Wednesday, Oct. 23,2013
We started our day by visiting Elder's School (Elder is the gentleman who runs the school) in Cite Soleil. Cite Soleil is the largest and most dangerous slum in the western hemisphere. Despite these circumstances, Elder had high expectations for the school with students and teachers neat in appearance and polite in manners.
We delivered and distributed over 800 FMSC meals to the students along with pencils, notebooks and crayons. Students ranged in age from kindergarten thru high school and we were impressed with their uniforms and well behaved manner. Even though we interrupted their school day everyone handled it in stride, forming orderly lines to receive the FMSC food packs while smiling and thanking us. It was truly a full circle experience to see food that was packed in the U.S., unboxed and in students' hands.
Back in our Tap Tap we traveled to the center of Cite Soleil with the water trucks. As soon as we off the Tap Tap people were there with water buckets and children gathered with raised arms to be held.
We took time to walk down to the water front property at the ocean's edge, which has some of the poorest housing. It was both moving and distressing to walk the path surrounded by garbage as goats and pigs grazed.
We carried children in our arms, who, along the way reminded us of the beauty that God provides. As a particular little Haitian girl wrapped her arms around my neck, with no intention of loosening her grip, she began to smile and pointed, exclaiming...pappilon, poulet, la mer....she wanted me to notice the butterflies hovering over the mounds of debris and the chickens scrounging for food and the ocean surrounding the shacks that are their homes. A powerful reminder that there are blessings no matter where we find ourselves in life. The same little girl began singing in my ear in a sweet voice, God is so good, God is so good, He's so good to me. At that moment, the world around me disappeared and my heart was full of God's love for all of us.
Water delivery went like this...people and buckets of every size and shape were lined up to collect water while we steadied the hose as it gushed into the containers, helping lift buckets atop heads, assisting small children with 5 gallon buckets filled with water that they were expected to tote off by themselves. We watched children enthusiastically pouring water over one another's heads playing as all kids do. Always, children wanting to be held close. We were definitely wet and it felt great!
Stopping at "home" for a brief lunch, we moved on to Le Pherre, an orphanage home to about 30 children. The kids sang to us in pure, sweet, on-pitch voices. Together, we decorated letters and hung them on their schoolroom wall. The message was, "Love One Another"...which we did. It was great fun to gather together in song, learning the words in each others' language and then singing in round. Playing with an enormous blown up soccer ball in the schoolyard and hugs all around ended our day with them.
Towards the end of the afternoon, we joined the neighbor boys in a game of soccer. They played soccer, we tried! Such a smiling, gracious bunch of boys and even tried to even the odds by lending us a boy to be our goalkeeper and one to score for us! Yeah!!
Another memorable day...we are exhausted, in a good way.
Blessings to all of you!
Beth, Gary Moen, Mary and Roxanne
We started our day by visiting Elder's School (Elder is the gentleman who runs the school) in Cite Soleil. Cite Soleil is the largest and most dangerous slum in the western hemisphere. Despite these circumstances, Elder had high expectations for the school with students and teachers neat in appearance and polite in manners.
We delivered and distributed over 800 FMSC meals to the students along with pencils, notebooks and crayons. Students ranged in age from kindergarten thru high school and we were impressed with their uniforms and well behaved manner. Even though we interrupted their school day everyone handled it in stride, forming orderly lines to receive the FMSC food packs while smiling and thanking us. It was truly a full circle experience to see food that was packed in the U.S., unboxed and in students' hands.
Back in our Tap Tap we traveled to the center of Cite Soleil with the water trucks. As soon as we off the Tap Tap people were there with water buckets and children gathered with raised arms to be held.
We took time to walk down to the water front property at the ocean's edge, which has some of the poorest housing. It was both moving and distressing to walk the path surrounded by garbage as goats and pigs grazed.
We carried children in our arms, who, along the way reminded us of the beauty that God provides. As a particular little Haitian girl wrapped her arms around my neck, with no intention of loosening her grip, she began to smile and pointed, exclaiming...pappilon, poulet, la mer....she wanted me to notice the butterflies hovering over the mounds of debris and the chickens scrounging for food and the ocean surrounding the shacks that are their homes. A powerful reminder that there are blessings no matter where we find ourselves in life. The same little girl began singing in my ear in a sweet voice, God is so good, God is so good, He's so good to me. At that moment, the world around me disappeared and my heart was full of God's love for all of us.
Water delivery went like this...people and buckets of every size and shape were lined up to collect water while we steadied the hose as it gushed into the containers, helping lift buckets atop heads, assisting small children with 5 gallon buckets filled with water that they were expected to tote off by themselves. We watched children enthusiastically pouring water over one another's heads playing as all kids do. Always, children wanting to be held close. We were definitely wet and it felt great!
Stopping at "home" for a brief lunch, we moved on to Le Pherre, an orphanage home to about 30 children. The kids sang to us in pure, sweet, on-pitch voices. Together, we decorated letters and hung them on their schoolroom wall. The message was, "Love One Another"...which we did. It was great fun to gather together in song, learning the words in each others' language and then singing in round. Playing with an enormous blown up soccer ball in the schoolyard and hugs all around ended our day with them.
Towards the end of the afternoon, we joined the neighbor boys in a game of soccer. They played soccer, we tried! Such a smiling, gracious bunch of boys and even tried to even the odds by lending us a boy to be our goalkeeper and one to score for us! Yeah!!
Another memorable day...we are exhausted, in a good way.
Blessings to all of you!
Beth, Gary Moen, Mary and Roxanne
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