Announcements February 19, 2008

Updates of Cotting Staff from our sister school, Wings of Hope in Haiti


Saturday, February 16, 2008:

I'm not sure if it was the early morning hour (3 AM), the lack of sleep the night before (about 2 hours), or the intense travel day, but by 9:00 PM, I was totally wiped out...

Mike Teuber, Dede White and I met Dr. Joel Shulkin (from Children's Hospital) at Logan early, early Saturday morning to begin the 3rd Cotting adventure in Haiti. We are group #1 – 4 more Cotting folks will arrive on Wednesday... The day of travel was long (with an hour of just sitting on the runway at JFK in New York), but we all arrived at our destination safely – with all luggage (including the trunks full of donated supplies) fully intact. After an easy trip through customs, we headed out of the airport in search of KC (a familiar face to most of us) but were instead met by faces familiar only to me (it's my 3rd trip here)... Jean Rodain and Gephte (my mentoring partners) were quickly introduced to the others, and with the help of “Big”, our “luggage transporter”, we navigated our way to Ronnie's new van (those of us who have traveled in Ronnie's old appreciate the improvement). This was our mode of transportation up the mountain to Fermathe. Ronnie is an excellent driver, and expertly whisked us through the crowded street of Port Au Prince – past roadside stands and crowded marketplaces, and people everywhere, and finally deposited us at the doors of Wings of Hope. For me, walking through those doors felt like coming home. I was among friends and family, and there were plenty of hugs to be delivered. Dede, Mike, and Joel were quick with hugs, too – and in a matter of minutes they all had kids attached to them and they were no longer the “newbies”. They were now part of the extended, and ever growing, family – and we are glad to have them on board.

Cathy Mayo


Sunday, February 17, 2008:

I guess I'm used to roosters crowing all night, because I slept great... Some folks (Joel) had a bit more trouble acclimating to the “less familiar” night noises, but I think we all awoke with more energy than when we arrived... After a bountiful breakfast, and then helping the children with their morning meal, we headed back down the mountain to Port Au Prince to attend the Sunday worship service at St. Joseph's Home For Boys. With KC to guide us, we traveled by Tap-Tap – a Haitian bus, which is basically an old truck with benches in the back. It was an interesting ride to say the least – complete with an argument between the driver and a passenger... all part of the experience. We then walked through the street markets to get to St. Joseph's – another authentically Haitian experience. As usual, the service led by several of the home's older boys was wonderful and included tons of music and singing. After the service, we all helped to get ready for a birthday party to be held there that afternoon. A bunch of the kids from Wings had been invited to the party and would be coming down in the van with several of the staff. We had to prepare 60 plates of food, and had quite the assembly line going – rice, chicken, 2 kinds of sauces, and mac & cheese – all quite delicious. Of course, the party also included birthday cake, lots of singing, and games. Apparently Musical Chairs and Duck, Duck, Gooses are universally popular birthday party games! After the party, we crammed 18 people into the van and headed back up to Wings. We ended the day just playing with kids, feeding them dinner, and just hanging out...
Comments/questions of the day:
Dede - “the rooster chante (sings)”
Mike - “what does the water do?”

Cathy Mayo


Monday, February 18, 2008

No Presidents’ Day holiday in Haiti! While everyone back home was enjoying the last vestiges of their three-day weekend, we were starting the first of many busy school days at Wings of Hope. The day started after breakfast with a morning prayer led by Gefte and Raoul, with assistance from Sadraque. Then the task was to rearrange the tables and every large room in the building, from the kitchen to the gallery, transformed into a classroom. The kitchen became a preschool for children with very low functioning, while downstairs a small group of children like Teddy and Lazar worked with Gefte on everything from bible study to the calendar. Kathy and Deedee observed and assisted with that class, where they included a discussion of Cotting and where it is. Much of the teaching consisted of repetition and word recognition, but the students really enjoyed the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge as they moved on to associations such as “Ronaldinho” with “soccer”.

