Thanksgiving in Haiti

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. For my mom and me, it typically starts the night before while listening to Aretha Franklin and making pies (my mom makes the pies and I get stuck with the not-so-glamorous cranberry sauce and salad). Being in Haiti during the holiday wasn't something I was looking forward to because it just wasn't going to be my mom's homemade noodles, with my own family, in my sweatpants. Luckily, Thanksgiving was celebrated in Haiti, and I couldn't asked for a better group of people to be around for my favorite day of the year. The long term missionaries up at Grace Village (there are 11 of us now) drove down to the guesthouse and joined Elisa, her family, and the Nelson family for the feast. By the time Jean finished inviting some last minute guests, I think there were 35 people around the table. The food was great and we had the tradition spread - turkey, stuffing, cranberry and pumpkin flavored items, etc. Elisa's family brought the games and we ended the day with several rounds of Turkey Bingo (gobble gobble). With full bellies, and bags full our bingo loot, we headed back to Grace Village. This is the part where we were reminded that we were still in Haiti. The drive is typically 30 - 40 minutes but on this night there was a traffic jam extending our drive an addition 90 minutes. We were stuck at an intersection, sandwiched between trucks and buses, and inhaling diesel fumes for over an hour. Not just fumes - black clouds of exhaust. Happy Thanksgiving.

So what I am I thankful for? Well, surviving that drive was a great end to the day! In all seriousness, I am thankful to serve alongside some very awesome people. I am thankful we were able to come together as a family on Thanksgiving and share delicious food and good conversation. I am thankful for butter - real butter - as it is delicious (I don't eat it and I miss it). I am thankful for my friends and family in the U.S. who remind me everyday how much they love and miss me. I am thankful for FaceTime, Skype, email, computers, and the ability to stay connected to people even though we're miles away. I am thankful for this opportunity in Haiti which continues to stretch me everyday. I am thankful for Salomon, Franck, and Isaac who are running the farm and doing a great job. I am thankful for the Haitian heat and sun - it may make eating hot food difficult, but in a few weeks when I'm surround by snow, I think I'll miss sweating. I am thankful for my health and safety. Most importantly, I am thankful for the outpouring of support I have received this year - donations, prayers, well wishes, keeping in touch, following my blog - I am overwhelmed by it all...so, thank you!

The table goes on for days

third time's the charm

On November 13th, we had our third, most successful fish harvest! We harvested tank 14, which I purchased last November during my first trip to Haiti, so that was cool to be there from the beginning - all my babies grew up...and now they're dead...Anyways, I'm sure you're just have to know what a typical fish harvest looks like! They've all been extremely different so I'll tell the magical tale of how they each went down.

First Try - Tank 16
267 Tilapia

Last time this fish was seen alive...cause of death: kisses

Being a first harvest, we had a lot to learn. It was in May and my advisor, Cathy, came down to help. It was decided to purge the fish into a separate tank with clean water a few days before the harvest. This was supposed to help with the taste of the fish. Well, that didn't work out so well. The fish didn't like their new tank, and I can't blame them. They had this beautiful blue tank and were forced into a black one. Black is so depressing. And that's what killed the fish...one day before the scheduled harvest. They were upset from the move, excreted a bunch of ammonia, and ultimately committed fish suicide. It was a sad day but since the fish weren't dead for that long, we went ahead and harvested them. Although we didn't have the staff there to clean them, we made it work by pulling some ladies out of the kitchen to help. On the plus side we didn't have to kill them, the fish did that for us. 

So, what did we learn from this experience? For starters, don't move fish, they don't like it. Also, fish scalers are very important to cleaning fish - don't let anyone try to tell you to use the back side of a fillet knife - that person has never cleaned fish before. It's also helpful to have more than 4 people to clean 267 fish. Oh, and fish smell horrible.

Second Try - Tank 15
326 Tilapia

Broken, like my heart.

