Day 2:
Hello! We
continued our journey in Haiti with the team favorite: water truck day. Water
truck day is where we pack into the “tap tap” and follow the water truck into
City Soleil, Haiti. City Soleil is known as the poorest city in the western
hemisphere. We had three stops. While there, we assist with carrying buckets of
water as well as play with the many children. As we were driving in, we were
greeted with the sound of children’s voices chanting, “Hey you!” This was not
the last time we would hear this. We turned a corner and the water truck blared
its horn, notifying the community of its arrival. Swarms of kids followed the
truck, sprinting and yelling; their eyes filled with joy. I was not even able
to get out of the “tap tap” before I had a child hugging my legs and looking up
at me and this was the same for everyone on the team. At times, some of us had
three kids hanging off of us, wanting to be loved.
While a
couple of team members manned the hose to the water truck, others assisted the
community members with their buckets. One thing that astounded all of us was
the fact that many people carried the buckets on their heads. Many of the
buckets were five gallon buckets, which could weigh 40-45 pounds. We were
amazed. The rest of us played with the children. We played a variety of games,
while learning names. A favorite among the kids is one where you put your hands
face up in front of you. They then put their hands hovering under yours and
they would swoop their hands around and try to slap your hands. After a while,
a couple of us got the hang of it. At
the third water truck stop, one woman had around 20 buckets that she needed to
be filled. We all pitched in and helped her carry her buckets back to her home.
She was so appreciative.
In between
the stops, we went to two places that are other areas of Healing Haiti’s ministry.
The first stop was Hope School. They had to dig down into 40 feet of garbage
before they could even begin construction. The name describes what it does for
the community: it gives them hope. Looking over the fence, you could see trash
and sewage in the bay. The juxtaposition
between the school and the rest of the city was very powerful.
The second
stop was to Fleri Farms. We trekked along a muddy path to see all of the
amazing fruits and vegetables that the farm grows. While we were at the farm, the
farmer took coconuts off of the tree and let us taste the water, inner, and
outer core. It was very cool to eat the coconut while standing right in front
of the tree that produced it. We also ate some mango right off of the tree. It
was a beautiful piece of land with many crops.
Overall, it
was a very difficult day. It was hard for us to see the conditions that the
people were living in. However, it’s amazing to see how God is working through the
situation to reach others for Him. Although it might seem like we were blessing
the people, the entire team left feeling incredibly blessed by the people of
this beautiful country.