The morning progressed as the students changed classes and continued to work on various lessons both mental and physical. Josephine worked with the physical therapist on rolling and using her stander, while Delmace learned how to hammer different shaped pegs into a pegboard. A few of the students built structures out of Legos while others drew and practiced writing. Classes ran from 9 am to 1pm including lunch.

Lunch consisted of something they called “cornmeal” but while it was very much a meal there didn’t seem to be much corn; instead it was more of a stew with onions, beans, some sort of meat, and wonderful spices. It was all quite heavy, as evidenced by Delmace who proceeded to take a long nap in Cathy’s arms. After lunch, students had more options. Some continued to work with the physical therapist while others did small group activities; still more kicked the soccer ball back and forth or did their own thing such as cutting threads off sacks in imitation of local vendors.

When Joel and Lazar went out on the porch to see the sunset, they also discovered the nemesis rooster prowling next door. Joel pointed it out to Lazar and said, “garde la coq,” to which Lazar replied, “mange”: “Eat!” Having been kept up half the night once more, Joel agreed wholeheartedly.

Around 4pm Mike and Joel went on a mini-excursion with one of the workers, Jean-Jean. Jean-Jean speaks Creole, English, and French and uses a crutch on one side. Mike befriended him earlier in the day and explained that he needed to buy a French-Spanish book for the parent of one of his students back at Cotting, and Jean-Jean said he had a copy at home he could sell. So a ten-minute walk later up a hill past the church, we got to meet Jean-Jean’s family (“four of the children are mine”), got Mike’s book, and made it back to Wings of Hope to find all the children wearing the baseball caps donated by Cotting staff. Most of the children kept them on throughout the night, but some like Sam only wanted to play a game of having one of the staff put the hat on his head or hand so he could then throw it back on the floor.

During dinner, two of the students weren’t happy with the oatmeal: Maritzha refused to eat more than a few bites, while Teddy refused – not because he didn’t like it, but because his portion was too small. Once he had a bigger serving, Teddy ate like a champ. Meanwhile, when we had our dinner with KC, the power went out, leaving us in the dark for several minutes trying to locate our food. Fortunately the power came on before we had to resort to eating by the light of our digital cameras. Even then, our leisurely meal was not to be, for before we had finished emptying our glasses, in came Erique, Sadraque, and Nikolo, who proceeded to grab our plates and glasses, flashing looks at KC as if to say, “Meal’s over; you don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here.”

After returning from a short Coca-Cola run from a vendor up the street, we prepared to settle in for the night but then Dr Shulkin had to make a house call as Job, a young man who has been very sick with progressive hydrocephalus requiring a shunt but so far has not been able to get the surgery, fell out of bed and hit his head. Typically a very happy guy, and although he answered questions he was more mellow than usual. A limited physical examination suggested that there wasn’t anything immediately life-threatening, but he definitely needed close supervision and a visit to his doctor tomorrow.

And so ended the first day of school at Wings of Hope for the Cotting group. As full a day as it was, we can only expect the next few to be even better.

Joel Shulkin



Mardi 19 Fevrier 2008 - Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Today was a very full day, encompassing all the parts of our visit to Haiti. We began with a bountiful breakfast as usual and then fed the children. We held a morning prayer and transitioned to classroom activity as we did Monday. Yesterday I went from room to room observing, but today I stayed downstairs with Wings teachers Jean-Rodain and Gephte and worked with two groups of students for two hours each.

Jean-Rodain and Gephte have established the routine and the children respond to it. There is a mixture of drill and practice as well as some open-ended questions and group math problems. It feels just like Cotting; students in standers, teachers grabbing the tools and papers they need for each activity. One big difference? Wings has Zell the black lab, who is happy to give all of us extra work by digging in the trash. An in-house job.

You cannot teach the enthusiasm and interpersonal instincts that Jean-Rodain and Gephte possess; I was thrilled to see them interact differently with different students, being gentle with some and animated with others. Education, and special education in particular, are about building and sustaining relationships, and using that trust to attempt increasingly challenging tasks. The children are happy in the care of these two teachers. They zipped through a bible lesson, calendar, weather, feelings (with Gephte acting out move (mad), tris (sad), kantan (happy) and fatigue (tired). Seeing children accessing vocabulary through multiple modalities is fantastic in any country.

