Bonswa from Ayiti! I am happy to report that we have Internet access again so I can update you on our last two days. On Sunday we began our day by attending church. We went to Church on the Rock and enjoyed the incredible music, contagious enthusiasm, and the warm welcome from the Haitian people dressed in their Sunday best. You have not been to church until you have been to church in Haiti! After church we headed to MUPANAH (Musee de Pantheon National Haitian Museum). This is a beautiful and special museum and we had a guided tour through the complicated history of Haiti. We brought all of our interpreters with us to the museum and for many it was the first time that they had the opportunity to visit their national museum. It was special to share this experience with them. After the museum we went to visit Pastor Vincent’s home and spend some time with the 22 children who live there. This was really, really fun for all of us and we had fun doing crafts, playing soccer, and just being together.
Today (Monday), Team Water had to head back to Grande Saline to complete some essential maintenance on the water system. The rest of us began our day at Mother Teresa’s Hospital for Sick Children. Sorry but there are no pictures allowed in the hospital. We all spent time holding, comforting and feeding the sick babies at the hospital. None of us wanted to leave them! We also presented our education program to some of the toddlers and to 335 (no, that is not a typo) elementary school children from the school. With the help of our interpreters, we presented our nutrition, clean water and tooth brushing lessons to the children. They were so cute in their bright yellow uniform shirts. We also handed out tooth brushes, toothpaste and stickers to the kids. The best part was when we took turns introducing ourselves to the kids. Some of our names made the children squeal and laugh. It was really fun for all of us! After our time at Mother Teresa’s we went to Petionville to do some souvenir shopping. Our interpreters helped us to negotiate prices with the vendors and on our way back to Jude’s we enjoyed the time driving through different areas of Port au Prince. After arriving back home we worked on getting our suitcases ready for our return. Some of the students relaxed on the roof and wrote in their journals. Team Water has the system fixed and running well and even made home for our great dinner of spaghetti and chicken and homemade french fries. Tomorrow we are taking all of the children from two different orphanages to the beach for a day of fun. After dinner, several of the students worked to make sandwiches for the children. They had a lot of fun making the hotdog, mayonnaise, ketchup on white bread sandwiches for the kids. You can look forward to all of the footage that Silvia filmed of everyone eating one of the sandwiches, Josh’s mayonnaise corner, and Ashley pretending to cut off her finger.
It is hard to believe that tomorrow is our last full day in Haiti. We have had a wonderful trip and although we will be glad to get home, it is going to be really hard to say goodbye to this very special place.
Bon nwit!
SUNY Broome Health for Haiti 