As most of you hopefully know now, I am finishing my last necessary part of my schooling-my second student teaching assignment- overseas in Haiti. I'm teaching in a third grade classroom at Cowman International School which is near the city of Cap Haitian. It's going great so far, but I wanted to answer a very common question- why Cowman? Why Haiti?
If you have ever talked to me, even for 2.5 seconds, you probably know that I spent six weeks last summer at a childcare center/orphanage in Lagosette, Haiti called COTP. You probably know that I completely fell in love with the babies, the preschoolers, the atmosphere, and the people. You've probably seen my scrapbook or have seen my Facebook posts about it. From the second I got on the place to come home, my heart has been torn between Haiti and home.
When I found out that I was accepted into the international student teaching program at Cairn, I knew that I wanted to find somewhere in Haiti. When I went onto the ACSI website (the Christian school accreditation place), there were only two in the whole country, Cowman and Quesqueya, a school in the capital city of Port-au-Prince. When I researched where this little school, Cowman, was I found that it was only 25 minutes away from where I was in the summer of 2014! Perfect! Except that that was the only information I could find. I questioned my supervisors and they were very doubtful that it would work out. They recommended that I go with my third placement option and forget that I even saw the Haitian schools. My heart was set though, and with some determination, I finally uncovered a missionary teacher's blog from Cowman and connected with him. Eventually this lead to me finding the ministry's webpage and director's contact information and so here I am! I love feeling like a real teacher in my classroom and have come to love my ten third graders. My mentor teacher, principal, housemates, and everyone else have been wonderful as well.
Instead of being nervous about being away from home for another six weeks, I was only excited. My face was probably like a kid at Christmas when I first caught sight of the Haitian mountains outside of my plane window. To make my stay even sweeter, I get to attend church at COTP on most Sundays and am currently spending a long weekend there as well! I am surrounded by my kids from last year and some new ones as well! My hair has been pulled, I've been pinched, slobbered on, and kissed. My feet are filthy because a little someone stole my shoes for a while so that I would tickle her. I am tired. And I am more content that I have been in a long time.
So, why Haiti? I think one of my education professors said it best. While looking at my scrapbook, full of pictures of the kids here at COTP, instead of looking at the kids and commenting on how cute they all are (and believe me, they are), she looked at my face. She said, "When you talk about Haiti, you light up more than you ever do any other time in my classes. Look at you in these pictures. This...this is where your heart is happy."
And that is exactly why I chose Haiti for this round of six week adventures; it is where God has chosen to make my heart happy.
