Donkey Drag Races

Today the hard labor started.  We got up at 6:15 to the loudest rooster ever and cold showers but because it was really hot I didn't mind.  We went to this random alley with cactus fences on both sides.  There was a really big pile of sand/gravel on the side of the road. We were to take this stuff from there to this house deep I'm this maze of alleyways that had a 70 ft deep square hole in the back for a latrine.  We were taking this sand gravel mixture to the back to make the cinderblocks that were to line the inside of the hole.    

They split us in to two groups before this. The other group went to go move rocks at a church.  We went back and forth from the pile and the house making several different smaller piles. Along the packed dirt path were large rocks and ruts that made using a wheelbarrow difficult. We also had a few buckets to carry the sand as well but I found that much more difficult. We got the sand over in about 2 hours. We then walked down the road a bit and did the same thing, only this time we knocked it out in less than an hour because this pile was in front of the house that we were putting it in the back.  Then we took a walk to the other group and when we got there I got to talk to the math kid from yesterday.  He passed his exit exam and graduated from secondary school.  Sean came walking toward us with his hand outstretched. He had green gloves on and he had grabbed a tarantula that was about 2 and a half inches around.  He dropped it and we teased it for a while watching it move around but there were kids with bare feet around and it was venomous as well as being really unpredictable. I liked it but I decided the best thing to do was to kill it since we couldn't grab it again as it was alert and really fast.  So I said a small prayer and dropped a big rock on it. I didn't really like killing it but I felt like it was the best thing to do at the time.

We then boarded the Coaster because the truck was nowhere in sight and somehow found our way back to the main road. When we got there the truck was there so I got back in it.  

We then headed to the market to scout it out before we go tomorrow.  It was pretty sketchy to say the least.  We walked through an incredibly crowded street in the middle of a field with vendors on both sides.  There were mismatched sandals and shoes, food, animals, car parts, machetes. Everything. It was chaos. I felt safe but apparently some people knew something that I don't because some people who will not be named were almost in a complete panic. That leads me in to another point. I have stood in the bed of a truck a few times this week while we are going to orphanages or tasks. We are going about 25 miles an hour max. Usually I can run about as fast as our truck is moving.  Safety here is in your own hands and that is why this place is a paradise. However Herc decided that for some reason it was the most dangerous thing in the world when the way I look at it is it's the safest way other than inside the truck. The bus is awfully top heavy and to be honest I don't trust that driver. He has taken some interesting routes and I wouldn't drive the ways that he has with that many people in his hands.  The bed is also safer at those speeds because you can step off if something starts to go wrong.  But that only works if you are standing. Sitting on the bed sides hurts the tailbone when you go over bumps and you can't get out when the fit hits the shan.  Plus we are here for God, and I know that he is in control. Then Herc called me arrogant for saying that I respectfully disagreed with him.  Well I may be a little arrogant but he is too for assuming God doesn't have the power to keep me safe. I figure if it is my time then it is my time and there's nothing I can do about it so why try.

Anyway after the market we went and saw their water supply.  I was the only one to get in the truck full of Haitians that were getting rides back in to town because I didn't want to ride 10 miles in a stuffy loud bus  with no A/C that rocks like a boat on the water over every bump.  It was then I realized that I didn't know the driver of the truck. It wasn't Funky.  It was the right Frontier.  We took off ahead of the bus.  We went back through the road that we took to the market and then I had no idea where we were I was a little sketched out but not that much.  It turned out to be Funky's son who got out at his house, and then Funky got back in the driver's seat and we were off.  We got back to the house and had lunch.  The bus left to get it's muffler welded so we had to wait a bit for us to be able to go to where we were going next.

This is when Stuff got real.  We went to an orphanage back in Bohoc. We rode in the back of the truck standing up and Herc kinda got ticked but he seemed to let it go so it's all good. Anyway we rolled in and did our song for the kids.  Some of the older kids really weren't getting in to it and I found out why later. It turned out that so many churches came through there and promised so many things that the kids just didn't trust us.  I didnt really connect with any of the kids like almost all of the other interns did, but i did really connect with a teacher there with a guitar. He had a B.C. Rich acoustic that at one time had had it's headstock broken apart after the 4th string tuning head.  He was really cool.  We played a few songs and talked music for a little bit, then he started playing a Christian song that I knew but he was singing it in Creole. I thought that was so cool, it may not seem like a very big deal but at the time it was so awesome. I then played amazing grace and he and our guide Ronald sang it in creole as well. He taught me the chords to what I assume is a Haitian worship song and I taught him grace like rain since I thought he could just figure out the lyrics for the chorus since he knew the verses.

Back to the actual orphanage.  The living conditions were deplorable. Some of these kids have a few sets of clothes some have one for the week and one for Sunday, others actually had none.  They had a few twin beds but not nearly enough for all the kids.  Luckily I actually did not see this next part because I would have been livid if I had seen it. Some kids slept on the concrete floor, now while that is a big deal, some of the same kids ate whatever they could find, this included maggot infested rice and trash. And here a few paragraphs ago I was complaining about being told not to ride in a truck bed. I just found this out as I am writing this and I honestly don't know how to feel right now, but something will be done soon. It isn't the orphanage's fault, they are doing the best they can with what they have.  They just really have nothing. And the government is too busy getting rich to care.

The ride home would have been much more quiet if we had known this then but we didn't so on the way back Zach, Drew and I talked for a bit when we realized that we were moving really slowly.  There was a mule walking directly in front of us. Eventually a guy on the road moved the mule to the side and we got past. But then he started running when we passed him.  I realized that we were drag racing a fully loaded mule with no one guiding him in a diesel Nissan Frontier.  We got past him again and he was still running after us.  Zach hung out the window and slowed him down eventually but I have to say that was an interesting ending to the day. After dinner when we got back the 410Bridge council came by to thank us and that was pretty much the day. Tomorrow is more of the same so I look forward to it.