BUSH-Whacked

Ok. So here's the big news. Last Thursday, our project had a special little visitor. Just when I thought I couldn't get farther from Washington, Washington decided to come to me. And just when I thought I couldn't get farther away from Bush, a little bit of Bush came to me. The next best thing to Bush himself.......
Here, some of our IDEJEN youth welcomed the First Lady, by busting out in lively song and dance.
Below, Laura herself with my pal Guerda. Guerda is the IDEJEN "Chief of Party"-which is intl. development lingo for the Project Director in-country--as opposed to at an international headquarters like D.C. FYI, if you care.

This past week in preparation for "The Visit," our office has been going crazy. You should have seen all the prep work involved. Laura's people even had to have blueprints of the IDEJEN Youth Centers she was visiting. We had people painting, refurbishing, decorating, the whole works. I almost thought they were going to import new youth, with sparkling new clothes, and fresh hair cuts to replace the old ones. So maybe Laura didn't get the most authentic version of our project, but that's alright with me!

Here she is meeting again with Guerda along with the Haitian Minister of Education and an IDEJEN youth. She gave a nice little speech and I quote her, "Educating its young people is one of the greatest things a country can do to ensure continued development." We definately agree on that point.

But for me, the day was business as usual. I was plugging away at the office on some project reports. They would not allow anyone else to be there at "The Visit," for security reasons. We did however get two more of our office people down there and dressed them up like IDEJEN youth, so that we could snap some more shots for our press release. I tried to jump aboard that band wagon, but was rejected. Apparently I don't pass too well for for an an out-of-school Haitian youth. I sure as heck tried though.