Haiti

Alarm clocks

Last night I arrived late into JFK airport in New York from Haiti where I spent a few days on the ground with Every Mother Counts visiting some exciting programs both they and other organizations are working on in both the Central Plateau and in Port-au-Prince. I’m currently on a plane home to my girls in Utah and can’t wait to show them the photos I was able to take not only of this important work but also of the lush beauty of this Caribbean country.

Every morning in Mirebalais the peacocks would send out a rumbling, somewhat rooster-like call at about 5:30AM. Except they are much bigger than roosters and not at all concerned about the noise they make when their giant bodies land with a thud on the roof above your head. It’s a far, exotic cry from the cars driven by students speeding through our neighborhood in the early hours of the morning as they wind their way up to the University of Utah.

My alarm clock is usually a stream of vehicles being maneuvered by sleep-deprived engineering and accounting majors. In that room in Mirebalais, Haiti, it was a flamboyantly gorgeous bird. I’m a little wistful when I think about all these little, differing pieces of my world that I so desperately hope my girls get to explore one day themselves.