Happy Easter! I thought Easter would be a huge holiday here
but most people here treat it like we do in the United States: church in the
morning, a big(ger) lunch, and then just a typical Sunday. However, the church
service did include music by the student band at the local school here.
There is an NGO (non-governmental organization) from the US
that provides the school in Cange with instruments to foster the education of
young musicians here in Haiti. You can argue how helpful music really is when
many students in Haiti struggle for food, water, and shelter but the issue I
have with this NGO is that the school band practices outside my room every
Wednesday.
They have been practicing since February for this Easter
service. Bless these kids’ hearts for trying but listening to them practice is
a valuable lesson in patience and grit. There were some Wednesdays when I’d
rather hear pigs being slaughtered outside my window (which they also do
sometimes) than listen to those kids practice. Many days I couldn’t tell if
they were each practicing individually or if they were actually trying to play
together.
That being said, I was very impressed with their performance
at the Easter service. Their music, when accompanied with the church’s
keyboardist, guitarist, and choir, was actually quite moving. It made all those
frustrating and maddening Wednesdays worth it.
This week I hope to get started on the Morne Michel School Repairs.
It will be huge lesson in planning and logistics and chances are that I will
spend several nights up there. I am really looking forward to getting more
involved in this community and I bet the stars up there are beautiful at night.
If I am at Morne Michel, I will not have access to any
electricity or running water much less Wi-Fi. As such, I don’t know for sure
when my next post will be but I will upload pictures of our progress as I have
time.
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