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!