Haiti mission trip recap - Friday, Part 2

Friday, July 16, 2010 5:30pm
Waiting outside hotel, Jacmel, Haiti

Still waiting for our tap tap to take us to the party at the church.  We were supposed to leave at 5pm.  I'm getting a little anxious about tomrrow's travel so standing around doing nothing is difficult.
9pm
Back at the hotel

Back from the closing dinner/party.  It was Haitian style.  We got there an hour later than planned and waited around for everything to be ready. There were about 100 church people (kids and adults) there for the party. 

Me with Marjorie, before the party started at church. She is holding the dress I gave her.


It was raining, so we ate in the church.  It was dark, so they had the 2 lights on in the room. Still pretty dark and very hot/muggy.  They made "American" food for us- french fries, macaroni and cheese, pasta salad, fried chicken, baked chicken, lasagna, blueberry muffins and pop. Quite a spread!


Our American party dinner!

 It was really hot in the church, and crowded, and I got sick to my stomach before I finished eating.  I ended up having go outside to get some air and walk around. Marjorie noticed I was not right and came with me.  A couple of the teenage girls came too.  They kept asking me if I felt bad and sick, I did my best to communicate to them that my stomach was upset but that I would be fine. They seemed very worried.  I tried to reassure them that I was fine.

Before dinner, I gave Marjorie by dress to keep. She was happy. We kind of said our goodbyes them.  Jennifer helped translate a little bit.  Marjorie told me that she is my "Haitian mom" and I am her "American daughter".

Notation at the top of my journal page: 2 Tim 2:3 "Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus."

After dinner, the Texas youth group kids brought up all the kitchen ladies and washed their feet as a way to thank them for their service to us.  (Another example of the 'us and them' that happened throughout the week.  I was asked to help make sure all of the kitchen ladies went up to the chairs when the time came, but none of the other "non-Texan" group members - including the other college aged members - were invited to participate in this thank you.) The kitchen ladies were asked to come up and sit in the chairs so that our team could thank them for the work they did for us.  Most of the ladies were uncomfortable being thanked and going up to the front, so I had to walk around and bring them up.  Julie figured out what was going to happen and ran outside. I followed her and found her trying to clean her feet off before they washed hers.  I stopped her and brought her back inside.  I was crying a little because I was happy the ladies got recognized publicly. It doesn't happen often and I know it meant a lot to them.

After the kitchen ladies thank you, a few of the Haitian bosses - Pastors, kitchen leader, praise team leaster - plus a couple of the kids talked about our work this week.  It was very nice.  Our translator (Reggie) said we were "the best team ever".

Reggie (left) translates as Pastor Roderick (right) talks about the work we accomplished during the week

We were supposed to do a tour today of the work sites, but since it was raining that didn't happen. But, there were quite a few:

* Completing work and cleaning up at the widow's house
* Starting work on the new wall at the tap tap drivers house
* Finishing the ceiling of the church, sanding and painting walls of church
* Hauling rubble from inside church where wall was replaced
* Sanding and painting at Restoration Center
* Feeding about 200 kids at the meal program each day
* Stocked medical clinic and helped with check in's for medical visits
* Lots of soccer and other activities with the kids

We were called up one at a time and given gifts. I received a "Haiti" hair clip, a serving tray and a Jacmel t-shirt. Very cool! I think the shirt is too small, but we'll see. (yes, too small)

After the gifts, we said our goodbyes. It was a sad time, but I didn't cry, mostly because I still felt like I was going to puke.  A few of the Haitians - Reggie, Marjorie, Ricardo, David - asked me when I will come back.  We are so rich compared to them, they have no understanding of the concept that it is expensive and not super easy to fly from Washington state to Haiti anytime I want. =)  I told Fedony to email me about supplies they need.  I will also try to send a thank you email when I get home.

We rode back to the hotel in a little pickup truck. No benches. Still raining. We fit 10 people in the back. Haitian style!

