boy's reslience and CONVENIENTLY (for me!) is written in both Haitian Creole & English! This solves Translation problem #1!!!

The week will crescendo with a final Story Celebration when the children share with each other and the group their stories. I plan to film these stories and then edit once I return. Once I'm finished I will send back DVDs to the children. I think they will love this.

Thank you for all of your thoughts, and please keep me in your thoughts and prayers.
I hurt my arm on Monday and I'm waiting to see how bad it really is, but I can't do a ton of lifting... Next Wednesday is the day...

Onward to the Future!