November 16, 2018 Alice? Alex? Yesterday morning, I was about to leave for the sisters, when I spotted the little girl who father died of tuberculosis last week. I wanted to take her to Mass on Wednesday morning, but when she got in the car, I noticed how dirty her legs were so, I said she could come another time. When I saw her yesterday morning both she and her clothes were clean. I asked her if she wanted to come with me. She smiled broadly and said yes. She then pointed to her feet. He didn t have shoes or sandals on. She pointed to the house. I said go. I was glad I had waited because just seconds after she got into the car, I notice Louise coming down the stairs. I waited for her. She said she wanted to go to Mass with me. After Mass, a few of the sisters made a fuss over the little girl. I introduce Louise to Fr. Tom and we exchanged a few pleasant words. I showed Louise the hospital and the school. And I showed the little girl all the rabbits the sisters keep. When we got home, Billie said we needed to take an infant to the hospital. We also had to bring Jodely back for the results of his tests. After that we had to drive to Petionville to get a new three burner, propane stove for the outdoor kitchen. The old one had died I guess you could say it was burned out. It cost $360 and barely fit in the Xterra. While Billy was doing the adult job of picking out the stove, I wandered around the hardware store. Before coming to Haiti, if I went into a hardware store once a year, it would be one time too many. When I got the paint section, cans of spray paint caught my attention. I bought six cans of paint: red, orange, blue, yellow, green, and purple. I had a plan. I was tired of seeing the cinder block walls. They looked so drab, and prison-like in photos of the kids. When I got home, I spent nearly two hours in the heat painting two sections of the wall. As I was painting, I notice an older woman seated on a bench. Ecarlatte said it was the mother of the little who I had taken to church. Her father died last week, and the mother wanted her and her brother, who also lives with us, to come to the funeral. I have you notice that I had not mentioned the girl s name? That is because it is hard to pronounce and impossible to spell. Her name sounds like Alice-stanni. Everyone pronounces it differently. I have spelled it differently in previous Journal entries. I asked Ecarlatte to have the mother write the girl s name down so we can learn it. The woman said she could not write. Nor could she spell her daughter s name. The little girl cannot read or write. I asked her to say the girl s name and it was difficult to understand what she said. I asked if I could simply call her Alice. Every one thought that was a good idea. Alice just wants to be next to me, wants me to hug her. She is actually Naïve s cousin. Naïve say the brother is much nicer than Alice. Ecarlatte said Alice is trouble. I said it is wrong to label a child as trouble. She is a child of God and we need to see the good within her. Billy, who is always sensitive to tough situations, suggested that we give the mother some money. She has six kids, two of whom live with us. The others are older. She too is also recovering from tuberculosis. She has no job. We gave her 3,000 gourdes, which is just over $40. She said thank you seven or eight times. Her is a snapshot of Alice and her mom, who looks much older than her 45 years.
Notice the bland wall behind them and below is Alice in front my the wall I painted.
OK I got to this point in writing the Journal when Billy came into my office hoping I had time for a driving lesson. We spoke about Alice and how her mother could not even write her name. I told Billy I want to call her Alice. He said he thinks he knows how to spell her name and there is no Alice in it. He said it is Alexstanie. So, I either call her Alex stanie or Alex. Now to my painted wall
This was the reason for painting the wall colorful backdrops for portraits of the kids.
Louis playing cards with upstairs kids on Wednesday night.