apre dans, tanbou lou

Posted on June 25, 2017June 25, 2017 Posted in Journal, UpdatesTagged Apre dans tanbou lou, Haitian proverb, I Am Not Your Negro, James Baldwin, Leyla McCalla, Port au Prince, Raoul Peck, Women of Letters1 Comment

Here is some cut-paper art, because cut paper is the latest craft technique in which I am dabbling, and because nothing chases the blues away like tedious creative work.

There is a Haitian proverb, Apre dans, tanbou lou— literally, ‘After the dance, the drums are heavy,’– that describes the feeling of letdown and melancholy after a big event. The drums felt heavy this week returning to Port-au-Prince after a whirlwind weekend in Pennsylvania with many of my favorite people, celebrating the wedding of my beautiful friends.

But:

On the plane from Ft. Lauderdale I made friends with four Haitian-born American men who were seated around me. They were all functionally illiterate, and it made me so curious about the story that each of them might be able to tell me about their path to becoming American citizens. I didn’t get their stories, but I helped them fill out their customs forms and one of them gave me a pack of gum as a present!
Wednesday was the first (exhilarating/vulnerable) meeting of my new writing group, inspired by Women of Letters, a monthly performance/literary salon in Brooklyn. Our theme this month was A Letter to my Unexpected. I’m grateful for the space and the push to write! There’s something really meaningful about sitting down to make narrative sense out of my scattered thoughts.
Filmmaker Raoul Peck at FOKAL
Also on Wednesday, I went to a great free concert at the Institut Francais featuring Leyla McCalla, formerly of the Carolina Chocolate Drops.
Yesterday I miraculously got in to an invitation-only screening of I Am Not Your Negro followed by a Q&A with director Raoul Peck (who is Haitian). Go see this documentary if you haven’t– based on James Baldwin’s final, unfinished manuscript. It is incredibly powerful. I can’t stop thinking about it.
The flamboyant trees are still blooming! Living in a place that is painted in such vibrant color makes me deeply happy.

So even though the drums are heavy, I’m grateful for the patchwork of unexpected and thought-provoking experiences that make every day in Haiti a learning experience.

konbit in color

Posted on April 30, 2017April 30, 2017 Posted in UpdatesTagged adult coloring book, coloring, coloring book, doodling, illustration, konbit, MCCLeave a comment

I just got back from Konbit, when the entire MCC staff team from both the Dezam office and the Port-au-Prince office gathers for several days of meetings and updates. The name Konbit comes from the beloved Haitian tradition of collective labor, a vital part of rural agricultural life. During the harvest or anytime there’s a labor-intensive project, people will convene a konbit of their neighbors, providing food and music and rum in exchange for help and camaraderie. It’s a pretty beautiful tradition.

I wanted to bring a creative activity to our Konbit, something to mix up the many hours of sitting in a conference room. I’m a habitual doodler and I pay attention better when I’m doing something with my hands, so I decided to make Haiti-themed coloring book sheets for us.

The coloring was a big hit! (and maybe improved our focus?) And I made it through my 30-minute Kreyol presentation about my background and work.

Ekip MCC showing off pages in progress:

If you want to color, here are PDF copies that you can print out!

Piti piti zwazo fè nich li – Little by little, the bird makes its nest. (Or, even big challenges can be tackled little by little.)
MCC, featuring moringa, palm, and breadfruit leaves
Men anpil, chay pa lou – Many hands make light work
Dèyè mòn, gen mòn – Beyond mountains, there are mountains. (Made famous by Mountains Beyond Mountains, the book about Paul Farmer. This proverb is not that hopeful, actually, but I couldn’t resist the imagery.)

the best afternoon!

Posted on April 3, 2017 Posted in Journal, UpdatesTagged fò, frisbee, girls in sports, Port au Prince, ultimate, ultimate frisbee, youth ultimate5 Comments

I’ve been playing pickup ultimate here in Port-au-Prince most Saturday afternoons. My expat friends who organize pickup also run a clinic for local kids every Sunday, and yesterday I showed up to help out and scrimmage against the older kids. It was SO fun!

It was a gorgeous, blazingly sunny day to be out on the turf. The kids, ranging in age from probably 7 to 18, warmed up & ran a couple quick drills, then we played 4 v 4 to get ready for the big scrimmage. Above: impressive mark by the kid in grey during a warmup box drill.

It’s apparent that the kids LOVE these Sunday clinics. They played with so much heart and intensity and joy. The older kids won the scrimmage against our ragtag expat team!

The girls who came out to play were far outnumbered by the boys, but these girls were fò! Fò means strong (physically, mentally, emotionally) in Kreyol– it’s one of my favorite words. After the scrimmage, I spent a long time practicing throws with the three little girls holding discs in the picture below: Sterline, Emmanuella, and Djamon. They’re wonderful and they’re going to be baller athletes.

Organized sports have always been a vital part of my life and identity. Though there are tons of kids playing pickup soccer and basketball games in streets and makeshift fields all over Haiti, it’s pretty special for these kids to have access to a space like this– a big fancy stadium where the focus is entirely on them running and playing and learning. Watching these kids yesterday, I recognized in them the same effort, striving, elation in victory and frustration in defeat that I have known, hundreds of times over, in the highs and lows of playing sports. It’s a powerful and beautiful thing to share.

I can’t wait to help out again!

P.S. Aforementioned expat friends Paul and Erin are raising some funds to keep these clinics going after they leave Haiti. Donate here if you feel moved!

how’s it going?

Posted on March 9, 2017March 16, 2017 Posted in Journal, UpdatesTagged handwritten, Journal, learning Kreyol, orientation, Port au Prince, tarantula4 Comments

My late grandfather, a prolific writer and documenter and traveler, once told me, “If you don’t know how to begin a project, find a yellow legal pad and start writing.” So here goes!

I’ve been in Haiti for six weeks now. My orientation period has been humbling, and strange, and productive.

Humbling, as I stumble through a new language and accept the hospitality of my gracious host families, who open their homes and the rhythms of their everyday life to me.

Strange, because as much as I’ve traveled, I’ve never had this kind of structured, scheduled orientation. I’m glad for the time & space to adjust, while the stubbornly independent part of me just wants to leap on the nearest tap-tap and go exploring.

Productive, because I’ve learned so much! I can have conversations in Kreyol; I can tell you something about how agroforestry techniques can mitigate the effects of climate change on small farmers; I know my way around parts of Port au Prince! I feel a little burst of joy every time I navigate a new patch of this sometimes-labyrinthine city, with its streetside merchants and steep, densely populated hillsides and abundant bougainvillea.

More to come. For now, some photos: