I never mentioned the additional teachers' seminar that Jeff and I got to do on Friday or the Spanish teacher's meeting. It was a pleasure to get to be involved more with the school this time. I especially liked the Spanish teacher time since we all spoke the same language and had such similar experiences. I was also thankful to have another educator on the trip, especially an experienced principal. On numerous occasions we found that our varied experience, public versus private, came in useful!
On Friday, one of the students in the 13th grade came to Jeff and I privately (through our translator) and asked, in a very soft spoken way for a haitian, if we would be willing to "evaluate him". He said that he has a hobby of building airplanes that can fly, although they never come back once he manages to get them in the air. Jeff and I laughed that anyone would think we could evaluate airplane construction. Of course we said 'yes' and the boy said that he would bring it to us at the mission once he had the propeller together.
Two days later he came.
During communion I had been think particularly about the loss of Caleb. Church ended and I stood up. Immediately my translator came in and said, "The boy with the airplane is here."
I came out into the sunshine and I was bombarded with people. I told them I had a student who had made an appointment and that I needed to see him. I passed through the crowd and there stood the same very quiet tall boy from Friday. He held a shoebox with wings. How can I evaluate this? I wondered. Then he opened the lid and there inside was a carefully constructed single prop airplane with wheels; complete with a name and colored wings made almost entirely out of trash. We went to a flat surface and he showed me (and a crowd of kids) that it could move on its own. He said that he would not let it fly until he could bring it home again.
I started to cry and I asked our translator to ask him if we could speak alone. The boy's love of airplanes, his hard work and his timidity reminded me so much of Caleb. I did what I could to encourage him to never give up. He dreams of being a general mechanic. I pray his story will have a beautiful ending. I look forward to it.
It would be awfully repetitive to tell you everything each person on our team did. As I focus on other team members, you can assume they did all the work our team set out to do and I will only focus on a few of their unique activities.
Gabe and Savannah...
I had the privilege of assisting Gabe and Savannah as they ran a Saturday morning orphan's program. We all had a good laugh over the initial attempt at a game. The 11 girls each had a balloon and were placed on 2 teams. The goal was to get all of the balloons off of your side of the court and onto the opposing team's side. This was futile as the Haitian 4 to 8 year olds were not going to let anyone else touch their balloons!
The latter events went more smoothly. Gabe and Savannah put FROG (fully rely on God)tattoos on each girl and then led them in a craft. Each girl got a bag and colored it . They LOVED this! After craft Gabe and Savannah took turns reading the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar. They practiced the book with their translator for half an hour before the big moment. The children enjoyed the story. After the book we taught the girls an English song. Benite was then invited to come and watch them perform in Haiti's Got Talent. A great time was had by all.
Hope, Jenna and Ty...
As the oldest members of what still might be called the youth division of the team, these three were instrumental in getting things accomplished. But who wants to hear about all the painting and cleaning?
Ty, along with Luke, was in charge of videography. He videotaped 3 days of dancing as well as a message from Benite to our congregation. But videography cannot compare to the excitement of rescuing screaming orphans from a misdirected rooster. He daringly captured the bird between two plastic food baskets, releasing him safely outside.
One evening, Ty made another moment memorable. The older boys were were attempting to play American football and Ty called out, "Let's play!" The Haitian boys heard, "Let's pray!" and stood in a huddle with their hands folded. Ty joined them and led an enthusiastic team prayer before trying to instruct them in the basics of the game. :)
Hope and Jenna worked as a team in most situations. They even chose to take some time to go back to school. Hope chose to sit in on a Haitian English class with Lily. (Jenna and Luke did a Spanish class.) Little did they know that they would enter right as the kids were singing We Wish You a Merry Christmas. In no time, Hope was writing the words to Jingle Bells on the board. She wished she had done Noel, Noel after seeing how hard it was for them.
Hope, along with all of us, loved the orphans. She was particularly enchanted by certain 4 year old. The little girl was from a family living in extreme poverty. Her older sister had died of malnutrition and she was near death when Benite brought her home a year ago.
One night, 27 of us piled into the back of a truck and headed to the beach, the orphans, their caregivers, Benite's family and our team. On the way home, Jenna found herself with a sleeping orphan riding in the back of a flat bed truck staring up at thousands of stars in the night sky. She shared the thoughts she had while flying down the bumpy Haitian highway. The girl she held had recently been sent to Benite from an orphanage where all the children were malnourished. Jenna held the little one and understood that she is very blessed to have all of her needs met now. She arrived 2 months ago and has received medical treatment, love, and plenty of food, but it doesn't take much to realize that her life won't be easy. Jenna prayed for her future.
Jenna was also in charge of snowflake cutting. Benite asked us to decorate the orphanage and his home for Christmas. Jenna gathered the troops and began snowflake creation with Hope hanging them from the ceiling.
Christian...
And then there's Christian, the youngest member of our clan. The trip would not have been the same without him. I hope to find a moment to tell his mother how much he added to our team! He always remembered to share a 'thankful' at meal times and he was a runner for various work sites. But to top it all... Christian kept us laughing. At church on Sunday Christian was invited to sing a song that he wrote from the names of his favorite Haitians. He adapted a Haitian children's song and delighted the crowd.
We arrived at JFK airport safe, sound, and changed. Each of us will take something different away from this trip. For me, I was reminded of God's presence and hope. I bought a necklace on Sunday made in Haiti out of recycled materials. It says 'espere'. In Spanish it means wait and hope. It reminds me of the necessity of waiting in the midst of keeping hope alive for my own personal dreams, and for the dreams of those around me. Each thing the team learned could have been learned anywhere, but I am thankful that this Thanksgiving we learned together in Haiti.
