On A Mission

First let me say that we survived Hurricane Noel without much damage here in Bayonnais. The majority of the disaster affected the Dominican Republic and the western part of Haiti which included Port Au Prince. The last time I checked the news, there were 81 reported deaths due to mudslides and heavy flood waters. There were also 14,000 people who had lost their homes. Some cities were still recovering from the floods in early October so the constant heavy rains only added to their grief. There are still many areas that cannot be reached at this time so the number of deaths may rise over the next few days. We were very blessed to get through the storm untouched. Our roads were even worse than before and the schools were closed, but other than that, all was well. If you would like to keep up with what is happening, just check with the website for the Haitian Times and get the local news updates. http://www.haitiantimes.com/
Okay, so here was the plan: I would get up earlier than usual and try to tackle the fun job of cleaning my room after the rodent fiasco. This is what one half of my room looked like before I started:

I decided it was best (and easiest) to start with the empty water bottles that spilled out of the plastic trash bag after I flung it across the room when I found my first surprise. As I neared the corner of the room I noticed that the spiders had started weaving another web so I went to get the broom. While looking for the broom which was being used by the housekeeper, I was side-tracked by Jina who needed to find her other sandal. We went on a hunt and finally found it outside on the step of the front porch. Jeemy-Ska was on his way to take a shower but his towel was still wet from the night before. I went to get him a fresh clean towel which was in a bag, under the bed, of the guest/office/supply room. Off to the showers he went. I found the broom and continued to work. Sweeping, dusting, sorting, organizing, lifting, sweating, sneezing, wheezing, coughing, and more sweeping. Then it was time for breakfast.
After breakfast I did more of the same, with more distractions, (Smith fell and cut his lip, Marc had a stomach ache, Angeline had a fever, Aquel needed nail clippers, Ismalene needed the tweezers, Jeemy's button fell off, Noula wanted to read aloud from her book; all of which required my attention or assistance), with more determination, and continued to try and see my plan through. Then it was lunch time. I was not quite making the progress I had hoped for so I ate rather quickly and resumed again. I found things under the beds, behind other boxes, in the wrong boxes, trash mixed with toiletries and other misplaced items. Soiled clothes mixed with the clean clothes and clean clothes in the laundry box. I stripped all the sheets off, discovered that the slats on the bed were loose, then got my hammer and hunted for the nails. Finally found them and made the repairs. I saw that there were some things that would be better to hang on the wall so I hunted for the concrete nails (which was a job in itself) and proceeded to find a place for each one of them. More cleaning, organizing and so forth until I got the call for dinner. Again, I ate quickly, and tried to get back to my plan. I worked until I no longer had the energy to stand up. At the end of the day, this is how my room looked: Yep, not one thing changed. The kids, however were very happy. Their rooms were so clean and organized. They had a place for everything and now know where things should go. They were very happy to have fresh clean sheets on their beds. (It was a difficult task to get them all washed and dried with all the rain we've had but we finally had a day of enough sun to make it happen) They even kept walking in and out of their rooms just to look at it once more. Just so you know I was not making this up, here are a few pictures of their rooms: The girls room. They were so happy to have a place to hang their kilots (underwear) rather than the middle of the school yard where 500 other kids could see them. They also have a place for their backpacks and their own clothes bin.Uniforms in one place, church clothes in the wardrobe closet and scarves on the wall rack. Laundry buckets in the corner for wash day. Wonder how long that's going to last?

The boys room. Uniforms and bins in place. Beds neatly made. Each one has their own laundry bag so they are happy because they don't like their clothes to touch the other ones that are more soiled than theirs. Who would have guessed?

The boys really like their wardrobe closet. They had never seen anything like it and it makes them feel very important when they are retrieving their Sunday best for church.

I know, some of you may be wondering; where was the housekeeper? Well, because of all the rain (again, blame it on the rain) she was way behind on the laundry. It was more important for her to catch up then to assist me in my efforts.

So, this was not the mission I had planned, but it is just as well. The kids are the main (eleven) reasons why I came to Haiti. I also have a place in my heart for the many others I have met in the past six months. I can always try again tomorrow. If not, I'm sure there will be eleven more reasons why it didn't happen. I am very blessed today.

Today and tomorrow are school holidays. The kids have been out of school all week because of...yes, the rain. Here are the kids with the Watchman's wife and their children getting ready for movie night. Tonight's special feature is E.T. for the fifth time. Since the beginning, they have watched every movie, by choice, in English with English subtitles trying to learn the language. This time they have decided to watch and listen to it in French. Some of them are picking up some of the words and the movie is making more sense to them. It actually sounds almost normal to me. I still miss the popcorn. :-)