My roommates like to point out the day before this harvest I was quoted as saying "well, whatever happens tomorrow, it can't be worse than the first fish harvest." I was so, so very wrong. I woke up on the morning of August 21st ready to rule the world and harvest some fish. I got up, ate my strawberry poptart (strawberry is the best flavor simply because they have the best sprinkles - pink, green, yellow AND orange), and headed down to the farm to get things started. The good news is the fish were still alive - we opted out of moving them to a different tank this time.

After checking in on the fishies, I heard the unusual sound of rushing water. I found the sump tank tipped sideways, lifted out of the ground. The pipe that carries well water into the sump had broken and the water had been shooting into the ground, under the sump tank, causing the tank to lift upwards. When this happened, the pumps ran dry. All this chaos started sometime during the night, because in the morning the water flow had stopped throughout the entire system. The fish were all swimming in their ammonia infused water, and getting stressed out, and contemplating fish suicide. There was a point in the day where we thought four tanks were going to be harvested instead of just one. 

Miraculously we made it out and I'm so glad Cathy was here again. The fish harvest was the easy part. Ten ladies from the community came up to help clean the fish. We also had scalers (hooray). The tough part was fixing the sump - and I can't take any credit for that. The day was such a blur, I don't even know if I remember it clearly. I do know that there were about 10 workers from Grace Village who stepped up and were the sole reason we got through that day. The sump tank was removed, its hole was re-dug, dried, and then lined with concrete blocks and cement. It was grueling physical labor that lasted 8 hours. The sump was put back in and the water flow was restored. By the end of the day, the system looked as though nothing even happened, but our bodies sure did. My body ached from scooping out 5 gallon buckets of water from one tank and moving it to another. 

So, what did we learn from this experience? First and foremost, "extension cord" translated into creole can be many things, including a rope to tie up your goat. I got my extension cord that day, but I didn't find anything to tie up my goat with (ba dum psh). Second, never say things like "it couldn't get any worse;" God is listening and I'm sure even He needs a good laugh once in a while. Finally, the fish smell takes about 5 showers and some serious pumice stone scrubbing to finally go away; roommate tested and mother approved.

Third Try - Tank 14
355 Tilapia

I'm not sure who looks better, me or that dead fish...keep your answers to yourself.

Okay, sump tank still in the ground, check. Fish still alive, check (but not for long). This day was already off to a better start than the other two harvests. And it continued to be that way; I can't remember one problem! We started the harvesting around 8:30 and the cleaning began at 9. We worked solid for 5 hours - the time it takes to kill, clean, and wash 355 tilapia, averaging 2 lbs. They were the biggest fish we've harvested. Other than that, there's no exciting tales about this day. I ran this harvest with the Haitian staff, no advisor. I did get some extra help from a few fellow missionaries: Hannah and Shane. Salomon told me: "you know you have a good friend when they help you clean fish," and he's correct! 

For the first time I actually ate some tilapia - Shane filleted 7 fish for all of us to fry up - it was a big family dinner. Although the fish tasted great, the first bite tasted too much like the smell on my hands.  Again, only complaint is the smell :)

The End. 


WAIT! 

What do we do with all the fish? 

We freeze them and eat them in the feeding center at Grace Village. The kids and staff love fish and they're often served in soups or with rice. One harvest provides enough for 6 meals. We also donate a few bags to other Haitian orphanages we support. Also, the ladies that clean the fish each get a bag of fish to take home. The same for the aquaponics workers: Salomon, Franck and Isaac. 

How do we decide when to harvest?

We try to harvest the fish when they average 1.5 - 2 lbs, which we find takes approx. 10 months We purchase the fingerlings when they're just .3 grams and after a couple months we start weighing a small population each week to monitor their progress. 

babies!

Why do fish look so much better with googly eyes?

They just do. 

July!

I cannot believe it's already August! That means a couple things: 1. I haven't blogged since May so I need to get on it (surprise, surprise) 2. I've lived in Haiti for 7 months! 3. I have so much to blog about - you're mind is about to get blown.

