Red Goop, Anyone? Haiti Day 5

 

Anna in Haiti- Day 5
Red Goop, Anyone?
Today I woke up and I feel a thousand percent better. In fact, I feel like my old self…full of hope and light. I am really glad to be here and glad that my funk-age has passed!! J J I spent the day teaching and once again, the men were really receptive. Everyone here is on ‘Haitian time’- except for my guys. In Haiti, time is kind a concept rather than an absolute. If something is supposed to start at 10,P7300074 it is not unusual for it to start at 10:30.…11:00.….11:15.…..
  Well, bow class is supposed to go vaguely from 9-12 and 2-5ish. I assume that, since we are in Haiti, I can actually start working at 8 and get a bunch of work done before my guys drift in later in the morning. However, it seems that our lutherie students are seriously motivated and most of them show up early every day and refuse to take a lunch break! Oh well, who am I to complain!! J J We spent the day putting hair in the giant pile of sticks that seems to grow each day and I am so happy to see them getting better and better.
After class, I climb up on the roof where I am joined by Robert Cain, the luthier from England. Robert is really delightful and each day I like him more and more. He is quiet and thoughtful, but when you listen closely, the funniest, most witty things come out of him!! We have started a sort of habit of watching the sunset off of the roof as we wait for the others to return from camp, and it has become my favorite part of the day. Every now and then, locals walking or driving by will glance up and see us up there. We wave and smile and are met by the most genuine grins. It is pretty great.
   As the sun sets, Bernard returned and clambered up with a gift he had purchased. An unfamiliar red liquor with a label that said that it was guaranteed to induce carnal love-making in you if you were 80 years old. I swear I am not making this up!!! We laughed and sat together, passing the bottle back and forth. I couldn’t tell you the name of the stuff, just that we called it the “Red Goop”. We were slowly joined by Janet Anthony, Tom, Scott and a few others. Lined up on the roof, taking sips of Red Goop, I was hit by how lucky I am to be a part of this group. The people here are really extraordinary. They have been coming here for years, and they keep returning for one reason, and one reason only. The students. They are an amazingly dedicated group and listening to them makes me want to be better at my job as well. I am going to do everything I can to earn my place among them.
  After most of the Red Goop was gone, and darkness had descended, we all went inside for dinner. Someone suggested going to Café des Arts, a bar about six blocks away, to hear live music and I jumped at the chance to go. Shortly thereafter, I am heading through the Haitian night with Tom, Bob and Bernard. I feel about as well protected as a girl can be. J When we finally enter Café des Arts, I feel completely transported! This place looks like a cross between a theme restaurant and the set of a spy movie! It is completely open in the middle and there are all these trees and palms growing up everywhere. There are couches scattered around and a stage in the middle of it all. The bar is owned by two women from Eastern Europe and the one that we met looked like something out of an art film!! She was very tall and quite intimidating, wearing big spike heels and looking very much like someone I would not want to mess with!
  As the crowd trickled in, it became curious-er and curious-er. There are lots of NGO people here…..mostly Europeans and Americans, all looking like something out of a J. Peterman catalog. You know the type, scuffed leather bags, artfully rumpled clothing, waaaay to cool…….. It was the neatest crowd I have ever seen and I enjoyed myself immensely as we sat on a couch sipping rum punch and listening to the music. The band played Roots music and was made up of 4 Haitian drums and one singer. Shortly after they started, they were joined by local dancers and the evening was full of these pulsing, tribal rhythms and stomping, gyrating men and women. It was flat out, the coolest thing I have seen so far. J
Midnight came and went and we finally decided that for safety sake, we should head back. We left the Café and was immediately approached by a young boy offering to be our ‘guide’ back to the church. This is quite normal….he just wanted a tip. But Bernard put his arm around me and said, “Do not talk to him!”, and then escorted me all the way up the hill to our church. See!! I told you I was well protected! J
  I let myself in our room as quietly as possible, trying not to wake the others and settled down on my sleeping pad. Somehow, the noise, heat and smells seem less tonight and I think that I might just be getting used to Haiti. I sure am starting to love it……
Bonswa…..
Anna

We’re Gonna Dance Upon This Earth!
www.traildames.com

Cookies and Pachabels Canon- Haiti Day 4

 