Our final debriefing was to talk about what we learned from our experience here. Frankly, I didn't pay much attention because a lot of the answers were irritating me. (I was tired and feeling sick.) Nice attitude, huh? Most everyone talked about diligence and humility.  Here is what I said:

I've been learning lessons for a long time about not seeking recognition for work (as the motivation for doing something) and working with the kitchen ladies reminded me of this becuase their culture rarely recognizes them and yet they work hard and never complain. I saw it first hand because I was, at times, treated that way subtly by some members of our own group. (Like it wasn't flashy or physically tough work, so it didn't count.)  It was a good lesson about doing my "mom job" without moaning for recognition or getting all focused on getting out of the house or needing breaks.  These ladies don't take breaks. They do what needs to be done.  I should be able to live my life that way too, without complaint or the need for recognition that I am doing a great job or am awesome or something.

An hour later...

Guts are still weird. I just finished having some pretty serious diarrhea.   My first since that little episode on Wednesday. This seems worse than that, partially because I still feel like I'm going to throw up.  I took some Tums.  I haven't taken an Imodium all week, but given my current stomach and the early morning (long and winding) drive, I probably will in the morning.

Praying the rains let up.  Apparently the road we are taking to PaP gets flooded or mudslided fairly often in the rain.  If the vans get here when they are supposed to (6am), we will have 6 hours to get to PaP, which *should* be plenty of time.  Last week the team that was here cut it really close to make their flight, so I think we are all a little nervous about that.

Haiti Mission Recap - Friday

Friday, July 16, 2010
7:30am
Jacmel, Haiti - Loving Light Hotel roof deck

I woke up at 3am when the air conditioner shut off and slept fitfully after that.  I couldn't help thinking about the hotel in Miami - clean sheets, a shower, clean clothes, American food!

As a reminder, my roommate (who I got along well with but didn't know prior to this trip) and I were sharing a double bed in a room that was probably about 12X12. Because I feared diseased water, I didn't shower/bathe for the duration of the time I was in Haiti (8 days). Thank goodness for camping wipes.

It will be fun to go through my things tonight and sort out all of the stuff I get to leave here for the Haitians and missionaries. 

Today is supposed to be the day of the celebration so some of the church people are taking us to the beach.  We are apparently staying at the beach pretty much all day.  I'm not really looking forward to it that much since I'm not really a "beach person".  There is also supposed to be a market there to buy things.  I'm going to bring my book and camera.  Later we are going to see all the projects from the week and then go to our send off party at the church.

We ended up waiting out on the street for almost an hour for our tap taps to come get us for our beach trip. Our regular driver was on time, but the second driver they needed for this longer trip didn't show up.  A large group of white people standing out on a busy street in Jacmel can certainly get a lot of attention! There was an older lady walking by us slowly at one point who just stopped and stared at us (from about 5 feet away - hardly disguised!). And then she saw me and was staring at me and got closer and closer to me.  She was mumbling something in Kreyol. Apparently she thought that I was a witch or suffering from a voodoo curse because of the light color of my eyes and hair.  I think she was scared of me.  Well, she definitely freaked me out. So I spent the rest of the waiting time behind the metal gate "inside" the hotel entry area. 

11am
the beach! Carribean Sea, Jacmel, Haiti

Caribbean Sea! We took a tap tap about 30 minutes to the beach.  It was a beautiful drive.  The coast is mountainous and very green and the beach looks like a little resort area.

There are tables set up under the palm trees.  You have to be very careful where you sit because the tables are owned by the food vendors, so wherever you sit, you have to buy something from that vendor.  There were also men who tried to stop our tap tap on the way in to the (free) beach) to make us pay.  Our Haitian guides (including Fedony) got out and they argued Haitian style - loudly and insistently and then all of the sudden hugs and handshakes. Then they let us pass.

Thank goodness we had Haitians with us on this trip to the beach.  Before we left, we had been told that the area where we were going is a resort area and it is quite common for people at the beach to try to take advantage of all the "rich, tourist Americans".  They gave us specific instructions about buying at the market - bartering is common practice, but there is an accepted way to do it. We were told that if we wanted to buy something, we should bring one of our 3 translators or one of the 2 long term missionaries with us to barter for us.  We were also asked not to move along the beach alone, especially the women, but instead to stay in at least pairs. 




View of the beach and (very close together) tables



Another view of the beach and tables

I went into the water for a few minutes.  My face has had some kind of reaction to the salt water. I'm blaming it on the lack of shower and use of face wipes instead of soap for a week.  Apparently I look very sunburned, but it is stinging like CRAZY! I just rinsed it off with some fresh water from my water bottle and am going to stay out of the water from now on. Ouch!


