30 minutes of lost sleep doesn’t seem like it would affect you all that much. But when its 30 minutes of lost sleep in Haiti it definitely throws you off. Not to mention that this morning was really sad. Around 6:30 or so, our first summer group left today. Nastassja, a Barnabas intern here, left with them. It was really sad to see her go. Another weird and depressing thing to realize was that this will be me with the third summer group that leaves. My time in Haiti is going by so fast and I want it to slow down!
With the group leaving, breakfast was prepared for them, but since we woke up to see them off, we also ate with them. This earlier breakfast consisted of cinnamon rolls and bread with jelly and peanut butter. After the summer group left we also received a second breakfast that was on our normal time which was eggs, bread, peanut butter, jelly and peaches. Having two breakfasts was so filling. Funny story about breakfast: While going through the line for the second breakfast, I was with Mary. Who added WAY too much salt to her eggs because it was kind of dark outside and she couldn’t see it coming out.
Once I was doing with breakfast, I went to the room to get ready because Autumn had informed me of how she, Stephanie and Heather were going to take Kimmy’s House down to the Catholic church because they wanted to see it. We all walked down together, taking a short walking path down a steep hill. This ‘path’ is heavily traveled, quite steep and full of trash. Next time I take it I will try to get a picture for you guys to see. When we arrived at the church we stood in the entry way for a bit. It was then, that I learned the true purpose of the reason why we came, one of the four girls who came from Kimmy’s House is catholic. She asked if she could stay to participate in the mass that was about to start. Autumn looked at me and asked if I minded staying with her since everyone else that was there, besides the two members from a summer group that are staying through the next group, had to go to a meeting, so I was the only staff member that could stay. I said yes I didn’t mind at all, even though I didn’t know my way around the town all that well and was being put in charge of three other people (the girl from Kimmy’s House and the two members of LCA who decided to attend the mass with us).
Today when I woke up, I had no idea what I would be doing, but attending a catholic mass was one thing I never would have guessed. Ever. But it was pretty interesting to say the least. A Catholic mass is kind of difficult to follow for those who aren’t Catholic, and it is especially so when such a mass is in a different language. Turns out the mass was also a special mass and was being held for the local schools in the area. So, we were the only four white people in the building, and the only people who weren’t associated with the school. Plus, the mass was EXTRA long. It ran about an hour and a half while the girl from Kimmy’s House informed us that typical masses during the week last only about thirty minutes. I was totally lost the whole time, not knowing creole, but it was really cool to see all of these young Haitian children sing.
Thankfully, I was able to get the three people I was in charge of back to the mission safely after the mass. When we arrived back, I did some laundry. It was gross to see the dirty water come off of my clothes. The bucket I poured out was seriously black. I don’t mean kind of dirty, I mean black as black can be. It was gross, but on the bright side, such dirt is no longer on my clothes.
Lunch soon followed. The bread shop that is just down the road near the Catholic church has finally repaired their oven. So at lunch, Mary and John Black each gave us a piece of bread. Bread here is sooo good. Both of the pieces that I received where still hot from the oven and delicious!
After lunch Autumn and I had our last outreach session of the week. Today we only had one girl, but it was one of the same girls we had seen last Friday, at the first outreach session I was here for. Her name is Sydney and she is really cute, but afraid of white people and cries every time Autumn or I try to hold her. She has trouble using her right foot and also has hypersensitivity in her mouth, so it is difficult for her to eat. The first part of the session I watched Autumn work with her to try and loosen the muscles in her food so that she could stand on it flat and use it better. Later in the session we worked on oral massage. We have done oral massage every day so far this week and today, Autumn allowed me to do all the exercises as a model. This was cool because while I know that these exercises help to increase muscle activity, it was cool to actually receive such massage and exercises on myself in order to actually feel such a muscle response personally. So outreach today was really informative and rewarding.
After Outreach I took a quick nap and then went on a walk with one of the girls from the Miriam Center. Her name is Belle. She is one of the oldest girls at the center. We walked around the mission for about 15 minutes. It was really cool to spend some one on one time with her because I had not been able to just yet.
I ran into Mary and Logan after my walk with miss Belle, and they informed me that they were headed over to help out with an English class across the street at the church and asked if I would want to come. I tagged along and I am really glad I did. At first I was not needed because every Haitian had an American partner, but then one of the girls had to leave to head back to the mission so I filled in. My partner was Jeff. It turns out he actually works for the Mission. It was really cool to get to know Jeff, and his English was actually quite good. He just wants to work on his grammar and sentence formation. I look forward to being able to go back and help out again.
Once we finished at the English class we headed back to the mission just in time for dinner. Since then, with no group we have just been relaxing and hanging out. And because we are not having to conserve water all that much because we don’t have over 40 people in a summer group, I was able to take an actual shower tonight, with real running water. And I even was able to put conditioner in my hair tonight. It was a very lovely experience!
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