Planes, Trains and Automobiles...

Chains, Shames and Automobiles

Few countries are proud of their past,
     they burry it with the glamor of now.

Our's is a story with hate and chains,
     which we remember with shame.

There are chains here too,
     but they are treated very differently.

A past of slavery and brutality,
     remembered with vibrance and joy.

A past of loss,
     but also of revolution.

How can we face ourselves and others,
     it we can't face our past.

We can't face our own past,
     and yet we think we can "help" those that cherish it.

Amidst the bustle of people and automobiles,
     a light bursts through.

These people fought their way out of slavery,
     but didn't we too?

Here it is out of slavery into humility and pride,
     for us  it is out of slavery into denial.


The future is where we are going,
     and the past is what gets us there.

By being ashamed of your past,
     you put yourself to shame.

But being one with you past...
     Well...

     That is truly living.
          The past IN you.
               The present WITH you.
                    The future WILL BE you.



A Note From The Author.

As we began our decent into Port au Prince I recalled the brief history of Haiti Dean Curran supplied us with.  It was a story filled with great strife and great joy.  I thought back to what I had seen last year, and all the colors, all the smiles, and all the music, heard and unheard.  After a time contemplating that I looked out the window, my thoughts now far away from Haiti, and now on the engineering of a plane.  The phrase "Plane, Trains and Automobiles" sprang into my head and stayed.  When we touched down I resumed my thinking about Haiti's past and the title for this piece took shape.  Chains, Shames and Automobiles.  I began to look at my own past,the United States history Mr. Omahoney pounded into my head, and I realized how many people don't know what I was taught in that class.  The word Shames now made sense, at first it just sounded "right" but now I saw how the two countries, so closely tied, where so starkly different.  One pushes its past further away, the other will know and cherish it until the end of time.  Haiti is to the US and pride is to fear.

                                                                                      Thomas L. Williams

4:00 AM With a short pitstop at Frosty's Brunswick, we are now on our way to Logan. We fly Boston to Miami and then Port-au-Prince. A huge thank you to Hugh for driving and Cynthia for co-piloting this AM!
The kids (and adults) are a bit sleepy. But, despite the sleepiness, the excitement has certainly kicked in.
Liz

Meeting at the Williams'

Hello! It's Hannah here. As per Stephen's request, I am writing again to tell you all of our meeting that happened on Monday, the 20th of August. The Haiti Four and our familes all met at the Williams' house for a potluck and get together, our first meeting since arriving home on the 24th of July. We ate a lovely dinner consisting of many yummy things, like quiche, fruit salad, cucumber and tomato salad, vegetarian lasagna, pasta salad, foccasia bread, and barbequed chicken. After dinner, we dined on blueberry cake, cookies, and ice cream, and for the adults some decaf coffee.
We then went to the Williams' basement and watched a slideshow that Thomas and Teiga had previously put together from 200 of the 1,000 pictures they had taken in Haiti. For every picture, each one of us had a story to tell, and we all took turns explaining what each picture was of and the story behind it. After the slideshow, we sat around and briefly discussed our next steps. We touched upon the size of the group of people going to Haiti next year and determined that it should stay small so as not to interfere with the camp itself and with the experiences that the four of us got to have. We also talked about how the junior members of the Haiti Four will have another chance to go to Haiti next year, which is awesome for them! We also discussed what we will do for the Haitians now that we have returned home, and if us going there had any impact on them. They certainly impacted us and enriched our lives. My personal answer to the question of whether we impacted them or not is yes, we have impacted their lives. We went down and made a conscious effort to be a part of their society and live their way of life. Most Americans just bring money or food, and then leave shortly after. What we did was something completely different. We lived in dorms with the Haitians, learned some of their language, ate the customary food, and played music with them. All of these things helped to build friendships between us that will last our entire lives.
The last topic of conversation that we shared before we all went home was the decision to make Maine Music Outreach a nonprofit organization. Nothing was determined on the 20th, but in future meetings for next years Haiti folks, hopefully something will be.

