Yesterday we had the chance to take the team back into Cite Soleil for a 1/2 day of helping on the water truck. We met the water truck just outside of Cite Soleil and followed it into an area called 4 Coffins. This seems to be the poorest of the poor as far as Cite Soleil neighborhoods go. Most of the houses are made of sheets of tin.
What amazed me was the orderliness of the people as we began to distribute water. During some water stops pure chaos seems to be the prevailing activity. Not here, the people que'd up for the most part and the process of distributing our 2500 gallons of fresh water went very well.
Also incredible at this stop were the children. From the time we parked and tried to get out of the tap tap, the kids were everywhere!
One little boy stood out to me. I'm holding him in the first picture. He was burning up with fever, looked incredibly malnourished and lethargic. He seemed most content with me simply holding him and at times he'd lay his head on my shoulder and fall asleep. At those moments I would hug him tightly. My heart was breaking knowing that in a few short minutes I'd have to put him back on the ground and leave. The toughest part of this is not knowing what will happen to him. In the last few minutes of being there, I closed my eyes and prayed that God would protect this sweet little boy and make him strong and healthy. It's these moments, where my heart gets broken that makes these trips so compelling for me. If you study the photos of many of these children you'll see a deep and quiet desperation in their eyes.
The other insight I had at this stop was in seeing the amount of children whos hair color was a burnt orange. This is an indication of malnutrition in these children. Again, another very sad reality of the poverty that truly exists in Cite Soleil as well as many other part of Haiti.
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