Friday, September 7, 2007

So today when I got up, I showered at breakfast and hung out at the slide for a while. At about 10 we went to the Far West. Because of the rain storm last night, the river was higher than we would have liked, but we ventured it anyway. When we got to the other side we stopped at a different place this time to buy some gravel and it amazed me at how many people just wanted to come along so they could watch and input an opinion every now and again. What was interesting is that some children wanted to watch and wound up getting yelled at by the adults, who were also not doing anything. We bought some sugar cane today, which is makes a very good snack, but the Haitians must think that someone is going to take it from them because they eat it like it’s going out of style. I took my time snacking on mine and they keep asking me why it was taking so long. Because of the rain the water was so thick that it resembled chocolate pudding, yet they were right in there washing themselves and their clothes. YUMMY!! Anyway, now we were off to the far west. We stopped in Augustine on the way to drop the gravel off. Augustine is this little community where we are building a school. There we got to see they surface area where the school is going to go. It looks like it is going to be a good size. Then we made our way out to Miss Pats for lunch and to pick up some sand for the school. While we were at Miss Pats Roland and the boys went into town to visit some people and I stayed back and chatted with Miss Pat about this and that. She is looking for someone to move out there and take over because she said that she is ready to go home soon. I felt bad for her because she has been doing this for quite some time and she feels like it is work now. While we were sitting there, the clouds rolled in and some really nice formations started up. Miss Pat said that for the past three days the same thing has been happening but they have not gotten any of the rain. She was not happy about that because they needed some. After the truck came back and they loaded up the second load of sand, we all got in and left Miss Pats. We got to Augustine and just as they were finishing unloading the sand, it started to rain. It POURED pretty much all the way back to Port-de-Paix. Roland and I were DRENCHED, because we had to ride in the back of the truck. We LOVED it. When we got into Port-de-Paix we were turning a corner and this Motorcycle tap tap tried to sneak around us when there wasn’t enough room. They almost got hit by us and were not happy about it. They caught up to us and the passenger argued and complained about it with Roland and Soni for almost a half hour before Soni just yelled at him, said he was done and got back in the truck and we left. It was amazing that they expended that much energy arguing over something that wasn’t that big of a deal. Oh well, back at the orphanage, after showers and dry clothes, we ate and went outside to take some pictures for Heather. It was at this time that I saw the first real disciplinary action. Loudia, one of the girls whose picture I have been trying to get, has been giving us a really hard time with smiling and looking nice. So Heather told me to have Wisley or his wife handle it since she is in their family. This girl was arguing with Wisley’s wife so she got whipped with a belt. Needless to say she was not arguing after that, however we did not take her picture today because she is allowed time to compose herself. For the remainder of the evening we just sat around and joked with each other, wrestled, and playfully fought with one another. However, the night finished with a huge feeling of frustration and an interesting argument/discussion. We are supposed to go to Port-a-Licky tomorrow and the crew from St. Louis along with Roland and I still had no idea what was going on with rides and departure. Wisley was the organizer for this trip and has put off on communicating with everyone until we absolutely made him tell us what was going on. Apparently he told one person, who no one knew was going, about a big change in plans and did not tell anyone else. That was the interesting argument/discussion; the frustration once again comes from the attitude of the Haitian adults and the children alike. It just feels that the longer I stay here the less sorry I feel for the Haitian people and the less love for them and the children I have. I do not want to feel this way, but their complete lack of disregard of anyone but themselves. The disrespect is unbelievable, and it feels as if no one is concerned about the greater good of the people. This feeling seems like it is not going to go away, because it is an extension of what I was struggling with before. I am at my wits end just about. I am going to go to bed now. I look forward to the day tomorrow, there should be lots to journal about. Peace.