Monday, August 29, 2011

Last Day in Cite Soleil






Last day of camp. Last day of painting, what a day. In the hot Haitian sun for five hours without water, I thought I was crossing the desert and I had not drunken water for four days. The camp was great. Could not have asked for a better first year. The staff was amazing support. The children were a delight, obedient.

Probably my favorite moment was watching the graffiti artist today. We paid a guy to come in today and throw up some graffiti on the painted walls that we did this year. So fun to watch him work. Such talent in Cite Soleil. Makes me sad and happy all at once. Beautiful talent, but some of the talent that will never be seen or reach its fullest potential because it has no chance to grow outside the walls of Cite Soleil. Today as I watched Adou work I just had to smile at his art and the community coming together to watch, support, and pick words and verses to put on the wall. At one point he had to paint the outside of a bridge that was going over the open, sewer canal. They dropped the ladder down into the open sewer and Adou climbing over the ledge of the bridge and started ROCKING it out. So fun to watch him work. He wrote, “Kenbe’m, si’w kapab.” Hold me if you can. Thought that was so neat and powerful all at once. Hold me if you can. Cite Soleil is tough, but we are asking as a community to come together and work together, hold me it you can. Pretty neat place. We had about thirty people out today watching and taking it in. Just neat to see the community come together and watch it unfold.

The afternoon we took off to watch a karate lesson, which was a highlight of the day. A friend of mine runs karate for some of the boys in the community, twice a week. SO fun to watch him work with the boys. Fun to watch the boys engage, smile, and embrace karate, respect the leadership, and love it. Left with a smile today. This place continues to captivate me and draw me in. Looked out over Cite Soleil today and just had to smile at how God is moving in the midst of struggles. So neat to see him move in the community, in the hearts of the people, in the hearts of the leaders. This part of Cite Soleil is truly unique in that as you watch the people engage it looks like family. It is a community of people that HOLD EACH OTHER IF THEY CAN.

Tired, but happy. Grateful for this opportunity and thankful to all of you for supporting us with prayers, donations, and love.







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