Day 2~ Tuesday, October 24th

Tuesday Day 2,

We gathered before breakfast.  There were greetings and discussion.  Some about who had a cable to charge the camera, others about their Christian journey and many topics.  All in all, a nice time of fellowship among old and new  friends. 

After breakfast, we went to see several places that are making a very positive impact on lives in  Haiti.  The first was Papillon.  Which means butterfly in French.  They make pottery mugs and bowls from local clay.  Also,  jewelry of various types made from clay, glass and cardboard beads. They currently employ about three hundred people, all Haitian.  Now, instead of begging or occasional day labor and wondering how to buy food tomorrow  they have full time employment and a steady income.  

Next, we went to a  small company, started bu a lady from Florida who sold her home and moved to Haiti to do something to contribute to the Haitian recovery.  This company makes  sandals from old vehicle tires.  They cut the shape from the sidewall of the tire. The leather and glue used to create the upper portion is all locally  made in Haiti.  So,  this company is not only changing the lives of their employees,  they are helping the environment and the Haitian economy as well. 

We went through several small artisan shops that made very beautiful  hammered metal objects.  However, don't get the impression we spent the whole day shopping.  Having helped the local economy as much as we could at the previous stops we turned our attention to a school for the deaf and an orphanage.   When we arrived at the school we saw construction of two large new buildings well under way.  The children were just finishing classes and heading for the playground. We had brought along a few new soccer balls which we gave them.  These were a big hit and some impromptu games of soccer began, In a few minutes I noticed that a few of the boys remissioned one of the  soccer balls into a basketball and had a 4 on 4 game going.  While we were at the school for the deaf we toured their grounds where we saw contained areas where they were raising rabbits and chickens as well as some areas of fruit trees.

Next, we went to an orphanage where we plaied with the children. We brought collering books and crayons and other toys. As we were walking in, one littel boy came and took my hand. We walked arund a bit and then he got some crayons and paper and took me over to his desk.  He wrote something in creole and then pointed to himself.  Then, he pointed to me and the paper, So, I wrote my name and pointed to myself.  I am not sure about the motivation of the next thing he did. If he was showing me what he learned or was teaching me creole.  He wrote the number 5 followed by cursive writing in creole.  Then the number 6 and more creole. After each  writing he pointed to the number and then the writing.  When he had finished several of these he smiled and then drew lines to the left of each number and pointed to them.  It looked like fill in the blanks so I printed the  English word for each number and said the word in  English.   One of our group was taking pictures.  That was the biggest hit of all.  Many of the children came and pointed to themselves with big smiles.  They wanted their picture taken and then, of course, wanted to see the picture.  These moments, wit the children were the highlight of the day for us.  Ii know I was sad when it was finely time for us to leave.

After some time to rest and get refreshed, the team gathered to discuss the day and reflect on what we had seen.  On the hope and encouragement because of progress in rebuilding, on the sadness of the fact that there was still such a long way to go.  And, the thankfulness we felt because God has allowed us to be part of this ministry to help Haiti recover.