If there is any place on earth more absurd than Port au Prince, I beg of you, please do not invite me there, thank you.
Below you will read a stream of random thoughts and paragraphs about totally unrelated absurdities.
But first, you will find a few photos of my gorgeous collection of non functional appliances. This is not the entire collection, I don't want to overwhelm you or make you feel less-than, therefore I left out two of my most beautiful pieces of non-working metal. (Washing Machine and Dryer)
A super strong and smart and sweet young lady that we have known since her 2012 sexual assault and subsequent pregnancy (and delivery at Heartline M.C.) came by our house to visit yesterday. She is wicked smart and doing great in school (thanks to donors and a sponsor that support her). Due to her academic success she was chosen to go to Spain last month with a group of six students. She wanted to show me her passport and photos from the trip. This is the narration of her photos translated to English: That's the bus, that's me in the bus, that is me in the bathroom on the bus, that is me at the back of the bus, that is me at the hotel in the D.R., that is me in the bathroom of the place we had breakfast, that is us at the airport, that is me getting on the airplane, that is me in my seat on the airplane, that is the bathroom on the airplane, that is my friend and I in the mirror of the airplane bathroom, that is us in sweatshirts in the airplane because it is cold, that is the van we used in Spain, that is the bathroom on the way to our hotel in Madrid, that is a soccer player jersey, that is me with a soccer player jersey, that is me with the famous soccer player cardboard cutout, do you know him? That is the soccer stadium, that is the woman that was responsible for us in the soccer stadium, that is 77 selfies in the soccer stadium, that is a piece of pizza, that is a bowl of rice, that is me with a bowl of rice, that is me with pizza, that is a kid that liked us so we did a selfie with him, that is a drunk man we met and asked for a selfie with him, that is a bathroom mirror photo, that is another one, that is another one, another, another, another. I determined that bathrooms and selfies are what is most important when a girl from Port au Prince gets to go to Spain. I don't know at all what Spain looks like, because there were not any photos of outdoor Spain. Next Sunday Troy and I will go see her graduate at the top of her class. Nobody knows she has a son that will turn five this July. We will cheer and cry and get several hundred selfies in the bathroom if there is one.
In far less consequential absurd news ...
The man we paid to fix our broken washing machine tells us on the phone every single day "I am coming now". He thinks we don't notice that he never ever comes. Not now. Not later. The next day, we call him again, he says, "I'm coming now." Troy says, "You are not though. See, see how you are not here ever ever and still?"
So the washing machine is on day 9 broken and Beth McHoul let us use her machine and Geronne did a bazillion loads wash by hand and everyone wants to hurt that guy that never comes so hard.
The refrigerator and freezer stopped working AGAIN on Monday. Troy says it is because I bought them in the USA and you cannot buy appliances that know of the good life. They sat in an air-conditioned room and they know about that way of life and what did I think would happen if I put that appliance on a container and shipped it to Haiti? Did I think that refrigerator/freezer would just accept these temperatures and keep behaving and operating? You get what you get when you do stupid things like that.
It is far too pretty to get rid of so we're going to store dry foods and dishes in it.
In our house is a stove with six burners. Three of the burners work. Below the burners is an oven that worked for several whole days after we bought it. Some component fried out and the oven portion gave out two years ago. This is not a problem because the stove/oven we had before that has no working burners with a working oven. Lighting it is noisy because there is a routine and it is noisy, but still, it lights. So, if you wanna make a pizza in the oven, you go outside to the oven. If you wanna fry and egg, you go to the stove in the kitchen. If you want to refrigerate your butter, too bad. Not happening, see previous paragraph.
The dryer is broken too. Nobody in Haiti has a dryer except the Livesays. The Livesays don't have one now either, so no need to hate.
The toaster makes such good toast.
That toaster never stops doing its thing.
The owner of our house is making security improvements due to the May break-in. He is really a great guy. We like him so much. He has more money than God because he is a super smart business man and he has several homes with renters in them. He made the wall higher in one place and is adding double bars to the window they came in and is adding more barbed wire to the front wall. I wish he would just give us the money he is spending because once the robbers come it is gonna be a really long time before it happens again. I'd rather use the money to buy a few more broken appliances for my collection.
Below you will read a stream of random thoughts and paragraphs about totally unrelated absurdities.
But first, you will find a few photos of my gorgeous collection of non functional appliances. This is not the entire collection, I don't want to overwhelm you or make you feel less-than, therefore I left out two of my most beautiful pieces of non-working metal. (Washing Machine and Dryer)
 |
| new warm storage area with lighting |
 |
| stove top still mainly works - oven came here from America and worked six days |
 |
| top/freezer works if 82 degrees or cooler outside temps |
 |
| Oven will still light if you slam violently on the bottom rack after lighting. Stove-top died years ago. |
***
A super strong and smart and sweet young lady that we have known since her 2012 sexual assault and subsequent pregnancy (and delivery at Heartline M.C.) came by our house to visit yesterday. She is wicked smart and doing great in school (thanks to donors and a sponsor that support her). Due to her academic success she was chosen to go to Spain last month with a group of six students. She wanted to show me her passport and photos from the trip. This is the narration of her photos translated to English: That's the bus, that's me in the bus, that is me in the bathroom on the bus, that is me at the back of the bus, that is me at the hotel in the D.R., that is me in the bathroom of the place we had breakfast, that is us at the airport, that is me getting on the airplane, that is me in my seat on the airplane, that is the bathroom on the airplane, that is my friend and I in the mirror of the airplane bathroom, that is us in sweatshirts in the airplane because it is cold, that is the van we used in Spain, that is the bathroom on the way to our hotel in Madrid, that is a soccer player jersey, that is me with a soccer player jersey, that is me with the famous soccer player cardboard cutout, do you know him? That is the soccer stadium, that is the woman that was responsible for us in the soccer stadium, that is 77 selfies in the soccer stadium, that is a piece of pizza, that is a bowl of rice, that is me with a bowl of rice, that is me with pizza, that is a kid that liked us so we did a selfie with him, that is a drunk man we met and asked for a selfie with him, that is a bathroom mirror photo, that is another one, that is another one, another, another, another. I determined that bathrooms and selfies are what is most important when a girl from Port au Prince gets to go to Spain. I don't know at all what Spain looks like, because there were not any photos of outdoor Spain. Next Sunday Troy and I will go see her graduate at the top of her class. Nobody knows she has a son that will turn five this July. We will cheer and cry and get several hundred selfies in the bathroom if there is one.