A personal favorite activity of mine was the word associations they ran the students through. One word (radio) was put on the dry erase board and the students generated an appropriate matching word (mizik). I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw deodorant as the initial word – this subject was right in the educational wheelhouse of teenage boys as they quickly identified the target word, aprabas (underarm).

Cotting Connections: After a snack, Cathy, Dede and I shared the Valentine’s Day cards with the students. Cathy also had shot some video of Valentine greetings. After that Jean-Rodain asked me to share the book that my Cotting students wrote for Wings. We read it in Creole and English and through my students back in Lexington, we were able to demonstrate that the students at both schools are doing similar things and had a special connection.

Before lunch, we had some down time to spend with the kids and Joel and I walked with Josephine, usually in a wheelchair, up three flights of ramps to say Bonjou to the staff cleaning up the top floor. To say Josephine was excited would be a colossal understatement. She shrieked with delight with each step, directing us in English and Creole on where to go. These little moments add up to a very rich experience for all of us.

After lunch, we got on a Tap-Tap to head into Port Au Prince. Like seeing the bucket drummers in Harvard Square or subway musicians in Europe, we had a very unique transportation experience on the way into the city. A man got on and immediately began pulling items out of an over sized bag of medical supplies and began explaining the beneficial effects of each of these. It was like a moving commercial without the shipping and handling fees. He engaged the riders and had a successful ride into town. Everyone has something to sell in Haiti.

We arrived at the calm of St. Joseph’s after the mad rush of walking through the interminable sidewalk marketplace that is Port Au Prince. We loaded up on supplies at the Caribbean Market and headed over to St. Joseph’s, where we enjoyed another wonderful meal with the 20 or so guests who were there tonight.

The evening was complete with the dance performance at St. Joseph’s. Tonight’s show consisted of songs from Godspell, as well as songs we had remembered Walnus and Bill doing at Cotting when we first met them. The show was simply uplifting. We were shown tonight, as we have all week, of the transformative power of gaining another’s perspective.

All of the observations I have been making over the past four days are beginning to materialize into themes. Simply put, we are them and they are us. We all need food, shelter, and water. We want to do our best. We do what we can to improve any given situation in the moment, and try to think ahead and visualize what could be in the big picture. Cathy, Joel, Dede and I have all met people who represent both careful attention to the task at hand (daily lesson plans, meal plans) and those who are planning big things for the future. An example? Coffee. The staff and students at Trinity House in Jacmel have begun a business venture involving local coffee being packaged on site at Trinity and shipped to Canada and the United States. We were able to purchase some bags tonight when we visited St. Josephs’s Home for Boys.

Lastly, it has become a habit of my fellow travelers to quote me completely out of context. Whatever they have and will likely continue to tell you, please be assured that the quotes given here made perfect sense at the time. To show you that I am a good sport, I will quote myself out of context with today’s nugget: “I’m sure everyone in Iowa would love to come to help out in Haiti.”

Peace. Mike Teuber



Wednesday Feb 20, 2008
Day five: the first (and last) day that all eight Cotting staff members are here at Wings. (Mike will be picked up at 6AM to head down the mountain.) The morning started off as usual: 7AM breakfast, followed by porridge for the children at 8AM, and then off to the classrooms. We were alerted to the presence of our colleagues by the screams of children elated to see new friends coming into the building. As often as we see each other in the halls of Cotting we were just as excited as the children to see our old friends. We recognized the sleepy eyes and overwhelmed expressions of the newbies as similar to those we saw in our own mirror days before, but once they had the comfort of a nice hot meal prepared with love they quickly embraced their new home for the week.

