Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho, It's Off to Mini-Camp We Go!

So what do you get when you combine fifty-five children under the age of 6, a ton of goofy songs and dances, a bunch of recorders, and two crazy teachers....the answer is mini-camp!  During the first two weeks of this month Ecole de Musique Sainte Trinité held their annual mini-camp for recorder students, beginner strings, beginner band, and beginner choir members.  I was blessed with the exciting job of assisting my good friend and colleague, Deborah with the flûte-à-bec (recorder) class.

Every day for two weeks, Monday through Friday, our fifty-five recorder children showed up at Sainte Trinité cathedral around 8am.  After morning prayer, we headed to our designated room and began our day with songs and dance.  I had a great time trying to remember some of my favorite children’s songs and translating them into Creole.  

We also had a little 90’s flashback and taught the kids the Macarena.  I cannot not even express how hysterical it was to watch my class follow me in the dance!

Our morning song and dance was followed by time spent teaching basic music theory and recorder to the students.  We spent time learning our different note values and the first three notes on the recorder.  Then mid-morning we took time to refuel and took a break for snack.  These three women are the masterminds behind making sure our bellies were full.  Not only are they great cooks, but they always had a smile on their face when you came to visit them.  I’m super grateful to all of them!      

After snack, we worked on more recorder music.  Then we broke the class into two groups and half of our students went to a dance class, while the other half stayed with me for crafts.  Finally at 1pm our little munchkins went home and I spent the afternoon prepping for the next day.  

At the end of the two weeks on our final Friday, we had a big concert for everyone to show off what they learned.  Our kids showed off their new knowledge of music and mad recorder skills.  

Although it was basically two weeks of straight madness, I wouldn’t have traded those two weeks for anything.  I loved having the opportunity to spend time with the youngest musicians of EMST.  And I’m hoping some of my translated songs will live on for future mini-camps.  Also I have to give a big thank you to my parish; those VBS mission trips in the Dominican Republic were really fantastic training for mini-camp!  And then thank you of course to my sponsors Kathy & Nick Nerangis and my old flute teacher Francis Averitt!  Less than two weeks and I'm home everyone!!!!

A Little Voyage to Cap-Haitïen!

As many of you know, I will be returning to Haiti for a second year of service with the Young Adult Service Corps.  I will be returning home in August for a few weeks to catch up with family and friends, and then at the end of September I will be flying back to Haiti.  When I return I will be working in the northern part of Haiti, so two weeks ago I traveled up to Cap-Haitïen again.  

This trip to Cap served many purposes: 1) To meet and plan with Bishop Ogé what my work will be next year. 2) To drop off some luggage to make travel home a little easier in August. 3) Check out my new living arrangements. 4) Take a little vacation from Port-au-Prince before the music camps started.

My trip was off to a great start on Wednesday.  Three partners from Episcopal Church in the US traveled to Haiti to check out new potential project sites and I had the pleasure of traveling with them.  You can only imagine how excited I was to learn when they arrived that they were from Richmond and the Diocese of Virginia!!!  

Unfortunately there was not enough room in the car for me to join the partners on their trip on Thursday.  So after a good night’s rest, I hung out with Serette, Bishop Ogé’s wife and my adopted Haitian mom!  The two of us had a wonderful day baking, sharing meals, and enjoying each other’s company.  It was so nice to feel like I was with family again and enjoyed the relaxing day.

On Friday there was room for me in the car this time!  We first headed to Trou-du-Nord where we looked at potential project of building the rectory for Saint Luc.  Then we visited the church and school where we saw the preparations going on for their summer camps. 

We then drove to Terrier Rouge to see the Episcopal agricultural school, Saint Barnabas.  I have to say I’ll always be a city kid, but it was super exciting to be walking in the country through grass again!  Everything is so green up north!        

In the afternoon we returned to Cap-Haitïen and took a trip to the plot of land that will be used for the new Diocesan center of the north.  The plot of land is another potential site as it needs a fence around it to avoid squatters.  It looks like it’s going to be a great place for the center; lots of land and a beautiful view of the mountains.

Afterwards we took a quick trip to the Episcopal vocational school which is the location of my new apartment.  Myself and Kyle, another Episcopal missionary, will be sharing an apartment there and it will also be the location of my office.  I’m excited because as you can see the view from my patio is amazing!

Next stop was on to a soccer game.  It was a game between the local priests and pastors of the Cap-Haitïen area.  Bishop Ogé had the honor of kicking the soccer ball that started the whole game.  It’s not every day you get to see your future boss kick off a game!

On my last day in Cap-Haitïen, I met with Bishop Ogé in the morning to talk about my job next year.  I will be helping get a music program started in seven different Episcopal schools in the north.  I’ll be helping train the teachers of the program along with providing administrative help.  We had a great meeting and I’m super excited to start my work there next year!

