Last year, Mom and Dad went to Haiti with a team from our church. The church has a missionary down there who used to work for Dad. When they came back, Mom and Dad wanted us to go as a family next year. We went. All of us as a family got to experience the 3rd world (Mom says 4th world) country in person. Here is a picture of us in the STEP campus:
We started to build a house but the Haitians finished it. I got to play with the kids! We didn't know each others language but we played clapping games, magic tricks, and they taught us numbers and head and shoulders, knees and toes in creole.
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| This is Jennica, the first little girl we met and Abagail is right behind her. |
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| Jennica is eight. |
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| On the pile of rubble with the kids. One time, I counted 30 kids on the small space with us. |
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| This is Lancia. She was always easy to remember because she had earrings. |
Pronunciation Guide: Haitians pronounce their G's, Jhay like a soft J. They don't touch their tongue to the roof of their mouth.
On one of the five days we were there, we went to Merger. That is a school where our church sponsors the students. We got to see inside a house of one of the students that we sponsor. He sleeps on the bare cement floor and though they have electricity, they only use it for the TV, a little 90's model. We visited the kindergartners and they ran round us like bees (they had yellow dresses on).
As we drove through the streets in Haiti, there were people everywhere and pigs getting into the garbage that littered the ravines. The garbage was burning in places. There are no exhaust laws so black fumes pour daily from huge trucks. Where there are speed bumps, it's more like peaks. They go up sharply then plummet down. In Haiti, there are 7 million people and 4 million are in Port-au-Prince.
While I was there, I decided I'd rather drive in Haiti than in America. I would be starting driving lessons when I got back and I was not looking forward to it. In Haiti, it's free style. You watch out for yourself and assume that people are going to let you go. In America, driving is restricted and you are supposed to be courteous and abide by the law which is good but I kind of liked the danger of no law. I didn't see one accident while I was there even though the streets were lined with honking cars and trucks and motorcycles. Mason the missionary said that he rode a motorcycle with 5 other people on it. I can easily imagine it for I saw motorcycles with people hanging off the sides as we rode by.
All in all, I give Haiti a nine. The number off is because it was so hot.
Head and shoulder, knees and toes in creole!
