Our first morning in Haiti began with a delicious breakfast of pancakes, scrambled eggs with vegetables, oatmeal, and freshly squeezed grapefruit juice. Then, with water bottles filled, we excitedly got on the tap tap to begin our day. The first stop was the Haitian Museum where we learned about the four founding fathers of Haiti and the history of how this country came to be. Our guide was very knowledgeable and enjoyed sharing his homeland with us.
Our next journey took us through the bustling, noisy, crowded streets of Port-au-Prince to our destination, La Loo Orphanage and School. There, we met the precious children who sang some songs for us in their native language, Kreole. Their principal then lead singing, dancing, and playing with the children and just having FUN! Our team taught them the "Hokey Pokey" and then taught them some ASL. There is a deaf boy there who doesn't know any sign language so our leader, Julie Friesen, taught him some signs and tried to communicate with him. When it was time to load up the tap tap, we didn't want to leave. Our interpreter (Kreole-English), was a huge help and so fun to have with us today. His cousin's son is deaf and attends Haiti Deaf Academy (HDA) so he also knows a good bit of ASL!
We bounced our way back to the Healing Haiti guest House for a little break and to get some great news! Ashley, our planner, coordinator, and all-around "go to" person arrived with the soccer balls and backpacks that we had ordered to deliver to HDA later this week! And, the best news of all?? Instead of the $425 that we raised for these items, the cost was only $266!! That leaves $159 for other mission projects later this week. We are so incredibly grateful! We then unpacked the backpacks and added a little "ILY" key chain on to each backpack. We are so excited to bring these to the staff and children at HDA on Saturday!!
Our final stop today was the Home for Sick and Dying Children and Babies. Although our time was brief, we all left feeling pretty emotionally drained. We played with and held the toddlers and surely there were many silent prayers being said for these beautiful little ones.
Dinner was another delicious family-style meal of chicken in lime juice and an amazing dish of rice, beans, carrots, beets, garlic, and greens. Almost everyone had two helpings! Dinner was followed by a trip to nearby hotel where we swam in the pool and met up with the other team that is here this week from Minnesota and Michigan. We finished the evening with our devotion and "word-of-the-day" and sharing time.
God has been so gracious to us already and we've only been here ONE DAY. We are EAGER and ready to SERVE again tomorrow. Thanks for joining us in our journey and please continue to pray that we are open to whatever God has in store for us.
