A Tale of Two Heart Patients

In the last month, Haitian Hearts has brought two patients to the United States for heart surgery. Daniel and Princess are both from Port-au-Prince and both have heart problems. There are other similarities in there cases, but also differences.

Daniel is 33 years old. He contracted rheumatic fever, which damaged his heart valve. In 2001, John brought him up and he had valve repair surgery in Peoria. Daniel is a quiet, prayerful man, who imbues those around his with his faith.

Princess is five and a half months old. She was born with a congenital heart defect called AV canal. With this defect, there is a hole between the upper two chambers of the heart and a hole between the lower two chambers of the heart. Despite her impaired health, Princess was a bubbly, smiling baby who charmed all in her path.

About nine months ago, Daniel began calling John, telling him that he was having difficulty breathing. On one of his trips to Haiti, John examined Daniel and sent him for an echocardiogram. His heart repair was failing and he likely needed an artificial valve.

When John was in Haiti in February, Princess's parents brought their daughter to John for examination. With a respiratory rate of 60 a minute and a heart rate of 150 a minute, Princess had been in and out of hospitals during her short life. John prescribed some lasix for her to get rid of fluid and help her breathe.

Back in the States, John searched for hospitals for his two patients. He presented Daniel to multiple hospitals. Daniel was accepted by Swedish Medical Center in Denver. John presented Princess to hospitals in four countries: Israel, the Dominican Republic, Canada, and the United States. She was accepted by Nationwide Children's in Columbus, Ohio.

Daniel flew to Denver in April. He had successful heart surgery and is now in the process of getting the proper amount of blood thinners into his system. Blood likes to clot around artificial surfaces, so Daniel will take blood thinners for the rest of his life.

Princess's heart surgery last week appeared to be successful. But several hours after surgery, her little heart, which during the months of her short life before surgery had to tolerate improper blood flow, gave out and she didn't survive.

Two patients, two different outcomes. We celebrate Daniel's new healthy life, while we grieve precious Princess. It's especially painful and unnatural when babies, who are so new and fresh to this world, die.

Daniel and Princess shared one more similarity.

If Daniel had been prescribed a few pennies worth of penicillin when he contracted strep throat, he wouldn't have gotten rheumatic fever and damaged heart valves. In the developed world, Princess's heart defect could have been diagnosed in utero. She would have had surgery a few weeks after birth, before her heart changed so much to accommodate the unhealthy blood flow.

Both Daniel and Princess were both victims of poverty.

Haitian Hearts patient #171!

Four-year-old Lerrison Woodson had successful open heart surgery at All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida last week! He is pictured above with his mother, wearing the scarf on the right, and his hospital and host family team (AKA Haitian Hearts Team!) Behind his mother is Kathy Arnold, nurse coordinator, who helped arrange the whole thing.

We are so grateful to All Children's, Kathy, the host family and interpreters, and Dr. Jeffrey Jacobs, pictured below, who performed the miracle known as open heart surgery and made Lerrison's heart whole.

Lerrison has already been discharged from the hospital. He will continue to heal.

And there will be high fives for everyone!

Marie's Miracles

Marie had surgery at Edward Heart surgery less than a week after arriving in the United States. And big surgery it was--she had two heart valves replaced and one repaired, by the best heart surgeon anywhere, Dr. Bryan Foy. The heart only has four valves, so this indicates how sick she was. Unfortunately, Marie's heart wouldn't start beating on her own. Dr. Foy put Marie on ECMO, which is basically like bedside bypass. He would give her heart a few days to start pumping on its own.

Things looked grim. We called Marie's sister Rose who lives in New Jersey. She flew to Chicago to be there for Rose and possibly say good bye. When Rose walked into the ICU, took Marie's hand, spoke to her in Creole, Marie, who was still on ECMO and heavily sedated, opened her eyes. The ICU staff were stunned; another miracle. The next day, Marie was taken off ECMO, and her heart took over on its own.

From there on out, she has made progress, but it has been a roller coaster. Marie successfully battled kidney failure and gall bladder problems. She left the hospital three weeks after she had surgery and went to the home of Linda Mrez to recuperate.

Marie continues to grow stronger. She goes for walks, which before surgery, her sick heart would not allow her to do; it was just barely keeping her alive. We are thankful to Dr. Bryan Foy, Edward Heart Hospital, many other medical professionals, host families, the O'Donnell's and the Merz's, and most of all to God for the series of miracles that allow Marie to live.

