Harnell- Kench 17': Saturday

Day 6 Thankfully we all got to sleep in much longer than yesterday’s 5 a.m. wakeup call. This morning greeted us with even more delicious pancakes and oatmeal. We gratefully loaded up because today would call for a lot of energy: water truck day. At 9:30 (we were on time today), we climbed into the tap-tap to head to Cite Soleil. Nothing can prepare you for water truck day. I do not care if you are Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, I’ll hand you a five-gallon bucket overflowing with water while you have two kids clinging onto you and you’ll see just how strong you are. Those handles are no joke and for once in my life I think I may have a callous. The first stop did not begin very well for Michelle. The kids were so excited to see her that she lost her bearings and fell straight into murky waters. Thankfully, our man Jonas was able to get her hosed down and cleaned up before some troublemakers came by and dumped five gallons of water over her head. I, unfortunately, missed everything but, according to Jessie With The Hat, she had a legit mullet going on. Cool. The kids were beyond excited to see us again and greeted us with, “Hey you! Hey you!”. The love in their eyes is incredible. They are the happiest, most joyous children I have ever met. The heat in Haiti is unbelievable—-like a sauna in the middle of August. About twenty minutes in we were soaked, not by the water but our own sweat. None of us seemed to care, though, as the kids and people are all so inviting that it makes everything worth it. In between stops we toured Fleri farms. Stevenson was our guide, an incredibly educated farmer. He actually graduated with a degree in agriculture so, as we say back in Gratiot County, he’s kinda a big deal. He was excited to show us his work and have us try some of the crops. The first one we tried was sugar cane aka nature’s Jolly Rancher. This man,I kid you not, whipped out a machete to cut down some stalks. It was single handedly the coolest thing we had ever witnessed. Next were the peppers. Come to find out, Kayley and Cole have absolutely no taste buds whatsoever. They swallowed it like it was nothing meanwhile Jessie saw her life flash before her with just a lick. To end our journey, they cut open fresh coconuts for all of us (again with the machete, so cool, right?). It was interesting to get to drink right out of a coconut straight off of the tree. We also had a couple bites of it which was determined to be an acquired taste. After a little bit of rest and snacks (Jonas really likes Scooby snacks, come to find out) we headed to our last stop. This stop in particular was right on the coast. Jonas lead us out onto the pier before we left and it was just like a scene out of Pirates of the Caribbean in terms of the view and the boats. The boats were carved out of wood with huge sails to direct them. People were sitting on the dock cleaning fish and airing out their nets. This was definitely a memorable sight. The kids all touched our hearts today. It is just absolutely incredible the amount of love such a small body can contain. Neither of us new each other’s language but we had one thing in common: we are all children of God. At the guesthouse we all gathered at 7 o’clock to talk about the day and look at the pictures taken. These moments I will forever cherish because they are filled with laughter and God’s presence. This trip has touched us far more than we imagine we have been able to touch the Haitians. Haiti, we came here to help you and, instead, you have helped us.