Paint Splotches and Roman Candles

Thursday July 4, 2013

This morning after small group, Abby and I thought it was a great time to play some volleyball. I mean, who wouldn’t say no to a good, sweat-inducing game at 7 in the morning?

Surprisingly enough, we ended up convincing enough people to play. We got all hot and sweaty just before getting on the bus to head back to Source Matelas.

Today was a work day in the village. The task was painting! Muchhhh better than clean-up duty if you ask me. Throughout the day, we were supposed to paint two houses. We saw all the bright colors of the buildings of the MOH 500 houses, so we were hoping we were going to get to paint with some fun colors today. Pink, bright blue, green… Try brown and cream. Not the fun that we had hoped for.

But the kids were determined to make it fun anyways. I mean, with a bunch of teenagers, paint wars will happen no matter the color. Lexi and I were trying to paint the inside of a window cut out with brown paint. Almost everyone knows the consistency of house paint. It’s supposed to be thick, right? Well we were basically painting with dirty water when we got the first tray of it. It was ridiculously hard to work with and we were both getting extremely frustrated, let me tell you! Thankfully, someone else was able to make it a bit thicker by mixing in some of the other paint from the bucket that they had apparently mixed better. Still, we’re not claiming to be professionals by any stretch, and we were getting it everywhere. Thank God for tarps and the ability to wipe watery paint off a wall…

I was standing on a cement block trying to get to the top of the window when I heard a blood-curdling scream. I thought that either one of the girls had just found a tarantula, or someone was seriously hurt. Turns out, it was just Haley wailing her rage at Chip. She had started a new trend by painting her name on peoples’ shirts. Chip had walked up to Brian and swiped his paint-laden brush across the belly of his shirt, where her name had been so carefully painted. It was a pretty big offense apparently.

After we had started both houses, it was time to get lunch back at main campus. There was some pretty interesting rice dish waiting for us; Brian called it “lemon rice pound cake.” I’m starting to learn that the less eye appealing meals are usually the ones that are the best tasting. It’s strange, but a good rule to live by down here.  

When we came back to Source Matelas after lunch, we split into two different groups to finish the houses. I was in the group of the first house and we had Tami’s iPhone. We had a few watchers that turned into helpers. A little boy, for one, had come up on the porch and started dancing with me while I was painting a big metal door brown. He was such a cutie. I had a blast dancing with him. I’ve learned that, like a smile, dance transcends languages; it’s no longer a barrier once the music starts playing.

There was also an older youth there. I’d say mid to late twenties. He was also a sweetheart. Kevin and him talked for a while before I got into the conversation. Yes, he spoke English. His name is James and him and Kevin swapped information so they could reconnect on Facebook. I cannot believe how many Haitians have a Facebook. It’s so strange to me. They don’t have air conditioning, or clean water, but everyone is walking around with a cellphone and has a profile on Facebook. Crazy.

Another thing that was pretty crazy was this 23-year-old man who had quite the crush on Emily. He was chasing her around shirtless asking her if she had a boyfriend back home and whether or not she had a Facebook. Poor Emi was horrified. He was persistent though. He even came up and asked Kevin about her! It was absolutely hilarious.

We finished up at the house and walked – with all of our supplies, mind you – all the way back to the second house to meet up with the other half of our group. They were still finishing up, so a lot of us jumped in to help finish the job.

I think the most memorable part of the entire day, at least for me, though, was after all the painting had finished. We got in a huge circle and held hands to pray. The man of the house ended up praying. And this was probably the longest prayer I have ever experienced. I was standing on the porch, holding hands with of the Haitian men and Paige on the other side, who was holding the hand of an elderly woman. Maybe two minutes after the prayer started, this old women let out the loudest scream ever. I think she was saying something to the effect of “hallelujah” but Paige and I were not at all prepared for this.

Paige jumped ten feet and nearly landed on top of me. I had jumped a little and looked up in shock to figure out where the beast of a noise came from. When we finally collected the wits to figure out what exactly had happened, we tried desperately to muffle the laughter. Every time we thought we had our act together, one of us would start bouncing a little with quieted giggles and the other would lose her grip a little. For the rest of the prayer, Paige would have to keep pressing her forehead against my shoulder to keep us calm.

As soon as the prayer ended, Paige threw her arms around the old woman, laughing, “I love you!” The poor old woman had no idea what was going on, but it really was hilarious.

Earlier, we had all opted to just go back to the main campus for dinner, covered in paint. Oh my God, you would never believe my excitement. For all of you who stayed home and ate with your friends and family… I bet my simple fried chicken, corn and French fries tasted so much better than whatever you had. Even though it seems like a rather typical, boring meal, I have never been so excited for food in my life. Seriously. It’s not that the food we’d been eating all week was TERRIBLE… It was just that I didn’t like most of it and was living on granola bars most days. So this American food was like heaven to me.

On the way home, we all decided to sing loudly and obnoxiously. Haley and I happen to be musical soul mates. Apparently my iPod song list looks identical to hers. Teenage girls, man. We’re all pretty similar. However, it wasn’t all fun and songs. We all think we ended up getting a flat tire along the way. Which is really pretty scary considering we were in the middle of nowhere in some village. Who knows what could have happened. But someone was watching over us the entire time, and we made it out alive.

A big favorite of the night was the fireworks. So, I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this or not, but airport security is really poor. I will get into more of this in post to follow, but for now: Chip managed to get a bunch of firecrackers and about five Roman candles through two different airports via his carryon. When he was looking for something else in his bag on the plane to Haiti, he saw them in a back pouch. It’s awful and hilarious at the same time. We had explosive fireworks on a plane with us… Shake my head.

However, I think the only reason we got them through was because God wanted us to be able to celebrate American-style on the Fourth of July. It was really amazing too. Along with our fireworks, God was throwing in a bit of his own show with lightening. The sky was clear above our camp but all around us, storms were flaring and lightening was shooting out of the clouds. It was beautiful.

After that, a few of us played cards and Chip, Macy and I decided to make a pact to stay up until two in the morning after Brian had called it a night. It was really awesome getting to know a couple of the kids my age better. We’re all on very similar walks, so it was good to know I wasn’t alone in all this. It was really relaxing and chill too… until one of the guards walked up with his shotgun. I was sure we were going to get in trouble. But thankfully, I waved and said hello, he waved, cocking his head in an obvious attempt to figure out what the heck we were doing out so late, and with a final shake of the head, was gone. It was epic. A comical end to a great day!

Droppin' Like Flies - The Explanation

Ok, I know you've all been waiting for it. With a title like that, how can you not want to know?

Going back into the village after lunch, we lost six of our group members. Don't worry, they didn't die or anything like that. But we had to leave them behind, so they could sleep off their ailments at the main campus. Shannon and the girls stayed behind as they didn't feel well enough to continue, Lexi stayed back because of the splinter-turned-infection in her foot, Mike and Haley stayed back because they both had headaches and with Haley's concussion prior to the trip, no one wanted to take any chances with that.

