Departure 6 :30 am from Jacmel with Marie Paulette Payen and Cryford Napoleon, CAFT facilitators.
Five and a half hours later, after a flat tire and repair held us up, and a breath-taking view at every turn, we arrived in Pichon. Thanks to Nadia's references given to us by phone the day before this unexpected trip, we were accompanied from Bel Anse to Pichon by the mayor of Bel Anse Rony Rabel. Despite his busy schedule and the impromptu nature of our visit, he dropped his plans to do a campaign circuit in another direction in order to show us the route, help our driver Enold guide the placement of the tires on the more treacherous stretches (his previous career as driver for the Ministry of Health certainly helped here) ! and finally to lead us along a twisting path through fields of tall grass to the Lekňl Panou. 
Here we were greeted most graciously by the staff of the school – the director Raphael Antoine, Nadia's cousin Frantz, and the teachers of Grade Two and Four. The preschool class had just been dismissed since they leave a little earlier. The teachers told us later in a brief meeting that the preschool class is fully equipped with Montessori materials – I would love to see them on a future visit (being a Montessori teacher myself as are Nadia and Frantz) but we had to rush away this time because the rain was starting to fall and we didn't want to keep the mayor any longer.
Everywhere the love and respect for Nadia and Loulou were apparent in
the reaction of people. The school itself has three sections, one
for the kindergarten, one for the Grade Six « certificate » class of
7-8 students, and the large open space for the other five grades. I took photos of each section, starting with the adorable kindergarten kids at the entrance. They sang for us before we greeted the Grade Six students and entered the main section of the school.
We were warmly received and allowed to observe the teachers and students in their respective activities. Photos were taken of all the classes. We spoke with the students before they went home at 1 pm, and had a lively exchange with the teachers about their own sense of mission in the school, their interests and self-identified trainng needs.
The next morning in Jacmel I had a meeting at 6 am with our two staff members before returning to Port-au-Prince, to record our impressions and suggestions while they were fresh in our memories.
These notes will be sent to you soon when typed. I will try to send photos through Kodakgallery which I haven't mastered yet – otherwise email is very slow. I'll make a CD as well.
We really need staff support and in the South East so looking forward to hearing suggestions from Nadia and Lulu on this, and would like to make some suggestions.
By the way, I walked into the restaurant in Bel Anse and the only diner said, Are you Linda Gershuny ? There was Marius, who had attended a leadership seminar at the Baha'i School 8 years earlier with Lulu ! He is working for the government now, but was happy to know we were visiting the school.
Warmest greetings and more to come…….
Linda
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