Monday April 22, 2013 – Today was nearly overwhelming, and
my description of it won’t do it justice. There were so many small and large
moments that I couldn’t begin to describe them all. I will give the outline,
and hope that when the photos are all available you’ll be able to see at least
some of them for yourself. First, I am blown away by the dedication of the
people we’ve met here, both to God and to the people of Haiti. And Cal Shultz
is definitely one of those.
By 4 am people were walking past on the road, with great
loads on their heads, singing on their way to market in Cap Haitien. Then the
roosters started crowing! And the birds singing! By 6:30 or so, most of us were
up. At about 7:30 Pastor Paul sang us down to breakfast. Lots of eggs, coffee,
fruit and bread. Then we piled into the back of the truck and went to the
Empower Global compound. We saw that, under the direction of Maurice, a
Newfoundland native, a huge amount of work has been done in just over the last
year. There are a few buildings, it’s all cleared, and a community of kids has
discovered the place. Pastor Noe Gilles is the Haitian foreman, and he was
there as well. Evans, who runs the G5 program told us about that, and we’ll go
back to see it in action later in the week. Kathy handed out bottles of bubbles
and balloons to a small group of kids at the gate and they were thrilled. Our
next stop was a convenience store to pick up lunch, and then on to Dr. Rodney’s
clinic. It’s amazing what they do with limited resources – not only do they
treat hundreds of patients every day, they also have a medical school to train
nurses and lab techs. Just a wonderful place! Than back to the Empower Global
compound to play with the gang of kids who show up every day after school.
There was singing, skipping, Frisbees, and a bit of candy. The girls “did”
Miriam’s hair and she gave them some elastics. The guys took many photos of the
kids so they could see themselves in them. The kids all had a great time. I
held a sick baby for a half hour or so, and she fell sound asleep in my arms,
after being very fussy and unhappy for quite awhile. The small girl who’d been
holding her until I took her was happy to go off and play with the others. We
returned to Pastor Paul’s in time for another great dinner, and we are all so
tired I don’t think there’ll be a problem sleeping tonight!
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