So we got back to the village a bit short. But we made it work! Lee led us through the streets to collect children. We were basically the Pied Pipers, calling out “oov-lay-jway! oov-lay-jway!” That’s obviously not how you spell it, but I tried looking up the translation online, and hey, what we were told we were saying doesn’t quite add up. I think we were calling out something with the equivalent of, “Come play with me!”

Kids lined up on the side of the street and followed us, jumping up into our arms (with or without our express desire to hold them) and smiling.

Once we collected all of our little friends, we headed back to this big empty area. It seemed to be the center gathering area between a collection of shacks. Part of our group, basically the men, jumped into an intense game of soccer with the Haitian teenagers while the rest of us ladies got swarmed with kids. This was after we had watched with huge smiles as Lee rallied all of the kids into a large circle and got them to dance and sing and stretch. He even made all of us Americans call out our names and introduce ourselves so that the kids could yell our names back at us. It was really cute and fun to engage in. Lee made fun of our all names, because to them, we have a funny accent, you know?

So after this whole circle extravaganza, Katie, Tami and a few of the other girls, along with myself, were sitting around with the little children. So basically there were the men playing soccer in the main open area, then a little lump of dirt where a lot of us were hanging out, a tree and then all the little kids and the rest of us. I had at least three little kids pulling on either my arms, my skirt or my shirt the entire time.

Tami and Eden got all the children to sit in a semi circle so that Tami could read a story out of the Bible and Eden could translate. She had just sat down Indian style and opened the book in her lap when Kevin came running towards us.

"Tami, we need you."

"Me?"

"Dave's hurt."

I've never seen someone up and gone so fast. I wanted desperately to go and check it out for myself, but I thought it would be better to keep the children calm and here rather than having them follow us to see whatever was wrong. Besides, it looked as though there was already a crowd around him anyway. So the task of leading the kids was left to Katie and I. Katie decided to teach Eden Simon Says so that we could teach the kids and then keep them entertained. Later we played Duck-Duck-Goose. The kids really got into it.

So I'm sure you're wondering what happened to Dave... While they had been playing soccer, a ball went up and Dave and Ed both went for the header. They smashed foreheads, giving Ed a small cut and Dave a large, open gash. He kept playing until he noticed the blood dripping down his face, onto his chest. I saw pictures, and I'm sure I'll post one eventually. But it was really pretty gross. Tami, Dave and Ed all went back to the main campus and they got all fixed up. Dave had actually needed seven stitches right above his eyebrow.

Our members really were droppin' like flies. It was awful.

So now it's time! This seriously is probably my favorite memory from the entire trip. I've been waiting to tell this since we left Haiti...

I was sitting on the ground with two little girls and a little boy with the most amazing eyelashes I have ever seen. They were literally so long that they curled back into his eyelids. And can I just point out that the fact that I was sitting on the ground was a testament of the change that was happening in me over my time there. I would have NEVER sat on the ground with all the ants and the unknown nastiness that I was well aware was there. I mean, about five minutes before I sat down I watched three little boys have a peeing contest on the very edge of the kids circle. Gross. Who knows what I was sitting in...

But back to the story!

So the little boy was sitting on my lap and there was a small girl in a ratty orange dress standing next to me. She was adorable and it had taken everything to get her to be comfortable with me. I could see it in her eyes when she first approached me. It was like, she wanted to be my best friend, but she was nervous, scared even.

All of the sudden, the little boy went after the hair ties on my arm. He bit them and was pulling back. Three things rushed through my mind: one, he was going to break them; two, he was going to hurt me when they snapped; and three, he was going to really get hurt when they snapped into his face.

So I'm trying to get them out of his mouth, and nothing's working. Even the little girl is trying to help me by gently smacking him on the hand and telling him to stop in creole. I finally stick my fingers between his teeth and try to pry his jaw open. It eventually works and I think I'm in the clear. But then he lunges again. I figured the only way to stop the madness was to get my hair ties off my wrist and into the backpack slung over my shoulder. 

I slip them off and reach for my backpack. Before I even know what's happening, the little girl rips them out of my hands and grabs my backpack. I thought, Great, now the little girl is going to steal my stuff... Luckily, I was wrong. She pulled my backpack off my shoulder and opened the front pouch. She stuff my handful of hair ties into the pouch, zipped it back up, and helped me put the backpack back on. 

I looked at her in awe, and she replied with a big smile. I hadn't met a child with as much maturity and awareness as she had. It was incredible. Needless to say, we were inseparable for the rest of the day. 

She even pulled me along behind her as she went up with the rest of the children to get one of the DumDums that Lee was passing out to the masses of children. It was a heartbreak to leave her at the end of the day. She walked with me to the truck and pointed out her mother. 

It was a great day that ended with dinner after some intense games of volleyball. Don't worry though. We picked up all the people that we had lost throughout the day and came back together for team time. Everyone's okay!   

Droppin' Like Flies

Wednesday, July 3, 2013 9:40 pm

Today was the first day all 26 of us went into the village. The guys didn’t have the option to stay back and work, so we all piled into the truck and drove to Source Matelas. We picked up the translators and headed to what I think is probably one of the nicest neighborhoods within the village.

Once again, we broke into groups, each with a translator and started walking. See, I thought this was weird. The past couple days we had been in what I would compare to the slums that we see in cities in America- only with more rustic living spaces. Where we were exploring today was more like the suburbs. The houses were actually nice and had real yards and fences. It was interesting!

Kevin, Emily, Kathie, Ed, Chip, Danni and I followed Joseph into the neighborhood. Ed stopped to chat with an old man by the basketball courts who was dressed in a soccer jersey and actually fixed computers for a living. He and Ed hit it off as they had similar interests in tech. A few of the others joined the conversation while they rest of us watched the intense soccer game going on behind us on the basketball court. About a dozen dark, muscular teenage boys were flying barefoot around the court, passing the ball, diving for any chance to get a shot in. I flinched as I saw a couple of them fall hard on the concrete. To all the soccer players out there, you have no idea how lucky you are to have grass fields to play on.

After Ed finished talking to him, we all said our goodbyes and continued down a narrow path, walking deeper into the neighborhood. As we were passing one house, Joseph kind of coaxed us awkwardly into the front yard where a couple of children were watching us warily against a wall as their mother washed clothes in a watery, sudsy bin on the ground. As soon as the woman gave us permission to come onto their property, a young girl in a pretty dress and short cropped hair pulled out chairs for all of us. The hospitality of that family was incredible.

Danni and I sat on a cement step to try and get the little kids to interact with us while the rest of our group sat in a circle and talked with the woman of the household through Joseph. Her mother was actually around the corner from us, making juice out of berries she was hand-squeezing into a pulp. I'm not gunna lie, the little kids were really difficult. They did not know what to make of us, so staying safe rather than sorry became their motto.