All around it was a wonderful trip and I’m really looking forward to September.  But before then I can’t wait to see everyone at home to catch up!  Thank you for all of the support as this first year is winding down and thank you to my sponsors Greg Whitmer & Anne Wallinger, Becky Stern, my Grandma Bingaman, and Kathi Adams.  Stay tuned for an update next week about the fun of mini-camp!

As Another School Year Ends...

As always life here in Haiti never seems to slow down even though school is now out!  Since returning from Colombia at the beginning of May, I think I’ve had some sort of concert, performance, or service to play for almost every weekend.  Along with the excitement of several musical happenings, I’ve also been helping plan for mini-camp, been photographer for the school, and begun to pack.  (And isn't it crazy that I’m talking about packing already!?!)  

So let’s take a moment to highlight the performances of these past few weeks.  The first was an OPST concert that featured tango music.  For the concert we had a guest conductor, a flutist, a bandoneon player (it’s kind of like an accordion), and two professional tango dancers come in from Argentina to perform with us.  My favorite part, and also the audience’s favorite part, was the dancers.  They were stunning as you can see from my photo and it was fantastic to have the opportunity to work with these fellow artists.  

The other performances were all for services at Sainte Trinité Cathedral.  There was much to celebrate in the cathedral in May and June.  We celebrated Holy Trinity Day, the 20th anniversary of the consecration of Bishop Duracin, and the 100th anniversary of the Sainte Trinité Cathedral.  On the Sunday of the 100th anniversary of the cathedral, we also celebrated the graduation of the first ever graduating class of Ecole Sainte Trinité.  Until a few years ago Ecole Sainte Trinité was only a primary school going up to the 6th grade.  So it was very exciting (and coincidental) that the 100th anniversary was same year as the first graduating class!

As “photographer” for the school, I get the pleasure of joining some of the chamber groups of the music school for their performances.  This past weekend, the Chamber Orchestra played Music Day at Fokal, a popular arts venue in Port-au-Prince.  I love being able to enjoy the concerts through the lens of my camera and be able to help capture these special moments for the school.

Another joy of being a missionary is all of the amazing people you get to meet and cool places you get to visit.  Through a request of 815, I was asked to take some pictures of St. Vincent’s School for the Handicapped.  The school is run by the Episcopal Church and is one of the very few facilities for handicapped children in Haiti.  As you can see, I made a great new friend in my visit there!

Another one of those cool visits happened this past week.  Myself and three other people from St. Jacques’ English congregation made a trip to the women’s prison in Pétion-Ville.  Throughout the year, the English congregation has been collecting various supplies such as soap, toothpaste, wash clothes, etc. to create packets to give to the women in prison.  Our trip last week to deliver the packets to the inmates was the final piece of the project.  Myself and the other volunteers felt very humbled for the opportunity to visit almost 300 women and share the love of Christ with them through these packets we had created for them.  It was a wonderful visit and the congregation hopes to keep these relations we've created with the prison to help them again in the future.

So a whirlwind of excitement as always and now to get ready for camps!  Of course a big thank you to the sponsors from these past few weeks Anna Mueller, Don & Yvonne Bingaman, Arthur Sperry, Bill & Sue Jarvis, Wayne & Pam McKinly, Cathie Waldie, Ron & Dee Johnston, Martha & Jim Griffin, Gil & Marge Kesser, Pat & Mari Kofalt, Jim & Sylvia Petrie, Jane Harris, and Polly, John, Jack, & Maria Nelson.  Also dear friends and family back home, you can begin the countdown...I’ll be back in the states at the beginning of August!  Can’t wait till I get to see you all soon, but until then I’ll help keep the music education going here in Haiti!

76 Trombones in the Big Parade!!!

Ok well seventy-six might be a slight exaggeration, more like three trombones....but hey we had the premier of the first ever Sainte Trinite marching band!  As promised, I told you I would tell you all about our first performance when it happened!

When I returned from Colombia, I jumped right back into the swing of things.  We rehearsed everyday with the marching band preparing for their first performance that was to take place on May 17 in honor of Flag Day in Haiti.  

I was so excited to come back and see the hard work that both the students and my colleagues had done while I was away.  The students prepared two pieces for their performance, the Haitian National Anthem and the Let’s Go Band.  

On Friday, we all met early in the morning to get ready for our first parade.  The parade included our marching band, dancers, and students who had prepared some songs to sing and a skit (all were students from the Ecole de Sainte Trinité).  At about 10:30 a.m., we took our first steps on the road in front of the cathedral and it was so cool to see everyone on the streets stop to watch!

Eventually we ended up in front of the National Palace to play the National Anthem for everyone.  Then the other students performed their skit and songs.  After some exciting performances, we continued our parade to the Ministry of Culture.

