Words of the Day…Speechless, Honest, Reunited, Sweet,
Progress, Future, Complex, Present
Hello from Angela and Krista! Today was our first Water Truck Day in
Haiti. It was Krista’s first Water Truck
Day ever and visit to Cite Soleil (the poorest slum in the Western Hemisphere). Healing Haiti is the only organization that
is delivering water bucket-by-bucket for free.
Many people in Cite Soleil have to walk for many blocks, 2, 6, even 12
or more to get a bucket of clean water. In Cite Soleil if you drill a well, you
hit salt water, so there is no access to clean water. People in Cite Soliel
live on less than a $1 a day. Healing
Haiti delivers 3 loads of water by truck per day, six days a week, 52 weeks per
year.
Being my (Krista’s) first time in Cite Soleil, I came with
an open mind of what I would experience. I expected myself to be very emotional,
but I was surprised to find myself joyful because the children I saw today were
so full of joy and happiness. I am still
finding it hard to put into words the experience of the day. It is hard to find the right words that would
do justice to all the sights that I saw, sounds that I heard, smells that
smelled, touches that I felt, emotions that are in my heart. That is all I know
right now, but in time I know I will be able to express more clearly all
details of this hard and beautiful place that has forever made a mark on my
heart.
Driving back into Cite Soleil this year I (Angela) felt the
same overwhelming magnitude of the poverty that I felt the very first time that
I laid eyes on this place. It takes my
breath away every time to see the endless rows of tin houses and undressed
children running after the tap tap. But
when we got to Hope Church (Healing Haiti’s church/school) in the middle of
Cite Soleil this year, so much had changed since last year. There was a brand new clinic completely up
and running that was barely in the beginning stages of construction last year
when we were here. They are treating
anywhere from 75-100 patients/day. There
is a new sewing pod that is providing jobs for the women of Cite Soleil. We got to tour a new innovation lab that is
bringing the latest in learning and technology to the children in Cite Soleil.
Everywhere we looked we saw change and progress and hope. One of our leaders made the comment that some
day we will come back to deliver water and there will be no more children
running in the streets of Cite Soleil because they will all be in school. What a beautiful thought! I hope I am there to see that day!
Tomorrow we head to Rebuild Globally, Grace Village to see
their new Innovation Lab, and to Dios Special Needs Orphanage to love on some
sweet children! Pray for us and we
continue our travels.
Krista and Angela