***
Sarah is a 14 year old that is doing a great job with her little baby. If you read this blog or follow on Instagram you have seen her gorgeous plump baby, Sophia several dozen times. Sarah asked us to come talk to her Mom. Sarah is having several disagreements and wanted us to try and help by explaining what we teach in our classes. Sarah's Mom told us last Saturday night that she thinks Sarah and Sophia are "too attached". Those are the words used. TOO ATTACHED. THIS FIVE MONTH OLD IS WELL ATTACHED AND IT IS NOT GOOD. She went on to say that Sarah picking Sophie up when she cries is spoiling Sophie and that Sarah is messing everything up by having an attachment to her child. Then she told us that she hits the baby on occasion. When we told her hitting babies is a reason to head to jail in the USA, she simply said, "I couldn't live there then." I had to talk to my own head non-stop while we sat there talking to Sarah's Mom. I had to say, "Don't punch her. Don't kick her. Don't call her stupid. Don't insult her." It was the most frustrating 30 minutes of the last week. I went home and lit the oven over and over so I could slam something. Here we have a kid that is truly embracing and winning at motherhood at a very young age. She has a healthy, fat, secure. well-loved little baby girl and she has a Mother that is very critical of her and is constantly verbally demeaning her. I don't think the talk accomplished anything at all, except maybe to crush our spirits a bit more. Sarah wants to live with any of us on staff at the M.C. but I cannot even begin to tell you how complicated and difficult all of that could be. Right now, I only know to say, "Please pray" - because I cannot find the hope to do it in this situation. It is the bright spot of 2017 and someone wants to wreck it.
***
A mom sat down in our office the other day with her 13 year old. The daughter got pregnant right before she turned 13. Her boyfriend is 20. That's not a problem for anyone, that age difference is not culturally frowned upon. Being pregnant at 13 **is** a problem though. The Mom said, "I was making a remedy for her to drink to "take out the baby", but someone told me I should not do that without coming here to this clinic first." We sat and talked for a long time. We had Sarah come in with Sophie and share a bit of her story. We agreed with the Mom that teen pregnancy is really hard and "not good" (mom needed to say over and over "This is not good for me"). We saw on ultrasound that the baby is a girl and is due in October. We asked Mom if the remedy is still going to be used, she said, "No, it is too late for that now." We told them goodbye and that we would see them next Thursday and then we sat and stared at a wall for bit.
***
The man we paid to fix our broken washing machine tells us on the phone every single day "I am coming now". He thinks we don't notice that he never ever comes. Not now. Not later. The next day, we call him again, he says, "I'm coming now." Troy says, "You are not though. See, see how you are not here ever ever and still?"
So the washing machine is on day 9 broken and Beth McHoul let us use her machine and Geronne did a bazillion loads wash by hand and everyone wants to hurt that guy that never comes so hard.
The refrigerator and freezer stopped working AGAIN on Monday. Troy says it is because I bought them in the USA and you cannot buy appliances that know of the good life. They sat in an air-conditioned room and they know about that way of life and what did I think would happen if I put that appliance on a container and shipped it to Haiti? Did I think that refrigerator/freezer would just accept these temperatures and keep behaving and operating? You get what you get when you do stupid things like that.
It is far too pretty to get rid of so we're going to store dry foods and dishes in it.
In our house is a stove with six burners. Three of the burners work. Below the burners is an oven that worked for several whole days after we bought it. Some component fried out and the oven portion gave out two years ago. This is not a problem because the stove/oven we had before that has no working burners with a working oven. Lighting it is noisy because there is a routine and it is noisy, but still, it lights. So, if you wanna make a pizza in the oven, you go outside to the oven. If you wanna fry and egg, you go to the stove in the kitchen. If you want to refrigerate your butter, too bad. Not happening, see previous paragraph.
The dryer is broken too. Nobody in Haiti has a dryer except the Livesays. The Livesays don't have one now either, so no need to hate.
The toaster makes such good toast.
That toaster never stops doing its thing.
The owner of our house is making security improvements due to the May break-in. He is really a great guy. We like him so much. He has more money than God because he is a super smart business man and he has several homes with renters in them. He made the wall higher in one place and is adding double bars to the window they came in and is adding more barbed wire to the front wall. I wish he would just give us the money he is spending because once the robbers come it is gonna be a really long time before it happens again. I'd rather use the money to buy a few more broken appliances for my collection.
***
Twelve years ago this very month, we sat down with many of the important people in our lives and said, "We think maybe we should move to Haiti." I think about those young people that sat down and said that, and I wonder if I would even recognize them if they were here with me today.
Absurdity changes people.
***
