Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Water Water Everywhere

After a long and exhausting day of travel yesterday, we arrived to the guesthouse around 8pm and settled in for the night. Today we spent our first full day in Haiti by making 3 water truck runs into Cite Soleil.

Water truck day always ends up being one of the highlights of the week. Repeat trip goers light up with excitement as we round the corner into Cite Soleil and know what is up ahead. The shouts of "hey you!!" become louder and louder as the following of children chasing the tap tap (our transportation truck) gets bigger and bigger. Stepping off of the tap tap we are immediately swarmed with little ones who want nothing more than to be held and loved. Those smiling faces are forever ingrained in our hearts and minds.

Before the truck was even stopped, the line began to form with people waiting to get their buckets filled. Waiting for what could be the only water they get all week. And as the 95+ degree sun and like 100% humidity beat down on us, the desperation for this water is obvious. We took turns manning the hose and shuffling buckets while others ran around and played with kiddos. We all left soaking wet, not quite sure how much of it was sweat or water.

Arriving back to the guest house, we restored ourselves by taking a trip up the road to the hotel pool. During our supper "word of the day" reflecting, Lisa Simon said hers was "water" and I could not agree more. We experienced water in many forms today. Life saving, hydrating, relaxing. And now as I write this blog we are loving the soundtrack of pouring rain and thunder rolling in outside. And I know the people of Haiti are more than grateful for this gift from God.

~ Haley