Today, we decided to enjoy a Sunday of seeing some of Haiti’s beauty. At 6 am today, most of our group, along with JJ, Moyiz, and Mirlande climbed a mountain behind Deschapelles. The weather was cool and the view from the top beautiful.
We went to church upon our return and had an opportunity to enjoy Magalie and Antoinette leading us in singing and giving the message.
After church we were off on a trip to Ti Riviere. We stopped at Canot where the Artibonite River is diverted into the myriad canal system that irrigates the entire Artibonite valley. The kids were particularly fascinated by the dead horse in the river. It’s in such a place that it would be almost imposible to get out – the water is very fast there by one of the irrigation diversions and someone swimming would be pulled under by the current. Without a winch or some other heavy equipment, he’ll most likely be there for a while.
We enjoyed seeing the fort at Ti Riviere, the 365 door Palace built by Roi Christophe, and the beautiful Catholic church. Some of our team members took advantage of the hot sun to do a little sunbathing in the back of the truck. They’ve been too busy to suntan all week and want to go home with some colour.
The rest of the afternoon was spent playing with the children, dancing, napping, and visiting. We are all running a little bit out of steam, but were game to create a new list of things to accomplish tomorrow.
Tonight I want to introduce the last of our team members.
Roger is a fibre optic telecommunications manager from Calgary who loves to ride his bike almost every day. He has been busing working on one job after another on this, his second trip to Haiti. He has painted, drilled holes, put up curtains, dug holes, fixed numerous things and always with an appearance to of peace and contentment. We have all enjoyed having Roger here with us on this trip and getting to know him a bit better.
Mariah, 17 years old and a grade 12 student, was born in Haiti and has been back many times. She has enjoyed many roles here too – she has helped out alot with the kids, especially Karena Mariah. She has taught English at the school to the high school students as well as teaching dance to some grade 9 girls as well as the small children here at the children’s home. Mariah is a great translator and has lots of helpful information to share about Haiti.
Heather is 14 years old and in grade 9. At home, she likes art and wants to be a missionary when she grows up. Heather has been happy to chip in wherever she has been asked to help out – always with a smile and a cheerful attitude. She also has done some painting, but has mostly been helping with the children, doing crafts and games, changing diapers, and especially helping Tifi who needs extra assistance.
Josiah, 15 and in grade 9, is our resident clown. He has run errands and done some odd jobs, but mostly he’s taken very seriously his job of bringing fun and levity to the group. The kids love him, especially when he leads soccer matches, swings them in circles or does silly antics to keep them entertained. The last two nights, Barry has paid Josiah $10 for every 45 minutes that he could be silent, after driving us all crazy with his constant, loud, high energy banter last night!
Tevan, 8 years old, has done really well learning Creole this trip. He is a good friend to JJ and Moyiz who love playing with him and he spends hours playing with Ti Luc – crazy games of hide and seek, pushing the trucks around, making Ti Luc laugh out loud with the puppets etc. He tried his hand at painting and has run errands for me and for his grandmother, Karen.
Tomorrow is our last day and we’ll be sad to leave, as much as we miss families and friends back home. We feel like the work we’ve done is just a drop in the bucket of the need here, but we are proud of the bit that we’ve been able to do to allow this mission to continue to reach out to needy children and families.
~Liette
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