The team from Pella Christian High School is immersed in a world vastly different from their own. They are climbing to new heights teaching their physical, emotional, and mental limits. From mountain views to water plants to games of duck, duck, goose, this team has shown an amazingly positive attitude towards seeing other ways of life.

To read the team’s previous blog, click here.

Saturday Day 3 in Haiti

We started the day early with a 5:30 trip to the nearby mountain. The view was beautiful as we climbed and hiked our way up on the paths. Towards the top we took an accidental wrong turn and ended up clawing our way through uncharted terrain. The rocks were covered in grass making it hard to stay upright as we made our way towards the top. Once at the top we enjoyed the view and climbed on top of an old radio tower. We learned about the different landmarks and buildings of Pignon. On the way down we were incredibly careful due to the loose rocks and dirt that caused us to fall a total 16 (21 times including the times the Haitian guide).

Once down from the mountain we came back to our compound and ate a breakfast of pancakes prepared by the guys of the group. We quickly went to go to the market where we split into two groups and walked around with our culture guides. The market was a variety of sights and smells as we walked through many people tightly packed together. It was interesting to see the live animals for sale along with meats and varieties of clothing and shoes. Once we had made our way through the market we came back again and ate spam and cheese for lunch. We had an hour of rest where some people went up to the roof to enjoy the sun while other people played corn hole. It was nice to have even a simple hour of rest today.

We then went to a peanut butter “factory” where we saw that their peanut butter is slightly different than other than ours. It was a little bit runnier and we learned that the peanut butter made there is brought to the school in the compound for the children.

After this we went to a water bagging plant where we saw how the water is treated, filtered and bagged for easy access/purchase of the whole community. It was interesting to learn that an 8 oz bag of water is 1/2 of a cent. We enjoyed seeing the production of something that makes such a difference in this community.

Then we visited Keith and Karlie Anderson’s sponsor child, Lannacie. It was cool to see even though the Anderson’s are not physically in her life everyday they still make a large impact. We also prayed for them which we discovered is an honor for the families we pray for. We went to Pella Christian Grade school next, we got to see the building and the children that lived in the surrounding houses. Then we went home and we got to play with the kids that live around the compound. We played a very chaotic version of duck duck goose and a game of soccer. We ate Haitian spaghetti to close out the night. We had group discussion/devotional where we discussed the culture and any questions we had about Haiti. We sang songs and got ready for a great day tomorrow.

Because we hope you care 🙂
Sarah Gritters and Natalie Harrill