Their program in Haiti is set up to receive both kids from the community and kids from the children's homes. Kids Alive has 3 children's homes where kids are cared for by house parents 24 hours a day. This becomes their family and their home. They also have kids from the comminity come in for schooling in the morning. The kids continued to come to school while construction went on, although I'm sure it was a bit of a distraction.
One of the things that was really hard for me was communication! Haitians speak Creole or French, of which I know about 5 words. Although where I work in Caraballo, many speak Creole, our kids are not allowed to speak it during class time because we try to help them learn Spanish well to be able to succeed in the Dominican Republic. Because of this, I never thought it would be helpful to put the effort into learning Creole because I wouldn't be able to use it with the kids. Well, I got a crash course in Creole, and left speaking about 15 words. My goal now is to work on a 3rd language, but I know it will come slowly! I wanted so badly to speak to the kids and staff, but everytime I tried my Spanish on them, I got blank stares in return! It's just such a natural response when someone doesn't understand English to revert to Spanish! Creole, here I come!
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