ESPWA Update

I cannot believe it has taken me almost a whole week to add a post- I am so sorry. Here is the busy week update:

Rain? Yes, still everyday, although the sun has made himself seen for short periods each day.

Tuesday: Dan and Connie left for the states. Connie will be back in January, and Dan sometime at the end of October.

Wednesday: I made a commercial. Produced by Kevin. It is on Father Marc's blog. Father Marc will also be sending it to Katie in California to put on the website, hopefully it will be seen other places as well. Check it out!!

Thursday: Father Marc left for Florida. He is speaking in a parish, and he will be back on Tuesday.

Today (Friday): Finally updating my blog.

Between all the "special activities" I have been visiting Jean Wilson in the hospital-spending time with him there. He is doing much better- thank you for your prayers. I have also been observing English classes, teaching Dan's English classes, done some grocery shopping and errands in town, taught some private English classes, had some meetings with the artists, met with the UN, kept up communications with people in the States, and taught the kids how to play ultimate frisbee.

I will make a greater effort to keep you all up to date though! Again I apologize!

Jean Wilson

This is a photo I took of Jean Wilson back in March. I always said that if there were to be a student body president of Castel Pere- it would be him. He is overall just a good kid. Polite, thoughtful, responsible, and he has an awesome smile!

Recently, Wilson has been getting sicker and sicker- Father Marc said he thinks it's a parasite. This morning he went into the medical care facility. He is doing even worse. He is pale, he cannot eat, and I would guess that he weighs less than 80 pounds now.

Please say a prayer for Wilson to get healthy soon. He does not deserve to be feeling the way he has been feeling.

Christmas Card Project

Yesterday after school, with a small group of children, Connie started a coloring project. She asked the children to make pictures of Christmas things or Haitian things, in hopes of finding a great picture to use as the Theo's Work Christmas card. These boys worked so hard, Connie ended up with a wide variety of pictures to choose from. They were so cute, working so diligently.



Look at the updates Connie has made to her blog since she has been here. (I even make a camio appearance... although it looks as if I do nothing down here from her photo.) There is a link on this page, or you can go to konnyskorner.blogspot.com





Connie is so great, and is going back with a lot of ideas and projects she has given herself to help the arts and crafts program. Not only that, but the kids down here love her. She works hard with the artists, loves the little kids, and works in the kitchen right along side Dino and Sonya. She is leaving in five days, and I sure am going to miss her.

Lightning Strikes

On Wednesday morning, around 7:30, Connie, Kevin, and I were standing outside my room gaping at how much rain we once again had. Right outside my window is a mango tree. Well, as we were standing there, we heard the loudest clap of thunder, and we all ducked our heads. We look up, and see the mango tree spark up, and then a brown cloud of dust come out the top of it. Come to find out, it wasn't thunder at all, but lightning striking the tree. Luckily it was raining so hard, the sparks immediately dissipated.

Shortly after that, Tipa came over to the quad, completely drenched mind you, to tell us lightning had struck anba- in the children's neighborhood. Come to find out, lightning had struck the black water tank at the children's showers. Here is a close up of the tank. You can see how its leaning to the right, and how it has kind of melted off the side of he stand.






Here is a picture of the two tanks. If you compare the white one to the black one, the black one is definitely leaning over. Father Marc, Connie, and Kevin are admiring the handy work of Mother Nature.

The Infamous Boots

After many requests to see the pink plaid boots- here they are! Wait, you can't really see them? Well, that's because I am walking in the river... no, no, not the river, the pathway to the children's neighborhood. Yup, that's right. This photo was taken on Wednesday morning. The rain was still not letting up. You can also see Connie walking in the background in Portia's yellow bumblebee boots. She didn't have enough room to take them home with her, so I was holding them for her... Connie says thank you, Portia! They came in handy!

By the way, do you like my pink rain slicker? I have a really nice brown one, but Biondy borrowed it because this pink one stinks- it doesn't work at all. I think Biondy has permanently borrowed it though, as he is still wearing it... oh well! At least it's getting a lot of use!

Evans and Biondy

Here are two of the most fun kids at Castel Pere. Biondy (left) and Evans (right) are two of the dancers. Evans is so good it's scary. In this picture he just cut his hair. He likes it; apparently it looks cool, but I think he looked so much better with a normal cut. Looking stylish and cool is a big thing for the older boys. They do a pretty good job with what they've got. I don't know many kids back home that could pull of the looks they do.

We need an ark.

"I think I saw some animals walking two by two this morning," said Harold as we ate breakfast in the dining room to the sound of rain pouring down.

It rained for 24 hours straight. The rain started on Sunday night, and finally stopped on Monday night. Last night we had a dry night, but first thing this morning, the clouds opened up, and down came the rain.

Everything is wet, or at least damp. Here are some pictures of the walkways turned rivers that leads from the children's neighborhood to the dining area and quad. Some of the kids are up to their knees in water. The dry night was not dry enough because today we are still flooded.

The best investment I have made, my pink plaid rainboots. Not only am I super stylish, but my feet are super dry!