Post facial skin reaction photo with David, one of our translators and a "preacher" at the church. This one was taken after I had time to rinse my face off and give it some time to feel better.

Apparently Reggie and David are on facebook, so they gave me their email address to "friend" them.  Fun!

1pm
Taking cover at the beach

It is really raining hard! We did some shopping from the Haitian vendors, but since it started raining, I didn't get everything I was planning to buy.  Mono and David helped me barter.  I got a painting for our house.  I picked one of the women cooking since that's what I did a lot of while I was here.

Sample of some of the canvas paintings

Bartering for my painting! David(center) has the painting I want and is working out a price with the artist (in the black shirt with white stripes).

For the kids, I bought some of the cookies that are pretty common here as snacks and some bracelets.  Necklaces for my mom and Sharon.  Still need to get a few more things.  If it stops raining, I might get myself a necklace too. 

I cannot believe that I didn't write more about the bartering for paintings drama while we were at the beach! Here's the story.  So there were actually 2 painters who were friends or related or something that set up their paintings together.  One of the two painters actually spoke fairly good English and was quite a salesman: chatting us up when we came over, being super friendly and interested in us, etc.  I initially went over to look at the paintings on my own, but then 2 or 3 of the other women came to look with me.  We were initially told the paintings we were interested in were $50US. (Not phased, especially since we had been warned that the initially quoted cost would be quite high.)  I spent a good deal of time looking at each painting and then sort of wrestled with myself about 3 of them. Which did I like best? Did I want to get more than 1? Would anyone on my gift list like one? Etc... After the hand wringing, I returned to safety conscious mode and obediently found one of our translators (David) to help me buy the painting I wanted.  I told him the painter had quoted me $50 and that I was going to buy the painting but I wanted to get whatever price would be fair and seem appropriate to him, knowing more about the cost of this kind of thing.  I basically told him to try to get me the best price he could and I would pay whatever he could get for it.  During that conversation, the 2 other women looking at the paintings with me, decided they were going to go in together to make an offer on the paintings they wanted because maybe they could get a better deal.  Totally skipped the "make sure you take a Haitian with you so that you follow local customs" advice. Apparently, the painter they approached wasn't willing to give them much of a deal.  So Caleb (in the orange shirt in the picture above, Caleb dropped everything and left for Haiti within a month after the earthquake last January and had been living in tent cities ever since trying to help people) stepped in to see what the problem was.  Voices started escalating.  Selfish me, my first thought was to look at David, doing an awesome job of bartering in a calm way, and think "Crap! I'm going to lose my great price on this painting!"  as it seemed that all sorts of craziness was about to happen.  Of course, this is also the moment that the wind picked up and it started to rain... So the next thing we know, David has gotten me a price of $30 for my painting, and the other painter starts yelling at Caleb, in English, "F--- you! I didn't ask for you G-- d--- help! Get the f---- out of here!" etc etc in a totally insane, "there is going to be a brawl" type way.  And then our Haitian guides actually had to come over and hold back the angry painter from Caleb because he was trying to hit him! The guy totally went crazy! And then, he jumped on his little motorbike and sped off and was gone! It was pure craziness. We were joking with Caleb that the guy probably left to go get his machete (because it was pretty common to see people walking around the streets with machetes in Jacmel).

We had a nice grilled snapper and plaintain lunch, but the snapper was too spicy for me.  I ended up giving it to a local girl that was under the same shelter as us with her family.  Since it was raining we were all crowded in and some of the local beggar kids kept coming around asking for food and offering to sell us shells (found walking on the beach) for $1US/shell.




beach party food!



Hillary in the lunch shelter

Each week, some of the Haitians who spent the most time with the team would be invited to come to the beach for the celebration.  On the left is our main tap tap driver, then one of our cooks, then Pastor's wife, another cook, Pastor Roderick and David

4:30pm

Back at the hotel

I had about a 30 minute talk with David at the beach while we watched some of the men playing soccer.  He did a great job speaking English.  We talked about his family, the government in Haiti, soccer, what they do if there is a hurricane, and lots of other things.  It was fun.

