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It always blows me away to hear the stories of the kids and their experiences. I was talking with Island (Ees-lond). She is now 15 years old but I've known her for many years. She lives in a little hut with Sherline's family. There are 3 beds and 10 people to share them. The floor is dirt and they have to borrow chairs for us to sit in whenever we go to see them. We've known the whole family there for many years now. I wanted to do a little interview with her and try to communicate in her own words, her take on things. Of course our conversation was all Creole, but I translated as closely as possible to capture her heart and feelings. There is much that can be learned from this conversation. It is interesting to me that she has not sought to know more about her mother. I have found this with many children whose mothers or fathers have died when they were young. After they are older, there still seems to be little interest in knowing any details of their parents. How they died for example. What they looked like. People here very much tend to live in the present. Right now. Today. "Why" does not seem to be a word that is oft reflected on in this culture. Island is relatively intelligent streetwise, though her formal education is greatly lacking. At 15 she is in the rough equivalent of 5th grade. Island is typical of thousands and thousands of kids here. For those of you that are coming down over the next few weeks, you must learn the first two phrases in this little interview. Here is a little glimpse into her life......... Koman ou ye? M pa pli mal. How is your family? They are fine. How many brothers and sisters do you have? Two sisters. Only one brother. Do you live in the same house with them? No. Where do your parents live? My mother is dead. My father lives in Mariani (near PAP). When did your mother die? I don't know when. How old were you when she died? Three years old. How did she die? I don't know. Do you have any memories of her? I knew nothing of her. Why don't you live with your father? Because he doesn't have a house here in Ti Goave. Why don't you live with him in Mariani? He doesn't want me to. Why not? I don't know why not. Who do you live with? My aunt and some cousins. Are you happy there? Yes. How is school going? I didn't go to school this year. Why not? My father didn't send me this year. Why didn't he send you? I don't know. How often do you see your father? About once a month. Are you happy to have all this time out of school? No. I'm not happy when I see other kids going to school and I see that I am not going. It makes me sad. I would like for me to be going to school too. The other kids pass by my house and ask me why I'm not going to school. What do you do when you are sad? I lay down. I feel I want to cry, but I don't cry. I lay there and think. Do you ever pray? Sometimes. I pray for the Lord to give my father strength so he can work. It's because he has been sick that he hasn't worked and didn't send me to school this year. So it's because of money that you didn't go to school this year? Yes. So what do you do at the house all day? I sweep the yard. I clean inside the house. After that I go to get water. How do you get water? I take a bucket (5 gal) and walk to Lacul to get water from a well. After that I put the bucket on my head and walk back home. How far? Maybe two kilometers. Do you like carrying water? I don't like to carry it but I must. I have to carry it because we don't have running water at our house. Sometimes it makes my head hurt. It's hard to put the bucket down on the ground by myself. Sometimes when you are carrying the bucket on your head, you would like to stop and rest, but you can't because there is no one to help you put the bucket back up on your head so you have to keep going. All the other kids in your house are in school. Do you like being home alone? No. There is no one to play with or to talk to. Do you cook? Yes. Rice. Sometimes with beans. Sometimes spaghetti (Haitian). Do you get to eat every day? Most days. Once a day. Sometimes twice a day. How do you feel on the days you don't get to eat? I feel bad, but me and the other kids talk and laugh and make jokes. If someone was to come to see us, they would not know that we have no food because we make jokes. Even after we joke though, when it's time to go to bed I feel I can't sleep. My stomach hurts. Do you want people to know when you don't have food? I don't want to tell them that. I feel ashamed. The same way we joke when my stomach is full, that's the way I want to joke when I am hungry. If I came to visit you, and you were hungry, would you tell me? No. I would be ashamed. How will I know that you're hungry if you don't tell me? You'll go back to your house and never know. I want to know. Maybe I would be able to help. I know you would, but I would be embarrassed. If I tell you you don't need to be embarrassed. You can tell me. If I ever come to your house again and you are hungry, I want you to tell me Okay? Yes (with a big bashful smile). Have you seen other kids in the area where you live, go without food? Yes. Sometimes they tell us they are hungry. We tell them we can't do anything for them. Or, if we have food at our house we may give them some. How do you feel when you see other kids that are hungry? If they come to me and they are hungry and my stomach is full, my heart feels bad for them and I give them the rest of my food to eat. One day you, Franswaz, and Faline tried to make some strange soup with water and 16 little green plantains :0) Was it good? We were hungry and another aunt of mine had a bunch of green plantains. Me and Faline decided to boil them in water. We put in some salt. We didn't have anything else to put in. It wasn't good but we ate it. When we finished, we weren't hungry anymore. Do you like it when we have visitors from America? Yes. What makes you like the foreigners? They are friendly. They love kids. They like to play. They play with all the kids. They don't just choose the prettiest kids. They play with all of them, even if they are dirty. Even if their clothes are torn, they still play with them. Does that make you feel good? It makes me happy. I feel pretty. I don't feel like a worthless little kid that nobody loves. I feel like I have a family. Do you think Jesus would play with everybody? Yes. Do you think you'll be going back to school next year? I hope so. Do you like staying here at the Happy House? Yes. When I am here I sleep well every night. I get to eat every day. We go to church. We play. We sing. I meet lots of new kids. When do you want to go back home? I want to stay here as long as I can. |