Team Journal 7

Friday, July 5
Written by Marijke Proos

Healthy and filling was the right description for our oatmeal breakfast that last morning in Pignon. 

After breakfast we headed over to the university. As we walked, trees blooming with flowers, rightly named flamboyant, rustled in the breeze. 

Once we reached the university Kristie gave us a tour. 

For me it is so accepted, so normal, to have a university to my availability, and to be able to afford post-secondary education. For the people in Pignon however,  it was a miracle of God that they were able to set up this university and that common people are able to attend it. 

The first year 89 students attended the university, and now the second year they expect over a thousand applicants! They will have to screen applicants, which means some will be disappointed. Eventually they want the university to be self-sufficient but for now they help the students by giving them a low cost tuition. 

After the tour the time came to say good-bye to Pignon and all the friends we had made there. 

Flying back to Port-Au-Prince I was in the caravan, the larger plane, and once again I exceedingly enjoyed the flight. 

We even flew over the UCI mission and were able to take some cool aerial photographs. 

Haiti does not only have beautiful people but also a beautiful and diverse landscape! 

Upon arrival into Port au Prince we headed to a tent city with some water filtration bucket systems. 

The experience at the tent city was heart-breaking but also joyful at the same time. 

Desperation and destitution is the daily bread of these people, but the hunger for the Living Bread, shown by their eagerness for the Bibles which we brought, was what astonished me most. 

As I watched them the realization sunk in that one day, some of those people, who are so poor now, might be sitting at the same supper table as Abraham, Job and Solomon, and that they would never have to remember their poverty anymore. This made me wonder if indeed they were richer than some of us.

After quickly grabbing lunch at Will and Jason we headed to a free pool, which, in its glory days, was used by a host of famous people, but now was available for us to enjoy.

The view was incredible! The city, the beach, the ocean and the mountains all adorned the panorama.
 Some chickens were in the pool fighting. Poor chicken Zach ended up having a sore neck from all the pecking he did. 

All the exercising resulted in us being quite hungry, which was good because we headed over to a top-notch fancy hotel afterwards for our supper. Pignon had shrunk our stomachs so for most of us our eyes were bigger than our stomachs. Jason was right, the food was undeniably delicious! 

The rest of the evening we chilled at Will and Jason’s house. This day definitely deserved a ten.