Juuuuuuuuly came and went! In the beginning of the month, I flew home for vacation (every 90 days I'm required to leave the country because I don't have a visa). The timing worked out perfectly as I was able to join the rest of my family in Hayward, WI for the 4th. This year the Pierces gathered from Boston, New York, Indiana, Minnesota and Haiti. It is one of my favorite holidays and a tradition for the past 26 years. It was so nice being able to see everyone and talk about my experiences in Haiti; it was also nice to sleep in and eat the most amazing food. We enjoyed relaxing at the lake, eating at the original Famous Dave's, water skiing, making s'mores on the fire, and just hanging out. We even had time to get in a competitive game of Monopoly - a favorite between all of the cousins.  

After a week at the cabin, I came home and had some more fun: celebrating my dad's birthday, going to several concerts with friends, watching my 4-year-old nephew techno dancing, visiting with my grandma (who was in town from AZ), and eating all the American food I've been missing - including my Dairy Queen chicken strip basket with gravy. You could say it was a success.

Cabin view

Bragging rights...even though I still lost

Chasey and his great aunt, Susan, enjoying the lake

The boat and the RELAXATION STATION - I'm not sure which my dad likes more

Papa turned 60, Mama made pie.

Sunny and Papa celebrating his d.o.b. 

Don't let those pigtails confuse you, that girl has a straight up mullet. Oh, and she's obviously excited to see me.

Watching Raphael Saadiq from the side of the stage...no big deal! 

Got my funnel cake on at the Basilica Block Party!

I returned to my Haitian home mid-July and as can be expected on an island in the Caribbean in the middle of summer, it's a hot one. I won't get into the details about how much I sweat, there's another blog about that, but you can assume it's a lot. Here's some other July news:

Farming 

Once I got back to the farm, things were looking pretty sad - I'd like to believe it's because the plants missed me while I was away, but I think what they're actually missing are some key nutrients like potassium and iron. I should say my team did an excellent job tending to everything while I was in MN, but we've noticed the plants start to struggle as soon as they reach maturity and start to bare fruit. After this had happened in May, we had a huge replanting and also hired a local farmer to help us tend to the plants. His name is Franck and he's amazing. He's not only helped us take better care of the plants, but he's also teaching us the seasons in which to grow all of our crops. 

So even with Salomon and Franck's expertise, these plants continue to do poorly. Most of the plant's food comes from the fish waste, however, nutrients like iron, potassium and calcium need to get added to the water in order for the plant to survive. Although we're dosing these chemicals weekly, we're finding they disappear too quickly. The pH has also been an issue, it's too high, and again we're having a hard time keeping the chemicals in the water which should be lowering it. On top of all this, we still have to deal with environmental problems such as too much sun/heat and pests like caterpillars and aphids.

Needless to say, we've been busy...and we've also started to make some changes. Earlier this week, Salomon, Franck and I went to Port-au-Prince to buy some "local" seeds, hoping they'd be more heat resistant. During the car ride back to Titanyen, I pulled out the seeds we had purchased to further examine their package only to notice the seeds weren't from Haiti but instead from Italy and then packaged in Japan...so much for local :-/ At this point, if they can handle the heat and higher pH levels, I don't care where they came from! In the Haitian markets, there are so many delicious vegetables, so we know these things can grow in here, we just have to get the right variety of seeds. We spent half the day planting 600 seeds yesterday, trying okra, lima beans, cabbage and sweet peppers, so within a couple weeks, we'll find out if they work! 

Not all the plants missed me...these peppers sure like to party...and check out that ginormous cucumber!

Hello? Oh, the cucumber is for you!

