I’m continually amazed at how much happiness the Haitian people can draw from nothing. Scratch that — less than nothing.
Let me be specific: how does a 7-year-old smile when her feet are scabbed over from walking for days with no shoes and her main source of food is sugar cane?
This girl in the photo at the bottom of the blog shows you how.
No Hannah Montana. No iPod. No ice cream. Just a stranger talking to her … in a language where she could only understand my name. But there she sat on a rusty chair in the shade of a blue tarp with a broad smile.
Today, aside from visiting with locals in the village, we made great progress on the two cinder-block, 2-room homes we’re helping build. Men from the village, all volunteers, are our bosses and job foreman. Our jobs for the day consisted of carrying block, mixing mortar, and nailing rebar into the buildings.
We worked from 7 a.m.-3 p.m. and successfully completed about four blocks high on both homes. Our role today was to serve those foremen in any way we could … all with limited communication. At one point I carried blocks in a wheel barrel down to another team. On the way back, a few kids hopped in for a ride and sang as I pushed. That dichotomy pretty much sums the day.
It was a great first day of work here in Haiti. Tomorrow our goal is to finish the block and, hopefully, start the roof.
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