This week has been a fun and eventful week for me! I went to
the coffee shop twice this week haha and it was great. I think I like going to
the coffee shop so much because it just gives me a chance to get away from all
the craziness that goes on here. We had three teams staying here last week and
another team that came everyday for the week, which meant that during the day
we had about 50 or more people on the compound… It was just hectic. I really
did enjoy meeting a lot more people and there was so much word that was
completed, but I needed those two trips to Rebo Express. Megan and I went
together with Ashleigh and we just a nice time hanging out and talking (and
sitting in an air conditioned room). This week we have tutored the 4th graders in math every morning and also the younger kids in reading and reading comprehension in the afternoons. With the 4th graders we worked on subtraction with borrowing and fractions, division, multiplication,
and work problems. We chose these because we asked the students where they
needed improving and those were some of the places. I enjoyed working with the
kids because there were 5 students and 4 of us and so we were able to work
closely with each student and help them specifically with what they needed. The
students we have were Carmelle, Jovenel, Richardson, Wilderson, and Wilna; it
was amazing to see how bright they all were! At the beginning of the week they
needed a lot more help with the problems, but by the end of the week they
pretty much got all the problems right! Some of them really liked to go up to
the board and work the problems.
The afternoon tutoring with the younger children was also
great! Each day we would read one or two books and ask the children to draw a
picture of something that had to do with the book. For example, we read the
book The Tiny Seed, which was about flowers and them spreading their
seeds. So, of course, a lot of them would draw a lot of pictures of flowers,
people with flowers, seeds, etc. It was so so cute and I just love seeing them
draw and get excited about their drawings. I remember when I was younger all I
wanted to do was draw and color as much as I could. I also think it is
important to tell the kids how great their picture is, because it’s good for them
to know they are appreciated! Their faces lit up when any of us would
complement their picture. On Friday we decided that we would have them help me
think of positive adjectives to describe a person. So we had words like funny,
nice, silly, good listener, always smiling, etc. and afterwards we traced each
student’s hand and the other students would choose 5 adjectives that describe
them for each finger. Then, after we did that for each kid they were able to
color and decorate their hand. I LOVED doing this because they all were able to
see how wonderful they really are and for them to know that they are loved. I
know I have said that a lot, but all of the children are special and they need
to know that they are loved by our Lord and by us. My entire time I have been
here I have made sure all these children know how much they are appreciated
because that can have a lasting affect on them.
One afternoon I was hanging out with the kids down in the
courtyard and they asked me what I was like when I was younger, and I actually
had a picture of me when I was about 8 years old. I pulled out my phone and
showed them the picture of my dad and me from a Daddy Daughter Dance. They all
looked and were like “Oh my gosh you were beautiful!!” and it probably was the
sweetest thing ever. I think it was cool for them to see that I have actually
been their age one time before. We walked to Sisters of Charity later that day
and it was a hot day… I was dripping sweat by the time we got there, but was
excited to get to see all of the babies. I went to Sisters of Charity last
summer also, but it is where very sick children come and stay for some time. In
the mornings, the parents of the child come to feed their child and spend time
with them. It is important for the parents to come each day so that they stay
attached and close to their child. During the afternoons they let people come
and help the nannies feed all of the kids. So a group of us walked there and
helped feed the kids. It is one of my favorite things to do here, but it’s a
big wake up call on how bad some things are here and that there are starving
children around our compound. It’s hard each time I go because you can tell the
children just want to be held and loved. Also, when you are feeding them they
are just so so hungry and want you to feed them their porridge as fast as you
can. I love being there because when you hold the baby you try and make them
smile as much as possible and it is the best feeling in the world when they
flash you their wonderful smile. I just hate having to leave because once you
put the child back into their crib they start waling because they want to be
picked up again. It breaks my heart and makes me teary every time. 
For the time I have been here the city power usually turns
off around 5 p.m. and our inverter system shuts down around 1 or 2 a.m. A team
that was here though fixed the inverter system to here it will work all night!!