My First Haitian Wedding 

One of the driver's for Healing Haiti, Maxim, got married on July 31st...you know, just your typical Wednesday afternoon wedding :) The ceremony was at Grace Church and the reception was in the medical center. Although construction continues on the medical center, the floor was just tiled a couple days prior and plus it's got the best views of Titanyen in the open-air soon-to-be waiting area. People were working all day to decorate and get Grace Village ready for the wedding - it really did look beautiful. 

Like most things in Haiti, the wedding did not start on time. Surprisingly we weren't waiting for the bride or groom, it was actually for the busload of guests to arrive! There were 40 people invited, but over 100 in attendance. Two hours later, the music started playing and the wedding party started dancing. They did a series of dances before the groom then bride walked down the aisle to the song Colors of the Wind. After the ceremony, we enjoyed an awesome taco dinner out on the medical center balcony. It was a fun night, and Maxim and his wife, Diane, seemed to have a great time.

The groom, Maxim!

Jess, Rachel, Hannah and me eating tacos on the ledge of the medical center...you can see that big bus in the background

Jean clearly dressed up for the wedding

Elisa, the godmother to the new couple, found out she was required to give a speech right at the exact moment she was supposed to give a speech...she pulled it off! And yes, Haitian weddings have godparents. 

New Roomies

Another big thing that has happened is a change in roommates at the missionary house. My former roommate, Kristina, moved out in May and Kathy completed her year mid-June. Jess, who started in July 2012, has decided to stay another year, and together we welcomed 4 awesome missionaries this summer. It is one full house but it kind of feels like camp with all of us together. It's definitely been fun getting to know everyone...as always, Haiti is quite the adventure. 

The Healing Haiti long-term missionaries: Rachel, Hannah, Kayleen, me, Elisa, Jess, & Bianca

Aquaponics 101 by Aquawoman

I know, aquaponics is confusing. I've been there; some days I'm still there. But today, I'm feeling lucky; let me break it down for you and describe how the system works. They call me Aquawoman down here in Haiti, and you're about to find out why.

SUMP TANK

This is the most magical tank of them all! The head honcho; the boss; the big cheese; the top dog; the high man on the totem pole; the fat cat; the tank of all tanks! In layman's terms, it's referred to as the sump tank and as you can see it's full of water! Be prepared, because every picture I'm going to show you on this magical journey is actually full of water. That's how aquaponics works. Aqua means water. Think about it. 

Okay, so in the sump tank there are two pumps which pull water into the fish tanks. Where does this sump get its water, you ask? Well, the system actually circulates water from tank to tank...it's a magical journey, as I may have mentioned. The water from the sump is actually coming from the troughs which hold the plants. Due to evaporation and cleaning of the system however, we do lose water and it is replenished from the well. 

You'll also notice a snazzy dosing chamber. The dosing chamber is where we add nutrients like calcium, potassium, or iron. These nutrients are mixed with water and slowly released into the sump tank. This keeps the plants happy! 

Since the sump hold the cleanest water in the entire system, in addition to its convenient size and location, in the hot summer months, it will also be my lounging pool. Pool lap times will be between 2 and 4.

FISH TANKS

So from the sump, into the pump, next stop: fish tanks. Oh hey, look at those fabulous fish tanks. The fearsome foursome! Each tank holds about 300 tilapia which we purchase from Operation Blessing, a mission down in Port-au-Prince. We purchase the fish when they are babes (or fingerlings, as they say in the fish world); roughly 4 grams. It takes 8 months before these bad boys are roughly 1 - 1.5 lbs, in which they make good eats. To fatten these guys up, we feed them high protein pellets twice a day. So each tank holds fish of a different age, spreading out our harvests throughout the year. Booya.

So fierce, that foursome.

What up, fishes? Googly eyes, they get me every time.

STANDPIPES
What goes in must come out. Then it gets sucked into the standpipe located in the center of each fish tank. The standpipe has holes drilled near the top and bottom of the pipe. The bottom holes pull out the solid waste along with water, the top holes insure the tank doesn't overflow. Just as water is continuously getting pumped into the fish tanks, it's also getting pulled out via the standpipe. Magical.

