Last Monday, I was supposed to start working with a new translator I had "interviewed" the week prior. However, at 7 am I received a text from him saying that his mother was not doing well and he needed to take her to the hospital, so he was very sorry but would not be making it to work with me that day - but that he was sending one of his friends as a replacement.
I was very worried at first because I've found that even among official translators here, ability to actually speak and understand English is highly varied. And, I had already explained my whole project, the purpose of the surveys, etc. with the other translator and was just dreading having to re-introduce everything to someone new. However, all my worries were quickly assuaged when I met Alin. It turns out that he is a part-time English teacher himself, and the first activity I did with him was to sit down and translate my whole survey into Kreyol. This was helpful to us both - by going over all of our survey questions before hand together - and showed me very quickly how lucky I was to have him by my side.
Doing laundry at the canal
The surveys that we did this week were so that I could have a small "control" group for my evaluation of Gadyen Dlo, thus I only went to homes and spoke with people that did not use the system. It was also a helpful tour of the area, and just overall in understanding the multi-faceted water issues the people living in these communities around Arcahaie face each day.
One of the many precious mamas and babies we met throughout the week
Some girls we met while looking for homes to survey - shucking beans
Alin, my new translator, and my favorite baby puppy from Do Digue
More on Alin, the surveys, and our other projects last week soon!
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