They huddled close to the wall and watched us warily - a similar relationship to me and a spider in the shower. One child was too young to really do anything though, and Danni and I sat by him. He seemed to have quite the cold. As he watched us like we were aliens right in front of his face, his nose oozed snot and the gnats were all over it. They swarmed in the goo, in his eyes, all around him. It was absolutely disgusting. Even these people, who I would consider the wealthier of the Haitian population, didn't have it all together. It was so sad.

We also met the father of the household, the woman's husband. He had his arm bandaged up and in a sling. Motorcycle accident. Broken arm. This is apparently typical for the people there. As I have said before, their driving is crazy...

Another man, who I THINK was the washing woman's brother, came and sat down in our circle. He didn't speak English, but he did speak pretty fluent Spanish. This was enough to make communication possible with little work of the translator. I could understand English, and respond limitedly, but it was enough for conversation. Emi and Chip could get out a word here or there too. But I did most of the communicating. It was really awesome. Kevin would ask questions through me and I would translate. It was just a really awesome opportunity. I only wish that I was better at it. Gives me more motivation to pay attention in Spanish this year I guess!

We eventually said goodbye to the family and moved on to their neighbors. It was actually pretty funny, because the kids from the first house who had wanted nothing to do with us, followed us around the back of their house and were observing us as we went into the next yard.

This second household consisted of a woman, who was cleaning the dirt ground with a broom, and her three children. She also had another one on the way. One of the older children tried to drag her younger brother over to see us, but the poor little guy literally freaked out. He was screaming and kicking and crying. I felt so bad. I didn't know how to tell her to just leave him. But she was actually pretty social, and with a bit of coaxing decided to sing for us. In the showering of applause following her performance, her face lit up. It was really cute.

After a prayer for the family and the safe delivery of the next child, we continued on. This is when I first noticed that the teenage girl with the short hair and pretty blue dress had followed us this entire time. I remember having the desire to talk to her the entire time, but I never found the words or the right moment. Later, however, we would find out that she could care less about me anyways, as she had another purpose for following our group.

We continued down the street until we came across another house. I don't think any of us were actually planning on stopping there, but Joseph kind of walked in, and we were supposed to stay with him, so what other choice did we really have?

I think the hesitancy came from the fact that it looked like more of a garage than a household and all we could see through the door was the front of a car and darkness. I decided to be brave and was one of the first of us to waltz in. And that is when I saw them.

Two amazingly beautiful little babies were on a rug on the carpet. A woman was sitting with them and the larger one was hunched over a little pillow. The look on my face must've given me up. Joseph laughed and told me I could hold one if I wanted. I wasn't about to steal the smallest one from the hands of it's mother, so I gingerly picked up the pillow-hugger.

I just remember the baby's eyes, as they watched us. The beautiful, big, brown eyes. Oh, she was beautiful. She got passed around between me, Emi, Chip, Kathie and Danni. Kevin and Ed just took pictures.

The younger one eventually got into the mix as well. One of the babies was in Danni's arms and began to be perplexed by her long blonde hair. It was the funniest thing to watch; she just pulled on her hair and stared at it. Meanwhile, the baby in Chip's arms discovered Chip's chest through his shirt.

For the record, I have this part of the day written in my notepad as "Chip's nips." Hilarious, I know. But the baby was apparently hungry, and was going after his nipples through his shirt. I started laughing, "Haha, he's hungry! Hon, those aren't Mommie's! They don't exactly work the same..." Probably the highlight of my day for its humor factor, not gunna lie.

After the males finally convinced us to leave the house, we continued down the road. Now there was another teenage girl along with the one in the blue dress. It was strange. I could not figure out why they stayed with us.

We came to our fourth and final house not long after. There were little boys in the front yard, along with a baby girl walking around in a little dress who was super cute. There was a woman sitting in this front window space who had a ton of canned and boxed foods behind her. It almost looked like she had a little shop going on from the front of her house.

Ed asked if he could have a coconut from the tree by her house. Joseph translated, while laughing, "She says if you can climb up and get it, you can have it."

So what does Ed do? Is it even a question? He drops all of his bags and cameras on the ground, and walks right up to the palm tree. Up the tree he went. Like a monkey. Literally, he looked like those Amazonian men you see throw themselves up trees to get to fruit on the Discovery Channel. It was hilarious. All the Haitian women were cheering and laughing like monkeys. It was awesome.

Joseph whipped out a machete and chopped the tops off of the two coconuts Ed had knocked down. We all got to slurp up the coconut juice inside. I was all about it - until a spider crawled over the top just before I went in for my third sip. After that, I wasn't having it. But I was back on for the coconut meat. That was gooooood! It tasted more like almonds than coconut, but I liked it. It was new and different! Raw coconut, knocked down from a tree by a climber, from the middle of a Haitian village, chopped up with a machete by a Haitian man. Pretty cool stuff!

As we were walking back along the road, the same couple of girls were still following us. They were whispering to each other and giggling - and THAT is when Kathie and I put it together. As the tried to figure out how to say "I love you" out loud in English, we smiled. Sure enough, when Joseph asked, they told him to tell Chip, "You have beautiful eyebrows!" They were crushing. Chip loved it.

As we headed back to the main area to meet up with our other group members, we caught a whiff of something. Now, Kevin has been to a lot of places all over the world. So he's not exactly a newbie when it comes to interesting food. When we finally came up to the vendor that was producing the smell, the adventurous Kevin couldn't keep his desire down. Working with Joseph, he purchased what was basically fried dough.

Now, as you can imagine, most of us were pretty skeptical of this Haitian street vendor food. We have been warned time and time again not to eat or drink anything not approved of, in fear that we might come down with the "Haitian Sensation." But I decided to take a chance. Besides, God would keep us safe. I assumed. Hoped. Prayed.

I am so grateful I took that chance. It was delicious. I kept asking for more, but Kevin pulled a magic trick and within the span of a minute, it had disappeared into the stomachs of about a dozen of our group.

It was just prep for the lunch that we were heading back for!

Tune back in soon to find out the reasoning behind the title of this blog!

-Katie Coming to You from Haiti

More Paiges... Big Book!

So one of the Haitian boys coaxed the spider into a bucket using his machete… and proceeded to run around chasing us and pretending to accidently dump the bucket or heave the spider out. It was absolutely terrifying. We were definitely the joke of the day; the Americans, scared of a wittle fuzzy thing. Yeah, well… I for one didn’t think it was very funny. I don’t think any of us American girls did.

But to be honest, it was a miracle in disguise. When we had been working, there was definitely a divide between the different peoples. This mixture of fear and laughter brought us together faster than anything else could have. The walls fell completely and we were just one big group, no longer separated by race or culture or language.