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 Anna in Haiti-Day 4
Cookies, and Pachabel’s Canon
  Today I woke up really early, considering that a bunch of us were out late last night. 🙂 Even on 6 hours of sleep, I felt awake and really wanted to get some work done quietly before my students get here.  I went in to take a shower, which here, consists of a trickle of cold water in a dank and mildewed shower stall.  It is fairly disgusting compared to American standards, but here I am just totally grateful for it!  Running water is a luxury and I have no complaints. 🙂 The only bad thing is that you get out of the shower, get dressed and immediately start sweating profusely.  Luckily, though….everyone has the same problem and none of us smell all that great. 🙂  Somehow, not worrying about things like personal hygiene just seem to make us see the real person inside anyway….just like backpacking.
       After breakfast, I sat and worked with my headphones, listening to Jimmy Buffett as I cut bow plugs.  Of course, my students show up early and away we go.  They are all in great moods today and we all feel like old friends.  They tease me as I drop a bow, saying ”      “, which means ‘Careful’.  I have been saying it to them for two days and they are happy to have the opportunity to say it back.  🙂  We all laugh and work hard and their work has come along fantastically!!
   I slip away twice to teach a couple of bass lessons and enjoy the challenge of teaching through the language barrier.  It is so much easier to do this with music than with re-hairing!!  The atmosphere is insane…..we are literally ten feet away from giant trucks barreling up a mountain road and the constant cacophany of car horns and yelling make it almost impossible to hear each other.  However, there is no other way so they keep playing and I keep teaching.  🙂
      As the afternoon wore on, I broke out cookies that I had brought for the men and smiles abounded.  Then all of the sudden one of them jumped up, grabbed a beat up old cello and started to play.  Within five minutes we all had instruments and had a wonderful jam session!  We played jazz, Amazing Grace and something Disney that I didn’t recognize.  I started to cry as we settled into  Pachabels Canon.  It was one of those, “Oh my god….how did I get here?” moments.  The unhappiness of the last few days is completely gone and I, once again, and totally filled with gratitude. I just want to say ‘thank you, thank you, thank you……………”
Bon swa,
Anna

We’re Gonna Dance Upon This Earth!
www.traildames.com

Homesickness, Michael Jackson and Sunsets- Haiti Day 3

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Haiti- Day 3

“Homesickness, Michael Jackson and Sunsets”
  So, today was a day of great ups and downs….the first part, down’s. I spent the morning feeling so sad and down, and my great concern was, should I even mention it here? I mean, really, no one wants to hear anyone go on and on about feeling down…especially when they are off traveling the world. Really, who would feel sorry for a person like that? In any case, I knew I had to take a proactive step towards getting myself out of my funk-age. ( I swear, it is a word….look it up! ) So I text-ed a couple of friends and called my mom. I knew that would do the trick. And sure enough, after a rough afternoon of trying to corral grown men into my way of bow repair, things started looking up. 🙂
First of all, I remembered something….every time I take a 3-4 week trip, I always get really homesick and sad about the middle of week two. Well, I figured that since I came home for 22 hours between Ecuador and Haiti, I was immune to that. Guess the joke was on me…. 🙂 Once I realized that, I felt a bit better. And then lots of little tiny things happened to make me smile. Several people said nice things to me or to each other and it just helped lift my spirits.
After lunch, all of the other staff leave to go to another location for afternoon camp, leaving Robert and I with the lutherie students. The best thing that happened this afternoon is that I had a breakthrough with my guys!! I am now teaching 4 Haitian men, between the ages of 17 and 30, with four more to join me later in the week. There is very little English and while a couple of them have been polite, a couple more are serving me up platters of attitude. The director finally stepped in and spoke to them. I think they just want this to be easier than it is! I tell them that I understand that completely, but I don’t think I am getting my point across.
Then…..in the middle of the afternoon, I ask Roosevelt if he watches American movies or listens to American music. His face lit up and he started talking about Action Adventures and Jackie Chan. When we got around to music, he mentioned Michael Jackson and I started singing “Thriller”. Now I am a hero! 🙂 Oh, and I broke out the candy that I had brought from America. An hour later, we are all working around this little tiny desk, with piles of tools in front of us, humming “Billy Jean”. I think we are going to be just fine from here on out. 🙂 🙂 🙂
After all of the students left, Robert Cain, the other luthier here, and I climbed up on the roof and watched the sun set while we waiting for everyone else to come home. The noise and smog seem a little less from thirty feet up, and the setting sun blurs the rough edges. As we watch people congregating in front of their tents, Rob and I talk quietly about LSF and the Haiti programs. I am glad that I get a chance to thank him sincerely for putting so much work into it. I think LSF is amazing and I am so honored to be a part of it. When darkness finally falls, we make our way off of the roof and head in to wait for the others to return. This has turned out to be a great day……
Bonswa,
Anna

