The painting of the children’s home is done today – hooray!!! The team let out out a yell of joy when the second coat was completed. They painted ceiling and walls in the kitchen, dining, playroom, and bedrooms. The children’s home looks fabulous and photos will follow tomorrow – it was too dark to take good photos this evening.
Today I’d like to take a chance to introduce a few of the team members and share some of their thoughts.
Jan runs her own house cleaning business in Calgary. Since coming to Haiti, she has discovered that she is an amazing painter! She always has a smile on her face, even when she felt too exhausted to walk to the kitchen to get her dinner. In reflecting on her time in Haiti, she says she thinks that this experience is an amazing one in which she’s discovered strength she didn’t know she had. She believes that more people should have the chance to work on a team here and to be as well taken care of as the team has been since they arrived – good food, positive people and opportunity to serve the people of Haiti.
Penny has been untiring, always willing to jump in and lend a hand with whatever needs to be done. She has been working part-time in a retail outlet in Calgary for the past few years, but says she’ll be looking for a “real job” when she returns home. Her deep thought for tonight is “I never want to see another paint brush again!”. In all seriousness, she has said she has a new appreciation for all of her blessings in Canada, realizing how very much she and her family have. She will be sad to leave Haiti and to leave the staff and children that she’s made a connection with.
Ariane, an 11 year old gymnast and grade 7 student, has been an amazing help since coming to Haiti – painting, taking care of children, helping with student photos, and entering information into the computer. She loves all of the children, even Jofky who took a bite out of her shoulder when he was mad about something!
Barry, a renaissance fix-it man is a man of few words and lots of action. Back home, is a quality manager which means he travels alot making sure everything is top-quality! Since coming to Haiti, he has painted, built doors, fixed plumbing, installed clotheslines, adjusted computers etc, etc, etc. Barry likes to WORK and is often the last one to come in to have his meal. Most mornings, Barry has a ti-boss (little boss) named Judel helping him out as he does jobs around the campus. Judel was all smiles today as he followed Barry around helping. Barry sees that there is suffering in Haiti, as there is in many countries in the world, and jumps in to do what he can to make things better.
That’s it for tonight – more deep thoughts tomorrow…..
~Liette
