SE POU NOU MANJE! (LET'S EAT!)

One thing is for sure: When you go to Haiti you want to know what is on the menu.  A food vocabulary is really important, especially if you are one of 20 people trying to figure out what is on the menu.

Learning some Kreyol by reading a menu seems practical and essential.  So, I've made the following menu from a compilation of items on various lists I found.  Take note: Spelling varies in Kreyol. We'll just have to deal with that.

MENU

Appetizers

• Akra (Black-eyed pea fritters)
• Lanbi Pike Nan Ji Sitwon  (Spicy marinated conch)
• Plat Fritay  (Fried platter, okra, conch fritter, sweet potato and plantain w/ ti malice and watercress sauce)

Salads

• Chiquetaille de Morue (Saltcod salad)
• Salad Pomdete (Potato salad)
• Salad Zaboka (Avocado salad
• Salad Tap Tap  (Mango, watercress, carrots and mixed greens)
• Salad Zaboka Ak Tomat  (Avocado and tomato salad with onions, house dressing)
• Salad Chiktay  (Mixed salad and avocado topped with herring

Soups

• Bouyon (Meat and vegetable stew)
• Soup Joumou (Squash soup)
• Legim   ( Stew vegetables)

Poultry

• Poul neg Maron ak Kalalou (Chicken with okra and mushrooms)
• Tassot de Dinde (Dried turkey)
• Poul Nan Sos   (Stewed chicken)
• Poul Boukanen  (Grilled chicken)

Meats

• Bef Salé (Dried and fried beef)
• Boeuf á la Haïtienne (Beef with tomatoes and peppers)
• Bef Kalalou Ak Mayi Moulin  (Stewed beef and okra served with cornmeal)
• Aubergines à l'Haïtienne (Eggplant stewed with beef)
• Boulet (Meatballs)
• Griots (Fried pork cubes)
• Kabrit Boukanen  (Grilled goat) 

Seafood

• Krevet (Creole shrimp)
• Lambi (Boiled conch)
• Mori ak Sos (Saltcod with sauce)
• Kribish Nan Sos Kokoye   (Shrimp in coconut sauce)Pwason Gwosel  (Whole fish in lime sauce)
• Pwason Neg   (Fish in lime sauce or blackened)
• Spageti Kreyol  (Spaghetti with tiny shrimp and mix vegetable in creole sauce)

Vegetables and Beans

• Banan Peze (Fried plantains)
• Diri ak Pwa (Red beans and rice)
• Labouyi Banane (Pureed plantain)
• Banann Peze  (Fried plantains)
• Militon Gratinen (Chayote gratineed with cheese)
• Patat Boukannen (Baked sweet potatoes)
• Sos Pwa Frans (Sweetpeas)
• Zepina Nan Sos Kokoye  (Spinach in coconut sauce)
• Mayi Boukanen   (Grilled corn)
• Mayi Moulen (ak sos pwa ou kole) (corn meal with mix bean or bean sauce) 
• Sos Pwa Rouj (Red beans in sauce)
• Veritab Fri (Fried breadfruit)
• Aubergines à l'Haïtienne (Eggplant stewed with beef)
• Pikliz (Spicy pickled vegetables) 

Breads and Grains

• Diri ak Djon-djon (Rice with dried black mushrooms)
• Diri ak Pwa (Red beans and rice)
• Makaroni Gratinen (Macaroni and cheese)
• Mayi Moulen (Cornmeal mush)
• Pen Mayi (Cornbread)
• Pitimi (Millet pilaf)

Sauces and Condiments

• Confiti Mango (Mango chutney)
• Sauce Ti-Malice (Hot pepper sauce)
• Zepis (Creole spice blend)

Desserts

• Benye (Banana fritters)
• Diri Olé (Rice pudding)
• Kok Graje (Coconut candy)
• Pen Patat (Sweet potato bread)
• Plat Eri Twopical  (Fresh tropical fruit plate)
• Gato Zannanna (Upside down pineapple rhum cake)
• Pudin (Bread pudding)
• Blan Mange  (Traditional coconut dessert)

·       

·       Beverages

• Godrin (Fermented pineapple beverage)
• Ji Chadek (Grapefruit juice)
• Labouyi Bannann (Banana cream)
• Sitronad (Lemonade)
• Te Jenjanm  (Ginger tea)
• Te Kanet Ak Anis  (Cinnamon and star anise tea)
• Kaff Ayisyen  (Coffee)

B  Bon apetite!