Thankfully, the village champions eventually chastised the boys into stopping their evil game. However, this gesture of peace was quickly forgotten. A slight air of irritation hovered around Tami as she tried to get very reluctant American girls back into the trash pile. I felt too bad that we weren’t doing our job as intended, so I climbed back in with Anna and a few others. As we were doing this, some of the Haitians were telling us about how we should be on the look-out for another tarantula, since apparently, they travel in pairs. I’m thinking, cute, a romance… between creepy, nasty, ugly creatures. Why? Sick joke? So I was a bit skittish and hesitant about the trash, not going to lie.

I’m bending down to pick up a plastic water bag when all of the sudden, I feel something crawling up the back of my leg. I release a piercing scream and take off running. An eruption of laughter reaches me from where I was just standing. There’s Papitas, hunched over shaking. “You like my spider impressions?” he chuckled. Once again, not funny. Not at all.

They were right too. We found the second one not long after. It was just as disgusting and unnerving as the first time.

Later we were all just hanging around with the kids and the translators. Our translators were literally taunting us with their silly creole. A few of them decided that Abby, Macy and I needed to learn creole fast. So they started talking in jibberish and asking us questions in a foreign language, expecting that we would be able to whip out the answers. I think we’re just pure entertainment for Haitians. We’re not really helping them in the way that we all think. We’re just a big comedy act that brings laughter throughout the nation. Shake. My. Head.

It was seriously a crazy hour spent with the people. Kids were everywhere, jumping on us, laughing at us and trying to interact with us. It was wonderful. There was a surprisingly large age range as far as the children went; some were just toddlers and others were my age, teenagers. It was awesome to see them all joining together in the same place.

Before we knew it, a dance competition broke out. One of the teenage boys had started break dancing and then physically passed the moves onto one of the translators, who then passed it to another translator, who then had the great idea of passing the dance torch to a white man. HAH. Lee, Tim and Ed all got involved. It actually got quite heated between Ed and Lee. They were back and forth, strutting around each other, mimicking moves. It was pretty hilarious. Whoever got videos of that seriously needs to share.

Ed claimed superiority, but we all know he couldn’t touch Lee’s moves. White dancing just doesn’t cut it, let’s be real here.

After the intense competition, it was back to the main campus. Again, many of us took naps and relaxed on the roof until dinner was served. And dinner was… soup. Really questionable soup. I saw a whole crab floating in a sea of seaweed and I completely lost my appetite then and there. Done. Crackers, anyone? However, there was one redeeming treat: CAKE!

We also had rain today! I can’t even tell you how good cool rain feels in Haiti… After all the heat and the limited showering experiences, this was like a breath of fresh air, a drink of cool water. Absolutely amazing.

I ended up going to Madame Cheap Cheap’s after and buying some beaded necklaces (although they were like beans or seeds or something, not beads), and bracelets. This was after shopping at the actually store inside MOH and purchasing a couple t-shirts, a wristband that says the school theme “mwen kapab” (meaning “I can”) and a 3-cord headband made by a Haitian women. All purchases I was very happy with, let me tell you.

Other people were with theirs as well. Many people in the group bought t-shirts; Ed bought a green bag for his sister; Lexi bought nearly all of the 3-cord bands (she knew where the hidden stash was in a box under the table); Brian bought a machete! How do you get a machete through security at the airport? But hey, if Chip could get the fireworks through, I have faith in Brian as well.

When we were headed back to Bercy that night, I thought we were all going to die. We were headed back in the pitch black and there was definitely something wrong with King of the Roads. It felt like we were about to lose a tire and get stranded in the middle of some random village. Sure enough, the driver actually pulled over and did something. I think they might have changed a tire, because there was some serious adjusting going on on the side of the road. I thought poor Haley was going to have a heart attack. She freaks out every time we hit a bump; this was putting her over the edge. But we made it eventually!!

The closing of the day was spent in team time. I can’t really express what happened without violating the trust we’ve built, but it was a very emotional experience for me. I don’t think I’ve ever cried that much in my life.

But shout out to all the men on our trip! You have all taught me so much. I know it’s kind of crazy, you probably thought I was just this other random girl along for the ride. But I appreciated you and many of the individual conversations I had with all of you. I saw the way most of you watched over your daughters on this trip, and it was like a direct reflection of God’s love for each and every one of us. Unconditional and always forgiving. You’re all amazing, and I thank God that I got the chance to meet you all. You’ve quickly become the additional family I never expected to gain. Love to all!

-Katie Coming to You from Haiti

On the Same 'Paige'

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Last night, Tami found out what our task for today was. She wouldn’t share. Why? Probably because she knew we would all opt to stay back and help pour cement instead of going. A task we would rather not know about, you know?

Picking up trash. Like convicts. How lovely.

To be fair though, Haiti needs this. Haiti needs brigades of people to just pick up trash daily. You see, they don’t have a garbage system. When you’re done with your trash, you toss it aside and leave it anywhere and everywhere. So as you can imagine, there is trash bursting out of the seams of this country. It’s on the streets, in the ditches, in huge mounds in open areas between houses. It’s disgusting.

Regardless, it was our job to try to lighten Source Matelas of some of its trash. We broke into small groups of about five and went to different areas with a translator for our first go at it. My group (Emi, Abby, Anna and Haley) somehow got stuck on the side of the road. All I can really remember about this particular area was the unbelievable heat and the ants. It was only around nine in the morning, but the heat was making us all drip with sweat. It was absolutely horrid. Then there were these terrible ants crawling everywhere. You’d move a rock or a piece of trash and a splash of them would come freaking out all over the place. You know me, the bug-a-phobe… I was having a hard time. But my sister Emily, was not having it. She was pacing around complaining about how she couldn’t handle the bugs rather than actually helping. It was both annoying and entertaining all at the same time.

The funniest part, though, was when I noticed a bunch of Haitian men looking over towards our group. They actually called our translator over, and when Eden came back, he asked Anna what her name was. “Anna!” he called back to the group. We all looked at each other and burst into laughter. Abby was the first to coin it for her: “Anna, the Haitian Hottie!” That was definitely a joke that lasted throughout the rest of the week.

When we were cleaning, we had two paint buckets and a garbage bag. We ripped a hole in the bag, so we ended up just having to fill the buckets and keep dumping them into this GIANT white trash bag around the corner. It was insane. It was taller than me and maybe five Katies wide. Pretty intense if you ask me. We basically filled up one every hour between all of the groups.

Thankfully, the second time was not nearly as difficult. There were less bugs and more kids. We all got distracted by them at one point or another. I was probably one of the first to get caught in their trap. I mean, we’re missionaries right? Building relationships with the children seems much more important than the trash, am I right?

Don’t get me wrong, we definitely got a lot of work done before this happened. A group of us were walking through a giant pile of trash and picking stuff up, commenting a lot along the way. There were plastic water bags, olive oil containers, broken plates, silverware, and best of all, some homework! Everyone knows the excuse “the dog ate my homework,” but what about “the missionary threw away my homework?” New classic anybody?