Bonswa! -Hannah

Returning Home

A week or so after our trip, my mind still drifts to Haiti periodically during the day. Actions will trigger memories, such as filling my water bottle from a 5 gallon container, and some certain American phrases I'll remember in Creole, like mwen gen dormi and mwen grangou. When someone asks me to tell them about my trip, I always pull a blank for a minute or so- where do i start? There were life changing experiences on this trip, yet I still have a hard time choosing a story to tell someone. Sometimes this trip feels like a dream to me, impossible to pin down the right words to describe the feelings of elation, sadness, surprise and happiness.

Although Haiti can be considered simple in some respects, the way they live their life is not. I find myself meeting people who have ten fold what families in Haiti have, yet they have more complaints. Everyone in Haiti fills their days to the fullest with small acts of kindness in every moment of their day. I miss the straightforwardness of life in Haiti, how everything just happened when it happened and there was no stress.

If I had to chose one moment in Haiti where my perspective on life changed completely, it would have to be the day that we ran out of water at the camp. I've spent most of my life in America, and I'm used to always having whatever I need. And if I don't have it, I can drive ten minutes to the store and buy it. It's just how I've been brought up. In Haiti it's completely different. When we ran out of water, there was no more water until the trucks drove and filled them up for us- this took about half the day. No one wasted the water in Haiti. You drank when you needed to and filled up from the communal 5 gallon container in the middle of the campus. Showering was kept to the brief limit, as well as washing, teeth brushing, and toilet flushing.

In America it's just so different. While we wait for our showers to warm up, the water runs freely, wasting into the plumbing. We flush the toilets every time we use them. We let the water run while we soap the dishes. The tap flows while we brush our teeth for no apparent reason. Water runs freely in our house, as I'm sure it does in many other American households. Before this trip, I'd never known what it was like to be without one of the main human needs. I'd never thought that water could simply run out before. There's always the talk, but the reality is simply not there. It's almost impossible to imagine life without a need that I've always had access to plenty of before.

I've gained awareness about other worlds from this trip, and there's no way I could have learned without actually travelling and experiencing everything firsthand. If I could change anything in the world, I would try to give people the awareness I have gained from this trip. Although it's just not the same to be told about differences in other countries, I think this would be a good place to start.

Je Pense Que. . .

Hello, it's Hannah here. This is wierd writing on the blog again, after a week of nothing. It's also wierd because this is probably going to be my last blog post about Haiti. In a way, I wanted to stun everyone with my incredible insight after a week back from Haiti and surprise everyone with the answer of how we can make lasting and sustainable change in Haiti. But even after a week to collect my thoughts, I still don't have anything to say.

What we got to be a part of is something that people can only dream about. In fact, sometimes I think it was a dream. Everyone wants to know about my trip and how it was, but as soon as I try to explain it to them, I can't. There are no words to describe what happened there. There are tons of pictures where we can see ourselves looking happy and playing music with the Haitians, but we can't describe how that made us feel. The people at the camp not only changed how I see Haiti and it's people, they also changed me. Their never-ending energy, their wonderful spirits, the way they are always finding the bright side of life is something that I only wish I could have.

Being raised an American, it's not a bad thing, but it definitely has sheltered me from the realities of the world. Driving through Port-au-Prince the first day we arrived was strange and really sad, seeing large families live in houses that were the size of my living room, stray dogs and cats running around with no homes, debris from the earthquake in piles and laying on the sidewalks, garbage everywhere, and people sitting in all of the chaos fanning the heat away as they sold their wares like nothing was wrong. To them, nothing was. As an American driving by, and having Port-au-Prince be the first part of Haiti I saw, I pitied them. Ten days later, when we drove through Port-au-Prince again going back to the airport, my vision of these people was completely altered. I no longer pitied them people for what they didn't have. I marveled in their creativity and their flexability, how they were so strong and determined, even after they had been through so much.

