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!
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