But in all honesty, there was definitely a lot of playing after this. Some people found a large jaw bone that was a fascination for both us and the little boys. Abby got her headband stolen by a Haitian teen (and I honestly don’t know if she ever got it back). I found a little girl who I just couldn’t put down. She actually spoke some English too! She knew most of her ABCs and all the numbers up to about 20. I decided to continue her schooling and teach her more English. She had a fetish for my sunglasses, so we started there. I pointed, spoke, and she repeated. Then we moved on to facial features. Abby actually got a video. She was a brilliant student. But she couldn’t get “ears” under her belt, as Haitians have a terrible time with the ‘r’ sound. It’s kind of hysterical. Just before we left for lunch, I taught her how to say “King of the Roads.” It was awesome, but it was heartbreaking to leave her.

By the time lunch finally came around, we were all completely exhausted. Bending over and rifling through trash and then physically running around and playing with children practically put us all into a coma. We ate and then headed up to the other building to take naps on the roof. It was wonderful- until it ended. Sadly. Painfully. Distressingly. But we had a job to do!

Back to the village for more clean up! We basically hit the mother lode of all trash piles and quickly filled up the giant bag. It was amazing. A truck full of us went to dump another bag while many of us stayed to continue. I heard they actually sent some of Chip’s firecrackers into the fire which was pretty exciting.

Yes, somehow, Chip managed to get a bunch of firecrackers and a handful of Roman candles through airport security and onto the plane. He didn’t know either, mind you, but still. Way to go security! I hope that makes you feel safe…

So back to the trash pile. I was standing around with a little girl clinging to my neck when all of the sudden, Anna’s scream pierced the air and many more followed immediately. I looked up to see the girls in a gazelle-paced sprint, speeding away from the trash. In this same moment, all of the male Haitians ran towards what they were running away from. I could tell, I didn’t want to know.

Anna had moved a piece of trash and out crawled a tarantula. Tune in tomorrow to find out what those boys did with the tarantula!

-Katie Coming to You from Haiti

Monday Night Homework

As I mentioned in the previous post, we had homework on Monday night. We were to all listen to or read the lyrics to 'Live Like That' by the Sidewalk Prophets. To make it easy for you, I've included the lyrics:

Sometimes I think
What will people say of me
When I'm only just a memory
When I'm home where my soul belongs

Was I love
When no one else would show up
Was I Jesus to the least of us
Was my worship more than just a song

I want to live like that
And give it all I have
So that everything I say and do
Points to You

If love is who I am
Then this is where I'll stand
Recklessly abandoned
Never holding back

I want to live like that
I want to live like that

Am I proof
That You are who you say You are
That grace can really change our heart
Do I live like Your love is true

People pass
And even if they don't know my name
Is there evidence that I've been changed
When they see me, do they see You

I want to live like that
And give it all I have
So that everything I say and do
Points to You

If love is who I am
Then this is where I'll stand
Recklessly abandoned
Never holding back

I want to live like that
I want to live like that

I want to show the world the love You gave for me
I'm longing for the world to know the glory of the King

I want to live like that
And give it all I have
So that everything I say and do
Points to You

If love is who I am
Then this is where I'll stand
Recklessly abandoned
Never holding back

I want to live like that
I want to live like that
I want to live like that 

Now, our homework was to reflect on what these lyrics meant to each of us. So please, feel free to join in and comment. What do these lyrics mean to you? What do they mean for the typical Christian? What is your first reaction, or response?

Foundations Continued

In the evening, we finally watched the ‘Vision Video’ that we probably should’ve watched the night we arrived. I’m not even gunna lie, it made me cry.

One of the very first stories were heard – and watched – was that of Brad and his wife talking about one of their mission trips to Haiti, before MOH was even an idea. Similar to our mission trip, they had gone into one of the villages and gone into peoples’ houses and just generally interacted. They were walking through one day when they came to a house where a large crowd of people were clustered around a sick baby. Brad and his wife had never seen a baby so sick. They decided to take the baby to the nearest clinic (which I believe was like a half hour away, don’t quote me on that though) so Brad, his wife, a driver and the father with the baby jumped into a truck and were off. When they got to the clinic, it was closed and they were crushed. But just as they were staring at the building, they heard a noise – a noise they would never forget: the baby’s last breath.

So they have to take this dead child back, the father mourning as any man would, to a mother who thought that the white people could fix her baby. Later they came to find out that the girl had starved to death because her parents had sold everything they had to a voodoo doctor. The family came to realize the error of their ways, converted to Christianity and were able to have another child. As far as we know, they are all well and healthy to this day.

Then there was the story about Jr. Brad went to an orphanage without his wife one day and was pretty uncomfortable with the kids. He ended up just sitting in the middle of the floor and waited for them to approach him. Humorously enough, the one child that approached him was the kid without pants. We witnessed a good number of kids like this in Haiti, and they are just like the other kids when it comes to being picked up. They want attention just like anyone else. So Brad was holding the kid, much to his distress, but he heard the voice of God whisper in his ear, “This is your son.” Brad didn’t think too much about it, but knew his wife was going there without him the next day and told her, “Whatever you do, don’t pick up the little boy without pants on.”

Sure enough, she came home the next day with the baby in tow. He had had a fever, and she wanted to get him proper care. And that’s the story of their first adopted baby!

So many other crazy things were revealed in that video. I found out the first 20 or so acres that make up the main campus was traded for a grand piano, the army built the first school and promised to build more if MOH could make something out of it, and the entire nutrition program started with the hiring of one woman and the nailing of a peanut grinder to a tree.

You see, when they first opened the school, the teachers were freaking out because the kids would just keep falling out of their seats, feinting. They also had swollen bellies from worms and orange hair from malnutrition. To fix this problem, a woman was hired to grind all day to make a peanut paste. The kids were then given a piece of bread with the peanut paste and a juice for every meal. The results were astounding. They became healthy!

Just all the things that had to line up perfectly, and the ease with which they did is a true testament to God’s power. I loved the video and it was awesome to see how the ball got rolling. But I also realized how much we take for granted on a daily basis. I’m complaining to Mom because I can’t find the remote when there are people starving and living without decent shelter. It’s crazy. Those are God’s babies too. Why aren’t we doing more as brothers and sisters?

After the video, we had team time. Everyone shared and it was awesome. We went around the circle to tell our highlight of the day:

Kathie loved listening to the translators in the church.

 

I couldn’t get over the little boy that got so much joy from taking one picture with my camera.

 

Kevin thought it was awesome to be the source of amusement for the Haitian construction workers. Apparently none of the guys could do anything right.

 

Dave Verville loved that there was always joy here.  

 

Tami thought it was amazing to get to spread the word in the village, especially the way the translators did it.

 

Ed enjoyed locking arms with the fellow group members and laying the foundation (both literally and abstractly) for the pastoral college.

 

Dave Vanepps loved how the village champions were so on fire for Christ.

 

Lexi was having a blast doing handshakes with all the little girls all day.

