My Haitian Valentine

The title is a little misleading. Here's what I'm talking about:



I made this video with some help from the people I work with. We held a five-day training seminar for members of grassroots organizations all over Haiti. The people came to learn about the prison system, the police hierarchy, the judicial works, women's rights, children's rights, and nonviolent conflict transformation. Some of the participants appear in the video. I got the idea when I saw one participant named Hubert (pronounced "ee-bear" in Creole) wearing a Seattle Supersonics tank top. And the scary guy with the glowing tomatoes is Sayil. He's the caretaker for the MCC office/guesthouse. Kind of a gentle giant. The video I took of him was so dark he was invisible, so I tried to mess with the effects and that's how it came out.

I'll write more about the training later. I'm pretty sure that with the exception of a phone call from my folks, it was the longest I've ever gone without interacting with a native English speaker. Coming back to the office today and reading my e-mail and talking to Jessica and Bethany was like diving into a swimming pool after five days of trudging through a dusty desert. That's overstating it a little.

The setting for the training, and most of the clips you see, was a beautiful spot called Our Mother of Wisdom, or something along those lines. It's a Catholic facility with dormitories and nuns and an enormous collection of potted plants. I'll get some of those photos up too.

Anyways, best Valentine wishes to all. Like Sayil with the radioactive tomatoes said, I love you and miss you.