Earth care

In French, the verbs for crying (pleurer) and raining (pleuvoir) seem pretty close - je pleure (I'm crying) and il pleut (it's raining). I've also often wondered why the weather is preceded by "il" (he) and not "elle" (she). A few weeks before our trip, I started using the verb pleuvoir, saying "je pleut", when I cry. I thought this was kind of a quirky thing to say, the kind of mistake an anglophone would make - I'm raining :) - and I found it fun and silly, turning my tears into smiles. 

My emotions have been like big waves here in Haiti, some moments being filled with joy, Love, beauty, peace or curiosity, and other moments feeling intensely frustrated, deeply sorrowful and angry.

As someone with a desire to enrich life, which is intertwined with my permaculture ethics to "care for people" and "care for the Earth", sometimes I ask myself "What can I do to make more of a difference?" With frustration sometimes, my inner critic, the "jackal voices" as we call them in Nonviolent Communication, tell me that I'm not doing enough. My need to contribute is not being fully met! However, after a day like today, I'm reminded that we really CAN have an impact.

Today, we spent most of the day at Montague Public School, where we led discussions with four classes and a group of teachers about their plans and ideas to make their school "greener". In the afternoon, we played a "web of life" game with the students and saw the entire school (in groups of 15-20) in a whirlwind of an hour and 15 minutes! I was most touched to see the interactions between the older students and the younger ones. I noticed an older student holding the hand of a little girl in his group, guiding her into the classroom. A couple of the grade 7 and 8 students leaned over to help the smaller junior and senior kindergarten kids read their cards during our group activity.