Grand Goave: Week Three

Going into the week I was under the impression that I would again be without a translator.  Sunday night I received the wonderful news from Sora and Adam that this would not be the case.  Jeanide, who I worked with in Port-au-Prince, had managed to find time in her busy schedule to make the trip east, to help me throughout the week.  She left Monday during the morning and arrived when I returned from school. I thanked her greatly for coming on such a short notice and began to lay out my lesson plans for the week. 

Tuesday I decided that I would introduce the scientific method to both classes by using the same sound experiment I used at Cazeau.  The experiment is very simple.  Line up 4 glass bottles each with a different amount of water in it, then ask the students which bottle will have the lowest pitch.  Asking a question is the first step of the scientific method.  Next is to do research.  For this I had the students pull up the Wikipedia page on sound, and they did a little bit of reading.  The class came to the consensus that sound is a wave, and the different amounts of water would cause different pitches.  Step 3 the kids formed a hypothesis.  All guessed that either 1 or 4 would have the lowest pitch.  Step 4 we performed the experiment and found that bottle 4 had the lowest pitch. The class then recorded their results for step 5, and for step 6 we drew a conclusion.  As the amount of water increases, the pitch decreases.  Not a ground breaking experiment to say the least, but definitely simple enough to convey the proper procedure when doing scientific investigation. 

Wednesday I had planned to teach a music class with Mistro.  He is the piano player in the church’s band and he could definitely teach the kids one or two things about how to read and play music.  He has been terribly unreliable during my time here, but I figured if I gave him a chance to teach something he truly loved, that maybe he would take some initiative and show up.  Once again he let me down.  It was 10 O’clock and time to start class.  He was nowhere to be found.  Instead of proceeding I decided to take the lesson in a different direction.  Watching the kids type up their reports the day before, I noticed that very few knew the proper typing technique.   I drew a blown up picture of a keyboard on my whiteboard and demonstrated the proper hand positions.  The XO’s have typing software, and I set aside the first hour of class toward practicing their newly acquired skill.    For the older kids, I let them do with the last hour of class whatever they pleased.  To my surprise many continued playing the typing game.  A few students switched over to chat, but a few others explored the depths of Wikipedia.  Seeing the kids independently choose to practice typing, or read articles is a wonderfully reassuring feeling.  It shows that they really are thirsty to learn, and it’s an honor to provide them with tools that can quench that thirst.

I wanted to go out of Grand Goave with a bang, I wanted to give the kids something that they would remember.  I definitely did so at Delmas 28 when I did my rocket lesson, and I wanted to give Mission of Hopes students a similar experience. Thursday I explained the basics of rocketry.  I lead with gravity, talked about the vinegar and baking soda fuel, and then went into aerodynamics.  I had the kids draw up some designs on paint so they could get a better idea of what we would be building Friday.  Many struggled to work to overcome the touchy paint software, but I went around and helped get everything in working order.  In the end we had some wonderful designs. A couple of students finished very quickly and agreed to design a new one even better.  I let them be and came back 10 minutes later to discover that they had copied a picture of the Columbia Spaceshuttle from their offline digital library, and pasted it into paint.  I appreciated the resourcefulness and congratulated them on their designs.  They even added their own artistic touches.  

Friday came and it was time to turn these students into rocket stars.  All the supplies were in order and I distributed them to the two teams.  The kids opened their XO’s and used their schematics as reference.  The older kids worked especially well together and were efficient with all their resources, the younger kids not so much.  The teams wrapped up and added their finishing touches.  We went into the graveled area next to where we held class and I prepared the fuel.  The teams formed a circle around and eagerly awaited their flights.  We shot off one rocket after the other and the kids cheered with delight at their successes. 

The day came to an end and I said my goodbyes to the class.  Friday was my last day teaching in Grand Goave and I truly will miss the students of MOH. These 3 weeks have meant a lot to me and not just because of the lessons I have taught.  Grand Goave gave me the chance to really get to know a group of kids, some on a very deep level.  Last week I introduced you to my friend Johnsley.  He is a 14 year old boy who aspires to be both a pastor and a doctor.  He has decent English skills, and he and I talked a lot and became very close.  He stopped by the beach house on Saturday so that we could say our final goodbyes. Tuesday I gave him an English bible and an English to Creole dictionary.  He left me with a letter that he wrote thanking me for being his teacher and his friend.  It’s something that I will cherish forever. Below is Johnsley with his rocket design. I wish him and all of his classmates the best of luck.

Tomorrow I head back to Port-au-Prince to do some teaching and server repair at Cazeau.  It has been an absolute pleasure to teach here in Grand Goave, but there is still plenty more work to be done at plenty of other schools.  I look forward to teaching and making more friends along the way.

Hang on,

Sean   

    

Grand Goave: Week Two

So week 2 ended up being a shortened school week due to a Haitian holiday.  October 17^th is a national holiday to commemorate the death of Haiti’s founding father Jean-Jaques Dessalines.  This definitely seemed to be a strange thing to celebrate, but it makes sense when you come to understand the Haitian affinity for the afterlife and the role that spirits play in their culture. 

