What a day. Camp was surprisingly calm, cool and put together. Monday started off a bit crazy, but today was great. The older children have their moments, but it is always neat to engage with a different age group. This Friday we will be done with three weeks of camp and then I will head back in Port-au-Prince. The drums continue to be my favorite part of camp. The girls were so into singing and dancing today that it was hard not to get caught up in it. By the end of it all I was sweating out of my ankles, knees, and maybe my toes. We do camp in an old school room. It has the structure of a mud hut, but has a tin roof. By 12 o’clock the tin has attracted so much heat that one feels like you might be standing on the equator. Good day. Tomorrow we are going to take pictures of the children. Was able to get my hands on a small, portable, printer so we are going to take pictures and then we will make frames for the pictures. I think it would be safe to say that not one of our 47 children in camp has a picture of him/herself. We made a fun background and going to have the children take a pose and smile!
The day ended with a neat moment in the woods. Yesterday the guard’s son brought us some corn. The corn in Haiti is more like field corn, so you have to cook it over a fire to soften it enough that it is good. Today, Ryna, the guard’s son (10 years old), and me headed into the woods to make a fire and cook some corn. We watched as he took his machete and cut some pieces of wood and started a small fire. We chatted Creole, laughed a whole lot, and enjoy the essence of Haiti. He got his hands right in there, flipped the corn with his little fingers. His feet were but 3 inches from the fire and it didn’t even faze him. Peeled the corn and put it back on the fire and kept going. When it was done we enjoyed bbq corn together in the Haitian woods. Love those moments because they are so rich with the culture and the true essence of a Haitian. He chatted on and on, took care of us, talked about Haiti. It will go down as one of the best moments in Haiti.
Dad has found a friend in Haiti. A 6 year-old named James-Li. Got this picture today of them. Dad taking off for the hospital and James-Li right behind him holding some pipes. Dad can’t understand any Creole and James-Li can’t understand any English, but somehow they have found a sweet friendship in keeping each other company on the job. I asked James-Li what he did today. “We stopped water from flowing out a pipe.” Hahah, awesome! Dad said that at the end of the day he came up to wash up under the spicket and James-Li bent over and washed his feet for him. Might seem weird, but made me smile in the simplicity of service and friendship. Some might think what does a 6 year old have to offer to a 57 year old man? Washing his feet, I think that is a pretty amazing gift of service. Makes one stop and think about how am I serving my neighbor, family, or friend. Neat story of the day.
Rained so hard tonight. A bit scary. Hate rain like this in Haiti; don’t know how houses hold up in this. Think of a hut with a thatch roof, now think of a storm, hard rain that last for two hours, and wind that takes your laundry off the line. Brutal, you pray it stops. Been raining too much, but just in the nights. Ended the night with a hearty dinner of popcorn and a sa pi bon, which is juice frozen in a plastic wrap, Haitian style popsicle. Don’t think I got my vitamins today, but we are staying strong.
God has been so good to us. Pray for our trip going out. We leave Monday. Please pray that it does not rain on Sunday. If it does the roads will be awful and we might not be able to get out. Pray for the last three days of camp. Pray that God’s glory would radiate. Pray for my strength. Heading out of PC, but heading into Cite Soleil for a week. Will need more strength, as it is an area that is often full of more problems. Pray for a covering over our team.
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