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.