Monday, March 10

A quick word. We are beginning our fourth week in Haiti tomorrow. It has been hot.

It is vacation, the week before Easter. Last week all the school children had 'composition,' which is an exam. Now they are on a break. During the vacation I am taking a small group of students each day to do arts and crafts and decorate the school.

A crowd of children came today and I had to be strict. I counted 10 and told the rest to come back tomorrow. By the time I gave out paper to do drawing I had 15, not much room around the tables or enough coloring pens. A lot of mayhem. This was a group of 9-12 year olds. I asked them to write their names and ages on their drawings and was shocked that I could not read any of them, other then Loggan's.

They cannot write or spell at all and when I asked their ages, none of them knew how old they were. I mentioned it later to a teacher from another school. He said it was because they have just started school, as many of them are orphans. We made some kites, origami, and did some drawings. I was exhausted after 2 hours. Everybody needed my attention 100%, all pulling, pushing and talking at the same time.

More later, Doko