Visiting Maude's House

This afternoon, my mother, Emily, and I visited an old friend. To get to her house, you first had to enter a little compound. The fence of the compound is made of cactus. This is common throughout Haiti and really genius. The cactus is fast growing, strong, and actually semi-poisonous too. No one would want to cross one of those fences! There were about five houses there, all pretty close together. The house we went to was really nice. It was one story and painted blue and pink. I absolutely love the houses in Haiti. I think because many people don't have the money to build really nice homes, they work extra hard in decorating them. There are often really intricate stone designs and beautiful colors. After greeting our friend she of course led us around to meet all her family. This is something I have noticed about people in Haiti: family is very important. Everyone we meet asks about your family, introduces you and brings people to meet you from their family. Not just sons and sisters, but mother-in-laws and such. Maude introduced us to her adorable grandchild. Lucina was very friendly and showed us all her baby doll. She really wanted me to take pictures of her and would pose for me. She lived in the same house as her mother and grandmother. In Haiti many families live together and share the same house. In America, its more difficult to have this same closeness with your family. We all have relatives in different cities, states, etc. I really enjoy seeing these families and how they obviously care so much about each other. It makes me envious to see a cousin and aunt have a closeness that I do not have. While being in Haiti I have noticed a lot about what people don't have because of the obvious. Lack of running water, not much money etc. I have also noticed things that I don't have such as the closeness of family, how everyone on the street greets you even if they don't know you, the sense of community and good humor in everyone that I seem to lack more at home. While visiting this family I was reminded of the unimportance of material things. I could see that what really made these people happy was being with ones they loved. And I guess, maybe that's all I really need too.