February 13, 2012: First day for our crew on the jobsite

We had a wonderful welcome to the community after breakfast today- Ospri. Kazimi and Claubert welcomed us on behalf of CIJ- we sat around a tree, because in traditional voodoo ceremony, you sit around a special kind of post or totem, so the tree represented that cymbol, to mark the fact that we’re in a country where most people at least have some sort of belief in voodooism.

We did a tour of the jobsite, starting with the compressed earth block machines, and then went on to look at the first earthblock school, followed by a tour of the unfinished clay/straw toilet building that Ian & I started last year.

Ospri, Claubert and Kazimi took us on a hike down to the farm by the river, and that was a hit- it truly is beautiful, and it’s really nice to be able to share the beauty of Haiti with groups of people, rather than only get a taste of Port au Prince.

We made our work plan, and decided to finish the clay/straw washrooms that Ian & I had started last year. It’s great- the team divided up naturally, and the earth block crew (for dividing walls) took down the not so good block walls, while the clay/straw crew went off in search of materials.

After dinner, Ospri asked if we would like to go for a walk- he took us down the road a bit to a neighbour’s house- an elder, and a healer, was hosting a voodoo ceremony. Often here in Deslandes, I fall asleep to the sounds of the voodoo drumming…it’s a beautiful, magical sound.

It was quite an honour to be invited to the ceremony- before we entered, Ospri asked permission…we could hear the excitement of the drums, and the singing. When we got inside, it was the most incredibly moving, vibrant experience of my life- we were under a thatch roof, lit by candles, with a group of women leading songs, drummers beating out a lively rhythm, and everyone dancing. The elder was quite taken with me, at some point, and asked me to dance with him a couple of times. This, too, was an honour- I can’t even describe the evening in words, but suffice it to say, it was truly spectacular.