A New Perspective on Reiser Heights (and Wookies) - by Eileen Bock

Day two of our mission, and a few of us on the team decided to mix things up a bit. Normally we all travel in the top-top (sort of a cross between a small bus and an open-air pick-up truck.)  Our team was spending the day at Reiser Heights school, which is over two hours away up in the mountains. A welder (Dominic) was coming to do work on the school building, so we also were bringing a generator (to power his welding equipment). The generator was loaded in the back of a separate pick-up truck, so Peggy and I rode in the cab of the truck, with our photographer Mike in the flatbed.

Along the way, our driver Maxim was an excellent tour guide (not to mention a great tutor of some not-always-proper-but-spoken-while-driving colloquialisms!). As we drove up the windy, twisty, ROCKY, bumpy, steep road, he commented on the points of interest, such as the various vegetation in the farms (cabbage, corn, onions, avocados, lettuce) and scenic spots, including Fort Jacques (built in the early 1800's), Lake Azuei (a huge freshwater late known for good fishing….FYI, Maxim loves to eat fish, but has never been fishing. I explained ice fishing to him, to his amazement), even a cemetery where people were preparing a new grave. 

Haiti is currently experiencing a gasoline shortage. Maxim said this is not common, but he wasn't sure why it's happening now. We needed gas for the welding generator, and stopped at four gas stations before finding one with gas. I will never again complain about the all-too-crazy gas station at the corner of Cleveland & Grand.

We reached Reiser Heights just as the kids were starting lunch. We brought along many boxes of food from "Feed My Starving Children", but today they were all eating bowls of red beans and rice. The son of the headmaster does the cooking in the kitchen. He also has a child with Down's Syndrome. After meeting with the special needs children at Gertrude's Orphanage yesterday, it warmed my heart to know Miniel (whom we met later in the afternoon) was being cared for and loved at home.

Our team passed out pencils and candy (yes!) to each of the students in all of the classrooms. All school children in Haiti wear uniforms, and at Reiser Heights pre-school students wear sunny yellow and bright green, and the elementary students wear bright green and soft green. As a former student of Fr. Reiser at Epiphany, I can only wonder if this color-scheme comes from him! (My fellow Epiphanites will concur!)

The real action started at the end of the school day. Our local Haitian team guides set up a keyboard outside and children gathered around. They first sang Fr. Reiser's favorite hymn "How Great Thou Art" in French, which gave us goosebumps to hear!  This was followed by other songs from the students, and then the team guides lead the students in fun, active songs. We realized kids attitudes universal, when we noticed the little kids were very involved while the older "cool kids" stood near the back and acted like they didn't want to participate. The day before (at Cite Soleil), we sang a song called "God is So Good", which has silly actions to go with each verse. We sang this song again today, and there is a line that I really thought said, "Do the Wookie", accompanied by waving arms in the air (do these kids know about Star Wars???). On the way home, I asked our guide Wilson (who turned 31 today!!) what we are actually singing. It turns out, the lyrics are actually something that translates to "Uncle Bookie", followed by a command to do something (kind of like the Hokey Pokey). So, no Wookie.

After the music, we spent time with the students playing and talking outside. At one point, I felt a small pinch on my arm. I turned to see a young boy running away. I smiled and said, "Bonjour!".  I nearly fainted when he ran back over and proclaimed, "I love you!" before running off again. I asked the girls to tell me his name, and I approached him to ask for a photo together. He was very embarrassed, but happy to take the photo. Many on our team spent the afternoon teaching the kids new games, while I talked with a group of girls so they could help me memorize what to bring them when I return. This took awhile, as they only speak Creole and French. The list includes baby-dolls, jump-ropes, school bags, earrings, soccer balls (for the boys), and sunglasses. (They also want telephones, but I drew the line at that request!).

We had the wonderful opportunity to walk around the town meeting families of some students, handing out some made-in-Minnesota dresses (for girls) and shorts (for boys). In case anyone wonders if these are needed:  After we gave one pair of shorts to the son of a man with 10 children, we noticed his young boy running home in glee holding his new shorts (while currently wearing nothing to cover his bum).

The ride home was a bit faster (as it was down-hill!), but we hit rush-hour traffic. It was fascinating to see the bustling city as we drove back to our guest house for the evening. The entire day gave us all a new perspective on Haiti, school, and life!