this morning it was a little sad to say goodbye to the NC guys bc i've had a really great time getting to know them. maybe we will keep in touch, or maybe it will be just another ephemeral relationship. either way, i am grateful to have been able to get to know the 4 of them and it was awesome to see all the great things they were able to do in such a short amount of time.me and my two roommates and one of the staff all had the day off today so we went to the beach called Wahoo Bay, about 40 minutes away. it was my first time having been out there and it was really beautiful. we all had the unexpected reaction of feeling a little uncomfortable driving through the haitian slums to get to a fancy resort. i hadn't anticipated the uneasiness that i felt when i was there, it just didn't seem right. it's strange that people can vacation here while children are starving right outside its gates. the view, however, was absolutely breathtaking. the torquoise water on the backdrop of rolling mountains made every angle look like a painting. haiti truly is a BEAUTIFUL country.
the sun was strong as always, but it was nice to finally relax. there was a man on the sand next to us who was cracking open a fresh-lobster and he gave the giant claw to me and mal to share...so so good. the water was crystal clear and there were tons of coral. the water is really salty so it is easy to float on. i ate poulet creole for
lunch...chicken, rice and beans, picklies, and plantains. mal and diana bought haitian paintings that they bartered from $35 down to $15. i slept in the sun for most of the day...both to and from the beach the radio stations were playing michael jackson songs. even though everything else was in french, every couple of songs we'd hear his voice. i guess his talent really did transcend the borders.
it is interesting as you drive through the villages to see that despite the extreme poverty, there really is a sense of community amoung the people. there is something liberating about constantly expecting the unexpected. as a whole, haitians are nice people. generous, appreciative, and self-giving. for example, if there is a family just barely struggling to get by who comes across an orphaned child, they won't think twice about taking him/her in...it is just what they are supposed to do. i have visited the poorest of shacks since i've been here and no sooner than i sit down on the dirt floor does a child appear out of nowhere offering a shabby wooden chair that had been stowed away somewhere out of sight. starving families are willing to share their food, old women are willing to give up their shoes, children are appreciative merely of receiving attention. of course haiti has its share of iniquity, yet the haiti that i have experienced has embraced me. they are a good, hardworking, proud people. the pride that they have in their country is inspiring. i can't tell you how many times i've been told that haiti was the first independent black nation, how the rebellion was the first/only successful slave revolt. rather than an attitude of disdain and dissatisfaction, there are words of hope and promise for a better nation. i think some people in the U.S. could learn a thing or two from haitian pride and appreciation. i know i
t sounds so trite at this point, but we really don't know how lucky we have it. since being here, i've learned how incredibly naive i am when it comes to what people are forced to live without. people bathing in streams of mud, sleeping under banana leaves and in wheelbarrows, living with massive infections and broken bones, living amidst human and animal feces. for a mother to have one surviving child out of 4 is not unusual, for a child to die of a minor infection is not unusual, for twin newborns to be abandoned by a desperate mother is not unusual.so much that i've seen i wouldn't have appreciated had i not seen it with my own eyes. i still don't think it's sunk in that people actually LIVE like this. i've gotten only a tiny snapshot of an entirely different world, but it is exactly that....only a snapshot between a wedding in texas and a homecoming in connecticut. i wish so badly that i could hold on to the smells, tastes, scenes, relationships, emotions that i am experiencing now, but they will all inevitably dull with time and distance. i can only hope that my time in haiti has made such an impression on my heart and mind that it will be impossible to ignore in the future. to be just off the coast of florida, yet a world away from everything i have ever known has taught me just how much i don't know. it has made me aware that there is so much that i am unaware of. hopefully, at the very least, it has disabled any complacency that i might otherwise have fallen into had i not taken this trip. to have known their names and faces, listened to their stories, worked besides them makes it all pretty hard to ignore.
ok, off to bed, church in the morning, sarah's last day on the mission...bon nuit...
ps--update: ok so after i wrote this blog i went to take one of the staff's dog out which i'm watching while she takes care of the twins. as i'm bringing him back up the stairs low and behold in the middle of my path is another big hairy tarantula. i don't know what to do bc i need to get back inside but there's no way i'm stepping over that...they're also known for biting curious dogs in the face. i went to go wake roger or cody up, fortunately they were still awake and came up with a 2x4 but then we couldn't find it...then i saw that it had crawled up the wall....they smacked it with the board and we all ran screeching like little girls. i'm sure it was a hilarious sight to see. i made roger squish it until i saw the guts on the board and only then did i pass. and here i am safe and sound, another one bites the dust.
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