Another great day in the books for us. Our group went to Cite Soleil once again and delivered much needed water. As written in priors posts, water is not just a want in the slums, but a valuable resource to be able to continue living. Upon arriving, children seeing our truck come running with their arms outstretched and big smiles on their faces. How wonderful to see pure joy! Seas of young, beautiful brown faces greet us with "Hey you!" and have outstretched arms to be lifted up. Children ages 5 on up and adults, holding babies in their arms, would lift the babies up for us to hopefully grab. There are so many, and while we can't hold them all, we may have 1 or 2 at a time, whispering in Creole how much we love them, how much God loves them, sing sweet songs, and play games like ring around the rosy, London bridge, give horse back rides, and play clapping games. These kiddos just fill up our hearts to overflowing. That is why most short term missionaries who come here with Healing Haiti, return again and again. We get so much more than we could ever give.
Our group had a chance to refresh after water truck and so many of us walked over to the nearby hotel pool. It is such a nice place to cool off, relax or play, eat french fries, and swim.
After the break, our group went to the Apparent Project or Papillon (butterfly) Enterprises. It is a place for consumers to purchase items from the Haitian people. Apparent Project creates jobs for mothers and fathers who don't want to abandon their children to orphanages because they can't feed them. It provides opportunities to women who have never had an education and who can't write their names. It provides hope through the dignity of a job, training in the ability to create something new out of something discarded, using material that has deemed worthless and then breathing beauty into again.
We helped the Haitian economy by purchasing beautiful jewelry made out of clay, old cereal boxes, beads, and/or metal. Clay pottery, metal art, clothing, Christmas ornaments, headbands, heated up wine bottles that have been flattened, embroidered towels are just some of the items that can be found there. Pizza Amore is located upstairs and our group enjoyed some amazing pizza in a tropical open air setting covered by a huge thatch roof.
Our group continues to bond over serving together, eating and praying together, loving up the locals together, and having a raucous time laughing and singing in the tap tap and elsewhere. What a beautiful experience it is!
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