Behind the Scenes of the Today Show segment on Haitian Hearts

Widnerlande and Haitian Hearts were profiled on the Today Show on February 22, 2011. Here is a link to the segment.

I thought it would be fun to let you know some of the behind-the-scenes stuff regarding our appearance on the Today Show. When we were in Sacramento at the Ronald McDonald House awaiting surgery for Widnerlande, the family that is hosting Widnerlande contacted their daily newspaper, the Sacramento Bee, and the paper did a story about her, which you can read here. Pam Adams of the Peoria Journal Star also reported on Widnerlande when she was in Peoria, prior to going to California.

NBC producer Dana Roecker saw the story in the Sacramento Bee, and he emailed me about the possibility of doing a story. Dana wrote:

"I was struck by your amazing organization, Haitian Hearts, your focused persistence on bringing care to an impoverished country and the chaotic trek of a little 7 year old girl. Your efforts, I am sure, are probably often overlooked, and I am also sure that for you, the focus is on the children."

So, right away I liked Dana! He went on to say that he works with reporter Jenna Wolfe, who was raised in Haiti. Dana emailed me the morning that Luke and I were leaving Sacramento to return home. We exchanged a few more emails, notified the hospital, Sutter Children's Center, about the Today Show's interest, and then Dana talked with John. The next day, Dana flew from New York to Sacramento. He filmed at the hospital and got some footage of Widnerlande, John, and the host father.

A week later, on January 31, Dana and Jenna Wolfe flew from New York to Peoria. They were in town for about a total of 4 hours. They pulled up at 11 am in front of the house in a rental van loaded with all of Dana's sound and light equipment. While he set up everything in the living room, John and I chatted with Jenna.

Jenna was born in Jamaica, but lived in Haiti until she was 14. Her father runs a factory there and, he splits his time between Haiti and New York. Jenna went back to Haiti, shortly after the earthquake to do some reporting. After much searching, Jenna found the woman who served as her nanny when she was a child. This woman survived the earthquake, but was living in a tent, and Jenna said it was a very emotional moment to see her again.

Jenna interviewed John on camera for about 10 minutes and then me for about five minutes. There are two cameras set up, so that both Jenna and whomever she is interviewing can be filmed. They then took some shots around the house: of us at the computer, John looking at Widnerlande's medical notes with Jenna.

Jenna told us that she had received a 3 am wake up call, and a driver had picked her up to go to the airport around 4:45. They flew from NYC to Chicago and Chicago to Peoria. Jenna was traveling on to Dallas to do some reporting about the Super Bowl, and then after that she was going to Florida. Ooh, these kinds of national reporting jobs seem grueling, and I told Jenna it is good that she is young! Dana was returning to New York to put together the story.

On top of this, we were all bracing for the Blizzard of 2011. Jenna and Dana finished at our home at about 12:45 pm and they needed to be at the airport at 1:30. But they wanted to do some filming in front of a Peoria landmark or population sign. The closest sign I could think of was on the lovely Farmington Rd. For those of you not familiar with Peoria, Farmington Rd. is a main thoroughfare through the western part of town that has a rather unincorporated feel about it. It boasts lots of bars, a speedway, comedy club, strip joint, tattoo parlor, etc. But we were pressed for time and so Grandview, which overlooks a beautiful river view, or downtown were out.

Dana packed up his equipment, and we went trucking the half mile to Farmington Rd. The Peoria sign is not far from one of the aforementioned bars, I believe it was The Dormitory, and we parked in their parking lot. Poor Jenna--she is tiny--had to climb up on this snow mound for the filming. And of course, while the camera was rolling, every loud truck in Peoria decided to roar up the road. Thankfully, I think they could edit out the background noise. They did several takes; Jenna recited her copy from memory, or maybe she was just making it up as she went along. But it was good. Both she and Dana are real pros; they were exceedingly gracious.

From there, we led them to the airport and off they went, thankfully, before the big snow hit. After their trip to Peoria, we exchanged several emails with Dana to provide additional info. And then it was just the wait for the air date.

A few observations about this experience: it is mindboggling how much travel, work, and expense goes into what turned out to be a 4 1/2 minute report. I will remember that as I watch news programs in the future. We are grateful to Dana and Jenna for spending their valuable time and talent letting people know about Haitian Hearts and to NBC for broadcasting the report.