On the wet tap tap ride back to the hotel. Look at that gross "I haven't been washed in a week" hair!

Caleb relived the moment where the crazy painting guy freaked out and started swearing at him, a few times.  Then when we got back to the hotel (on wet tap-taps) and the crazy painter rode by and shouted "F--- you!" again at him!

We are on break now and have been packing.  Leaving at 6:30am tomorrow (assuming our rides come) to drive to PaP. Sorting things to be left behind.  I am leaving almost all of the clothes I brought with me, bras, food, towel, bug spray, rain gear, medicines, flip flops. Maybe the Bob the Builder blanket (which I bought at goodwill as my bed blanket), though if I can fit it in my bag I will bring it home with me - that was my promise to Little Man, who wanted to have it. It is looking good for my plan to only carry on... no checked bags for me!

Still upset that I didn't get my dad a painting because of the rain.  Ugh. Gary said there may be vendors at the airport tomorrow where I can buy things if we get there in time.  We'll see about traffic and what time our ride actually comes.  I really thought there would be more vendors - in general, but also at the beach specifically. Oh well.

I've been thinking a little about what I'd like to say tonight at the celebration dinner.  There will be an interpreter.  I know I won't be as eloquent when it happens as I have been so far in my head.  Basically I want to thank the ladies for welcoming me into the kitchen and being SO kind to me.  I want to thank them for their patience and willingness to show me how I could help, and for teaching me some of their language and culture.  I want to share with them that I came to be of service to their community and to build relationships because God loves all of us.  I have really enjoyed learning about their lives and getting to know them a little even though we struggled to communicate at times.

Almost time for Moto... agh!

5 minutes later

Gary just came and said we aren't taking the Motos because of the rain. Hooray! Dodged that bullet twice! Apparently it will be tap taps in the rain instead.

Haiti Mission Recap - Thursday, Part 2

Thursday, July 15, 2010
6pm
Jacmel, Haiti - hotel room

This afternoon I helped some of the teenagers practice their English lesson for this week. "How many children do you have?", "What is your profession?"  The kids lunch was REALLY late. The second group (older kids) didn't eat until around 3:30pm - it was supposed to be 2pm.

One nice thing from today was that Gary came to check in while I was doing the dishes this morning and I said, "I'm still changing the world one dish at a time!" He laughed and thanked me for having a servant's heart. That was cool.

Before we left, I talked for awhile to Reggie and he asked me what I did today.  Reggie is a "high school" student and is one of the primary translators we are working with here. His English is really good and he is super helpful and fun to talk to.

Reggie

When I told him I worked in the kitchen, he laughed and looked sorry for me.  The men (teens and up) don't seem to think much of the cooking jobs.  They stop in and get food and chat, but I haven't seen any men do any work related to cooking, serving or clearing the food. (Other than Jean-Marie, who walks around with a stick during lunch to discipline the kids who are messing around too much.)

We stayed around church for awhile while Ben (Music pastor who was part of our team) led a church worship training for the church's worship team. 

Music ministry meeting

I spent time with Jennifer and some of the high school girls on the porch again this afternoon just talking. 

It has been really hazy here today.  The sun was out this morning but it got overcast by lunchtime.  The bugs were worse today because of it.  My sinuses are struggling a bit with the air here.  Since they burn their garbage and it is very dusty, the air is never "clean".  I took some OTC cold meds this morning to clear up the headache and sinus pressure.  There is an upper respiratory thing going around here (3 people from the team have it), so hopefully I won't get that!

There is probably more, but I can't think of anything else for now.

Mwen renmen ou - I love you
schat - cat
chen (schii) - dog
bet (bevf) - cow

Oh yes, I cannot forget to mention DJ JOSEY SOUND! That is one of the funniest things from here so far.  There is a small cargo truck (like an ice cream truck sort of) that belongs to DJ JOSEY SOUND. It is loaded up with audio equipment and is so loud that when it actually shakes our hotel when it drives by.  Apparently people can pay to have advertisements announced over the sound system, we heard a political one this morning, and when they aren't advertising, they just play super loud Haitian "house" music. I mean, ridiculously loud. And it drives around the streets like an ice cream truck. You can hear it coming from a long way away.

