Hands and Feet of Jesus

Day 6

Dana and Bob here. Hello from Haiti. We are two of three men in our group and first-time goers.

Today was our second water truck day that brought us back to Cite Soleil, which we’ve learned is poorest slum in the Western Hemisphere. The area holds 300,000 residents covering a three square mile radius. Most of the people of Cite Soleil live in extremely small structures made of primarily sheet metal. While the conditions are poor, the people are incredible — especially the children.

When first stepping off the Tap Tap, we are greeted by a swarm of children looking for nothing more than love and attention. We delivered water to two separate locations today, at both stops the team were the hands of feet of Jesus sharing our time, love, playfulness and faith.  We held and interacted with all the kids and adults we came in contact with, played games, sang with, helped carry water containers back to their homes.  The picture above was taken in one of those homes we delivered water too. 

While most of the houses in Cite Soleil are made of metal, our second stop today was in an area where the residents reside in two-story concrete structures. We were told that these properties were built in the past few years by the Haitian government. One of our team members had a chance to peak inside one of the homes and stated that the it was well-maintained and spacious. It was a very pleasant surprise to see that amongst the devastation, the living conditions in this area were so decent.

Upon our return from Cite Soleil we had the opportunity to play with the boys that live around the Guest House and also listen to the amazing songs from our group leader and an amazing 14 year-old Haitian girl named Loutchina.

For many of us, this was a bittersweet day. This marked our final day of serving n the field and second to last day in Haiti. The week has gone by so fast, and while home and family are deeply missed, there is a sense that we haven’t had enough time. Haiti is a hard place to leave.   Each of us has a special bond with Haiti that came from all the interactions we have made with everyone we encountered.  Our hearts have been touched by the people of Haiti as have all of the people we have come in contact with every day.