Yesterday we went over to the orphanage to check on some seeds and starts we planted last week. With the last group we spent the afternoon building a chicken wire fence, planting the starts the kids had taken care of and then letting them pick more seeds to plant. They loved it and it was so great to see them all getting into this project, especially since most of the kiddos are under 7 years old. This week we wanted to check out the progress as the Pastor who runs the house was not there last week so basically we left all the instructions in the hands of a 11 year old boy who seemed to really take an interest in being in charge. This week the Pastor was back from his trip and so we asked how things were going…well scratch that, we didn’t have to ask as we saw the moist ground and the plants growing like crazy the minute we walked in!!! I swear some of the plants grew 2-3 inches from the time they were planted last Thursday! The children were delighted about how well the plants were growing and the Pastor said they were all very interested in helping to maintain the garden on a daily basis. It made my heart melt to hear that. Here we had this amazing group of children who were dealt a bad hand early on and to see them become that passionate and excited about something made my day…shoot, it made my week! I think we have our first group of community gardener’s ladies and gentleman!! We told them we would come back on Friday with more seeds and work together to plant the rest of the garden. They sang for us like they always do (imagine the most precious thing you have ever seen and multiply it by 100) and we thanked them for their hard work and headed home.
The second part of the story lies in the cultural event we saw on the way home. We were drawn to a little house by some playing of music and artistic dancing around. As we got closer I recognized it as a Vodou ceremony. It was an interesting cultural experience though I have to admit my hesitancy to join in. Not solely because it was a Vodou ceremony but mostly because I cannot speak the language yet and I have reservations about any ceremony that I cannot understand. I like to know what is going on and things that are being said as you never know what kind of energy you might pick up from a situation like this. I was happy to be an observer and to appreciate the culture and the traditions of this community. It was nice that they let us in and asked us to be part of the ceremony (apparently it was for a little girl who was sick…a healing ceremony so to speak.)
This was my first experience with Vodou in Haiti so far and it left me with many questions about the religion, the culture and the ceremonies in general. I plan to find some literature and inform myself some more of this ancient practice.
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