Coming back home and "getting back into the swing of things" has been really wierd. Life doesn't always stop and let you enjoy the things that you have experienced, it seems. In America, there's always something you have to be doing, and you have to be there at a certain time. I prefer Haitian time as opposed to American time. It's still a challenge for me to not feel guilty for having a refrigerator that keeps things cold, for using a washing machine instead of hand-washing my clothes, for having a toilet that flushes, and for using a computer. I still use these things, but I'm more aware of what I have. Similarly, I'm more aware of what my friends in Haiti don't always have.

As for how we can make lasting and sustainable change in Haiti, I still don't know. The most I can think of is not to pity these people, don't tell them what to do, and don't tell them how to do it. These are some of the brightest, hardest-working people I have ever met. They don't need parental advice from America, they need friends. People who won't tell them what they are doing wrong, and people who will be there to listen when they need it. They don't need government involvement or NPO's "helping" them. They need real people giving only their time to teach Haitians how to be doctors or teachers or builders, instead of having other governments send doctors and teachers and builders into Haiti, therefore taking the jobs and opportunity to learn the trade away from the Haitians. I have no definitive answers of how to change the world; I am only 17 years old. However, I can tell you one thing: it needs to be my generation that makes the change. Hopefully, through the Maine Music Outreach, we have already started to make that change.

Theory...

As Hannah talked about in one of her posts we had a theory class that involved quite a bit of ingenuity.  Here are some pictures of the class...

Final Night

     I honestly have very little to say at this point in time. Our stay here is coming to a close; we leave in the morning tomorrow. I think that we might receive a formal farewell at the prayers tomorrow morning. It is sad to be leaving here, but at the same time I think that it would be untrue to say that I do not look forward to returning to my home country.
     I feel as though everyone will be able to begin to more deeply reflect on our experience and write down more expansive thoughts once we are home and comparing our normal lives to our experience in Haiti. We went through the week one day at a time and were able to give impressions as they came to us, but now I hope to be able to see our time here more as a cohesive whole. Ms. Matta is going to have us all write again in one week. I'm uncertain of what to expect, but I think that there will be some contrast between now and then.
     Bonuit. We'll see some of you at the airport.


     -  Kevin

Last Goodbyes

The past ten days have seemed like the past ten hours. I really was doubting my choice to come to Haiti, but now that we’re leaving tomorrow, I can’t seem to want to say goodbye. When the plane landed I can remember thinking to myself, “what did I just get myself into?!” It felt like we were going to be spending a lifetime in Haiti. Sadly, ten days was not enough time to hang out with all of our new friends and play music and learn Creole.
The hardest part about leaving is leaving behind all of our friends. It’s going to be really strange not seeing all the faces that we’ve come accustomed to greeting throughout every day. We can’t always remember their names, but their wide smiles and happy chatter in Creole and/or English is what made this camp so amazing. Although we’ve gotten countless Facebook names and email addresses to remember each other by, nothing will be as memorable as meeting all these wonderful people in person.
It’s going to be almost impossible to say goodbye tomorrow morning. The only consolation is knowing that maybe we can see everyone again next summer.

Hannah and Teiga

I've been part of many music camps in the summer; none of them ever had a full concert at the end of each week, as well as faculty and student recitals during the week. That is until Haiti. The concert was three hours of wonderful music! Our students played great at the concert; all week, really!  Teiga played with the Symphonique Philharmonic (mostly teachers) and rocked her solos...and she's only 16. Go Teiga! I knew I'd be saying this BUT it is truly hard to believe that our time here is just about done.  Twenty four hours from now, we should be close to Newark, NJ.

The kids spent their morning "sitting in" with the beginner band. After which, Kevin had one more lesson with Hans, his newest trumpet buddy (pics to follow!).  And, they just got back from a hike with a Clemson engineering student.  He brought them to the site of a pump his group installed (on behalf of the Episcopal church) which now allows all the people of Cange to have clean water for drinking, showering, washing.

I am not surprise but still completely proud of how well our students have done here. Port-Au-Prince took us all my surprise.  No matter how much you think you are prepared, pics and video do no justice to breathing the air and experiencing the amazing people.

