French Fries and Mangified

July 3^rd, 2014 – 10:41 pm

Alright, I’m sorry this is so late, but I was catching up on last night’s leftover recounting. Today was at least more productive than yesterday. This morning, we had breakfast first, and most of us didn’t trust the eggs, so I’m basically living on granola bars like every morning. Then we had a very laid back devotion meeting in our small groups. We were on the cantor at eight and pulled into the depot for supplies for this morning’s task. We picked up shovels, pick axes and metal stakes. Then we headed into Source Matelas and pulled into the small area on the side of the road next to the main church in the area. There we picked up ten little trees and buckets of dirt. Can you guess what we did all morning?  

Eventually we parked the cantor at the edge of a very spread out area of Source Matelas, where the goats were flourishing and the sun was scorching over desert-like lands. Literally, it was very questionable looking. But we broke up into our groups from the airport again, so I was with the Dares, the Hansingers, Dave and Emi. We were with Jeffney and he took us up the hill so we could plant our first tree. There was a man living in a house at the top of the hill, and he had his daughter living there with a few other little girls. I believe they were her children. We dug an overly large hole in the front of the yard and plopped our little mango tree right in. We covered the roots with the dirt we brought in the buckets, and then one of the women living in the house brought us a bucket full of water. Interestingly, we didn’t fill the hole all of the way, so there was a little bit of a bowl surrounding the trunk. This, Jeffney told us, was too hold water when it rained. It was actually pretty smart since the area was obviously extremely dry.

Then we were on to the next house, where a small woman was all alone. Her kids had gone across town for the day to visit family. This time, the planting was definitely harder, because as soon as the shovel hit the ground, the sound of metal on rock rung through the air. So, as you can see, it was a bit difficult. The boys kind of took over and we sat in the shade, trying to communicate with the woman since Jeffney was overseeing the digging. We prayed over her after we had gotten the almond tree planted, just like we had at the previous house. Then we headed back down the hill toward the cantor, where we met up with the other groups. Then there was a mix of things going on.

Some people were playing soccer with children in a few yards, others were outside holding babies, and others still were praying with people. Then Ed brought out the music and it was all over. Tami and I were talking to one of the translators about what kind of music he likes. Faby (that’s the translators name in case you couldn’t figure it out) apparently likes Justin Bieber and One Direction. I mean, he’s like a young adult who loves girls’ idols. Kind of hilarious. But anyways, a big group of us were dancing to random music, and Noah was taking pictures of individual children with a polaroid camera so that they could all have a picture of themselves. It was actually pretty cool, because unless us, these people don’t have many opportunities to see what they look like. They totally loved it. They were all running around, waving the pictures frantically and showing everyone in excited, high pitched voices.

Then we had to come back for lunch, which was some pretty tasty noodles. I actually got seconds. That doesn’t happen often here for me. After lunch, we had to get in a bus, because there was another group coming with us and the King of the Roads couldn’t accommodate all of us. Interestingly enough, we didn’t all fit in the bus either. Standing room only by the end of it! We were all squished and on top of each other and it was grossly hot.

The bus eventually pulled into a park area we had been to last year that was all created by Cina, the cement company in Haiti. It’s probably the biggest legitimate business in the country. The other group got off the bus and was off to the side and Papitas led us with the other translators deeper into the village. We trekked through the “back roads” of the village for a while until we reached this open space with a really sketchy looking bench that wrapped around in a big square. We all sat on it, but Papitas wanted to show us all around the back of a house where there was another, smaller, open space where the latrine we were supposed to build was going to go. Some of the money we raised for our trip actually went into the funding to make that happen and we were supposed to do that this week (and we could have too, with all the downtime we had), but we never got to it I guess. So apparently the group that comes in this coming week will be doing it. Personally, I’m glad we’re not, because that would have been an awful long walk with the materials…

 

After he showed us the space and talked about the benefits of having a bathroom (like, we’ve all gone before, I think we know), we all gathered back at the square benches and chilled for some time. I took a lot of pictures and most of us tried to cool down and stay in the shade. Seth kept trying to climb up this huge mango tree, and some of the translators decided they should get us some mangoes. A woman that lived in the closest house came around the corner with a hook attached to the top of a very long stick. It was probably 12 feet or so. They were standing on things, jumping and reaching, but nothing was working. Leon decided to jump up on Ocean’s shoulders and reach, but apparently he was too small. Another, larger translator came up and they finally yanked us down some mangoes. I have never seen anyone treasure a mango as much as Noah though. Pretty hilarious. He like, wouldn’t let Danni hold it. Too funny. And I think he was the one who came up with the word mangified to describe his feeling about mangoes...

