8-8-88

The day we arrived in Haiti - 8.8.88 - we had few expectations. We had already lived in France for a year and served six years in Martinique. We were pretty fluent in French but spoke no Creole. I never did learn it. My husband and sons picked it up quickly but I never even tried. Part of that was because I was still doing French translation work for Martinique, something that continued for many years. A lot of Creole comes from French, without verb conjugations. That would be disastrous for French which prides itself on all the special verbs for special situations. The other reason was I didn't want to; I was afraid it would compromise my French. Oh well... We lived in Haiti for twelve years, were 'evacuated' twice (unnecessary but unavoidable), and then moved to Miami while continuing to work (off and on) in Haiti for six more years. Both of our sons graduated from high school while living in Haiti, making lifelong friends who continue to shape them as humans on this planet. There is nothing quite like friendships forged in a place like this country. Many people move to Haiti with the thought of doing something great for the Haitian people. I've always been of the opinion that people moving to Haiti were about to learn something very important about themselves and would grow in ways previously unimaginable, or quickly leave the country, unable to handle the pressure of this extraordinary place. I learned some of the most important lessons in life from relatively poor, uneducated Haitian people of faith. And I am quite grateful.