----kjl

LET'S HEAR IT! KOMON OU YE! MWEN BIEN. MWEN RELE KERMIT.

The Haiti traveling team is speaking Kreyol.  More importantly, we are hearing the language so that we can listen and understand.  This is for most of us no small thing.  I, for one, need lots of help.  We are blessed with Carline's teaching skills and patience.

At Carline's suggestion, I use Mango Languages to get started. It is free, but you need to access it through a participating library using your library membership number.  I go to the CH-UH Library site here.  At the box labeled "Heights Library Site Search," type in "Mango" and click on search.  That gets you to a Google search result for the CH-UH Library that you click on and get to this page.  Looking down the page you will see . . .

Mango Languages 

Mango Languages is variety of resources to help you learn practical conversation skills for languages spoken all around the world. It is completely self-paced and provides a quick introduction to a language and culture through the acquisition of simple conversational skills. You will need to create a free online profile to use this resource.

That gets you to the Mango site where you register, log in and begin your tutored classes.

Haitihub is another internet source I looked at.  It has a different approach and a larger array of teaching tools designed especially for professionals in short-term service projects.  Some of it is frehttp://www.haitihub.com/youtube-videos/e, most is not.  You can find a YouTube video teaching the Lord's Prayer.  Some of us will also want to learn the Hail Mary.  Extra credit for those who try the Apostles Creed.  I found Gestures and Body Language worth a look.

Here is a link to a list of handy phrases.  At the bottom of the page is a list of web sites with more help.  For those who want to use videos to experience listening and learning, YouTube has an array of videos.

Here is a site advertising children's books in Kreyol.  That could be of interest for those of us preparing to spend time at the orphanage.

For the medical team, there are special language lessons and aids for medical terms in Kreyol.  Apple has an app for health care providers that works with iPhones and iPads.  A booklet of medical terms in English and Kreyol can be downloaded from here.

For those of us expecting to work at gardening or construction I find fewer specific aids.  Here is one site that has some specific information along some language training.

Carline emphasized the importance of learning at least a few phrases of greeting because greeting people in Haiti is culturally important.  We must overcome the fear of making mistakes and convey our sincere desire to be present with those we will meet in Haiti for whom English is a foreign language.  The gesture is more important than precision.

--kjl

PARTNERSHIP WITH THE COMMUNITY OF THE INCARNATION

Our primary destination in Haiti this fall is the Community of the Incarnation based in Pandiassou, a village near the City of Hinche in the Central Plateau.  Plans are being made now for our short visit.  Learning about The Little Brothers and Sisters of the Incarnation is an important part of the preparation for that visit.

Let's start here with their web site and their story told in their own words.  There is an English version for us who are linguistically limited.  Notice especially the large list of projects.  Two recent short articles about Brother Franklin Armand published by The Haiti Observer, a Haitian news blog, can be found here.  It is a convenient source of news about Haiti.

The Little Brothers and Sisters have decades of experience working with North American partners.  While their resources are gathered from many places, their connection to church-based partners is special.  Look, for instance, at their 20-year partnership with the Church of the Incarnation in Richmond VA.

One of the main reason we are attracted to the Little Brothers and Sisters is their approach to the mission of community development.  Notice that it is a holistic approach that includes both material and spiritual sharing.  It is not a one-way delivery of resources from the rich to the poor.  It is about building community and capacity together.  It invites a mutual sharing experience of solidarity in which all those involved can be transformed.  Certainly that is the testimony of those who made our first visit last year.  We have a new vision of Haiti . . . and of ourselves.

May I suggest that going to spend a week in Haiti -- or any place challenged by hunger, thirst, and insecurity -- is not a justified use of resources when measured only by the limited benefit of those in need and peril; more is required of us.  The trip is about being open to the prospect of our own transformation from being remote observers to being engaged partners.  The trip is about getting new, corrected vision. It is about what happens and what we do when we return.

Will we be partners instead of patrons?

--kjl