Uncle wait for aunt!

Look closely. See the small sack attached to that tree? Keep reading to find out what Vodou practice is going on in this photo.

Meet the other YASCers: The Diocese of Western North Carolina Contingent

You can check out all of the YASC missionaries' blogs by exploring the links on the right side of my blog. In addition to featuring my fellow Episcopal young adult missionaries there, I want to call your attention to them in a series of blog posts.

I'll begin by introducing you to the two other current YASC volunteers from my home diocese, the Diocese of Western North Carolina. Will Bryant, from All Souls' Cathedral, and Jared Grant, from my home parish Trinity Episcopal, are serving in Hong Kong and Italy, respectively.

Will Bryant is serving with Mission to Seafarers, one of the oldest Anglican Ministries in the world. It was established in 1856 and provides various forms of practical, emotional, and spiritual support to 1.3 million sailors in over 260 ports around the world. You can check out Will's blog here: http://willbryantyasc.blogspot.com/ I'll let Will Bryant tell you more about his experience in this new video about him from the Episcopal News Service:

Jared Grant is in his second year serving with YASC. His first year brought him to Lesotho working with the Anglican Diocese and St. James Mission Hospital. He is currently serving at St. Paul's Within the Walls and the Joel Nafuma Refugee Center in Rome, Italy. The refugee center provides support to political refugees that arrive in Rome from all over the world, especially Northern Africa and the Middle East. You can check out Jared's blog here: http://jaredgrantyasc.blogspot.com/

The Episcopal Church engages in this world in amazing ways. The Young Adult Service Corps is just one example of the far reaching, intimate, and powerful engagements of Episcopalians within the United States and around the world. It's such a privilege to be serving in this program with these guys. Keep checking in for more updates about other YASC missionaries and continued posts about my experiences in Haiti.

"Ayiti Se:" Bon Ane 2014

Happy New Year 2014!

"Neg Mawon" pre-January 12, 2010. The National Palace in the background collapsed on that day during an earthquake.

January 1st is Haiti Independence Day--an independence begun in 1804 with the establishment of the Republic of Haiti after a successful slave revolt. Haiti was the second independent nation in the New World (after the United States) and the first and only nation to gain independence from a successful slave revolt. Before 1804, Soup Joumou, a rich soup made with pumpkin, meat broth and vegetables, was reserved for the wealthy free and unavailable to the large population of slaves in Haiti. Since 1804, people all across Haiti prepare and eat this soup in celebration of the independence and in honor of the struggle to achieve it.

For the week of January 1st, I was invited to Father Lafontant's house in Port-au-Prince to enjoy time with his family and partake in a wonderful meal of Soup Joumou. I am grateful for the time I spent with them, the generosity of their hospitality, and the opportunity to experience more of Haiti through language, cuisine, history, family, music, worship, and many games of kazino.

Given that each new year in Haiti marks the celebration of Haitian independence, I thought it would be appropriate to write about Haiti as I've experienced it so far, including the festivities over the holidays. I'd like to do that by sharing the song "Ayiti Se" by Mikaben.

Christmas in Cange

My first Christmas away from home was filled with relaxing celebrations with new friends here in Cange, plenty of Skyping back home with my parents, and reading nice emails and message from friends and family. I had a wonderful multicultural Christmas, reaching out beyond just Haiti and the United States.

And, at the beginning of the celebrations, we had a beautiful double rainbow over Cange. Considering it's the dry season in Haiti, this was an extra special treat for the holidays.

Ecole Lo Limonde

Thabenie invited me to visit a primary school she supports in a rural locale called Lo Limonde. This is a walk-through of my visit. I deliberately restricted use of my camera to have a more personal interaction, so I'll use more words to illustrate the experience.

I started the trip on my first ever moto ride (I only decided to do this because most of the trip was on a gravel road and not the busy paved road). We drove for about 45 minutes to Tierra Muscady, where our path ended and we had to switch to foot travel. 

The path traversed pretty typical rural Haiti countryside with very few trees, some farm land, and a lot of open grassy areas with sparse livestock. Dusty now, in the beginning of the dry season, baking in the sun and with little water.We walked for about 45 minutes, crossing one knee deep river, before arriving at the school. As is typical in rural Haitian areas, there is no centralized village. In Lo Limonde, the school is the only building excluding fairly spread out houses.

Manifestations, Bishops, Salt and Pepper

Last week, all American Episcopal missionaries in Haiti were called to Port-au-Prince for several days with a group of bishops, spouses, and staff from the Church Center in New York (including our boss David Copley!). The group was on a mission of presence--to experience just a part of the Episcopal Church in Haiti and to invigorate the ministry of the church in the country.

 I had to travel a day earlier than planned because of pre-announced manifestations in Port-au-Prince coinciding with the November 18th Haitian holiday marking the Battle of Vertieres, the final part of the Haitian Revolution in 1803. I traveled with a group from Cange on their way to a soccer game in the national stadium, and on our way we passed these amphibious UN vehicles on their way to the city for security. We were confined to the hotel all of Monday as the demonstrations blocked the main roads in Port-au-Prince. The crowd came just past the hotel, moving up the street through Petionville.