After approaching Renee about my translator issues I was bounced back to Lex to work something out.  He assured me that if he and I talked to Mistro he would be there to help me throughout the week.  We did just that but yet again I only had a translator for one of my classes.  In Haiti there doesn’t seem to be the same sense of urgency that I am accustomed to.  This especially holds true in the laid back beach town of Grand Goave.  A lot of the people here have some serious stresses on their mind, so it’s understandable that they don’t let the day to day work load overwhelm them.  The task will eventually get done, and it’s more important to try and enjoy the ride.  This low-pressure work ethic is a widely accepted cultural norm.  As an outsider who hops around from place to place, I find this to be an incredibly difficult practice to work with.  My time here is limited, and I feel a strong sense of urgency to accomplish all I can in my stay.   My enthusiasm seems to rarely be shared, and it’s a cultural hurdle that I still struggle to overcome.  I will spend the last week again working with Mistro when he shows up. 

This past week at school did not go as I had planned, but I definitely think I made progress.  Mistro showed up for Tuesday’s class with the older kids, and we worked primarily with Wikipedia.  I spent Monday preparing a series of questions pertaining to different articles that are featured on the preloaded software.  The articles have been translated into French.  Although very few kids speak French, the languages are similar enough to where they can read and comprehend the material.  The questions were basic, but difficult enough to where the students would not know the answer off of the top of their heads.  “What is the distance from the earth to the sun?” “What year was the philosopher Socrates born?” “What is the boiling point of water?”  Mistro and I would pose one question at a time to the class, the first team to answer correctly earned a point.  The school currently does not have Wi-Fi, but with the preloaded software the kids are still able to access a good amount of information.  The purpose of the game was to get them accustomed to this method of research, and to give them an idea of how much information they can find on there.  I truly believe in the power of information.  Their minds are not just exposed to facts, they are exposed to ideas.  These ideas can definitely excite, but more importantly ideas can inspire.  I love the power of ideas, and it was a wonderful feeling to open these kids up to a whole new world of information.  Team 4 dominated when it came to finding the answer first, but I made sure not to advance until every kid had found the answer.  It was great to see the kids excited to find the answer, and excited to show their classmates how they could do the same. 

The next few days I was again without any translating help.  I’ve acquired a decent vocabulary in Creole, but not nearly enough to lead my own classes.  I let the kids work with their laptops independently and provided insight when I could.  Monday’s lesson plan seemed to stick, and I found that many of the students used their freedom to continue exploring Wikipedia.  I walked around and gladly helped out trying to explain some of the more complex articles that kids stumbled upon.  One student on Tuesday ended up on the Wikipedia page for Earth’s Magnetic Field.  The pictures were failing to load so I drew my own diagram and used my English and Creole knowledge to lead them through the French text.  Having my phone came in handy as I was able to look up French and Creole words that I was unsure of. 

Thursday one of the older girls in my class was reading about Switzerland for whatever reason, she then hoped over to the page of Geneva, CERN, and then the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).  For those who don’t know CERN is an international science community based in Geneva, Switzerland.  Their major project is the Large Hadron Collider, which is a particle accelerator.  The LHC shoots particles around their 17 mile loop at near the speed of light and crashes them together in order to study subatomic particles.  I definitely did not expect to be explaining particle physics on my trip to Haiti, but you can never predict where a kid’s curiosity will take them. 

I was also able to share my passion for philosophy with one of my students named Johnsley.  Johnsely is an undersized soft spoken 14 year old boy with a sharp mind and a decent command of the English language.  He approached me during class and asked if I would join him on the Chat app so that he could speak with me and practice his English.  I pulled out my XO and we began talking.  It started out as small talk, but then I decided to ask him what his plans were for after high school.   He proceeded to tell me about how he wants to become a pastor so that he can go all over the world and preach the good news.  He also wants to become a doctor to take care of the sick.  He’s an ambitious kid, and you can tell he wants to help people in every way he can.  We went on to talk about some basic philosophy over the course of two days, and I introduced him to the Euthyphro Dilemma and then we talked about Divine Command Theory.  I plan to leave Johnsley with an English to Creole dictionary along with a bible so that he can pursue his passions.  I wish him all the best. 

Friday as I said earlier was a Haitian holiday so no school was in session.  I still had some students hanging around wanting to use the laptops though so I was happy to pull them out.  This caught the attention of some of the construction workers who were taking a break.  They asked if they could try one out and I let them have a go.  The two were fascinated by Wikipedia and got to reading about engineering, appropriate given their profession.  The kids worked with each other showing off all the cool things they have learned how to do on their XO’s. Here Stanley, the little boy, is being shown how to play the piano by an older classmate. 

None of the students lack curiosity and that is something that excites me when it comes to teaching them.  It’s frustrating that I am not receiving as much help as I would like, but I don’t intend to let that discourage me from teaching in any way I can.  Not having a translator has forced me to pick up a lot of creole and has led to me interacting with the students one on one.  Through this I’ve formed some great relationships that I will cherish for a long time.  This week I look forward to strengthening those friendships and sharing as much knowledge as I am able to. 

