Bonjou

So I'm starting to pick up a slight amount of Creole. I have to say Creole might be one of the most interesting languages. Apparently, it was derived as a means to outsmart the French so it is what they deem the poor man's french. I was told it was a mixture of spanish and french, but the more I understand, it truly is just a unique language. It's contextual in nature meaning nouns have one word for multiple things (for example he/she/it all are li and this/that can be the same word which is sa. Everything depends on the context in which it's in. So technically it should be one of the easiest languages to learn, but it invovles a lot of memorization. And unfortunately when you know a little they talk like you know it all :) The joy of Creole is that the accents are removed, so it's exactly phoentic so you can use a translator and be able to speak and probably pronounce things correct, quite unlike french and their multiple vowels!

So yesterday was a pretty typical day. Got up, the driver took me to the office. I found out that I would be working with the aidsrelief sector of our programming, so I went to their office at 52 delmas. Yes, it's literally four blocks from 81 delmas but I am not allowed to enter the street for fear of kidnapping. The driver took me to the office, where I taught them training on automation of documents, how to use sharepoint to better automate their systems to provide more time for them to do health programming within country. The health programming crew seems to be incredibly intelligent lots of good questions and their english was almost flawless. I found that one lady, Alexandra, that worked there left Haiti 20 years ago was educated in the states at NYU and Chicago for her masters and came back to help after the earthquake. I'm always so impressed with the stories of our staff especially our national staff as the amount of trials and tribulations they go through yet the determination they have to make a difference. It truly is beautiful and trust me I'm not trying to sound like a Hallmark card, I'm honestly just floored. There's a drastic difference between the people within the states and the people of Haiti. Yes, there is violence and kidnappings that outnumber the states, but if you look at the state of the economic and social situation they are in, I can see why they feel the need. They are literally stealing to feed their families. The unemployment rate in Haiti is roughly 60% and with the textile mills shutting down it's only on the rise. The US and other nations thinking they are doing well are dumping their unwanted goods (think Goodwill rejects) on Haiti which is causing Haitians to no longer have a need to buy clothes. This is destroying the textile industry and hence removing more jobs. Most people in Haiti are what you would call small market vendors meaning they somehow have a connection to random items (I saw a table devoted entirely to motor oil, one that sold used tires, some that sold the free clothes from goodwill, some that sell the items given to them for their care from NGOs) and sell them on the street or in an organized market.

Anyways, puts soap box away, so taught training came back to the office taught more training. Eventually ended up back at the residence for the evening where I got to spend most of the evening skyping it up until I fell asleep on my laptop. I know, super cool kid.