Life & TravelPaul Shetler Fast

News: A Big Move

Life & TravelPaul Shetler Fast
News: A Big Move
Pittsburgh from our neighborhood on the North Side, during a late summer rainstorm

Pittsburgh from our neighborhood on the North Side, during a late summer rainstorm

We have big news to share. This fall, we will be leaving the life we love in Pittsburgh and moving to Haiti for a 5-year volunteer term with Mennonite Central Committee, an international non-profit relief, development, and peace organization.

Our new jobs in Haiti will kick our collaboration and work together into high gear as we share the joint role of Country Representatives. This means we will be responsible for supervising the national and international staff, overseeing the country program, and working with local partners to implement a wide range of projects; from tree planting to trauma recovery, housing to human rights advocacy. Here are a number of the questions we’ve been getting as we share this exciting news:

So, why are you going? (we get this one a lot)

Rebecca:  When Paul and I first got to know each other in Ethiopia 10 years ago, we discovered a shared passion for working with vulnerable populations. As we talked together excitedly about our future, we shared a goal of returning to work overseas once we had more education and professional experience. So we went back to school, Paul for Masters degrees in International Development and Public Health and me for Social Work with a specialty in trauma. We just celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary a few weeks ago, and as we took stock of our lives together and thought excitedly about our future, we came across the wedding vows we wrote, “we have seen suffering, and together we have been called to make the world a better place.” This move to Haiti is a fulfillment for us of this passion for service, and of our sense of calling.

What are you most excited about?

Paul: Honestly, the top of my list is getting to work with Rebecca to jointly manage a program we believe in. How many people get that chance? I am also really excited to explore Haiti. Haiti is a country with a fascinating history, rich culture (including some amazing food), and incredible natural beauty. I’ve been hearing about Haiti since I was a child (my grandparents worked there in the 50’s and 60’s, and my parents were there in the 70’s), and it’s been a major focus of my graduate studies from both economic development and public health perspectives. 

What are the challenges you anticipate?

Rebecca: Personally, our biggest challenges will be living further away from our family and friends. This will be hard. Professionally, Paul and I are used to working fast, multitasking, and getting a lot done (example, Paul doing a full-time Masters, while also working full-time, while blogging). I think this equating of speed and productivity with success is pretty deeply imbedded in our culture. I anticipate a challenge will be finding acceptance when we are not able get tasks accomplished quickly (or at all), and for the times we just get stuck. I’m looking forward to becoming a more patient person, I think of it as character building!

What is happening with your life here in Pittsburgh?

Paul: It's a bittersweet time. We're saying our goodbyes to family and friends, and wrapping up a life we have loved here in Pittsburgh. We’ve put in our resignations at work, our dogs and cat have found new homes, we’re packing up all our stuff for storage, our cars will be sold, and our house is currently on the market. It the long process of goodbyes as we prepare for this next stage.

Will you keep blogging from Haiti?

Rebecca: That’s the plan! We’re excited about transitioning the blog to our new context and broadening our palates to explore the diverse flavors of Caribbean cuisine. We’ll be without a kitchen for a few months as we transition and do language study, so we’ve been working hard on recipes to share on the blog until we get fully established in our new home in Port-au-Prince. We are also hoping to incorporate pictures and stories from our travels in Haiti and the region.

How can I learn more about your work and life in Haiti?

Paul: We plan on sharing primarily through the blog. You can sign up for email updates, and check back frequently as we plan to keep sharing pictures, stories, and of course recipes. We hope to eventually create a country-based website where we can share more specifics of our work and projects. 

And as always, let us know your questions by email or comment.

