Haiti Day 5

 Great night’s sleep and I was the first one up at 6:45am that has got to be a record. Hit the shower and then breakfast at 7:30, Haitian scrambled eggs (onions & peppers), with cheese on bread and coffee. Loaded up in a 15 passenger rental van and traveled up the coast to small village. Beautiful there, no bad smells, no trash in the streets. Visited a small orphanage with 20 kids. All spoke perfect French and had straight A’s in school. And yes Haiti is French speaking country but most people speak Creole/French. The orphanage was a three bedroom one bathroom house and had no beds. That’s right no beds they all sleep on a concrete floor. It's humbling to be here with them, they are so very thankful for what they have. We played volleyball with a beach ball, jumped rope, gave the children some  candy and stuffed animals. But the most joy I felt all day was when we were walking down the road to the van. There was a young girl standing near our van, not a child from the orphanage, but a local. I motioned her over but she would not come. I reached into my bag for a handful of candy and held it out. She smiled and came over to get it, as she walked off I told her to wait. She turned to look back at me and I gave her a green stuffed bunny rabbit that I had in my bag. The excitement on her face was priceless, for all I know that is the only toy or candy that child has ever or will ever have.

 Next we would travel up the road to Greg’s (our mission host) beach property. He and his wife bought three acres on the beach, it is so amazing. Blue water, palm trees, an old gazebo, and the beach is all shells and rocks. And here is the best part, they are planning to built a set of dorms, cafeteria, classrooms, bathrooms and a pool for children who live in orphanages, interns, and care givers to come to get away to have a vacation outside of the orphanage. Even though these children live on an island some of them have never seen or played in the ocean. Next we would move on to Kiliko’s Beach Resort, that’s right our host missionaries got us bungalows for the afternoon and night to give us a short break. Chris and I and the other two married couples got to stay together. I must say it was so relaxing. We walked on the beach, played in the ocean, swam in the heated pool in 95 degree weather, had a wonderful dinner and got to sleep in a comfortable bed with air conditioning. It was a much needed day of rest!