After our time there was over, we were led back through the forest, past a GIANT black pig and the funniest looking goat I have ever seen (he was like beige and had a long white tuff of hair coming out of the top of his head and one coming out of his chin). He was the most ridiculous thing I had ever seen and I seriously couldn’t help but laugh when I saw him. We got back to the park area and it didn’t take much to get the majority of our group and a bunch of Haitian kids (including Papitas) onto the soccer field. Personally, I don’t understand how they could do any sort of physical exertion, but they did. And I sat in the shade with my camera.

 

Noah did the camera thing again, with Ruth standing proudly and protectively off to his side. Melissa was getting covered in bubble juice, as a young lady was blowing bubbles behind her to entertain some young boys. They were so cute – they had so much excitement on their faces each time she would blow through the wand and they chased the bubbles wherever they would go until they gleefully popped them. Bubbles and Cheerios. If you have those two things, you can babysit a very young child with no problem whatsoever. Danni did a weird arm swinging challenge with a Haitian boy who was trying to get his polaroid picture to dry. AshLee held one of the cutest little boys ever. Caitlin got hurt and got a black eye courtesy of our lovely Daniel. Nice guy. Kicked a ball right in her face. Antonio also sustained an injury – his knee got a bit scratched up. And Dave and Tami got us these little weird Haitian fruits. I forgot what they’re called, but they grow in bunches like grapes. I think they are like grapes in many ways, but you have to pull the tough skin off around the edge and then you suck this gooey strange substance off the pit in the middle. I think they’re really good because they’re so sweet, but a lot of people couldn’t get over the texture. A little too slimy for most.

 

 

Speaking of questionable things… I’m pretty sure I drank bull sperm today without knowing it. Instead of Red Bull, they have an energy drink in Haiti called Toro. It’s illegal in the US because it has such high levels of taurine. This is what we were told by Jeremy anyways, and he wasn’t let anyone drink it unless they got a parents’ permission, so I’m assuming it’s pretty legit. I only had a sip or two, but it was so good! It literally tasted like the liquid version of sweet tarts. So yeah, it’s gross, but it’s so good… I don’t really know what to think about it.

The time with the kids didn’t last very long. We headed back to Main Campus pretty quickly, and everyone was disgusting. I was sweating and I had barely moved. All the men and kids that had been playing either basketball or soccer were totally soaked. All I was thinking was ‘Stay away from me!’ Danni commented that we should make a divide on the bus, so that the sweaty, stinky people would stay on one side and we would be on the other. That didn’t happen, but hey, I survived.

For dinner tonight, we had fried chicken, French fries and corn! It was awesome. I only wish I had gotten more of the corn and fries… I could’ve eaten a lot more of them, trust me. Then we had a big group meeting at the top of the roof. I got there late with Danni because Tami was still braiding my hair when it started. It was the first time we were late to anything here. Shameful. All Tami’s fault obviously! People shared stories again, there were more songs, a few words and prayer. This time, our group had to stay after because we needed to be informed about tomorrow’s beach day and what and what not to do when we’re at the resort. We were also encouraged to support the MOH financially. I kind of want to sponsor a child here, not going to lie.

After that, everyone was off doing their own thing. I know a few people who met up to go over their interviews with their partners in anticipation for their introduction speeches. That was me. Most of the group members were playing card games on the tables. The last of them just came back to the rooms at it’s 12:30 in the morning. But that’s life here in Haiti. Every night is game night here!

Enjoy your day tomorrow (or today, rather) doing what it is that you do. I’ll be sipping fruity frozen drinks while I’m sitting on the sand with my toes in the water. I WIN!  

Katie Coming to You from Haiti