Today around 7:45 am, we all headed to The Barefoot School, about a 3 block walk from the guesthouse. They have about 90 students, ranging from pre-k to 8th grade. We enjoyed watching them line up for their Haitian Pledge of Allegiance, flag raising, & worship time. Then several of us went from classroom to classroom, meeting the students, checking homework papers, helping with spelling, things like that. Meanwhile Dr. Anita saw 26 students in another building, doing basic medical check-ups, & beginning a medical record for each child so that follow-up care will be possible. She also saw some of the older students who had specific medical problems, like hydrocephalus, which will be fatal if not surgically corrected. There were also LOTS of cavities, which is very common. Jungle allergies, pink eye, lots of different ailments afflict these poor kids. Kim helped ferry the kids to & from the classrooms to her.
Around 10:00 am, Travis & I walked the few blocks to Dorothy’s infant rescue mission. She has over 20 babies that have been rescued from The Ravine & other places. (The Ravine is a drainage ditch a few miles away in a slummier section of the city. Entire families actually live & die in there. Dorothy will take us for a visit before we go.) We began work on a screen replacement which we will finish tomorrow; we also did some painting & replaced a door knob. These don’t sound like significant tasks, but to a middle aged woman with little handiwork skills & lots of kiddy & canine chaos going on ALL THE TIME, they are huge! We’ll return in a day or two to finish the projects & do some more painting. Dorothy has several Haitian nannies, who she says are all excellent, as well as several young American women helping her. We made several trips between Dorothy’s & Dee Dee’s, which isn’t an easy trip because the road is so uneven, & the dust from the wind & passing vehicles is everywhere!
We managed to install a handrail at Dee Dee’s for Mickey, who suffers from cerebral palsy. We also changed out the feeder hose from the water line to the toilet, which had been leaking. We had wanted to install a brand new valve as well, but we only brought a 3/8″ & a 1/2″ size, & the pipe is a full 1″ diameter! Go figger! But, even with the new hose, the toilet still leaked. Our guess is it’s a seal or gasket from either the bolts that hold the tank on, or the valve that fills the tank. Either way, I decided to stop & leave her the parts. I suggested she contact a local plumber type person, they could probably fix it in about 10 minutes. We were crunched for time & we didn’t feel like disassembling the whole thing just to make it worse.
We had a great dinner (again)- rice & beans & a beef saucy thing with cucumbers & salad & cake for dessert. We played some more Crack the Case (Travis wimped out on reading one to us), then finished with a devotion on the moonlit roof with Travis sharing from Matthew 10, where Jesus commanded his disciples to shake the dust off their feet at people who were not hospitable or receptive to their mission. We talked about the obstacles that we all face in serving Christ, & how we need discernment to know when to move on & when to make a stand. Finally we ended with popcorn prayers- one word prayers of what we want God to do for us tomorrow.
Speaking of which: Tomorrow is the day I am most looking forward to of the whole trip: Karen Bultje, a medical missionary from Canada, will pick us up at 7:30 am for a trip to a soccer mission in Cite Soliel, the most dangerous part of Port au Prince. We will take her pick up truck- she thinks it will make it even though her front end is really noisy & shakey. Then we’ll take a brief walking tour of the White House & government area, eat lunch at a “safe” fast food place, then hopefully rent an SUV & head out to a village. Should be a blast!!
