May Retrospective

Wow, how the weeks fly by! Here's a little of how we've been filling our time this month:

The Great Cherry Meltdown.
Our resources in Dezam are limited even compared to those of our coworkers in Port-au-Prince, so when I learned that there were cherries in Port's local markets I felt discouraged and more than a little jealous. But lo and behold, I found this in front of our house:

And this behind our house:

And this at the MCC office:

The lesson, it turns out, is to keep my eyes open to what's happening all around me. It might just be the thing I think I'm missing.

Visitors from the North.
Hooray for:
Beth & Jason! We had a fantastic time showing them our favorite haunts, checking out the local arts scene, and cooking up a tasty cherry crumble. After receiving B&J and Bryan's parents, and hanging out in Dezam with the Steckleys last week, we can say again that we LOVE having visitors (hint hint, for those of you weighing the pros and cons of trekking to the Caribbean this year...). It's really what makes it possible for us to keep living in the Artibonite Valley. Well, that and the internet.

Taking to the seas.

Last Sunday a group of MCCers, visitors, and friends headed to a small island off the coast of our small island home for a day of snorkeling and splashing in the waves.

For photos and details, click through to Rebekah H.’s blog.

Induction into MCC's Ajan Anviwonman Program.
Well, we didn't actually become Agents, but the Environmental Education Program welcomed 30 new students (2 from each partner school) as AAs. These kids were selected by their teachers based on their enthusiasm for protecting the environment, and MCC's program plans special activities throughout the year to encourage them to pick up trash (or reduce their trash creation in general), plant trees, and spread the green word to other kids.

Changing of the Season.
Goodbye dust, hello mud:
After months of hauling water from the river for our garden, the rains have come and brought everything back to life!

We hadn't realized how much we missed the sound of rain until we started hearing it again. This means that our water worries are over (no more driving to the river to find water for our garden) but our electricity worries have begun (less sunshine means less time for our solar panel to convert rays into power).

The arrival of Bryan’s first true love.

I’ve become a bike widow again, but I don’t resent for a minute the pleasure he gets from tooling around on two wheels. We cannot thank the many hands that made its arrival possible. Danny and Courtney pulled it out of their basement and got it boxed up, Beth and Jason lugged the thing around a few airports and Frazer Mennonite paid the oversize luggage fee. We can't thank you all enough for making this happy reunion possible – THANK YOU!