It is also humbling, the nice things that people have said about us and the work that we do at Haitian Hearts. All credit to John. Without him, these children who've needed heart surgery would not have made it to the United States. As I indicated in my prior post, he personifies perseverance. John is in Haiti now, and I don't even know if he's had the opportunity to see the Today Show report. As he would tell you, a lot of people help with Haitian Hearts. But he is the one indispensable person.

Good publicity is nice for its own sake, but what do we hope is accomplished by the report on the Today Show? More than contributions, which are always helpful, we need hospitals that are willing to accept a Haitian child for surgery. We are hoping that this media attention will allow us to make some connections with hospitals. Please go to our website at http://www.haitianhearts.org/ to learn more about how to help.

Beyond that, I hope that the segment on Widnerlande helps put a face on the problems that exist in Haiti. It's easy to become overwhelmed by the huge difficulties that the poverty and the earthquake, on top of that, have created in Haiti. Learning about one person's challenges and story can be an entree to getting involved in some way.

Thanks for reading.

Pictured above, the Peoria sign on Farmington Rd. that appeared in the Today Show segment.

Widnerlande is Out of the Hospital!

I am happy to report that Widnerlande is out of the hospital and dancing with her host family. Her recovery has gone very well and we pray that it continues. She is in the loving care of her host family in Sacramento and we know that she will enjoy life in northern California.

We are very thankful to her host family, Helen Nusbaum and Steven Meinrath, for hosting Widnerlande during her stay in California. She will continue to be monitored by the doctors at Sutter until she is discharged from their medical care, probably in four to six weeks.

It truly takes a village!

Widnerlande's Successful Surgery!

At long last, Widnerlande had surgery at Sutter Memorial Medical Center in Sacramento on Monday. I am happy to report that the surgery was very successful and her recovery is going well. In the operating room, they discovered that she had two VSDs (Ventrical Septal Defects), which are openings between the lower chambers of the heart. One was so small, it wasn't visible to the naked eye. Both openings have been patched. This surgery will add decades to Widnerlande's life. Her resting heart rate would go has high as 164 a minute and her respiration rate could get to 80 breaths a minute. These were signs that her little heart was having to work too hard. With the repairs, her heart and lungs and whole body will have an easier time of it.

So many people helped make this happen, (please read John's account) but the two guys most responsible are pictured above: my wonderful husband John Carroll, who for six years, never gave up on Widnerlande and Dr. Teimour Nasirov a great guy and a great surgeon who worked his magic in the operating room.

We also thank from the bottom of our hearts, Sutter Memorial Medical Center for their generosity to Widnerlande. Because of everyone's efforts, a little girl from a very poor family in Haiti will live decades longer than she would have.

The Patient Gets Sick

So at 5:30 this morning, I'm helping Widnerlande get dressed, as today is the big surgery day, and as my hand brushes her stomach, I think, "Gee, she feels warm. Really warm." And, of course, she was running a 101 degree temp and, of course, surgery was postponed until Monday. I say of course, because if you've been following the journey of Widnerlande then you know it's been full of obstacles, large and small. In the scheme of things, this is a small one, though, of course, it's easy to get a little discouraged.

But what is the point in that? We are so blessed to be here in Sacramento, so blessed to have Widnerlande accepted by Sutter Memorial and Dr. Teimour Nasirov, who will fix the hole in her heart on Monday, instead of Friday, so blessed to be getting a break from the harsh Midwestern winter, and so blessed to have met so many wonderful people. Blessed, even, to discover that Widnerlande has a little virus before surgery. We can't control everything and there is no use fretting about what we can't, a lesson I seem to have to relearn on a regular basis.

One of the things we can control are the choices we make in this moment, this one right now. We can choose our attitude, and I'll leave you with a quote that helps me with mine.

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company. . . a church. . . a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. . .we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We can not change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you. . . we are in charge of our Attitudes."- Charles R. Swindoll

Patient 142 Has Been Patient

We have many challenges in bringing patients from Haiti to the United States for medical care. From the moment John hears a not-so-innocent murmur as he listens to a child's heart, a process is set in motion, which if it is successful, results in the child coming to the United States for surgery.

In a normal situation--as if there was such a thing as normal in Haiti--John gives the family money and instructs them to take the child to a cardiologist for an echocardiogram. This test is recorded on a videocassette, which the family must bring back to John. Then if the child doesn't have a passport, one must be procured. The family is instructed to check in regularly with our Haitian helpers. All of this must be done in a country with roads that wouldn't be called roads elsewhere, where death trap transportation is the main mode of travel and by families with few resources, who are struggling just to live.