Haiti Mission Trip Recap - Thursday, part 1

Thursday, July 15, 2010
7am
Jacmel, Haiti - Loving Light Hotel roof deck

I really enjoy sitting up on the roof deck and watching the action in town in the morning.  Yesterday I brought up my IPod - which is running out of charge, yikes! - and listened to music.  Nice to hear familiar songs and words.

Today is our last day working at the church.  Tomorrow we are going to the beach and the market and then having a going away party, Haitian style. Apparently they are going to make us ride Moto (motorbike taxis) to the church for the party. Scary! A couple guys from the team tried to take a moto yesterday, but Fedony (Restore Haiti leader at the church) wouldn't let them.

"Moto" - Haitian sit up to 4 people on the back of a motorcycle taxi. We actually saw a family with 3 adults and then two of them were holding children. It was also pretty common to see someone riding on the back of a moto holding a chair or other large items.

At morning devotions Thursday morning, I asked our team if they had prayer requests to share.  These included: health for 3 of our team members, one team member trying to decide if she should stay in Jacmel another week or return to PaP for a week, healing for the aunt of one of the Haitian students we met (she had been taken to the hospital in PaP but the teenager didn't know why), prayer for a teenage Haitian boy living on the street near the hotel who appeared to be very sick and suffering from mental illness (in Haiti this is usually viewed as a voodoo related curse which makes Haitians scared of mental illness),  prayers for one of the church pastor's and his wife who have been trying to conceive a baby.  

6pm
Loving Light Hotel

This was our last day at the church.  I wanted to go to the medical clinic, but one of the team members there is very negative and Gina also wanted to go, so I let her go instead. I went back to my ladies again today.  I wish I had brought my journal to camp because there were quite a few times today that I had a chance to do some good thinking and now, of course, I can't remember most of it.

I started the morning washing dishes with Marjorie.  I had my flip flops on and they got very dirty, so did my feet and calves.  After dishes, I was helping to peel potatoes and Marjorie noticed my feet were dirty.  She brought me over by the water and washed and dried my feet and flip flops. 

I realized when she started leading me by the hand back towards the water what she was planning to do, and tried to refuse her.  I had learned by this point that 3 was the magic number of politeness -- for example, if they offered me a chair, I would say no, they would offer again, I would say no, they would offer again, I would say no (3X around).  If the offer was just politeness, they would accept the no after 3 times. I got the sense that if the offer was made a 4th time, then it would be impolite to refuse. This was a "4 times" command by Marjorie. I actually really enjoyed the "3 times game" because Haitian Kreyol and the Haitian communication style is so loud, it was almost like we were shouting at each other, only it was a nice interaction. I thought it was kind of fun.

I felt really bad - I'm here to serve the kitchen ladies and help them and I end up with Marjorie washing my feet for me.  But, really I couldn't say no either or I would have seemed rude. 

I ended up doing lots of cooking jobs today. I helped with: potatoes, onions, garlic, watercress, some kind of greens (collard?), eggplant and cabbage.  I also emptied 30 1lb bags of rice into pots for lunch.  They used 60lbs to feed the kids today! Emptying the bags of rice into the pots was the first time I was allowed to help prepare food in the real (hot) kitchen.  Oh yeah, I also sorted beans.

My rice prep area was on a log just to the right of this doorway inside the kitchen.

Julie, me, Marjorie



Sorting beans




60lbs of rice

 The ladies have been teaching me the Kreyol words for all of the foods and have me practice them, and then I team them the English. I almost never remember the Kreyol, but they like that I try. I also know the names of almost all of the (about 18) kitchen ladies and young girls.


Some of the kitchen ladies



TiTi, Marjorie, Me

 It's funny because even though my job hasn't been as physically demanding as most of our team, I feel like I have really made progress relationally with the women, much more than the rest have done with the Haitians.  I am sort of the command center of the kitchen for the Americans.  The Haitian ladies ask me for help communicating to the Americans and the team comes to me for water, bandaids, to find out what needs to be done around the camp, or if they are trying to find some kind of supplies.

