After chilling out for a bit, we took a walk down through Ti Charles to the beach. The beach was a village in abject poverty with a million-dollar view. Very surreal. We walked right by the mud huts and lean-tos in this dusty little forgotten town our our way to the beach. An old fishing boat was tied up by shore. Most of the group walked west down the beach. I stayed at the edge of town on the beach talking with Henry Joseph for about an hour. It was really great to get his first hand views on the government of Haiti, voodoo, the American government, and what can help turn Haiti around. Henry is "hope" for this country. He is a very intelligent, thoughtful, deeply Christian man. 26 years old, looks just like Ray Allen of the Celtics. He is a student of Haitian history and a more knowledgable Christain than I am. It was good to talk to him and we continue to do so via email.
The group that had walked on ahead found a nice collection of seashells in good shape. A couple of the Haitians found a live sea urchin and a fiddler crab and showed everyone before releasing it.
Dusk comes very early here due to the mountain range immediately to the west. Just before we left I saw another poignant snapshot: a young boy, naked but for a shirt standing on this beach with the gorgeous view, watching the white people as we stood in awe of God's beautiful work.
We got back to Miss Pat's about 6:00 and ate supper. It was already dark. We all headed to the roof at 7:30 where we would be sleeping under the stars. Miss Pat's is not a big house by any means. The 4 Haitian construction workers working on Curtis and Danielle's house slept in the living room/ dining room. The two interpretors slept on the bus.
The solar battery ran dry before 8:00 as predicted so we had nothing to do but sit under the sky full of stars and chat. We had a great time chatting and discussing God's work in our lives. About that time we saw the "ultimate" irony! Standing on Miss Pat's roof in a dirt poor little village on the coast of Haiti, no lights anywhere, we saw a cruise ship go by about 20 miles offshore, with 300+ lights ablaze! The people on that boat were living in luxury as they unknowingly cruised by poverty of which they had never known. They have NO clue.
After my 3 nights of poor sleep, it was very nice to go to bed early! Lisa and I slept behind JR and Anna's (short-term missionaries there) tent to get out of the wind, which was gusting up to 20mph. Right after we went to bed, it started to sprinkle. We couldn't believe it! It almost never rains there that time of year and we really had nowhere to go. Fortunately it was a very brief passing shower, hardly getting anything wet.
Unfortunately for Lisa and I the wind immediately died down after that and we soon found out how Le Baie du Moustiques (the Bay of Mosquitos) got its name. I had my head and entire body under the covers that night. I was so tired I actually slept very well. The rest of the group was out in the open more where the breeze was present and had only a few issues with mosquitos.
I woke up once that night and stared at all the stars. Without any city lights, it's amzing how much brighter the stars are and how many more you see! I woke up often but since it was a long night, I got caught up on sleep. Most of us woke up early. I watched the procession of people and animals leave the village for the market in the early dawn. Very peaceful.
No comments:
Post a Comment