In the United States, we send the echocardiogram around to doctors who have expressed an interest. And we tap any connection we can think of to find a hospital that might be willing to accept a charity international case.

Once we get yes from a hospital and doctor, we look for a host family. Then we have to get through a whole lot of visa and travel paperwork that I won't bore you with describing right now. Really, it takes a series of miracles for us to get anyone out of Haiti and to the United States.

That is doubly, triply, quadruply the case for Widnerlande, pictured above. John first saw her in a clinic and sent her mom and her off for an echo when she was 18 months old. She is now seven. Some of the obstacles included: an echo that got lost in Haiti. inability to contact the family, who lives hours from Port-au-Prince (this always makes things more difficult as passports and visas can only be gotten in the capital), and lack of passport for Widnerlande until recently, to say nothing of the natural disasters that have hit Haiti--hurricanes and the earthquake that devastated the country. For weeks, we didn't even know if Widnerlande and her family were alive. And now cholera is blighting the land.

Despite all of this, we found a surgeon, a hospital, and a host family. Our Haitian helper assisted Widnerlande in getting a passport. All of the visa paperwork has been sent to the embassy. Widnerlande and her mother are in the capital and so is John to transport her to the United States, and we have someone in country to help get the visa. And so it appears that our--can I dare say?--last obstacle is the political violence in Haiti, which has shut down the airport and the embassy and made travel in Haiti dangerous. It will eventually end, and we have faith we will get the visa.

We thank Widnerlande for her patience.

Successful Surgery for Medjina!

We are so happy to report that 7-year-old Medjina Bontemps had successful surgery to replace her mitral valve at St. Louis Children's Hospital. Medjina had the surgery six days ago, and will be discharged from the hospital today.

Medjina is the fifth Haitian child that St. Louis Children's has taken care of for Haitian Hearts. We are deeply grateful to them for the fine care they provide. We are also want to thank from the bottom of our hearts host family Jim and Jane Ebel who have taken such excellent, loving care of so many Haitian children.

Medjina is the first Haitian Hearts patient who has had surgery since the earthquake. We have another child, Winderlande, who is still in Haiti, but has been accepted by Sutter Memorial Hospital in Sacramento. We are actively working on getting Winderlande's passport updated and hope that she will be coming to California soon to have her heart repaired. You can read about the wonderful fundraiser that was held for Winderlande by the welcoming folks in California here. We are hopeful that Winderlande will be coming to California in the next few months.

Medjina Has Arrived

Seven-year-old Medjina got her biggest present ever this Christmas: a trip to St. Louis where she will have surgery to fix her faulty heart valve.

On December 18, Medjina flew to the United States with her American friends and spent Christmas with them in Ohio. They then drove Medjina to St. Louis, where she will be staying with Jim and Jane Ebel, who have graciously hosted a number of Haitian Hearts patients. Medjina had her first appointment at St. Louis Children's Hospital on December 30.

John traveled to St. Louis to be with Medjina and Jane Ebel during the appointment. He was able to provide medical history on Medjina and also translate for her.

Because of her damaged heart valve and the consequent inefficiency, Medjina's heart has gotten huge. She easily becomes short of breath, a symptom that would worsen without the surgery she needs.

Medjina has a huge heart in another way, too. She has calmly come without family to a strange country that is much different from Haiti. John reported that as she sat on his lap when the nurse had to draw blood, she didn't so much as flinch when the needle entered her skin.

We are grateful to all who have made it possible for Medjina to be helped.

Farewell Heurese

In our house today, we are missing Heurese. She is a 30-year-old Haitian woman who lived with us for the past five months. Four days ago, she returned to Haiti. Despite the lavish life she was leading with us (relative to her life in Haiti with no running water, regular electricity, and much skimpier meals), she wanted to return to her home. And for good reasons: her 5-year-old daughter and her 3-year-old son.

Though Heurese came to the United States in December 2008 for heart surgery at Cleveland Clinic, she has not seen in her children in almost a year. Prior to surgery, her sick heart made her so weak that she was unable to care for her children. They lived with her mother in another town. We know there was a happy reunion in Port-au-Prince this past Saturday.

