My Haitian Friends

Myself along with two other spouses in our church started teaching adult ESL classes in our church building twice a week. We started the classes in September and have had about 50 Haitians regularly attend. They are working very hard and have made a lot of progress. I teach the beginning class and they are lots of fun. My favorite lesson was when I taught the body parts and then taught them the hokey pokey. I had everyone get up and make a big circle and follow along. A lot of them wanted to write the song down so they could teach there children. There was a lot of laughter that day:) 

The "grab a root" hike

A few weeks ago I organized a group hike to this crazy not very well known hike on the island. The hike starts at the top of a very high cliff and you have to climb down the cliff to get to the beach where there is a beautiful waterfall that falls right onto the sand. It was a pretty scary hike down because there are no harnesses, just some rocks, a few random ropes, and roots of trees to use to keep you from plummeting to your death! Although it was very hard it felt like such an accomplishment and getting to play under the waterfall and in the ocean was a good break between scaling the cliff. I was really grateful that the cliff was draped with thick trees and forest ferns that often masked the full view of the several 100 foot drop. Our guide that drove and hiked down with us was kind enough to break open some fresh coconut for everyone to snack on. It was a nice sweet treat. 

Espwa Donmnik (Hope Dominica)

Both Paul and I are members of the Ross student group Friends of Espwa Donmnik which is creole (the national language) for Hope Dominica. It is a palliative and hospice care group that is also a branch off of the national non-profit group Espwa Donmnik. I am the education coordinator on the executive board and have been staying busy organizing events and programs for this very new group. I just finished running a student and faculty raffle to raise money to buy a morphine pump for the hospital. The group was able to form a partnership with the government that if the group provides the hospital with the pump, then the government will be able to supply the morphine. Supposedly liquid morphine is very cheap, but the pumps are over 1,000 US dollars a piece! One of the faculty physicians at Ross is trying to open a palliative/hospice care wing in the hospital and having morphine pumps will be a great start. The island has morphine only in pill form and is very limited. I just finished the raffle and am now working on the actual ordering and shipping of the pump to the island. 

Once a month the group offers a community volunteer program where students and "spouses" (b/c that is all I am here!) to visit both the island's nursing home and elderly people who are home bound and living alone through a coordinator from the Catholic Church. Paul and I have really enjoyed going on these visits. Dominicans currently have the most centurions in the world! The oldest woman living on the island is 109! There is something to be said about eating fresh food off the land and having to walk everywhere. The people here are extremely healthy and look so much younger than they always are. They always have so much wisdom to share with us:) 

A Year Already?

We have done a horrible job of keeping everyone posted on our adventures so we have decided to try, again, to improve over the next 5 months.

Dominica has been a great place that we have really enjoyed and we want to share it with all of you!!!

Keep checking back for the updates that we hope to add soon.  We will also try our best to add some posts that detail some the our most memorable moments on the island.