One thing that happened today for the first time is the ladies started offering me food.  They have always tried to keep me out of the sun, get me to sit ("chilta"), give me water ("bwe"), but never food.  This morning when I was doing dishes, Marilou handed me what I thought was a big lime.  I took it, thinking I was supposed to cut it and put it in the middle water bowl (which often had limes squeezed and then dropped into it).  But when I asked, she said it was for me to eat ("manje").  I haven't been eating raw fruits of vegetables, but since I had already taken it, I felt like I had to eat it.  Turned out to be an orange! Hopefully it won't make me sick...

Later, another first, I was allowed all the way inside the (hot as a sauna) kitchen.  That is where I opened the rice.  While I was working, the ladies kept giving me "testers" (as my kids would say) of our lunch - french fries, hush puppies, they even offered me a whole hot dog, but I said no to that since we were supposed to be eating soon.  I am the only American who has been allowed in the kitchen so far.  When I told Jennifer (long term missionary) about the food treats, she said, "They take care of their own." Nice! I'm "their own"!

While we were eating lunch, I finished and was just sitting and thinking. It is hard to not feel tired when it is so hot and humid outside! I realized a little bit what I am doing -- I am in Haiti doing all this awesome stuff I never thought I could do! I don't think I will "get it" until I get home.  That's sad.  But I was thinking about home and how people have been scared for me and I was scared, but it hasn't been scary at all.  Just amazing.

Thank you God for this opportunity!

Haiti Mission Trip Recap - Misc Stuff I forgot

Thursday, July 14, 2010
6:30am
Hotel room

Misc. Stuff I forgot

Wednesday (yesterday) the Haitian nurses from a relief organization did vaccines out at the church.  I think they were Tetnus/Diptheria shots.  Each person had a little green immunization card to be filled out.  Everyone was gathered behind the kitchen so I went to see what was going on. Some of the kids tried to bring me over to get a green card and get vaccinated.  They were very adamant about it. I did my best to communicate that I already had a "green card" and had my shots before I came.  It was very cute.

When we arrive at church in the morning, the little boys who don't go to school wait and yell "Fi! Fi!" ("Girls! Girls!") when we come around the corner because they are so excited to see us.

There is a small river/creek that goes along the main road into town that is used as the community washing area. We go past every morning around 8am and see groups of women washing clothes and sometimes dishes. Every morning so far I mean to take a picture, but I keep forgetting! When we drive back around 5pm, there are still people there but in the evening it is mostly people bathing! It ensures that pretty much every day we see some naked Haitians. Oh, and they also wash their cars and motorbikes at the river too. I tried my best to get a picture today of the people working/washing in the river without getting too much nakedness.

Haiti Mission Trip Recap - Wednesday

Wednesday, July 14, 2010
8:30pm
Loving Light Hotel room

Finally back in the room after a long day.  We headed out for church around 9am.  They were sanding and moving rocks in the church and since my eyelids are swollen (common eye allergy symptom of mine) I didn't think it was smart to go in there since I don't have my allergy eyedrops with me. 

Wanda is still sick, so clinic was cancelled for today. So...back to the kitchen for me! Maybe God is sending me a message.

I did dishes and helped prepare vegetables. The ladies, especially Marjorie, showed me what to do ad talked with me about their families.  Some of the girls stopped by to chat with me and poke me and things. One cultural difference that is really funny is that in Haiti having belly fat is considered a good thing - a sign that you have enough food to carry a little extra weight. So it became pretty common for the teenage girls to come over and poke me in the belly while I was working in the kitchen or hanging out in the afternoon. It was a sign of affection and encouragement, but it sure felt funny trying to feel good about being poked in my flabby belly by strangers!

Late in the morning, a vendor woman came with popsicles kind of like freeze pops. They are basically frozen juice.  Jennifer bought us each one.  It was an interesting taste and nice to have something cold!

Emily decided she wanted to buy 5 more popsicles for the team working up at the driver's house, so she gave the lady $1. Apparently $1US buys 8 popsicles, so she was owed change. But she didn't want it, so she just started walking up to the driver's house to deliver the popsicle.  When she left, the kitchen ladies who were watching, came over and took 3 more popsicles.  Titi took one and gave me a very cute devilish grin and we laughed together about how she scored a "free" popsicle.



Marjorie and Titi (blue apron). In the background you can see the popsicle lady carrying her full size cooler of popsicles on her head.

