Oh Haiti, we love thee

So far, soooooo good! I feel like we've accomplished so much already and we've only been here a few full days.

Day 1---We walked to the church to take a look at the construction we would be working on, this church was BADLY damaged during the earthquake and they are preparing the land to tear down the giant cement building and put a steel structure in it's place. This new structure will serve as a medical clinic, church and leadership development. After taking a look at that we walked to a neighboring refugee camp, it was as you can imagine, hard to see....these people who have nothing, but still were so happy just to see you, they wave and the children just run up to you and hug you. It was such a gift after such a long day.

Day 2--To prep the church property we needed to clean out and sweep the inside of the church as well as level out loads of rock that had been dumped. The fab four ladies (Jara, Liz, Olivia and myself) spent the morning sweeping and cleaning the interior. The men had it a little more rough and they hauled rock all morning. The afternoon was a major team effort of picking up and moving rocks...one stone at a time....we built a huge chain and threw rocks to each other....it was HOT (we're talking over 100 degrees & 100% humidity--CRAZY) but it was a TON of fun! We had the best time full of laughter and joy! We ended up moving over 2000 rocks...that felt like boulders. Truly teamwork. On the way back home we saw some children playing down the road and waved and before you knew it, they were running towards us, it must have been 30-40 children from the ages of 3 or 4 to 14....they came and we grabbed soccer balls from the base camp and played soccer in the dirt field. It was so fun just to love and hug the children, we took lots of photos and had a BLAST just holding them and playing with them. We all agreed that after seeing the children we had totally forgotten about the work that we had done all day. It was really such a gift :)

Day 3---Today we went out to the soccer field I mentioned to pick up trash. After yesterday we realized that the field they use for practice is an old landfill, when we were out there, we picked up garbage bags FULL of broken glass, plastic and so on....we even found a large kitchen knife AND a syringe...it was so fulfilling to be able to get all of the potentially dangerous stuff off that field and know that the kiddos would be safe to run around!
Later this morning, we headed out to the 1st orphanage of the trip! I was sooooo excited! When we arrived there, there were only the younger children (under 12) as the rest were at school, they opened the gate to let us in and the kids had prepared songs for us. I stood with Jara, holding hands, in tears---such a beautiful sight to see. After their song it was a FREE FOR ALL, hugging on each one and learning their names. The beauty in the eyes of the children at this orphanage is unparalleled. They are so sweet and loving. We sat all the children down and they all got their new Crocs. To say they were excited would be putting it mildly, they put them on and off they went to play soccer or just dance around it their new shoes. Wow. (To everyone that donated shoes, THANK YOU, you truly made a incredible difference in the lives of these little ones). Soon after, Kristof went to work painting a mural, while some of the team painted the bedrooms and others (like me) played with the children. As soon as the travel team girls sat down with babies in their arms the older girls from the orphanage attacked, hence the new corn rows hairstyle I am currently rocking ;) It was hilarious...and painful, but they loved it!

One of the most powerful parts of the trip for me personally so far, was actually at the base camp, we have 2 beautiful haitian women that work in the kitchen at the base camp preparing meals. We heard that one of them, Linda, has 2 small boys, ages 4 & 6 and so I kept out 2 pairs of crocs for her boys. I had one of the interpreters explain to her that I wanted to give her these shoes for her children. She looked like I had given her the world and with tears in her eyes, she hugged me and kept repeating "merci, merci, merci" (thank you). It is hard to put into words how amazing moments like this really change you...I know back home I have a ridiculous amount of shoes and to think that such a simple act can move someone so deeply...It humbles and challenges me...

It's 7pm now and we are about to head into a night session, so I should probably get going. Sorry for rambling on and on, I just really want all of you to be able to experience this trip with us. It's only a peek at what's going on and all that God is doing, but I hope it helps you all to know we brought your love and support, and really we couldn't do this without you all.

Tomorrow morning we head out to another orphanage were we will stay for the duration of the trip, so we won't be able to update because there will be no internet or cell service. Please know we love and appreciate you, our home team, our backbone...so much.

Much love you all,
Sarah (on behalf of Team Hawaii to Haiti)