The next few days were pretty similar, so I decided to include them all in one post. I think it was Tuesday night before church when our team sat down and really talked about how we could be better at making everyone feel useful and being more productive while we were out in "the field" building houses. The general consensus was to split up into teams of about 5 people....that way we could cover more ground and each person could have at least one specific job they were responsible for, and it was a more organized way to make sure everyone had a part. So starting on Wednesday we put this new idea to the test. It went a lot smoother than the previous two days. We worked faster and more efficient, and it was good for team bonding too because we could actually have a conversation while we were working.
One thing I will never forget is working with some of the haitian kids. They are such hard little workers!!! This one kid, I think you would pronounce his name Roe-bay....he always wore a hat and gloves while he was working, and he was always sweating, but he never stopped working. It was funny because if I was struggling to hammer the nail into the wood, he would want to try, and of course, he would get it no problem. lol. He even walked to the market to get us all cokes....and of course we gave him one too!
By the end of this day I felt so much better about building these houses. I was actually really excited for the next day.
It was actually a really nice night to sleep that night because it wasn't as hot. Either that or I had just gotten used to it. Whatever it was, that was the first night that I slept great! Which made the next day of work even better!
On thursday the group I was in tarped a house for a family with a little boy named Steven. He was such a good little singer and dancer, so he kept us pretty entertained while we worked. One thing I think is really funny is that they are like obsessed with Akon down there. They would keep singing his songs and then point to you to sing with them. They don't even know what they're singing because it's in english, which made it even funnier. Haha. Also, since the World Cup was starting the next day, they kept singing the Wavin Flag and Oh Africa song....which we all learned rather quickly....
What was cool about this day was when we were done, this woman and her sister who were going to be living in the house we had just finished tarping, gave us each a huge hug and kept saying Merci, Merci, Thank you so much, God Bless you. It was the first time that I could tangibly see what we had given to the families. Because I think it was really easy to fall into this mindset of working on one house, finish, move to the next, finish, move to the next....but you don't realize that you are changing these families' lives after every house you complete because now, they will actually have a legitimate roof to sleep under, some of them for the first time since the earthquake.
Honestly, that is what got me through those times when I was just too hot or too tired to continue. I think it gave all of us an extra kick of motivation because we all saw at least one example of how thankful these people were to us and to God, and it was really cool to be a part of something that helped changed someone's life.
On Friday we continued tarping houses.....the World Cup started this day so what made this day different than previous days was that the game was being broadcasted all over radios and random tv's that you would see inside these little tents. Some haitians were even charging goudes (haitian dollars) for their neighbors to come watch the game if they had a tv. Of course, the game was all in Creole so we couldn't understand it. But.....when the Oh Africa or Wavin Flag song came on the radio, which was probably once every 20 minutes....we all got super excited. They were catchy songs, and they were loud so you couldn't help but dance....and the haitian kids loved it too so it just made me smile! haha....now whenever I miss Haiti, I just listen to those songs and I get sort of a homesickness for Haiti. lol
The sunset that night was phenomenal.....boy I am going to miss those sunsets too!! The colors of the sky were so vibrant....and the sun fell right into the ocean. And almost immediately it would get dark!
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