Haiti missionary

[Willowbirch]

From a 18 year old friend who is working at an orphange in Haiti until June...just thought some folks here might find her story interesting!   She is still getting over a bout with malaria. (Funny thing: this girl's letters circulate by email to many of our church members...yesterday, her mother came up and apologized for the daughter's "flurried" writing... )

[Willowbirch]

***********

Hello Everyone!

Well....The big news this week is that I was able to go to a village!
Yeah!  I really wanted to be able to see the other part of Haiti....the
village life!  Well I saw and experienced it all!  Trust me!
So here's how the day went...I tried to remember all the details...

We... Natacha, Antonio (a man from church), John and I, left at 4:30am
Thursday morning.  We drove for about an hour or so to a city that had
the buses that took us to Jacmel...the place we were headed.  John
dropped us off and we walked to a gas station, went and bought some
snacks...went to the bathroom...and then we waited.  And waited
........and waited .............and waited......There was no bus or truck
or taptap in sight that had enought room to take us!  They were all full
because people from the cities were going home to their families for
Easter......  So....we waited some more!  I think we were probably there
for about 2 hours waiting for someone to be able to take us!
Finally.....a big truck had some room....so we climb on TOP of the truck
and squeeze in!  I thought that was fun!  Great view of everything...I'm
in the fresh air and bright sun...it was nice!  So we drove for a long
time on that truck....it was beautiful!!!  The mountains and all were
absolutely gorgeous!  Well....then this truck had something wrong with
it.  So we got off and started walking....we walked up and up this big
hill and finally came upon another truck!  Yeah!  Thank you God!
So....we climbed up on top of that one!  Another great view!  I sat up
right on the front and was able to look out in front of us!  Very pretty!
 It's still only 9 or 10 in the morning now....so it's still pretty cool
out and driving so fast there was a great breeze....I was loving it!
Taking pictures....soaking it all in!

Now we get off in the middle of this pretty large village market!  Lots
of people!  And in the villages they see a lot less white people than in
the city so I was stared at BIG time!  Like little kids would say, "Blan
Blan!!!"  Which is White White!  It was funny!  They'd stare till I was
out of sight!  So we walk around there for a while and then Antonio says
we should just start walking till a taptap comes along....so off we
go.....we bought some bananas for lunch....and walked and walked.....and
walked and walked some more.......about now I can feel my skin
burning....I realize I didn't think to put any sunscreen on!  Oooops!  Oh
well....it won't be that bad.  So we keep walking.....Natacha and I are
getting very tired so we find a shady area and sit down to rest for a
while...I have a terrible headache now too!

Ok...now this part I'm a little fuzzy on how exactly it all
happened...like what came first so I'll just tell you the stories and
you'll still get the idea...

We finally got to Jacmel....we got a taptap....sat and waited
again....for what I'm not sure but we waited....and then we left....Now
we are crammed full of people!!!!  Like there are people smashed together
on the seats and more people standing in the middle and hanging off the
back!  So we're driving really fast on this dusty, dusty road and getting
filthy!!!  My hair and Natacha's skin was white!  ....and the guy next to
me had white eyelashes!  

Well, I was a novelty to the guys on the taptap too!  I couldn't tell all
they were saying but I made out "Belle ti fi blan"...  "Pretty white
girl"... and they were a bunch of men so they were all talking and
looking at me and at one point Antonio said something to them and Natacha
said that they were talking bad....she didn't say what.  Talk about being
uncomfortable!   My back hurt from the bars jabbing it every time we hit
a bump,....which is very often!  My headache finally went away!
About now my arms are really starting to feel a little burnt...I've been
in the sun all day!

Ok....we finally get to the place we are headed....a little village where
one of the kids that stayed at the baby houses mom lived.  So we get
there...Antonio asks around where we might find this lady and luckily she
was right there!  Yeah!  So she starts leading us up this hill and I'm
thinking..."Awww...this is so cute!  Walking up this rocky little hill to
get to this lady's house!"  Well....come to find out....this cute little
hill isn't so cute or little!  I think we walked over like 3 big
mountains to get to this house that is in THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!!!!!  I
was so tired...my legs are shaking... and this isn't just some
hills...this is literally climbing mountains with like huge rocks and
this little path type thing leading us!  And the sad thing
is.......Natacha and I were like dying literally....we didn't think we
could go on......and this little guy...like 4 years old...is carrying a
bucket thing on his head and just walked it like no problem!  It made me
feel really bad and out of shape!  lol   And he was so cute!  So....after
practically dragging Natacha up the hill, past the cows that she was
scared of.....we got to this house!  A little shack with half dressed
dirty kids sitting around....some crying...some naked....just like the
pictures you see.  Really sad....So we sat down with them...I gave the
girls some ribbons for their hair...some candy that some people gave me
to give to kids....we gave them our Pringles from the gas station and
they ate it so fast!  They were even picking the crumbs off the ground!
They loved my camera!  So I got some good pics I think!  We gave the lady
her stuff and started to leave.  (continued)

