by Laura Rus & Rosie Terborg, trip participants with MH4H  

Hello from Haiti!

It was rather late last night when we finally got a chance to relax; everyone was exhausted, and no one thought about blogging. Therefore, we are covering two days now! Yesterday was a very busy day, and we accomplished a lot. The men worked at the new MH4H compound at Savanette. Shelves were built and painted, and beds for the new dorm, a tool bench, and a shelf in the depot were constructed. A lot of sawing and sanding was going on! Meanwhile, the ladies were in Pignon giving the Sewing Hope building another coat of paint, inside and out. In the evening, we walked to the hospital to visit the sick. We sang songs, prayed for the patients, and handed out prayer cards and small gifts. We came back to the dorm, showered, and fell fast asleep.

This morning, we got up early and headed out to Pella Christian School to update data for the sponsorship program. We took pictures and measured the weight and height of each student. It was wonderful to see the children come out of their classrooms and line up to smile for the camera. After a full morning at the school, we were blessed to bring the goats we purchased at the market on Saturday to some of our sponsored children’s families. (Click here to read about this team’s experience purchasing 28 goats at a Haitian market.) Some of these families live up in the hills outside of Savanette, which turned out to be quite the trek. This afternoon the men continued working on the bunk beds for the new dorm. They hope to get most of them finished tomorrow. The ladies played games and sang with some of the local children.

For the last week, we have heard the men all complain about the warm sodas they have had to endure, so tonight we had a surprise for them when they returned from their hard afternoon of work: ICE!  The water in the fridge had frozen so we cut open the bottles and saved the ice in glasses in the freezer. They were all surprised and very grateful for this small luxury, just another one of the many things most of the people of Haiti do not have. We in America have all been blessed with so much more than we deserve, and this has been in our discussions and our devotions often over this past week. Contrary to our perception of what poverty looks like, we have found the people of Haiti to be full of happiness and joy as they live their simple lives. All of us have been changed by this experience.

Click here to read the team’s experience worshiping in Haiti or here to read about their first days in Pignon.