Anna's thoughts on Project 1532.

Hi! Mother asked me to write a blog about why I want to move to Délice, with the bonus of it counting for a paper. :)

Sooo.... we finally received our funding project number! This is one of the many things we have been waiting for. I have personally come up with an expression for what we are going through, we are in the iffy-washy stage, where everything is an if, or a maybe, and you just want answers. Very annoying. However, that is not what this blog is about! It is about Délice, and why I want to move.

My mother informed me of the change with: “Would you like to have input into our new house plans?” Suffice to say I was shocked. As some of you may know from my mother’s blogs, my parents were apparently thinking I wouldn’t want to move. They thought maybe we would stay in Fauche until I left for college. On the contrary, I was enthusiastic about the idea. Some of you might be wondering why, don’t I like it in Fauche?, etc.

I do like Fauche. I love volleyball. I won’t have a volleyball team to practice with on the top of the mountain. Nevertheless, I am so ready to move; it is hard to explain. I believe the Lord was preparing our family to move over the past year. We have had very few teams, and as a people person, I got cabin fever. I might have even said the forbidden word... BORED.

Never again! That was about when everything went iffy-washy. Hurricane Mathew came, and that created a very hectic school schedule, since parents said we might head South and any time. It took a couple of weeks, but when we finally did start going, it was difficult to squeeze school in between the trips.

Then we had the team meetings, and parents went to (as my mother put it when she asked me if I wanted to go), “go see land, spending hours in the vehicle over bad roads, instead of hanging out with the other missionary kids.” I picked the latter, obviously. Then Bang!  "Oh, actually, it wasn’t that bad, in fact, we want to move there". Surprise!

But as they explained it, I knew I wanted to move. I like Fauche, but we have been there for nine years. 

Father has pretty much planted all the immediate land, and needs new, fresh fields. Délice has great soil, despite the plethora of rocks, and it is free of trees. 30 acres of fresh planting grounds, a horticulturist’s dream. Why I like this, is that I can help him. Although I don’t want to be a horticulturist, I like to know things, and visitors often ask me what the name of a random tree is, it is annoying when I have no clue what the fruit is. It is really difficult to keep track of all the ones Dad has here, since it is practically a jungle. But if I help him plant them; I can learn their names as they are planted, and learn more about his work. 


On the other side, Mom hasn’t been able to do much of her heart’s work in Fauche, which is being a doctor. She had a lot of medical work for the first nine years, while we were on LaGonave. However, Fauche’s hospital has staff, and although she does health talks, it is not directly using her capabilities as a doctor. Previously, she was helping Eli and I with school. Eli is gone, and I can do most of the work on my own. When we go to Délice, Mom will probably be the emergency doctor, since by foot, the nearest hospital can be up to a 8-10 hour walk, depending on how far up the mountain the person lives, and if they can find a motorcycle ride. I personally look forward to being her assistant, and learning more about emergency medicine. Once again, I probably won’t be a doctor, I just like to know useful trades.

Moving to Délice will allow me to learn more about both my parent’s trades, and get hands on experience to a level I don’t really have now. I know that they can have a huge impact on the local community. Plus, I like change, and I have a few selfish reasons.

First of all, it is gorgeous. The roads might be atrocious, but the view at the end more than compensates. Secondly, it is cold! They reach the low 50˚s! Because of this, Dad can plant North American fruits and berries, like strawberries, and apples, and all that other stuff missionaries miss. Also, I hear they don’t have mosquitoes, or cockroaches! They do have tarantulas, but I can live with those, they cannot fly. Other selfish reasons include: I will have a fort (practically)in my back yard! I can do homework, in a fort. We finally get to have a four-wheeler! Mwahahaha. (although my parents probably won’t let me use it for joy-riding... since it will be used for work. 😔)

Besides, I can always find a wall to hit the volleyball against. And I will become a much better runner if I have to run down the mountain after my ball. Personally I am hoping to be able to move around September (as all the adults roll their eyes.) It would be at the beginning of my new school year, so it would not be too disruptive.  And that would give me one last volleyball season. 

Most of the people who know about Haiti think my hopes are unrealistic. I believe all things are possible. We were told that at a mobil clinic last year, there were 600 children seen with Kwashiorkor - severe protein malnutrition.  Considering the sparse population, this is an appalling number. Through nutritional education, and diversifying crops, my parents believe they can help shrink this number considerably. (assuming the local populace are receptive) 

In this endeavor we will be neighbors with another missionary couple, who moved to Délice last year. Their organization is called "Together We Can - Haiti," and they are currently building a children's house. This is another positive, for me; there will be other English speaking foreigners with kids. Although their kids are considerably younger than me, they are about F's age, and will be excellent companions for him... so they will help me entertain him, since I have no experience with little brothers.

Their are many other things that happened to prepare us to move, which I shall not bore you with. Plus I am supposed to be reading my history right now.😯 Thank you for reading my explanation of why I want to move to Délice.

Our new project number is WM06-1532. 

Note: we were told that it might not appear on the Global Partners website for a few days, so if you don’t find it, they probably haven’t gotten it on-line yet.