[Willowbirch]

(continued)
She begged and BEGGED us to stay!  They
love to be hospitable to visitors!  So we politely told her no cause we
wanted to get home to sleep.  Well, then she offered to have us sleep
there cause we were tired and she could feed us!  Please stay!  We said
no thanks again and left.  We had walked ALL the way back and she had
caught up with us!!!  She went so fast!  Now....Natacha is about to throw
up....my legs are shaking so much I feel like I am going to fall over any
second....and we still aren't to the place we need to be!  Now...amidst
all this complaining I'm doing....It was gorgeous and something everyone
should do and see once in their life!  But it was hard!  VERY hard!

So....we get back to the place where there should be a truck coming to
get us.  We wait...as usual...and wait and wait and wait.....find a more
comfortable rock to sit on and wait and wait....
The girl is STILL asking us to come to her house!  An old lady is showing
us her sunken belly begging for some money...but we can't give her any
cause then we'd have a huge mob of people to deal with and that would be
dangerous so Antonio tells the lady we were with to give it to her so
they wouldn't think it was me...the white girl.  People walk by us with
cows and pigs on leashes...there is a church service type thing going on
up on a hill....that was neat to see....singing and loud preachin!  So
there was entertainment while we waited!

Finally around 5 o'clock...a bus comes!  Thank you Lord!  We might get
home toa shower and our own beds tonight!  I can't wait!  So...oh....my
headache is back!  We get on this truck and it has like no shocks or
anything so every stinking bump hurts so bad!  My head is pounding and
the people in the truck are still staring!  Oh well....I'm trying to just
deal with it all and think about getting home.  We drive and drive and
drive.......it gets dark......BAM.....SHOooooo...flat tire!!!
They stop....fix it....we're driving again.....BLOW!!!!!  Flat tire
again!!!!  Welcome to Haiti!  This takes like an hour or so to fix....now
I'm worried we won't get home.  We wait and sleep, well the other people
in the truck sleep....and then we're off again...I'm trying to get
comfortable laying on huge sacks of vegetables and charcoal and
stuff....but it's not working.  Then it's like 10:30pm and we pull into a
bus station....the truck isn't going anymore....we have to wait till
morning....!  No way!!!!  I want to go home!!!  

We think we might be able to go to Antonio's sister's house....I have
some hope...at least we don't have to sleep in some truck with chickens
and vegetables outside in some bus station!  Now.....we can't go
there...oh no.....I'm kinda upset....So we call John and see if he can
pick us up.....but it's after curfew and he can't come cause he'll get
shot!  I can't believe it......I am
upset....tired.....sore....sunburned.....and scared.  And now we have to
sleep in some strange bus station.  So....you can imagine how much I
slept!  With trying to find a somewhat comfortable position on a board
bench.....little ants crawling all over me....I have a sunburn....my butt
is so sore....the lady next to me smells and has chickens clucking and
flapping around...I'm afraid someone is going to try to get in my bag or
do something worse to me....a huge bug flies in my face...I'm so so tired
but can't sleep!  It was miserable!  I felt like I would never get back
home....like the night was going to last forever.....it was a terrible
feeling!  I only cried a little bit...to myself... and then I was OK.  

So morning FINALLY came and we were off again!  I couldn't wait to get
home!  We drove till we got downtown....that was kinda scary.  It was
dark....trash all over the streets....people standing around waiting for
a taptap just like us.  We got one fairly quickly actually!  Got in and
guess what we did.....we waited!  Haha!  

Some American Marines came up to me and were like..." Are you American?
What are you doing down here??"  So I told them and they just talked to
me for a while and I felt safer with them there...They were like, "I am
just shocked to see a white girl down here at this time of the morning."
I was dumb....I should have asked them for a ride home!  They probably
could have cause they are stationed right by our house...Oh .well....I
didn't...so we taptapped and got to the airport and couldn't get another
taptap so we walked home!  YEAH!!!!  I was never so happy to be home!  

Beth was so happy to see me and said she was furious at what happened
last night.  There was really no way out of it....people just didn't
communicate well so we got stuck!  But she was really upset and said she
prayed for me all night!  God did protect me though....I wasn't touched
the whole time and now I am home...safe and sound...sunburned, sore and
tired....but safe!  LOL!
So that's my big story!

Going to the beach tomorrow!  Should be more fun!  lol

I am so glad I had the opportunity to do this but I wouldn't choose to do
it again!  I know now what it's like and I saw and experienced
alot....Makes me appreciate what I have!  It really does!
Thanks for your prayers!  The angels were working hard yesterday!