Our adventure for the day consisted of a trip down the road to the local fast food joint with each staff member taking one child. This restaurant is located at the mission two doors down and includes a gift shop where a good amount of American dollars were spent! (The artwork is amazing in Haiti!) The restaurant served American food as if to give tourists a little taste of home. The kids chose from hot dogs or chicken nuggets and fries and most of the adults enjoyed a nice Haitian/American pizza. The children loved the food and especially the ketchup. Many of the children have experienced ketchup for the first time in their lives on this or past trips to the mission restaurant. It is a priceless look of both surprise and elation as they take their first taste of the sweet but tart Haiti ketchup! Some have loved it so much that they drank it out of a cup! Usually the children get a extra special treat of ice cream (creme) right before the field trip returns to Wings, but this time a donation allowed KC and Renee to buy an entire gallon of ice cream to bring back for all the children to enjoy. Soon enough faces were covered with the remnants of the sweet creme and huge smiles.

Between the children’s dinner and our own, a storm approached our location on the mountain as the amazing view from our room slowly faded into the heavy clouds. It was amazing to hear the approach of the la pile (rain) as it took its time before finally dropping dlo (water) onto the (open to the elements) structure that is Wings. We quickly learned that appropriate footwear is absolutely necessary on wet days such as this because the stones that make up the ramps as well as the stairs get extremely slippery. Despite our own slipping as we cautiously went up and down the ramps, the children were still somehow able to run around full speed without a second thought!

As the end of the 5th day approached no one could have guessed just how special the night sky would appear once the storm clouds moved out. As the entire group sat out in the courtyard processing the day (and the adventures of the 2nd group’s trip to the airport!!!) we look up to find a lunar eclipse right before our eyes! Mother nature saved this moment for the one night that all 8 Cotting staff were safely here in Haiti and how amazing a moment it was! While it was the first eclipse experience for a few people, it was a great reminder for some of the joy we felt in 2004 when the Red Sox won their first World Series in 86 years as that amazing night of celebration was also enhanced with a magical eclipse! I can honestly say, I will never forget either night, as both are now forever united and near and dear to my heart. I can’t believe there is only one full day remaining for those of us in the first group.

And, finally… the (Mike) quote of the day: “I almost tripped over that sneaky cow!”

Dede



Thursday, Feb 21, 2008

This morning we said goodbye to Mike (well, really most of us said goodbye last night as sleep is paramount), and soon began a very busy day. Lots of learning, therapies and even a late after-school meeting. Goal setting, writing objectives, etc..... hmmmm sounds a lot like service team! Then the fun and games began. We got the kids all fired up right before dinner and then again just before bed. We played ball, cards, singing games and just made a lot of loud and constant racket. I'm sure the staff appreciated having to put 30 hyperactive kids to bed! We had a wonderful dinner and had no trouble getting this prestigious group to bed! Bon Nuit, Ginny





Preparing a meal at St. Joseph's Home for Boys



Dr. Joel Shulkin from Boston Children's Hospital at Wings of Hope.



Cathy Mayo returns for her third visit to Wings of Hope.



Cotting Lower School teacher Mike Teuber at Wings of Hope



Students at Wings of Hope in Haiti, February 2008



These birds never seem to sleep and neither do we ....



Dede White of Cotting School at Wings



Cathy Mayo and Mike Teuber with students at Wings of Hope
















Friday, February 22, 2008

Fridays are typically more laid back than other school days (No class!). After breakfast, the kids gather for “music class”, which is more like a crazy, explosive jam session. (Also, hands down my favorite event of the week). The teachers wail on drums and shake maracas and the kids dance LIKE MAD – moving whatever body part they can. Today was also the day half our group headed back to Boston. We said goodbye to Cathy, Dede, and Joel – all of them wishing they could stay longer (or at least take a kiddo or two home with them.)

We also met with the Wings staff to go over therapy goals and teaching strategies. (Think team meeting, but with a beautiful mountain view) I think there’s been some nice connections made with the staff here. We are ALL learning something new. And, speaking of new, a beautiful new boy named Lulu arrived today to come live with the Wings family. It was incredible to watch him shyly explore the place…it took less than an hour for the older kids to take him under their “wings” and make him “one of the guys”.

The rest of the afternoon was spent playing cards until the dinner bell rang. We helped with dinner, then all collapsed with exhaustion, once again. Well, I promised my uncle that I would not look so tired in the photos this time. I don’t think I managed that, but rest assured, it’s a good tired. The joyful times far outweigh the tiring ones.

