Creole and “Alo Kimberlie”

I promise I will get to telling about my actual trip to Haiti soon!  Before I do though, I want to share two more things I did in preparation.

The first thing was to try to learn a little Haitian Creole.  I bought a phrasebook/dictionary 
 --which actually has also been fun for me to use to translate words in Kimberlie’s letters.  (Her letters are, of course, translated for me by Compassion translators but it’s still fun to look up some of the words).  

However, I found the best way to learn was something my fellow Haiti traveler, Jason, told me about.  It is a website called byki (or free app if you have a smart phone).  I used the website, which has “flashcards” you can listen to and practice with!  

A flashcard from the byki website - you can listen to native Creole speakers say the words or phrases

Even though we had translators with us the whole time in Haiti, it was fun to be able to speak a little Creole to Kimberlie (and sometimes a few other people), and I wish I had learned more.

The second thing I wanted to share with you (because was a big hit with Kimberlie) was taking some special photos for her.  I knew I wanted to give her a photo album, with some photos in it and some empty spaces for her to add more photos later.  This is what I did: I made a sign which said “Alo Kimberlie” then used the sign, her photo, and a little stuffed dog I was also taking for her-- to take some photos with different groups of people. 

Here are a couple of  examples:

Sunday School kids at my church - can you pick out the little girl holding the stuffed dog?

My daughter's Awana group - sweet kids!

Kimberlie loved the photo album.  It was one of the first things I gave her when we met, and she looked thru it very carefully right away.  She got the biggest smile on her face when she saw that I had also brought the “Alo Kimberlie” sign for her!  

Kimberlie and me with her sign!

When I asked her what she likes best that I send her in my letters (the stickers? the coloring pages? the photos?) she said “photos!!!” And what does she want me to send more of?  “More photos!”  So, the album was a small and easy-to-do project that made her very happy. 

Another funny thing about the photo album --  I wanted to get a blue one because “sky blue” was listed as her favorite color in her first letter.  The kind of album I wanted did not come in blue, so I got a pretty bright pink one.  When I was talking to Kimberlie, I asked her if blue was still her favorite color.  “No, pink is” she said.  Was it because she was holding the pink album, or was it a happy ‘coincidence’ that I bought the one that was now her favorite color?