Haiti 2014, Day 8: Mobiles and Dancing, a Hike and a Swim

A day that started on the crappy side, ended quite glorious. Who can ask for more? I woke up ornery this morning and wasn’t sure why. Just tired, I suppose.  The two inch foam mattress seems flatter each morning and my ankles no longer seem to have bones.  I never remember swelling down here before. Tina says it is because I am getting older. I suppose she is right.

The morning definitely got worse before the day got any better. I finally rolled by Michelin Man body out of bed and opened my suitcase to get out the day’s work clothes… and there were a hundred micro ants crawling all over my clothes, which made no sense. The suitcase was zipped closed and had no food in it. But make sense or not, ants were swarming. One piece of clothing after another, I found another hundred micro ants under that one... and the next... and the next... 

ARGGHH!! I hate starting the day with creepy crawly things in my clothes… or anywhere, for that matter. After Tina saved the day and began spraying as I pulled out one item after another, I finally got to the bottom. With a pile of clothes now on my bed, I had to wash out the inside of my suitcase, dry it, and start over. Did I mention I had not had any coffee yet?? That's at the bottom of the mountain.

So eventually we made it off to the orphanage and breakfast. For some reason, all the coffee pots were empty. Yah. Figures. The day was not feeling promising at this point. We did get started on the day by getting the second side of all the mobile pieces painted. Since we were limited on types of saws and basically made most of our items from butterfly shaped foam pieces, we had to get creative.  We began collecting pop bottle tops in a multitude of colors, broken toys and other plastic parts laying around on the ground, and a few empty pop bottles. We couldn’t find any fishing line either but we did find a plastic netting material that was a wonderful shade of green. J  So we drilled holes in the caps and other items, began slicing the netting at the joints, and threaded each item with the plastic netting strings.  We painted sticks and used them along with sawn pieces of Masonite for the upper bars on the mobiles, and used caulk to adhere small stones to some of the foam pieces for added movement and balance. The foam pieces alone just floated, more than swaying, without the extra weight. 

But once we began tying it all together… oh man! It looked great! One by one we began hanging them from the newly painted rafters. Some were strategically placed where kids would be lying on their backs in therapy. Others we simply placed around the room to add movement, color, and eye candy to a once empty and ineffective room.  We also brought in some Haitian workers to finish up the roof repairs and painting of the roof, as well as a welder to fix some of the rebar grids over the windows that had been broken.  The place was spiffing up nice. But even better than all of this, was the sound coming from the Therapy Room mats.  

There at one end of the newly painted and decorated room were about 15 or more impaired children, a therapist, a teacher, and our very own Lindsey with her guitar. Lindsey brings out her guitar about once a day and plays songs for the kids. Some sing along, while others sway or yell or just listen. But today, everyone was joining in. The Haitian staff were singing even louder than the kids and dancing and smiling and were so filled with joy, that I was touched, as well.  Watching them have so much fun at what they do, was so fulfilling to see. I don’t know if they are like this every week, or if the new space just gave them hope, or what… but it was a blessing to be an onlooker.

That little peek filled the entire team with a new found energy.  We all seemed to step it up to finish up what we could. Tom and Odlin spent the day in Les Cayes trying to find floor paint for the Therapy Room Porch and the kitchen floor, but no luck. We were hoping to get that started today, as well.  Instead, after dinner we took a hike about 45 minutes across the island, up a mountain and down the other side to the ocean’s shore. There were a few times I thought I was going to just die right there. Huffing and puffing and breathing like my throat was going to drop into my gut. I am sooo out of shape. My thighs were burning and my calves were blowing up like balloons.  But we made it and it was all worth it. The water was so warm. I have never been in the ocean when it was warm. A warm salt bath was exactly what my cankles needed because when I got out I actually had a few bones in my ankles again!! … for a minute anyway.

The way back was much better, as Odlin decided we could take a less arduous route. Duh! Why he didn’t think of that going in the other direction is beyond me!  But the trip was beautiful with cows, goats, sheep, chicken, donkeys and birds all along the way. Women carried buckets on their heads, children rode their horses into the ocean for a swim, and men sat on their stoops welcoming us as we hiked by.  The sun was quickly setting so we got home as soon as we could to eat another delicious dinner. Vegetable soup was on the menu, along with Nutella and bread.  Then we all circled up for devotions again, before people started heading off one by one to hit the sack for the night. A nice breeze is coming up the side of the mountain. The few of us that are left are sitting around laughing at Emma as she repeats every word I am typing… Another wonderful day with our friends in Haiti.