James, a baby-faced Haitian teenager, has been helping us build School 18.
At each of our school sites, All Hands requests certain things from the community – this secures some buy-in from the community and encourages them to take ownership of the huge gift we’re giving them – and one of those regular asks is some additional volunteers from the given site’s area, such as volunteers like James.
Last week, James assisted Tiffany, a new friend from Seattle, and me in rendering the school’s exterior walls. James can be counted on to wear two things: His torn red basketball shorts and a broad smile that shows almost all his teeth. Although he doesn’t have any construction experience, James is helpful, hard-working and a quick learn. (At one point, James started scooping handfuls of cement out of a bucket for us; Although this was not at all efficient, it was well-intentioned and rather sweet.)
Today, our crew returned to the school site, which is a bumpy 30 minute drive from downtown Leogane, to begin painting the school’s interior and to install two walls.
As we attacked the walls with brushes and runny white paint, we cranked the radio – much to the delight of our Haitian co-workers, and in particular, James.
Now, you may know that I am a fabulous singer who has a magical ability to beautifully croon along with songs even when I do not know their lyrics. After a certain point – perhaps having something to do with the paint fumes – I tapped this magical skill, yelping along with a very bouncy James to a Kreyol pop tune.
At the end of the tune, the perpetually smiling (and at this point, paint-splattered) James — clearly quite impressed by my magical singing ability — serenaded me with a tune of his own: “You’s gonna be a real Haitian.”
It made my day.