The Women of Be Like Brit

This week, women around the world were celebrated on March 8, International Women's Day.  As I sat down to write this blog, I couldn't help but think about the women who work for us here at Be Like Brit.  So many of you have followed this journey from the very beginning.  You are coming to know us and our children, but it occurred to me that most of you don't know much about what happens behind the scenes!  In the spirit of celebrating women, this week, please meet the women of Be Like Brit!

Rosenie

Meet Rosenie.  Rosenie's role has evolved here at Be Like Brit.  Rosenie is essentially my assistant when it comes to child-related work.  Rosenie and I go everywhere together!  She is well known and highly respected in the community of Grand Goâve.  Nobody messes with Rosenie!  She really has taken the lead on locating children and families to interview to determine eligibility for enrollment into our program here at Be Like Brit.  Once a child is approved for enrollment, Rosenie and I work side by side through that process, including everything from intake paperwork and translating to enrollment in school, shopping for books, uniforms, setting the child up with new clothes, shoes, personal items, the list goes on and on!  Rosenie is also a nurse, and great to have on site 40 hours per week in the event we need someone to tend to scrapes and bruises.  With Rosenie next to me, I know that I can go anywhere in Haiti and not be worried!  As she always reminds me, "I will protect you!"  And she does!  Through me, Rosenie keeps everything else in order with the staff and has proved to be an invaluable resource and has also become a great friend!

Elsie (with a very happy Kervins)

Elsie is a school teacher, and works with us at Be Like Brit as a primary caregiver.  Elsie takes the lead in after school enrichment.  She has the sometimes challenging task of getting our older children who are in the Haitian equivalent of elementary school to review their lessons and study after school every day.  The children come home from school around noon everyday.  After they eat lunch, they get free play time for about an hour, and then it's time to hit the books!  Elsie has done a great job with helping our children preform well in school.  She proudly reports the day's scores to me and brings any educational issues to my attention.  She has the patience of God Himself and we are so blessed to have her here!

Carline and Love na

While Elsie is busy working with our older children, Carline heads up the preschoolers!  All but 5 of our children are in preschool, and so keeping them busy and learning is no easy task!  While she has help from other staff, Carline does an amazing job with managing 14 little ones and keeping them happy, clean, and engaged in healthy play and learning.  Elsie and Carline also have the gift of voice and spend about an hour each day with all of our children together practicing childhood songs in English, Creole, and in French! Trust me when I say that a building full of children is usually very loud, and there's nothing sweeter than the sound of 19 little ones singing along in near perfect unison!

Yranie

Yranie has been with us for about one month now at Be Like Brit.  Yranie officially works as a caregiver's assistant, but really her work is very much directly with the children.  Yranie is here every day to meet the children as they come home from school.  She helps them all change out of their school uniforms and makes sure that each child puts them away neatly.  She teaches them things like how to make their beds, where to put their belongings, and maintains order in the children's bedrooms.  Most recently, we started a program with Yranie and the children where she now spends a few hours a week teaching them basic life skills, including washing clothes, shoes, etc.  In Haiti, it's the norm for children to do laundry - as laundry is done by hand, it's a great opportunity for the children to sit together, completing a task, learning about responsibility and what it means to contribute to the household.  It's also a great chance for them to sit and talk, sing songs, and laugh!  I was nervous about the idea at first, but the kids look forward to this every week!

Yranie also helps all our children at bath time.  In Haiti, the children wash in the afternoon, as the water has been heated up enough by the sun that it's a bit warmer.  This happens just before dinner, and takes about an hour!  The other caregivers help with dressing and drying while Yranie keeps watch and gives direction and assistance in the tub!  She even started coming in on Sundays (her day off) to iron school uniforms - I told her that it wasn't necessary for her to come and do that, that we have other staff capable of performing this task.  She wouldn't hear of it.  When I asked her why, her answer was so sincere and so genuine.  "They're kind of like my own children.  I want them to learn this from me."

Mirta (L) and Mirlaine (R)

Madona

Mirta, Madona, and Mirlaine are three of our overnight caregivers.  I am always surprised at the amount of work these women do on the night shift.  I had assumed (somewhat naively) that the overnight shift would be easy:  You come in at 7, the children go to bed around 8 or 8:30, and then you're free!  Obviously, this is not the case.  Not only do these women have the task of getting all of the children prepared for bed - but they have the responsibility of getting them all ready in the morning, too!  The two things children hate the most - to go to bed, and to get up - they deal with 6 days a week!  Throughout the night, there are almost always interruptions.  Mirlaine and Madona both go to nursing school by day, and Mirta has a family of her own.  We're so lucky to have them with us here!

Mariette (L) and Evana (R) 

Our kitchen crew is always hard at work!  The kitchen starts things going at about 5:30am every day, and doesn't close usually until around 8:00pm! Gilbert manages our kitchen and does a great job along with the four women who cook for us!  Mariette is the lead cook, and we especially like that she's currently in school learning how to make and decorate cakes!  Along with her, Evana, Betty, and Rolen work hard to make healthy and nutritious meals for our children and our staff!

We also provide one meal a day for some local children who might not otherwise get to eat - in February we served over 30 children from outside Be Like Brit lunch!  We provide one meal each day for all of our staff, too, and have to accommodate for visitors and Britsionarys regularly!  This week we'll be cooking for an extra 30 people every day!  They really do an amazing job putting out our meals.  Each of them has gone through a first aid training as well as a food preparation and sanitation training!  They do a great job keeping us all fed and all healthy!

Betty and Rolen washing up!

Keeping 19,000 square feet of building clean and keeping up with our 19 children is no easy task.  You can imagine that things get pretty hectic and interesting around here!  We have a crew of women who keep things safe and clean: Madame Santana is one of those women.  Santana has been around since Len first came to Haiti to scope out places to build.  We actually have a photo of Santana serving water to people not long after the earthquake - She works 6 days a week and sings along the whole time.  She also teaches me Creole (she doesn't speak a word of English!) ~ Thanks to her I know all about toilets, beds, rooms, sheets, pillows, laundry, soap, washing, drying, wet, dirty, clean, ready, and not!  I secretly try to sing along when I hear her "whistle while she works."

Santana

Zet, letting Susan demonstrate some of our medical equipment in the BLB Clinic

Santana is assisted by Zet, who works just as hard!  Zet can usually be found doing laundry or maintaining our Britsionary rooms.  If there's one thing that Haiti has a lot of, it's dust!  She preps the 6 rooms and 22 beds for our visitors and maintains those areas throughout their stay.  She also works in the dining area and maintains the common areas at Be Like Brit.  She and Santana are great friends and we enjoy sitting with them at Church on Sundays - just like family!

We also happen to have some men working for us at Be Like Brit - we have three male caregivers and they work just as hard as our women do.  We really have a great crew here and what I like best is that at any given time, you might see someone assigned to laundry help one of the children with putting his or her dishes in the sink.  A cook may hear crying and come out to offer some comfort.  Our tasks are specific, but our roles are somewhat fluid.  We hope this fosters a real sense of family, of love, and of security.  

Thanks for reading, and enjoy some more photos from the week!

Jonathan

Carline and Elsie

Betty (standing), Evana and Gilbert

Sunday, March 10, 2013 before Church!

Dance night!

Lined up to walk to Church!

Nashca

Socrate, looking smart!