Heurese was fully recuperated from her heart surgery--the installation of an artificial valve that will last her the rest of her life. She has more energy than she has ever had in her adult life. She will need it to negotiate life as a poor person in Port-au-Prince. So much energy goes into activities like getting water, gathering fuel for cooking, washing clothes--all processes that are automated in the developed world.

It is amazing how fast humans can bond to each other. Heurese was a wonderful presence in our home. Intelligent, kind--a lovely person, who helped us a lot. We will think of her often and look forward to seeing her on future trips to Haiti.

Just Like Here

John has returned from his trip to Haiti. As usual, he found some new heart patients, a couple of whom I've written about. We've had contact from someone who is interested in helping us find hospitals--always the biggest challenge--for a couple of new patients. I will keep you posted on the progress.

On this trip, John examined 3-year-old Lydia, pictured above with her mother, who has Down Syndrome, Unfortunately, she also has some of the congenital heart problems, that can accompany this syndrome. In Lydia's case, she has AV canal, a defect where the walls between the heart's chambers didn't form properly. She was referred to us by a pastor in Missouri who had met the little girl and her family on a recent trip. The little girl and her mom and dad made the three-hour trek to Port-au-Prince from their home in Gonaives to see John.

Please keep Lydia and her family in your prayers.

Follow Up With Marie, A Haitian Hearts Patient

Marie Myrtha, who had artificial valve replacement surgery at Provena St. Joseph in Joliet in June 2007 visited John today in Port-au-Prince. John examined her and was very happy with the results, Her heart rate was 84 at rest. The beat of her heart is crisp and clear and her most recent echocardiogram looks good. She has a large supply of required meds and is faithfully taking them. Her lungs are clear and her pacemaker is working effectively.

After all the work of getting a Haitian to the United States for heart surgery, seeing these kinds of results is so gratifying. Marie could barely walk before surgery; now she doesn't have to worry each day if her heart will give out. We are grateful to everyone who helped make it happen.

The Difficulty of Arranging Things in Haiti

Sometimes in Haiti, you can work so hard trying to make something happen, something that shouldn't be that difficult to arrange and then it doesn't happen.

I'll quit being so vague. On John's last trip to Haiti, he identified three new heart patients. He then learned that there was to be a team of medical professionals, including a pediatric heart surgeon, from Florida going to Port-au-Prince the first week of June. He asked the team if they would examine these three new patients, and they said yes.

The good news is that we think two of the children made it to the hospital where the team had set up shop and were seen.

But we know for certain that one patient did not. And this was after dozens of e-mails and many phone calls setting up the appointment. When things fail in Haiti, there is usually more than one reason why. It can be a combination of techonological failure, language barriers, transportation problems, illness, human error, and the chaos of life in a developing country. Tasks that we take for granted here or that are simple to perform are far more difficult in a place like Haiti where every day life is hard.

We are disappointed that this patient wasn't able to be seen. But we haven't given up and we will think of new ways to bring her to the attention of those who maybe able to help her.

Our Friend Frandy

Frandy is a young man in Haiti who, in extremely difficulty circumstances, is working to better himself. How many languages can you speak? Me, growing up middle class in the United States with two graduate degrees, can speak one and a half. Frandy, a young man who has not had many advantages, is at four. He is working hard to master English, in all its complexities.

Frandy came to the United States a couple of years ago for medical care. He is very grateful to the Ebel family in St. Louis who hosted him and has composed the following letter of thanks:

Host families The roles of the host families of Haitian Hearts mission is very great, and needed to be saying aloud. The Ebels are very wonderful people, and it’s the same for the other host families across different states where the Haitian Hearts patients often settle to receive medical care in USA.

You save many lives when you provide your houses to the Haitians who can’t even afford to get $ 2 U.S per day for their daily food. I am up there to thanks you for all, and those lines below go to you.

Thanks for saving lives and helping on other ways. CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Homes are usually given by you.

Often there to share you culture with the guests

Satisfactory occurs toward your encouragement

Times for care and hospitality

Feelings to drive the patients through the admirable steps

A strong effort to save lives of people that you have never made any experience with before

My memory always reminds me how you paid your attention over me

It is radically appreciated

Love surrounds your houses

Imagine the way you provide your assistance, then you will see its impacts on everyone of us.

Explain us most of the important things about USA

Saving lives is very dear and significant; therefore thank you for saving mine

Thank you Frandy for being an inspiration to us!