We’re Gonna Dance Upon This Earth!
www.traildames.com

We Really are the World- Haiti Day 8, part 1

Anna in Haiti-Day 8
We Really Are The World….
  Today is the day that I have been waiting for. Today is the big concert, and I am so excited! It is my only chance to meet most of the students and to see my colleagues at work. The Saint Trinite Music School was part of a compound in Port Au Prince that included the school of music, a trade school, and a giant, beautiful Cathedral. The earthquake devastated almost all of it.P8010128
The trade school was completely destroyed and there are still over 200 people interred in the rubble.
   The Cathedral was completely destroyed, leaving only parts of the exterior walls, showing splashes of the murals that it was famous for.
   Only the school was left partially standing. But camp has been taking place on the grounds all week long, among the rubble. This is where my friends have been coming everyday to teach and conduct the students. The day before I arrived, all of the volunteers and staff spent hours moving stones, bricks and debris from the floor of the Cathedral in plans for the concert to actually take place on the ruins, themselves.
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Can you imagine how incredible and how important this concert is to everyone?
  As we drove to the site, the surrounding areas showed more and more devastation. Bernard asks the driver to show me the Presidential Palace and by the time we arrive, I am close to falling apart. Seeing all of this on the news and seeing it in person are two completely different things for me. When we arrive at the Cathedral, the first thing I see are the giant bells that were originally in the tower. They are lying in a heap. And then Bernard shows me a room with a giant pile of crumpled metal and wood. It is unrecognizable and I have to ask what it was. The giant, beautiful pipe organ.
   Everyone else here has been here all week, but for Robert and I, it is our first time and I am having a hard time keeping it together. Janet approaches me and asks how I am holding up. I am all choked up, but I tell her that all is ok. Today is a day for celebration, not despair. As we all take our seats, the concert begins with a reading of the names of the people that died in the Quake. There is such sadness on every face. Added to that, today’s concert is dedicated to a young deaf man that had worked for the School of Music. He was killed in a boating accident the day before I arrived.
   However, as the Petite Chanteurs, (the children’s choir) start to chant and process in, the mood lifts perceptively. During the third song, a woman in her 80’s in front of us succumbs to the heat. But when they lay here down on the ground and start pouring water on her, she admonishes them to leave her alone…she just wants to lie there and listen to the music. J
   I alternate between pride, sorrow, wonder and joy as the choir is followed by the young orchestra, the band and then the older full orchestra, the OPST. These students have worked so hard for this. They are playing on terrible instruments, many damaged by the earthquake, and some are living in tent cities. But they are here making music on this day. The conductors, all of my volunteer friends, have worked so hard for this. They have taught in substandard circumstances, using cobbled together equipment after spending their nights sleeping on the floor.
Do you remember me telling you that these are extraordinary people? They, too, are here making music on this day.
  All of those clichés we hear about music making everything better and bringing people together and giving them hope……. Those have never been more profoundly true for me than they are today.
  The concert ends with a big finale, “We are the World“. I finally let the tears fall as the words hit me over and over, “ We are saving our own lives…together we will make a better day, just you and me”. Half way through, the audience jumped to their feet and joined in singing, waving their arms in the air. It was so joyous that I could barely breathe. When it finally ended to tumultuous cheers and applause, I felt completely drained. And completely blessed. I cannot believe that I was lucky enough to be here and see this. How could anyone not believe wholeheartedly in the power of music and the human spirit? And the resilience of these amazing Haitians.
Extraordinary………….
(to be continued)

