Learning more about Haiti

[Eyleen Chou]

Hello Haiti Project Team,

I hope you're all doing well and this first round of midterms isn't gettin' you down. Tomorrow night at 6:30 pm there is an EWB general meeting in the Tong Auditorium with free food. Students who have traveled will be on a panel discussing experiences they've had in the communities EWB-UW serves. Hope to see you all there!

Also, after the health education meeting tonight, I'm realizing many of you may be curious about our community of Bayonnais and learning about Haiti in general. I'd encourage you all to check out the YouTube videos from Peter Daniel at: http://www.youtube.com/user/peterbdaniel3. Peter is from North Carolina and lived in Bayonnais for a year teaching classes. He is an American who has probably seen most all aspects of life in Bayonnais (he even was present for a birth).

In addition, I'd encourage you all to check out the book Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. It's a non-fiction book about Paul Farmer, doctor and anthropologist who has committed his life to improving health in Haiti and other places of need around the world. He started with a rural community in Haiti.

If you're interested in learning Creole, a great way to learn language is music! I picked up some CDs this summer from a Haitian group: Boukman Ekspeyrans (http://www.boukmaneksperyans.com/ and http://www.myspace.com/boukman).

I can definitely lend you my CDs (one of them has a booklet of lyrics, both English and Creole...which is somewhere in my house) or burn you copies.

I also have a Haitian Creole book I can lend to you. Email me if you're interested!

Eyleen