Day 5: October 5, 2010
Once again, we were up with roosters. The morning came quickly and we found ourselves worn and weary from a short night’s sleep. The experience of yesterday was still fresh in our minds, trying to find a place to settle in our heart. It’s funny, when you wake up in a hotel room that is cool from air conditioning, and you can go to the bathroom, and brush your teeth…life seems kind of normal. You may not have slept in your bed or kissed your kids goodnight, but life is still relatively normal. But all of that changes when you open up your door. The sunlight fills your room, but it also illuminates life on the other side of the cement wall. The view is breathtaking, in a poignant manner. The hillside is a reminder of real life for the Haitian people. It is covered with meager housing that barely offers shelter to hundreds of impoverished families. The sound of muffled discussion echoes in the air, and on occasion you can filter out the sound of a child laughing. As you look at the horizon, you see a little girl in a bright red smock that sees you right back. She waves, and runs to hide behind one of the broken walls in her house. In the patio below, there are 10 little hands reaching thru the opening in the cement wall asking for food. You cannot see their faces, but you know what they look like. This is when you realize how far away from you home you truly are.
We met for breakfast and headed out by 8am…back to City Soleil. The ride into the city was not quite as overwhelming as yesterday. The sights were becoming typical…crazy traffic, loud horns, and an ocean of people doing their best to maneuver their way thru town. We passed the same street signs, the same market place, and went to the same location we had been the day before. However, there was one thing that was new. Our hearts. We had knowledge of life in the slum. God had given us the gift of experience in an area so poverished that you have to see it to believe it. We were blessed with God’s compassion, which is a required prerequisite to a day in City Soleil.
When we arrived at the school, both classrooms were in session, but there were still many children filtering in. We received smiles and giggles of acceptance from everyone. Our activities for today were planned: Singing “This little Light of Mine”, coloring, giving out “Jesus loves me” bracelets, and of course play, play, play. Remember—our mission statement says “be Christ, Be Joyful, Be FLEXIBLE”. Being flexible always seems to come into play. Instead of us singing to the kids, the kids sang Jesus Love Me to us. Coloring was the perfect idea, except all of the crayons kept breaking and some of them wouldn’t show up on the paper. The bracelets were a huge hit, but they were a little too big and everyone wanted one at the same time. It was a little chaotic, but we indeed adhered to our mission: we were flexible, joyful, and full of Christ!!!
When our planned activities were completed, we gathered again in the courtyard and the games began. We played hopscotch, the hand-slapping games (again, like 1000 times), rhythmic games with our hands, and we jumped rope. The kids were all proudly wearing their “JEZI” bracelets and were squeezing on us as much as we were squeezing on them. It was truly wonderful.
Today, school seemed a little bit different. The teacher Maurice was in and out of the locked gate, which allowed the children spare room to act a little more wildly. They seemed to hang on a little more tightly, and there appeared to be more kids wrapped around you than usual. In addition to that, the kids from the city that were not students of the school began to sift inside. This was a bit disruptive, as they all wanted the watch from your wrist, the shoes from your feet, or the shirt from your back. Sometimes the reality of your circumstances is hard to swallow. It was amusing to see the reaction of the 200 students when Maurice would return back inside the school. They scattered, and quickly. It looked like a herd of deer running from a hungry lion.
Today was also different for the kids because today they were getting lunch. They actually got to eat. Right around noon, the aroma of spices and beans drifted through the air, creating an anxious group of watering mouths. Our team formed a single file line—going straight from the kitchen to the classroom with the younger children. Three, two, one…here come the plates, two at a time, steaming hot, and overflowing with food. ALLELUIAH! We worked like an assembly line, delivering the food and filling the tummies of these sweet, precious and hungry little sweetpeas. After we delivered food to the little ones, we repeated our routine to the 2nd classroom. We served 250 children-probably the only meal they will get today.
I was surprised to see the kids waiting for everyone to be served before they ate. It wasn’t until I heard them saying their blessing that I realized the reason for their delay.
It’s peculiar—you would think that if these children were so hungry, they would have eaten their plate of food with great haste. On the contrary, they ate very slowly, some picking out the black beans and tossing them aside. After everyone had finished, it was time for dismissal. As the kids began to file out, we noticed that the majority of them had a half plate of food. It was to give to the rest of their family.
The courtyard cleared, but there were a remaining 9-10 kids. I found myself sitting with a sweet little princess. She was 11 years old. Although I could not pronounce her name, we loved on each other like we belonged together. I asked her if she had any sisters, and her answer was “yes—I have 7 sisters”. Whoa. I then asked her if she had any brothers. Again her answer was “yes—I have 12 brothers.” I could hardly believe what I was hearing. I wanted to make sure my understanding of her answer was correct, so I asked Meshaa to ask her again. I was right, she had 19 siblings. Meshaa then went on to tell me that the Haitian people prefer to have a large family, and that often the women will have up to 27 children. Shocking.
We left City Soleil with several escorts from the school, including the sweet princess I spoke of before. As we loaded our van and climbed in as a group, I took a long hard look at my surroundings. This is their life. This is what these people know to be normal, safe and okay. It was almost hard to feel comfortable in the luxury of the air conditioned vehicle that was stuffed to the rim with all the water we could hold. As we drove away, the kids from the city ran beside the van with enormous smiles and waved us farewell.
- Fran
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