Haiti Day 2

After church, we had some down time (which included much singing) and then ate lunch. The homemade peanut butter here is incredible! Then we had a Creole language and culture lesson with our twins and had a chance to practice what we learned by going to our twins' houses and meeting their families. Communication was a little rough at first, but we've figured out a mix of Spanish, English, French, and Creole that functions well enough to describe instructions for games, which were crazy fun. The smaller kids loved duck duck goose, though they just said duck duck DUCK! and then took off. They're the most intense, athletic duck duck goose players that I've ever seen in action. They're also hardcore hot-potato players.
The play that N A Sange performed later in the evening was a drastic shift into the serious history of Haiti; the performers acted out the colonization and abuse of Haiti, its indigenous people, and the imported slaves. My twin was quick to question me on what I knew of Haiti's long history of violent oppression and she filled in gaps that the play left. It was interesting and quite touching to see how much she wanted us to not only understand, but care.
After the play, our twins went home and we had the pleasure of listening to Mona and Carla's band. They were absolutely amazing and I plan on buying their CD :) Music is central to the culture here. There is loud music at what seems like all times here, even as I write this draft at 11:45 PM. Today has been an eye opening experience, especially seeing our twins' homes.

Our sleeping space doubled as a stage for the band!

Emily Carroll