Finances have never been my favorite part of life. I still dream about a resurrection of the barter system. But living in the real world, we have to TCB (take care of business). Today was a TCB day. Biggest item on the list was to open a Haitian bank account. I was hoping to avoid such craziness, but was told that there were certain bills that could only be paid through a local bank, and that cash was much more easily accessed if done so within the country. Sigh.
So we drove up the hill in search of Unibank, one of Haiti’s prominent financial establishments, showing up in almost every neighborhood. Although the general consensus was that everyone in the bank would speak English (so no need to worry), we met a quite different circumstance. French doesn’t at all sound like English.
We waited in line with our little number drawn, dread mounting that we’d be signing over money to a mysterious account we didn’t understand. And I’m not sure in this very moment that we didn’t. We were eventually assisted by a very nice, but very French speaking woman. We begged at least for Creole, and then mustered through one of the most painful sessions of language banging, dictionary shuffling we’ve had thus far. The banker was lovely, though. She spoke slowly, repeated herself as many times as was necessary, pointed and encouraged our feeble attempts at communicating. Papers were filled out, we signed on the line. Apparently she extracted what she needed, although I’m not sure how. We left with a receipt, and a vague idea that we might be able to do most business online as well (oh happy news). Tonight, in addition to two “welcome to the bank” messages in my inbox written completely in French (at least I THINK they were welcoming), there was one gloriously lovely message in English assuring us of our successful attempts at establishing an account and our ability to access it on line. VICTORY! It may seem like a little thing, not worthy of a blog, but when navigating in a foreign culture barely able to understand the language, successfully setting up a checking account is a big deal. ☺ So celebrate with me!
The rest of our TCB day was spent buying office supplies for CONASPEH, a basketball for the school from a street vendor who hustled us out of more money the used ball was worth, and retrieving my now fully functional cell phone. Good day. We also picked up mail that arrived approximately 15-20 days after being sent from the States. Big TCB day for the Bentrotts. This is also a point of celebration because usually you can only squeeze one or two errands in a day in given the pace of the city and the office hours held.
We think of you tonight with smiles, imagining you all gathering together with friends and family, cooking family holiday favorites, and celebrating in an air of thankfulness for all that is good and plentiful in your lives. We’ll miss sitting around the table with you, but send our spirit in fellowship with you. May you use the blessings of your life to make your corner of the world a more beautiful place, may your work be fulfilling. May you be surrounded by people you love, and may you ever remember to be grateful for life, for breath, for friend and family, for food on the table and a time to share. Every day should be a day of thanksgiving. We send our own thanks to you. Happy Holidays.
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