One night this week, however, we didn’t have power and it was so frustrating
because we have had power pretty much all night, and we were scared we wouldn’t
have it for the rest of the night. It reminded me of last summer when we had a
tropical storm blow through here and we didn’t have power for about 3 days. It
was so crazy and so hot because we wouldn’t have fans at all during the night;
we had to only use our small fans. I appreciated air conditioning and fans so
much more those 3 nights, and so when I was frustrated the other night I just
had to think about those nights again. I needed the reminder that there are so
many people around the world that are not as lucky as I have been with fans and
air conditioning. Our power ended up working later on and we were thankful for
the fans, but we even had a nice breeze so God wanted us to have a nice cool
night :) My friend, Kathleen, has finally arrived!! She along with
other teachers arrived Friday afternoon! I was so so thankful that everything
worked out smoothly and that she got here safely. I am so excited for summer
school to start and for us to be used as God’s hands and feet for these
students. Kathleen and Megan will be teacher assistants for Ashleigh’s class
and I will be the teacher assistant for Tammy’s class! It is excited and
relieving to know that we all will have an experienced teacher lead the class.
School this summer is for the older students, 6th grade through 10th
grade. The reason we are doing the older students is because last summer we saw
a vast improvement with the younger students that had summer school. Ms.
Sherrie wanted the older students to get the opportunity to improve as well! I
am excited, but nervous, because I have never really worked with older
students. I am in Early Childhood Education and so the oldest grade I will be
teaching is 3rd grade. So, having to teach 7th graders
will be a small challenge for me, but I am excited to see how the Lord uses me
and helps me to grow. We will be focusing on reading comprehension, vocabulary,
grammar, and writing. We have prepared so much the past few days and so I think
all teachers are just ready for tomorrow to be here. Summer school will be from
8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and then afterwards I will be tutoring a little boy in the
afternoon from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. The tutoring will fun but challenging
because tomorrow we will mainly just be seeing where we need to start with him.
We have reading tests for each grade level and in order to pass and move to the
next reading level the student needs to receive a 70 or above. So he will take
a reading test for each grade level, starting at 2nd grade, until we
see where he needs to begin. Pray that Courtney and I will have the patience
and understanding to help this student as much as we can while we are here.
Courtney will be here for the whole summer school and so she will be able to
work with him after I am gone.
Friday night I had the joy of sleeping in a hammock on the
roof for the night! We needed a few beds open and so I offered for someone to
sleep in my bed will I slept in a hammock. There were about 6 of us that slept
on the roof. I was really excited about sleeping on the roof because I
remembered my last night last summer when I group of us slept on mattresses on
the roof. There is such a great breeze up there and so you actually get cold
and need a blanket! So I prepared myself and brought up my pillow and blanket
to the roof (and earplugs for the noise). Mrs. Shanda let me use one of her
hammocks that had a mosquito net attached so I was pumped! I took a sleeping
pill and fell asleep easily, but I woke up several times while I was up there.
It was uncomfortable or anything but I just would wake up so easily to anything
that happened. Ashleigh came up and even said I slept talk a little while I was
asleep (Oops) so that was kind of funny/embarrassing to find out the next
morning. Overall, I really did enjoy sleeping up there but am thankful for the
bed I have here haha. The next day we ate at Epidor for lunch and I had a yummy
ham and cheese sandwich. The rest of the day we spent back at Christian Light
just hanging out with the kids and preparing our classrooms for class Monday. The kids had another movie night which meant once again... POPCORN! I seriously love making the popcorn here and want to make stove top popcorn when i get home!
This afternoons, we made peanut butter cookies and cake for the Haitian teachers tomorrow that will be coming for teacher training :) They smelled soooo good and I couldn't help but steal one of course! We were able to go to Port Au Prince Fellowship this morning
and I was so happy! The pastor that has been here the past years sadly left to
return back home in Australia, but the church was blessed with another great
pastor! He had a great message this morning that talked about our thirst for
the Lord and how we need to satisfy our thirst with the Lord. It made me think
of the times where I wasn’t as close to the Lord and when one day I would just
have a great need to be closer to God. I am so blessed to have quenched my
thirst since I have been here. I have grown so much closer to the Lord while I
have been here and I hope that I may continue my growth as I go back home. This
next week will go by so fast so just pray that I will enjoy each day with the
students and the children in the orphanage! I am getting really sad that it is
almost over but am excited to see what the Lord has in store for me when I
return home! I will be posting one more time while I am here to give yall an
update on school and then when I come home I will write a post!
“You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for
you, my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land where there is no
water.”
-Psalm 63:1
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