Greetings...
We just got back from Matthew 28,
and I have only a few minutes to write before dinner. As such, I'd like to pick up where I left off
earlier, break for dinner, and then finish writing about the day...
After devotions, this morning, we
piled into the van and headed into town to begin our first work day at the
garden project. As I wrote yesterday,
this is a community garden and is intended to help those less fortunate in the
community. By the end of the morning
we'd pretty much finished breaking up the ground. Several previous teams (including Team Haiti
2012/January) had worked on the garden previous to our arrival. As we were working, I asked Jedlain what's next
in terms of the garden...
"Next, we will irrigate it,"
he said, "then we will fertilize it, and then we will plant it."
"What kind of fertilizer will
you use?" I asked.
"Paper...it's readily available
and not as expensive as other kindsof fertilizers," Jedlain responded.
"Does paper contain enough
nitrogen to fix what's needed in the soil?"
"Yes."
Oh...dinner's ready. More in a little while...
[Dinner looked good tonight, but I
wasn't able to eat it as the pasta dish contained meat. I did enjoy watching my teammates devour what
the ladies prepared for us, though. :o)]
After finishing up our work in the
garden, we all piled into the bus and headed for the town market that's held
weekly on Mondays. At the market, you
can buy just about anything from shoes and clothing to candy and gum to beans and
rice to donkeys and milking cows to radios and sunglasses. Much of the produce for sale is grown locally
by the villagers; some of the livestock is raised locally, while some are
purchased elsewhere. Many of the
household goods are purchased at various markets throughout Haiti. Here's how the process was described to me
last year. Household goods are delivered
in bulk to Port au Prince (PaP) fairly regularly. Every Saturday, PaP holds a really big market
(and I'm talking HUGE [Team Haiti 2011 got to visit it last April]), where
thousands upon thousands of people from all over Haiti come and purchase goods
that they then take back with them to other markets spread amongst the many
larger towns and villages throughout Haiti.
Some of the villagers from Bohoc travel to these markets a few times a
year to buy wares for them to sell at the local Bohoc market every Monday.
While to the casual observer, the
market situation may seem ad-hoc and a bit chaotic, it's actually quite
organized. Some on the team asked me
where all the goods come from. I said
that a lot comes from the United States and that most of it is excess product
that has either become obsolete (like non-digital TVs) or unsalable due to
mistakes in workmanship.
"Irregulars" (in terms of clothing) are routinely shipped in
huge quantities to Haiti. In Haiti, you
can purchase a Tommy Hilfiger shirt for $6-$7 that might cost $40 in the
states. The only difference between the
two is the $6 shirt may contain some irregular stitching that doesn't meet the
strict standards for sale in the states.
(Frankly, I have a really hard time telling the difference.)
After walking through the market for
a little while, we all piled back into the bus and headed home for lunch.
Matthew
28
After lunch, we headed for Matthew 28, where we got to spend a
couple of hours loving on and playing with the children who live there. Despite the lack of supervision, I really
enjoy being with those kids. In fact,
considering the lack of supervision, they really are quite well-behaved. One of our team very astutely noted: "There is definitely family structure
amongst the kids." She's absolutely
right; many of the older kids do in fact watch over and provide limited
guidance to the younger kids.
While at the orphanage, I walked
around to see if there were any adults on-site.
There was one: an elderly woman
cooking beans and rice in the kitchen clear across on the other side of the
orphanage compound. The situation at Matthew 28 is still very concerning to
me. Today, there were only 30 children at
the orphanage. As I saw only three or
four of the teenagers living there, most of the 30 kids there today ranged
(based on my estimation) from about three- to ten-years-old. We learned from Jedlain that there are,
supposedly, a total of 65 children living at the orphanage and that the
orphanage is overseen by five Haitians, who live in the house next to the
compound. I've been to Matthew 28 five times in the last year
alone, and I have yet to see one of these five "overseers".
Despite the above, our time with the
kids today was really nice. We painted
nails, imprinted temporary tattoos, played with bubbles, jumped rope, played
soccer, threw the frisbee, played football, wrestled--you name it. Toward the end of our time there, we all
congregated in the pavilion, where Bill shared a word with the children and
where Connie led us all in a Christianized version of The Hokie Pokie.
Leaving the kids at Matthew 28 is always difficult as they
are so starving for love and attention and contact. This very thing is why I want us to keep
going back to Matthew 28. 410
has considered eliminating these team visits to the orphanage (because of the negative
[and, I've heard, devastating] effect it has had on some of the teams), but I've
told 410 emphatically (almost
demandingly [but not quite, as I am submitted to their leadership]) that I want
teams from newhope to go to Matthew 28 at least once on each trip if
it is at all possible. It's not the
kids' fault that there's no visible leadership or supervision at the compound. While we know that there's little we can do
to alleviate the conditions at the orphanage, we do know, though, that we can
make a small difference in their lives by spending time with them and loving on
them for at least a few hours during each trip.
Okay...that's all I have for now.
God's peace everyone!
Dave
On behalf of Team Haiti 2012/April
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