Hang on,

Sean     

Grand Goave: Week One

I arrived in Grand Goave Sunday October 4^th at around 5pm via bus.  The driver dropped me off at the main intersection just over the bridge that separates the farmland from the town.  I unloaded my stuff and hopped onto a motorcycle to take me to the school.  Now I’m not a big fan of motorcycles, but if you want to get somewhere and you don’t want to wait, they are the way to go.  After some arguably illegal maneuvers by my driver, we arrived at the school/church grounds of Mission of Hope (MOH). 

MOH is an organization run by Pastor Lexidon Edme, and his wife Renee.  They’ve been working in Haiti for a long time and have some amazing support from both inside and outside of the country.  The school teaches several hundred kids ranging from toddlers to young adults, some older than myself.  Majority of the funding comes from sister parishes back in the states, and there is no lack of support.  The school has 25 XO laptops, 40 Kindle tablets, and is currently constructing a computer lab and a dance studio.  It’s definitely a drastic change from the schools I worked at in Port-au-Prince. 

Upon my arrival I was greeted by Renee who was the person coordinating my accommodations for the week.  We said our pleasantries and then she introduced me to her husband pastor Lex.  Lex is a formidable figure in his community and he receives tons of respect.  It’s hard to go anywhere with him and not get stopped every five seconds by people wishing to say hello or ask questions.  Lex gave me a brief tour and along the way we bumped into another Blan (Haitian word for white person).  His name is Laramie and he was accompanied by his twin daughters of about 10 years.  Laramie and his family are traveling missionaries who recently moved to Haiti.  He and his wife Amy have 4 kids ages 10-15.  They are currently working at the orphanage up the road and wanted to check out the school that some of their kids attend. 

The tour was over and it was time for “Sunday night worship”.  Laramie overenthusiastically invited me to sit with him and I obliged.  Now I’m not religious, but at the same time I’m not anti-religion.  I was raised catholic and have no problem attending mass.  But Haitian mass is not quite like American catholic mass.  Scriptures are read, Eucharist is shared, and praise is given, but with a different sense of urgency.  Pastor Lex stepped up to the mic and delivered a sermon that conjured up more excitement than I ever remember from Father Mike back at St. William. Arms were raised towards the sky, hands were clapping, and hips were swaying as the spirit of his words fell over the room.  It was slightly uncomfortable being the only one not overwhelmed by the holy spirit, but nevertheless it was a sight I’m glad I saw.

Mass came to an end and as a group we headed back to the house where I’d be staying.  After a 15 minute ride down a street that reminded me much of Green Lake Road, we arrived.  The gate rolled open and we pulled in.  I stepped out and took in the incredible view.  Grand Goave is an ocean town, and MOH is arguably the best place to take in the beauty of it all.  Mountains to the west, mountains to the east, and an island sits on the horizon to the north.  I dipped my feet in the water, grabbed some dinner, and then went back to my room to prepare for the week I had ahead of me.             

Grand Goave has been a much more regimented schedule.  Wake up at 6:30, get ready, eat breakfast, make lunch, and then go to school.  From 10-11:30 I’ve been teaching a group of high school kids. Then I wrap that class up, charge the laptops, and teach a younger group from 1-2:30.  The translator the schools provided me with has been far from reliable so it’s been hard to teach drawn out lessons.  So far out of the 10 classes I’ve taught he showed up to 1.  In that one class period I did an activity where as a class we took some measurements with a homemade apparatus and estimated the size of the sun. The math was troubling for some, but we managed to work through it and by the end everyone had their own estimate. http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/AtHomeAstronomy/activity_03.html . The younger kids have been a much bigger challenge.  A lot of the kids just see the laptops as gaming devices.  Although they do have some educational games programmed on, they are much more than that.  With only 25 laptops it’s been a struggle every day to have one laptop per child, and to maintain order.  I fear that the lack of a translator has really been limiting the potential of my teaching abilities.  Lex has other things to worry about and doesn’t seem to take interest, his wife Renee is the more approachable of the two and I plan on working with her this weekend to come up with a better solution. 

Despite the challenges I’ve managed to form some great relationships with the students and the staff members.  Nurse Leah was a huge help getting me acquainted with everything, and she was kind enough to let me use her Natcom 3G internet stick to upload my last blog post.  Rennot is another person who has been a huge help.  He’s the go to guy for whatever needs to be done.  Need a whiteboard? Ask Rennot. Need to turn on the electricity? Ask Rennot. Need to buy your own 3G stick so you don’t have to continue to work in the clinic in order to get Leah to let you borrow hers? Ask Rennot.  His help has been huge, and even though we can’t always work out what the other person is saying, I am always happy to see him.   

Some of the kids have definitely been a big inspiration too.  With the class of younger kids most of them just want to play math games and take pictures.  But one kid in particular is too fascinated by the world around him to be caught up in that sort of mindless entertainment.  Dionson (pronounced Jenson) is a 13 year old boy whose bright mind and thirst for knowledge has truly amazed me.  All class he sits and reads the French Wikipedia pages.  He’s on a new topic every day and never stops asking questions.  Together we’ve explored sounds, light, the stars, the planets, force, and a few other aspects of the natural world.  After the second day of class he begged me to let him keep the laptop out a little longer.  I of course said yes and he went with me to the room where I charge the laptops.  A few minutes later one of his friends appeared and asked if he could use a laptop.  I told him he could only use one if he used it to read.  He agreed to my terms and booted up his own machine.  After about 30 minutes I had a group of 5 all laying on the carpet eagerly exploring Wikipedia.  Dionson is a brilliant young mind and I hope the other kids continue to follow in his footsteps. 

