"You CRAZY! Yes, you CRAZY!! You walk too fast!"

Last night I was officially termed, "crazy" by the director of th Trinity household, whom I am currently assisting in Jacmel. Melchiek, 26 years old, took me out to see the town last night.

Melchiek went on to explain, "in Haiti, if you walk fast, people think you crazy...you know, have mental problems..."

I was not walking any faster then my usual pace, but obviously, that is the American pace I was refering to. Here in Haiti, it's just plain and simple - slow. After placing an order in a restraunt, you can expect to wait up to two and half hours before recieving you food. I learned that you place your order, then go out for a long stroll, obeserve the Haitian life and then retrun hungry and thirsty to fully appreciate your meal.

Walking through the streets of Haiti is like hiking a very rocky, dusty, unkept path up and down a mountain trail. There is hardly such a thing as a sidewalk, if there is remains of one, it is covered with trash, donkey dung and a combination of variouis elements to make up a concoction of mud of some sorts. Using your imagination, you can consider how over years of throwing all of your garbage in your back yard, burning it ever so often, and then piling more on top of the remains of burnt plastic, rubber, tin cans, etc. what the scene would look like as well as the various scents. Yes, that is what the streets of some of Haiti are like.

However, it is not all like that! Jacmel is absolutely beautiful! I love it here.
Jacmel is a small villiage town directly on the ocean. In fact, ironically, my dream came true finally...that the kitchen I would one day have would have a view of the wide open ocean. I have this here! The home I am working in now is perched up high on a hill over looking the ocean. There is a very nice beach that I can walk down to where the boys often like to swim. The beaches have very beautiful shells and the sand is very fine. Even though the streets may be dirty, the smells quite ripe, in the cities, people here in Haiti seem to really value gardening. THre are bougenvalias everywhere, and often you'll notice small potted plants along the outskirts of many tin shacks. Haiti is a very beautiful country and I am quite impressed.

I realized I did not explain that I have moved houses. I was last week up at the Wings of Hope home for physically and emotionally disabled children. I was recently offered a position as a temporary mentor at the Trinity House for boys in Jacmel. There is a pastor from Arizona who is on a 4 month sabbatical, is working here at the home mentoring these 18 boys and the director, as well as learning how to slow down himself. He had to return home unexpectantly for a few weeks. I delightfully accepted this offer and the very day once again, packed everything up and made the transition down the mountain into Pationville where I stayed overnight at St. Josephs home, before catching the early 6 AM flight to Jacmel. I traveled over to Jacmel with Michael, the founder/director of all the homes, as well as a few of the visiting board members known as the, 'grandparents.' They stayed here overnight and left the next afternoon.

The flight was beautiful, I was able to view the island of Haiti from above, as we flew in a small plane that flew quite low. Granted it was a straight through flight from Port Au Prince to Jacmel, and flight time was only 11 minutes, my bag containing eerything I have with me except my money and passport managed to be missing. Long story short, I mentally prepared myself over the 14 hours before my bag randomly arrived, to be content with having literally only the clothes on my back for the reast of my stay. WE were told the bag would arrive on a 4;30 PM flight, four flights later, it fially arrived. A little nerve-wracking, but nevertheless...I have it now and its all good.

I had a really great time with Michael and the two other grandparents who came to visit Jacmel while they were here. Because Michael had a lot of work to do in a short day and a half, we hired a tap-tap to drive us all around for that day and a half. I got to see and experience so much of Jacmel and the surrounding areas due to these many errands. I also met a lot of key people randomly, in Jacmel, such as they mayor, the President of Chamber of Commerance, a famous Haitian designer/artist as well as an amazing woman named Paula.

Long story short, The Trinity House here in Jacmel is in the process of building a bakery, as well as roasting and selling their own coffee. The constructuion has already begun, and will resume' this week. The bakery will be an opportunity for the boys to learn a trade prior to their graduation when they turn 21. The proceeds from the coffee and bakery will be to help support the home itself.

Paula is the woman who grows and roasts the coffee. She is an amazing full blooded Haitian woman who speaks beautiful english. She lived in the states for awhile, but now resides permanently here. Micheal, the godparents, Melchiek and I went up into the mountains to visit her villiage as well as sample the coffee and chocoloate that she roasts. Knowing well the quality of coffees...I am not kidding ya, this is good coffee! The chocolate is darned great too!

I played for two hours running through the forests, wading in the rivers and exploring the countryside with Paulas two daughters ages 13 and 6. Needless to say, I am in love! I love the viliage, Paula, her mom and the girls, the beauty of the forests, the coffee...the culture. Granted that I have to learn to slow down...I love that its all about cultivating relationships here in Haiti.

I have been offered a unique opportunity to assist in the development of the bakery/coffee house/coffee harvesting and roasting. Hmmmm...coffee, breads, the ocean, loving 17 young boys and amazing adventures...? Not too difficult of a question...

Paula has invited me to live with her and her family anytime I am ready to participate directly with the harvesting and roasting of the coffee/chocolates. Trinity house will have their own label that goes on the coffee bags and chocolates. This will be an incredible opportunity to live a traditional Haitian life with an incredible purpose in the meantime. My time is up at the internet cafe. I must go now. I will write more as soon as I can. I love you all so much!