At the Ministry of Culture we performed for the Minister of Culture and the staff.  After the performance the students got a break and were the stars of tons of pictures!

Finally we marched back to the cathedral, after a few more photo ops.  When we got back to the school, there was a mini-celebration with drummers jamming out and the students cheering.  The excitement was absolutely infectious!  Overall, I was super proud of the success of the students, but more importantly happy to see that they had such a good time.  

GEMN Conference

As many you know at the beginning of May I traveled to Bogota, Colombia for the annual Global Episcopal Mission Network (GEMN) Conference.  Both Colombia and the conference were fantastic!  

My travels to Bogota began a few days before the beginning of the conference.  Nina (fellow YASCer serving in Brazil), Ryan (fellow YASCer serving in Costa Rica), and I all traveled down early to do a little sightseeing.  We had a great time; on our first day we stayed in Bogota to see the Gold Museum and then took a cable car up to Monserrate.  On Monserrate there is a church located at the top of a mountain over 10,000 feet above sea level.  The view from the top was absolutely spectacular.  

Another highlight that day was running into a man with a llama.  Seeing as llamas are my favorite animal, you can only imagine how excited I was!  Extremely grateful that I got to experience that part of South America.

On our second day, the three of us took a bus ride out of the city to the Salt Cathedral.  The cathedral is literally located in caverns.  The tour begins with the stations of the cross that eventually lead you to the main cathedral.  The cathedral was beautiful and I highly recommend visiting it if you’re ever in Colombia.  

On Saturday we relocated to the hotel where the conference was being held.  After checking into our rooms, we were able to catch up with friends we haven’t seen in awhile from the states.  Then on Sunday the conference officially began by attend a service at the Episcopal cathedral in Bogota.  I love services with so many people from around the world and it was especially fun doing one in Spanish again (last time was in the Dominican Republic back in June with my Christ Church mission team).

For the rest of the week we were in workshops and presentations with a focus on Province 9.  Highlights of the conference were a presentation given by Paulo Ueti about theology and economic sustainability and the site visits.  The first site I was able to visit was a program for women empowerment and displaced people.  The second was a church that provides housing and services to senior citizens and also an after-school program for at-risk youth.  At both sites it was inspiring to see the work that was being done within the Episcopal church for these communities.  You could really feel the presence of Christ in the work that these parishes are doing.

On our last day of the conference, we had a beautiful service presided by our very own Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.  My favorite part of the service was the music (big surprise, I know...); the cathedral's band played and they were wonderful!  

On Friday, all of the Episcopal Latin American missionaries stayed an extra day to meet together.  I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with the other missionaries and getting to know my fellow comrades in the field.  

My trip to Colombia was amazing and I greatly thank the Episcopal church for the opportunity to participate in the conference!  I also thank my sponsors from these past few weeks Becky Stern, Anne & Bill Drury, Sharon Lower, Donna Gullstrand Davidson, Susie Carmichael, and Bill Endorf.  Come back later this week for an update on the fun that I’ve had upon returning to Haiti!   

Haiti Connections Conference

As you read in my last post, I had a very special event during the month of April.  I attended the Haiti Connections Conference, a conference that was put on by the Episcopal church.  The main goal of the conference was to do exactly what the name implies, to build connections between the Diocese of Haiti with the dioceses from the United States.  The conference had over 150 Americans and Canadians in attendance, all of the priests from the Diocese of Haiti, and several others who have been working in Haiti. 

Thanks to an invitation from Elizabeth Boe, the , I was able to attend the conference.  Our adventures began a little before the conference though, as when I picked up Elizabeth from the airport we headed straight out of Port-au-Prince to Les Cayes.  We visited the Bishop Tharp Institute to check out a potential site for future YASCers.  It was great way to start Elizabeth’s trip to Haiti, as Les Cayes is located on the peninsula part of Haiti and the trip is a beautiful drive along the coast and through the mountains.

On Tuesday, we headed back to Port-au-Prince to the hotel at which the conference was being held.  A great perk of hanging out with Elizabeth is getting to meet all of the different people from the Episcopal church.  We enjoyed talking with people over dinner and looking at the stunning view of Port-au-Prince from the hotel’s restaurant.

The next day the conference officially started and began with a tour of the main Episcopal centers in Port-au-Prince.  I found it slightly humorous to go on this tour since I live here, but it turned out to be a great experience!  Not only did I have a chance to see a few places I had not visited yet, I also had the opportunity to walk around the ruins of the Sainte Trinité cathedral.  I had no idea how seeing this would effect me until I stumbled upon the remains of the pipe organ that once was housed in the cathedral.  It brought tears to my eyes and for the first time it truly hit me of the great loss this country gone through.  At the same time it is also inspiring, because even from those ruins, one can see the rebuilding that is happening all over Haiti.