Mike has left, so I’m at a loss for a random quote of the day. I’ll just say bon nuit.

Stephanie



Saturday, February 23, 2008

Bonswa from Haiti! What an amazing day! Today started off as usual with a delicious breakfast of fresh fruit, baked goods, and Hatian coffee. After breakfast, we had a wonderful time hanging out with the kiddos. It was a beautiful, sunny day (unlike Boston, we hear), so we spent the morning playing cards and eating piwis (lollipops) on the terrace with the kids. Lots of laughs and good times had by all!

After a nice relaxing morning, we enjoyed a walk to Fort Jacques with KC and two of the students from Wings. Fort Jacques was built in the early 1800's to watch for the French to return by sea. The view from Fort Jacques was unbelievable...beautiful mountains and ocean as far as the eye could see! While we were there, we also took an “official” tour inside the Fort. The tour came complete with many great history facts about Fort Jacques and even Hatian jokes. Since the walk back to Wings would have taken about 40 minutes, we decided that it would be best to take the Tap Tap. What an experience! We climbed into the back of the pick-up truck and off we went.

Upon returning to Wings, we took a few minutes to hydrate. After downing many cups of water, we hopped into the van with Ronnie and were on our way to Kwadebouke. Kwadebouke is a small village approximately an hour from Wings that sells gorgeous artwork sculpted by hand from iron drums. We all managed to do some rather savvy bargaining and walked away with quite the collection of Hatian artwork. Now, how we will get all of it home is to be determined:)

We returned to Wings exhausted and somewhat sunburn from a great day of site seeing and were greeted with an amazing meal. Our time in Haiti has been a truly amazing experience so far and we are eternally grateful to all of the staff for treating us so well. It will be very difficult to say goodbye to everyone when our trip comes to an end! However, for now we will enjoy every minute we have left with our friends at Wings! Bon nwit (Good night) from Haiti!

Shannon Kerr



Sunday, February 24, 2008

Today was our last full day at Wings of Hope. The day started with us going down the mountain to a worship service at St. Joseph's family. After the service we went to lunch at the Kinham. We came back to Wings to help feed the kids. Today was a day full of sounds and smells of Haiti. We have learned a great deal about life beyond Cotting. We will be bringing
back a little bit of each child at Wings with us.
Tomorrow we head for home, where the water is running and the buckets are full. Next stop, Lexington.

Jim








Wheelchairs in Haiti tend to get dirty quickly. Every little grain of rice that falls into a crevice or corner of the chair are a breeding ground for unmentionable little creatures. Not a nice thought, but a fact of life for us at Wings. On a whim and a thought from a conversation last night with Stephanie, a great "wheelchair cleaning" began early this morning, even before the kids were fed.

A few things struck me in observing Cotting staff take apart, disinfect, scrub, and dry these chairs.

Number 1: This is a dirty job, more dirty than I'll mention here. Cotting School, your competent staff, that are teachers, PTs, and CTs, did not hesitate to get down on their knees and get dirty as well. Their willingness to help in any manner displays a humbleness that says to me, "This is not just a job. I invest myself into you."

Number 2: They get it. You Stephanie, Ginny, Jim, Shannon, and Joel, Cathy, Dede, and Mike, get what Wings of Hope is all about because all week (especially today), you worked right beside the Haitian staff scrubbing and wiping - to empower them to teach and work to the best of their ability.

And Number 3: This wasn't just the last day, but the very day they were supposed to fly out of Haiti. I had mentioned that it's a hard job to do on the "last day," a day full of emotions already. But that didn't phase them.

The energy of the Cotting staff is amazing. The heart with which they work is enduring. And what it comes down to now is that our kids have clean chairs, a tangible change.

Thank you Cotting for continually sending your staff.

Thank you for building relationships with us.

Thank you for teaching us.

Thank you for being with us.

Students, thank you for the cards and videos.

And all of our kids here at Wings thank you for their clean chairs.

-KC on behalf of the Wings kids and staff