Hairdos and Plaster

This shot has nothing to do with this entry, but it's so gosh darned cute. A goat on the porch of the school in Deslandes.

Another hot day in Port au Prince, but a lovely evening breeze is picking up, cooling me off on the front porch of the Ti Kay Pay. 

I went to the market with Benitta the other day when I was still in Deslandes- I observed her haggling with some of the vendors over various items. One such item was a piece of meat- goat meat, I imagine- she picked up a chunk of the meat from a bowl (sitting out in the open, not on ice, of course, and covered with flies), and asked how much it was- the vendor named her price, and Benitta scoffed and said no way (I'm imagining that's what she said in creole!), put the meat back in the bowl, wiped her meaty hand off on the branch of a tree, and walked away. We did the other groceries, and then went back to the same meat vendor- and this time Benitta picked up the same piece of meat, handed it to another vendor who examined it carefully, and without a word, gave it back to Benitta. She paid for it, and I asked afterwards if they were charging more because she was with a blanc, and she said yes, of course. So, I let her go to market alone after that incident! The meat handling, and passing it to the other vendor to handle, was strange. 

On my last night in Deslandes, some of my favourite girls (dating back to my visits last year) joined me on the porch, to sing songs I had taught them the first time, plus some new songs (it's so fun to come back after a year and hear kids singing songs you learned together!). 

My girls, hanging out on the porch with me

They did some dance pieces- kind of evocative dance to gospel music-who knew?! (One day JP was doing some teaching in a class, and the kids came to get me- they were practising dance pieces for Carnaval, and their teacher wanted me to see. The older girls did a dance piece, and then a group of wee ones- maybe 7 or 8 years old, did their dance piece, complete with some dirty dance moves- I couldn't believe how they could move, or that they were even moving that way- wowie! I felt so white, and like such a non-dancer!). 

 The girls gathered around me, asking me to take their photo, and then they took turns playing with my hair. I rarely comb my hair, and certainly haven't done so in Haiti. The girls ran their fingers through it, untangling the mess, and trying to braid it. They touch so easily- kids and even some adults love to touch my white skin- I guess they think it will feel different, and I suppose it does. I have a couple of little growths that look like warts on my neck, and it's surprising how many different kids in Haiti have tried to pick it off. If you have dirt on you from plastering, they will wipe it from your skin, as I witnessed when these same girls picked the plaster chunks from Meg's feet. I have had women as well as children touch my hair- they seem to be quite taken with it- in part, I suppose, it's quite a different texture, but I think it's also the colour- you don't see much silver hair here.

Hair is important in Haiti- women spend lots of time doing one another's hair, and mothers do a different hairdo for their daughters every single night- I watched as Lélé did her daughters' hair one night, and I swear, it takes at least half an hour per child...and she has four in her charge! Driving around the countryside and in cities, it is a frequent sight, to see women sitting in a row doing each other's hair. 

Taken in the back yard in Deslandes in 2011- look at little Mimi here!

My girls, last year, taking care of one another's hair.

Dine, washing Maquise's hair

 

It was the perfect going away party- me & my girls dancing and singing on the porch, and the icing on the cake was singing Mimi almost to sleep. She is such a bright light, that one!

Today, there was a group of women from Cité Soleil (a poor and often unsettled part of the city- there are frequently security alerts that warn us not to go there) came to our compound today to do a month long training course on building with blocks of styrofoam that are bagged up, reinforced with rebar, and then plastered. I gave them the tour of the straw house, and then of Andy Mueller's (Greenspace Collaborative) new Senf Kay (bottled walls, and clay/straw walls). I decided that since this is a group of all women getting construction training that I'd toot my own horn a bit and tell them about me running a construction business, how many of my employees are women, and how women can do anything they want to. In Haiti, the men on construction sites are always surprised to see me there, and when I work, they're astounded- wow, you work as hard as a man! It's funny, since at home, it's so common (in the natural building world, that is) to have women on-site. I shared some slideshows with the women on building with bales, told them to ask lots of questions, pay attention, and make sure that whatever type of building they do in the future, that they be thinking of sustainability, and earthquake & hurricane resistant construction. All in all, I'm pleased that I 'butted' in to their day of training. 

There was a lot of cars honking today, sirens going, and helicopters flying over. I'm never sure if these things are due to security alerts, demonstrations, or what. The prime minister resigned a little over a week ago, and things have heated up in different parts of the city as a result of that. That's the last thing Haiti needs now- more political unrest! 

Apart from that, I continued working on the finish plaster inside of Andy's building. I think I have a recipe that I can live with, especially once we paint an aliz coat over it.

This is a previous attempt at the finish coat- I was outside mixing, when I should have been inside supervising- it went on waaaaaayyyyy too thick. 

 So, my goal is to finish the interior plastering before I fly out on Wed.- this will mean a busy schedule, but one that I think is possible.

Oh, Canada. Oh, snow. Oh, home, sweet home. I'm ready for you!