Haiti. Days 2-3

You all will have to let me know if you like the font this big, or, like this. This one seems too small to me, but this is the next size up, and it seems too big. So, what do your eyes prefer?

These first few days in Haiti have seemed a little slow to me because I came ready to dig holes for the wall...however, we needed to get more supplies for the wall, so we have been on hold. It's probably a good thing that I didn't jump right into manual labor, as it takes a day or two to adjust to the heat and humidity. I handle heat pretty well, in fact, I love it as a rule! But I am realizing that it is one thing to choose to be in the heat because you love it, but also have the option to get into an air conditioned car, store or home, and another thing entirely to have no relief from the heat. I am doing well, but it's more than just sweat pouring from every part of your body...even those parts that seemingly have never sweated before! It's an internal adjustment as well. Even Ketura, who has spent most of her life in Haiti, but recently has been going to college in Indiana, told me that it took her a few days to adjust. When the electricity is out and the generator is not running, and nothing is moving, it is quite oppressive, and even holding your head up for a long time can seem exhausting. Your clothing is soaked when you are just sitting still...I'm not complaining, just explaining why it's been a bit of a blessing to have some less active days at first. Although it has been nice to walk in the evenings with Ketura! After dinner we have been going out onto the soccer field and walking about 2 miles from what I can tell. It seems like a quarter mile around the field, and I lose count after about 6 laps because our conversation is so good...and then we just walk until it's too dark to continue.

I have not been completely unproductive during the day, however. I plan to teach the women how to do some knitting while I am here...first we are going to start with cotton dishcloths that can be sold to the women here, but also sold in the U.S. in order to help the women here earn some money. I was so crunched for time before I arrived here that I didn't have time to finish even the first sample I was making for them. But, today I not only finished the first one, but started 2 others. I will post photos soon. Leonie meets with the women on Thursday evenings, and she told me that next week we will start teaching them. So excited! After they learn some basic knitting skills with yarn I am hoping to teach them how to knit totes out of yarn made from grocery sacks. I have also started one of those, but need to finish it. Knitting with the plastic is a little more difficult than knitting with yarn, so I decided to start with the dishcloths.

Yesterday we spent some time in the city of Les Cayes. Here is a photo of a city street:

Part of the reason for our visit was just sightseeing, but also for Julie and Adrianne to have a little more experience with Haitians other than those that we consider family. We tend to get very comfortable here in our "Haiti home," but we can never think of that as normal for Haiti. We need to not be afraid either, but be aware.  A young blonde "blanc," or Caucasian girl is still somewhat of a novelty here, and as Tom explains, "men are men, U.S. or Haiti." So, it's good to have some of those experiences with family close by as it happens.

We visited a (or "the"? not sure) city park, and I was so pleased to see a playground for children! It's the first I've seen in Haiti.

I did not see any children playing on it, but it was also quite warm. I am excited to say that tomorrow we think that we will begin working on a play area on Torbeck for the children. Since the guest houses there have been under construction, the children have lost much of their room to play. Today we had some dirt delivered and will begin clearing an area for the children to play. Leonie has also informed me that next week she and I will begin working on her garden. Part of what I came here to do is help her get a garden going that is perhaps more able to withstand some of the strong storms that can occur here and also yield more crops in less space. We will also work on building on the composting that they have begun there, and teach the orphans some gardening techniques.

Adrianne, Julie and Ketura have been riding to Les Cayes and back or Torbeck and back in true Haitian style....on the back of the truck. This is sometimes out of necessity for needing to transport more people than can sit inside the truck, but most often because of the wind blowing through their hair! On this particular trip, though, it was Warens that road back there with the girls.

And about the same time this photo was taken, the lovely ladies across the street asked me to take their photo, too:

I have made a promise to myself that there will be a photo of me holding something large on my head before I leave Haiti this time! You just wait..

This morning the plan was for the girls and I to spend the day at Torbeck with the orphans while Tom and the Isidor family met with Nora and Lynn from CCF. However, as plans often do, that one changed and we spent the day here instead. We didn't want to interfere with the meeting, so we hung out in the girls' room for awhile and they did some beading with Veline and Sinsia.

They made some beautiful things while I continued knitting.

Later in the day we all wanted to travel to Torbeck so that Nora and Lynn could get caught up with the progress that has been made, but, as has happened each day that we have been here, when we went to the trucks, ours had a flat tire. We thought that some of us would have to stay behind, but Israelson pulled out a tire pump and Tom started pumping.

In this photo, Tom is pumping air and Israelson is frustrated with me that I took a photo where he wasn't doing the work. Then, he needed to look like he was doing something, so there was this:


Israelson clapping his hands and telling Tom to go faster. Soon, this happened:

No explanation necessary.

Then, we piled into the vehicles and went into town to the gas station to properly inflate that tire and another that was low. But, as with many things in Haiti, there was a delay. You see, there was air there, but no hose. They can't leave the hose out or it will get taken. But, it's not as simple as going inside to get the hose. You have to find the man that has the hose and ask him to bring it back. So, after about 20 minutes, here we have the man with the hose, inflating the tires:

So finally, we went on our way to Torbeck and some looked around while the girls and I played with the orphans. When we pulled up there were at least 4 kites in the air that the boys had made and were flying:

It's a little hard to see here, but they were having so much fun! They use sticks for the frame and pieces of plastic bags for the sail. They use scrap fabric and string or yarn wrapped around old tin cans or old soda pop bottles.

After watching that for awhile, we went to visit with the girls. They were playing jumprope and it was way too inviting to pass up:

So Adrianne and I did a little jump roping and it was fun!

This is long enough for today. I suppose that even when I don't feel like much has happened, I need to try to post each day...otherwise THIS happens.

Blessings and peace to you my friends! Life here in Haiti is good! A little more meeting tomorrow, and then the manual labor begins, we hope!

If you are interested in the devotions, Tom talked about vv. 13 and 14. He spoke about "Putting on" the things in those verses. What does putting on mean? To do so intentionally...and do so with the love of Jesus. Think about the unity that would provide in our lives...