Later that day in the evening we had the kick-off opening dinner.  I was recruited to play with the Sainte Trinité chamber orchestra for the pre-dinner music.  I loved that everyone had an opportunity to see and meet the people that I work with and now consider a part of my family.  

On Thursday we had a great day of speakers talking about the different things that are going on within the Diocese of Haiti.  However, I have to admit that I was a little partial to Elizabeth’s fantastic presentation about creating and developing partnerships!  

In the afternoon, Elizabeth and I took an impromptu visit to Croix des Bouquets, which lies a little outside of Port-au-Prince.  The purpose of this trip was to visit Saint Simeon, an Episcopal church and school.  We went to take pictures for their partner school in Chicago.  It was a great visit and it was most inspiring to hear that in the years that Pére Val, the priest of Saint Simeon, had served there that the congregation had grown from 25 to 250!  The Episcopal church is quite alive and well in Croix de Bouquet!

On the last day of the conference, I had the pleasure to attend the final Eucharist.  Reverend Roger Bowen, who has done many years of work in Haiti, gave a beautiful sermon with the most touching prayer for the children to conclude.  After the service, I sadly said goodbye to my new and old friends. 

The conference was an amazing experience and I thank the Episcopal church for inviting me to attend!  I loved the connections I was able to make and look forward to continuing those friendships both here in Haiti and back in the United States.  

April Adventures!

Wow I can’t believe that so much has happened in this past month.  Things have been crazy busy between concerts, conferences and oh yeah, Easter!  So I’m going to break this into two blog posts.  This one will be to fill you in on my Haitian Holy Week and everything else that went on in April.  And you’ll have to come back to read more about the other special event that went on this past month! So let’s get started, because in the words of Mr. Willy Wonka, “So much time and so little to do. Wait a minute. Strike that. Reverse it. Thank you.”

Holy Week in Haiti was great!  As my Christ Church family knows, this is a very special time of year for me because it marks the two year anniversary of my baptism.  And this year was just as special as the past two, as I celebrated Jesus’s resurrection with my new family.  I kicked off the week with giving the message during the Palm Sunday service.  I was thinking about all of you at home as I recounted the Winchester tradition of the community service on the Old Town Walking Mall.  It was really fantastic to share that piece of home with my community here. 

Then later during the week, I attended the Good Friday service at the Saint Trinité Cathedral downtown.  This was the longest service I have ever sat through but I thought this was a great type of service to have for Good Friday.  The service was a great lesson of patience as I listened to a mini sermon for each of the seven phrases that Jesus said as he was dying on the cross.  One of the pieces of the service I particularly enjoyed was that we were each given post-it notes to write down our prayers to put on the cross that was then carried to the front of the cathedral.  I really appreciated the solidarity of silently sharing my prayers with the rest of the community.

That then brings me to Easter!  I love Easter and that reminder of the joy that Jesus has risen for our sins.  This Easter was just as joyous.  The morning began with our service in which two of my Haitian friends and I played the service music.  After the service, two of my very good friends from church and I went down to the best bakery in town to enjoy some Easter treats.  I then spent the afternoon back home playing an awesome game of Creole Scrabble (this has been an on going effort to help me learn the language!).  And my Haitian Easter ended with attending a party for the baptism of one of church families’ son.  It was a fantastic way to spend Easter!  Yay Jesus!

Now to the rest of my April.  This month has been crammed with a ton of concerts!  The first concert was an OPST concert that featured music from Haitian composers.  The music was wonderful, but what was so beautiful to see was the passion that my fellow musicians poured into this music that is their music.  

The next concert was a student recital, where two of my students played a clarinet duo for the concert.  I’m a little bias because they are my students, but I must say they did a superb job!  Another treat was that band students from the primary school performed on the recital.  They played really well and it was so much fun to see students progress from the beginning of the year.

The last concert was this past weekend that featured the faculty of music school.  I was privileged enough to play several pieces with my fellow faculty members including a flute quartet, a flute duo, a trio for flute, violin and viola, and even got to sing in a quartet!  My favorite part was talking to one of my students after the concert and I asked him if he wanted to now start playing more challenging music.  He laughed and replied, “Oh yeah!”  Mission accomplished, inspire students!

So as you can see life has been very exciting as always here in Haiti.  The other exciting event of April was attending the Haiti Connections Conference, but that gets a blog post to itself!  So make sure to come back to read more later!  Most of all thank you to all of my wonderful sponsors from this month including David and Sarah Bicking, Bridget Coffey, Dixon and Kay Witworth, Chris and Melissa Ferguson, Margaret and Scott Arthur, Pete and Mary Pat Gronauer, Bill and Sue Jarvis, and Sue and Larry Correll!!!!!