Today was our first day heading out to the worksite. After breakfast, our Haitian construction team came in and gave us a brief orientation. I understand nothing but figured once we got there, I would figure it out there.
Some of rode in the back of the tap tap to the site and others rode in the back of a large truck. We are working in a mountain village which by American standards, the road would be unfit to travel. We stop at different points on the way up to pick up volunteers that work with us. No compensation at all, they just come. We bumped and bounced our way up and made it safely. We were met with warm smiles and curious stares by the villagers. The lady whose house we were building was anxious and was unloading materials and carrying them down the hill before we had a chance to begin.
The first house came up fairly quickly considering we had no idea what we were doing. We finished it before lunch. My name became pretty popular with one of the Haitians who loved to teach me how to hammer. He got quite a few laughs at my hammering skills but slowly, we perfected my skill (if you can call it that). The entertainment was to call me (or someone else over) and watch while we tried to do what they were teaching us. They would all laugh while speaking in Creole. We just laughed along with them.
The children were a little slower to come around than what we found in Honduras. A few came pretty quick but others showed up slowly. We were able to pass out some candy (suckers were popular). That is a rare treat for them. Quite a few didn't have clothes at all and some only had a shirt.
The living conditions were as we expected for a third world country. The people have very little and what they have, clothes wise, is dirty, smells, and has holes. If they have shoes they are lucky even though they are falling apart.
After lunch we carried a bag of dresses and flip flops up and passed them out. We were mobbed as word spread very quickly there were clothes. We also finished a shelter that had been started last week but they stopped because of the hurricane. It was literally down a cliff and we had quite a few falls on our team...thankfully no injuries, just sore bottoms.
Day 2 begins in about 20 minutes so we will see what the day brings. I know 2 things for sure, heat and more heat!!
Love to all!
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