Wendell is here!

We are happy to report that Wendell made it to the island safe and sound.  I forgot to report that Wendell had been stuck on the mainland because Haiti instilled an increase in the transportation tax that the locals are not happy with and they are protesting.  The roads are blocked, they are burning tires, and no one is moving in or out of the city, so Wendell was stuck.  He finally got here today. 

We went up to Plen Mapou today.  Wonderful truck ride - it only took us three hours to get up there, still roads beyond anything we have ever seen, not sure of the miles.  I want to enlighten everyone of the Haitian culture a little bit.  They are an extremely giving community, they are resilient and they help anyone that is in need of help.  We never knew who's child belonged to which family / house / mother because everyone is there for all.  As we were driving up the mountain, Dede would speak to so many people as we drove.  He seems to know every one of the 100,000 people that occupy the land.  We kept laughing as he spoke and had conversations with his wife's uncle on the side of the road (who was probably waiting all day for us to drive by), he spoke to a lady that was probably 100 yards away and spoke no more than a normal tone of voice (where some of us continually say "huh, what did you say" when we are right next to someone) and as we were waiting for the other truck on the side of the mountain a group of ladies came up to him and asked him if they could "share a white with them".  Nice we were almost sold!  We laughed so hard when Dede told us that they wanted him to share us.  Makes ya think though...

Yesterday, as I was walking through a long path, Loner (pronounced Loonaire) was behind me and when I slipped slightly the first thing he said was "Staci,  I am here...I will protect you".   This group of people whether they are working for Starfysh or we are meeting them in the schools or churches, they are willing to accept help but they want to learn how to do things on their own.  They would love to just take over and install the filters themselves (which we are teaching them but this trip is for us to do it).  The translators that we have with us to tell the woman of the house how the filter works and the directions as to what needs to happen next, don't even need us to tell them anymore what to say, they have it down pat.  It makes our job a lot easier as all we have to do is install and then interact with the families and play with the kids.  With that said, they are still asking us for extra.  They whisper to us that they "need to talk", they tell us that their wife is sick or they don't have any parents and usually that means that they would like some money to help them out.  Even though some of them are employed by Starfysh and they are making money, they are still human.  They are seeing americans come in for a week with clean clothes, iphones, cameras and they want more.  So they ask.  Starfysh has a rule that we are not supposed to give anything to them because they don't want to create an environment that promotes that kind of culture, they want Haitians to work for their money and they want to create an environment that puts money back into the local economy.    To me, it is very hard to determine what they say is the truth or are they just wanting a buck. 

Back to the village today,  we installed 28 filters with a large amount of chaos and confusion at the beginning.  With Haitians, they are excited about the filters.  There was also two leaders that were pulling and pushing against each other for some power.  The pastor of the church and the monitor that Starfysh had employed were both trying to dictate what was going to happen and they just were not on the same page.     The filters were all at housed at a school / church.  School was in session and apparently it was a recess because before you knew it me and Sam (Tamara's husband) were out on the playground playing soccer with the kids.  Kelsey was continuing to wave to the kids and by the days end, she had a flock around her as she came back to the school.  The village itself was full of great soil for lots of growth and vegetation, seemed cleaner and farther along than other villages that we have seen.  It was a different feel than other villages,  they seemed more loving, happier.      

The other thing that is notable about this trip is this group of people - Kelsey and Samantha have instantly become friends, Mark continues to pick on Kelsey which ends in all of us laughing, John has a heart of gold and thinks that everyone deserves a "Hi, Good morning"   and we laugh, Theresa says the quietest comment and hugs everyone that we give a filter too.  Sam (Tamara's husband) is our group photographer - hes got amazing pictures!!!  Tamara is our gullable one and cracks me up, always hungry and ready to sleep by 7pm.   Miriam (Tamara's daughter) is the one that gives us facts about all kinds of stuff and its a joy to watch her enjoy herself interacting with Haitians.   Jim continues to be our leader keeping everything lighthearted.    This has been a great group of people.