Aside from teaching I’ve spent my time at the beach house.  Every day a group of kids will come by looking to play a game of soccer, swim, or partake in a new fan favorite which I showed them, throwing around the Frisbee.  Most the kids are pretty talented with a soccer ball, but they still have a long way to go with a disc.  I will surely be leaving some of the Frisbees that I brought with me behind for the kids to enjoy.    

Overall Grand Goave has been a bit of a challenge.  It’s not easy to find helpful people, and it makes me appreciate the help I had in Port-au-Prince a lot more.  I will work things out with Renee this weekend and next week I have a bunch of lessons that I’m really excited about.  I’ll be exploring the concepts of gravity, pi, and I may even have another rocket lesson.  Should make for an eventful week

Hang on,

Sean

Final Week in Port-au-Prince

My last week in Port-au-Prince was definitely and eventful one.  On Tuesday I worked at Croix des Bouquets with Jeanide and Junior.  They helped me run through my music lesson again but with a new group of children.  The first class had 28 kids and only 7 XOs to share.  We made the best of it and the children seemed to have a great time breaking away from their normal lesson plans.  In Haiti much of the curriculum is built around learning by memorization.  The students’ knowledge is assessed using tests put forth by the schools.  Hands on learning is a strange concept for most teachers, but seeing the kids engaged and excited about learning is a wonderful way to change their minds.  After the music ended I gathered some data in order to reprogram the laptops later that week.

Thursday I was at Cazeau, which is an orphanage/church/school.  The orphanage is home to over 40 kids, I spent the afternoon with 25 of the school age kids.  I arrived at Cazeau via Taptap around 1:45.  I walked to the school and was greeted by shy smiles and curios eyes.  I sat down waiting for Dyna, and pulled out a toy I knew the kids would enjoy, a Rubik’s Cube.  The vibrant colors quickly drew a crowd of about 15 as a spun the rows and columns to show them how it works.  I passed it to my left and reached back into my bag of tricks.  I pulled out 3 juggling balls and showed off my circus training.  More kids crowded and I started giving free juggling lessons.  Most were baffled by the concept, but a few weren’t half bad.  Dyna arrived and it was time to start class, but the fun was far from over.  

The lesson plan for the day was a science experiment.  I wanted to introduce the scientific method to the kids in the form of a very basic experiment, so that they could understand the procedures involved.  I lined up four glass bottles at the front of the classroom.  Each bottle was filled with a different amount of water.  Bottle one was empty, bottle two was ¼ of the way filled, three was ½ filled, and four was ¾ of the way full.  The question I wanted them to investigate was, “which bottle will make the lowest pitch when I strike it with a pen?” In order to find this out, I walked the class through the 6 steps of the scientific method.  1) Ask a question 2) do research 3) form a hypothesis 4) do an experiment 5) record results 6) draw a conclusion.  For the research portion I explained sound is a wave, and I explained the correlation between wavelength and pitch. The kids then guessed which bottle they thought would have the lowest pitch.  The class was divided between 1 and 4.  We then did our experiment and got our answer.  Bottle 4 had the lowest pitch.  The children then were able to draw a conclusion, no matter how many bottles, the one with the lowest pitch will be the one with the most water.  The students wrote up their work on an app called Fototoon, their work is down below. 

Friday I spent planning for my second seminar at Delmas 28.  I promised the kids I’d be back a week later to talk about space and I couldn’t have been more excited.  I decided to do a rocket science lesson.  Definitely an ambitious idea, but one that I knew the kids would be excited about.  I went to the market the day before and picked up the necessary supplies. The most essential being: baking soda, vinegar, tape and cardboard.  The rockets were to be designed at the end of class after I went over a few basic things.  Mike, a friend from Communitere, was kind enough to help me build a launch pad and I was all set.

Saturday arrived and I was up early making sure everything was in order.  I set up the launch sight in the driveway at Communitere and launched some practice rockets.  After a few successful launches Jeanide arrived and we were off to Delmas 28. 

We got to the classroom and I recognized most of the faces from the week before.  A few new students piled in and we had a total of 27 eager minds.  I began the seminar by talking about gravity.  The juggling came in handy again as a way to capture attention, and also to model the effects of this invisible force.  After they grasped that concept, I went on to explain that if you have a great enough force applied to an object, you can escape the earth’s gravity.  I then showed some pictures from the Apollo missions to support my utterly unbelievable claims.  I explained to the kids that in order to make a good rocket, you need three things.  1) A strong force 2) An aerodynamic body 3) Balance.  I had them draw out the best designs they could on paint.  The kids do not have all that much experience with a touchpad mouse so some of the designs seemed not so structurally sound, but one kid in particular did a wonderful job.  His name is Matariro and I have no doubt he’s going places.

