A Busy Day for Team Three

Up at 6:00 and at the job site, ready to go, at 6:45.

The tap tap and workers were already waiting and it didn't take long for the building materials to get loaded.


It didn't quite all fit so the men carried some of the walls. One of the Haitian workers who watched said,"Well if the white men can carry that all the way to the job site then I can carry these beams!"


Once the men left, the ladies got to work cutting out pattern pieces and sewing a purse.



Jayden enjoyed spending time with his new Grandma.



Grandma Beeke coloured so intensely that the table began to shake giving me quite a scare! "Earthquake," I gasped, white as a sheet. It took me a while to recover.



I did eventually though, and enjoyed spending time with the ladies and going over the purse pattern and instructions with them.



The finished purse turned out great!

We plan to begin teaching 10 Haitian women how to make the purse this coming Monday.


After a lunch of rice and beans, the team hit the streets again.


This time the ladies went with to help build the homes as well.



The men had finished their first home that morning.



That afternoon they started working on the second home.


At 2:30 the team headed back to the Apparent Project for the feeding program.



It didn't take long for news to spread and children to gather.

Laura and I collected tickets at the gate. One little boy broke our heart and we both had to fight back tears. He had only one ticket for him and his sister. "You need one ticket each," I told him in Creole. "But my ticket counts for two," he said. "Only one per child," I insisted. He looked down at his ticket and then with his big brown eyes looked back up at me. "She can have it," he said, pointing to his sister. He turned to walk away, but I pulled him back. "Just come in," I said, tears choking my voice. Haiti breaks your heart sometimes.


To see the children so desperate to come in, so desperate for a plate of food, and a piece of clothing. But also to see their love and concern for each other. Three and four year-olds feeding their younger siblings, 5 and 6 year-olds making sure everyone in their family receives a piece of clothing.


Words just can't describe it all. Words just aren't enough.