It is hot. It is humid. It is hot. It is humid. From 9:30 am until late afternoon we are too hot, too wet, sweating profusely, showering again and again whenever we have water enough to do so.
I know some of you in Canada are finding it too hot this summer and I certainly do understand. It is not the heat that kills us here but the intense humidity along with it. It saps our energy and at times we resemble zombies. Yesterday I decided to check our temperatures. In my house with cement walls 36 degrees. Outside in the shade 47 and in the sun 58. Put that together with high humidity and it makes for moving around like zombies for sure. One stays out of the sun as much as possible.
Late afternoon every day I take the children for a walk along the canal and play time underneath the six huge mango trees by the canal. When leaving the compound yesterday Anne told me the back of my blouse was dirty. I thought I must have touched it against something, and since we were only going out to walk and play I did not check it. When I returned I discovered that my black blouse was more white than black – white almost all over with salt rings from sweating. Not a lovely sight.
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| One of our every afternoon walks |
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| Judel 6, Dieunel 8 |
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| Jonathan – Look at me Mama |
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| Sandra – Look at me too Mama |
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| checking out a just born baby mouse |
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| Photo taken by Djemima |
As I sit typing this my fingers are wet and sliding all over the keys. I have to constantly check for typos. I seem to have water running everywhere over my body. I am very thankful for the fan to push a little air around in my office when I have charge in my inverter batteries. Our generator is running again, but since the damage to it caused by lightening, it does not run as it used to. It often shuts itself down, but we are learning what to do to restart it. Needing to restart it often is not a problem at all, but it is the times when we are not able to restart it that turns into a big problem.
Despite the heat and humidity for which the valley is infamous we at the HATS Mission are doing okay. The employees and children are doing better. We have had no new cases of Chikungunya for which we are extremely thankful. Employees are all back at work albeit not completely recovered. Cifila, Yolande, Eugene, Magalie, and Luckner still suffering pain in feet, legs, knees or hands, but can work now. Djemima is still not completely well, but doing much better, and the other children are as right as rain as the saying goes.
I try to keep them occupied inside one of our buildings during the highest heat of the day and let them run and ride bikes early morning and after 4:00 p.m. Then our play walks along the canal followed by games in the yard before bed, after it cools down.
I still have not received the passport for Ti Luc. We wait and ‘try’ to do so patiently. ‘Try’ is the important word in that sentence for me. I need the passport so I can send the application for a visitors visa so I can take him to Canada with me. I do believe it will come eventually but often struggle with patience waiting.
Ti Luc continues to amaze us with his determination and drive. He is one gutsy little boy who wants to do and accomplish everything the other children can. Lately he has taken to trying to feed himself by using spoons and gagets people have given him. He is determined that eventually he will feed himself. We believe with him and encourage him.
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| Ti Luc trying to feed himself with spoons from Dickie & Kathleen. Not easy for him. |
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| Putting in good effort |
Jonathan has become a little helper with those doing the laundry for the children’s homes. He likes to help carry the full laundry baskets to the room with the washing machine. He especially likes to carry the empty baskets back to the boy’s and girl’s homes.
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| Laundry baskets walking back to the kid’s homes |
I will never be able to stop saying thank you to one and all for your support of the work of the HATS-Haiti mission with children. Thank you so very much.
God bless you all.
~Karen and gang
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