Hait: An overview of the week at the work cite

Monday Morning we started working on the house.

Most of the week's schedule kind of went like this:
-Wake up at 5:45a
-Devotional with everyone at 6:15a (Wayne would share a little bit with us and then have one of us share our testimonies).  This would be outside by the pool.

-Breakfast at 6:40ish I have not talked much about the food but it was pretty great! There was only one night that it did not agree with my stomach and was out of my system just 20mins after eating.  It was not because it tasted gross but because I worked a little too hard that day and was a little shaky.  Needless to say I went to bed at 7:30pm that night.
-By 7:20a or so we would be on our way to the job site.  Thankfully this 40minute ride was in the back of the truck with plenty of air and ability to see out.

-Work with the group of Haitian workers that have been hired on to help with each of the houses Homes for Haiti has and will build.

 
-Lunch about 12:30ish (bathroom break for the females usually was us hurrying and running away from the kids to go hide in the cemetery and bushes).
-We would work until 4:30ish and then head back to the Villa with time to jump in the pool or shower and catch dinner at 6pm.
(wed night we left at 5:30 because we had to finish the bond beam so it could set and dry over night).

Some highlights of the trip:
The first morning we went and picked up some extra supplies.  We stopped by a gas station and got gas for the generator.  Mind you, they look like regular gas stations (the inside store area usually is not up and running) but there are definitely guys out guarding the pumps with shot guns.

The first two days at the job site included me sifting dirt and shoveling dirt that needed to be sifted.  This was no big deal (flashbacks to building houses in Mexico!) Yet for whatever reason (maybe because I am not playing sports and have no upper body strength (even more so now than in High School) but I sure was sore on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Luckily for me there was rain almost every night where we were building the house so that made the dirt even heavier for day two of sifting.  Lanice (I am guessing on the spelling of his name) was my partner for this.  He did not speak English at all so we had fun communication in other ways with each other.  He was super strong and he could work (much like all of the other Haitian's we got to work with).

Something that I had been praying for was that we would have kids around the job site.  That was always one of my favorite things when we would go down to Mexico.  I brought lots of stickers with me and they loved to put them all over their bodies.

This is Dashka (8) and LoLo (2 or 3) they were by far my favorite!

LoLo (Angelo)

They got a hold of my hair and yes it does look sweaty and gross but they loved it

Hayley and I had a great time loving on them. And in turn they loved on us a bit too....

Jerry loved Brian! :) He followed him everywhere

Culturally Haitian's care a lot about how they look and cleanliness.  Half way through the day they will go wash up and change.   The day that they were playing with my hair (which ended up hurting a little) Lolo sat in my lap and took the handkerchief from my neck and wiped my face to clean it off.  And then whenever we would stand up the kids would brush off our pant legs and help clean us off.  It was awesome to see the way they took to us.

I promise we really did build a house...

Hayley was a hammering rock star...I on the other hand was not good at the extra hard wood and extra long flimsy nails

I didn't spend to much time on the roof (or really any but I did help Brian and Hayley with tying rebar to get ready for the bond beam)

Working on the Ceiling

The team and the Family

 We decided to go and buy a bunch of snacks and drinks for the house dedication on Friday afternoon to give out.  we were also blessed to be able and give out some bibles, coloring books and some dolls.

Look at Dashka! :) Warms my heart every time.