Thursday, January 3, 2008

Hair

My hair has created some special memories during my time in Haiti. First of all, when I arrived this December, Jacques was thrilled to see that I have gotten it cut shorter. I don't really know where this fascination with my hair came from, but he has been after me to cut it for months. If I showed up in Haiti with a buzz cut, I think Jacques would literally dance for joy.

My second hair memory was an on-going one with Bernadin. He has this new habit of pulling hairs out of my head any time that we are just sitting around. He doesn't just pull them out; no, he pulls them out and puts them on his own head. Weird.
My third hair memory is also an on-going one but with all the girls. Basically, they can't keep their hands out of my hair, whether it's brushing it for me (actually, Duck brushed my hair on this trip too. That was strange, but very nice of him.), taking it out of the ponytail and then disappearing with the elastic, braiding it so tightly that it hurts, and asking me if I would switch hair with them. Jeanine is the queen of hairdressing at HFC. Look at this photo of the hairdo she gave me on my birthday.
The last one is my favorite. I was sitting on the bench at the boys' house when Drisk suddenly gasped, "Keziah! You have gray hairs!" Peterson, Bernadin, Monsanto, and TiJude all gathered around and started pulling the gray hairs out of my head. "Do you know when I first found those gray hairs, boys?" I asked them. "I found them after my stay in Haiti. You guys stressed me so much that I turned gray before my time!" I joked. (It's actually true, though. I did see them for the first time in September just after leaving Haiti.) I made the boys give me some of the hairs as they pulled them out and I glued them in my journal. I can't say I'm really upset about it. I mean, doesn't the Bible say, "Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained by a righteous life." (Proverbs 16:31)

1 comment:

Janet said...

You have earned every single one of those gray hairs, Kez. Sleeping on rooftops with demons, standing up to angry Haitian men. It's a wonder you don't have more than a few!!!