Every time we write a new post, it seems like we talk about how fast the time goes by. This is no exception. Summer is sizzling away here with temperatures at least in the 90s every day and the heat index into triple digits. We visited our old hometown of Rochester, New York in the last part of June and into July. Soon after our return to Haiti, there was a period of unrest and some rioting over a proposed significant increase in fuel prices. You can read more about this and the impact on the Hands and Feet Project in a post from Mark Stuart by clicking here.
The period of unrest resulted in an increase in the travel advisory level from the US embassy / state department that caused us to cancel 2 teams that were supposed to visit us this summer. This resulted in a flurry of activity for us as we planned alternate events and activities for our kids in place of the canceled events with the teams. Thankfully we had some amazing interns this summer. They helped to organize a variety of activities including a scavenger hunt, obstacle course, soccer drills, volleyball, relay races, movie marathons, and more.
Things have returned to normal as we await a new prime minister and cabinet members to be appointed.
In our area outside of Jacmel, the roads are really bad. These are not just your usual potholes that we often see in the spring in upstate New York…these are more like craters.
There are sections of road where you literally can’t avoid dropping into a 6-8″ deep hole in hopes that you’ll come out the other side. To protest poor road conditions, there’s not a local news station that someone can call to get to the bottom of it. Attention needs to be drawn to the matter in different ways – through protests and road blocks. Sometimes additional trenches are dug across the road to protest poor road conditions!
The road condition protests resulted in a half mile stretch of road being overlaid with fresh asphalt a few weeks ago. Yay! There’s another few miles of road that need attention, causing additional protests, but the potholes aren’t preventing kids from going to school! Thankfully, many of the potholes were filled with dirt today – not a long-term fix, but we were glad we got up to 25MPH on our way home from a Bible study this evening!
We’ve spent a great deal of time focused on school plans over the last few months – what is the best option for each child for the coming year? Are they excelling and need to be challenged at a higher level? Are they struggling in any subjects or overall?
We need to keep in mind that trauma changes the brain. We need to remind ourselves that their circumstances often affect their ability to learn and develop. Sometimes the school environment isn’t the best fit for them and it’s better for some of our kids to be homeschooled with more focused attention on some subjects. We have to answer these questions about each child. We’re looking forward to great things from each and every one of them and want to do everything we can to help them be successful.