Market, BHM, Orphanage

Good morning!
I feel WELL rested after last night! We are staying at the Visa Lodge with this incoming group...the Visa has AC and hot water...aahhhh-maz-ing! Here's my recap of the past few days...

Thursday morning we stopped at Marche Tabarre, the local market for most Haitians in the Tabarre area. You could find just about anything and everything you might need here. When we go to the grocery store, we go to Stop & Go, which caters largely to expats (abbreviation for expatriates - people temporarily or permanently residing as an immigrant in a country other than that of their citizenship) and the UN. The market is quite the experience and very hard to describe. There are narrow pathways in which people are coming and going, many times with large boxes on their heads or being pushed in wheelbarrows. The smell is very unique - raw fish and slabs of raw meat seem to be the overhwhelming smell. There are shoes. Lots and lots of shoes. And handbags. There are beads for hairbraiding and medicines. There is fresh produce. There is clothing. There are fancy dresses. Most of the machanns (vendors) are sitting on the floor of their "shop" section of the market. Some of the shop sections are inside a large warehouse type building and others are outside. Frank bought bags of water for us to pass out as we walked through.

Eleanor Turnball

After the market we headed up the mountain to the Baptist Haiti Mission. We met Eleanor Turnball, wife of Wallace Turnball, and we had a nice long chat! She talked to us about being "blessed" and how she learned that blessed means to extend, to enlarge...there was a lot more to it, and she preached about it for quite some time. Basically her message was: we are to take our blessings and then multiply them for others. The Turnballs founded the BHM back in 1948! She taught us about sisal (a fiber produced from a cactus-like plant) and how the Haitians use it to make rope, brooms, crafts, etc. Unfortunately, synthetic fibers were introduced in the 1970's and the farmers producing sisal could barely make a living. This is the case in many synthetic or imported goods. It does the Haitian people a disservice, taking away their businesses! If you have not had a chance to watch Poverty, Inc. I HIGHLY recommend it! It's a new documentary out on Netflix (and I may have possibly heard Redbox too, but I'm a little out of touch)!

We went to Pastor Maxeau's orphanage, House of Hope & Love, where he has 10 girls, ranging in age from 5-12. We spent quite a bit of time with the girls, painting nails, eating snacks, playing ball, putting on bracelets and necklaces, etc. These girls are well-loved and cared for! So refreshing to see! Some of the girls have a mother, some have a father, but some are true orphans also.

They were so excited for us to come in the gate! 

Pastor Maxeau! 

Pastor Maxeau is the one who started Valley of Hope church & school. He is the one we sent chicks to during our Compassion Christmas project at school!

After leaving the orphanage, we headed to the Overlook and then back down the mountain. We got back to the GH around 7 or so, ate dinner, had devotion, and then the team started to pack up to be ready for their early flight Friday morning...Tara provided quite the entertainment (the whole trip, but especially Thursday night) when she wanted to fit a HUGE tin tree into her suitcase...

 

Success!

Friday Frank took the team to the airport and I got caught up on laundry, organizing/cleaning, and some rest! Friday afternoon we ran some errands and then got checked in to the Visa Lodge. 

Today we will pick up the next team at the airport around 11/12 and start the craziness all over! This team is a group of youth with Samaritan's Feet, so our week will look a little different. I'm excited for the new adventures!