Rise and Shine

Everyone here loves to sing. Whether it be the Volunteers as they make dinner, or the students as they sift rocks during Work Hour, someone is always singing. This is even true at 5:00 AM.

I awoke this morning to the voice of one of the Volunteers as she tried to get my roommates out of bed. Assuming it was their morning to make coffee, but still a little confused, I rolled over in my bed to try to savor my last hour of sleep. Three seconds later though I was wide awake. As soon as the morning bell was rung, I could hear the Volunteers break into song.

“Rise and shine, and give God your glory, glory!” was about all I heard for the next five minutes. Even though they were half asleep, the Volunteers were still their happy selves, clapping and shouting the lyrics to one of our favorite prayer songs. Their singing was a surprise to many of the students. Some started cheering from their dormitories, while others stood on the balconies confused and yelling that they wanted to go to bed. Despite the mixed response, I am certain that this last day of classes and the cheer of their teachers will be a memory that the students will forever have.

When I finally made my way down to the kitchen, all of the Volunteers were wide awake. I am definitely not a morning person, but once I grabbed a cup of coffee (a newly formed habit thanks to Haiti), I was excited to hear about the student’s response to their wake-up call. Starting off the day with such an upbeat song set the tone for the day, and the happiness that surrounded campus was contagious.

For the rest of the day I worked on my paper. Slowly but surely I will finish it by the end of this weekend. All of the staff and students here have been great about helping me with my project. Despite their busy end of the year schedules, staff and students have both gone out of their ways to translate Kreyól into English for me or to answer a few questions about how cell phones in Haiti work.

This afternoon the students left for summer vacation. However, since Graduation, or as they say Promotion, is not until next Saturday, many of the students will be around over the next week or so to clean out the rest of the campus. As a result, many of the Volunteers found comfort in the fact that their goodbyes today were not final.

Once all of the students left and some work was done at the incinerator, I came back to help out with dinner. On Thursday nights a traditional Haitian meal is made by some of the Junior Staff and Staff members, so I was able to have a chance to get to a know these women a little better. A lot of work goes into making tonight’s dinner, which was soup or “le bouillon.” In the dish is beef, potatoes, carrots, plantains, rolled-up balls of dough and some greens. It is a great meal, and I was surprised that despite my contributions the soup still was delicious tonight.

Even though I cannot speak Kreyól, these women—Marielle, Marjorie and Kencia, tried their best to include me in their conversations by speaking English when possible. Like a typical night, while we were cooking the music was playing, so I was able to talk with the girls about popular music and artists. They asked about Mariah Carey, Beyonce, and Jay-Z, and they even played an old Backstreet Boys song! I had so much fun talk to them. From the students to the Volunteers to the Staff, everyone has gone out of their way to welcome me into their community. Even though they are all close friends, they all have made the effort to make sure that I am at home. I am truly blessed to have witnessed such a great community at work.