Market Day

Thank goodness for sun when you use solar power! We have electricity again - woohoo!!!

Today was an awesome day. We got to deliver about 70 bags of rice, 5 bags of beans (big bags, not the small ones you get at Wal-Mart), 10 gallons of vegetable oil, cases of water and loads of bags of clothes. These goods were dropped off at distribution centres where the refugees can come to get the needed supplies. About 700 refugees are registered in Montrouis, but there are likely more within the city that have not signed up yet.

Our last delivery was at night in the dark. What an experience sitting on the back of the pick-up truck on those bags of rice going down the familiar dusty roads but not having any light but the ones of the car. We even made it to the main road and found.... it is also pitch black. Forget street lights!

On that note, we only saw one official street sign as well. It was on the corner up the hill to one of the distribution points where the truck barely fit in between two walls as we went around the bend. Oh yeah, did we mention? The vendors do sit on those dusty streets leaning against those walls. So, as we come around the bend, we blow the horn and everyone scurries to move their stuff out of the way!

Something else to comment on is that as foreigners, we draw quite the crowd. We might have gotten a small taste of what the animals in the zoo could feel like since we get surrounded and stared at. And for every comment and attempted discussion with us in Creole, we just smile and sit there.... maybe this is how some of our foreign immigrants feel at times!

We found ourselves again comparing everything to the USA. Kids here are out playing with self-made kites, kids at home want the newest Wii. Here, not much goes on at night as everyone stays in their shacks huddled around the only light coming from the flame of a candle, at home people hustle and bustle at the malls or in clubs. The differences could not be much bigger in our opinion.

We have tried to film the market as we drove by and secretly take pictures. Again, a lot of them are quite skiddish about their pictures taken, although tonight we got some great shots of the kids surrounding the truck. And yes, even in the dark we are still very 'blanc' - white.

Something we have found about the Haitian people is that they are extremely creative. One of the children from the school who is sponsored by Jason, our friend, has drawn pictures that are beautiful. Also today we got to buy some paintings from local artists - acrylic paintings portraying the Haitian life. We could have spent a lot more money than we did :)

Tomorrow we are off to Port-Au-Prince. Although we have seen poverty, we are certain that the next two days will be much more difficult for us to handle as we will be in the midst of the destruction.

We want to leave you with a simple question: what is something small (or big) that you can do today to encourage someone else, to impact another person's life even just a little bit? We realize that every bit counts and often it is just the most natural and common things to us that will be used.

Signing off with a good Bonne Nuit!