Life & TravelPaul Shetler FastComment

Saving the Harvest

I have always found seeds kind of amazing. I remember the first time my dad explained to me that these beans we were about to cook could just as easily be planted. Whenever possible, I have planted edible gardens, from using bay trees as decoration in my office, to clandestinely planting cabbages in our front flower garden in Pittsburgh. One of the first things we did in our new home here in Port-au-Prince was to plant every square inch of soil with thyme, parsley, cilantro, rosemary, dill, basil, chives, garlic, oregano, tomatoes, greens, cucumbers, lettuce, okra, and squash. But to be honest, I’d always just bought seeds and never thought too much about the time and steps involved between harvesting seeds from one crop, and planting them for the next. This week, while visiting a project in the rural community of Kabay, Haiti, I got a first hand look at the impact seed storage has on farmers and their families. 

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Saving the Harvest
Life & TravelPaul Shetler FastComment

3 Families After Hurricane Matthew

High in the mountains above the Artibonite river, we pass through villages and clusters of houses that do not appear on maps, past destroyed houses that will never make it into official calculations of the damage fromHurricane Matthew in Haiti. We are miles from the nearest paved road, many hours from the nearest medical clinic, and nearly a full day's walk to the market where people normally sell their produce to purchase necessities like medicine, oil, and clothing. When I asked the local government official with us, why his region showed zero damage on the latest UN maps, he grew angry, "How would they even know? No one has come up to look. No one has even asked." Working with the local governments, community organizations, and a likeminded NGO, we are bringing the first relief supplies to people whose homes and livelihoods were destroyed by Hurricane Matthew in this area. Within 72 hours of the rains stopping, all our prepositioned aid (water treatment supplies, blankets, food, and hygiene kits) have been distributed to people in need. This is only the beginning for these families on the long path to rebuilding their lives and their communities.

If you've been watching the news on Haiti, you know of the devastation that Hurricane Matthew has wrought; the rapidly rising death toll, the destroyed homes and livelihoods, the statistics of suffering on a massive scale. But for us, and for our organization MCC, the story both begins and ends with the resilience and perseverance of the people and communities we serve. These are human stories better told through pictures of people, pictures of dignity and strength in the face of loss.

Here are the stories of three families after the storm.

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3 Families After Hurricane Matthew
Life & TravelPaul Shetler FastComment

Birthday Joy

I turned 31 today, ate cookies, watermelon pie, and ribs, and I had to change my clothes three times because our daughter's outdoor play got unusually messy! It was a great birthday. Two years ago on my birthday, Rebecca and I were living and working in Pittsburgh. Last year we were new parents, in a new country, in new jobs. And this year we are expectantly waiting. Rebecca is pregnant, and due to a complication in the pregnancy, we are both working remotely from the US during this last trimester. If all goes as well as it can, our baby will be joining us about a month ahead of schedule towards the end of June.

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Birthday Joy
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Cooking as a Couple: 10 tips

Even for people who love to cook, cooking as a couple can be a uniquely unappealing proposition. Many couples find the kitchen too crowded, the opinions too many, the timing too tight, to share the reins with someone else. Becoming a well-oiled machine in the kitchen takes practice, patience, and strategy. We've found it well worth the effort. We've been been cooking and eating together for over 10 years now, and since we have just about a month left before we leave our galley kitchen in Pittsburgh for Haiti, we thought we'd share the top 10 things we've learned about cooking together as a couple [...]

Life & TravelRebecca Shetler FastComment
Cooking as a Couple: 10 tips
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Baby Madeline

We have a daughter! It’s a surreal thing to say. We are blissfully happy to share that after weeks of on-and-off contractions and gestation in three countries, our beautiful baby girl, Madeline, was born at 1 am yesterday in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, weighing in at a healthy 7 pounds. Madeline is a lively little newborn, and both she and Rebecca are doing well. It’s hard to put words to the feeling of being parents for just a few short hours; joy, relief, shock and happiness. We have been finding ourselves bursting into giddy (exhausted) laughter quite a bit since little Madeline arrived. We will be taking the next month off from work to get to know our new daughter, and look forward to introducing her to her family (even if virtually in many cases), with her first introduction to both sets of grandparents when they arrive in Haiti in just a few weeks!

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Baby Madeline