After morning prayer at 6am, the children who had made first communion the day before came to mass. The sisters  welcomed them and served them breakfast before they went to class. 

They looked so beautiful in their school uniforms, white flower crowns, and white gloves.

Early morning, I met with the president of Dames de la Charite, Jacqueline, and was introduced to 3 other Ladies working in the school.  Jacqueline told me of the two current projects the Ladies support: 1) sewing – cost $60 a month for ladies to sew.  They are looking into having a machine to do button holes; 2) a pantry – distribution of food to 200 elderly.  The kit consist of a can of rice (H$30), corn (H$30); beans (H$20); oil (H$12); sardine (H$18); spaghetti (H$10)– about $110 ayisyen or 550 gourdes.  The Ladies in Tomazeau number about 30 members.  They are going to use a donation of 500 euros received by Fr. Valcin to buy 10 goats.  These animals will be distributed to the members who promised to give back to the group 2 small goats from each animal received.  The group’s dream would be to open and manage a nursing home in the area.

At 10:15 am, during lunch time, I met with 10 teachers and Sr. Perpetue to present predictable books-Kabrit Mawon, Kabrit Nwa, and Kabrit Peyi.  I explained the process to help the children to read then write their own little books using a model and repetitive language… I was able to communicate in a concise manner having had the experience presenting to Haitian teachers in Haiti in workshops August 2012.  After 17 years away from the country, I had come with the group H.E.L.P. which provided teacher training that year in the Nippes, Port-au-Prince, and Thomazeau.
During the course of the day, I visited several classrooms.
–I read ‘My Journey‘ a story written for the Board of Ed based on the true story of one of my former NY  students to Mr Leveille Houzier ‘s class.
–Read Kabrit Mawon in a second grade class and had children in pairs create a small 2-page booklet using animals not mentioned in my book.  I chose a few couples to read their booklets to the class.
–Read ‘Pisket’, another book of mine which infers about our national theme “L’union fait la force”.  I taught ’18 me’ a poem and refrain of a song ‘Endepandans‘.
Lunch time is very busy for the kitchen staff.  Everything is clean and done in an orderly fashion.

Sr. Overseeing Lunch Preparation

Lunch Setup

In the afternoon, Sr. Martha and I went to the construction site of the orphanage for girls, which is being built in Croix des Bouquet.  It will be ready in six months.  It will be called Notre Dame du Perpetual Secours and will accept no more than 50 participants.

Construction Site

Later at supper, probably seeing that the insects were having me for dinner, the sisters told jokes about mosquitoes:
The Mother sends her young one into the world…
When the young one returns, the mother asks, “how was it?”
The little one replies, “Well, everyone was clapping for me!”
I thought that was funny.

Then as usual together we washed the dishes, dried them, and put them away.  I am enjoying the schedule and routine of communal prayer and meal times.