TG Day #2 - Carrefour and La Lou Orphanage

Today we had a change of plans as we walk through this journey. We woke up to it raining outside. Hard. Instead of going to Cite Soleil, we attended CARREFOUR and La Lou’s Orphanage and got to see the city of Port-au-Prince up close for the first time. We hopped in the TapTap and left the guesthouse at 9am after a wonderful breakfast ( P.S. the consensus is that everyone slept very well and hard). We drove in the TapTap for about two hours through the crowded and loud streets of the city. We got to experience Haiti driving and traffic, which allowed for group bonding time and laughs; but there were also moments of silence as we caught a glimpse of the reality of many of the people who live in this poverty.

We pulled in on to the gravel -path that led to the large mint colored hospital. We were welcomed warmly by the nuns who serve at CARREFOUR. The first endeavor was visiting adolescent girls as we painted their nails and they in return, eagerly wanted to paint ours.  The language barrier made it difficult, but we found other ways to connect (shout-out to informal sign language) to make the most of today. We all learned that smiling is truly the universal language. After the visit with the girls, the group spilt as the boys of the group went to the male floor and the girls of the group went to the woman’s floor. We were there to serve the patients by putting lotion on them, and the ladies could also get their nails painted. This experience was tough for some group members as we first-handedly saw people suffering, and we felt that we wanted to do more, but we couldn’t. It was hard to leave, but we know that they are good hands.

We arrived to La Lou’s Orphanage, which was tucked away from a busy road in Port-au-Prince. We walked up the stairs to see a sea of children ages 3-14 anxiously waiting to play outside with us. We brought with chalk, jump ropes, and bubbles. Within 5 minutes, many group members had a child in their arms or on their back, and let us tell you, those kids’ feet did not touch the ground until we left. Unless… you’re Syd Borys, who ran the whole time around the building with a mob of kids. The bond that formed between the team members and the kids in those very first moments lasted throughout our entire time there. Even though it was slightly raining we still were able to go outside with the kids and take a tour of the orphanage.  Our time felt too quick as we had to leave shortly after.

 We arrived back at the guesthouse around 4 and many group members went to the gift shop here which doubles as Gates’ (a long-term missionary here) home. We enjoyed getting to know such a wonderful young lady. Then, some of us took showers, or played games in the house, or sang classic American hits to the neighbor boys over the fence. These renditions included (but are not limited to) Taylor Swift, Journey, and Michael Jackson. Tonight for dinner we had Chicken Yakisoba (which was delicious) along with some white rice. We had our nightly devotion, and we definitely bonded as a group even more. Tomorrow the plan is to visit Gertrude’s Orphanage, which is for kids with special needs. We are all super excited! (But as we learned today, plans can change overnight)

We would also like to express our gratitude to the wonderfully amazing dynamic duo of Gates and Debbie. When we grow up we aspire to be as fantastically, amazingly, bomb.com-ly inspiring as these two beautiful servants of God. #servantsheart

Shout-out time from the authors of this post!!!!

Jackie: Hey mom and dad and Andrea and Isaac! Love you all! Also, a special shout out to my cat, Egg back home. And to all of my friends and family, hey guys!

Theresa: To all the people praying for me and my team. Your prayers are in action. To my family, I love you!

Love from Haiti,

Jackie & Theresa (on behalf of the crew)