One time I saw a fish poop and then another fish swam up to eat it. I reminded myself not to eat that fish come harvest. Drat, if only I could remember which fish it was!

CLARIFIERrrrr

From the fish tank, the water, along with that wonderful solid waste, move into the clarifiers. See those two black tanks keeping the sump tank company? Yeah, those clarifiers mean business. It's a gross job those tanks have, but hey, someone's gotta do it. So the fish poop settles at the bottom of the clarifiers which get emptied three times a week. A valve opens and the poop exits Grace Village on the other side of the school wall. Good riddance! 

One time we emptied the clarifiers while school was in session. Classes got canceled for the rest of the day due to the bad smell. Oops! ...I should set up a side business where kids pay me to empty those things right as school starts.

MINERALIZATION TANK
Okay onward and upward! From the clarifier, the water moves onto the mineralization tanks. These two tanks are seriously where the magic happens. I'm not lying. At this point the water is full of nutrients from the fish. Although the solid waste is left behind in the clarifiers, the dissolved solids have advanced to the next round. In the mineralization tanks there are large nets where the nutrients can hang out, socialize, and relax as the nitrification process takes place. Nerd alert! Bacteria convert ammonia to nitrite then more bacteria convert nitrite to nitrate. See, it's magic! Plants just eat that nitrate up! So, without the ambiance of the mineralization tank and its nets, this would not happen. 

So every week those nets have to be cleaned. With so many fish eatin' and poopin' there's a lot of nutrients. When they hang out on those nets too long they start to take the oxygen out of the water and it starts to smell...like poop. It's the most disgusting part of the job, shoveling out poopy bacteria on the bottom of those tanks. Whoot whoot. 

DEGASSER
Okay, the gross part is over; onto the degasser. Water in this tank is distributed to the troughs. 

This tank is boring awesome (but kind of boring...not to mention a chore to clean algae off of).

TROUGHS
So the water enters the trough and continues its magical journey 88 feet to the other side. By the time it exits the trough, however, it's a lot cleaner. All those freeloading nitrates the water has been hauling around get absorbed by the hungry plant roots. "Ahhh" says the water as it leaves the troughs feeling refreshed.

Kale is such a show boat.

The farm.

And from the troughs, the filtered water happily flows goes back into my swimming pool, er, I mean sump tank. For the cycle to continue. Cue The Lion King's Circle of Life.

"So, do you come here often?"

 Ohhh did you get all that? If not, you can look at what I get to study: 

Whoa whoa wee whaaa? 

It's SO hot!!!!!!!!!!

I know, I know, it's been a minute. You're probably wondering what I've been up to in Haiti and here it is: I've been sweating. I am so hot! All the time...so ridiculously hot...dripping sweat...being sweaty. And there you have it. 

My dad told me I'm not allowed to email him to complain about how hot it is, but he never said anything about blogging about it...but for the record, I am NOT complaining, I'm simply stating facts. Since January the temperature has been steadily climbing from 80 degrees and these days it's between 90 - 95. Facts, Dad, not complaints. 

You think I'm kidding?! I went home in April and my nephews and niece gave me sweat rags for my birthday present.
 

Baby Chasey understands me. 

Okay, let's be serious. I have actually been doing other things aside from sweating or talking to my roommates about how much I've been sweating. The farm has been keeping me super busy. As the troughs are slowly filling with crops, more and more pests come and try to eat them! We currently have green and red lettuce, sweet peppers, cucumber, kale, melons, tomatoes, cauliflower, zucchini and broccoli but are struggling with rats, aphids, caterpillars, nutrient deficiencies, heat and viruses. I yi yi! Just this week, Salomon, Andre and I planted an additional 650 seeds of a variety of peppers, more kale (our star player), eggplant, onion, and cilantro. In just over a month, we plan to double our current plant numbers, so yeah, we're busy! 