 

Katie loved washing clothes with the three sisters that she met. She also thought it was funny that they just laughed at her poor creole, but were able to teach her a song.

 

Paige loved the King of the Roads getting stuck and then getting to see the view. It was awesome for her to see God leading and being in control of the situation like that.

 

Kristin felt the hope for change in Source Matelas and thinks it’s so cool that we get to actually watch things happen, like the walls being put up, WHILE we’re here.

 

Macy also liked it when the car got stuck and enjoyed the hike up the mountain, as well as seeing all the people in the village that were happy to see us and getting a chance to hang out with the kids in the park.

 

Anna shared about how she got to talk to one of the translators in Spanish about how and why they know Christ.

 

Haley got to have the same experience but with a little girl, and really got to know her.

 

Mike reflected on how many people are going to learn, get loved on, and praise God in the very building they were helping to create.

 

Geary shared about how God really showed up when we got stuck today and also loved getting a chance to meet each of the young men that were a part of the organization and learning their stories. He also couldn’t forget to mention the father with the nine kids and all the animals and how humbled he was by the man’s total trust in God.

 

Brian talked about laying the foundations for where future people are going to be taught about God. This was especially important to him because of his personal struggle over determining whether or not seminary was the thing for him to do.

 

Haven liked when we played soccer and also loved the beautiful view from the top of the mountain.

 

Naomi joined in with the crowd favorite and commented on the hike up the mountain.

 

Throughout the day, Bruce enjoyed being with his fellow men and pointed out their transformation from the three stooges to the seven dwarves… apparently the looks on the Haitians’ faces when they were bucketing water was priceless.

 

Tim liked bonding with the fellow workers in Christ through labor, camaraderie and just overall building relationships with fellow Christian men.

 

Chip liked playing volleyball and talking to another ‘camper’ from a different group who was strong in the faith.

 

Abby commented on how awesome it was that language didn’t seem to separate us from the Haitians; the way we played soccer together… physical language just worked.

 

Emily talked about the woman in the park who spoke English and how they shared their stories and got to know each other.

 

Danni told a story about a little boy who wanted her to take a picture of him and thought it was so cool afterwards when he got to see it. She also mentioned a little girl who was just THRILLED with a mechanical pencil. The simple pleasures…

 

Finally, Tim Morton talked about Wildem (no guys, I do not know how to spell these names). He was a translator that he met at church on Sunday who remembered and hugged him, and even greeted him by name! Later Tim got to hear his story.

As you can tell, it was a great day for everyone. But it wasn’t over yet! Tim had homework for us! Check it out in the following blog!

-Katie Coming to You from Haiti

Building Foundations

Monday, July 1, 2013

Today was something new and different. Some described it as our “first real day here.” We got the option of spending time in the village or staying on the compound to do some manual labor. Because it’s MANual labor, only the guys stayed. They spent the day laying a foundation for the pastoral college and bucketing water out of… something. They know. It was a hole. Or a trench. It was in the ground, okay?

The rest of us ladies, as well as Geary and Dave, took our first trip to Kensington’s ‘adopted’ village, Source Matelas (pronounced souse-mat-lah). We somehow pulled into a church. There was no parking lot, so we kind of ended up in this ditch area on the side of the road. I’m not gunna lie, it all seemed pretty sketchy. But we had our intern Paige leading the way, so we followed and jumped off the back of King of the Roads.

Through a stone ‘fence’ we walked, following a pathway into this shabby (but beautiful) concrete building. This turned out to be the church where we met our translators (excuse me in advance for butchering the spelling of their names): Eden, Danniton, Joseph and Jeffney. We also got introduced to our Village Champions, Pappitas and Leon, who most just call Lee.

They told us their stories, how they came to Christ, a little about themselves, and then we prayed and were back onto the King of the Roads. So, we’re driving for a while and then the driver turns left onto this questionable-looking dirt road. There are no houses, no buildings… just some prickly brush and rocks everywhere. There’s also the occasional animal tied to a bush, but that is literally it. As we’re driving over this road that can hardly be considered a road, we roll into this dip.

So, on the back of King of the Roads are these metal steps. Somehow, the driver had buried these steps into the dirt trying to get out of the dip. All of our translators and champions hopped out of the back and tried pushing. Nothing worked. We filed off the back. Still no luck. So how do the Americans help? We take pictures of cows and try to untangle their ropes while the Haitians worry about the truck.  

About ten minutes later, the Haitians decide to put us to the test. Can we walk up the mountain? For the record, I really don’t know how the driver expected to get us up there in King of the Roads anyways… There is no road. We were walking through gravel, patches of grass, avoiding cow pies… But there was definitely not a road. There were even these bushes that had thorns and just loved our long skirts. But we all kept our eyes to the ground and kept truckin’.

When we got to the top, the entire journey was more than worth it. I would’ve walked the side of that thing ten more times just to have the same view again. Behind us were dark, majestic mountains. In front of us was the ocean. A delightful breeze danced with our hair and long skirts and for once everything just felt good. I think we were all taken aback. Across the ocean you could even see Port-au-Prince. There were a lot of pictures taken there, let me tell you!

After a good amount of time spent enjoying the view and the fresh air, Lee led the way to the village. We basically walked across the top of the hill and then had to go down the other side to get there. We walked past a huge water hole where Lee snorted back at an overzealous pig. Cracked me up – these Haitian guys are hilarious! I actually talked to Lee a lot on the way down. I asked him about his childhood and what he did growing up.

In Haiti, the sense of community within the villages is insane. Imagine giving your young child free reign over the entire city in which you live. You see them in the morning and wonder where they are until dark. But you’re content because you know basically everyone in the city, and you know someone’s watching over your kid… somewhere. Well, that’s what it was like growing up in Source Matelas. Lee had friends that lived way over on the other side of the village and they would get together during the day to play football (aka, soccer for you Americans). It’s just crazy! Unheard of in the US…

We ended up walking through a large soccer field not long after my conversation with Lee. This was basically our first interaction with Source Matelas.

When we had gotten to the top of the mountain mentioned earlier, the translators had pointed out Cina. Cina is a cement company. And it’s like, a legitimate company. Not too many things in Haiti seem legitimate based on American standards, but this place would fit that bill. Anyway, this company is very generous and has given back a lot to the community. One example of their generosity is this park.

We walked through the village a bit to get there. We picked up some smiling and interested kids along the way. We ended up spending a good amount of time there, playing with the kids and getting to know our translators. So everybody’s story is a little bit different. I ended up standing with Shannon who was having a conversation with Danniton, one of our translators. He told us about his wife, and showed us pictures of her. She is very beautiful by the way. He has a brand new son, who was only 19 days old at the time. Shannon talked about all of her kids – the two daughters on the trip with us, Haven and Naomi, as well as her two adopted sons and another baby girl.

