Last year, our micro-business
students attended a training program with SOFHIDES ( the Haitian Financial Society of development, which works on the economic development of Haiti by supporting investments, businesses, providing training, etc. See http://www.sofihdes.com/). The students who
attended the business training program were interested in starting their own small business. In
order to evaluate the training and get feedback from the students about their
experience and their businesses, we decided to get them to fill out a questionnaire, and I would compile the results into a report.
Last week I started meeting the
students. Marie Nicole, Martine and Jean Thony came to the office a Thursday
afternoon. Picture myself translating the English questionnaire in Creole,
considering that I don’t speak creole perfectly and I sometimes just take the
“r” out of French words, and change the “u” sound to an “I” sound so that they
understand!
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| Too shy to look at the camera, KCH business students spent the afternoon with me filing out the questionnaire. |
Well, it took us about 2 ½ hours
to answer the questionnaire because we were laughing so much. We were joking
about their answers; I was trying to get them to answer fully and give more
detail, not be shy about speaking their mind. Haitians have a tendency not give
too many details, maybe out of fear, I’m not sure.
We spent the whole afternoon
laughing and it made my day, considering that my morning class din’t go as
smoothly as I wanted. I find this happens a lot here; something will happen
that might discourage you, or put you down a bit, but within a few hours you
get turned around by people you meet, or a new event. The unexpected is always welcomed.
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