After the computer designs were complete, I split the kids up into two teams.  Each was given one water bottle and an equal amount of both cardboard and tape.  They had 45 minutes to construct their rockets and they immediately got working.  Each rocket seemed to have 5 or 6 hands on it at all times.  Some helping to secure wings, others working on the nozzle.  What at first seemed like chaos, ended up being a fairly efficient way of working, and with 15 minutes to spare both teams were done and eager to fire them off.  We lined up and climbed the stairs up to our launch site.

I set up the launch pad and explained to the kids that I would put an equal amount of vinegar and baking soda in each rocket.  I wrapped the baking soda in toilet paper to delay the reaction enough so that could attach the cork and build pressure.  First up was team one.  None of the kids really knew what to expect, but they were filled with anticipation as they saw me measuring out the rocket fuel.  I slid the wrapped baking soda into the vinegar mixture and secured the cork to the mouth of the bottle. All systems were a go.  As I stepped back to a safe distance I could feel that the pressure was on.  I had promised the kids that we would transform these household objects into a rocket and although I knew it was possible, I was still worried about the experiment not living up to the hype.  The pressure continued to build and so did the anticipation.  The rocket shot off into the air and flew a good 25-30 feet before touching down slightly off center from the landing sight.  Jeanide was kind enough to take a video which I have linked here.  The kids roared with excitement and I let out a hardy laugh followed by a big smile. Bringing that amount of joy to a group of kids through to power of science was one of the most rewarding and wonderful feelings I’ve ever had.  Their reaction says it all.  http://youtu.be/iZ7zWsX6mi0 

Group 2 was up and they were confident they could do better.  I loaded their rocket with fuel and secured it to the launch pad.  This video shows them arguing over who had the better of the two flights, I’ll let you the viewer decide.  http://youtu.be/ttQCFzPpxF0    

Class came to an end as we rounded up the scraps.  The kids continued their bickering down the steps and into the classroom.  We never did pick a winner but everyone enjoyed themselves and that was more than enough.  I said my goodbyes and handed out as many high fives as I could before Jeanide pulled me out of there.  We were off to our next school at Croix des Bouquets to reprogram the software on the XOs.

We arrived at the school to realize they had no power.  Jeanide and I met up with Junior and we took the laptops back to Jeanide’s house so we could have electricity.  We sat around talking as I updated the software two at a time.  Junior filled me in on the current political struggle and Jeanide cleaned up for the dinner we had planned.  Haiti’s former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide was back in town, and rumor has it Martelly’s people (the current president) were trying to arrest Aristide and charge him for crimes of corruption.  Whether the charges are legitimate or not is unclear but Aristide is no guiltier than Martelly or any of his predecessors.  Aristide was one of Haiti’s most beloved presidents, but ideologically he and Martelly couldn’t disagree more.  Hearing all of this gave me a much better idea of why so many helicopters had been flying over Communitere keeping me up at night.  I said goodbye to Junior and thanked him for the good talk. 

Jeanide and I met up with Fefe and Dyna at one of the fancier bars in Port-au-Prince (it had air conditioning). We had a lovely last meal together and I thanked them for all the help they’d given me in my 10 days with them.  They made the adjustment a lot easier and I can’t thank them enough. 

As of right now I’m writing from my second work destination.  It’s a school/church in Grand Goave called Mission of Hope.  I’ve been living with Pastor Lex and his wife Renee.  I’ve already taught a few days’ worth of classes but that will have to wait until the next post.  A big thanks for all of those who are supporting me through this.  I love the feedback you all have given me, and I’m always happy to talk.  Feel free to leave a comment, or send me and email, or reach out to me via social media.

     

Hang on,

Sean

          

Delmas 28

Thursday night I contacted Jeanide and the two of us decided that it would be best for me to teach at Croix des Bouquets on Tuesday of the next week.  That gave me another day to review my music lesson plans before I headed to Delmas 28 early Saturday morning.

Later in the night Kate, my roommate at Commuitere, asked if Friday she could borrow a laptop to show her friend she works with in Cite Soleil.  I had a few to spare so I lent her one that was fully charged and updated.  Kate is a wonderful woman doing some wonderful work in one of the poorest places in Haiti, I wish her all the best.

I woke up Friday, ate a quick breakfast and got to work.  The goal of the lesson was to teach the children about music and sound.  What does a sound wave look like? How does wavelength and frequency of a sound wave relate to pitch? And of course another goal was to learn by doing. As I begin to jot down some notes I see Kate has returned with a Haitian friend, they came in sat down and booted up the XO.  A few hours later I went to see what they were up to.  I climbed out of my mosquito net and headed across the rocky gravel road. As the sound of clanging rocks rang out from under my feet, the man looked up and sent me a big smile.  He introduced himself as Afu.  He is a father of four in Cite Soleil and he has a knack for technology.  Only using the XO once before that day, he had managed to master the music making software and had constructed his own beat.  He was a self proclaimed rapper and even spit some bars for me in English and Creole (that's slang for rapping).

After saying goodbye to Afu, I got back to work.  I constructed a set of three sound waves out of pipe cleaners to model what a sound wave looks like.  I then wrote out some classic beginner piano songs for the kids to play and practice later on in class.  After finishing my prep work I spent the rest of the day applying to internships for next summer.  A very productive day. I finally reached a point where I could work no longer. I rubbed my eyes, closed my computer, and laid down to try and get some rest before my first day of teaching.  I've always pictured myself teaching and it was a strange feeling knowing that the moment was just a few unconscious hours away.  