After many good conversations there, we were led to what I would call a ‘watering hole.’ There is basically this cement hole in the ground and there’s water in it. People come from around the village to bathe, get drinking water, and do laundry here. Yes, all from the same water source. Not exactly the most sanitary thing, but hey, it works for them.

On the way there, we walked through more of the village, and numerous kids saw us, waved, smiled, got super excited, and ended up following us. One little boy came up to me quietly and tugged gently on my skirt. I looked down and smiled at him and he pointed to the camera around my neck, saying, “photo?” So I quickly snapped a picture of him, much to his delight. I figured I’d let him try, so I got down on my knee as our line kept walking around us. He put his hand around the camera and I moved his index finger to the button. I pushed down over his finger and *click* the camera snapped a picture.  A huge smiled exploded across his face. I’ve never seen a kid so happy about that noise in my life. I stood back up, he took my hand, and we followed the line, both of us smiling.

Taking pictures became quite the new thing. All the little boys were asking “photo?” and stealing our cameras. We were all a little worried about it, but as many of us soon found out, when the kids are taking pictures, their friends are much more likely to do fun poses and you ultimately end up with the best pictures that way.

I think I speak for all of us when I say we had a great time there that day. We played with the children, talked to the translators, and some of the women actually tried to help the Haitian ladies with their laundry. We ended up going back to main campus for lunch. Surprisingly enough, there was this amazing soup with potatoes, carrots and mystery meat. Most of us thought it was beef, but the secret was later revealed and hey, we ate goat…  

After lunch we had time to go down the mountain to visit Madame Cheap Cheap’s. There is a little woman on the MOH property who basically has her own little flea market set up. And she’ll sell you anything from wooden boxes, to jewelry, to paintings, to machetes for “cheap cheap.” But getting all the way down there – and even worse: back UP – was HOT. Sweat was all over and it was disgusting.

After our break at MOH, it was time to go back to the village. This time we got to walk through the streets and call oo-vlay-juway… I don’t know how that’s actually spelled. I tried to look it up online because I thought we were saying come play with us, but I couldn’t get it to come up right on Google Translate. But that’s what we were saying phonetically. Regardless, we were rounding up the children so we could go hang out with them all at the park.

As we were walking through the village, we came across the house of a father of nine kids. He also had pigs, chickens and goats which a lot of us were overly excited to take pictures with. Because, you know, getting up close and personal with a pig who has been sitting in its own mess for who knows how long is totally the thing to do. But there were also a lot of cute kids there, so it was worth the stop. There was actually this tiny little baby girl sitting against a wall who was eating a mango. She reminded me of the baby monkey in Tarzan that Jane draws a picture of before it starts crying and all the other monkeys attack her… Not that that has anything to do with anything, but I’m just saying. Once again, all the little kids wanted to take pictures too. They remembered…

Naomi also became a star in the village. She was a celebrity for her hair. There were actually two groups of Haitian women that were jokingly fighting over her for a chance to play with her blond hair. If you look at it from their perspective though, our children are probably just as interesting to them as theirs are to us. And I mean, I’m sure it’s not often that someone as young as Naomi comes along, so it was definitely a special treat for these ladies.

Then we finally got back to the park. I was playing with some little girl. I was giving her a piggy back ride, complete with airplane sound effects, when a woman approached me. She was plump in the face and exuded happiness. She just walked up to me and said, “Hello!” It was a shock to me that she spoke English. We talked for a little while and we got to know each other. She was possibly the most friendly Haitian woman I met on the entire trip. She even said that she loved me before she walked away. It was really cute.

After the conversation with her and more playing with little girls, I somehow ended up in a conversation with a Haitian guy who was 28 years old. He spoke no English, but he spoke fluent Spanish, so we were able to communicate with my limited high school Spanish. We talked for at least a half hour. He did most of the talking and I just listened. In the end, I think I was too liberal for him, not ‘simple’ enough. The fact that I had a double piercing in my ear and friends that weren’t Christian made him incredulous. Different lifestyles…

Info on the rest of the day coming to you tomorrow.

-Katie Coming to You from Haiti

Rules of the Haitian Bathroom

Rule #1: If it's yellow, let it mellow; if it's brown, flush it down. Yeah, that means exactly what you think it means.

Rule #2: Do NOT throw away toilet paper. There is a garbage can in your stall for all toilet paper when you're done using it. You think it's gross? Well, yeah. It is.

Rule #3: Take a short shower! And while you're there, please deal with the lack of temperature control. You get that same chilled water no matter what. Also, there is a complete lack of water pressure, so if you're struggling to get all the shampoo out of your thick hair in the allotted time, figure it out.

Tourists

Sunday, June 30, 2013 9:00 pm

 So… I don’t think I am going to bathe again for the rest of my time here. Think I’m crazy? Well picture me, an extreme bug-a-phobe, huddling against the wall of a concrete shower, trying to avoid three other walls, the main corner, and oh yeah, the floor. There were three huge, serious-looking spider webs this morning in the crook of the wall closest to the shower’s spray. Directly across from the shower head, on the wall at about face level was a large flying ant that kept creeping about. As I’m turning the shower on to avoid these, I notice something dark by my feet. Oh, and hey, it’s moving. Towards me. So there I am, pressed against a wall, trying to clean my disgusting body and I’m fighting for space. Near the end of my shower (you know, all three minutes worth) I think to check the wall that I’ve been huddling against. And oh, wouldn’t you know it, there’s the spider responsible for those webs…

For the record, I did just get out of my second shower here in Haiti. So I guess the intense desire to get off the days’ worth of dust, grime and sweat overcame the trauma of this morning.

Speaking of bugs, tarantula searching is quite the game over here on campus. Kevin got a video on his phone the other night of a large hairy fellow. It was gross.

We had breakfast this morning in the same dome half tube area as we had last night’s worship service. There was some cereal, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on extremely stale white bread, and I heard the pineapple getting rave reviews.

Dave Verville was not at breakfast this morning and did not make it to church. He had a severe migraine but luckily, Ed prayed for him and by the time lunch came around, Dave was back up and running. Amazing what a little bit of prayer can do!

Prior to his return, the rest of us attended church MOH style. The church is completely Haitian-run, and it showed throughout the service. The preachers were boisterous and outgoing in the yell “Praise Jesus!” kind of way. Watching the Haitians respond back to him with just as much vigor was incredible. There was no fear in them when it came to simply throwing themselves on their knees and praying out loud during the sermon. They sang with their hands raised, feet tapping and during one song, even a dance was required. It was beautiful and amazing to watch.

Macy was sitting a couple rows behind me, and when I turned to scan the crowd, I saw her with a little boy passed out in her lap. He didn’t appear to leave once during the service and whenever I would look back, he was always playing with her face. The best part was the joy on her face though. The smile reminded me of how we think that we come here to help them, but in all reality, they give us so much more than we could ever give to them.