We’re Gonna Dance Upon This Earth!
www.traildames.com

Extreme Luthierism- Haiti Day 2

Haiti- Day 2
“Language Barrier? What language barrier!?”
I wake up early this morning feeling pretty bad. I am not sick or anything, I am just feeling so out of place. Two big trips, back to back, I think, was a mistake. Ecuador took so much out of me…..all in a wonderful, great way, but it left me feeling emotionally and physically depleted. Of course, I blame Njål and all my new Tango friends for the physical part!! 🙂 Anyway, I should know better than to come to a place like this so drained. When I woke up this morning, I just lay on that hard floor, with unbelievably loud noise coming in the open windows and thought, “Seriously, Anna….what the hell have you done”. I just feel so low.
  BUT……I am not so down that I have forgotten two things…..one, this is a life-time opportunity.
And two, I can be of real service here.
Oh, and a third thing….I asked for this.
  So…..I will work on my attitude and I will come around. I suspect by early afternoon, I will be my old cheery self again. 🙂
  For now, we are walking to the market down the street to change our US dollars into Gourds. We leave our house and immediately walk by a tent city. It is a bit overwhelming. There are people selling all kinds of things on the streets, and the atmosphere is somewhat chaotic! Traffic consists of tap-taps, cars, motorcycles and the occasional UN truck with machine guns on the back, all vying for the 2 free feet of space on the road. Steve, one of the violin teachers here is wonderful….he gently pulls me back each time I step out into the road. It will be a miracle if I don’t get run over!!
    The market was small, but interesting and had just about anything you could want…from rum to frozen Friday’s Potato Skins. My favorite part, however, was standing in front of the cleaning products with Rob and the others, studying the Ajax, furniture polish and muriatic acid. We are trying to figure out what we can use to clean instruments and bows, and I have to laugh when Robert turns to me and says, ‘This really is extreme luthier-ism!”
   I, for one, can see why this wouldn’t be for some luthiers!! But for me, this is great! I do love the whole, ‘fly by the seat of your pants’ thing.

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However, I do suspect that by the end of the week, I will be putting face plates on bows, using plastic milk cartons. My bow teachers may just die….. 🙂 🙂
  Oh well, off to fix some bows!!
  So, it turns out that I was right……..It is now almost six and I feel somewhat better. I spent the day teaching two men, Tchoupy and Reginald, how to rehair bows. Without any interpreter after lunch, it got really difficult!! When I originally sent off the email to volunteer for this, I said that I do not speak the language, but that that wouldn’t be a problem. My dad said to me, “don’t you mean that you HOPE that won’t be a problem?“. To which I replied confidently, “No, that will not be a problem”. Well, he might have had a point!! You try explaining the angles of a bow tip mortise using nothing but sign language and my questionable drawing skills!!
    And to top it all off, every time I try to say ‘Oui’ I say ‘Si’. I have a lot of gifts and talents, but languages is not one of them. And actually, a lot of people here don’t really understand my French so well. Could be because I haven’t spoken it in 20 years! But they all speak Kreyol which is now officially the hardest language I have ever attempted. It sounds like a cross between French and Swahili, which should make it fairly do-able for me, but the accent is really giving me a hard time. I will keep working on it!!
After dinner…..which for the record, they set out at 3:30, even though we do not eat til 7:30……..in 98 degree heat……. Needless to say, I am not touching the meat here!! 🙂
  Anyway…after dinner, almost the whole group went for a drink several blocks away at a kind of upscale place. It is strange, you walk by tent cities and it appears that there is abject poverty everywhere. Then, out of no where, there will be a really nice place. Everyone tells me that Petionville, which is where we are working, was the nicest suburb in Port au Prince. As a result, there are these anomalies tucked away….a wonderful hotel with a swimming pool, a beautiful restaurant, a little market. All I know is that if my mother and father could see me walking through the dark streets of Haiti at 9:00 at night, dodging motorbikes and rubble, they would NOT be happy. But I am one of 14 people so I feel pretty ok about it. 🙂
    Once again, for the umpteenth time in the last few weeks, I find myself sitting at a table with a big group of people laughing and talking over each other in different languages. I am sitting next to Bernard, a violinist my age from Paris and we are exchanging stories about traveling. He is wonderful, wonderful and offers to go with me to the market to buy some souvenirs. Between him and Steve, my traffic guardian, I feel like I am starting to have some friends here.
   My first full day in Haiti is finished and I am interested to see what the rest of it holds. For now, as I brush the millionth mosquito away, I just really hope I get home without malaria!! 🙂 🙂
Bonswa,
Anna