I had no problem waking up Saturday morning.  Excitement was running through my veins as I hopped in the cold outdoor shower.  I got dressed and within minutes Fefe arrived to take me to Delmas 28.  He serves as my tour guide and translator when needed.  We walked to the nearest intersection and hopped onto a Taptap, which is nothing more than a truck with benches and a roof over the bed.  Taptaps tend to seat around 12 rather uncomfortably.  About two miles from our destination we hit a traffic jam.  No words were spoken, but every last person filed out of the Taptap to walk ahead of the traffic.   Fefe and I piled into another truck and were at Delmas in no time.  

We entered the building and as always was greeted with some curious young stares.  Fefe went to find the principal of the school to unlock the laptop room, and I waited in the lobby.  I pulled out my own personal XO and was immediately swarmed by a group of kids who were anxiously awaiting my next move.  I pulled up my favorite puzzle game and taught them how to play to kill some time.  They quickly caught on and after about three minutes they had beaten the first level.  Halfway through level 2 Fefe came in and ruined all the fun.  It was time to start class.  Fefe was unable to get a hold of the principal but I assured him that we didn't need the laptops until later in the lesson so we could begin.  Fefe gave a brief introduction to the class on what we would be going over and then I introduced myself. Shortly after that Fefe's phone rang and he went to take it in the hall.  So there I was.  24 sets of eyes stared up at me awaiting my next move.  Nothing like being thrown into the deep end.  My creole is far from perfect but I managed to explain the the class that we would be talking about music and we would do some singing.  I informed them that sometimes we would have to be VERY LOUD, and sometimes very quiet.  They understood and we practiced screaming as loud as we could, and then being silent on the cut offs. They definitely enjoyed playing that game and it seemed to make everyone a lot more comfortable.  Fefe returned to our class mid-scream and was impressed at the amount of silence that followed a few seconds later.  He laid the laptops down on the desks and we continued the lesson.  I explained what sound looked like and provided a visual representation with a file I made in Audacity.  I then pulled out the pipe cleaners. The red pipe cleaner represented a low note with low frequency, the blue pipe cleaner represented a high note with high frequency, and the green pipe cleaner was in between the two.  I held up the red pipe cleaner and explained that it was a low note, I let out the lowest pitch I could muster in order to engage the kids. The all giggled and did their best to imitate. I then held up the blue pipe cleaner and explained that it was a high note, I used the little falsetto range I have to let out a raspy high note that was much more of a caterwaul.  As much as I made a fool out of myself, the kids seemed to understand.  We booted up the laptops and I had to switch a few over from English to French.  The creole that Haitians speak is french based and similar enough to that the children can follow along even though they do not speak french. The majority of the class was able to identify the lowest and highest note on the keyboard.   We then went into some basic Solfege (do re mi...).  I wrote the phrases on the board and drew a staff to correspond to it.  Instead of "ti" the Haitians insist on using "si" I obliged.  The children had no problem singing the scale, but a much more difficult time mastering playing it on the keyboard.  I went around the room and helped until each student had succeeded before moving on.  We did ascending and descending scales, followed by thirds, a basic warm-up that I picked up from my high school choir teacher Mary Rashid.  This took a while to get down on the keyboard but the great thing about music is it's just pattern recognition, a universal trait.  The kids who struggled in the beginning were able to become proficient in a very short time.  I then wrote a song on the board they all know and love. The French call it Frère Jacques, but the Haitians call it Tonton Bouki, which translates to Uncle Bouki.  It's a nonsense song but every Haitian knows it.  They had no problem incorporating the solfege so we began practicing it on the piano.  I had some truly amazing students and by the end everyone in the class had played it for me at least once.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuL4YpKcX0M here is a link to the final product, as well as a picture of some of my star pupils. 

Sadly Delmas came to an end and I said my goodbyes to the children until next week.  I went back to Communitere and had an early night so that I could make it to church at Cazeau, where I would temporarily drop the laptops that I brought down with me.  

Fefe's fancy new phone that I gave him the day before was an hour off so he arrived an hour later than I expected him.  Luckily he did, because mass in Haiti is not like the mass I remember back home.  Church began at 8am.  We arrived at 9 am, and mass was dismissed at a little after 11.  Aside from struggling to keep up with what was being said, I got to display my singing voice once again. The church sang songs in both Creole and French.  The people seemed not to notice the difference but it became very apparent when all the sudden we were conjugating verbs. Haitians also have adopted the French/European tradition as kissing on the cheek as a way of saying hello.  I am blatantly an American and am usually greeted with a handshake.  Mass ended with the creole version of Amazing Grace, my mother surely would have been in tears.

After mass Fefe and I dropped off the laptops and I was on my way back to base camp.  I thanked him for bringing me to church and for once again being my guide.  He is a key component of Unleash Kids and his work should not go unrecognized. 