Speaking of joy on her face, Geary mentioned to me that he was astounded by the same emotion displayed on the faces of so many others during the service. Even on the people you wouldn’t expect it from. He was particularly awed by an older gentleman with no teeth that just shown of happiness the entire time he was there.

One cool random fact: one of the preachers today was actually one of the very owner of MOH’s gardener prior to his current profession. He just walked up to him one day and told him that God was calling for him to do this. A bit of preacher schooling later, he stands before a church that can fit 1,500 people every weekend. Pretty amazing, right?

Following the church service, which was all in creole - apart from a few of the song lyrics - we went up the hill to the central gathering area for missions groups on the main MOH campus to have lunch. Lunch consisted of salad, shredded chicken and more peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! This time there were also chocolate cookie sandwiches and Pringles to add to the menu.

Before lunch, a few of us got the opportunity to go and check out the orphanage. It was amazing. We were at the baby house which basically houses the children ages 2 and under. One little girl stayed in Danni’s arms for a long while, playing with the clip on her water bottle. Another heavy little boy fell asleep in Emi’s arms, with his head against her shoulder. He was so heavy that she had to pass him on to me before her arms gave out. I had to sit on the front door step with the little chunker so I could keep holding him. I wanted to take the little guy home he was so cute! As I sat on the porch with him, I was able to watch two twin little brothers run around. They were light skinned and had curly brown hair. Unbelievably adorable. Me and the chunker also got the pleasure of watching a little girl with braids direct into formation and then conduct a group of our group’s adults in a Haitian rendition of a classic children’s song. Basically this consisted of the Americans clapping along while the little girl sang loudly in creole. She was not shy, that’s for sure.

After lunch and some gap time, it was 1:15 and time for our tour of the MOH campus! This was awesome and a disaster. Well, it was only a disaster for me… But I’ll get to that.

One of the very first buildings we walked past was bright pink and called Maggie’s Kitchen. Maggie was a 12-year-old little Haitian girl who was severely underfed and beaten when MOH brought her in. However, once inside, she discovered a passion. She loved to cook for all the other children. By cook, I mean she used to make popcorn for the others in that very building. It was where the kids could come to watch movies. Sadly, Maggie died of what they believe was leukemia a while back, and so the pink building was dubbed in her name.

We also checked out the clinic on campus. We were told about how they make all these prosthetic arms and legs for all the people that had limbs severed to save their lives after the earthquake. They get them here for free, and have to come in every six months to get refitted. 

But the coolest story came with the ambulance parked outside. So apparently there was a man in northern America who had this ambulance that he felt convicted to give to the MOH cause. So he called up the founder and told him about it. At that time, however, they didn’t do emergency help in Haiti in that way, so the founder thanked him, but politely turned down his offer. Not long after, there was a follow-up call in which the man told the founder that he couldn’t ignore the call from God to give the ambulance to Mission of Hope. So Brad finally took it, although he didn’t know what God’s plan was for it. Soon after the ambulance arrived, a paramedic decided he wanted to move his family to Haiti to help the MOH. Once again, Brad didn’t really see the use, since there wasn’t exactly a strong demand for a paramedic on the campus, but he couldn’t turn down God’s will, so once again, he accepted. About a month later, the earthquake hit. MOH had one of the two serviced ambulances in all of Haiti AND a paramedic. I’m sure you’re as amazed by God’s sovereignty as we were. He’s amazing, isn’t He?

Okay, now I think it’s time for a little tragedy. So we’re walking down this steep hill, and there’s a sidewalk on the left and an unpaved danger slide of rocks and gravel on the right. Well Kevin was walking along the road, so I figured I’d follow him to try to keep up. He kept getting farther though, so I picked up my pace. The smooth moves of grace and elegance that I carry as one of the world’s largest clutzes is quite incredible, I’ll tell you… I knew I was going down (and keep in mind, there was another group along with ours) so I decided to make it as epic as possible. My right leg went straight out, my left leg bent at the knee and I went down on my knee with a lovely arm in the air. Oh, so graceful.

Long story short, I was a bloody mess who, with the help of Tami, Kevin, and a woman from the other team, got quickly cleaned up. It was super embarrassing, but I think I made it look pretty awesome. Let’s just pray that it doesn’t get infected.

After our tour of MOH, we got back on the bus, well… it’s not really a bus. It’s this vehicle called King of the Roads. It’s a beast, and when we’re going too fast on the roads, the metal side start to vibrate and this really loud hum explodes in the ears of everyone catching a ride. But it’s fun! As a matter of fact, we hit a bump today that sent many airborne. And yes, I mean literally. I flew up that it legitimately hurt my butt bones when I came crashing back down. Tammie got so much air that she almost smashed her head on the roof! It looks like army transport vehicle/safari car...

 

We endured this ride for a chance to visit L’eveque. This is another Haitian village, one in which there is a strong focus on the deaf community. As we were driving through, many of us noticed that there were many children without pants on. Imagine that… literally, having nothing, not even clothes to cover yourself.

The church at the top of a very high hill that we got to check out was just recently opened, and was filled with children. Some were playing tag, observing the “white people,” and some were even on the ground with another missionary team’s young men, having arm wrestling tournaments. A little boy came up to me and jumped into my lap as I sat in a pew. He ended up wearing my sunglasses and comparing my facial structure to his own, touching first my lips, and then his, my eyebrows, and then his, as if he obviously recognized the differences, but was excited about our similarities as well. It was truly inspiring. And then, just before I left, I taught him how to fist pound and then “blow it up.” It was such a memorable moment for me. Saying goodbye to him was probably the hardest thing I did all day.

The rest of the day was spent back at Bercy (the name of our campus, pronounced bear-see) playing cards and exploring. Dinner was pretty awesome though. We got take-out! Haitian take-out. I’m not gunna lie, I was kind of unsure about this. I’m a really picky eater, so eating here at all has been kind of a challenge for me. But the really questionable chicken leg in my container was amazing, most liked the pasta salad, and I thought the rice and beans was to die for. Even more exciting was the delicacy known as ice cream! Haitian ice cream is much thicker and richer than ours. It was interesting. The weird thing was that I couldn’t even finish mine. There’s just something about heat that makes me unable to eat a lot, which is too bad, because it was good ice cream!

We closed out the night with team time. This was spent praying together, sharing stories and basically talking about what God was doing in us throughout the day. At the end, Geary told us to get into groups of two or three (making sure that you were with the same gender) to pray. I don’t know about everyone else’s experience, but mine was… there aren’t words. I got the honor of praying with Tami and I don’t think I have ever had anyone pray for me like she did. The closeness that she has with the Lord was palpable and was so spiritually uplifting. I’m not going to play the fraud, so I’ll just be frank and state that being “religious” is extremely hard for me. Prayer has always seemed awkward. But tonight was different. I was getting all choked up while Tami was speaking, and when it was my turn, the words seemed to flow effortlessly. It was incredible. God is definitely working in each and every one of us here, even in the smallest of ways.

-Katie Coming to You from Haiti