Water Fights, More Material & School Registration

Last night, after a long day for Karen and everyone here at the compound, we decided we needed a little fun. We decided to make it a multipurpose event… a cool-off and spending time with the kiddies. We brought enough water squirters for everyone to use! So we filled them all and Karen, Jocelyn and Jennifer attacked. It was perfect! Everyone had a blast.. especially the younger ones. Sandra and Jonathan had a blast and were so sad when we stopped! I think Magdala had the most fun of all! Every time she got squirted, she giggled and laughed.

Refreshing water squirter play

Water squirter fun with Magdala

Afterwards, the older kids washed the truck and drenched us with the hose… it couldn’t have been better! It was a blast to just hang out with the kids (and be cool!!). Most of the kids were drinking out of the hose, I just hope that none of them peed the bed (If they did, no one yelled at us for it). Once we changed, Karen let us sit on her bed and watch tv with the air conditioner on! I’m not sure what we did to deserve it, but boy was it nice! I guess it must have been all that material we cut or the almond butter we brought (I think its all she’s eaten since she got it!)… whatever it was, it sure was great. Don’t worry folks, we tied her to the bed so she sat and watched the majority of an episode of Law and Order (Thank you Dickie for peaking her interest… She would have fought a lot more if it was a show she didn’t like!)

Last night the humidity was awful… The air was so thick, it was almost hard to breath… Especially for Karen. She went to bed with all the windows closed and the fan on low to keep her cool… In the middle of the night, she woke up in a sauna.. She had forgotten to change the power from the delco to batteries. We aren’t sure if she was purposely trying to suffocate herself or not… But she is being closely monitored from now on in.

This morning we had to register the HATS children for school. It seems that IMKH has too many students in some classes and Karen was starting to worry that her children wouldn’t have a place in the school.. So we marched all 13 that will be in that school next year over and sat them in the office in order from Jonathan and Sandra who will be in preschool one all the way up to JJ who will be in grade 8. We arrived before the director, Luckner (AKA papa) and just hid out in the office and waited. Once he arrived, mama Karen begged him to take her children in the school and to sponsor them because she couldn’t afford to pay! We all had quite the laugh! We are still working on getting the two newest students into preschool one but since mama knows the director so well, we think he might be able to squeeze us in!

Mama Karen waiting to register her kids for school before all classes are over filled

Anne giving her info to school director for PS 2

After that, we came home and started on the pay roll for employees. Tomorrow is normally pay day but since tomorrow is a holiday (apparently every second day in Haiti is a holiday) we had to have it done today. We think we did it right, and Karen approved it so sorry to the board if we paid anyone extra.. This Goudes to Haitian dollars business is a little confusing.

J & J fighting for the cool air from airconditioner in offfice

We then got to spend a little time with Ti Luc.. Karen’s a slave driver but occasionally she lets us have a little fun.. not often, but sometimes. Don’t worry Emma, we haven’t forgotten about him since! Jennifer (Or Jocelyn.. the identity crisis is at it’s peak so I’m not sure anymore.. The one that isn’t me) played games with him on his iPad and then used a speech therapy app to practice his English (Karen got your message Emma.. when you see him, you won’t get him to shut up!!).

After that we were allowed to have a nap. Apparently I am really fitting the part. Before I leave, I am gonna be a true Haitian. I haven’t worn shoes in the last two days (I’m not even sure I know where they are anymore) and fell asleep twice on the concrete floor.. I claim it was only once but I am told that I may have dozed while Ti Luc and the other one were using the iPad. If only I could go home with the beautiful coloring and skin that never wrinkles.

Then we did some more work.. We put together presents for all the kids at school who scored highest in June. First and second in every grade receive something. We cut a little more material; but never fear, Luckner has bought more so we won’t be bored tomorrow.. Another day with no breaks and lots of hard work!! It rained tonight so hopefully we will have it a little cooler and the heat won’t zap our energy too much! We spent more time with the kids and water squirters again tonight! It was a blast as always, except it starting raining the same time so some of them were cold and kept asking not to be squirted but still wanted to squirt us.. That was when it was time to finish for the night! It was to the point that even we were almost chilly… There were weird bumps on our arms, I think they are called goose bumps caused by the cold. I’m not positive though, I think I have forgotten the feeling.
We are all exhausted from another busy day!