For now that's all the excitement I've had.  This week I'll be spending time at Croix des Bousquets, Silar's Orphanage, and Delmas 28.  It was great to get the first teaching experience under my belt, now I have a lot better idea what to expect from the rest of my trip.  When I'm not writing or talking with people back home, I'm undoubtedly going over lesson plans and trying to find ways to engage the kids in the material I'm teaching.  It's been wonderful so far and I can't wait to teach again soon.

Hang on,

Sean      

  

First Impressions

So following my last post I spent four more days in NYC.  I met my mom and my girlfriend Michelle at our hotel in midtown and we spent a lovely couple of days enjoying the city.  The first day we met up with Michelle's wonderful friend Sam and saw Cinderella on Broadway, starring Keke Palmer. It was a great time despite the fact that Ms. Palmer failed to take up our tweeted offer of Steak and Shake after the show... The next day Michelle and I toured around Central Park and I made a fool out of myself on a row boat.  We saw a few other sights, broke into a few places, and overall had a terrific day.  The taxi ride to the airport was heavy as I said my last goodbyes before I sent the ladies on their way back to Michigan. 

After the airport it was off to the Maker Faire to set up our booth.  Maker Faire is a Do It Yourself/Innovator conference that takes place biannually in San Francisco and New York.  I arrived well before the rest of our organization and had some time to explore.  I saw some pretty incredible things.  A 3D printed car was one of the featured products.  Pretty cool to think one day I might be able to download a car.  Finally I met up with the rest of the group and we began to lay out our stuff.  Immediately people recognized the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) XO's that we had set up. Everyone was really intrigued and enthusiastic about what we were doing with the OLPC hardware, and they gave us nothing but support.

Maker Faire ended and I spent the next two days running around NYC lugging my 10 laptops and Haiti bags with me.  Nick was kind enough to let myself and others crash at his place, he was both a wonderful host and tour guide.  My flight was set to leave at 6am so I cut my final night short and set my alarm for 3:30am.

  

After tossing and turning for a short while I finally fell asleep, when I woke up I was groggy and confused.  I hadn't the slightest idea what time it was, but I didn't hear my alarm yet.  So I walked over to the nightstand where my phone was sitting and hit the home button... 5:03.  Realizing I slept through my alarm, I sprang into action rounding up all my bags. I ran to the nearest intersection and flagged down a taxi. As I sit down I look up at the screen and see that the time is now 5:07. My flight leaves in 53 minutes.  I'm 15 minutes away from the airport.  After managing to hit 3 lights in a row red I began to be overwhelmed with the reality that I might miss my flight.  The driver seemed to be in no hurry and the minutes seemed to be racing by.  Finally he dropped me off, I paid, and ran across the street to check my bag.  Being a flustered sleep deprived mess I waited in line for a bag check with the wrong airline... I finally pulled it together and found where I was supposed to be.  The gentleman checking my bag saw I was in a rush and cruised through the procedure.  He even chased me down when I walked away without my boarding pass.

One benefit to a 6am flight is that nobody wants to be on a 6am flight.  The line for security was short and I blew right through it to my gate D-1.  The closest possible gate to security.  I boarded the plane and let out a sigh of relief at 5:40am. Miraculously I made it and I was on my way to Miami for my connecting flight.

Landed in Miami and had no problem finding my connecting gate.  Upon arrival I was approached by a surfer dude like figure with dreads and a polo.  He looks at me smiles and says "are you Sean?"... Baffled I reply "Yes? Do I know you?"  "I'm Sam, the director of Haiti Communitere." (the place that I'm spending my first 10 days in Haiti).  We chatted for a while about Unleash Kids before we boarded the plane and took our seats.  

I read for most of the flight and before I knew it we were starting our decent.  We touched down and the un-boarding procedure began. 

Walking towards customs we were greeted by a Haitian band playing traditional music.  Customs was a long wait but went off without a hitch.  I proceeded to baggage claim and once again loaded everything up for one last haul.  Now most of you have not been to the airport in Port-au-Prince, so it'll be hard to convey the utter chaos that it is.  Upon leaving baggage claim you are greeted by a flock of taxi drivers who will all tell you that they are there to pick you up.  They will reach for and often times grab your bags and try and lead you to their car.  I explained about 15 times that I had an arranged pick up and that I am calling my driver.  Finally I reached Bourdeau and he took me to his car.  We raced off to Haiti Communitere.  Taxi drivers in New York are crazy, but they do not begin to compare to the taxi drivers in Haiti.  Cutting people off and driving on the wrong side of the road to do so is something that I'm slowly getting used to. We safely reached our destination and my home for the next week or so.  My first day in Haiti was spent inside the compound of Communitere, resting from my long day, and preparing for the day that was ahead of me.  

The next day I met with Jeanide, a younger Haitian woman in probably her mid 20's.  She would be my tour guide for the day.  We walked down to the main road and tried to flag down a taxi to go up the mountain.  After about 10 tries we finally found a willing driver and we loaded into his van.  The vans contain 4 rows of seats and comfortable can fit 12.  18 isn't all that uncommon though.  After hoping from one taxi to another we finally arrived at the Digicell office where I was to receive a SIM card for me to use and later donate to a school for their server.  After some confusion on what plan to use we met with Jeanide’s friend Thompson who is an employee at Digicell.  He was very helpful and even took us to lunch after we finally settled everything

For lunch I was presented with 3 options.  Chicken, beef, or vegetables.  Chicken.  We sat around the table waiting for our food and my attention slowly drifted to the TV in the corner.  It was the equivalent of MTV and they were playing the music video to Wiz Khalifa's "We Dem Boyz", the uncensored version.  I appeared to be the only one phased.

