Day5-6: Children are children

Saturday we got up and traveled to the store and bank with our driver. He was set to arrive at 7:30. I have no idea when he arrived, but we wandered out to the truck by 8:30 I think. This is Haiti.

We went to shop first, where I was dumbfounded by trying to convert the Haitian Dollar to the Gourde to the US Dollar (40 Gourdes is one US dollar, One US dollar is 5 Haitian dollars, things are priced in all three). We then went to a bank and tried to cash travelers checks. Yes, the banks are what you imagine- men with guns standing in the streets as you drive in. Then again inside. Big long guns- not sure what type they are. Turns out you can’t cash traveler’s checks anywhere in Haiti. I exchanged the cash I did have. We also bought a 25 dollar cell phone that will work here.

We then packed and headed to the beach. A Haitian Dr. friend we work with had friends of the family that owned the house. So we packed 4 people into the back of a tiny car (think mazda protégé back seat!) and road for two hours over roads that are unreal. It’s so hard to explain the roads. I will try to include video I took.

At the beach, we had a great time. But you never escape the poverty. The poverty is the country. Even off at this remote beach, kids were all over the beach, wanting to play and wrestle and work for you. The first night we played monopoly on the porch. A kid came up to sell us a bag of mangos that he had picked. Apparently, we had the money in bills such that our smallest bill was worth “two bags” according to our Haitian friend. He told the kid to go pick a few more and we’d give it to him. The kid came back with a whole ‘nother bag. These kids are poor and have such few options. I didn't do chores very well, much less pick mangoes and sell them to random people. But what else can they do?

That night our Hatian Dr's family friends came over. What a joyful experience. All colors and languages present. It’s amazing how you communicate when languages flow like that. It’s no longer important that things are said 100% correctly, but rather that a point is conveyed, whether that takes a laugh, sound effect, or kiss on the cheek (still doing plenty of that!). I did notice that a woman and her daughter lived in a house behind the house, in sort of a makeshift looking hut. They were the maids. They were beautiful and sweet. I had trouble with this idea at first, but it was work, and they (the maids) seemed extremely happy to have work with such great folks.

On Sunday we awoke and ate a big breakfast on the lawn. It was beautiful; young and old, all colors, all languages. We sat in circle and ate and had coffee time and just talked and laughed. There is truly something to be learned here. One thing I realized is that there is not negativity. The spirit is very much one of laughter. I think life being what it is, people appreciate the people around them, the life they have, the laughs being belted out. Those things are special.

I cannot include everything here. Other than I was touched deeply. I ended up playing in the water with a kid I met on the beach, Fonso. I'll post pictures of him shortly! You notice in some pictures that I am still referring to my translation book to talk! But kids are kids no matter where you go on the globe- special and deserving of our best. They are yet to make the mistakes we've made, yet they inherit those problems. Fortunately they also can inherit any good we may enable.

Fonso and I played for hours. Then other kids joined us and next thing I know I'm throwing kids up in the air and wrestling with them and letting them bury me. Do some of them eat every day? I don’t know. Do they have HIV? I don’t know. Were they beautiful kids? Yes.
It was weird because I know the family we were with provided them with work at times, so they respected when we were having coffee time. But I wanted to eat with the kids. But this family doesn’t have the means to feed all these kids. It was sad. The children just sat down on the wall while we ate. When we finished we went back to playing. They were given the leftovers. It broke my heart. There really wasn’t a good answer. But we had been playing all day! I snuck Fonso a Coke out and he drank it in one huge gulp. I almost cried.

Upon leaving I hugged the children and especially Fonso. I kissed the maid and told her what a great job she did on everything . I left other things out- I bought a painting from a guy on the beach, we cooked a huge fish that was just caught, and we played more. But you’ve read the important stuff. These children are so, so hungry. Black or white, HIV or no, these children are children first, and they would break your heart.