Today was a new day that was full of adventure and opportunity! We started our day off as usual by a great 8 a.m. breakfast. We then went Papillon in the tap- tap. Pappillon is a business in Port- au- Prince that was created to help parents have enough money to prevent them from having to put their children up for adoption. We got a tour from our guide, Tricky. We were shown all the stations within the business such as pottery, bead- making, and sewing. After the tour, we went across the street to the Papillon restaurant and gift shop. The group shopped for all sorts of arts and crafts such as bracelets and mugs. We were all served delicious tropical smoothies which gave us the boost we needed to go to our next stop: Teach Haiti. Teach Haiti is a fantastic school that teaches all sorts of languages and subjects that prepares the children for the outside world and all the struggles that may come with living in Haiti. This school was created by a lady named Miquette Denie. Miquette was born in Haiti and aspired to be a nurse. After realizing that her dream to be a nurse was just out of reach, she decided to go a different direction. Miquette was able to find an American family from Detroit Lakes to take her in. She graduated from Detroit Lakes High School in 2002 and went to Concordia College (Moorhead). She graduated from Concordia and decided to come home to Haiti to start this nonprofit school. Her story is truly insirational. The school currently holds around 250 children.
After Teach Haiti, we all went back to the guesthouse to refresh ourselves and put on our Live Generously shirts. We wore these to our next stop, La Phare. La Phare is an orphanage based in Cite Soleil. This stop was particularly important for some of us on the trip because of a little girl named Nora. On the first trip that Living Waters went to we met Nora. At the time she was just 3 months old. One of the members on the trip, Cindy Fuls, fell in love with Nora and joked that she ought to take her back to Minnesota with her. Nora was now 2 years old and she had a trait that she had gained since the last time we had met her. That trait was sass. She had the cutest body language and would not shy away from giving any new stranger the cold shoulder. After some prying from most of the group though, Nora warmed up and blew some bubbles with us. Although Nora was one of the highlights of this stop, much more love and compassion was shared. The kids at the orphanage also played games such as soccer and jump rope. Many kids loved to draw in coloring books. It is fascinating to see what wonderful drawings and pictures that these kids could draw with just a paper and some crayons.
Once we arrived back home at the guesthouse lots of us went up to the hotel pool and swam while we enjoyed ice cream, fried plantanes, and french fries. For dinner we had spaghetti and garlic bread. After dinner, we all shared some of our highlights from the day and watched the pictures that were taken throughout the day. We are all very excited to see the Haitian Olympic Training Facility and Rosie's Boutique!
Today was a new day that was full of adventure and opportunity! We started our day off as usual by a great 8 a.m. breakfast. We then went Papillon in the tap- tap. Pappillon is a business in Port- au- Prince that was created to help parents have enough money to prevent them from having to put their children up for adoption. We got a tour from our guide, Tricky. We were shown all the stations within the business such as pottery, bead- making, and sewing. After the tour, we went across the street to the Papillon restaurant and gift shop. The group shopped for all sorts of arts and crafts such as bracelets and mugs. We were all served delicious tropical smoothies which gave us the boost we needed to go to our next stop: Teach Haiti. Teach Haiti is a fantastic school that teaches all sorts of languages and subjects that prepares the children for the outside world and all the struggles that may come with living in Haiti. This school was created by a lady named Miquette Denie. Miquette was born in Haiti and aspired to be a nurse. After realizing that her dream to be a nurse was just out of reach, she decided to go a different direction. Miquette was able to find an American family from Detroit Lakes to take her in. She graduated from Detroit Lakes High School in 2002 and went to Concordia College (Moorhead). She graduated from Concordia and decided to come home to Haiti to start this nonprofit school. Her story is truly insirational. The school currently holds around 250 children.
After Teach Haiti, we all went back to the guesthouse to refresh ourselves and put on our Live Generously shirts. We wore these to our next stop, La Phare. La Phare is an orphanage based in Cite Soleil. This stop was particularly important for some of us on the trip because of a little girl named Nora. On the first trip that Living Waters went to we met Nora. At the time she was just 3 months old. One of the members on the trip, Cindy Fuls, fell in love with Nora and joked that she ought to take her back to Minnesota with her. Nora was now 2 years old and she had a trait that she had gained since the last time we had met her. That trait was sass. She had the cutest body language and would not shy away from giving any new stranger the cold shoulder. After some prying from most of the group though, Nora warmed up and blew some bubbles with us. Although Nora was one of the highlights of this stop, much more love and compassion was shared. The kids at the orphanage also played games such as soccer and jump rope. Many kids loved to draw in coloring books. It is fascinating to see what wonderful drawings and pictures that these kids could draw with just a paper and some crayons.