 I really like the Kreyol language.  It is nice sounding but very passionate.  The Haitians often sound like they are yelling at each other because their voices tend to be deeper and they speak so loudly. It makes it interesting to watch them talk to each other.  It helps that I am starting to recognize a few words too.

I was thinking today about how much I am enjoying learning about and experiencing this culture.  There are obviously things that are difficult about living here, but I enjoy being a part of their community for now. On the "community" theme, our team is starting to do better with workin together.  We had a nice time tonight after debriefing sitting around and laughing together.

We did 2 meal services today.  It was the first day we have been here that they served twice.  After lunch,  Gina and Emily came with me to help with more kitchen prep work.  It was Emily's first time in the kitchen. 

I handed out hollogram animal stickers after lunch.  Even some of the teen and young adult soccer guys came over and asked for one! The best was one of the really big, muscular guys who pointed at the lion one and then roared at me and put his hand out for the sticker. 

Afternoon soccer

Jennifer with some of the kids

Afternoon jump rope games

I helped some of the English students practice their conversational phrases. They are doing really well.  I stayed back at church with Jennifer when the team came back to the hotel so that I could help at her English class.  That was very fun!

Jennifer's English class inside the church

The class practiced asking me basic quesions and then I asked them back so they could practice anwering.  I helped them with pronounciation, especially words with "r" sounds and "ch" hard sounds.  It was really fun for me.

Then I tagged along for the prayer group Jennifer leads before the tap tap came back for us.  It was a good meeting.  I have no idea what they were praying for, but it was very intense.

I got to take my first night tap tap ride because we didn't leave the church until 7pm. One of our rules was that we weren't allowed to leave our hotel at night unless it was an official work thing, so this was one of very few chances I had to be out at night.  I gt to see the security guy with the giant shotgun!

I had heard rumors of this security shotgun guy, but hadn't seen him before this.

When we got back,everyone else had eaten and there wasn't much food left. I did get some though. It was boulette again -- yum!

We did debriefing and sang together to close out the night.  Reggie (one of our translators) and two other Haitians stayed up on the roof with us and recorded the singing with their phones so they could listen to it later. That was cool.

I am very tired and a little sunburned.  I am going to take a benedryl so hopefully my eyelids won't be swollen again tomorrow.

Haiti Mission Trip Recap - Tuesday-Wednesday

Tuesday, July 13, 2010
4pm
Hotel room, Jacmel, Haiti

We did the lunch line again today.

This time lunch was grits and sauce, so it was really hard not to spill. Man, the sun got really hot during the time we stood out there to pass plates! A lot of the team spent the day painting inside the church, but there weren't enoug brushes so I hung out and played hand clapping games with the kids...

I went back to the kitchen after some hand clapping,but see if I could help the ladies with dinner (which was for us).  I helped smash spices with a pestle and mortar and then they tried to teach me the Kreyol for the foods we were making 

I am still not very good at remembering the different "meat" names. But I did find out we are having goat tonight!! Haven't decided yet if I will tell everyone else! =)

W are going back to church tonight for services and then to have dinner there.  It sounds like we won't eat dinner until at least 8pm and won't get back here until around 10pm. Church is supposed to start around 6pm.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010
7am
Hotel roof deck, Jacmel, Haiti

It started raining yesterday soon after I finished journaling.  We didn't end up going back to church.  "Haitians hate rain" and everything stops here if it rains.  I guess because they don't have much shelter or drainage and they spend more of their time outside.  Plus, roads here aren't paved, they are almost all dirt, so everything just turns to mud.  Church was cancelled and our plan to eat at church turned into eating at the hotel.  Fish, goat, cooked lettuce, tomatoes and peppers, potatoes, plantains and "dirty rice".  A feast!

I fell asleep for about 15 minutes while we waited for dinner.  Then I pretty much went to bed right after we ate.  I read for maybe 20 minutes and then passed out.  I slept like I do at home when I'm stressed - brief waking, tossing and turning a lot.

My stomach is feeling fine.  I drank a LOT of water yesterday. Peed three times -- a Haitian record for me so far. Still not quite right in the bathroom department, but I still think it's just stress and weird food.  About half of our team is experiencing the same ting.  My eyes and sinuses are starting to get weird from the constant burning and dust.  I wish I had saline nose spray and some allergy eye drops! Oh well...

Time for morning devotions!