Field Trip #1- The National Museum

So, a few weeks ago we found out that the Haitian government had pushed the start of school back from September until October. Apparently, the Ministry of Education is in the process of putting some sort of plan into action to try to get more children to be able to attend school, and weren't quite ready yet. A child's dreams come true, right? ha...

Well, for me, this was a great chance to spend more time at the Girl's Home...and more opportunities to do things with them! With the help of multiple people, we decided to organize 2 field trips for them. The first was this Thursday.

The National Museum

We attended the Musée du Panthéon National Museum. It is in downtown Port-au-Prince, right next to the Presidential Palace, which is currently being torn down. This historical museum educates visitors on Haitian history, starting with the Spanish conquering the natives of Haiti to the modern times. It also contained an art exhibit.

Let me just tell you...I found the museum FASCINATING! Haiti is filled with soooo much history for such a small, broken country. I loved it. Here are some highlights:

- Learning about the Spanish who came to Haiti, which at the time had a population of 1 million indigenous people, and within 15 years there were only 60,000 Haitians left!!! This was due to disease and warfare.

- Getting to see an actual anchor from Christopher Columbus's ship, the Santa Maria from 1492. Sound familiar?! I still remember learning about the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria in elementary school - getting to see the real anchor was mind-blowing!

- Seeing the devastation Haiti has been through in the past few hundred years - conquered by Spaniards, fought over with the French, slaves from Africa being sent to live here, the slaves and natives fighting the French to win their freedom, etc. etc. 

- Getting to see a tiny Haitian flag that Neil Armstrong took with him on his trip to the moon!! Haiti was a founding nation of the United Nations so their flag got to go with him to the moon! And, actual pieces of the moon from that first trip were alongside the flag as well.

- The beautiful Haitian paintings and artwork. (Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed in the museum)

Lining up outside 2 by 2!

Our tour guide spoke both Creole and English which made it really nice. I could not believe the professionalism and seriousness of the museum staff. They made the kids line up outside 2 by 2, smallest to tallest. At each of the 7 exhibits, they lined the kids up in order so all could see. It was so structured and organized...it made me chuckle!

 

Be sure to click on the video above to watch the kids lining up to go inside the museum

The kids seemed to really enjoy the day. Or at least they acted interested! Some of the older girls were even taking notes! The tour was only about an hour long, but by the truck ride back we were SPENT. It is amazing how a 1 hour event takes a good half of a day to pull off when you're in Haiti!

The kids at the start of the trip. Bright eyed, cleaned up, dressed in their best! All crammed into the back of our truck!

And...the end of the field trip! Not so bright-eyed and bushy tailed...I love the contrast between the two pictures...ha!