To my teaching friends: they always need teachers to volunteer and work here each summer. You'd have to pay your way but the camp provides lodging, food and transportation to and from the airport. The camp is three weeks but many folks come for one or two. Please, friends, if you have an interest, think about it and let me know. These kids are so eager to learn, ready to work hard, loving, welcoming, accepting...they just don't have the advantages our students do.

 

 

After the concert

Wow!  The concert started just about on time, 2:30 p.m. in Bon Saveur Church, which is in the center of our campus.  Actually, we had been there from 9 a.m. until 11:30 for the rousing Sunday Mass conducted by Pere David and another priest and a host of characters on the altar who collaborated to make another very special service.  Then we had returned to the Guest House for a dinner of chicken, rice, macaroni salad, and fried plaintains before returning to the church, all dressed in our performance duds, which included shirts provided by the camp.
Mme. Nicole St.Victoire was the MC and did a splendid job despite the lack of a real program to follow. She appeared to be ad libbing (in French, of course) to fill in where the info was not correct.  You're probably not all that interested in these details, so I'll get to the part of the program that featured the Maine Music Outreach students.  They performed with the band:  Kevin on trumpet, Teiga on French horn, Hannah on alto sax, and Thomas on the baritone horn, which was loaned to him by the band director who needed a baritone horn player to complement his group.  From my expert perspective (NOT) they performed flawlessly.  Liz would probably concur, and she knows of what she speaks.  The band was conducted by Keith Johnston of Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT and Pierre (I forget his last name) from Jacmel.  They really got along really well with our kids, and the feeling was entirely mutual.
The concert ended with a performance by the Symphony Orchestra made up of the teachers from many countries, but mostly, it seemed, from Lawrence University in I forget which midwestern state.  When the teachers heard Teiga playing her French horn during a rehearsal for the band, they were obviously impressed with her ability...and they needed a French horn in the orchestra.  So Teiga was by far the youngest member of the symphony orchestra with some very important parts.  We were all very proud of her, and, of course, of all the MMO performers today. 
We had hoped to do some tech-wonderful thing with our Macbook, but Thomas will have to fill you in on why that did not happen.  It certainly wasn't from a lack of effort, and something very wonderful may still come of the recordings he did with Liz's computer and with the photos and movies we took with my and Teiga's cameras.
Stephen

More Music...

Thomas here,

This evening there was the second of the camp's recitals.  We opened the show with Give My Regards to Broadway played by just the four of us.  Next we played our two Haitian pieces, Souvenir d'Haiti and Aongeliko, but we changed things a bit and invited three Haitian students to play with us.  The three were Gregor on trumpet, Cadé playing the conga, and Renœu.  We rehearsed for about 45 minutes earlier in the day.  The spot we practiced in was on top of a wall that goes around the football(soccer for all you Americans) field that slopes down to the entrance of the camp.  This seems to be a popular practice place and we quickly attracted quite a crowd.  The icing on the cake was when a young Haitian girl started to dance while we were practicing, and we invited her to dance with us tonight, she gladly accepted and showed up in traditional wear for the recital.  We do have video of this but it will be on our brand spankin' new YouTube channel.  Also some of the videos from Wednesday's recital will be there was well.

Ingenuity

Bonswa! It's Hannah. I just wanted to write to you about our ingenious Music Theory lesson yesterday, and it's continuation today. We didn't have a chalk board, but Aaryn (an American teacher) came up with the idea to use the large gates that separate the guestroom courtyard from the road as a chalkboard. It was probably the coolest thing ever. We got to be OUTSIDE, learning about MUSIC, and using what we had to HAVE FUN. In American schools, teachers never let kids outside during class. Here, all of our classes are outside. It's a different culture here, but I think I like this culture better. No one ever judges you for messing up your Creole, and everyone is always so kind and encouraging. I know I've said this before, but honestly, these people are so considerate and kind! There is no way to explain the culture here. These people have been through so many hardships, yet they never give up and they always remain positive. Their faith in God is astounding, because their God is the only thing that they can make sense of in their world of poverty, hunger, and death. Today I was talking to an 11 year old girl whose brother died when he was really little. Her attitude towards his death was that she was sad, but she wasn't letting his death determine her life. Later, she told me that her mother was pregnant and she was going to have a brother or a sister. I was overjoyed, and it made me think that we take babies for granted in America. We assume that most of them will live, but in Haiti, nothing is ever certain.

