Day 6

February 27, 2011
Day 6

9:30am Church in Hinche
3:00pm Visit local Waterfall attraction

This morning began with no water. Ah, how important is a shower in a hot, dusty environment where we have been travelling, kicking up dust all day long. Finally, enough water squeezes out that I have enough to work with. As I head up to breakfast I recognize that today is going to be hot, a nice hot, but unfortunately the majority of my “lighter” clothes are dirty and I’m stuck in jeans and a tshirt.

Breakfast this morning is some sort of pumpkin soup with what I think is goat in it. Kinda hard to wrap my brain around soup for breakfast, and I definilty can’t stomach goat. I tried it one day, but after spending much of my time surrounded by them I’m afraid it’s just not possible for me. Of course I knew that food would be limited in Haiti, but the amount of carbohydrates and pop are just about doing in me in. We laugh when Bernie steps on the truck to step into the back and the footstep breaks off. “Too much rice!” When I get home it’s going to be a pure veggie diet with loads of water for awhile. LOL!

Segnol, Marouse, Marcellus and Robert arrived fully decked out in suits to pick us up. We all looked at each other as if to say “oops”. It seems everyone dresses in their finest to church, and in the case of these guys they have specific dress based on their status in the church. I am constantly amazed at the significance of hierarchy and respect in Haitian culture.

This morning we are attending one of the many churches in Hinche. I amazed at how many churches are in one small village. Segnol tells us that they are all busting at the seams with no room for more. Since the earthquake attendance has more than doubled in size and Haitians are regularly giving their lives to follow Jesus. This morning there were at least 8—this is so exciting to witness!

Following Church we stopped off at Marouse’s house to meet his wife and one of his children. She immediately welcomes us in and serves us up the best fried banana and fried something else we’ve had since coming here. It was so good and she was so welcoming, anxious to have her picture with us, and handing her beautiful daughter over to me to carry around. We headed back to the hotel for lunch and as Sagnol says “rest”. Saying goodbye to Marouse was so hard to do. I have such great respect for him. As I have watched him meet with the various associations, the local governments and ADP staff and partners I have been amazed at his leadership skills. He always applauds something, and challenges something, giving the people something to think on, and he does it with great respect. I have learned so much from watching him this week. As we stand to say goodbye to him he surprises each of us with a gift. To Laura he gives his mirror, to me, his pocket comb, to Amy his pocket suite cleaner and to Mike, his watch. These gifts mean so much, especially from him because they are what he has, and they connect us to one another.

After lunch and a rest we are off to visit a local waterfall. It IS beautiful. We climb the mountain it is on to check out the cave, so cool, there are engravings in the cave walls left there by the people from before colonization. It was a great way to end this leg of our journey, in the central plateau. As we pull up to the hotel gate it is hard to say goodbye because we have experienced so much together.

As I’m talking to Bernie on the drive back to the hotel, I say something that resonates true with me after I say it. It’s that because of my experience in Haiti this past week, Haitians are no longer defined by their hardship, but by the relationship, the unity and friendship I have with them. Their need is still great, but it fades into the background of the picture, their faces and stories, their hope and inspiration take the foreground and I realize that I have more to receive from this partnership than I can possibly give.

~H