Many hands make light work and many eyes give different points of view. Megan, Mitaya, Emma, and Bethany from Pella Christian High School have all shared a piece of their day. They show that even though people walk different paths, they can still come together to create something good.

 

To read yesterday’s blog, click here.

I really loved working with plantains today! It was very hard work but it was cool to learn Haitian farming techniques and realize how easy we have it. We worked with pick axes, poles, and shovels to dig up the small trees with machetes to chop off the tops. The families were very happy to see us. I tried really hard to break up the soil and dig but I didn’t get far very fast. The Haitian workers knew what they were doing and made it look so easy! All in all, it was hard sweaty work that reminded me of helping my dad on the farm. I told the head worker that my family farms too and we talked about plants and “vaches” (their cows look much different than ours). It was satisfying to finish the job and it made farming in Iowa seem much easier.    ~ Megan

When I was helping with putting a cement floor in a house today, I felt so much joy in the family’s faces; especially when we gave them gifts. There is so much joy wherever we go. The atmosphere when we walk around town or even just driving down a road is amazing. There is such a loving sense of community wherever we go. The children always have their arms wrapped around each other, even boys. People give what they can to people that need it, and it’s not a big deal. The loving community is what gives me hope for the future. ~Mitaya

I was sitting on the playground this afternoon and one little boy came up to me and wanted to play cards.  Some of the other boys saw we had cards and wanted to play with us.  I let them play by themselves first then they wanted me to play with them, so I did.  Honestly, I had no idea what game they were playing.  I am pretty sure they were just matching random cards not actually playing a card game.  Then Richelin came and he said they are playing “Squash It” but he never did explain it.  It was still a good time to interact with some of the Haitian boys although I had no idea what was going on.  All in all it was fun just to see the little boys laugh and have a fun time.   ~Emma

There were a lot of things that I could write about, but the one thing that I really enjoyed was our walk to the market, and just the market in general. We all walked from the Many Hands campus into town, and it was really fun to see how open people were to us waving and saying hello, contrary to when we would ride in the truck. It has been continuously fun to see all of the little kids who jump up and down yelling, “Blanc” (white person) and being able to see the joy that we bring to their faces when we greet them bonswa, ‘hello’ in Creole. I also really enjoyed walking around the market and being able to buy a few items as gifts for teachers at Pella Christian school here in Haiti. Even though it was kind of hard to understand a lot of what the vendors were saying, I was able to get main points and understand, in general, what they were saying, so that was really cool.

The walk back from the market was fun until it started to pour on us, and then it got pretty miserable. I was mostly trying to focus on getting back to the compound without slipping and falling face first in the mud. We all made it back safe and soaking to the campus, and while most of the others went inside, a few of us stayed and played outside in the rain. Overall, today and the last few days have been really fun and eye opening, and I absolutely cannot wait for what God has in store for us in the coming days. ~Bethany

Walking back from Pignon

Gifts for the teachers

Safe and sound through rain or shine

Pouring concrete