Week 2 - Life in Haiti

Good afternoon everyone!

I thought that I would take a bit of a break to give you all an update on my week so far. It's day 2 of our second school week, and so far the kids have gotten progressively better at working through our morning routine. I especially love how the three of them are avid readers. You probably won't believe me, so I am attaching a picture, but at 'recess' time instead of going out on the playground or having a snack, they sit on my couch and READ! It kind of shocked me at first... I thought that I was coming across as too strict about learning :), but I realized that they actually love to read! The only slight problem with this is that we only have so many english books here in Haiti, so hopefully we can find a way to get more books throughout the year!

Another part I love about teaching is listening to Bridgely do math. He is my youngest student and is just beginning to learn how to add. But what is unique about him is that when he works, he always sings... It's so cute to listen to him belt out the numbers and hum different tunes while he is adding numbers. Fortunately it doesn't bother Teagan and Grayden, so I let him sing to his hearts content... I should really take a video of it sometime. :)

As far as other Haiti life goes, this morning I woke up very hot and sweaty and realized that my fan wasn't on. My first thought was that it had quit in the middle of the night so I tried to turn it back on, but I soon found out that the power was out in my whole house. At breakfast this morning, I learned that due to the generator and inverter tendencies at the mission (don't ask me to explain this any further... I am not an electrician!), our power source will need to be repaired, and who knows how long it will take... It could be a few weeks or even months. Fortunately I still have water in my apartment, and wireless internet, so that is a blessing, but if you think of it in the coming days, you can pray that the power problem can be repaired quickly and easily. 

In addition, my kitchen sink in my apartment is extremely clogged. When I moved in a few weeks ago, some Haitian men had just finished painting, and they had drained all of the extra paint in my sink. The water from the tap became progressively slower to drain over the next couple of days, and despite my attempt to unclog it with Drano Max, it's still fully plugged. There is a Haitian plumber that works for the mission who has been asked to come and fix it for me, but he still hasn't shown up. As you can see, my sink is pretty disgusting right now. It's full of cloudy, dirty water with cockroaches floating in it, and it's beginning to smell. So you can also pray with me that the plumber will come to fix this problem soon!

Well, I think that's all for now. I am going down to the warehouse for the rest of the afternoon to organize children's clothes that were found at the hospital. When we organize the clothes in advance by size and gender, it makes distributing them in the village a lot easier. Even through such a seemingly insignificant task, I get such fulfillment to sort through the clothes, knowing that each piece will be received by families with gratitude, and worn for many years to come. 

Thank you again for all of your encouraging words and for keeping me in your prayers. I am attaching a few more pictures with this post to show you more sights from Haiti, and children I've met so far. When I browse through my photos after I've put them on my computer, sometimes I have to remind myself that I actually took the picture! It's amazing to reflect on what I've been experiencing!

Bye for now :)