Speaking of uncertainty, Pere David (Haitian Director of the Music Camp) explained the concept of time for us today. He said that it's 8 o'clock until it's 9 o'clock. Time here is rather lax. Sectionals are supposed to begin at 8 o'clock on the dot, yet they usually end up starting closer to 8:30. You would assume that because it's a music camp that things would be on time, yet I feel like sometimes the directors are later than some of the students.

I wish that we could stay two more weeks for the rest of the music camp. I'm going to miss the people here, and also the language. I'm just starting to understand around 40% of what I hear, if it is said slowly.

I just want to inform everyone that currently, Teiga and Thomas are mauling a mango. Kevin calls it  " Operation Mango." So far, the operation has been successful, yet extremely messy.

Tomorrow, we plan on rehearsing in the church for our recital Sunday. Afterwards, we plan to play in the recital for students at 4 o'clock. Someone from the Haiti Four will let you know how it goes.

Na wa pita, zanmim! -Hannah

The end of this week's camp schedule is just about done.  Teiga is rehearsing with the orchestra as I type.  The others are observing the rehearsal and interacting with the Haitian students. 

The Organization of American States (OAS) has a group here.  They brought in four teachers from Columbia and several from the states to work with the Haitian teachers as well as teachers from Jamaica and St. Lucia who are also here.  It is essentially, like student teaching or professional development for them.  While the island folks work with the students, the experienced teachers provide feedback, suggestions and assistance during the rehearsals.  Then, the entire group of adults meets in a "round table" in which the experienced teachers provide both general and specific feedback about and to the teachers; providing new planning suggestions and rehearsal techniques. 

The head of this OAS program asked if I would observe Deborah, a Haitian teacher working with the "beginner" band, yesterday.  The "beginners" here like anywhere have a lot of energy and enthusiasm.  Deborah was very open to suggestions during the rehearsal.  My favorite part was that she had fun with the students (she was dancing in front of them at one point) but could also "lay it down" when she needed to.  She was "loving but firm" as my big brother would say.

The round table was fantastic!  It was this great meeting-of-the-international-teaching-minds, if you will.  It was so great (humbling, inspiring, energizing) to be part of this.  Just another unexpected opportunity to learn while in Haiti, even for the teachers.

I didn't expect to meet and connect with so many international folks here.   I'm thrilled to say that I am learning as much as our students :)

More Than Meets the Eye

Salut!
I just wanted to tell you all about the vesper last night. It was entirely in Creole, with some translation, and though I couldn’t understand it all, Pierre (the co-director of the camp) said something that was inspiring. “By becoming better musicians, we become better people.” I think that is a really cool thing to think about, and it’s also very inspiring.
On another note, I want to talk about the people as well. I can’t understand more than half of what they say, but somehow, I don’t always need to know what they are saying. These people are so friendly and so ALIVE! They are absolutely gorgeous physically, but you can also see how incredibly amazing and caring and kind their souls are. They are constantly laughing and smiling and trying to teach us Creole, and they don’t ever seem to be bothered by anything. They have so much less material things than me, yet they live so much more. I wish I could live life half as energetically as they do.
Bonswa!
Hannah

Salud!

     We're nearing the end of our last day of rehearsals before the weekend. That means that there is a concert coming up and soon plenty of photos and maybe even video. We also have the recital tomorrow (Saturday) night, in which  we are still planning on playing an American piece ourselves and possibly a Haitian piece with guests.

     Earlier today I gave a lesson to a very beginner trumpet player- I was essentially teaching him to read music. This was a very rewarding experience. I think that Hannah and Teiga gave lessons too the other day- look for photos.

     - Kevin