And Another Heart Patient

This is five-year-old Jimi, a patient John came upon during his most recent trip to Haiti. Jimi has a Ventricle Septal Defect, VSD, which is a hole between the two lower chambers, or ventricles, of the heart. A VSD is a congenital heart defect, or, in other words, a heart problem a child is born with.



Jimi has had an echocardiogram in Port-au-Prince, which has been reviewed by an American pediatric cardiac surgeon. The good news for Jimi is that he may not need surgery; some VSD's don't pose much risk to a child's health. Jimi will hopefully be examined by the medical team from Florida and this prognosis will be confirmed.

A New Heart Patient

When John was in Haiti for three weeks in May, he worked, like he always does, at clinics and hospitals, seeing patients who have a host of problems. In the course of his work, he comes across children with heart abnormalities.

Modjina, pictured above, is seven years old. She has mitral regurgitation and is in heart failure. She recently had an echocardiogram in Port-au-Prince. Hopefully, during the first week of June, she will be examined by a team of doctors from Florida.

John gave her mother medicines for Modjina: enalapril (to lower her blood pressure), furosemide (to get rid of excess fluid), lanoxin (to strengthen the pumping power of her heart), and penicillin (to ensure that she doesn't get rheumatic fever, which could have caused her heart damage to begin with). These medicines will buy us some time, but she likely needs surgery.

So if anyone out there knows of any hospitals that might be willing to accept Modjina, please let me know with an e-mail.

Thanks for reading.

The Difficulty of Getting a Haitian Passport

A Haitian passport can be very difficult to procure. We have a patient, 16-year-old Ronald, who has been accepted for heart surgery in the United States. Ronald is very sick and getting sicker each day.

Ronald was accepted by the hospital two months ago. His American advocate hears various excuses when she attempts to get his passport in Port-au-Prince. Or she is told to come back another day and the passport will be ready, and then it isn't. We have heard that Haiti is out of the blue books that are used to make the passports.

When we were waiting in Haiti for our son's adoption papers--and at least this wasn't a matter of life and death--one of the things we needed was a particular agency's stamp. For weeks we were told that the stamp was broken and a new one was on order from Germany.

Excuses like "we are out of blue books" or "the stamp is coming from Germany" are hard to believe. It's difficult to know whether we're dealing with bureaucratic incompetence or bureaucratic lying.

In Haiti, we've noticed a lack of urgency about situations that are considered crises in the United States (like children dying). Perhaps this is because it happens too often.

We hope Ronald gets his passport soon.

Katina is Patient #137

Hurray! Thirteen-year-old Katina has been accepted by a medical center in Ohio. This will be her second trip to the United States. Katina came to Peoria in 2002 and had her mitral valve repaired. Now this valve needs to be replaced.

Haitian Hearts has been monitoring Katina in Haiti for the past seven years. We know her particularly well because she spent eight months in Peoria when she was here in 2002. She is a sweet girl from a loving family who has been attending school regularly. The children and families from St. Thomas the Apostle Grade School in Peoria Heights helped financially support Katina's education and pay for other necessities.

Katina already has her Haitian passport so as soon as the paperwork from the United States goes to the U.S. consulate in Port-au-Prince and she is granted a visa, she will travel to Ohio. We are thrilled that she is getting this opportunity to have her heart fixed for good!

Haitian Creole

There were Haitians in the house last night--five of them. I loved hearing their laughter and their Creole; it was like a party. Haitian Creole (or Kreyol) is one of two official languages in Haiti, the other being French. Not everyone in Haiti speaks French but everybody speaks Creole.

I remember reading a fascinating account of how these Creole languages evolve. Here's what I remember as it applies to Haiti. When slaves were brought from West and Central Africa, they spoke different tribal languages. Not only could they not initially understand the French, they often couldn't communicate with each other.

The slaves began learning a rudimentary French so that they could understand the slave masters and talk with each other. The first version of this language was called pidgin; it was no one's native language. The next generation of speakers makes this language their own and it develops into a more sophisticated creole language. In the case of Haiti, much of the vocabulary comes from French while the grammar more closely follows the African languages. As a written language, the words in Haitian Creole are spelled phonetically. For example, "yes" which is written "oui" in French is written "wi" in Creole. Makes more sense, don't you think?

We had a houseful of Haitians because three young people came to visit Heurese and after a few months in the United States, I know she enjoyed hearing Creole spoken by Haitians. The youngest Haitian, our son Luke, slept right through it