May is rainy season in Haiti, or at least it’s supposed to be. That hasn’t meant much in the past few years though as they have been in a drought. In the Artibonite Valley, where we are, rain has eluded us for the most part until the past several days. The farmers are so happy that the rain is helping to save their parched crops. One of the major crops of this area is rice, so water is desperately needed to irrigate the fields. We haven’t minded the rain as it has come down hard in short periods of time and then we go back to the beautiful sunshine again.

Despite the threat of rain, we still like to get the kids off the compound for a walk.

Mama says don’t get in the mud!

Time to hurry home from our walk before we get wet!

Jonathan and Markenson – no worries on their walk

This morning at staff devotions we were reminded that rain isn’t always a blessing. Magalie, one of the house mothers, told us of her waking up this morning to her house being flooded and everything floating in several feet of water. She somehow managed to tell us the story with a smile on her face (and she was on time for work this morning!).

Once the rain starts it is probably a better idea to do an indoor activity, so we had some “library time”. There’s still a language barrier, but we are learning Creole and the kids are picking up some English too. This book has been a great help as it helps us figure out the creole word for things we see in Haiti that we don’t see at home.

page from a creole book

Library hour in admin bldg gallery

Magdala and Dieunel enjoying listening to Mike in library hour

As always in Haiti, the sun came back out. Why not celebrate with a little popcorn?! Because it’s all about the children!

enjoying a yummy treat

~Mike and Nicki