After my new friends left for the evening, I walked onto the other side of the compound to meet up with the majority of the team. As I walked through the school, I found the team hanging out with some local children in the school yard.
Me, Matt, Ed, and Brian hanging out with new friends.
Me, Laura, Matt, new friend, and Ed
One really cute thing that I love about the Haitian children is that they LOVE to have their picture taken. Not only that, but they have learned that they can see it immediately and they all want to! It is like a fun game for them. Most them will point to your camera and say "photo, photo". That way you know they want their picture taken. You take their picture and as soon as you click the camera, they all come running over to see themselves. Everyone crowds around pointing, laughing, and making comments (in creole of course, so I don't understand). I think it is so cute!
Cynthia surrounded by her new Haitian friends
One thing I was told about before we left and then quickly realized myself was that the majority of Haitian people (mostly children), have no understanding of personal space like us Americans. They like to be as close to you as possible. For some people, I guess that may be a problem, but it doesn't really bother me much. I might feel bad for them because I am all sweaty and stinky!
I had a group of girls come and sit around me. They took my hair out of my ponytail and started playing with it. They braided my hair and pulled it up, I had a nice hair-do!
Ed let this boy hold his camera so he could take pictures, he was so happy!
After the girls were done with my hair, they started asking for almost everything on my body. They would point to something like my hair rubber band and then point to themselves. They asked for my sunglasses, ipod, shoes, watch, anything that was removable. I was prepared ahead of time that people would be asking for things. I felt really bad and wanted to give the little girls stuff, but we were told not to give anyone anything while we were at the compound. It is a strict rule. I guess Pere Soner does not want the people of the compound to beg, so we are told not to give.
We hung out for a while watching some boys play soccer with a tennis ball! So, this now sets up the next story. Brian came on a previous trip, but he never made it to Lotore. While at the compound on his first day, Brian decided to play soccer with some of the local kids. Not that big of a deal but, he was playing on uneven stone and in flip flops! He ended up falling and breaking his leg. A compound fracture to be exact! If you are not into medical terminology, that means that the bone broke and then came out of the skin! Yeah, gross, I know. Poor Brian.
Of all times and places to have such a horrible injury. Thank goodness he had an ER doctor and a Podiatrist with him! To make a long story short, Brian was shipped back home to be fixed and never made it to Lotore. He did end up healing well and decided to give this trip another chance!Brian made it very clear that he was not going to be playing soccer (especially in flip flops) on this trip! Matt, Chris, and Ed were some of the guys that were on the trip with him during his injury, so of course, they had to make as many jokes as possible on this trip. Once we got to the compound they kept saying jokes like,"Brian you have been here for three hours, only two more to break your record". It was really funny, and Brian took the jokes well and even joined in with them!
While hanging out in the school yard where Brian had his accident, some of the guys decided to recreate the scene of the accident!
Yes, this is a life-sized chalk outline of Brian's body.
Please note his broken left leg!
Brian reenacting the injury.
What a great sport!!Brian, I am so glad you made it on this trip! It was such a pleasure to meet you, work, worship, sing and laugh with you! I am so happy that there were no injuries this time! Way to go!
After all of the shenanigans, it was dark and time for dinner. The ladies from the compound had been preparing our meal all day long! Remember, no microwaves here! We all sat down for dinner in the rectory dining room (remember those beautiful handmade wooden chairs?). I was actually a little scared and did not know what to expect for our first meal. I did not want to show any disrespect to the ladies that had worked so hard on our dinner. I was in awe over the amount of food they prepared for us. I was not expecting anything really, especially after all of the uproar of food shortages and hurricanes. I could not believe the spread of food they set before us!
I decided to eat rice and beans ( a Haitian staple I have come to love), fried plantains, a pasta dish (I am not really sure what was in it, but it tasted good), and coleslaw (FYI, if you ever go to Haiti, the coleslaw there is extremely spicy!!). I quickly decided that I was vegetarian (while in Haiti) and passed on the Conch, Lobster (I think), and Goat (Cabrit in Creole). I was completely satisfied and stuffed with my vegetarian meal. Thank goodness my other team members love Conch, Lobster, and Goat. I think they ate all of it, so I am glad none of the ladies feelings were hurt!
After dinner was over, the team met on the porch for our nightly devotional. Dave led the devotional this night. We opened up in prayer and then took some time to focus and pray for Harriett and Stoney and the tragedy that had occurred earlier in the day. It was a long but very needed prayer session. Dave then spoke about the Lord's call on our lives and how we each answered his call to be here in Haiti. Dave read some scripture and then others shared their stories of how they have answered the Lord's call. It was a very spirit filled and moving devotional.
After everyone was dismissed for the night, it was time for bed. But wait, I got to take a shower first. Yes, a shower! We actually had a bathroom with a working toilet, sink and shower! The lights/generator was not on at this point, so I positioned my flashlight just perfectly on the sink. I was told before we left to make sure that you do not drink the water in Haiti. That means in the shower too. Have you ever tried to purposely not let water get in your mouth in the shower? It is harder than you think. If you don't think so, try it tonight.
So I turned on the water and there was this tiny stream of water. Now when I say tiny, it was like someone was spitting through a straw! I am not complaining at all because it was nice and cold and felt awesome! Plus, I didn't even think that I was going to be able to take a shower at all once I got to Haiti, so this was a wonderful blessing!
It's amazing how things that seemed so small and insignificant to me before were now such a big deal! I know that I am blessed, but I realized it even more once I was in Haiti. One thing I learned from Haiti is to never take anything for granted!
Now it is time for sleep! Thank you Lord for this day of meeting new friends and safe travel!
Coming up next...The Road
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