It was a powerful way to start our day.
After another fabulous breakfast by the Healing Haiti staff, we ventured to Hope Academy to visit all the kids during school. The energy and excitement these kids bring was so contagious that it powered us up for the entire day. Carnival starts Sunday in Haiti, and the kids were already in a festive mood. All of their faces were made up with glitter, which just brought more spirit to the party! We danced, we jumped rope, and we gave a month's worth of hugs to each kid. The goal of course is to give as much love as we can to these wonderful children, but the amount of love you feel back from them is overwhelming. I'm not sure who got more out of the visit.....I know the kids had a blast, but I left there absolutely full of love.
Next on the agenda was bringing water to Cite Soleil. We made two stops to different areas but found the same reaction at both, unconditional gratitude. The people here have smiles that match the brightness of the sun, and at times would take my breath away. Which by the way, was sorely needed while I was carrying buckets and buckets of fresh water to their homes.
After a quick shower, we headed to the market to pick up some supplies to take back home to the states. Of course the hot items in all of our grocery bags were Haitian coffee and vanilla. But some of our party's more seasoned market shoppers seemed to have a lot longer shopping list:)
We finished our day by soaking our feet in the pool and sitting down for a authentic Haitian supper. We shared our table with Valery from the Healing Haiti staff, while he told us all about Carnival. The staff here takes such good care of us!
Now at the end of my day, I find myself thinking back to Pastor Gary's topic of resistance. And I can't help but think of all of the people of Cite Soleil and how resilient they are to the constant day to day struggles they go through. And how they have to resist the temptation to get down or give up. These beautiful people continue to fight all day long to survive, then get up the next day and fight again. This word gets overused a lot, but this strength that they show is truly amazing. Please if your reading this blog, put Haiti in your prayers. Especially the people of Cite Soleil who so desperately need it.
God Bless,
Troy
Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God. Proverbs 14:31
