Hi my name is Ellen! Today is May
28, our fourth day in Haiti. We got to sleep in a little later than yesterday,
which gave us an extra hour of energy to work and play with the children. We began our day by driving to the school to
finish our cement project. My job was to
shovel cement into buckets so it could be poured into the floor of the school
house. After shoveling about two loads
of cement into buckets, the school house floor was complete. I was encompassed with feelings of
fulfillment and gratitude; fulfillment for creating something that would
benefit the students and gratitude for all of the academic resources I receive
back home.
After
finishing the cement project, we all took a break for lunch and to hang out
with the students. The children get out
of school pretty early, and therefore immediately after lunch the students were
climbing all over us. A little girl
named Lindsey climbed into my arms. She
repeatedly stole my sunglasses and laughed as I tried to get them back. At some point during our interaction, another
little girl came up to us. She shouted
something at Lindsey, which immediately caused Lindsey to burst into
tears. I can’t speak Creole, so I had no
idea what the girl had said to Lindsey.
Lindsey shed tears for a good half hour that afternoon. The only way I
knew how to console her was to keep holding her; I felt like I was holding her
the entire afternoon! During this time, another girl I had spent time with
yesterday (I have no idea how to spell her name) found me. So while I was consoling Lindsey, this girl
took me to her classroom (a tent with a blackboard) and introduced me to her
teacher. She also introduced me to her
friends. I was overjoyed that this
little girl trusted me enough to introduce me to some of the influential people
in her life.
Eventually,
both girls had to leave to go home.
Lindsey got on the school bus first.
My arms felt such relief, but my heart said otherwise. The other little girl waited with me for a
short while before she had to leave. She
continued to hug me until she left. We
all waved and shouted goodbye as the children left school. After that, we rode the taptap to Canan, a
village in Haiti. We got to see some of
the houses and children that live in this village. It was life changing to see how the Haitians
live compared to us Americans. There
could be up to ten people living in one room, while my four person family lives
in a house containing multiple rooms. It
really makes you think about what is important in life, and the good you could
be doing for others instead of worrying about your own material items.
Lastly, we
went to the Lighthouse. We were able to
just hang out and spend time with the children there. Some broke out the sidewalk chalk and made
some beautiful designs, while others played an intense game of basketball:
Americans versus Haitians. Even though
we were all exhausted from a day’s hard work, we still all wanted to be there
for the kids. God gave us the strength
to carry on even when we were weak. I think
that is something I need to keep in mind next time I encounter a struggle or
difficult situation. Overall, we had a
fantastic day filled with joy and grace.
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