Another thing we're really looking forward to is our first fish harvest, which will happen at the end of this month! Hooray! I can tell the Grace Village staff is pretty excited because it's really the only question I get here, "when do we get to eat the fish?!" It's going to be quite a day harvesting 300 large tilapia, but I'm really looking forward to it, especially when it comes time to eat. The kids are going to be ecstatic! 

Now I'm going to distract with you some photos to make this blog look longer...

Fishes in tank 13 - YUM!

The farm

Look at the beautiful kale! Now, only if the kids liked it...

March 27 Red Lettuce, yo!

Sweet pepper coming in hot...but it's not really hot, it's sweet. Oh, and I pruned that leaf immediately after this photo was taken :)

Droopy eggplants - they've got spider mite :(

Did I mention the weather has been rather warm?! 

Jacmel, Celebrations & Home

Haiti is a great place to celebrate your birthday, especially when you're serving alongside some amazing ladies. Elisa, who works down at the guesthouse, organized a fun day trip to Jacmel with her sister, Caroline, who was in town visiting for the week, and Jean. I don't think I've written about Jean, but he's the head hancho down here - or technically, the engineer that over sees Healing Haiti on the Haiti end. Jean's also my salsa dance teacher, Haitian dad, and on this trip to his hometown, an awesome tour guide.

Jacmel is on the southern coast, approximately 3 hours from Port-au-Prince.

Our day in Jacmel started early, waking up at 5 in order to avoid Port-au-Prince traffic. (The night before Jean knocked on our door to tell Elisa and I we were up too late and needed to go to bed...like a true dad.) Elisa took care of us all by packing all the snacks, CDs, and blankets (it gets cold in the mountains). It was an amazing drive through the mountains, and yes, the blankets were used so we could still drive with the windows down and enjoy the fresh air. We stopped at Bassin-Bleu to go swimming under a waterfall. It was so gorgeous...the pictures don't do justice! The water was just the brightest blue I have ever seen.

One of the pools before the waterfall.

Elisa, Caroline and I hiking to the waterfall...Jean made us raise our arms for whatever reason.

Bassin-bleu! 75 feet deep!

As soon as we pulled over and got out of the truck to take this photo, 2 little kids came up to join us. Jean thought we should try to get a picture of all of us jumping...after several attempts, this is the best we got...

After the waterfall, Jean brought us to the ocean to do some more swimming! We had a great lunch on the beach: lobster, fish, fried plantains, and good ol' Prestige (the local brew). 

Ze beach!

Lobster, fish, plantains and pikliz (a spicy slaw made of cabbage, hot peppers, vinegar, carrots and spices - one of my favorites down here.)

Downtown Jacmel

Kind of has a New Orleans feel to it.

Cleaner than Port-au-Prince

On my actual birthday, I spent the day with family and friends via FaceTime, Skype, emails, texts, and Facebook. My roommates made me a delicious spaghetti dinner. I was so grateful for all the love and well wishes and I know 26 is going to be the best year yet.

Oh, but it doesn't stop there. I went home for two weeks in April and you better believe my mom continued the celebration with her famous homemade chicken and noodles! It's seriously the BEST meal and it was made even better by being able sharing it with the family. I had a wonderful couple weeks home! I ate some amazing food, took lots HOT showers, played in the snow, went to a Twin's game in 30 degree weather, got on the JUMBOTRON at said Twin's game, ate more amazing food, played with my adorable nephews and niece, slept in, and drove a car! All these things I miss...well not so much the snow part...but it truly was the best vacation I've ever had.

This is what I woke up the day after I flew in!

First day back, stopped off to surprise Theo (4) and Delaney (1.5)...look how excited they are to see their aunt!

Celebrating my birthday with my brother, Wade.

Theo!

Ladies and Gentlemen: Homemade Bacon Mac & Cheese Pie - made with brie, gruyere, and cheddar cheese. Be jealous.