Smiles

August. 6

There was no bananas at breakfast. I really had to depend on the Lord for strength during the day.

The paint had awful fumes so we wore masks.

The YFC runs a daycamp from Monday through Thursday, so all the children were at the base this morning. However, this time there was a lady there to actually run the program. The rest of us focused on getting our construction part of Haiti project completed. We finished painting the interior walls of the compound in “marine blue”, and we had just enough paint. Al had emptied out five different stores of their paint so we could colour these walls. It was 10x worse than stucco painting. The walls were uneven and rocky, so you had to go over most of the rolled areas with a paint brush to jab blue into the cracks. Often times the kids would just stand behind us, watching us roll the bright blue onto the walls.

The construction on the outdoor church/school is going really well. The structure itself is being re-inforced by wood and cement and Ben Heron created the measurements to make benches and tables. The benches were finished today (after running out of batteries for the drill, part way through, and having to screw the rest by hand), and the roof and tables will hopefully be completed tomorrow.

Propre?

We had quite the official giving of Human's Love toothbrushes today. Sue and I set up a table on the front porch, with mini cups of water and tubes of toothpaste. I had them all come over and I explained the importance of brushing (basic-wise, not scientific...molecular-level-wise). Then I even did a demonstration (wherein they all enjoyed me making a run for the dirt so I could spit somewhere other than the front porch). We then handed the toothbrushes out with a little toothpaste on each and had them all brush their teeth together. They were walking around afterwards with big grins and showing me their teeth. “Propre?” (clean?), they kept on asking. “Very!” :)

Today was my last day to see the YFC and community kids around the base today because tomorrow the medical team is going “Up the hill”. Whenever the YFC kids leave, the community kids are always right at the gate and waiting...hoping they will be let in so they can play with us. Normally, they wouldn't be allowed in and adults are quick to shoo them away, but since we are there and can spend time with them, one of the YFC leaders will often just let them come through the gate.

Steph and Kiki

One teenage guy named “Kiki” has really had a big impression on some of the team. The first time he ever saw us, he came dancing right over with a huge grin and put his arm around each of us. One of his hands hung limp and near his chest and he walked with an uneven step. He was probably the community's special needs, and the kids would sometimes make fun of him, yet he was the first to come help with carrying any of our belongings and it was rare you saw him without the biggest smile across his face. Yet you could see there were times he would get upset with his hand, like if we were playing a ball game and it hindered his performance, so for lack of better thing to do he would bite at it in frustration. One pat on the back or smile of encouragement and he would look up with a huge grin showing a front row of straight and white teeth that said everything was just fine. He never fought or pushed ahead. He was just himself and he loved the others around him. I wonder about Kiki's hope and future.

A little mash-it-up with the supper tonight. The rice was dark dark brown, I was worried they'd been holding out on the manure and loaded it in tonight. However, it turned out to be some sort of barbeque twist. Fancy. Oh, Chicken and potato fries. Need I even say it. Brothers, please have the fridge loaded with fruits and veggies when I return.