Goat Mountain

The expedition to the Fort has been delayed. Jonel said he didn't have time to go, so we rescheduled for next Saturday. But, today, I decided to explore the area around Mont Kabwit ("Goat Mountain"). Mont Kabwit is a very steep, rocky hill before you get to the western mountains of the valley. From the side I approached, it just looked like a giant mass of huge, black rocks. But after walking around to the other side, I found a nice path up to the very top. And at the very top, I saw the most beautiful sight I've ever seen. The slope of the mountain facing the valley is so steep that you can't see it from the top. So, sitting at the top sort of feels like your sitting on a platform suspended in the sky, overlooking the valley a thousand feet below. You can see the entire valley, and the mountains surrounding the valley, and the mountains behind the mountains surrounding the valley. And if you look in the opposite direction, you can see the ocean about 25 miles in the distance. The view was panoramic, and epic, and daunting. One of the students at the school told me that people from the area go to the top of Mont Kabwit to pray and "meet God", and that made a lot of sense to me.

After descending the mountain, I decided to keep walking towards the mountains behind Mont Kabwit. I walked around a hillside and saw a bright red tree in the distance. For miles and miles, the mountainside was pure green and here was this massive, red tree in the middle of it. And I decided to try to hike to that tree, and once I had done that I decided to go further. And on the other side of that mountain were more mountains, dotted with bright orange trees. And the mountains just seemed to get bigger and bigger and more beautiful.

Two sisters, Yvolene and Damise, that go to the intermediate English class made me promise that I would let them braid my hair. And I kept delaying the inevitable by telling them that I'd let them do it sometime in the future. But last class they told me that they were going to do it Saturday, at 3:00, at their house, and left me no choice. Suprisingly, my Creole was better than their English, so we talked in Creole while they did their thing with my hair and they corrected my horrible grammar. And Jesula, who turns out is their cousin, showed up and we sat around talking for a couple hours. And besides feeling embarrased because my hair looked pretty scary, it was a very nice afternoon. This week has been the first week where I really felt part of Bayonnais, where I've had really interesting conversations with people, and gotten to know people, and felt like part of the community. After a few hours talking to Yvolene, Damise and Jesula, it was like we were old friends, despite the language barrier.

But despite everything awesome that has happened today, it has been just as hard as any other day. Every day is filled with really spectacular moments, like standing on top of Mont Kabwit or getting to practice my Creole with new friends, but every day is also filled with very harsh, prying questions and realizations. While I was sitting outside Yvolene and Damise's house, one of their younger brothers (they have 12 siblings) was laying outside on a straw mat. Their brother has epilepsy and hasn't been able to walk or talk properly in ten years. When he was six, he began having very serious seizures. Now, he just spends his days laying outside in a dreamlike state, moaning sometimes. The nearest hospital is over 20 miles away and very few people have the means to get there. And even if they could get there, there probably isn't anyone qualified to treat a condition like epilepsy (I was told recently there isn't a single pediatrician in all of Gonaives, the third largest city in Haiti). And even if there was a form of treatment available, there's no way they would be able to afford it. And I can't possibly understand what it feels like to be his sibling, or parent, and know that there is absolutely nothing I can do to help him. But for every person that I meet that is truly suffering in ways that I can not understand, I meet another person who has more ambition and passion that I can understand. There are students at OFCB that want to go to college and become doctors and agronomists and business men and women and change Bayonnais despite all the odds against them. There are people here that have the integrity and substance of the greatest people to have ever walked the planet. There is great suffering in Bayonnais and there is great rejoicing. And every night I go to bed feeling very weak, physically, emotionally and spiritually. And every day there are moments when I wish I could leave right now and never come back, and moments when I wish everywhere in the world could be as wonderful as Bayonnais. And everytime I feel I've made a major breakthrough in understanding Bayonnais, something happens that makes me realized I haven't even scratched the surface. Yeah, so, I hadn't intended to rant when I started this paragraph. I'm just going to shut up now.