The food arrived and I chowed down, I was then brought the nectar of the gods.  Ji ceri.  Cherry juice.  There are no words precise enough to even begin to hint at how amazing of a creation ji ceri is.  I won’t even attempt to try.

We finished up our meal as someone changed the channel to Planet of the Apes.  Jeanide was very interested and asked me if I had seen it.  I explained the plot to which she replied with a soft giggle.  She then began to watch and did not stop laughing the entire time.  I had no idea that apes destroying San Francisco was so hilarious. 

Thompson paid for lunch for which I expressed my gratitude, and Jeanide and I headed back to base camp.  On our final taxi back we packed into a van of 18 people.  I was sitting across from a younger Haitian man who seemed to love the sound of his own voice.  He looks at me and says “Blan (word to refer to white people)…. (Haitian gibberish that I couldn’t quite understand.)” I told him I don’t speak creole well and he began to address me in English.  “Why don’t you rent a car man? You’re taking up all the room in this taxi.  You’re American, I know you have money.” I laughed and explained I’m a college student working for a non-profit and that I can’t and don’t need to rent my own car.  He then went on some long rant in creole about America and white people.  We finally arrived and I said goodbye to my Haitian heckler.  Jeanide and I walked back to Communitere and had a good laugh about how that guy was full of himself and loved his own voice. 

Finally I was back at my place and free from all the hustle and bustle of the city.  I spent the rest of my day reprogramming laptops and talking to people back home.  All and all my first couple of days have been a great experience.  I’ve truly gotten to see some great sites and I’ve met some people along the way, some were wonderful, and some not so much.  If you actually read all this I’m thoroughly impressed.  I didn’t realize I had so much to say.  Tomorrow I will be teaching music with Jeanide at Croix des Bouquets, and Saturday Fefe and I will teach music at Delmas 28.  Should have a lot to write about and I should have another post by Sunday. 

Hang on,

Sean  

Preparation

So back in January of this year I decided to take this fall semester off to pursue volunteer opportunities.  My motivation stems from my interest in the power of information, and also the influence of technology in education. The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) mission was precisely that.  To bring laptops to every child no matter where.  As I started to surf the web and survey my options, this seemed like a great place to start.    

Back in February I contacted the people at OLPC, and was put in touch with Adam Holt.  After a few back and forth emails he introduced me to Sora, the mind behind Project Rive.  http://projectrive.wordpress.com/  After reading up on Sora's blog and seeing the brilliant work being done by her and her peers, I knew I had found the right fit for me.  The project, in short, is a designed curriculum to teach both teachers and students how to use the XO laptops as a tool for education.  But it goes far beyond that. I really do recommend that you scroll back up and click that link I gave you.  Project Rive is just one project of the greater organization that is Unleash Kids.  Due to questionable distribution methods and a failure to follow through on training and maintenance, OLPC is on the verge of dying.  Unleash Kids is the organization picking up where they left off.

After talking with Sora for a while I started my first bit of preparation by beginning to learn Haitian Creole, a language based in French, but with far different grammatical rules.  As reality set in that I would be spending my fall semester abroad, I began to look into the impact it would have on my scholarship/financial aid.

After I was bounced around a few times I ended up in financial aid where I was told that in order to keep my scholarship, I had to be a full time student... yeah.  So the solution I came up with was to take 3 independent studies, 4 credits each.  Most teachers I approached seemed bewildered by my proposal.  But I kept emailing hoping for at least one helpful person.  And lo and behold I found her.  Professor Jennifer Law-Sullivan is the Associate professor of French, and the department chair of the Modern Language department.  Right away we set up a meeting and started working out the logistics of what I would need to do in order to receive credit.  She then put me in touch with Professor Alan Epstein who is sponsoring my second independent study for International Studies.  Mark Navin helped coordinate my third independent study with Professor Mark Rigstad on the topic of Global Political Philosophy.

From that point forward the preparation has seemed to be non-stop.  Wake up, practice creole, read, go to school/work, sort of have a social life, repeat.

As time grew closer and closer to my departure date, I began to plan the lessons that I will be teaching in Haiti.  Naturally, as a physics major, I started to play with the ideas of sound, and the universe.  Space is my truest passion and it seems only natural that I share that with the people I meet.  Even as I write this post 6ish days before I leave for Haiti I continue to tweak my lessons in the hope that they will be a success.  My first workshop will be taught on September 27th in Port-Au-Prince, at Delmas 28.  The topic will be music, with the following weeks workshop on space.

The preparation has been a long road.  I'm definitely a little nervous, but mostly I'm anxious and excited to finally be doing something I truly believe can make a difference.    

Hopefully that gives you all a good idea of how I got to this point.  I'm currently in New York training with some of our IT people, and I fly out of LaGuardia at 6am a week from today.  Be sure to stay tuned as my voyage is bound to get much more interesting from here.

Hang on,
Sean