Our Chapter in Haiti’s Story- Part 5

Tuesday March 8, 2011
This was a different start to the day than the days leading up. As usual, I woke up very early, about 4:30. As I lay in bed, I heard singing outside. Even though I had no idea what they were saying, it sounded pretty good. It was a much nicer way to wake, instead of hearing the rooster crow. Once the clock hit 5:30, I made my way down to the dining area which was still closed. Sitting outside, I was watching the community wake as well; people on foot walking down the road, motorcycles going by, mules passing with loads on their backs, goats and roosters rooming around. The usual stuff that goes on at 5:30 in the morning. Once the doors opened I did my usual morning activity, drinking my coffee and playing the house guitar until breakfast was ready.
After eating pancakes and spam and drinking homemade grapefruit juice (the best stuff I have had yet), we headed into the community for a road widening project. What an experience. We worked alongside about 50 Haitians cutting down cactus, knocking up roots and leveling the road all with picks and shovels. These guys were work horses. As they were singing while they were working, I was just thinking, this is part of their everyday life trying to better their community. The awesome thing about the whole project was the joyful spirit everyone seemed to be in. After working on a stump and getting it pulled up, a tarantula jumped out. Never seen one of these up close. Kind of cool. So after working our behinds off for about 3 hours, everyone stopped about 11:00. Apparently they do labor intensive work from sun up ‘til about 11:00 and stop, just before the hottest part of the day hits. At this point, we went back for rice and beef stew lunch.
After lunch, we got showered and went into the community to hit the market place. We had a chance to buy a few things from the locals if we liked to bring something home. This is always interesting since deals are being made. This was pretty fun.
We left the market place early enough to try and give us enough time to hang out at the orphanage. Once we got back to the compound we were staying in, a few of us walked down there. This was most certainly the highlight of the day. Once we were there, myself, Phil, Anna and Matt went on the roof to take some photos of the sunset. Unbelievable. While doing this, Maurice had gotten a soccer game started up and most all the kids were out playing. I had to join in. The teams were about 15 a side trying to put the ball between two rocks. It was tough to tell who was on what team; everyone was just having an awesome time. I got to tell you, everyone of these kids were pretty skilled, from the 6-7 year olds, on up to the teenagers and it was intense. Our team got scored on first and you would have thought that these guys just won the world cup. They went crazy. What a sight this was. After a while, we managed to tie the game giving our guys a chance to live it up. By this point it was getting dark and it was time to say goodbye. We got everyone at the orphanage together and thanked them for giving us the opportunity to hang out.
At this point, we walked back to the compound and had a spaghetti dinner. Once again, hats off to the cooks. They didn’t know any English, but they knew their meals were being enjoyed. Once we finished dinner, we had our evening group time and devotional. What a great part of the trip this always is. Having community with one another and speaking of the joys of the day that had just passed. This team has truly been a blessing for me and I’m always amazed at the way God shows up everyday. Little by little I am learning more about myself and what more I can do to bring kingdom of God to those I come in contact with. I will close the day with this and head up for a good night’s rest.
Brian Arnold