Lost in Haiti time

Wow....it is already the end of Wednesday night. Time has been flying by. The first day I arrived,I immediately thought... It is going to be one long week. I was a bit skeptic of this whole trip at first. Anyone who knows me well, knows how much I am stepping out of my comfort zone. I HATE spiders and any critters crawling around. They just creep me out and have no right to share a bed with me! Already this week in our dorms we have seen big spiders, lizards, and a scorpion! Yep! Lovely sleeping buddies! However, I am loving haiti and all the kids I have met. It has truly been an eye opening experience. Things in Haiti are quite different than at home in numerous ways. Obviously there is more poverty, but in Haiti there are people who have a glowing faith in God. The people are welcoming, caring, and have a since of community. No one worries about what time it is or what item to check of next on the to do list. Things get done when they get done. I don't sense any anxiousness among the Haitian people. We have a lot to learn as Americans from these people. I have enjoyed their company and compassion this week.

MondY was our first real work day and I must admit it was a challenge. The heat is unbearable. We began by moving things from the dorm to a storage room. Then we began painting the church in the blazing sun. It was tiring, but looking at the finished product today made it l worth it the church looks beautiful! We were working outside for four hours. I couldn't keep my waterbottle full! After lunch we worked on putting a purification system together. While it wasn't tedious work, we were all feeling the effects from the hard work we put in that morning. We worked under a tent for another four hours feeling the heat. The heat drained me completly and I was done! I found the rest of the evening to be very difficult emotionally. I wasn't sure I had it in me to make it through the week. I was already missing my boys and drained. It was only Monday! Thankfully, lots of prayers and rest was all I needed because Tuesday morning I was full of energy and smiles!

Tuesday was a wonderful day. We began our day by visiting an IDP camp not far from campus. It was a sight hat broke my heart. There were literally thousands of people living I'm a tent. One tent after another tent all along the mountainside. We hiked up the mountain and were able to look out over all of the homes. Their tents don't have a canvas ground for protection. These people use whatever they can find to build shelter. The floor of their tent home is just the dirt ground. Many of the Haitian people living in these tents may not even have anything to lay on. While up on the mountain a staff member for NVM talked to us he gave us hbe history of the IDP camp and asked us an important questions. Do he poor know you by name? Do you take the time to feed, shelter, and foster relationships with those who are less fortunate. It really made me think. I challenge you to answer that question for yourself. When we returned to camp, we dug a trench for the pipe to our water purification system. It was a hot hot job! I am very proud of our team. We had great teamwork and got the Jo. Dome with only shovels and pickaxes! (unfortunately,we later found out plans changed and we wouldn't be using that trench after all!). : ).
Finally, that brings us to today, Wednesday! It was a very relaxing day. We sorted clothes, helped the Haitian women make beaded necklaces, and I go the pleasure of experiencing shopping for hardware in town! I loved going to town. It was interesting to see the different sties. Oh... They are quite different than our stores. The home store we went into was three levels. Eachebel housing different kinds of hardware and tools. It took us almost two hours in one store to get the items on our list! The parking, driving, and traffic was adventours. People just dart in and out at a fast pace. Motorcycles can be found driving down the middle of the road between two lanes of traffic. People are found at every corner Selling things! We even stopped at a market for some good old American junk food! Our group devoured it. It was a feeding frenzy! All in all, town was fun!

Time in Haiti is winding down. Tomorrow we will install two water purification systems. One here on campus for the school and one in the gulags of chambrun. On Friday we hope to visit the beach and head home on Saturday.